Class changes and balance in Game Update 1.3

is there still a way to be a good shadow tank on 1.3? or all hopes are lost?

QFT

A single healer is balanced so that it can keep a tank alive vs. a mob that has about 2000 to 3000 DPS (a hard mode flash point boss) and can spike 10K or so, all the while healing a group of splash damage.

Then you put that same character in PVP vs people who can do 1200 dps and expect everything will just play out.

While I am generally against bringing the nerf bat to bear against any class, I do feel that it is warranted in one case. That would be scoundrel healers. It's not that they heal too much overall, but I find that the ONLY way to kill one is with dedicated focus fire from a minimum of 2 people in pvp matches.

Now let me explain. I am currently playing a bounty hunter powertech at level 36. I am dps spec and I routinely have the highest dps output totals of everyone in a wz, including players on the other side. I leveled a trooper vanguard to 50 and I know the playstyle and what those classes can do.

However, whenever I go toe-to-toe with a scoundrel healer, I CAN'T KILL THEM! PERIOD!
I can get them down to very minimal health, and then simply run around after them as they have an ability to self heal every global cooldown tick that heals them for slightly more than I can ever damage them, and I am putting down 2K+ hits nearly every gc.

I am all about survivability for healers, but in my mind this is just a little too much healing to be doing to one's self, especially since they can do it on the run and it is non-interruptable. So basically, unless you have help, you can never kill a scoundrel healer. That, in my opinion, is just a little too out of balance. If it took me longer, but I could still burn them down eventually, then I would be okay with it. But I never can. Unless of course I am missing something here.

It's nice for some tanks that they get increased threat generation, but I really didn't have a problem with that as a Powertech. I would really like to see the issue with IGC not doing the correct amount of damage addressed by devs. As it is I still won't be putting a skill point in Supercharged Ion Gas or Prototype Cylinders after the update.

As for Shadow/Assassin tanks, they were op in PVP and this change might fix that, but I think this also makes them worse for PVE.

P.S. and already people are crying for healer love. I play a sage healer and have no complaints. As far as I'm concerned they are as powerfull as they need to be and don't need an update. That's just me though, a skilled mmo'r.

I have no "problems" healing either. I'm effective at it and have cleared most content in the game (Denova HM is giving us trouble in non-healing related ways).

But, the Sage healer has been changed pretty radically since launch without any developer discussion. The changes seemed stop-gap and ad-hoc and now the class feels awkward, to me. To have the OP specifically discuss Tanks/DPS philosophy in such depth...well, the healing omission seems quite glaring...

Although I don't have "problems" healing, I also don't have nearly as much fun at it as in other games (ahem). Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I hope you continue to have fun playing your Sage. I'll be playing elsewhere.