Seeing so many posts ranting about the issues caused due to new players in group content I thought its time to re post these useful links:

This post is aimed specifically at new players who are playing as a group of all dps (aka damage dealer) roles in a tactical flash point.

But before that, the one most important advice!

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Ask for help!

Say that its your first time when you enter a flashpoint, it saves time and experienced players will provide helpful hints at key points making it fun and meaningful for both.

Afraid that you'll get kicked? Let it happen, its more fun playing with people who aren't *****holes any ways.

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The below guides cover three aspects:

1) Your role as a dps or heal or tank especially for those new to mmo's:

Grouping 101

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=818297

tl;dr

-dps attacks enemies who are attacking your healer if there is one

-all dps should focus on one enemy at a time starting with the weakest

2) How to improve your dps

Go to your advanced class in the forums and learn a good rotation and utilities :

http://www.swtor.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=423

Parsers: search online for parser applications that will help you measure what your existing dps is and practice your rotation on an operations dummy in the fleet.

e.g. starparse, parsec

Once you know your current dps compare it with what the highest parsers for your class are doing. Good parsers in full 220 Ops gear are > 6K (as of patch 4.0).

Link: http://parsely.io/parser/leaderboard

Depending on your class the numbers will vary but take the below as an reference (and with a pinch of salt)

As a fresh level 65 in full 208 rated "common data crystal" gear your dps should be doing ~3K (as of patch 4.0) on an operations dummy.

If it is much less than that, that means there is a huge scope of improvement in your ability rotation.

tl;dr

-learn a good ability rotation from this site or sites like dulfy

-install a parser to track your ingame progress

3) Gearing: taking this point last as for tactical FPs and SM Ops as there is bolster now making gearing a little less of a bother for new players. However, this suddenly becomes highly relevant the moment you hit max level and want to do HM (hard mode) content. So once you learn your rotation focus on getting better gear and increasing your dps.

Check section : Gearing at level 65

https://www.reddit.com/r/swtor/wiki/guide_after_chapter_3

Types of Gear

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=841278

tl;dr

-dps and heals use gear having: critical rating, alacrity, power

-dps dont use gear having: shield, defense rating, absorption

Note: As a favour to other players do not group up in "group finder" (GF) for hard mode content until you:

a) Are well geared, currently HM flash-points require gear rated 212 as the minimum

b) Are able to provide close to high level DPS for your class on dummy parses (if I have to pull a number from my ***** it would be >4.5K)

c) Have read up on the tactics for the bosses on this forum or sites like dulfy or have cleared it a couple of times with experienced guild mates.

A Short cut or easier way:

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Join a new player friendly guild

Ask for guilds who specifically are willing to train new players on content. If you are a sub ask here else ask on sites like reddit.

There is nothing that can beat the experience of doing content with an experienced guild mate who can point out what exactly you are doing wrong (or right).

That being said it takes a lot of effort training someone so once you learn to do something say a flash-point, offer to do teach someone else. Or do it with other new guild mate without any experienced person.

Closing notes for guilds:

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I know that there are still good social guilds out there that help out new players with progression. If you are one of those guilds please post below your contact name/ guild name/ server/ the type of content you usually train people for, whether you accept f2p/prefs or other relevant information so that new players can reach out to you in-game.

Thank you and have fun!

P.S.: If you find this useful please someone post a translation to the other language forums as well! Thanks.

Great info, thanks for taking the time to compile!

A few comments/nits:

1) I'm not sure if you, or the link, are really covering the all DPS tactical FP as you stated was your intention. The link was all about tank/heal/dps. Now, I haven't done the new 4.0 tactical FP's so I should let someone else comment but isn't a key part the new healing stations? And, if I understand correctly, one person clicking the station, heals everyone. Is that right?

So, shouldn't it essentially be something like:

a) learn the boss mechanics (from one of your teammates or from a guide like on Dulfy)

b) if all DPS, decide who will be responsible for heals (preferably a ranged DPS)?

c) follow usual kill order: weak to strong. Since all DPS, focus fire (all on same target). Though maybe with weaks everyone should just pick different ones as they go down quick.

Does that sound right?

2) Parsing: my view is that this is for someone serious about the game. Sure, a newbie should have some idea of their "rotation" (at least one powers are key and what "procs" another). But spending hours on a dummy? Nah, let them play the class story for 6+ months before worrying about this high level skill. Just MHO.

For doing a FP/Ops, knowing boss mechanics is far more important. For solo questing, anything works