I'm sooo glad you quoted his entire post just to make that comment.

*Irked.

Darkside Smuggles. Akaavi likes me. She'll like you too. Besides... being darkside, you appreciate the fact that you can purchase your companions' love. Answer however you like and buy them off later.

Hi! Like you I was a melee dps for the most part and a healer noob. In fact, my main was a rogue in WoW, so I gravitated to Scoundrel for my main here in SWTOR. I'm leveling as sawbones too, and I'm currently 48. I've got some thoughts for you. Nope. I like to think in terms of priorities. Here is what I have keybound on my quickbars: Energy: Pugnacity - #1 priority. Always hit this when it's available. Healing: Slow-Release-Medpac - I roll this on my tank pet on tough 1-on-1 battles. Always renew before it drops. Emergency Medpac - I use this when I have 2+stacks of Upper Hand and I want to use Underworld Medicine. Triage - if my pet or I need to be cleansed. Underwold Medicine - I use this when my pet or I need it. Kolto Cloud - I don't use this when I'm soloing. I use it in group missions sometimes, though. Diagnostic Scan - if I need to heal and build energy. NOTE: Kolto Pack - I don't really use this ever. Even though it heals for less, I use EM if I'm going to consume an UH stack. Medpac - always the highest your level will allow in your inventory and in a quickslot. DPS: Vital Shot - Keep this rolling on my target Blaster Whip - Keep those UH stacks up! Back Blast - make sure you're standing behind your target. You're doing this anyway to avoid cone AoEs, right? Quick Shot - if BW and BB are on CD and I need to dump energy. Flurry of Bolts - if I need to build energy. AoE DPS: XS Freighter Flyby - blow *#@& up. Thermal Grenade - also works as a knock-down. Blaster Volley - requires UH, so I almost never use it. Utility: Cool Head - you want to keep your energy 60+. If you start to drop, just burn through to around 10-20 and then pop this. All In - extra self heal. More importantly, refreshes Cool Head. Don't use unless you're desperate for CH. Distraction - use this whenever you're dpsing and you see the target castbar. It'll save you some major heals. Dirty Kick - good for a short stun. I always use this on silvers and golds. I wait until the target is casting and my Distraction is on CD. Flash Grenade - Nice to stun enemies. Great when they're far apart and you want to freeze out one section for a bit while you take down the other part. Slice Droid - can be used in combat, so I love it. Defense Screen | Dodge - I have these right next to each other on my bars. Great when you're taking damage. Escape - self explanatory. Surrender - if you're getting attacked and your companion isn't dead, try this. Take Cover - nice way to run away from damage and also hide from PvPers. Disappearing Act - if you're going to die, or you just don't want to fight the mobs you got too close to and aggro'd. Stealth - of course Tranquilizer - good to divide and conquer. No. Do whatever needs to be done. Circumstances dictate. Cast it on whoever needs it, of course. A note on SRM: If I'm sending my tank into a group, I'll let him grab aggro without the HoTs, then heal him. Otherwise you might get lots of attention from some of the group for your heal aggro. If I'm sending him one-on-one against a silver, gold, or elite, I'll get 2 stacks rolling on him first. The priorities are: 1) Make sure you're getting stacks of Upper Hand. 2) Use Pugnacity on CD 3) If you're dying, heal yourself. 4) If your pet is dying, heal him/her. 5) If the incoming dps isn't too bad, dps something. You're welcome!

You know there's a failing in a game's interface when somebody has to do this :

If, like me, you love stealth, go Scoundrel.

OP is collecting some pretty decent troll points with this thread.

Guess you didn't hook up with the Senator.

Leveling my alt Vanguard... now 26, as a tank. ZeroPlus knows what's up. I would only add that grouping for Heroics is really easy too when you're using the tank tree. DPS are easy to find. In a pinch you can even 3-man it with 2 dps and Dorne as your companion healer. Did a 4 man heroic like that last night. Just use those CDs, keep aggro, and make nice little clusters of enemies with harpoon. If you're getting annoyed with the time it takes to kill things, just use one of your dps pets. I find that enemies die quickly. Also, in a group don't Guard Dorne/Heals... Guard the best dps. Then again, what do I know? I'm an idiot.

Agreed. The Han Solo tribute class brings the humor and defiance as one would expect. Even if you're playing lightside, I'd recommend trying the bad girl/boy with, when it comes down to it, a good heart. Or do like me and just go darkside!!! You're not a trooper following regulations or a goodie-goodie Jedi. Even Akaavi laughs at some of the smuggler jokes. And I particularly like the lines that become the smuggler calling cards: "It's hard to be humble knowing how great I am." "You're about to see a real, live hero in action." Moreover, he seems to hook up all of the time. I've sure enjoyed the ride so far... on Belsavis, level 45 atm.

I like him, but he doesn't seem to like my Dark Side ways. This one time... Also,

I have to admit, I wouldn't mind a MMORPG that did away with gathering and crafting.

With a face like this, who cares what she's wearing? http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc358/ButteredSoul/Deronda.jpg

Do whatever is more fun for you. I only have a scoundrel. I embraced his mercenary ways and am enjoying his ride deep into the dark side. Darkside heals FTW!!! Also, I love the stealth. It's great for quests when you have killed N/N targets and want to avoid the rest. And when the &@ hits the fan, it's nice to be able to go Disappearing Act and get out of harms way.

I, like you, spent years on other MMOs and am new to SWTOR. The nice thing about having lots to do is that you can pick and choose based on what you enjoy. For instance, I want to PvE and see all the quest content. When I hit 50 I'll look at PvP. My character is a smuggler. He's now level 40 and has cybertech, scavenging, and underworld. Based on that, I've worked myself into this leveling groove: Do all the quests for a planet while using my gathering skill every chance I get. I do all the Heroics once just to see them, even though they're dailies. Spend all the planetary commendations. I only keep gear for myself or my primary companion. Get boxes if you don't need any of the gear for BoEs. Go back to the fleet. Sell all of my BoEs on the GTN. I use 2 day auctions. Any green gear that doesn't sell goes to the vendor. Using my gathered mats, craft and buy new recipes until my mats can only make items that show as "green" difficulty to construct. You can sell, equip/use, or reverse engineer whatever you make. Put all of my excess mats (I usually have a couple of stacks) on the GTN below the going rate. Do a search for crafting materials you want to sell to find out what that rate is. While I'm doing 4,5 and 6, have my extra companion(s) run my mission crew-skill. OPTIONAL but fun: do my level-appropriate Flashpoint once. Set course for the next planet (go to step 1). I've had three major benefits from working this way. Firstly, the stuff I craft keeps up with my level progression, meaning I can actually use what I craft. Currently, I'm at ~340 cybertech and scavenging, and about 250 underworld trading. Secondly, I have room in my inventory to store lots of other things, like orange gearsets I find appealing that I'll mod up at 50. Thirdly, I earn credits to finance large purchases, like my speeders. At level 40, this being my first SWTOR character, I now have over 800k credits (and that's after all of my recipe/speeder/etc purchases). Also, as a rule of thumb, I rarely buy stuff on the GTN. I just use the gear I get from quests. The exception is when I decide to switch companions. Then I'll beef up his/her gear to make sure I get decent performance out of him/her. Hope that helps... enjoy your journey.