Make sure that your main healing skills are on a quickbar which you can access when you're in cover. Because when the tank loses aggro and four ranged enemies decide that you are their worstest enemy and need killing now, watching their fire splatter against a rock while you pop up for the occasional instant heal is rather a pleasant thing. Otherwise, yes, the Sawbones is good enough. I've got three healers up to 50+, one each Sorceror, Commando, and Scoundrel, and the Sawbones is my personal favourite. I don't think there's a huge difference in effectiveness, but different classes do operate in different ways and suit different styles of play.

I think the only way round that might be to group with one of the Troopers/Smugglers who can get the quest, and turn it in with them I haven't tried it, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

It's worth checking to see whether they're an actual healer in those circumstances. There are people who queu and DPS/Healers, presumably hoping for a faster pop, with little intention fo doing the second. Seems to be popular with Commando/Mercenary types just lately, for some reason. My Combat Medic got interrogated over it last night when I joined a group part way through CWG, and who thought I might be another. Seems like a good way to hit ignore lists if you ask me, but then I wouldn't do it past the low levels where role isn't really significant - I healed Athiss as a level 22 Commando in Gunnery spec (before going CM full time) when our healer dropped out, but there's a point where that becomes too hard. I tend to be a healer myself so don't tank often, but when I do there's a couple of things I want from the healers. One, don't assume I'm a telepath and know what's happening behind my back, so that means yelling when you're being attacked and no one is paying attention. I'm a Powertech, I can shoot them at most ranges. Two, if you can help keep the mobs close together, that'll help me keep aggro on them.

On the fleet go to the supplies section. There's a vendor there selling Coruscant mods (and one selling Coruscant gear) that will suit your level. Left hand end on the lower level,. You spend them simply by picking the gear you want to buy and confirming the purchase, no need to turn them in since the gear is sold for Commendations rather than credits.

And to muddy the waters, I'd go with Slicing, one of the Gathering skills - Bioanalysis probably, and Diplomacy. The last, because it's a simple way to increase your LS/DS score and because while it's not so immediately profitable Companions Gifts and Medical Supplies always seem to sell well on the GTN so the money does come in.

I hate Marauders. And Sentinels. I will never join another flashpoint where I have to heal for one again. So, first was Athiss, my Sorceror 21 Healer, a Powertech 22 Tank, a Sniper 21 DPS, a Marauder 19 DPS. The DPS won't stop pulling until he dies, because he's got Rage and he's going to spend it, and if other people have no resources to spend that's not his problem. He wears a mix of Cunning and Strength armour, he needs on a piece of Cunning armour and excuses himself saying he thought it was useful because it's medium armour - so the PT and I patiently explain the difference between Cunning and Strength armour and why he needs the second and doesn't need the first. He breaks CC repeatedly, both mine as Sorc and a couple of Droid hacks from the Sniper, even after it's explained why that's not needed. He ignores adds to focus on the most powerful enemy, even when the PT asks him not to. He dies in the last fight, because he won't stop swinging to get away from the fire. Then he Needs on a sniper rifle, just because. Well, that's bad, but I like to believe it's a new player in their first real FP where roles matter. Surely te same can't be true at higher levels. I switch to Republic, get my Combat Medic out, queue, and almost immediately get a Maelstrom Prison run. Well, I'm level 40, so it's a little bit below my level, but why not it's not as if I need something harder. a Shadow and Sage from the same guiild, and a Sentinel. The Sentinel is less competent than the Marauder, and rude in chat to the healer who wasn't keeping him alive and the tank who wasn't holding aggro. As far as I could tell he never did anything to lower his own threat, and concentrated on attacking whichever target the tank was on "because burning down the mobs quicker is better!" As you can probably imagine, a Sentinel determined to keep using their Focus rather than "letting it go to waste" is rather good at taking aggro from a Shadow with no/little force, and if the tank doesn't have enough to aggro the other mobs then they look for a target like the healer to turn into a smear on the ground. Almost the whole time that Sentinel was in the group then I was tanking encounters by healing myself through the damage everything was inflicting, while the sage off-healed and the shadow and sentinel did DPS. Rather predictably he didn't try to use cover to avoid the laser. Immediately afterwards we vote-kicked him, and got a perfectly nice Vanguard DPS a few seconds later who finished the mission with us.

There's an Agent on my server named Bond. BasildonBond.

One thing I'd want to do different would be to find a way to get Psych Meds in there. 23/0/23 would do it, and it's very useful to have the ability to clear negative mental effects both in PvE and PvP.

The new class that I would like would be one based on exploration. Members of the Empire's Interstellar Exploration Service or the Republic's Survey and Exploration Division. Field Scientists and Explorers as the two ACs. The scientist/researcher type would be DPS/Heal deploying AoE heals and/or buffs and grenades/mines with lower damage but debuff effects. The explorer/scout would be Tank/DPS, pistol with a melee off-hand weapon, medium armour, with a tank tree good at avoiding damage and removing debuffs on themselves, and a DPS tree based on single target damage. Then the class stories would be based around discovering planetary secrets, of which there are plenty on the less inhabited worlds - I imagine Nar Shadaa would be a change of pace, having to find the lost logs of some historical explorer, for example.

Scoundrel - Sawbones spec - Akaavi once I had her, Bowdaar if the combat turns out unusually hard Agent - Concealment - Ensign Temple, Doc Lokin for the hardest combats. Vanguard - Shield Spec - Elara, all the time, unless I actually had to have a different companion for their quest Commando - Combat Medic - Aric Jorgan, usually None of my other characters have their full range of possible companions, though I've a gunslinger (Saboteur spec) on Hoth who usually uses Risha as her companion.

You can play a Commando with a Rifle, if you really want to. There's not a huge difference in effectiveness. Though I have to see my Commando with body size 3 looks fine with her Assault Cannon.

In general I upgrade my gear when I start to hit the cap for Planetary Commendations. Sometimes that means I have to accept mods that I'll outgrow in a level or so, but those can be passed down to companions. While I'd like to do it once per planet, it doesn't always work out like that if you're taking the commendations as quest rewards and being fairly comprehensive. I temd to think that Biochem is a better option for a first character. Certainly for characters who aren't healers, that's the way I'd go. And Stims/adrenals may be consumables, but they give a short term boost that helps in those fights that push a character more than slightly better mods.

Actually looking at the notes, my Combat Medic will be poking her head out of the corner thinking it might be safe to move a little further into the room. Some of that stuff looks good.

If I am remembering it correctly you can get to it by passing through the PvP area and heading south - it's about as far south-west as you can go on the map, and bypasses the Imperial outpost. There's an alternative route through a cave in the Dune Sea (just south of the imperial base there, I think) which avoids the PvP area, but that's rather hard to find in my experience.

Bounty Hunters have to pay for advertising. What, you don't think all those people find oyu and offer you a job just because of your skills, do you? Smugglers make loads of money, but the lifestyle is very expensive. The finest accomodations, food, companions, bribes - our expenses add up, man.