I have no idea whether going up the vigilance tree or defence tree would be more beneficial for solo questing, I don't know how hard vigilance is to play or whether defence is easy to play but slow with damage or something.

Any help would be appreciated.

I have no idea whether going up the vigilance tree or defence tree would be more beneficial for solo questing, I don't know how hard vigilance is to play or whether defence is easy to play but slow with damage or something.

Any help would be appreciated.

Defense it tanking, and the other 2 trees are DPS. As you're leveling up, any tree is fine to play as, really. When you reach endgame (55); thats when you might find it preferable to play as one or the other (depending on what/if you're doing endgame PvE/PvP and what playstyle you enjoy more).

I will be doing more PvE as I am doing planetary quests, but I don't know is survivability or damage is more important?

Tanking (defense) is a tree that has you focus on absorbing damage and being able to survive for as long as you need. DPS (the other 2 trees) is for dealing as much damage as you can, as fast as you can.

Tank = High health, high in defense; low-medium damage, slow damage output

Dps = High damage, fast-medium damage output; medium health, low in defense

Depending on your playstyle (do you enjoy killing enemies fast, and doing damage or absorbing damage, and being in the frontlines more?) you might find one more enjoyable than the other.

Universally, if you are new to the game or not feeling up for the challenge of Tanking, DPS is the easiest and most wide-spread option out there. If you have been playing SWTOR for a while or have previous experiences with MMOs, Tanking might provide a fun challenge, and be fun for you.

Tanking (defense) is a tree that has you focus on absorbing damage and being able to survive for as long as you need. DPS (the other 2 trees) is for dealing as much damage as you can, as fast as you can.

 

Tank = High health, high in defense; low-medium damage, slow damage output

 

Dps = High damage, fast-medium damage output; medium health, low in defense

 

 

Depending on your playstyle (do you enjoy killing enemies fast, and doing damage or absorbing damage, and being in the frontlines more?) you might find one more enjoyable than the other.

 

Here are some more tips: Universally, if you are new to the game, DPS is the easiest and most wide-spread option out there. If you have been playing SWTOR for a while or have previous experiences with MMOs, Tanking might provide a fun challenge, and be fun for you.

Are Jedi Guardians accepted as DPS, I've seen some dislike for them when I was browsing the forums: "there is nothing worse then getting a Athiss group up only to find out the Guardian is DPS spec.. waste of a slot"

Is this build good for solo questing?

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500GMRrddMordGzZfMM.3

Is this build good for solo questing?

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500GMRrddMordGzZfMM.3

At a glance? yeah.(don't really have the time nor the experience tanking to judge beyond that)

Pretty much any build is ok for solo questing.

This is however a tanking spec and tanking can be a challenge for new player, as stated by the others.

I think the ease of soloing will come down to what companion you choose to use, as t7 is a tank so you would be better to DPS, but kira is DPS only and I have found it can be a bit hairy using 2 DPS as it's a race to kill all mobs before you both die and if you don't you will have to heal up after pretty much every fight.

Personally since I decided to run with kira I went for the tank route. As for guides check the individual class sections there are some good guides, particularly the ones for Dulfy (or known as iwipe on here)

You could use your ship droid to heal until you get doc. Most don't like his personality. Some will claim he can't heal because he has no off-hand, but seriously, for leveling, he's as good a healer as any. I used him with my gunslinger all the way till I finally got Guss. For my money, he not only healed himself and me, he held agro almost as well as a tank companion could. So by the time I was pulling agro, I nearly had the group of mobs cleaned up.

For a tank, you'll lose some companion-DPS as most healing companions will do some damage between heals, but you'll make up for it by almost never having to pause between fights to heal yourself.

I'd say that for the most part going tank, especially with a healer companion, is safer but slower. So in a sense easier in that you can do more challenging fights earlier.

But both defense and vigilance are good. I'd just go with whichever style you find more appealing if you're just doing solo stuff.

Defense tree is slower, but you're a tank, so your DPS will be provided by Kira while you stand there and soak up the damage. You can easily survive any boss fight, with just Kira providing DPS, if your and her gear matches your level. If you're not that well geared, you may have to bring the healer instead of Kira, which will make the fight slower, but again between your damage resistance and the doc's healing you should be able to just stand there in the fire.

Vengeance makes you behave like a DPS; you have some damage reduction from the heavy armor and the shield, but your gear is more focused towards strength, power, and crits (rather than strength, endurance, and defenses), so you win by killing things extremely fast. You are single target, though, so you may need Kira for her AoE capabilities to kill the minions. For most boss fights, you'll be able to burn them down fast before you die, but with some of them you'll need the tank droid to keep them off you, or the doctor to heal you, so you can apply your damage optimally fast.

Both are viable.

I usually play the defense tree, because might as well. Also, don't have to send Kira home for boss fights, which means she gets to be there for the dialogues that usually precede the fights.

My Vigilance Guardian is and was one of my strongest characters.

Vigilance is DPS, so you kill enemies quickly, but you have heavy armor -that is damage reduction. You'll also have two stances (lightsaber forms) to swich -one best suited for DPS and the other boosts your damage reduction and shields -which was ideal for me for tougher fights.

So equip shield, gear up and there will be nothing to stop you. With a healer I was able to do most heroics.

I leveled a Juggernaut and i went with the middle tree (forget what its called on Guardians). I found that it was a lot more fun then the tanking tree. I ran with my ranged dps companion first, even once i got my healing companions i still ran with Vette. Once i got my melee dps companion i used that comp instead (not gonna say name, dont want to spoil the sith warrior story). I ran that setup and very rarely did i have to use my healer. Since i was planning on always using a dps companion i picked up biochem, though i didnt have to use as many medkits as i thought i would. My gear was also full custom gear starting at level 10 and i kept it fully upgraded with blue quality gear at 4 level intervals starting at level 15. Once i got to Makeb i used my healer just to make things a bit safer.

Once i changed my comp from a dps to a healer, my spec from the middle dps tree to the tanking tree and i changed my mods out to be more defense oriented my gameplay changed. It went from 'i might die if i dont pay attention' to 'omg this is so boring and i dont think i'll ever die'. It sucks that my leveling got so boring and what was funny is that my main in WoW for 5-6 years was a Prot Warrior. So tanking, especially a Jugg tank is natural for me...but it just felt boring when compared to the middle dps tree.

So that's why as a Defense spec you don't stop between fights (to heal to full) but keep going. Most quests are cave runs rather than cave infiltrations, you can keep going for a long time before you need to heal up. And it's a matter of using defensive cooldowns and your stuns and pushbacks vs. lazying it out with just the +focus -focus attacks.

In any case, there are a few key differences between the talent trees (abilities available at the top, and extra defenses vs. extra bleeds), but the main difference in gameplay comes from the gear. You focus your mods for defense, shield, and absorb for the tank build, and you focus your mods for power and/or crit for the DPS build. Several hundred +power vs. several hundred +defense from your gear makes a big difference in performance.

So that's why as a Defense spec you don't stop between fights (to heal to full) but keep going. Most quests are cave runs rather than cave infiltrations, you can keep going for a long time before you need to heal up.

Yep, in my experience the time difference between tank and DPS character is negligible:

- as a tank you kill slower but you are the energizer bunny; you keep going and going and going (with a tank character and healer companion, you become all but invincible and never have to stop).

- as a DPS you kill faster but you have to heal up between just about every fight.

Something glossed over but I think needs more detail: there is a saying - tanking is a job, dpsing is a science, healing is an art form. While I disagree with the implication that tanking is hard work, there are skills and abilities the player needs to have to be good at tanking. And one of the benefits of having a DPS companion while playing a tank class is that you get a chance to learn some of those skills while leveling and on your own.

So, if you are thinking about filling the tanking role in groups, I recommend that you level as a defense guardian. The practice you get from leveling will benefit you in groups.

Just one man's opinion though.

So, if you are thinking about filling the tanking role in groups, I recommend that you level as a defense guardian. The practice you get from leveling will benefit you in groups.

This is good advice.

I leveled my Shadow exclusively in the Kinetic (tank) tree, with a dps companion out. At a low level nothing is very "tanky" but once you start getting into higher levels, you have more abilities and your disposal. I had to learn how to manage threat and use defensive abilities appropriately. Facing a difficult group (i.e. more than one gold) I had to use crowd control, attack weakest to strongest, keep dps comp alive and do enough dps myself to kill everything before dying.

Leveling as a tank with a healing companion doesn't really teach you any good tanking habits, as everything is just a bit too easy.

You could use your ship droid to heal until you get doc. Most don't like his personality. Some will claim he can't heal because he has no off-hand, but seriously, for leveling, he's as good a healer as any. I used him with my gunslinger all the way till I finally got Guss. For my money, he not only healed himself and me, he held agro almost as well as a tank companion could. So by the time I was pulling agro, I nearly had the group of mobs cleaned up.

For a tank, you'll lose some companion-DPS as most healing companions will do some damage between heals, but you'll make up for it by almost never having to pause between fights to heal yourself.

Yeah I have been using the Healing Droid and Kira, but mostly the droid as it sends a shiver down my spine every time she 'steals' my kill X)

My Vigilance Guardian is and was one of my strongest characters.

Vigilance is DPS, so you kill enemies quickly, but you have heavy armor -that is damage reduction. You'll also have two stances (lightsaber forms) to swich -one best suited for DPS and the other boosts your damage reduction and shields -which was ideal for me for tougher fights.

So equip shield, gear up and there will be nothing to stop you. With a healer I was able to do most heroics.

I was thinking later on to respect and try vigilance for PvP, it seemed like a balanced spec

I leveled a Juggernaut and i went with the middle tree (forget what its called on Guardians). I found that it was a lot more fun then the tanking tree. I ran with my ranged dps companion first, even once i got my healing companions i still ran with Vette. Once i got my melee dps companion i used that comp instead (not gonna say name, dont want to spoil the sith warrior story). I ran that setup and very rarely did i have to use my healer. Since i was planning on always using a dps companion i picked up biochem, though i didnt have to use as many medkits as i thought i would. My gear was also full custom gear starting at level 10 and i kept it fully upgraded with blue quality gear at 4 level intervals starting at level 15. Once i got to Makeb i used my healer just to make things a bit safer.

 

Once i changed my comp from a dps to a healer, my spec from the middle dps tree to the tanking tree and i changed my mods out to be more defense oriented my gameplay changed. It went from 'i might die if i dont pay attention' to 'omg this is so boring and i dont think i'll ever die'. It sucks that my leveling got so boring and what was funny is that my main in WoW for 5-6 years was a Prot Warrior. So tanking, especially a Jugg tank is natural for me...but it just felt boring when compared to the middle dps tree.

Yeah I have a Dwarf Warrior tank in WoW, and that game feels so different to this especially with the less aggro mechanics in SWTOR

You focus your mods for defense, shield, and absorb for the tank build, and you focus your mods for power and/or crit for the DPS build. Several hundred +power vs. several hundred +defense from your gear makes a big difference in performance.

Thanks for the advice on armour mods, they do baffle me quite a bit X)