I'm posting this in case anyone finds it interesting or useful.

 

My 5th toon was a Shadow tank. I already had a dps and healing character and I wanted to try my hand at tanking. Since I already had a Sage, I had experienced the Consular storyline, and so I wanted to rush through to 50.

 

I purchased the following leveling perks:

Class Mission XP

Exploration XP

Ship Mission XP

 

(note: I'm not a PvP fan so I didn't level with PvP, which is another option)

 

I used my alts to craft gear as needed. I was able to skip over all optional and planetary quests on Taris, Nar Shadaa, Tatooine, Belsavis, Quesh and Corelia. I had to do side quests on Alderaan and Voss to catch up. I did any non-grey ship missions one per day. Finished class quest at 47, then one set of dailies on Belsavis and Ilum got me to 50.

 

Total time to 50 according to /played = 70 hours.

 

Oh, and I leveled as a tank with a dps companion (Qyzen in dps mode until Zenith, and Zenith until Nadia), so that I could practice tanking and not do easy mode with a heal pet.

I'm posting this in case anyone finds it interesting or useful.

Oh, and I leveled as a tank with a dps companion (Qyzen in dps mode until Zenith, and Zenith until Nadia), so that I could practice tanking and not do easy mode with a heal pet.

 

Shadows, I'm told, are the harder of the three tank classes to play. Being in light armor, they rely on damage mitigation abilities over armor, so they demand excellent rotation. Not sure if there is an "easy mode" for that, but I see your point. Using a DPS companion over healing would put more demands on you.

I haven't tanked in the other classes, so I don't really have a comparison in terms of difficulty. I just know that if I pulled Theran out, the tank mitigation + heals + no enrage timers meant that I could survive almost anything as long as I eventually whittled it down. With a dps companion I had a limited health pool to work from, and so had to work smarter to pull it off.

i leveled my main tank with a DPS companion as well. it got me used to using my defensive cds, and i know how much abuse she can take before things start to get hairy. that and we killed stuff a lot faster than if i was using a healer companion.

 

i leveled one of each kind of tank (guardian, shadow, and powertech), and i actually thought that the shadow was the easiest to tank with. it's easier for them to hold aoe threat, and they're pretty much the only class with a life steal equivalent skill. not to mention they get a passive that increases their armor rating and a few defensive cds, so they really aren't as squishy as you would think. guardians can weather a storm better than they can though. that class is like a brick wall.

Shadows, I'm told, are the harder of the three tank classes to play. Being in light armor, they rely on damage mitigation abilities over armor, so they demand excellent rotation. Not sure if there is an "easy mode" for that, but I see your point. Using a DPS companion over healing would put more demands on you.

 

A shadow's dark charge boost their armor rating by over 110%, so the whole armor thing just doesnt matter. By "easy mode" he meant "easier to hold threat mode" as healers pull less threat then DPS comps

I've got a shadow and guardian, shadows make better tanks in grabbing and keeping threat I've found (3 aoe attacks, 2 threat build solo attacks).

 

I don't find healers have any trouble healing me, I've got shield and absorption augments and comnstantly pop my ward. On my Guardian, I don't particularly notice requiring less healing, I can help them out however with the self heal and 2 defensive cds, I find having to taunt a lot more on the Guardian.

 

As to the original post, yes it's interesting, although I wonder how much time should be added for the gear crafting. My last 50 I got to 47 and did dailies from there, leaving my class quest incomplete on Voss

I suppose I could add time for the gear crafting.

 

Though to be honest it didn't take much time to switch to another character, kick off some missions and/or crafting, then switch back.

 

I'm posting this in case anyone finds it interesting or useful.

 

My 5th toon was a Shadow tank. I already had a dps and healing character and I wanted to try my hand at tanking. Since I already had a Sage, I had experienced the Consular storyline, and so I wanted to rush through to 50.

 

I purchased the following leveling perks:

Class Mission XP

Exploration XP

Ship Mission XP

 

(note: I'm not a PvP fan so I didn't level with PvP, which is another option)

 

I used my alts to craft gear as needed. I was able to skip over all optional and planetary quests on Taris, Nar Shadaa, Tatooine, Belsavis, Quesh and Corelia. I had to do side quests on Alderaan and Voss to catch up. I did any non-grey ship missions one per day. Finished class quest at 47, then one set of dailies on Belsavis and Ilum got me to 50.

 

Total time to 50 according to /played = 70 hours.

 

Oh, and I leveled as a tank with a dps companion (Qyzen in dps mode until Zenith, and Zenith until Nadia), so that I could practice tanking and not do easy mode with a heal pet.

 

Well, have you done the empire class stories yet? cause, while the classes play virtually the same, the storylines are very different.

Probably a stupid question but, how and from where did you purchase "leveling perks"?

A shadow's dark charge boost their armor rating by over 110%, so the whole armor thing just doesnt matter. By "easy mode" he meant "easier to hold threat mode" as healers pull less threat then DPS comps

 

Yes, but my point was that it requires activation, whereas a vanguards armor is passive.

And I guess I read the term "easy mode" differently, as like another person mentioned, with a DPS companion, there is a limited health pool, and only one med-pack. With a healer, it's simply a more forgiving damage race. The whole time you are damaging the mob, your companion is spamming heals. So your effective health pool is much much bigger.

I have generally found that healing companions make fights far easier than DPS or Tanks, unless I'm PLAYING a healer.

I may have to experiment by outfitting my healer's healer and attempting a heroic.

 

Probably a stupid question but, how and from where did you purchase "leveling perks"?

 

Around level 30, when you finish chapter One of your class story, you will be asked to choose a Legacy name.

Once you begin your legacy, you will be able to unlock perks. Some benefit all characters on that server, both factions. And some benefit only the character you unlock them on.

Your legacy name carries over to all toons on that server. So try to pick one you like, obviously.

There will be an icon at the top of your screen that opens the legacy panel, where you can see all of the unlocks.

And there are no stupid questions. They call it "New Player Help" so new players can ask questions.

Sometimes old players learn something new as well.

Edited November 14, 2012 by JacksonMo

Well, have you done the empire class stories yet? cause, while the classes play virtually the same, the storylines are very different.

Yeah, I have a L50 sorcerer and I'm leveling an operative (I now have a crush on Jo Wyatt, can't space bar IA convos)