Flashpoint strategies

[KKND]

Warning: The following section contains linked content containing spoilers.  If you do not wish to have content spoiled for you do not follow the links provided.

The Esseles: Early Game - Republic   "When  a Republic transport secretly carrying a high-profile passenger is  attacked by Imperials, your team must defend the ship and eventually  must decide the passenger’s fate."
Guide 1


The Black Talon: Early Game - Empire   "The  captain of an Imperial transport refuses official orders to intercept a  Republic transport, and your team must seize control of the transport  and carry out the mission. Will you kill or spare the captain?"
Guide 1a
Guide 1b
Guide 2


Athiss: Early Game - Empire
Guide 1


Hammer Station: Mid Game - Both   "The  expansionist Advozsec have recovered the Hammer Station, a powerful  weapon developed by the Republic but lost during the Great War. Your  team must stop the Advozsec before they can activate the Hammer Station  and become a threat to both Republic and Empire alike."
Guide 1


Taral V: Mid Game - Republic   "Imperials  are holding a Jedi prisoner who is critical to the Republic war effort.  Your team must travel deep into enemy territory to recover the key to  liberating this Republic hero."
Boarding Party: Mid Game - Empire   "When  a high-level Republic prisoner escapes from an Imperial prison, your  team must track down the target and prevent an audacious attack to  destroy the Sith Empire."
Guide 1


The Streets of Cademimu: Mid Game - Empire
Guide 1


Mandalorian Raiders: Mid Game - Empire
Guide 1


Directive 7: End Game - Both   "Mutinous  droids on a remote moon develop a technology that could lead to massive  destruction for both the Republic and the Empire. Your team must shut  down the rebellion before it’s too late."
Guide 1a
Guide 1b

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   OPERATION STRATEGIES

Warning: The following section contains linked content containing spoilers.  If you do not wish to have content spoiled for you do not follow the links provided.

Eternity Vault: End Game - Both
Guide 1a
Guide 1b
Guide 1c
Guide 1d


Hutt Hospitality: End Game - Both
Guide 1

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   FAQS

- UNDER CONSTRUCTION -

Can I tank with any build?   Yes, and no.

You CAN tank with most builds but the builds with a predisposition to  tanking will obviously be those builds which contain heavy amounts of  skill points invested in their respective tanking trees.  It's been made  abundantly clear by BioWare that "hybrids" aren't intended to be  optimal.

The primary difference between the three archetypes is essentially, "Can  I garbage tank?"  What that means is can I tank without ANY points  invested in the tanking tree?  The answer is two archetypes can: SW/JK  and BH/TRP.  Allow me to clarify.  Say you and your two buddies are  waiting for a tank.  You are a JK they are both SMG's.  Instead of  hanging around waiting for a tank you can switch to tank stance and still function as a tank without any points invested in your respective tank tree.

Will you do well?  You'll do ok.  Could you tank a raid?  Proooobably  not.  I mean...maybe?  LOL you could try!  It wouldn't be pretty but you  could give it a try.  The third archetype, SI/JC, doesn't have this luxury.  A consular  wouldn't be able to "switch to tank stance" and just wing it.  That  isn't going to happen.  Not at this point in time.  There are too many  absolutely vital abilities that tanks NEED in order to function that  SI/JC's just aren't afforded by default but instead have to invest in  their tank tree in order to acquire.

To put it simply: SW/JK's and BH/TRP's are tanks with DPS trees.   SI/JC's are DPS'ers with tank trees.  ALL of them can tank equally well  provided they are all equally invested in their respective tank trees.   But with zero investment in tanking trees SW/JK's and BH/TRP's will  actually be able to function (albeit not so well) as tanks whereas  SI/JC's could not.

Why am I mentioning this?  Because until dual spec'ing is allowed this  might be a deciding factor for the reader.  Once dual spec'ing is  implemented this point becomes moot as most people will have a Tank spec  and a DPS spec.  Until then... food for thought.
What is the difference in resource managment between the three Tanking archetypes?   "Rage/focus  has the advantage of being very much on demand with good  sustainability.  You always have what you need when you need it for the  entire fight (because you make it as you need it, or as you will need  it, at the cost of being heavily back loaded or having a slower start.

Heat/ammo is front loaded and has good sustainability with having fairly  reliable relatively 'fast' regen at the cost of having little room for  spike loads in demand.  This is because heat works on a tiered  regeneration system where your regen is better when you have less heat  to dissipate (or more ammo in the cartridge for Troopers).  You could  use your resources at a fairly reliable rate but you always have a very  hard ceiling, where by if you fell behind on your regen you were reliant  on a CD to get back into the comfort zone.

Force has the best front load but at the cost of being inherently more  finite of a resource due to it's relatively slower regeneration.  Once  it is gone you would get stuck into a low maintenance routine to sustain  yourself.  However, you have a nice big cushion generated by a big  front load so it's not as bad as it sounds."
         ~ Fraserl



Is there an Anti-Crit/Crit Immunity stat like Toughness in Rift?   There's  no actual stat dedicated to reducing crit chance in TOR.  There is only  one way for you to actively lower the odds of being crit: increasing  your Avoidance rating.  For a more detailed explanation see Crit Immunity Theory
Is Tanking hard?   I ran across this post by Dobbel a few years ago and it's always stuck with me.  Albeit I would change the thought process around.

DPS is fun, Healing is a responsibility and Tanking is work.

The reasoning behind my opinion is that no other role has to learn how  to "fight" against his own group.  That is to say, Tanking can either be  easy or it can be hard and your group decides which one it's going to  be.  More often than not it's DPS who decides this.  Pulling aggro from  the Tank because they're not focusing the correct target, not paying  attention to where they're standing and pulling adds are some of the  more common blunders you will see.  And when these happen, who's job is  it to keep the group from wiping?  That's right.

It's your job.

You're the one who has to correct that guys mistake or your whole team  is going to have to start over.  Of course this has a trickle down  effect on your Healer as well.  Now he has to stress over the Tank  taking more damage then he would have normally.  Do I heal that fool  that pulled aggro?  Hell no.  He dies.  I don't have the time to be  splitting my attention between keeping him alive and keeping the Tank  up.  If I can rez him later, I will.

The Tanks "work" is most especially profound when in PUGs.  Because you  never know what you're gonna get with a PUG.  It can either be really  easy or it can be infuriatingly hard.  Most experienced healers, you'll  spot them, they'll be following you almost exclusively and staying in  the back.  They don't talk much.  They're focusing on those health bars  and getting ready to start rotations.  The DPS though... zomg the DPS...  they're jumping all over the place, dancing like it's a disco, jumping  the gun on your opening rotation hoping to squeeze some more deeps out  of their damage meters.

It... never... ends.

So, yes.  Tanking is work, or it can be, if your group makes it that  way.  And always remember to thank your healers.  Healing is a thankless  job.  Mostly because if you're a good healer your efforts aren't  noticed by DPS.  Tanks know better.  Tanks have to pay attention to  their health bars in order to get a sense if the Healer is going to  lapse.  This way the Tank knows if he has to pop a CD in order to  compensate for this lapse.  It's understandable if DPS doesn't say,  "Good job" to the healer.  But you, the Tank, you know better.

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   AUTHOR'S NOTE

I hold no claim to fame other than being able to solve a Rubix Cube in  under a minute.  Which isn't even good compared to others out there.  = )   I'm not a genius.  Hell, I'm not even good at math.

I am however a man of principle.  I encourage the free expression and  transfer of information and ideas.  As such any and all information  within this work belongs to no "one man".  It is the collective work of  many people.  Most of it is mine.  Some of it is not.  What work is mine  could not have been accomplished without the way being paved by  brighter minds than my own.  

As such this work is the property of the community as a whole.  I  neither require nor expect credit or citation for any information found  within.  Do with it what you will.  I ask only that you do it with  grace.  Information is the right of all mankind.  Do not lord it over  those who do not have it.

Share it freely.