SWTOR Compositions

[blackshifter]

First off, a request to the Moderators: Add a SWTOR prefix to this section of the forum.

Alright, I thought it could be useful to get a conversation started regarding this topic. It would be great to hear what others are running and how it's working out for them.

I'm personally currently running a 2-man team consisting of two Consulars. One Sage and one Shadow.
The Sage is specced for healing and the Shadow is specced for tanking.
I'm only in my early twenties with these guys at the moment, but so far it has been working out pretty well.
I've been able to run Esseles and all 2- and 4-man Heroics so far. The first to give me trouble was the first 4-man Heroic on Taris, but I got through it nonetheless. As far as I am aware I have been running everything at the appropriate level (at least I haven't deliberately outleveled any content so far).
The main gripe with my setup is that Consulars start off with a Tank companion, which isn't as effective when you are specced Healer and Tank yourself. If I had made both my characters Sages and specced them for DPS however, the first companion could prove to be excellent.

I guess that's about all I have to contribute myself so far. I just got started with SWTOR a week and a half ago or so, so I haven't ran multiple compositions just yet.

As someone whose played a 50 Vanguard and Assassin in beta and currently have a 50 Jugg and Guardian, Assassin/Shadow is my least favorite tank to MB with. The CC is definitely a plus for heroics, but their defensive abilities are extremely proactive, too proactive for me to MB with. I'm with Mercbeast, I think PT/Vanguards make the best MB tanks. As far as healers, I love Sage/Sorcerers. Operatives are a pain in the butt to keep track of. TA, Kolto Probe and DS to get your energy back. Plus lack of an oh s#%t ability kinda hurts. Surgical Probe is nice but you need TA to activate it.

Couple of things to note at 50:
1) With a Tank/Healer combination, you should be able to do all of the heroic 4's including 50's dailies. Some heroic 4's you might need a few levels to do, Insufficient Staff in Alderaan is one you have to wait a few levels.
2) Stick with ranged dps over melee dps for companions. There is way too many bosses that drop AE's on the ground and bosses that need to be kited.
3) If you are planning to gear up your companions and do dailies at 50 try to stick with companions that have same abilities as your tank and healer. Daily rewards for 50's purple mods and enhancements are for your class. Hilts/Barrels and Armor can be purchased by the daily commendation vendor. For instance, My Jugg/Operative, uses Str/end and cunning/end. My companions Vette and Raina uses cunning/end. That is of course, if you don't have artificing/cybertech as your skills or you purchase those items at GTN

Hope that helps some.

[chazz]

As someone whose played a 50 Vanguard and Assassin in beta and currently have a 50 Jugg and Guardian, Assassin/Shadow is my least favorite tank to MB with. The CC is definitely a plus for heroics, but their defensive abilities are extremely proactive, too proactive for me to MB with. I'm with Mercbeast, I think PT/Vanguards make the best MB tanks. As far as healers, I love Sage/Sorcerers. Operatives are a pain in the butt to keep track of. TA, Kolto Probe and DS to get your energy back. Plus lack of an oh s#%t ability kinda hurts. Surgical Probe is nice but you need TA to activate it.

Couple of things to note at 50:
1) With a Tank/Healer combination, you should be able to do all of the heroic 4's including 50's dailies. Some heroic 4's you might need a few levels to do, Insufficient Staff in Alderaan is one you have to wait a few levels.
2) Stick with ranged dps over melee dps for companions. There is way too many bosses that drop AE's on the ground and bosses that need to be kited.
3) If you are planning to gear up your companions and do dailies at 50 try to stick with companions that have same abilities as your tank and healer. Daily rewards for 50's purple mods and enhancements are for your class. Hilts/Barrels and Armor can be purchased by the daily commendation vendor. For instance, My Jugg/Operative, uses Str/end and cunning/end. My companions Vette and Raina uses cunning/end. That is of course, if you don't have artificing/cybertech as your skills or you purchase those items at GTN

Hope that helps some.

I tried the Vanguard in beta as well, altough not to 50, and just based on that brief experience I would agree with you. I originally planned on going with a Vanguard tank and Sage healer as I expected that to be the best tank/healer duo for boxing, but "comfort" combined with a strong urge to try boxing got the best of me and so I rolled two Consulars instead.
But I'm thinking of rolling a new set of characters soon, so it'll probably be that composition then. SW:TOR is great in that way; leveling is actually fun.

[blackshifter]

I tried the Vanguard in beta as well, altough not to 50, and just based on that brief experience I would agree with you. I originally planned on going with a Vanguard tank and Sage healer as I expected that to be the best tank/healer duo for boxing, but "comfort" combined with a strong urge to try boxing got the best of me and so I rolled two Consulars instead.
But I'm thinking of rolling a new set of characters soon, so it'll probably be that composition then. SW:TOR is great in that way; leveling is actually fun.

I do have to say that Jugg/Sorcerer, Guardian/Sage is an awesome duo, too. Someone said that there's a great synergy with that combination, and I agree. I don't know if its the buff combination or what but it plays a few levels higher than my Jugg/Operative.

I was originally thinking of making a Shadow/Scoundrel duo to sneak into heroics and flashpoints but I remembered how tough it is to keep track of cooldowns as a Assassin.