Ugh; I know I'm beating a dead horse, so I apologize. Feel free to completely ignore my whining if you find it annoying. I just... I just need to rant, damnit!
So, I beat Act I with my JK Sentinel a few days ago. As some of you might remember, I bitched about that final boss quite a bit. The fight took me at least 10 or so tries; and each attempt cost me more than $2K in credits and stims. And between each attempt, I had to wait 20 minutes for my "call on the force" healing to cooldown, so I was quite literally just running around aimlessly with nothing to do. After all my repairs and cooldowns and whatnot were said and done, the final Act I boss took me a few hours and about 60,000 credits.
I was level 33.
So, after finally beating it, I decide I need to take a break. I didn't touch the game for almost two days, as I just wanted to "clear my mind" and not get sick of it. I come back, and decide to spend some time trying out PvP. I've spent about three days just getting on for a few hours to PvP, and have since leveled up to 36. In addition to that, I drop about 50,000 credits at the GTM on top-tier armor for Kira, top-tier armor for myself, and some of the best mods I can get my hands on for my weapons/armor. Do I have absolutely the best, most perfect setup? Probably not; but I'm definitely pretty well decked out.
I figure with a bonus 3 levels, and some great new gear, I was ready to tackle Act II.
Holy shit was I wrong. The VERY.FIRST.QUEST. has me approaching a crashed ship on Tatooine, where I encounter three Sith fighters. Each one has about 15,000HP. Luckily I can just take on one at a time.. but it doesn't matter, they're still way to strong for me. Whether I stick with my typical rotation, whether I try something new, whether I experiment with something ridiculous, whether I send in Kira first, whether I try to control Kira's attacks myself, whether I try to run away, whether I use different forms, etc, etc... no matter what I do... I just CANNOT(!) defeat one of these guys.
I mean, yeah, sure, it's possible. I could try ten times, and eventually get lucky with a couple crits (how I eventually beat the Act I boss); but in between I'd have to wait 20min for my "call on the force" to cooldown. Without that, I don't have a chance.
And on top of that, every failed attempt means I've wasted and have to use another few thousand credits on a medpack, a stim, and repairs.
Thankfully, someone on the guild came over and helped me out. To that person - thank you. I really appreciate it.
But I gotta say, I'm just dreading continuing on at this point. I don't want to stop now, nor do I want to start another character. I just... I just want to be not so damn fucking squishy in combat.
I know, I know... plenty of people have made it through these parts just fine. I suck, and I'm a terrible player, right? Heck, that might be the case. But the point is, like I said earlier, I play a shit-ton of video games, a variety of genres, and am more than comfortable with kb/mouse, RPGs, and micromanaging. I may be far from a great MMO-er, but I'm most certainly a better player than the typical "joe schmoes" that Bioware will be trying to attract with this game. If I'm struggling... well then, may the game have mercy on those other players' souls.
/rant