With all the new PvP player trying to get some grip, thought it may be useful to share some experience with 'em, there's definitely a learning curve and some may get lost, feel free to add anything to this post you may juge useful, I'll add it down here ..
**These been edited for Official PvP launch**
Forget everything you know about PvE but the characters & read on...
•Team building,
There's many differences between PvE & PvP on this, everyone get to experiment with their toons but passives & basic synergies between team member can get you far on defense as on attack, test test & test again in campaign & against different teams as the way AI act can render superp allies useless as it can make star out of the most worthless ones (Who had thought that Mummy Ed was that powerful) don't be afraid to experiment it'll pay on the long run...
Personally I build characters with a "Toolbox" optic as for having passive or power ability to adjust to as many team as possible instead of focusing on 2-3 super powerful toon giving a chance vs many kind of defense team but it's a strategy like another...
•Skillshards,
They are a must but remember that your team will evolve over time & maybe some nerf will hit even out of beta DON'T SKILL UP ANYTHING YOU WOULDN'T SKILL OTHERWISE or hope everything will turn your way and don't whine if it doesn't go as planned...
Privilege sharding your d-team first as AI definitely need some help, on attack you can help a bit & you will use many different toons from a fight to another so it's not as good as an investment
•Talismans,
You won't always start so be prepared to being hit by a maxed team... Green talismans are mandatory, a full damage build is worthless if you get wiped on first round.
Effects talismans are way more useful here than in campaign, crowd control such as freeze or paralysis are a must, energy, invisibility & void sets are all worthy sets to help you having a small edge over attack teams, build some & test!
Maxed talismans aren't mandatory to be competitive but on a reasonable scale... Lvl 40+ 5 star can get you far but lvl 20 5 star set probably won't...
•Point system is better than it used to be but,
Attack who you stand a chance to beat or live with it, better win over relatively weaker opponent than loose repeatedly to someone stronger than you, many players not even lvl 100 crack top 10 regularly with some patience & wise choices anything can happend...
•Revenge
Revenge system sucks less than it used too but choose wisely as you can't fight back same player more than twice a day & 20 revenge total everyday
Still they can attack you endlessly so choose your fights carefully...
•Ironite,
Don't be afraid to spend ironite if you want to be competitive, won't get far in standing without a couple refills, don't have to get crazy over it but if you don't spend some ironite over a week... Don't expect to see top tier even with a top team...
•Shields
Added this subsection since it's not that much used in PvE & they have their quirks, the casting order is really important for these to do what's expected..
First shield will always go first if it can block ex: if you have say a void shield > corrupt Droid's force shield > Troll's guard, every physical/magical goes to void shield, true DMG to Droid's one & unless Droid's shield goes depleted guard will never charge fury...
Same example but Guard > void > Droid's shield, fury will charge but void won't send back any DMG & force shield will stay intact, probably the reason why shields sometimes look buggy.. Newborn Of Light Passive act as a shield & won't trigger first turn if you have a Troll
Adding other's idea here for easier browsing of the thread..
Probably forgot a lot of things, don't be afraid to add knowledge or ask questions