I realize this may be a little too late in hte development phase to have any meaning, but I just wanted to see if anyone has ecountered this problem in their sessions: My players just can't get enough Threat against opponents to use Improved Reflect using the rules as written. It's basically dependent upon Despair coming up in the dice, and very often it's quite hard to upgrade difficulty against ranged attacks in the first place so that you have a chance to get Despair to begin with. You basically have to invest a ton of XP elsewhere, either in Sense or in another specialization's tree in order to effectively use Improved Reflect, and often only after using additional strain as well.
Not to mention that using Dodge and Side Step for that purpose kind of defeats their narrative purpose, I feel. You can't both be dodging attacks and redirecting them, can you?
I think making Deflection Training (giving your lightsaber ranks in Deflection) a possibility in the spirit of Defensive Training would very much help here. Especially in those Jedi specializations that deal narratively with being good at deflecting blaster fire. For example, that first row Defensive Training rank in Shien Expert should be Deflection Training. Perhaps another one in Soresu or the second Defensive Training in Niman. Or, at a stretch make Sixth Sense available to more Jedi combat specializations. There is a distinct lack of ranged defense in all the specialization trees, and that's what a lot of Jedi are good at!
The same problem doesn't come up with Improved Parry, however, because there's just so many ways to improve melee defense spread out through the trees. Even taking a maneuver to use guarded stance helps in that regard.
Anyone have any thoughts?