**OFFICIAL** Star Wars: The Old Republic Thread

[darkewaffle]

Well Campaign and Black Hole are the same item level IIRC, people just prefer certain itemization and with non-moddable belts you're locked into whatever 'type' of armoring is already in it. So while the armoring has a higher item budget theoretically, if it's providing stats you don't value then it doesn't really matter. As I recall I chose a Rakata armoring for my belt and bracers because it provided me more health which I valued more than the absorb rating/shield rating (whatever it was) available on the Black Hole belt.

I do agree that not letting set bonuses from Tionese/Columi/Rakata carry over sucked and kind of gave people the wrong idea/a bad impression as to how the whole system worked, but in the grand scheme of things it's not that big of a deal. Provided that all future sets are consistent in 'carrying' set bonuses, I'm ok with it. In a few months we'll all be chasing after "Space Alloy XYZ" gear anyway and it won't even matter.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Well Campaign and Black Hole are the same item level IIRC, people just prefer certain itemization and with non-moddable belts you're locked into whatever 'type' of armoring is already in it. So while the armoring has a higher item budget theoretically, if it's providing stats you don't value then it doesn't really matter. As I recall I chose a Rakata armoring for my belt and bracers because it provided me more health which I valued more than the absorb rating/shield rating (whatever it was) available on the Black Hole belt.

Actually, the L61 mods are highly versatile. If you want high absorption, you can get it via the mod. You will sacrafice your main stat, but you will get it. There are two main armorings for L58 for each base class and probably 2-3 diff L61 mods for each advanced class. No matter how you work it, you end up with a better custom Belt or Bracer set than Compaign gear and both can be augmented which means a custom Bracer/Belt will always better than Campaign.

I guess it is possible that there is a circumstance that the compaign belt/bracer would be better, but I'd have to see it, because mathematically, it isn't working out that way and would be the result of Bioware failing to give an appropriate mod.

Edit ** did a comparison with the belt you referred too. I am assuming shield specialized vanguard with ion cell active (hence the armor equation)

Black Hole Demolisher's MK-1 Belt
999 Armor (561*1.78)
93 Aim
81 End
41 Abs

Versus

Custom Belt (Rakata 58 Commando Armoring, Advanced Weighted Mod 26)
958 Armor (538*1.78)
104 Aim
87 End
41 Abs

By going custom, you give up:

41 Armor

But gain:

+11 Aim
+6 Aim

There is a case to be made that the extra armor is worth the loss of 11 aim and 6 endurance, but that is a tuff sell to me. Technically, you can also get a L61 Commando Armoring via crafting, but I have never seen one. But, if that were the case there would be absolutely no dispute at all. It would be the same armor, except it would have +17 aim and +11 end more than the Black Hole piece.

I do agree that not letting set bonuses from Tionese/Columi/Rakata carry over sucked and kind of gave people the wrong idea/a bad impression as to how the whole system worked, but in the grand scheme of things it's not that big of a deal. Provided that all future sets are consistent in 'carrying' set bonuses, I'm ok with it. In a few months we'll all be chasing after "Space Alloy XYZ" gear anyway and it won't even matter.

This is true. Not the end of the world, but would have been nice.

 

[zinfamous]

There's almost never been a good reason to use anything but the set gear. With the possible exception of using 4 set pieces and 1 off set piece (or the instances where the 4set is not thought to be valuable), almost everyone I played with just used re-modded columi/rakata/blackhole gear anyway, and it's pretty much been that way since release. Whether you consider augmented gear to be of greater value than your 4 set is simply a matter of circumstance, and different for each class.

I fail to see how finally being able to use your choice of endgame armorings in almost any gear appearance you wish is a step backwards.

Are you telling me there is a way to use end-game armor sets, and have the skin look like any choices out of the crafted sets? That is what I'm atlkaing about--every single piece of end-game armor, for my class (Inquisitor) is FUGLY. I don't want to run around looking like a retarded Pope in plastic shoulderpads. (lack of set bonuses in crafted or non end-game comm sets is what kills all other armor)

This has been most of my argument throughout--purely aesthetic. You guys see that, right?

But yes--before the update, it was better to choose 2 pieces of end game sets to get the first tier bonus: feet and hands, since those pieces could never be augmented anyway (uncraftable), then go head/chest/legs with crit-crafted augment gear. The general consensus, from those who I discussed this with, was that those 3 augment slots were considered better than the 2nd tier bonus you get from a full set of end-game gear, none of which could be augmented. (which is, for my class, a simple extension of the class boost)

You use your unassembled drops from HM and OPs to purchase those pieces, then rip the mods out of them to place into your crafted pieces. (or collect mods from drops, of course) This, certainly, offered the best customization for what gear you actually wanted. How does no one see this?

Until ToR adds a "costume" slot or something like that--so you really can choose which gear you want--this update has limited your choices substantially. Or, even better--set bonuses to more armor types.

 

[ArchAngel777]

This has been most of my argument throughout--purely aesthetic. You guys see that, right?

.

Yes, your arguement on this is valid. Luckily, my favorate looking gear in the game is... Commando Combat Medic Centurian PVP armor (I hate the recruit/champion and BM color varients) and so I am unique in this situation that the I get to have my cake and eat it too.

However, my vanguard is another story. I think the Super Commando BM gear looks nice, but doesn't look right with the rifles. For my vanguard, while well equipped, does not have any set bonus because 1) I hate the look of Columi/Rakata gear and 2) No campaign gear armorings...

So, this is case where I am using the following

Outcast Helm
Tempered Laminoid Chest
Transparisteel Gloves
Tempered Laminoid Leggings
Heavy Gunner's Boots
Talon Belt
Talon Bracers
Republic Rifle (the L10 one! )
Unify to Chest Piece = Win

I love that look of that Vanguard. Looks very much like Master Cheif in red striped armour. Sure, no set bonus, but I am still at 54% shield and 54% absorption (62% while in combat from 4 stacks) and 20K HP. This is an 'alt' with 20K+ HP. So you can be well geared AND not have the set bonus. Would I be better with the set bonus? Yep, but I don't like the look for Columi and BM gear on a Vanguard. Looks great on my Commando, but not for a Vanguard. My opinion.

 

[zinfamous]

I have seen a lot of Bounty Hunter end-game gear that looks nice (and most of the crafted stuff for BH, in my mind, is pretty terrible); and if I ever stick around to get him to that point, I will be more focused on those pieces in that class.

I don't have much to say about this stuff on the republic side, because pubs are pathetic scum (at least, trying to play through the story as a jedi is a chore--I want to strangle most of them with their oozing, cult-like sanctimonious preaching of what is "good.")

 

[ArchAngel777]

So I decided to PUG Lost Island, mainly because I logged on late and my guildies were already for the most part in flashpoints. I am not sure why I decided to PUG it. I think because I wanted a challange. We one shot it with my regular guildies. Pretty easy.

Anyway, I get paired up with some people:

Shadow Tank
Sentinel DPS
Commndo DPS
Commando Medic (Me)

The tank didn't specify what his strategy was, didn't even say 'Hello' or talk. We litterally tried to skip every single mob. That is fine, and all, but maybe tell you group you are going to make every attempt? Well, he didn't have tell us, we figured it out. No big deal.

He then marks a target with a gun on it and says nothing. So I offered to CC the gun. He said 'That is what it is there for' - Yah, ok dick. Whatever.

So we down the trash, skip some more mobs and come to the first mini boss. This guy is easy, but does hit hard. As long as you don't stand in the floor candy, you should be fine.

Well, he pulls the boss and sits in the floor candy. I am keeping him up decently, but he just keeps taking huge hits and I just cannot keep him up. He dies, but we down the boss. When I wake up him up from his dirt nap, he says "Please tell me you are not in Centurian Gear"

This set me off. But I kept my cool and said, "no, my centurian gear is merely a shell. I like the look of it." Then I fired back at him and said "I never seen a 24K HP tank, take so much damage. Did you decide to augment HP instead of mitigation? I have never healed a tank that takes so much damage." He didn't respond. We moved on. Let me pause here... A close inspection of my character reveals the following with only the 4 main buffs (no stim active)

HP 22,700
AIM = 2,088
Power = 200ish
Alacrity = 308 (1.2/1.6 AMP/MP)
Crit = 401 (equates to 45% crit)
Surge = 206 (the point where severe DR hits)

Definitely well geared and is pretty rare when I find a commando geared better.

I also know the rotation nearly perfectly. When rotation is off, it doesn't matter, because I know how to keep ammo above 8, in the high regen zone. But, you know, it is always the healers fault when a tank dies, right? Yah, no.

Ok, so we clear some more trash and come to the first boss. The tank didn't explain the fight, he just said, "I am gonna pull him here." Didn't really give us a chance to talk and went in at it. Ok, fine. We end up wiping on that boss, it was close, but we wiped. Of course, he blamed everyone by saying we didn't stay behind him. Well, fair enough, but I told him how are we supposed to know if he is going to counter-clock wise or clock-wise? I told him he needs to specify. This is a PUG, we can't read minds here and we do not have voice chat. So, he specified clock-wise and we down the boss. Ok great.

We clear some more stuff, he skips litterally everything he can, even sapping stuff to skip it. I guess that is fine, but really, what is the harm is clearing 2-3 extra pulls of trash to make it 'safer' in case we have to run back? Whatever. We get the second boss.

We did wipe on the second boss, I fell behind on healing because a few of the guys didn't go to their terminals and got turned around. Commando healing isn't forgiving once you dip into low regen states and because it happened twice, even recharge cells wasn't enough to keep us up. We got the boss to 10%, but I just couldn't keep up. We wiped. No biggy, I wasn't upset. I was expecting the tank to lay the blame on me, but oddly enough he was silent... With that said, I feel that I could have done better, but it was still really upset with the tank and his comments. So, I am sure I made a mistake, but I believe the crux of it was the DPS getting mixed up on what terminals to go too. No big deal though.

A few of the guys fessed up and said they messed up on the terminals and it was their fault for the wipe. I told them, "naw, we just have never played together before and so we don't have the synergy that a regular group does" We tried the boss again, went flawlessly. Group was full health when boss died and I didn't have to use any cool downs. It was good to know that if something went wrong, I still have recharge cells and reserve power cell available. So it was all good.
I looked at the log file and it was ~1400 HPS, the most I have ever had to heal on that boss. I normally only need ~1100 HPS for him (a sign that someone is undergeared, likely the tank, but could be anyone)

Then we got to the last boss and finished it without dieing. So, basically we wiped twice, once on the first boss and once on the second. Took us about 45-60 minutes to clear.

After the instance completed, I put the tank on ignore so I don't ever have to group with him again. He wasn't a terrible tank skill wise (asside from the floor candy on the first boss), but he was very squishy and the moment he accused me of being undergeared based on my 'shell' I knew he would make my ignore list. Both tanks in our guild are far better. In all fairness it could be that Shadow tanks now suck. I have no idea, I never healed one before. I didn't like it though. My feeling is that he stacked endurance over mitigation (shield, defence, abs). IMO, I hate that. I'd prefer 20-22K health tank with the rest of the points into defence, shield, abs, depending on the tank. But, whatever.

But this is the reason I hate PUGs. Because there is always that one guy who is condescending... And here is the deal, the two DPS that were with, they don't have a clue if the Tank or the Healer is the problem. So, getting attacked like has to be defended, lest others get the wrong idea. Despite that, both the DPS thanked us and said we both did a great job. I can only go by experience and say that the DPS were awesome, but the tank really held back our group and was a jerk who didn't communicate.

 

[diesbudt]

But this was the reason I hate PUGs. Because there is always that one guy who is condescending... And here is the deal, the two DPS that were with, they don't have a clue if the Tank or the Healer was the problem. So, getting attacked like has to be defended, lest others get the wrong idea. Despite that, both the DPS thanked us and said we both did a great job. I can only go by experience and say that the DPS were awesome, but the tank really held back our group and was a jerk who didn't communicate.

In any MMO, the wannabe bad-ass best players are always condescending. Some are actually quite great at playing games and can understand why they act like that, but majority of them don't play well, they just assume everyone else sucks, and don't realize in almost any MMO, skill can drag a person farther along than gear. Gear helps yes, but it is never a defining factor.

Back in BC WoW. The illidan fight, guilds first time downing him (3rd to down him on server) I was a new addition and I still had 2 blue pieces and 2-3 low ilevel purple/epic pieces from kara, yet I did just fine.

But yea don't you just love pugs that act out like their the best, yet cant back-up their talk?

 

[Soccerman06]

Anyone know of any very good end game guilds that play ~3am central? I wouldnt mind playing but that is the only time I can raid reliably. Well weekend raids are possible but weird OT schedules may only let me raid late sat or sundays. I was a top 5 player in wow for years and stopped with Blood Legion prior to Cat. Probably wont ever get that hardcore ever again but would like to play with people that arent terrible. If it matters I play a dps caster and dps melee

 

[BenSkywalker]

Anyone know of any very good end game guilds that play ~3am central?

What server you on Soccerman?

So I decided to PUG Lost Island

You have far more patience then I

GW is not, and never has been F2P. You don't seem to understand that model.

How much do you pay for your sub to GW? My understanding of the different business models is quite solid, but what we are discussing is the player base. GW appeals to the hyper casual type players that flock to games without a subscription models, the type of players that think a one hour session is too much to ask of its' player base.

If you think it is simplisitc, that is because you didn't play it long enough. It is still more or less unmatched in amount and variety of PvP content (I'm not that much into PvP, honestly)

Aion, Warhammer, DAoC- all games with far more depth to their PvP and a far more complex gameplay system.

There are somewhere on the order of 600+ skills to be found, all of which can be used in any number of ways for any class. This allows for an incomparable amount potential builds for each class. Meaning--just about any profession can essentially play any role you want it to, so long as you know what you are doing.

FFXI and Rift are both deeper in what classes are capable of, by a lot.

The difference between the two models is that in this traditional model which you claim to be the only valid model for MMo is that you are limited by skills, by a handful of builds, and once you learn your little rotation, you are essentially defined by your gear.

LIST THE BUILDS AND ROTATIONS

If there is anything resembling truth to what you keep spewing out over and over then list these supposed narrowly defined builds and rotations. I keep asking you to, and you can't.

You also seem to be incapable of realizing that the way in which you gear your character is as much a strategy as the build you are using. Are you going to focus on a high alacrity energy intensive build for great burn spike damage, are you going to focus on power with a build for staying power for longer encounters, are you going to go for a crit/surge itemization bias and build your character around utilizing hybrid crit centered builds and rotations?

If you are extremely bad at the game, you can use default gear, maybe there are some examples of cookie cutter builds although honestly outside of a couple builds for PvP I'm not aware of them(and even those are relatively flexible).

What you're left with is creativity in creating a general, or often highly specific build that sometimes will only work with a complementary set of very specific builds from other players.

All of those elements are in ToR too, if you would take off the training wheels and do some content. Nightmare mode Foreman as a general example, lots of different ways to approach him, all depends on what skills the players in your op have at their disposal.

It's just a game, bro. Do I need to apologize for not appreciating your beloved endless cycle to get gear to play the same HM and OPs to get better gear to play that HM and OPs a little faster to get better gear to do it again, and again, and again? Running the same exact build every single time?

Running the same build every time, I lean back and forth on if I believe you have ever played the game or are just trolling. Come back with these exacting builds and rotations. Someone hating the game isn't anything that would bother me, shockingly profound ignorance is. You are talking out of your rectum to put it kindly.

List the exact specs

List the exact rotations

Try and scrounge them up on line, I know you don't have a clue on your own. My main is a Sorc too, just like you claim yours is. DPSd up through Denova using Madness, Lighting and Hybrid builds, Healed up through HM Denova on the same character(cuz everything is always the same....).

Are you telling me there is a way to use end-game armor sets, and have the skin look like any choices out of the crafted sets?

Why do you care for dailies? But if you actually played the game I would assume that you would know that you can move the campaign armoring into any piece of moddable gear you like. That isn't exactly anything approaching a secret.

But yes--before the update, it was better to choose 2 pieces of end game sets to get the first tier bonus: feet and hands, since those pieces could never be augmented anyway (uncraftable), then go head/chest/legs with crit-crafted augment gear.

So shockingly ignorant about the game. Your 2 pc bonus reduces the force cost on a couple spells by 2, if you are lightning build that should be utterly useless(unless you fail horribly and making a build)- you should never be close to running out of force. For anything under a 5 minute fight you shouldn't ever be close to going OoF with a Madness or hybrid build either, and since you have stated you don't do operations nothing you fight should last that long. Given that the 2pc bonus is of no use for what you do, why do you care anyway? Now, the 4pc set bonus with the 5% increased alacrity which is up the majority of time you are DPSing, that is actually of some value- alacrity in this game reduces GCD and makes DoTs tick faster- no matter the build.

If you are a healer since 1.2 and the massive nerf Sorcs got the 4pc bonus is pretty much mandatory(50 extra force).

Or, even better--set bonuses to more armor types.

Set bonus is available to all modable armor.

 

[Soccerman06]

What server you on Soccerman?

I havent started yet, Im gonna buy the $20 on amazon and maybe my beta account will be good enough to get whatever special thing they gave beta testers (title?). So whichever server you could suggest would be helpful.

 

[BenSkywalker]

I havent started yet, Im gonna buy the $20 on amazon and maybe my beta account will be good enough to get whatever special thing they gave beta testers (title?). So whichever server you could suggest would be helpful.

They recently have consolidated toons(voluntarily) onto ten servers which now have massive populations. I'll get the list of what they all are and post them so you can narrow your search down. I'm on The Shadowlands atm, a server with a shockingly huge disparity in skill(depressingly so). They have the type of people you are accustomed to running with, but getting to that point would likely be rather painful for you(not that it would take long).

With the server moves I run a lot around the time you are looking at, right in that time slot things have slowed down and while there are some reasonably decent people, they aren't anything like what you are used to(though if you really are serious about being more casual, they may be a good match for you, they are decent and can clear Nightmare content without too much trouble).

Also, if you haven't started yet you may want to consider a Bounty Hunter Merc over a Sorc. They violently sodomized Sorc DPS in 1.2(1.3 is live now) and they aren't competitive with Mercs at all(20%-30%, it isn't close). Ops mechanics in this game do offer some help for Sorcs as BHs insta cast options are pretty much nil, but for ranged DPS right now they have a sizeable lead(Snipers are closer then Sorcs, but the cover mechanic is kind of meh for most people).

 

[Soccerman06]

Wow everyone on 10 servers? lol what happened to this game? Shame they neutered sorcs

and ugh, I hate having to start from the gutters.

 

[BenSkywalker]

10 servers for the US and EU each, they are kind of different from the norm. During peak time on my server we will have ~750 people in the Imperial Fleet(Orgimmar), at 4am there is frequently ~75-100 people on. I haven't seen population densities like this before.

They are way down from peak, end game content was weak at launch and by the time they got a raid up with a decent challenge level, they were several months in and it came at the same time as the massive nerf to the most popular class.

End game content is coming along fairly decently now, and it seems like the server populations have stabilized.

You won't be in the gutters very long, this game is insanely easy to get geared in. 8 man raid bosses drop 4 pieces of gear, 5 bosses per- it really doesn't take long at all to get geared up and out of the gutters(particularly if you know any people on the server you are going to, they can hook you up and get you a few run through on hard mode ops, you'll be ready for end game in no time).

 

[darkewaffle]

Are you telling me there is a way to use end-game armor sets, and have the skin look like any choices out of the crafted sets? That is what I'm atlkaing about--every single piece of end-game armor, for my class (Inquisitor) is FUGLY. I don't want to run around looking like a retarded Pope in plastic shoulderpads. (lack of set bonuses in crafted or non end-game comm sets is what kills all other armor)

Until ToR adds a "costume" slot or something like that--so you really can choose which gear you want--this update has limited your choices substantially. Or, even better--set bonuses to more armor types.

Unless I'm not understanding something about the augment kits, that's exactly what's finally happened. Prior to the patch, the only gear acceptable for min/maxing was that which could have an augment slot. Period.

That limited your choices for augmented gear, because you simply cannot craft every appearance in the game and crafting is the only source of augment slots. Well, maybe base appearance, but there are a lot of color variations for each as well which people may want to use.

I have a sith sorceror. Far and away, my favorite gear apperance was our Taris quest reward set, the High Sorcerer Adept gear. There is a craftable set, the Sorcerer Adept set, which I think uses the same pieces. Now fortunately, with the latest patch I believe, a Sorcerer Adept Gloves/Boots were both added so whether or not kits were added is a moot point for this particular set and my desires in particular.

However, what if someone wants the Renowned Templar Adept set? It's essentially the same appearance (and comes from the very same quests), but swaps the blue/grey accenting for a deep red. To my knowledge, there is no crafted set bearing this coloration. Without the augment kits, a person who wants to wear this set would never be able to get augmented gear. And the same applies to numerous other sets for every other class; without kits, you could not obtain augmented versions of them.

In theory you could address this by adding crafting patterns for every color in the game but that would simply further clutter the crafting window and force people to run low level missions over and over and over and simply hope the right patterns eventually pop up; a long, aggravating and quite possibly fruitless process. You could integrate some sort of color choice system into the "unify" option or into the crafting menu but then that takes away from what makes certain appearances more unique/hard to find as well as slighting players who have bothered to collect such things already, or you can just add augment kits. The latter seems the much simpler, cleaner, and economically useful solution to me.

Whether or not an armoring transfers the set bonus is an entirely different issue; yes only War Hero or Campaign level gear can move the set bonuses but that's got nothing to do with this.

 

[TheUnk]

Also, if you haven't started yet you may want to consider a Bounty Hunter Merc over a Sorc. They violently sodomized Sorc DPS in 1.2(1.3 is live now) and they aren't competitive with Mercs at all(20%-30%, it isn't close). Ops mechanics in this game do offer some help for Sorcs as BHs insta cast options are pretty much nil, but for ranged DPS right now they have a sizeable lead(Snipers are closer then Sorcs, but the cover mechanic is kind of meh for most people).

Huh? I play sage dps, which I assume is the rep version of the sorc.. As far as PVP goes 9 times out of 10 I'm top DPS by a pretty large margin 100-200k+. This includes ranked matches. My record so far is 726k.


If this is sodomized then pre 1.2 they must have been godly.

 

[darkewaffle]

IIRC the only significant sage/sorc nerf in 1.2 was to their healing; also the few buffs to warriors/knights were indirect nerfs to them as well lol.

 

[BenSkywalker]

As far as PVP goes 9 times out of 10 I'm top DPS by a pretty large margin 100-200k+

Force Storm, or whatever it is called for the Pub side, is the best sustained AoE DPS in the game, that doesn't do much against Ops bosses as there is very little AoE and none of it is sustained. They were godly in PvP prior to 1.2, that is why we got nerfed so badly, unfortunately we were still hard pressed to hang with the Merc prior to the nerf on ops bosses and it was a *big* nerf.

IIRC the only significant sage/sorc nerf in 1.2 was to their healing

I have a talent tree app on my phone that I kept from pre 1.2, never updated it. For Sage's Empowered Throw used to increase Telekinetic Damage by 4%/8%/12%, now it's 2%/4%/6%(Calcify/Force Lightning for Sorcs). Presence of Mind used to have a 30% chance each time it dealt damage to make any spell with an activation time to become instant cast and deal an additional 20% damage. This now only works with Lightning Strike and Crushing Darkness(it used to work with telekinetic wave/chain lightning which was the core of Sorc/Sage DPS prior to 1.2). There was a reasonable amount of flexibility, but those two talents, along with picking up Telekinetic Wave/Chain Lightning would have you competitive with Mercs(although still not Marauders).

So we lost 6% on our most used spell, and then we lost an insta cast spell out of our rotation that right now for me would be hitting for ~4.3K when procced(the spell still had an ICD although that could be reset, Lightning Strike had a 30% chance to proc a reset of the ICD on Chain Lightning so you normally had ~6-7ish seconds between Chain Lightning procs).

The Sorc DPS nerf was *huge*.

 

[TheUnk]

Force Storm, or whatever it is called for the Pub side, is the best sustained AoE DPS in the game, that doesn't do much against Ops bosses as there is very little AoE and none of it is sustained. They were godly in PvP prior to 1.2, that is why we got nerfed so badly, unfortunately we were still hard pressed to hang with the Merc prior to the nerf on ops bosses and it was a *big* nerf.

No, people are just bad. I rarely use force quake/storm.

 

[Sentrosi2121]

I'm probably going to be retiring our guild after this week. I had to cancel our second raid night in a row because of lack of signups. And I'm not about to PUG EC or any other Operation.

A number of factors is contributing to this fact. The number one reason why we're folding is going to be because of Planetside 2. You can't go wrong with free and a number of us are old Planetside vets and can't wait to get back to Auraxis. I'm having a division wide meeting next Monday night. But I've already read the tea-leaves and beta will probably begin within the next week, based on the tweets from John Smedley and Matt Higby.

So the run was fun while it lasted. I'm proud of my division within CDL. Virtually zero drama and we had some great success within the game. But it's time to hang up my sorc robes, put away my light saber, and store my Fury.

There's a war on Auraxis that needs to be won.

 

[zinfamous]

Unless I'm not understanding something about the augment kits, that's exactly what's finally happened. Prior to the patch, the only gear acceptable for min/maxing was that which could have an augment slot. Period.


Whether or not an armoring transfers the set bonus is an entirely different issue; yes only War Hero or Campaign level gear can move the set bonuses but that's got nothing to do with this.

well that has everything to do with what I am talking about, so it seems there is still some confusion.

With rakata gear, you can't move armor set bonuses--they are the only PvE gear that gives you tiered bonuses for the set. Before, you could not augment them, so it made a lot of sense for several classes, to stick to two pieces of that set for the first tier bonus, then crafted augmented gear for 3 pieces.


I'm talking PvE (very little interest in PvP). So, if you can move tiered armor bonuses with PvP gear to other PvP gear, I guess that's something. Can you move it to any other gear?


There is nothing in the augment kit update that provides armor set bonuses for 2 or 5 pieces of an armor set, unless the currently rare craftable hands and boots are somehow providing these (without a description in any of the pieces).

As for working with colors--I do like that you can now augment un-craftable skins, and colors that do not exist in the single craftable set.

But the way to "fix" this if it is an issue for some is not to add more schematics for different colors of the same set (that would be insane), but to add dyes.

 

[BenSkywalker]

I'm talking PvE

If you decide to ever actually play the game, the Campaign gear vendor is right next to the Rakata gear vendor along with all the other PvE vendors. That has the armoring mods that can be moved including the set bonus, neither of which are new in the latest patch.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Updated the game since Bioware has that free week going on. I thought I'd finally be able to hit up those flashpoints I could never do with the group finder. I was wrong. The queue was horrible. No ETA and left it going for an hour. I can finally uninstall this game.

 

[Wordplay]

Had a hard time resubbing yesterday. Kept getting an error message after entering my CC information. Called the help desk to see if they could take my CC information over the phone and apply it my account, they couldn't. Tried one last time to resub and it worked.

Woke up this morning looked at my bank account online and noticed I have 7 resub charges that are being processed. Awesome!!! Called the SWTOR help desk just a few minutes ago and they only see one payment processed. Well at least that is what the CS rep stated in a unsure/nervous voice.

Not a happy camper at the moment.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Well, I decided to start leveling my sage again. I have a well geared 50 Vanguard Tank spec, and a well geared L50 Commando Medic. Time for a DPS class.

My Sage is actually the first character I created. He is now L46.5 and should have a bunch of gear waiting for him at 50. I love that legacy gear... Really allows me to transfer some high end gear straight him right when he hits 50.

It will be interesting to see what I can parse for on the operations dummy in Columi grade gear. I am expecting to be able to hit 1,100-1,200.

The difficult part is going to be how far I take surge. 200 surge is about the point where DR hits pretty hard. But, Alacrity only benefits one spell with the balance spec (telekenitic throw). So, it will become a balance between at which point surge offers less than what TK is going to give on the speed increase.

I have 2 main instant cast DOTs, 1 instant AoE, TK until proc for instant castable DoT and TK, TK, rinse repeat... Perhaps weaving in project, but I'd have to parse the numbers. It is an incredably easy rotation. It doesn't offer much in the way burst DPS, but it sure as heck puts out some decent numbers that creep up. But, the point is more to have fun.

It is really too bad that sages get the short end of the stick with outfits. Sage gear is horribly pathetic looking. I am finding that I have to use adapative social gear to stand the look of him. I like the Balmorra social gear quite a bit and I like the Republic Pilot Rank 2 set look. Sort of reminds me of the big Daddy's in the Bioshock series.

 

[BenSkywalker]

It will be interesting to see what I can parse for on the operations dummy in Columi grade gear. I am expecting to be able to hit 1,100-1,200.

Sounds about right, the other DPS tree is higher but offers far less mobility.

The difficult part is going to be how far I take surge. 200 surge is about the point where DR hits pretty hard.

Balance is Madness, so surge isn't that important in that build, it's a lot more important if you go whatever the lightning tree is.

But, Alacrity only benefits one spell with the balance spec (telekenitic throw).

That is actually wrong. Alacrity reduces the time between ticks and also reduces your GCD. ~10% is where alacrity DR starts to kick in(forget what numerical value that is). Alacrity is actually pretty big for Sorcs/Sages.

I have 2 main instant cast DOTs, 1 instant AoE, TK until proc for instant castable DoT and TK, TK, rinse repeat... Perhaps weaving in project, but I'd have to parse the numbers. It is an incredably easy rotation. It doesn't offer much in the way burst DPS, but it sure as heck puts out some decent numbers that creep up. But, the point is more to have fun.

Biggest advantage is how much dps you can sustain while moving.

It is really too bad that sages get the short end of the stick with outfits.

Heh, me and one of my buddies are rolling pube toons now and I got a kick out of how shockingly bad the Sage gear was in terms of looks(he is rolling a Sage so wasn't quite as amused).