It is built for juggs, not assassins. There isn't one for assassin tanks (thanks Bioware). It isn't terrible, but one of the on use effect ones is better. And strength does do something. It just isn't good at all.

No no no. -It's 5 pieces of gear. -It's a big difference. -Some people, including myself, like to min/max. Please don't post unless you're being helpful. I'd like to know the best way to mod PVP gear as well. Bumping this for you.

Madness is better. Madness is better. Madness is better.

Madness is great in pvp right now, and brings competitive dps. I've never had anyone complain to me about guard. If they do, they are retarded. Lack of raid spots is probably due to the huge number of inquisitors out there. Probably don't want loot competition. Dps is fine. Desception needs some love, but at least we have a viable spec.

Have you even tried it out? It works from the sides too. It is rediculously easy to get off a maul, unless you are against a VERY good player (<2% of everyone)

Question. Fully optimising mods and such, would the way to go be stacking the 48 will / 37 power mods, and the 34 power / 48 surge enhancements from Champion level operative gear? Or maybe accuracy to 100%, because before 100% you can miss and it can be parried? Or maybe it still isn't worth it. Also, it seems like force master offset pieces are mostly better. Am I right?

1) One or two Rakata pieces shouldn't gear someone up for NMM alone, especially with the NMM buffs that I'm recommending. 2) Yeah that is exactly my point. I'm an assassin tank. I have a couple Rakata pieces, and I'm forced to swap the augments out for the Columi ones with shield instead of accuracy. There needs to be more choice and customization. In my post, I meant that there should be more top-tier mods so this issue goes away.

I like multi-tier raiding. It has its problems though. Since whatever is the highest tier at the time will be very hard, even with proper gear, basically the content has to be nerfed when the next tier gets released to maintain the difficulty "latter", which makes proper balancing pretty difficult. You also have to consider that players trying to get into raiding a little late have to go through multiple raids, instead of just getting boosted to the normal mode of the current raid. Casual players also complain about not being able to fight the last boss of the game, before the expansion, ie. Kil'Jaeden or Kel Thuzad. There are pros with the system too though. Everyone gets to witness all of the content, early stuff included, even if they start raiding a few months late. I think the system gives motivation to casuals as well. They see someone in Fleet with a lightsaber drop from Darth Maul (just an example), and there is a sense of wonder, because they don't even dream of ever getting that far, instead of "Lol no big deal, I just pugged him on NM". Like I said, I like the system, but I doubt Bioware will implement it. I think there's a more realistic chance of my suggestions getting implemented.

Hello guys. I think most of us can agree that the current operations system isn't perfect. As a long time MMO player. I think I've thought of a solution for the next raiding tier, with Bioware's mission in mind. Wall of text incoming. There is no TLDR. If you don't want to read it, don't, and please don't comment. The Problems Bioware obviously wants normal mode to be easy and very casual-friendly. That's fine by me. It seems they want NM to be eventually puggable, and something most players can do without a hardcore raiding guild. The problem is that the gear is the exact same as HM flashpoints. The casual player wearing HM flashpoint gear will only gain benefit from pugging HM ops, and if they can pug HM ops, then NM is irrelevant. Judging by Bioware's intent for NM to be very casual, it seems to me that HM should be the progression tier of typical, non-hardcore guilds, if you know what I'm getting at. Average raiding guilds should be progressing in HMs, maybe progressing one or two bosses per week (granted that Bioware wants NM to be puggable). The gear seems to be in a good place for this mode. Rakata gear can drop, giving guilds incentive to raid and progress. The problem is the difficulty. Casual guilds should be progressing on HM, not blowing through it. Before I move onto Nightmare Mode, I need to address an issue I have with both HM and NMM. Raiding is like solving a puzzle (a real one, not the undertuned EV boss). When progression starts, the fight is chaos. As you learn the mechanics, the fight gets easier and easier to deal with, until everything falls into place. Killing the boss is like solving the puzzle. You learn all the mechanics of the fight, and put it all together to kill the bad guy. Surprisingly, the next time the ops group tries the boss, it usually dies relatively easily, because the strategy is in their heads already. The fun part of raiding (opsing?) is the problem solving aspect - the sense of accomplishment. By not adding new mechanics for HM and NMM, the puzzle is already solved, since everyone knows the fight and knows what to do. It effectively becomes a boring gear check. This is bad. Now onto NMM. I have two problems here. First, the gear is the exact same as HM. That's not so good. This mode is supposed to be the hardcore progression mode, and right now there is so incentive to do it. Second, it isn't nearly hard enough. No where near hard enough. Bioware seems to underestimate top tier guilds. If this mode is their "tier", it's gotta be hard. I don't mean tuning up damage and HP, I mean adding new, difficult mechanics. To have a NMM bosses as fundamentally simple as some of those in the game currently (council, pylons, robot..) will not keep a competitive raiding crowd. The Solutions NM is tuned pretty well for its purpose. All it needs is a little incentive for casual players, besides the experience. Adding a rakata-level piece or two to the last boss solves the problem. Gives casuals incentive, keeps the environment casual, and gives incentive to join a guild and move onto HM (if you so desire, of course). HM is too easy. Like I said, this should and will be the progression tier for average raiding guilds. Bioware needs to bump up damage and HP, but also add mechanics to make the fights more complicated. They don't have to be too confusing. Honestly, if they added one or two more mechanics, and maybe tuned the bosses up about 5-10%, i think HM would be in a good place. If the average raiding guild spends a night on a boss, and at the end of the night either kills it, or gets close, that would already be a much better raiding system, based on actually learning new fights. They could also add a higher level item to the last boss of HM. There's already incentive to run HM, but adding a higher level item to the last boss would stick to the pattern imposed by NM, and in my experience, make the last boss more epic. Now onto NMM, the mode that's currently farthest from where it should be. This mode should be HARD. They need to add even more mechanics than they need to add for HM. The first attempt on a NMM boss should be chaos, even in the appropriate gear. If Bioware wants hardcore raiding guilds, the fights have to be difficult to master, (3-4 more mechanics then they have now), and tuned up 10-15% from where they are now. NMM should have its own tier of gear. NMM dropping the same gear as HM is madness. NMM needs an entire tier of gear to itself, not only to incentivize it, but to create distinction between the hardcore guys that do NMM, and the casuals who don't. I'm not being elitist, but more work should ALWAYS yield a higher result. I like WoW's system of adding the words "heroic" before the items stats to clarify the difference. One Miscelaneous Point Itemization is pretty bad. There is essentially no choice of gear for each class. This is bad because it goes against the whole goal of modding. Everyone raiding at a high level runs around in full "rakata"-there is hardly any choice of stats that the player can partake in. This is even more true, considering modding is the only way to alter gear (anything like enchanting from WoW is absent), and honestly, modding hasn't done its job at all, considering the highest level mods are already in the Rakata gear. The solution should be something like this: Make other items besides tier items drop in ops, and give them diverse mods. Diverse mods are essential to this game, because currently, all kinds of gear custemizatoln are absent. Bioware could also do something better with Augments. Maybe add more augment slots, and make augments more fun. Maybe give weapons a special augment slot, which can accept "fun" augments, which gives the weapon a cool proc or something. Bioware has a lot of options here, but the current system leaves no room for customization, optimization, or anything else really. If Bioware wanted gear to be more flexible, theyve failed. Conclusion That's basically it. There are my criticisms and suggestions for the endgame, regarding ops and gear. If you read it, I'd love to hear your opinions. Bioware: even if you don't like the suggestions, something must be done to make endgame better, and fast. Maybe just release a statement, and tell us what you're thinking. Many raiders' attentions are waning, so this is very high priority.

Bump.

Bumping. Don't want this to go unnoticed, I spent a lot of time on this

Hello guys. I think most of us can agree that the current operations system isn't perfect. As a long time MMO player. I think I've thought of a solution for the next raiding tier, with Bioware's mission in mind. Wall of text incoming. There is no TLDR. If you don't want to read it, don't, and please don't comment. The Problems Bioware obviously wants normal mode to be easy and very casual-friendly. That's fine by me. It seems they want NM to be eventually puggable, and something most players can do without a hardcore raiding guild. The problem is that the gear is the exact same as HM flashpoints. The casual player wearing HM flashpoint gear will only gain benefit from pugging HM ops, and if they can pug HM ops, then NM is irrelevant. Judging by Bioware's intent for NM to be very casual, it seems to me that this mode should be the progression tier of typical, non-hardcore guilds, if you know what I'm getting at. Average raiding guilds should be progressing in HMs, maybe progressing one or two bosses per week (granted that Bioware wants NM to be puggable). The gear seems to be in a good place for this mode. Rakata gear can drop, giving guilds incentive to raid and progress. The problem is the difficulty. Casual guilds should be progressing on HM, not blowing through it. Before I move onto Nightmare Mode, I need to address an issue I have with both HM and NMM. Raiding is like solving a puzzle (a real one, not the undertuned EV boss). When progression starts, the fight is chaos. As you learn the mechanics, the fight gets easier and easier to deal with, until everything falls into place. Killing the boss is like solving the puzzle. You learn all the mechanics of the fight, and put it all together to kill the bad guy. Surprisingly, the next time the ops group tries the boss, it usually dies relatively easily, because the strategy is in their heads already. The fun part of raiding (opsing?) is the problem solving aspect - the sense of accomplishment. By not adding new mechanics for HM and NMM, the puzzle is already solved, since everyone knows the fight and knows what to do. It effectively becomes a boring gear check. This is bad. Now onto NMM. I have two problems here. First, the gear is the exact same as HM. That's not so good. This mode is supposed to be the hardcore progression mode, and right now there is so incentive to do it. Second, it isn't nearly hard enough. No where near hard enough. Bioware seems to underestimate top tier guilds. If this mode is their "tier", it's gotta be hard. I don't mean tuning up damage and HP, I mean adding new, difficult mechanics. To have a NMM bosses as fundamentally simple as some of those in the game currently (council, pylons, robot..) will not keep a competitive raiding crowd. The Solutions NM is tuned pretty well for its purpose. All it needs is a little incentive for casual players, besides the experience. Adding a rakata-level piece or two to the last boss solves the problem. Gives casuals incentive, keeps the environment casual, and gives incentive to join a guild and move onto HM (if you so desire, of course). HM is too easy. Like I said, this should and will be the progression tier for average raiding guilds. Bioware needs to bump up damage and HP, but also add mechanics to make the fights more complicated. They don't have to be too confusing. Honestly, if they added onw or two more mechanics, and maybe tuned the bosses up about 5-10%, i think HM would be in a good place. If the average raiding guild spends a night on a boss, and at the end of the night either kills it, or gets close, that would already be a much better raiding system, based on actually learning new fights. They could also add a higher level item to the last boss of HM. There's already incentive to run HM, but adding a higher level item to the last boss would stick to the pattern imposed by NM, and in my experience, make the last boss more epic. Now onto NMM, the mode that's currently farthest from where it should be. This mode should be HARD. They need to add even more mechanics. The first attempt on a NMM boss should be chaos, even in the appropriate gear. If Bioware wants hardcore raiding guilds, the fights have to be difficult to master, (3-4 mkre mechanics then they have now), and tuned up 10-15% from where they are now. NMM should have its own tier of gear. NMM dropping the same gear as HM is madness. NMM needs an entire tier of gear to itself, not only to incentivize it, but to create distinction between the hardcore guys that do NMM, and the casuals who don't. I'm not being elitist, but more work should ALWAYS yield a higher result. I like WoW's system of adding the words "heroic" before the items stats to clarify the difference. One Miscelaneous Point Itemization is pretty bad. There is essentially no choice of gear for each class. This is bad because it goes against the whole goal of modding. Everyone raiding at a high level runs around in full "rakata"-there is hardly any choice of stats that the player can partake in. This is even more true, considering modding is the only way to alter gear (think enchanting from WoW), and honestly, modding hasn't done its job at all, considering the highest level mods are already in the Rakata gear. The solution should be something like this: Make other items besides tier items drop in ops, and give them diverse mods. Diverse mods are essential to this game, because currently, all kinds of gear custemizatoln are absent. Bioware could also do something better with Augments. Maybe add more augment slots, and make augments more fun. Maybe give weapons a special augment slot, which can accept "fun" augments, which gives the weapon a cool proc or something. Bioware has a lot of options here, but the current system leaves no room for customization, optimization, or anything else really. If Bioware wanted gear to be more flexible, theyve failed. Conclusion That's basically it. There are my criticisms and suggestions for the endgame, regarding ops and gear. If you read it, I'd love to hear your opinions. Bioware: even if you don't like the suggestions, something must be done to make endgame better, and fast. Maybe just release a statement, and tell us what you're thinking. Many raiders' attentions are waning, so this is. Ery high priority.

0/10.

I don't think that custom items with an augment exist. The DE thread says they've seen weapons with an augment slot (I think the only custom crafted double bladed lightsaber costs 3 "frozen orbs"), but no one has seen moddable armor with an augment. Also, any idea where I can pick up moddable bracers/belt? Ive checked the GTN multiple times a day for a few days now.. And you said they had 2 mod slots? Which 2?

Thank you for the answers. A few more points of clarification: 1) So basically to craft a piece with all 4 mod slots, I need to find a recipe for a fully moddable blue, and eventually get an epic version of it? I don't think there are any moddable crafting recipes from the trainer. 2) moddable wrist/belt will always be better than a crafted epic with an augment? Sorry for all the questions. I min/max too much for my own good.

Sorry.. noob(ish) questions. 1) I have seen zero orange bracers or belts. Where are these from? Don't see any on torhead either. 2) The neck and implants on the guide don't show up on there either. Not sure where I can find them. 3) I'm assuming that all crafted items, blue and purple included, can come back with an augment slot, even though I've only seen greens with one so far. I have no augment gear, so I guess I need to start crafting.. I assume that the easiest way to get a "BiS" piece is keep crafting a cheap, moddable piece and hope for an augment. 4) This also means that my rakata stuff from synth isn't BiS at all, and I should pick up biochem. 5) Does your list take into account tier gear and set bonuses, which don't have augment slots built in? Thanks for the great guide.

What about relics? Do you recommend the on use ones, or the datacron one?

Hello. Great guide, especially the mitigation part. I haven't seen that anywhere else.. I hope your calculations are right because this is the first definitive post about mitigation weights that I've seen. Now onto business First off, there's been some math on sithwarrior.com regarding full darkness rotations, since you asked for some info on that topic. None of this is my math, so I'm not positive it's correct. You can find it on post #11 HERE It confirms that assassinating below 30% generates more longterm threat than lightning, shock, and thrash. Assuming you want to keep the debuffs up, the single target rotation is something like DW > Wither debuff > Discharge debuff > assassinate > FL > shock > thrash Of course, assassinate doesn't increase survivability while FL, shock, and thrash do. It's also probably worth it to shock if harnessed darkness is about to fall off, even if you don't have a proc, but I'm not positive. For 2 mobs, it's the same, but wither on CD increases total threat. For 3-4 mobs, it is DW > wither on CD > discharge on CD > FL > shock > lacerate main difference being that lacerate > thrash For 5+ mobs, it's DW > wither > discharge > lacerate I also have a question regarding the viability of the hybrid build. I'm level 46 currently, and I've been leveling as full darkness. It seems like the hybrid build has a LOT more threat, both single and AoE. My question: is it needed for HM flashpoints and operations? Obviously full darkness is better for survivability, but is the extra threat really worth it, possibly just for HM flashpoints?

Or just use a normal keyboard but still don't be a clicker. Obvious salesman.

Long time hardcore mmo raider. It's all about a balance of w a d and the mouse (yes, I left out s). Learn to strafe: hold down the right mouse button and press a or d, sometimes in conjunction with w. Use the same had to use skills from 1-6. You can also bind skills to q e r t d f1-f4, extraneous mouse buttons, etc. You don't need q and e for sideways movement. A and d + hold down right click is better. I personally put my ring ringer on 1, middle on 2, index on 3, etc. Some people shift that to the left one and use their pinky on 1. It's all preference. I highly recommend against arrow keys. Good job asking. You are the type of player who wants to get better, and will become non-bad very quickly.

This won't be any help because you said you preordered in July and you aren't in. But I preordered on Aug 19 and I'm not in either.