[Which comapnions do you like/hate]

Honestly I love Kira. She has that dry sense of humor I really appreciate and she's only slightly more entertaining than Vette (but not by much) so she keeps me entertained. However when it comes right down to a companion I want removed from my ship via the missile tube? Skadge. I loath him in ways that are the basis for war crimes in the Geneva Convention. I was mad I had to take him with me at the end of Belsavis. I wanted to actually put two in his head and leave him to die. Of course that whole quest there was upsetting. I wanted a better lightside choice for the guy I was hunting, Skadge was just the icing on the cake as I had to take the Corky version of the Michelin people with me wherever I go.

[Denova - stuck on Firebrand and Stormcaller - Story Mode!]

Be thankful you dont have our issues. We keep getting lightning spikes inside the shield. Dunno how. He targets the kiter consistently, then at random one comes inside the shield. No pattern or we'd plan around it. Cant seem to figure out why. Needless to say it's killing our chances of downing the boss. Which is sad, since we pretty much know we can take them, just that 1 random spike kills us almost every time.

[Lost Island, ***...]

We finished this. Spent 3 nights at about 2-3 hours a piece on this one. Mostly due to Incinerate not having a cast bar until after it started. This was true of all 4 members, and we put in a ticket. Honestly this fight is horrible beyond belief. A Guardian tank, Sentinel and Guardian DPS and a Sage healer. I'd hate to see a Trooper in this make-up because without an interrupt they're just a liability.

 

Hard Modes are a sad affair in this game. They're not fun for the most part. It's just tons easier to run EV/KP and it costs you far less in repairs. Which I find strange. Because if you're wanting to gear up this is something you should do, however mechanics as they are (unforgiving) mean that you should not need anything gear wise from here and be doing it for the black hole coms only. Which is incredibly sad.

[Trooper or jedi]

Honestly Knight or Consular before Trooper. Based on story alone that's my answer. I wont even touch ACs except to say if you want to have some serious fun? Kinetic Shadow. Nuff said.

[Cybertechers. Forgotten Again.]

Artifice also shares your pain. No augments we can craft, and now we cant make kits to add augment slots. If even they'd let us make all the color crystals to sell that'd be one thing. Of course I still would like an Artifice grenade. Those would ease my pain. But I'll live with my crystal cutting even though I should go Synthweaving if I ever want to make any credits on my profession. Oh well, right?

[Guild's Raid Comp Issues]

Oh I agree that the special ability warnings are 75% of the time still easily spottable, but once you look out for it there are certain key things you do notice that have only audio ques and from a tank's perspective (in the bad guy's crotch) you can't see them move to a different stance sometimes. Just allowing the toggle of warning text for those who choose is a quality of life issue for him. He doesn't complain, but we can see that when the bosses don't cast or have fly text on everyone's screen his reaction time is 1-2 seconds slower.

 

For the melee... well the AOE needs to be there. I agree. I wish it was more evenly dispersed to not punish one style, but I sort of live with it. The issue I do have is giving that sort of mechanic a work out on a lot of bosses, and then not giving AOE damage reductions to melee DPS classes while others have them. Those 2 skill points make such a huge difference sometimes it's just hard to not complain when the Sentinel is laughing his way through a fight and the Guardian is standing a country mile away waiting for the healer to get to him.

[Guild's Raid Comp Issues]

This game has done a pretty good job of giving audio for when bosses do certain abilities so you can hear "Hey! Defensive Protocols!" and react. With game sound being iffy this has caused us some problems, but we can fix it. What my guild runs into is a severe issue at times. Certain key abilities only display as audio. The previously mentioned defensive measures for the tanks in Denova are pretty good (when audio works) but we have a pretty unique situation. One of our MTs is deaf.

 

Now I know that things like Toth and Zorn's key abilities get a warning text. Which is fine (barring class comp issues I'll get to in a minute) but with audio-only ques one of our MTs relies almost completely on someone typing them to align themselves. The channeling bars being a good visual for him before the dome phase, but if a boss only does audio and nothing visual, he has to keep one eye on the chat log at all times. Now it just means he's a little slower, but as we delve deeper into Denova this is an issue because reaction time needs to be pretty spot-on.

 

Our worst offender for him has almost always been the first boss in EV. Who does an audio only warning for the AOE and has no channel bar. Now this is pretty petty in terms of issues, but an option to get those warnings on screen even as a toggle would be wonderful. It's quality of life for a guy who can't hear, but is otherwise more than capable in his role.

 

The other issue we run into is melee taking it in the face. Which isn't so bad, except that there is no AOE damage reduction for the Vigilance tree. So on Toth and Zorn it's pretty much half a fight where no DPS is happening while someone is way out of range waiting to get topped off. This is also a recurring issue every time we do a new difficulty of Gharj, Bonecrusher and pretty consistent on Toth. Maybe that's more a class issue, but wouldn't it make some sense to take that into consideration when you think "OH! Melee take AOE damage. How much damage will X spec take?" I know Vanguards have the same issue, so it seems sort of odd that 8% more armor than medium armored DPS means they take 22% more damage when that's all the damage they're suppose to take.

 

The other issue we have OPs wise is that without a sage, some fights are a simple nightmare. I know all healing specs are suppose to have their niche, but is it not feaseable to up the AOE ability of Troopers? Because we literally pick strats depending on if we have a Trooper/Sage combo or 2 Sages that night.

 

Any outside suggestions would be welcome, but from what I can find these are unique comp issues we seems to bump the walls with pretty regularly and I'd love some suggestions on how to help. Especially with our MT who really has no fault in this, and it's one of those outlying things that you just cannot plan for.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

~Mimic

[The Jedi Consular/Jedi knight need seperate ships!]

I think it's a valid complaint. Same as SW/SI need to have their ships altered. They're nice ships, don't get me wrong, but the Defender was designed pretty much with the Consular in mind. Knights need something less public I guess? They don't need a board room they never use. But that's my opinion.

[List of the populated "good" servers to reroll on]

Tarro Blood is still sizeable enough to get lots of low-level pvp ques even on the Republic (which needs more lowbies for flashpoints) and it has a good solid community for the most part. Empire side is pretty much where it should be, but Republic could use some love in regard to more people. I'd say another 20 level 50s floating on the server to fill various spaces in guilds and it would improve quality of life perfectly. And that's assuming my guild only gets 1 of them.

 

I hear wonderful things about Shadowlands too. It doesn't hurt that the server gets plenty of people from podcast listeners to Sunny's Dinner. I even have a lowby there I toy with sometimes. But if anyone wants to join either server I know that both sides of them are well played and some extra bodies (specially Republic for Tarro) would not hurt one single bit.

[PVE, the Melee/Range Bias, and what can be done]

This is also the basis of why I'm really upset at some of the skill point issues with Guardian/Jugg and Vanguard/Power Tech DPS trees. There is no AOE damage reduction in them for the DPS specs. So throw a Marauder and a Jugg DPS at the same target and the Marauder takes 30% less damage. And they have more defensive cooldowns (better ones too) and you see the issue pretty clearly. AOE damage reduction is a must talent for PVE melee when AOE is the go-to of punishing melee. Just seems that that talent sort of evens out the difficulty levels in terms of movement and such.

 

Like if a Sniper has to stop, take cover and shoot, then when they move they have less damage because they are moving. Most BH/Trooper dps needs to channel their damage. Same with Sorc/Sage. But they don't take "required damage" because they don't have talents to allow them to shave some of that off. But a couple melee specs have to take it all in the face. Just doesn't seem right to me.

[@David Hunt: rethink 50k augment costs in 1.3]

@the post about severely undercutting

 

Or you could look at it as you're undercutting to the point where you're spending your time doing things for close to free for other players. A custom built assault cannon will take on the average 40 bronzium, 30 plastoid, 20 conductive flux, and 30 plastifiber. At an abundant mission you can get 8-9 of each scavenging material and I think 4-6 or so with investigation for each mission so you're looking at 5 missions for the bronzium, 4 for the plastoid, and lets' say 6 for the plastifiber. With that many missions you're looking at 15 to 30 minutes where you're sending out companions every couple minutes to do something after the initial four minutes peace when you start; we'll say in the time the other seller spends waiting he buys the conductive flux so I won't even include that time as he or she can't do very much else but craft anyway. For myself for the time part alone I wouldn't even consider making the product for less than 50,000 credits profit. The materials can be bought instead but if they're bought the only way there is any return at all is if the materials are selling for less than 139.5 credits per piece on the average (15,000 - trade network fees of 6%- the costs for the conductive flux). On top of that if you can sell the materials for as low as 250 credits each that's an additional 25,000 for the bronzium, plastoid, and plastifiber; if these materials sell for as low as 150 credits each that's still 15,000 credits which is equal to your selling price just for the materials and not including the time investment. Then you also have the six percent trade network fees. Personally, I'd rather make the elegant modified assault cannon as the materials are a lot more but the time investment is a lot less so I can do other things besides craft while I'm making them.

 

If your satisfaction in-game comes from doing things for other random players that's fine; I'd appreciate it just like I'd appreciate it if someone decided that instead of taking the credits for their dailies they'd rather hand them over to me instead. However, I wouldn't call the other seller an idiot if he or she believes that after crafting an item it'd be nice if a return was received that was at least equal to the money equal to what they could have earned by playing other aspects of the game besides crafting for other players. For myself, I'd just stop making them if somebody did that to me, sell something else including materials and all that means is that there's less supply on the market and less chances other players can buy something when they want to until prices go back up again.

 

I do the level 20 version of it, non-crit for 15k. Which is Plastoid x6, Conductive Flux x4, Bronzium x8, Plastifiber x6. After doing missions to gather mats (which I don't always have to do because I can farm a certain flashpoint for enough metal/components) It costs me just over 6k on average to make one. This is give or take some failures and I averaged it out and rounded after 10 weapons. So a 1.5x profit is more than enough even factoring the 1100 listing cost. Overshooting to 50k is greed. That's almost 10x what it costs. Now if I crit-fact one I bump it up some, but even my crit-crafts I only put up for 40k because that's still immense profit and it puts things in the hands of the player base where it belongs, not rotting on the GTN for hopefully over-inflated prices.

[@David Hunt: rethink 50k augment costs in 1.3]

I only started SWTOR about 2 months ago, and I could clearly see the effects of inflation, just by looking at the pricing of items on the GTN. When L10-16 crafting resources are selling for 200 to 300 credits EACH, it's obvious that the seller is targeting L50 characters with big wallets who want to skill-up their alts. And those resources get sold at that price, I know this from personal experience.

 

This is entirely true. However at about level 20 (or when you can afford to keep 2 companions running around) gather mats and sell them in 10 bulks. Reduce the prices to reasonable levels and watch supply/demand make you richer and drop the prices for a few days. The really hard core GTN watchers will snatch them up to resell, but if they keep buying your stuff that's guaranteed profit and they're over-flooding the market, reducing value as a whole because they can't ALWAYS be there.

 

I do this on my armstech. Some idiot keeps trying to sell the level 20 customized assault cannon for 50k. I undercut them to 15k (I think that's reasonable) and watch as their auctions run out. When they switch to another over-priced custom weapon I undercut that one too. Why do I do this? Because overcharging is crap and I can help fix it.

[Guardian/Jugg changes]

Honestly the DPS spec could get cleaned up pretty well by extending (and shortening in the case of plasma brand) the dots we leave on a target. Allowing us to keep them up consistently would help. We could also do without Narrowed Focus in it's current form and get an AOE damage reducer while in Shien form. That right there would improve the playability infinitely. And I wouldn't have to leap out of fights in OPs and wait for heals before I can go back in because my 8% more armor than a Sentinel means I can take 30% more AOE damage in BW's eyes.

 

But that's a wish, nothing is known to be in the works at present.

[Which is your favourite companion for Marauder?]

Leveled with Vette till 50. Never used another companion. Mobs go down extremely quick and unlike Jaesa she has no downtime while switching targets, stays out of trouble AND seems to hit harder. Oh and she's always good for a laugh. I married her

 

Any tips on this? I want to level as a Marauder with Vette as well, but I find that without Quinn I feel like I'm being beaten into the dirt and have to heal quite often. Would you suggest a specific profession or is it just a case of patiently medding after every fight?

[Jedi need more non-combat movement skills.]

I think Legacy emotes have explained enough of this to prove that you can have non-combat abilities that are in fact fun. Like giving Jedi a double jump, or giving Bounty Hunters a jocket jump, or even giving Smugglers an emote to pick pockets or use a grapple gun. So long as they function out of combat (I say again: OUT-OF-COMBAT) I don't see an issue. These are just fun little things that could make the game more fun in down time. Balancing it for PvP and such? Well you can't use a speeder in Civil War even if it's outside, why not disable it there too?

[Help Please With Armor]

That is the Jedi Battlelord's gear. It's a high 40s set. It should be on the GTN pretty reliably by now if you're interested in it. Unfortunately you wont get anything remotely like it till the mid 30s. But I have a whole set and honestly I love it.

[PVE KC Shadow Question]

the best thing i can tell you do do is get augmented gear as a Shadow or an Assassin your 4set bonus is well to put it nicely crap its only an extra 2%

 

I noticed the 4 piece set bonus and wasn't impressed. I have an augmented chest, belt and bracers crafted. I wont worry about the legs mostly because they're pants and I'll take a 18 end hit for not wearing a skirt (hate the shadow skirts but love the Assassin ones). My Guardian finished Hard mode KP this week and no one needed the random Shadow tank armoring/mod/enhancement we got, so they threw it at me to ship to my shadow and once I packed him up I felt tons more survivable. Specifically I was able to do Taral V with a group and when everyone else wiped (low DPS for new players put us in enrage) I was able to solo the last 15%. It was gratifying.

 

Although on him I did notice my shield chargers were being eaten quick if I wasn't on the ball with interrupting rapid fire. So I think my original issue stems from all those hits just chewing off my charges so fast I'm stripped of my defensive abilities. I'll keep a better eye next week in SM KP, but for now the information in this thread has been very helpful. Sometimes all you need is to know you have it 98% right so you can fix that last little bit.

[Vig Guardian PVE Survival]

I'm not going to rant and rave like a child who's toys broke. That's just silly. However the deeper I get into hard modes the more I realize that shoulder to shoulder with Sentinels I'm getting wrecked in terms of damage taken. I I spent about 1/4th of a Bonecrusher fight standing out of melee because I was taking so much burst damage from his stomps and swipes that I simply had to run away and wait for heals. Dunno if that's a mechanic, but it's what I have to do while the Sentinel just keeps on going.

 

On Karagga I spend roughly half the time sub 50%. I'm not standing in flames, I got 17.5k hp, it's just that the instant I get a drill hit and anything else I'm hurting bad and sometimes have to say the heck with it and step out. I've also been 1-shotted by a rocket on Fabricator. Now in Columni with 2 Rakata pieces this seems extreme. And the whole time my Sentinel guild mate is still plugging away. I accept that he does more damage than me. A lot more. And I'd have to outgear him by miles to keep up with him. But should he also be out-surviving me too? Just seems like a bad trade off. Maybe this is the reason for FOTM, but I'd like to keep playing VIG.

 

Just wondering why the heck Defensive Roll is eating that much damage when my armor only puts me 6% ahead of him in damage absorption. Couldn't Shien get a defensive roll ability instead of that horrible Narrowed Focus talent? Just seems to me that it's getting ridiculous here.

[PVE KC Shadow Question]

Appreciate it. Next time I'll keep some log info and see what's going on. Maybe I can see what's actually punching my number so hard. It could be the rocket punch, or even the flames, but I've got a bad feeling it's that unload ability that the other guy does. Mostly because it's eating my shield charges too fast. But I'll see this week. Thanks so much for the info.

[Leveling as a Vigilance specced Guardian]

I leveled Vig and I had issues with survival for a very long time. The only thing I can suggest is either spec to a tank to level (much easier) or gear up that annoying C2 droid and use him as a healer. Other than that Vig is painfully underwhelming until you get your healing companion and get at least Overhand Slash.

[Guardian or Sent?]

Guardian is harder to level as damage, but is more burst damage. So on OPs fights like SOA's last phase you'll do much better than Watchmen. Overall they do less damage, something that is in need of looking at if you are, in fact, specced damage, but I can live with what I have. Mostly because when it comes down to it I can do more damage than a Shadow/Assassin and not be as squishy.

[Hood On/Off Toggle?]

The outcry was sated simply because of the statement it would be in after 1.2. Which is fine. However now it's been shifted to "unsure when". I appreciate that things take time and there are (legitimately) more pressing issues in this game than a cosmetic issue with clothing, but when all the JK advertisement up to the game, in the beta, and even now on the splash pages for this site have hood-down Jedi you sort of seem to understand how iconic that look is and how frustrating this is. The butt issue needs fixing, I agree, but I'd rather my hair be visible than stop showing off my large wallet.

 

Even if you just introduced some reskinned sith robes with the hood down that are modable we'd be happy. But no... none of that. Oy!

[Bout to roll a DS Knight, but Guardian or Sent?]

Honestly when you get right down to it leveling a tank spec of a Guardian is less stressful. You basically outlive almost everything and depend on well geared companions for your speed of kill. In end-game Guardian DPS is squishy (and Focus Defense rarely helps). Sentinels have more role-specific benefits. AOE damage reduction is available to all specs. Watchman damage seems to be leading the charts for all the Knight specs (damage wise) and Vigilance DPS doesn't honestly come into it's own until Columni gear.

 

However if you like being a Guardian (I do) you make it work. I wouldn't change to Sentinel, but I'd pay for a few of their skill points to off-set some of the misplaced tank talents in the Vig tree. Just an AOE damage reduction alone would make me feel less squishy as I'm often out of melee range waiting for a healer to get to me because AOE burst damage hits me harder than the Sentinel and I wouldn't get anything useful from Focus Defense to heal myself.

[PVE KC Shadow Question]

Columni boots and head, and modables with a crafted belt/bracers. And the same lightsaber I've had since I became a shadow. I've been really unlucky in drops. Most of it has the daily armorings/mods. Really the best gear I own is my chest with is augmented with an End/WP augment that's level 49 purple.

[PVE KC Shadow Question]

I'm a newer Shadow Tank. I hit 50 just about 2 weeks ago now and I've done some 8 man SM Ops with the guild, but I still feel sort of squishy. At first I thought it may well be my rotation, so I referenced guides here and the Assassin forums as well as Main Tankassin to double check myself. It helped some, but on some fights (Jorg and Sorno) I feel like a punching bag and not a tank. So my last thing to check with the community are my defense stats.

 

HP: 18269 (unbuffed)

Damage Reduction: 39.06%

Defense Chance: 24.89%

Shield Chance (With KW active): 49.25%

Shield Absorb: 41.51%

31/0/10 spec

 

 

I feel like my Defense is low, but I dropped a little over 1% for 5%% more absorb, so I thought the trade was well worth it. Also I have a 2 piece of Survivor's gear that gives me the shield chance boost while KW is active (29.25% while un-warded). I just wanted some critique on stats to move around, or if I'm over-stacking (maybe shield chance) and need to lower it in favor of something. My only issue is finding mods I actually like through all the accuracy stacking that seems to infest every ounce of PvE gear at end game.

 

I appreciate any help you can give me, and thanks in advance.