I leveled as pyro all the way to 50 using Mako. I had a full set of eliminator Battlemaster gear Then realized that I loved playing a healer. Obviously this is for when you hit 50, But I bought a full set of recruit year for Torian And as I replaced my eliminator gear with combat medic gear I gave the extra pieces to him. now I am decked out in battlemaster combat medic and he is decked out in battlemaster eliminator gear. This way if I choose to go dps, for pvp, I will just swap the gear and change my skill tree. Although if we get dual spec that will make it a whole lot easier. obviously you have a little ways to go :-) hang in there as long as you're having fun it doesn't matter what way you level.

Consider it like a job. Your employer is choosing to only pay you 99 Commendations. If you don't like it go find another job.

I just read you can upgrade your (example) eliminator BM gear for Combat medic WH! if this is true, it will save me a ton of time because I have become strictly a healer in pvp and have no intentions of going back to dpm (damage per minute) I have full BM eliminator but would gladly upgrade to medic WH without regrinding BM gear. Also, can I pull the mods out before turning in the piece and upgrading it?

What What What! is this true? if I bought BM elim, I can upgrade to any set of WH by turning in any BM piece? this would save me a ton of time cause I decided after getting complete BM set I want to go medic WHICH so I started regrinding. Would love to know the answer to this! Also, can I upgrade if I pull out the mods?

Agreed. I don't use my numbers to tell me I did a good job. I like seeing a high number because it feels good, but it feels better to know that you kept your teammates alive so they could complete an objective, fight through a battle with another player, or make it across the goal in huttball. This is how I determine whether or not I had a good WZ.

Am I wrong, is the set bonus for BM gear the same as the WH gear so as not to lose the bonus as you upgrade piece by piece? if so, that's disappointing to know there really is not a huge difference between the two sets except a few stats.

too funny! it's very interesting because I didn't even realize he said that while I was growing up until I finally watched it with my oldest son 3 months ago! :-) yoda had a lot of good things to say. he will be missed

I look at it a little differently. While during 1 match I may be pitted against a whole team that has that kind of advantage, it is fair to say that the next match I may very well have those people on my team. It's just the way that goes and the luck of the draw. Life is full of imbalance, why should the game be any different? I shouldn't be nerfed for weighing 220 and being 6 foot 3 when you are 160 and 5 foot 4.

This is exactly my point. Make the best with what you got. There are some matches you will feel powerful and the life of the party and some that make you feel helpless and alone. Find your niche in each match and master it.

^^this I recently was getting frustrated with my merc and decided to switch to healing. I have never played a healing character in an MMO But I thought I would give it a try. I love the playstyle so much that I grinded out another set of battlemaster gear so that I would have the medic version. even though I know the merc healer is not the best when it comes to healing, I actually love it and I'm not looking back. I am not going to roll the FOTM Even if it is better right now. Play what you love.

I feel like the mercenary is what you make out of it. I played pyro tech from level 10 to level 50 and loved it. Then 1.2 came and I realized I was not as effective. I didn't whine about it, I chose to make the best of it. In fact , I chose to make my mercenary a healer and fell in love with the play style. Even though I know that the bodyguards got a nerf after the last patch, it didn't matter to me because I was having fun healing where I was needed. despite not even being 1 of the best healing classes, I was running around finding my niche doing the best I could knowing that I was not gonna be the top and being okay with that. You don't have to be at the top of the list to be successful. Hell, one match I don't even think I was top and I got 7 votes ( and yes I have the pic to prove it :-). I guess what I'm getting at is you need to find yourself what your role is. if you can't fight 1 verse 1 , which I know I can't, then don't put yourself in that situation and travel with the crowd. You don't have to roll the FOTM To have fun. Just have fun.

Thank you for the updated response! If boggles my mind what some people would consider doing. I wouldn't even think to do something like that. It just goes to show me that despite how old I am I am still so darn naive:( No matter what the exploit might be, someone's gonna take advantage of it unfortunately. Thanks again for the update.

Stupid question probably, but when you say crit, I have a "crit chance" of 36.3% of which only 10.09% is "crit rating". Does that mean I need to bring the "crit rating" up to 35-37% or whatever gets me up to 35-37% "crit chance" (ie aim, etc)? same with surg, my surg is VERY low with only one item having surg totaling only +51(weak) for only 8.09% but the crit multiplier is 58.09%, do I stack the surg till the multiplier is 75% Or the surg rating is 75%? Thanks

I agree with this, so it sound like maybe getting the 4 piece set for the cooldown improvement, which automatically increases alacrity a little, then remodding with power. That brings me to the real dumb question. I really never paid much attention to remodding except the ones I received while questing and changing those around. Where do I find these higher level mods that are comparable to BM or WH gear ones? (I know I should have learned this long ago, but such is life:) I appreciate the help!

My only concern is that I feel like I am taking way too long to fire off a heal that is not instant. I was hoping that alacrity would be my answer but it sounds like it would also contribute heavily to a heat issue. I would want to be able to fire one or two off quickly and keep moving and it "seems" like the answer but it sounds like it is much more complicated then just grinding the 4 piece set. That being said, the four pieces do provide a nice cooldown set bonus on two of the casts which sounds helpful.

But isn't surge something that can be itemized? The medic gear has alacrity built in so I wasn't going to go beyond the 4 pieces since I already have the entire set of eliminater BM gear. I guess having the stats for crit etc..from the eliminator set would be good for when i have to go on the offensive. I did get the alacrity BM relic just to see the difference even 380 alacrity would add, and that alone seems to decrease my casting time by 15% or so, so adding those four pieces should get me down to maybe a 25% decrease which could help but not be so much that I have to worry about as much heat management.

This post brings me to a question that I placed a thread about but wouldn't mind getting a little more input about. I have a 50 Merc BH with full BM eliminator set and just decided that I would rather be a healer. I love the playstyle, whether people consider it worth it or not is not my concern, I know that I love it over the DPS merc. That aside, do I just grind out 4 other BM medic pieces for the set bonus and keep the rest the same and maybe get two relics that increase alacrity, or not even bother and just keep trying to get my eliminator WH pieces? Hope I am not stealing this old thread.

Thanks! I will try it out.

Thanks! Blizzard is pretty damn cute. I am mainly looking to use the companion for the dailies for now and all of mine are severely undergeared and practically naked. Would it be good just to buy one of them some level 50 pvp gear just to get by or are there other suggestions?

I have a level 50 merc specced pyro that I have played since level 10. I have decided to switch up and try healing, but until now I have just used Mako because she heals and is hot! Now I have to figure out which companion would make the best tank for me and work them up because I have done nothing to gear any other companions. Thoughts? Thanks

Well that's good to know. I guess I could just respec and try out healing with the gear that I have and see how comfortable I feel.

I currently play a pyrotech merc and I am just 3 pieces shy of the full battlemaster set. I love pvp, but I have found that I just don't seem to hit is hard after 1.2 and I'm getting a little frustrated. I recently started to heal on 1 of my other toons and I am really enjoying that method of play and would love to try it out on my mercenary. My only concern is that I went with the eliminator gear which is not directed at a healer. I really don't want to have to grind out another set of battlemaster gear just to pick up the alacrity, which is the only difference between the 2 sets. I understand the importance of alacrity especially for a healer, but will it really make that much difference? it is definitely easy to respec, but not easy to regear especially if you need the precursor item to buy the next war hero piece. Any thoughts?

I have a 50 pyrotech merc and I have almost completed my battlemaster set. I have been working on the eliminator BM set, but I have recently had a little change of heart. While I feel like I am getting massacred in wz's (I know, l2p , I am considering going Bodyguard, but would hate to have to grind Medic gear Also, transitioning to war hero, I think you need the same item in battlemaster first before you can buy the WH set. Do I need to regrind, or are there other options out there? ie mod changes Thanks

^^^this

I never looked at the wz button as a LFG tool, but it absolutely is. I guess I am more speaking of cross server LFG the more I think about it. Would definitely make for easier grouping but thin out the likelihood of seeing the same "cool" people or the same "douchebags:)". I definitely see both sides though.