The heart of the problem is that there currently is no noticeable for PvPers. Previously, gear was that progression. Growth and advancement was experienced through getting better gear. Currently, the gains are marginal and it feels like there is no progression for PvP players. Making numbers bigger (valor rank) are meaningless unless there is some tangible benefit to them. Previously, there was a tangible benefit to the gear progression. With the current bolster system, there is not. Players have been conditioned over the last 10 years to be tangibly rewarded (even if the grind is borderline unreasonable) for investing time into these activities. What is lacking is a significant and tangible reward system that is not just cosmetic. The real crux of the issue is implementing something that is appropriately meaningful without completely breaking standard gameplay and unbalancing the game.

Abominus (Sorc) 1,695, 778 dmg, 1 death http://i.imgur.com/Ap579Oc.jpg Should qualify for Sorc top damage chart and Sorc dmg/death ratio chart

Abominus (Sorc) Jedi Covenant Alderaan, non-ranked, non-premade 1,695, 778 dmg, 1 death Hybrid Lightning/Madness (30/16) http://i.imgur.com/Ap579Oc.jpg Also note the Merc and Sorc healing of 2.16 million.

How long should one expect to wait to have these crystals restored? I RE'd a couple crystals before I got the message and realized it was bugged. I have an appeal in but I have not hear anything yet :-(

Woot! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmAYwGw_eDI

Well, I did get into JC about 10 mins ago but my character was removed from his guild (I am GM), all my mail is gone, all my GTN posting are gone, and searches on the GTN yield no results. Awesome.

Well, this is not the case for those in region on Jedi Covenant.

Looks like everyone got booted from their guild, all stuff on the GTN is no longer there and mail is missing. I would look into this quickly.

The math demonstrates you are losing 4% damage, 2.5% healing, 2.5% damage reduction for a 7% gain in damage and healing. It is a simple comparison. PvE hilts/barrels are BiS for PvP in 2.0 as it currently stands on test.

This is true on the grand scale (i.e. full pve gear and no expertise will get rolled by pvp geared people), but on the individual hilt/barrel level this axiom does not hold up. As of 2.0, top tier PvE Hilts/Barrels are 9 levels higher than the top tier PvP Hilts/Barrels. Swapping out 116 expertise (~4% total damage loss from expertise) from PvP Hilt/Barrels for a 25% power/damage increase from PvE Hilt/Barrels (~7% total damage bonus) is clearly a good deal, i.e. PvE hilts/barrels are BiS for PvP in 2.0. The BiS PvP gear should come form PvP (and vise versa for PvE). Either PvP gear should be raised to equivalent levels to combat this disparity or PvE gear/modifications should be de-leveled with the bolster system in PvP. Very simple fix.

I went 8 for 9 on Monday evening. I think it might a l2p issue

That is exactly my point. If they are going to make it so that PvP gear is utterly worthless in PvE (which it will be in 2.0; even moreso than 1.7), then it needs to be reciprocated. Top tier raiders aren't required to get PvP gear to be BiS for PvE. Similarly, PvPers shouldn't ever have to do PvE for BiS if this is the design philosophy. So either PvP gear should be bumped up or PvE gear should be worthless in PvP. For example, slots without any expertise should not count towards player stats while in WZs or while flagged. That should solve the situation nicely.

A couple observations/assumptions: New top tier PvP Hilts and Barrels are level 63 (804 force/tech bonus) with 68 expertise. New top tier PvE Hilts/Barrels are 72 (1007 force/tech bonus). Max expertise from PvP gear is 2018 (assuming the new hard cap is not lower) which will grant: 60% damage boost, 35% healing boost, 37.5% damage reduction Expertise scales completely linearly in 2.0 Thus, each main-hand/offhand hilt/barrel/armoring PvE set grants 2014 bonus. Each main-hand/offhand hilt/barrel/armoring PvP set grants 1608 bonus and 136 expertise. Losing 136 expertise from 2018 reduces your total to 1882 (6.8% total loss). Thus dropping expertise to 1882 should change your expertise bonuses to 55.92% damage boost, 32.62% healing boost, and 34.95% damage reduction. In place of these minor losses, you'll increase your weapon/force/tech damage bonus by ~25% (swapping 1608 for 2014). Thus, PvE hilts/barrels/armorings in MH/OH will be BiS for the minor hit to expertise due to the 9 level gap between top tier pvp gear (lv 63) and pve gear (lv 72). So, who is ready to do some PvE?

Last night, I similarly was crafting a lv 47 specific ear piece for a toon that is quickly approaching the end of his sub-50 career. In the first 8 earpieces RE'd, I unlocked 4 of the 5 artifact schematics. The system is random; working as intended.

Yes. This is how every set moved between republic/empire works. Class specific looks remain class specific across sides. The best you can hope for as an alternative look is using Marauder gear.

How should this work in PvP? If they do zero damage, they should be unkillable. That would be balance but it wouldn't be fun because people would just ignore you. Some balance between damage and survivability needs to be struck with tanks. Right now DPS tank assassin/shadows are doing about 80% that of DPS assassin/shadows and about 65% that of Ann. Marauders (and equiv sentinels). See each of their respective forums for the DPS tests for each of these builds.

Probably a wise move.

I was going to buy 2, hence why I went to the merchant with 153. After I purchased the first crystal, I only had 24 left over. That is the problem.

Every time you die from the disease or during stage 2, you get 5.

1) Die alot. 2) Purchase from other people.

I know I had two stacks, 99 and 54, because I had been saving up specifically to get two of the level 31 crystals. I purchased one but it used up all of my 54 stack and 75 from the 99 stack. I am sure of this. It could be something buggy with particular crystals, i.e. the level 31 maybe?

Bump for those who may have missed the thread.

Currently, if you have more than one stack of DNA and make a purchase, the purchase cost is being taken out of ALL Stacks. For example, I purchased an advanced black-green vehemence crystal (75 DNA) with 153 DNA in my inventory (a stack of 99 and a stack of 54). When I purchased the crystal, it deducted the purchase cost from both stacks and reduced me to 24 DNA total (when I should have 78). I have appealed this in game but have yet to get a response. This is your warning not to make the same mistake until they hotfix it.

I stockpiled materials also and was grinding level 27 outcast gear. I am seeing about a 20% augment slot ratio on oranges with largely 10k affection pets. I've gotten about 20 out of 100.

Yes. They specifically said that all pre 1.2 gear has the set bonus bound to the shell, not the armoring. It is only the new campaign gear that has set bonus bound to armoring. See the test server forum discussions for more info.