Stream Link: https://www.twitch.tv/swtor

1-5 above are so basic, common sense ideas that it is pity we're even having to ask BW to consider them. Any internal planning meetings BW might have had for 5.1 should have produced these ideas.

This. ^^^ I have stuff I pulled out of ugly, bound shells and put into augmented, class-appropriate BoL items. Now, I need to grind to get the junk I vendored; if it wasn't for the SW IP, they'd not be able to pull stuff like this.

The OP didn't say what rating mods and enhancements they used in the armor. I had 190 rating ones; the armorings are about 128 rating effectively. Would be interesting to hear from others with 210 Greens, 208 purples and so on if they make a difference; may be even rating 12 mods and enhancements.

I can confirm this. I tried a mix of 234 and 236 gear which got very mildly bolstered up (Primary and Secondary stats only). Then I tried the DvL XP boost armor (Victorious Pioneer's armor) with 190s keeping the same weapons, earpiece, implants and relics. The DvL got bolstered up significantly - as expected - but also ended up with non-trivially higher stats than the 234 and 236 mix. Not sure why they don't bolster to fixed values from a lookup table based on class and role or even by discipline.

These forums need a LIKE button

The tokens are based on tiers like this? Tier 1: 5 tokens each: 1 - 89 ranks Tier 2: 8 tokens each: 90 - 180 ranks Tier 3: 12 tokens each: 181 - ∞ ranks Update: Tier 1: 5 tokens each: 1 - 89 ranks Tier 2: 8 tokens each: 90 - 189 ranks Tier 3: 12 tokens each: 190 - ∞ ranks

That's what most people do; pull the item modifications and put them into augment BoL gear shells. I've done that with set bonus 230 and 236 pieces.

In your place I'd get the 210 rating item modifications from the vendor on the fleet when the character is eligible to use them. After that, I'd just check every drop (gear item) against the currently equipped item to see if the drop is better or if I should vendor the drop. No need to craft or buy from GTN. Certainly no need to grind the CXP.

Not true. Goes to show this is a convoluted system. (What are "Command Points"? CXP?) Try this: Op = Tier 1 or 2 or 3 Gear Token (SM, HM or NiM) PvP and GSF = Components CXP = Command Tokens Tier 1 Gear Token = Multiple Components Tier 1 Gear = Tier 1 Gear Token + Command Tokens Tier 2 or 3 Gear Token = Tier 1 or 2 Gear + Multiple Components Tier 2 or 3 Gear = Tier 2 or 3 Gear Token + Command Tokens

Just to confirm: Is this true for all PvE content? Regular mobs on planets in the open world, instanced class story areas etc.?

These are the stats you should target at the beginning (with 230 gear) 5901 Mastery (Stim) 3183 Power 1543 Critical (7xE, 1xA, 2xC) 1056 Alacrity (11xA) 735 Accuracy (3xE, 2xA) The above is from the thread linked to in a previous message. This and more details are in the Lightning sorcerer guide at dulfy.net

Is it true that: Bosses from FPs, Uprisings etc. (other than Ops) also have 10% defense, requiring 110% accuracy? Bosses from regular PvE world have 0% defense, so 100% accuracy is good enough? For force using dps disciplines like Telekinesis, 100% accuracy is adequate in PvP? (To avoid missing Ops bosses 110% accuracy is needed, I know) For force using dps disciplines like Telekinesis, is there a need for 105% accuracy for any content?

What classes are you and friends playing? What are the characters' levels? What kind of gear do you folks have? And what kind of experience do you have playing your characters? Two people can do the Heroics at a time without companions. Given that the FPs are challenging for your group, I'd expect [HEROIC 4]s could be difficult too. (Though not as much) You could group up for class stories too.

This change is coming in the Jan 24 patch. You still need an unspecified number of command tokens from the GC crates to turn the loot to gear.

This is not "an other way in addition to" command crates. You'd still need to grind command levels and open command crates to get the command tokens needed to convert the drops to gear.

I discovered recently that "Shooter" is censored. There are NPCs names "<Something> Shooter" in Explosive Conflict and you can't refer to them in that without being starred out.

This is different from the Cantina thing, isn't it?

Why low pop server?

Total population of a server should account for people on or doing: - Fleet - Planets and Nar Shaddaa - Instanced areas like IoKath, Nathema, Port Nowhere and other spaceships, space stations (varies by class) - Strongholds - Ships - Uprisings, FlashPoints, Operations, GSF and PvP Total these for all instances on a server for both factions to get total server population. Not sure BW publishes such information. Update: Added Ships and factions

So, what stealth updates did we get?

With enough reputation with the BBA you can get a good-looking armor set and even mainhand weapons from the BBA vendors in cartel bazaar on the fleet. The armor is character-appropriate for Bounty Hunters and Smugglers; I especially like the two head-gear options.

You can get 210 rating item modifications for credits on the fleet. These would correspond to the old 190s from 4.x and are the highest you can just go and buy. Should see you through everything easily in story mode. Playing at level 70 through content should get you drops of 228 or higher; they are needed for higher difficulty content, sm ops and to make life easier on sm content. You'll get a more targeted answer if you clarify what you mean by PvE (people use it to mean different things) 242 Gold gear with set bonus is the best gear now (PvE and PvE gear are similar now) but there's no guaranteed way to get them now; even after a promised Jan update (see most recent live stream,) that gear will require a LOT of grinding and some luck.

Across all class stories, the Bounty Hunter story finishes first chronologically and you can see the impact in other class stories. So, I'd recommend that class first followed by these others. I'd also recommend completing all class stories, picking two favorite classes (say one on each side, with at least force user between the two) and playing these two classes beyond the class stories (Ilum, Makeb, SoR, Ziost, KotFE, KotET.) Bounty Hunter Jedi Consular Trooper Smuggler Imperial Agent Jedi Knight Sith Warrior Sith Inquisitor

You can play without the companion to add challenge. What quests are missing?