All, I've been trying to do the hard mode group finder flashpoints, and the one that I consistently have trouble with is the HM Czerka Labs. I'm a Mercenary Healer with 162 gear all around with 3 pieces of 180 gear that is 156 augmented (earpiece, and both implants). I have about 32k hp and am a decent healer. I've been apart of numerous 8 and 16 man FPs with this guy (and my 156-162 operative). The first boss fight with the spider droid always seem to wipe the majority of the pugs groups I'm in. I assume that I must be doing something wrong as the problem is following me in these groups (although I guess I don't have evidence that it works fine without me). Basically what I need to do is keep everyone healed, and run out of the water when I am grappled (and use the 30% speed increase, can't remember the skill name [turns your leg orange]). In this last flashpoint, it seemed like the tank and myself were taking a super huge amount of dmg and after the 2nd wipe, the tank asked "Ok, what's wrong here?" I then said that I and he were going from full to 1/4 health in like 10 secs after the adds come out. I don't think the DPS were killing the adds fast enough. Then everyone drops the group. So what is the correct advice here? I want to be able to heal well and get through this FP. I don't remember this one being this hard 6 months ago.

I know it's too late, but you should have spend the $1,000,000 ingame credits to get the mercenary contract and then spend only 700 CC's to unlock her for all of your characters. This, of course, assumes you are at least legacy level 40.

I started out as F2P, then after a few months, went to a sub, and after 4-5 months went back to Preferred, and then after 6 months am now a sub again for these 2 months. There are a lot of differences. You really have to grind Flashpoints and Warzones to keep up the levels of your class quest. You can't transfer money between toons, only items. IIRC, you can only attach 2-4 items, but I could be wrong. You can't wear purple gear. Sure, there is an unlock for that, but I have 8, 55 toons, so I would have to spend a lot of CC's just for that. I never had more than $200-$300k at a time, so I never hit the credit cap. You have a limit to the number of FPs and WZs you can hit each week. I never tried the OPS, but I'm sure there is a cap there as well. No point in trying it without the purple gear. No Rested XP bonus Can only craft one thing at a time (except queueing up 5 things). Also, can only have 3 comps doing stuff at a time (instead of the 5). When you die, you only get 5 probes to revive you where you are, and when you are out, you have to buy more via CC's or go back to the med center. Really sucks when you are deep inside a base and wipe because you accidentally aggro a mob, or lag, or are under leveled (because of being F2P and always behind) and barely get beat. There is a plethora of other things that I'm sure I'm forgetting. When double-XP weekends happened, it helped me to catch back up and even get ahead on some of my toons. I was racking in the PC's because of all of the FPs I was doing, but it just got tiresome. Oh, you can only have 6 characters active at a time. Sure, some of these things can be unlocked via the Cartel Market, but if you are spending real money anyways, then why not just subscribe? It really just depends on whether you are going to be playing it a lot? And as an adult, $15 a month just isn't that much, as long as the content is great. That's 2 trips to chipotle.

I also have had this problem in the past, and still do some now, but I am playing more frequently and switching characters more (because of lockouts in OPS and people needing tanks/healers/DPS). I have a razer naga mouse, and I just recently bought a Logitech G510s with the 18 macro keys on the left. I've had to rearrange my quickbars to mimic how the keys are laid out. I try to make the same kinds of abilities on the same number over each class: #4 is always going to be the 4 sec stun, and #8 is always going to be the interrupt. I've deemed these 2 keys as being the easiest defaults to get to (as the #5 is too close to the #8 and I might mess that up). F to crouch and 3 to hit the explosive probe and 7 to hit the grenade. #3 is always the force charge, or Storm or Force Leap abilities. As for the 18 keys, each 6 grouping has it's "group effects". One section is the defensive abilities like a shield, threat dump, CC break, slow, etc. The other 6 groupingI have for health, 2 for the PVP stims, regular medpac, you and companion medpac, the 15 sec power or armor stim and the grenades. The last 6 grouping I have for the class specific refills like for a Merc healer I have the heat vent, the next ability activates instantly, the next ability activates for free, supercharged gas. As far as remembering rotation, it's the location of the keys on the main 1 through = bar that I have to remember. The only thing that I have to look over again is the tank info as that's the hardest class for me to play.

As I enjoy the story aspect of the game, I enjoy leveling by being in a guild for the 10% bonus, using the FP and WZ bonus where appropriate, and doing both of the weeklies. Then, either do the side quests on every other section, and/or doing the bonus series on every other planet. Since the side missions are the same, it keeps things refreshing and unique as you run through the game. I've got 7 55's and a 51 for all 8 classes, and I'm leveling up a guardian (as a Sentinel was my first toon before I knew what I was doing and wanted 2 lightsabers and didn't realize how valuable tanks were). I've basically been doing only main story quests, and then the bonus quests (as I skipped almost every planet's bonus because I didn't know about it, or forget and outleveled it).

It seems like towards the later levels, no one wants to do the Heroics as much, and I like the completion achievements for the planets. Sure I can come back later, but it feels like I'm missing out on awesome experience and loot by not doing them at the time. And when I do see people LFG, I check my legacy and if I have 2/5 heroics done, it's always those that they are looking for. My general rule that I use for LFG for Heroics is to post in general and then wait for the population of the planet to change a few times and then try again.

I've got the GSF anniversary items in a lot of my toon's mailboxes for 236 days last I saw.

My 2 cents would be to do the weeklies for each the PvP and FP the one time a week for the free XP and rewards. Also to make the other levels less of a grind, don't do all of the side missions on each planet, but rather alternate them. As in, do planet 1, and 4 and 7 on one toon, then the next do 2, 5, and 8. This would also include the bonus series which often get overlooked.

It might be too late as this post went from a good idea to name calling and party generalizing. I have a recent experience with this, as I went to run a HM Athiss FP as a BH Healer. I had a mixture of 146, 156 and a couple 162 gear from doing the Xeno SM and HM runs the last week. Then I had an embarrassingly low 118 earpiece. Everything else was 146 or higher. I had 23600 hp. Before anything started, I had someone try to kick me. They said they needed a good healer. I'm thinking, ***, you haven't even seen me heal yet. The kick didn't go through, so he quit. Luckily he was DPS so it filled up pretty quick. Then we proceeded to go through the entire flashpoint without anyone dying except for the sniper at the last boss of Vodal, where she set up to snipe smack dab in the middle of the purple circle. That thing kills QUICK! So, I feel like that first guy missed out on a run, but I don't feel bad for him. I do think there should be a lower level gear lockout, but it shouldn't have to be that 148 gear average, maybe something like a 140 gear average, but something like 3/4 people of the group have to have the 148 average, with the 1/4 having to have above 140, lets say. You could even add something in the group finder like a check box for "You are willing to help newer toons" or "willing to work with groups less than X rating". The problem is, if you never get to run a FP, then you won't learn the mechanics. I just believe if people are close enough, then give them a shot. And if they keep dying but the rest of us don't, then I feel like it makes me a better player since I have to try harder and use some of the more advanced skills to keep from dying or stay on top of my game and improve it. The only thing that would be frustrating is if they are doing stupid stuff like aggroing a bunch of mobs, or pulling as a DPS or not listening to directions and boss fights. But those kind of things are gear-independent.

The tedious part makes sense when leveling up because to start you only have 1-2 companions (and in theory you need one to follow you around). At 55, you can have 5 out shopping while doing your own thing, so it goes quick. I know I reset 2 skills on my smuggler and basically in 2 hours, I had both skills leveled up to 104-108 while running a czerka daily.

Thanks! This is what I'm gathering from my guild as well. GSH is making it where all mats of all skill levels are important, so that lessens the blow of starting a skill over again. Besides, at least for the first few levels, it's going by quickly. Just send 4 of the 5 toons out for missions while running the dailies and I still come out ahead. Might be different in the 300-450 range, but it's not so bad. Besides, I need the money and dailies. That was the biggest question was whether the difference between 23% and 28% crit was worth it, and it seems like that 5% is. I also want to have the synthweaving maxed out for the achievement title. I prefer the blue level stims and medpacks over the purple. Yea, the purple does offer the reusable part, but you have to have biochem and they don't offer the continuous heals. Besides, I don't use the medpacks in OPS since you have healers (except in rare instances), but I do use the stims that persist through death. When I run dailies, I use the medpacks more, but usually only for the bosses if I'm a tank or dps and my healer is falling behind and my cooldowns are shot. Doesn't happen as often now as it used to. I don't use any stims in dailies. I do, however, want a way to give all of my newly 50-55 toons enough gear ot run hardmode FPs without fear of being kicked. I know when I was a BH and we ran Athiss HM, and I had a spattering of 146 - 162 gear, one guy voted to kick me. Luckily it didn't happen,, he left, someone else came, and no one died the whole time except for one sniper who decided to camp in the purple circle on the last boss.

Wow, great information guys. Thanks for the critical explanation as I was having a tough time believing no one knew how it works. I know RNG are a bear. I know in the old days when I played Magic Online, it seemed like the shuffler which also "randomizes" always seemed to screw me more than IRL. It's also good to know that the LoC works on missions as it reads like it is only for crafting. I did start a couple of skills over because of the +2 and +5 crits on maxed out companions. Plus it is a good way to get a bunch more of the lower level mats for the upcoming GSH. It's good to know not to worry about synthweaving, but I know I'm drowning in luxury fabrics for sure.

Here is what I have: Smuggler: Scav, UT, Slice Knight: Artifice, Arch, TH Trooper: Biochem, Bioanal, Dip Consular: Armstech, Slice, Invest Bounty Hunter: Armor, Scav, UT Warrior: Biochem, Bioanal, Dip Agent: Biochem, Bioanal, Slice Inquisitor: Cybertech, Scav, Slice

Hello all, I really liked the crew skills ideas and leveled them up on all 8 of my toons (with my last one, a consular, almost there) to 450. I've also maxed out affection with all of my toons save for the consular and Ashara (can't please her). I was under the (wrong) impression that efficiency made the missions cost less as well as the time saved, but only recently was corrected that it is time only. Only the critical bonuses are worth it for getting more out of it every now and again. I was also told that companions will crit on items at times even if they don't have a bonus for that particular skill. My question is, however, is it beneficial to me in the long run (for the next 2-6 months) to reset certain crew skills on toons just to pick the ones that have the most critical? Such as right now, on my operative, I have biochem, bioanal, and slicing. The info I have shows that the +2 crit to slicing is good, but perhaps I should drop the 450 bioanal for the +5 crit of diplomacy? I don't want to give up bio-chem since I've got all 6 level 52 stems in blue for my other toons for ops. Or should I keep everything as is and concentrate on getting treek or HK51 for all of my accounts (I only have HK on one toon, and I haven't yet gotten to the 1 mil mark to unlock treek - although I plan to unlock her/him to all accounts for the 700 CC). How big of a different is the +1 from the +5 (and don't say "4"). Relatively it looks like a big difference, but I'm not sure how the numbers are calculated. Any and all help would be appreciated. I have read a bunch of the crew skill stuff from DarthTHC and psandak, but they are novels to read through in the entirety and I feel like this question might be more specific than that general info. Thanks, Willy P

Yea, I don't think it helps the gameplay, but I do know the load times when clicking on an elevator or loading up an OPS or FP was super fast. But, you can't start until you have a full group (usually), so being the fastest just means you are sitting there longer waiting for others. Since I'm impatient by default, this wasn't good for me. It was only helpful when doing the missions myself. As for the OS and games on the same drive, other than installing the game, did you notice any lag? The last game I played solo was Dishonored and having that big world load up on the SSD was pretty ****** as I never had any downtime. Granted, I have a pretty stout PC, with the video card being my bottleneck. ASUS HERO Maximus VI Intel i5-4670k 3.4 Ghz 16 GB of 1866 DDR3 Mem 128 GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD 1 GB WD Black 1 GB 7750 AMD GPU http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c177/cmonstergt/New%20Computer%202013/2013-07-17190318_zps265632ad.jpg

This thread sure got necro'ed, but I do want to say something to the poster from 2013. When you say you spend hours on the game and you should get rewarded for your gameplay. You ARE being rewarded, because you are getting free entertainment for those hours (assuming you are F2P). If you are a sub, then you will get 500 a month (really 600 because most people have smart phones these days). That's $72 worth of Cartel Coins in a year, which is pretty good for unlocks that are mostly fluff. The only ones I can see that make a case is unlocking Treek early or unlocking for the whole account, and really that can be done with in game credits (assuming you are legacy 40). I just find it frustrating that people are wanting all of this for free when the developers that are skilled have to make money to make the game. I know I wouldn't do my job for free, and I wouldn't take any pay cuts either.

When I built the computer I have now back in July of last year, I built it with this game in mind. I have a 128GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD drive for my OS with a 1TB WD data drive. When I originally built it, I put SWTOR on the SSD, and it killed about 30 GB of space, maybe a little less. There was really only room for this game and one other before I started getting space warning issues of less than 10%. That being said, the insane speed I had on it didn't seem worth it since you do a lot of group FPs and WZs and OPS groups where the loading time of the level or zone didn't matter as much due to the fact that you always had to wait on the person with the slowest machine anyways. So, when I had to reimage for personal reasons, I reinstalled the game on the mechanical drive and have been playing that way ever since. I save the space on the SSD for the 1 player games I play that I can take advantage of the faster load times. Plus in the grand scheme of things, SWTOR isn't too PC intensive.

This event was pretty awesome. I had never done it before after playing for a year (The first event happened before I had any 50+ toons, and the 2nd event was during the holidays where I didn't have time). I have 6 55 toons and another 1 over 50, so I have had plenty of time to do the dailies, quickly reaching newcomer so I could take down Xeno in both SM and HM in 16 man groups which was awesome. I hit my rep cap after 48 hours I think. I probably have enough to max out next week and then the week after (or at least I hope to by tonight). First time 3 healing a 16 man HM with 156 gear. In a pug group no less. We fought one of the other WBs on the imp side with a 20something person group with about 6 republics being there to PvP us in the middle of the battle. We were still able to beat the boss, though. Things I've learned: - Don't rez a friendly if they are tagged for PvP as you will also become tagged. Been playing for a year, never knew that. Apparently it was hailed as common knowledge. Of course, I have never PvP'ed outside of the warzones either. - 3-manning the H4 is difficult without an actual healer. - When people try to get you to do the H4 in the PvP area because it is "easier", don't do it. It may look empty, but all it takes is one stealthed assassin to mess up your day. - For that one droid inside the gray secant, only use the blue orb to kill the last droid. Nothing else works on him. Plus, he kills off your companion in one shot, FYI.

How do you get the thermal regulators? Do you have to have the special 450 missions for slicing?

Yea, I've definitely enjoyed my experience with the game thus far, and I got my last toon, a 45 Consular to Corellia, and then I'll have all of the storylines complete. I've been really working this Gree event, I think with enough rep between all my toons to max out the rep for the next 2 weeks. So Black Hole gives out more money than Section X? SX is the daily I've been doing a lot, but I'll need to soon switch to another since I've almost reached the highest standing for that group (halfway of the last tier). My new goal is to reach 1 mil credits for both the achievement title and to unlock Treek for all accounts. Finally a use for the CC rotting in my market.

It really just depends on if you care about form over functionality. For my first 8 toons, I didn't care about how I looked until after I finished my class quest and went for the endgame stuff. However, for this 9th toon, I used a legacy set of orange gear to gear her up from the beginning. For all the quest rewards, I will pick the PCs or the items for my comps.

This is all great info, thanks guys. Last night I did TFB with my guildies and picked up about 230k, which was nice, but I had to instantly spend 200k on field respect since I want to be a healer, but they always seem to want me as a DPS (probably because I'm new and my gear stinks). Yea, I always went for purple for each schematic, and hardly ever sold any of them back. Each one of the toons is up to 450 at level 55. I'm finding now that I need to concentrate on the 52 prototype stims and medkits for running ops. I think I realize my biggest money sink was buying the Legacy leveling up bonuses for FPs and WZs which were pretty expensive. I think it was $250k for each line, so $500k for each companion. Then I was also hitting up the GTN for the flashpoint 25% extra exp, but those were only $1k apiece usually. The pink and yellow all exp ones were pricey. To one guy's point, I was using the 55 toon's money to fuel the lower levels by giving them an influx of cash. With this last toon I'm doing (a Guardian, my 9th), I'm just going to run the main quest and bonus series and WZs. I'll do the FP weekly, but that's it. So basically you play GTN and use that knowledge like a stock market to make the money. I suppose that's a learning curve. I know I was doing that for awhile with underworld trading metals like Mullinine and Xenolite and it was doing pretty good, but it seemed like a lot of work for not much credits, but I would get lucky every now and again and find someone who was selling it for the super low "recommended" default price. For the companion leveling up, that seemed to also be pretty expensive, as I did the 100k trick on the GTN for the first 6000k affection, and then did the comp convo's and then the companion gifts. However, now everyone is pretty much leveled up on affection except for ashara on my inq, and half the comps on my consular (my last under 50 toon). I suppose I can sell off the unused GCs, didn't realize they were worth significant money.

And yes, I always greed, I never understood why people would pass, as it is basically free money, and every now and again you get something better for a comp. I have about 1100 CC, but I really want to be able to save that for unique cosmetic stuff. I recently unlocked the Cathari species for my new Guard, but before that, I haven't spent it on anything (I was a sub from July-Dec of last year, and then F2P until about 5-6 weeks ago and am a sub again). Not being able to wear purple gear makes it hard to run with a guild at the endgame.

I always have my companions out doing crafting or gathering missions, and in the later higher levels, they are like 2-3k a pop. I must have spent a lot of money on companion gifts since I have most everyone leveled up for the achievements and better returns on crafting. Other than my first toon (a Sent), I don't really die as much anymore, often able to manage quests a few levels above me without a problem. I hardly wipe on a regular FP as long as I get the proper heals (I hate it when I'm at 25% life and the healer is DPSing, but that's a whole 'nother argument). I'm definitely wanting to be better at PVPing, but I don't usually play it past the daily and weekly, but my new Guardian I'm leveling, I'm hoping to do just that. Back on topic, though, I don't spend much on the GTN for cosmetic stuff (although I did just spend $150k on a pink lightsaber), except for few and far between. I'm usually function over form. I'd say 10% of my total expenditures are on cosmetic stuff. I was just crafting stuff to RE and then get a level deeper, but I was doing the math on getting all level 26 purple mods for my guardian and it looks like I could spend $100k in mats just to have top level gear....for a couple of levels. Plus there is the extraction cost, since I'm usually some orange gear that I got from an anniversary pack. So dailies and ops are the best ways to earn it? What are the ops that doesn't generate money? I know I went on EC or EV the other day (with the boss that makes you jump from rock to rock) and none of the mobs dropped money. Plus, it was a pug group and we died a lot so I ended up in the negative 30k after it was done (since we couldn't earn money for the wipes). I had to run a regular FP just to be even again.

I'm not necessarily a new player (been playing since July of '13), but I have a hard time making (and keeping money). It is especially apparent when I see other people's videos and they have 1-3 million credits in their bank. I've personally never had more than $200k at any one time, and it's usually after a daily and a FP. There are a lot of legacy perks I don't have that I want (such as Treek and the field respect), but haven't been able to get that kind of money together. There isn't some kind of interest system I'm missing, is there? I have 6 level 55s, a 53, 40 and 25.