Putting it yet another way; does the dps/heal boost from the set bonus overcome the difference in stats from 224 to 216 armoring, mods, and enhancements. Now my comment-- There are a few problems with this question. 1. The 224 gear is supposedly optimized for one spec and is being used on another. Unless the difference is more than all the set bonus boosts, one would have to find 36 answers to your question. [n(n+1)/2; n=8 (It should be n=18+n=3 but so many of the specs are close to 5.5 crit : 4 alac that I am arbitrarily choosing to just use ACs)] 2. Many set boni affect rotations through lower cds and energy costs, by sacrificing the correct set bonus you are in essence learning a different rotation and the most important thing in getting good numbers is knowing your class. 3. Because of the prevalence of Mk-2 drops and 220 token drops gained on your main(the 224) you should have more than enough mods and enhancements to gear your second with 216 armorings and low endurance 220 mods and enhancements) Now a newb at theory-crafting will try to answer the question even with the problems listed without recalculating everything with Bant's method.-- Stat budget (Master, Power, Crit, Acc, & Alacrity) of 224 gear is 11087 and 10232 for 216. This is an increase of 855 or an 8.36% increase and translates to on average 474 more dps or a 7.81% increase. However, you have to remove the bonus that comes from the non-legacied items-- 73 stats from the earpiece, two implants, MH, and OH and 8 from each relic for a total of 381. Subtract that from the 855 increase and you get 474. I do not know what the correct denominator should be, but using the full stat budget, 474 is an increase of 4.63%. (I know mh and oh can be legacied, but they should not be used to make this determination because if the class can use it it should and if it can't, it won't matter) (Actually a more precise method would be to find the stat increase the other way. So 73*5+28=393 or 3.84%, I'll ignore this however, since I thought about it after writing the post, but it would only strengthen my case.) Next, I'll guesstimate the avg increase in dps from the increased stats to 4% because the stat budget increase is not a 1:1 dps increase and Relic and Force/tech power should not be included. Without knowing or researching the actual set boni increases. I will use the dev's stated goal (I know risky) of a 5% increase. In summary, 5% and correct rotation > 4%.

I am just going to assume you are not a troll and that you are concerned that in your limited time available to play you will waste the tokens you have won on gear that isn't optimal and that you do not want to spend too much time gearing. Well, neither do many of us (I say many because some people like gearing,) but we do it anyway. I have a spreadsheet that keeps track of all my alts gear, but it still doesn't eliminate all the time it takes me to gear them up. I can't wait until all I have to do is upgrade the set-bonus armorings. The OP and other theory-crafters have eliminated the biggest time sink in gearing, which was finding the optimal set up. In addition, in previous iterations of the original post, it didn't include the enhancement/ear piece/implant levels. There was just a total that you had to reach. So now you want people to go that last little step and walk you to the token vendor (it is in the supplies section on the fleet) and tell you buy this buy that. No one is going to do that. Now, I would not have written all this if I did not think I could add something that would help the entire community and maybe alleviate some of your fears in purchasing the wrong piece. Also, I almost feel like this is too close to buy this buy that, but this discussion has gone on too long and I want this forum to get back to helping Bant update/check his work on the recent class changes. 1. Don't use your ear/implant tokens. The comm-vendor pieces are good enough. Other than use tank for tanks and do not use accuracy on heals it doesn't really matter which one. More stats is better 2. Use your set bonus tokens. You don't really have a choice in the matter. The 216, 220, 224 tokens have the same tertiary stat in the enhancement. 3. See where your stats lie and then purchase the ear piece and implant tokens accordingly. 4. Gasp. You may not get all the way there so augment and maybe do more gearing by using another token piece just for the enhancement. Another method is to look up what enhancements the tokens for your spec drops by looking through the vendor or using website resources like torcommunity than use the correct ear/implants tokens with that foreknowledge. PS do not respond to this other than to add additional gearing help that the whole community can benefit from.

I would like to defend the developers in making what I feel were necessary changes and comment on many of the themes of this post's replies. First, The biggest reason that this needed to be changed is that it was actually a thing where people would kick other players because a companion would be better. This had been the case in the past, but only when that player was incompetent and/or annoying. Now it didn't matter how good the other player was kicking them would selfishly benefit everyone else. This state of affairs could not last in a multiplayer game. No one likes being kicked from a team. It is even worse when you are kicked because the game that you are paying for is better than you. Second, many of the complaints feel they will lose something they liked about the current state of the game without trying the new changes. Come back next week and if you feel they tweaked it too far in one direction explain specifically why and how. Now your complaints have no basis in fact. The current problems with companions had facts behind them. Finally, complaints of the form of "I like playing like this and only my enjoyment of the game matters" are boring. This is an online game with many different ways for people to enjoy it. In the future, before you post a complaint, please try to see other angles than your own. PS citing the solo SF achievement as proof of their needed power is not sufficient. If i was able to do it on my operative in pre-3.0 armorings and 3.0 gearing and a level 15 companion. It wasn't really that hard of an achievement. This argument is like saying x class needs a buff so everyone can get the Revan HM achievement.

In addition to the fact the implants and earpieces can make up a deficit in the token enhancements, you may need to take enhancements from other tokens or mk-2 drops, which have the same bis/low endurance enhancement. Also, remember the goal is the numbers not the number of pieces. If through randomness you get more crit enhancements you can make up the difference with having more alacrity augments than the guide says. You may not be able to hit the numbers exactly, but they can be close enough to be meaningless.

The dumbest ninja ever. 1. you can't see droid armor. 2. 1 hour doing the Yavin weekly nets better gear for your companion.

So far all the responses did not seem to catch on to the fact that the OP likes PVP. So, I will base my response on that. Both classes are not considered the flavor of the month in pvp right now, but in the hands of a skilled player they can be quite effective at dealing a ton of damage and healing your group(in the case of cmdos). Ranked is a different story as you will often be the first target of the other team. So comparisons. Oh S*%t! Snipers have more/better defensives. Commandos survive by constantly moving, kiting, los'n and self healing. Snipers by moving when necessary and slowing their attackers. Need help west! An important skill for regs is node attacking/defending. While equivalent attackers, snipers are probably the best non-stealth, non-tank class defenders. This means in normal situations snipers are the third best class because tanks are more effective where the action is. A>B>C Rotations. The specs that most people play for both classes have super simple and rarely energy conscious rotations and are considered burst specs. I personally play the burst spec on my sniper/gunslingers, but prefer the dots on my cmdo/merc. I do alternate between the two on both classes, but often return to the one stated. The sniper has a third dps spec, which has a funky rotation and I haven't had much success with, but you may learn to love placing flaming turrets in the middle of a bunch of people and watching them run from it as fast as possible. OOhh white damage. Actually they aren't that different here. Both classes have some of the highest percentages of their damage coming from melee/ranged damage, which means that they interact with your targets defensives differently and can in the hands of a knowledgeable player reap glorious rewards. No I in Team Cmdo/merc-Offheals, standing knockback Sniper/GS-Defensive shield, aoe accuracy debuff. [*]Why so sleepy Cmdo/merc-1 stun, 1 casted mezz Sniper/GS-1 stun, 1 aoe mezz [*]Han shot first Cmdo/merc-Electro-net(a unique and powerful snare), Hydraulic Overrides/hold the line Sniper/GS-healing debuff, roll As far as pub/imp, follow Snave's Regstar advice and either faction can win. So, other than leveling both as other people have stated. I would recommend deciding based on whether you like healing. If yes, go cmdo, if not go sniper.

I pvp with these guys all the time and they have made pub side pvp enjoyable again. If you love PVP or are interested in getting better, contact them and join up. -Nez