Just give sage/sorc Electronet and call it a day.

Good to know!

Please read this if you don't have 2018 Expertise in Level 60 Warzones.

Won two warzones last night because the other team had too many healers and not enough dps to stop us.

Hey all, This is a topic I'm creating to give the "heads up" to anyone making a new character, or who is new to the game. The following is a way to make sure you will have full 2018 Expertise from Bolster mechanics (by level 21) without having to drop a bunch of credits or basic commendations. To have full 2018 Bolster in warzones you need to fill every equipment slot with the appropriate gear. As you level up, make sure you focus on either Light side or Dark side options only (or use the Diplomacy crew skill). Pick one, and stick to it. You will want to be Light II or Dark II at least and this will enable you to purchase relic slot equipment from the Light/Dark vendor on fleet. Pick relics that increase Power and Endurance. You won't be able to use their activated abilities in warzones, so the ones with the higher static increase to stats are the best options here. It doesn't matter what role you are playing, you want Power and Endurance in mid-level warzones. If you don't want to bother with Light and Dark side options, you can use the Legacy bound relic slot equipment from the Rakghoul event (this is usually more difficult to come by for a new player, but it will fill the slots). Prior to completing the Prelude quest chain for the Revan xpac you will want to use whatever the best armor for your level is gained from quest drops or by spending commendations on fleet. You don't need to upgrade your armor/weapons/etc every time a new tier is available, but you should be doing so every 8-10 levels. Purchase inexpensive implants and earpiece from the GTN if you didn't get any from loot drops. Make sure they provide a bonus to the mainstat for your class. You should have all slots filled by Level 21 and be ready to roll into mid-warzones. SO... you've reached the upper levels of mid-warzones. You're level 53. Using the free legacy "pilot" armor mailed to you (or any cartel market armor you may have unlocked) use basic comms to buy the appropriate 148 "blue" modifications for your class in every Armor slot, as well as mainhand and offhand items. Use +41 Power crystals in your mainhand/offhand if heals or dps, OR +41 Endurance crystals if you are a tank. Power is fine in all cases. Your preference. During the Prelude quest chain for the Revan xpac you will get a full set of 162 "green" armor, along with an earpiece and implant. Use this stuff, as it will provide full Bolster in warzones. You will need to pick up a 2nd implant (as close to 162 "green" as you can get, but NOT over) from the GTN or otherwise. I usually go with something in the 116 "green" or "blue" rated range. You are going to replace it with Exhumed soon anyway, and you don't need to drop a bunch of credits on something more expensive. Use the best relics from the Light/Dark vendor you can, but you will be replacing those at level 60 so don't bother with spending basic comms on Arkanian relics. At this point you should have every Armor slot filled with 162 gear, along with the earpiece and one implant. Your mainhand and offhand should have 148 mods and enhancements. You CAN use the 162 "green" barrels/hilts/armoring in your mainhand and offhand from the Prelude quest rewards, but you will want to leave the 148 "blue" mods and enhancements. ***Using more than one 162 rated part in your mainhand and offhand will reduce your Bolster. You've grinded your way through to level 60 now. Good job. Hopefully you picked up some warzone commendations on your way here. The first Exhumed gear you should be purchasing is either your mainhand OR relics. I also suggest picking up one implant to replace the lesser (non-162) implant you've been using up to this point. Make sure you pick up a War Hero's crystal if you upgraded the mainhand, as you'll need these to fully spec them for the appropriate amount of Expertise (the same goes for your offhand as well). DO NOT enter a warzone without having added the War Hero's crystals to an Exhumed mainhand/offhand item. The same goes for Dark Reaver gear when you upgrade. As for PvP relics. Be sure to read their descriptions and buy the appropriate ones for your class type. Not every relic is the same, and not every build uses the same relics. Do some homework, and talk with friends! Joining a guild that is active in warzones is a huge benefit to you! (Note: IF you are DPS you will always want Serendipitous Assault and Focused Retribution.) Eventually, you'll want to flesh out the rest of your PvP gear. Get some advice from friends on what gear to buy for your class. Each armor set has specific "set bonuses" to skills specific to an advanced class (for the most part), so be sure you buy the correct ones for your advanced class. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you remove the parts from your Exhumed gear to put into your own custom shells, make sure you NEVER sell or throw away the empty Exhumed gear. You will need your Exhumed shells to "trade up" to Dark Reaver gear when ready. Please feel free to read the following threads for further insight into your PvP needs. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=707204 http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=795518 Hope this was helpful! -Threetwoseven-

One solution I came up with to allow people to "learn" more easily was to give everyone a PVP-only skill tree starting at level 30+ (mids) along with bolstering them to level 60. They would still pvp in the 30-59 warzones, but would have access to the abilities/skills/etc of a level 60. This way they would be familiar with their characters by the time they hit 60 and have actual pvp gear (hopefully). Allowing a player to have their full end-game rotation in mids seems like a good idea to me, instead of learning how to do it "wrong" and then having to unlearn/relearn it all when they hit 60. Basically, at level 30-59 you would have... 1) PVP-only skills 2) PVP-only utility tree Another feature I would like to see added would be an Equipment Selection Manager that would let you select between 4 sets of gear in their own special inventory panels. These would be separate from your normal inventory and would display in a fashion similar to the outfit designer. -Threetwoseven-

Using "tank" stance reduces your dps output somewhat. Using a "shield" instead of a generator/focus reduces your dps output. It's a trade-off. Guard is a way to mitigate how much damage an individual character takes in the match, IF the guarding character is within range. So you have to use tactics to peel one away from the other and/or learn to refocus your dps on to the guarding character when their health begins to drop. It may change your target priority in a match, but it isn't as horrible as you are making it out to be. It's not as difficult as you think. It's really just a matter of learning to play against it. At times it may even be a disadvantage to the team trying to do it.

Some "premades" are just guildies that want to pvp together. They aren't always balanced with healer/tank/dps.

power/surge all the way for most dps classes in pvp. especially if you have abilities that automatically crit or have a significant increase in their chance to crit via chaining the right skills together. the 4-5% alacrity you tend to get from Dark Reaver gear is fine. I suggest using ear and implant pieces to get most of your alacrity (if possible) and hopefully you can get ones with power or surge instead of crit (a little crit isn't always bad though). DoT specs benefit more from alacrity, so if you aren't DoT then you can sacrifice some of it. Some people think you want 95% weapon accuracy, 105% tech/force accuracy. But I find this is only the case for an advanced class that is using a second weapon in their offhand (ie: sent/mara). You may want to get a more educated answer for sage/sorc specific amounts of accuracy. Also keep in mind that mainstat augments will provide a slight crit bonus, but if you don't care for the crits at all then overkill augs for extra power are good too. This is my general rule of thumb for any DPS spec.

Bolster is fine for lows and mids. If bolster was removed from end game WZs... Require 2018 expertise to enter ALL end game warzones and give away a free set of "starter" pvp gear when you hit level 60. The starter gear would be "blue" pieces, and would not have removable components, but would provide the needed amount of expertise. Basically, you pick a box based on your advanced class similar to getting the gear from the Yavin/Rishi weeklies to gear up a companion in 192s. These would be pvp weighted 162 rated pieces, and a way to get started in end game warzones, providing full 2018 expertise. Exhumed and Dark Reaver gear should then come with free MK-X augment slots pre-installed and there should be pvp 36X augments that can be installed in them. These 36X augments would only be able to be installed in the pvp armors with these MK-X slots so they could not be used in PVE armor sets, and only those armors would have have MK-X slots. 36X augments would become craftable, with schematics available from a pvp vendor. Essentially the same as the Advanced 36 augments, but the pvp gear would come with slots pre-installed for them. The MK-X slots would accept all available augments, so you could still use other crafted augments if you wanted. BUT, these pvp-only augments would only require half the resources to produce (1 purple mat) and would be less expensive in retrospect. PVE would still use MK-10, etc. with Advanced 36 augments, etc. All PVP mainhands and offhands should have a generic "yellow" War Hero's crystal installed to provide the +41 boost to expertise in those items (adjusting cost accordingly if needed).

Also, Make sure your Nvidia card is the only one selected in GPUs (if others are applicable).

Optimize your Nvidia 3D settings in you Nvidia Control Panel. Power optimized for Highest Performance (not quality) Maximum rendered frames = 4 or higher (not auto) Make sure your Nvidia card is the only one selected in GPUs (if others are applicable) Optimize for SINGLE DISPLAY PERFORMANCE MODE (even if you run dual monitors) Triple Buff = ON Vsync = ON Also, turning off certain things in Windows, like AeroPeek, will/may help. I also turn off all the transparency junk, and make sure Windows isn't doing anything functional with my desktop background. Disable screen savers, and anything else that Windows might try to do with your monitor/graphics that isn't essential.

Curious what your FPS is while that happens. I'm willing to bet it is due to graphics lag. They are probably defusing the bomb before you even see it, because you haven't properly optimized your 3D settings in your Nvidia control panel. Just a few things you will want to set in your Nvidia Control Panel 3D Management settings... Power optimized for Highest Performance (not quality) Optimize for Single Display Performance Mode (even if you have dual monitors) Maximum Rendered Frames = 4 or higher (not auto) Triple Buff = ON Vsync = ON I had an issue with this in warzones and the Battle of Rishi flashpoint walker/end boss before I fixed my settings. There are guides on how to do it if you want to check on other possible settings that may help you out, and you may even need to turn down some graphics in warzones depending on your CPU's abilities. Yes, CPU, not GPU. I remove grass and tree details completely, for example, because I hate trees and don't believe in recycling.

It would be stupid to remove companions from the players who worked to get their gear and max affection. A more realistic approach to this would be to "recruit" companions you can summon while out doing missions/etc and the rest would simply stay on your ship, and not be able to be summoned. You can change your roster when on your ship.

Maybe have an outline around their white bar flash red/blue/etc while its up?

Moisture Farmer title please. Kthx.

How about a debuff that reduces armor rating to 0 and increases damage taken by 1000%, so once it goes to time it becomes a quickdraw of who hits who first. All stealth, healing, and damage reduction is disabled (and probably something else I'm forgetting). One shot kills for everyone, regardless of class/type. This puts it firmly in the hands of the players with the best "reaction time" once a match goes past the limit.

Bumping this. We need more solo ranked pops on Bastion.

You get a skill when you enter Huttball for the first time called "Pass the Huttball". Stick it on a skill tab somewhere and you're all set. Good luck.

Awesome! You guys are on Bastion right? I'm not moving to another server. I can get some dps and heals to queue up with us too so we get a couple good pops. We should organize a time to queue for it. I'm usually around in the evenings on most weekdays. My guild (Gentlemen Gankers) is doing a world pvp Trooper raid tonight, but if you guys want to try and get a couple matches in I'm game. -Threetwoseven-

Hey all, Played quite a few matches as my vanguard tank in solo ranked early on in the season and currently have a 1425 rating. 13 wins out of 17 matches, and I'd like that to improve! Have people given up on being a tank in solo ranked already? What's the deal? I will never have a chance to hit gold tier at this point!!! Have I crushed your hopes and dreams so soon? It is a bit annoying that the #1 vanguard/powertech on Bastion is only 1 point ahead of me (1426). Seriously, it bugs. -Threetwoseven-

Hi all. How about Group Ranked prize decorations that can only be donated to a "guild bank"? Something awesome, like a "portal" that leads to a unique 1v1 dueling arena. Basically, interacting with the "portal" would transport you here and leaving it would return you to the guild flagship/stronghold. Must be level 60 and 2018 expertise to interact with it. Another cool prize would be a Bolsterizer that you could place in your guild flagship/stronghold. -Threetwoseven-