Leveling trooper - too hard quest bosses?

[Aradan]

I was leveling Sith warrior till lv 25. I just didnt like the dark side, didnt like that for Empire play too many pl, so I reroled to Republic. I've chosen trooper, vanguard.

I'm surprised, how hard are quest bosses for me now. As Sith warrior, I liked the pre-set difficulty. Quest bosses were challenging, sometimes I have died, but mostly I killed them and felt like a hero. As trooper, I usually take down adds (lets take ordinary scenario, that after dialog you have golden boss and some adds) and the main oponent kills me. Then I have to ressurect and kill him alone.

If I didn't play Sith warrior before, I would blame myself. But here I have to ask. Is Sith Warrior stronger then Trooper, is trooper in worse situation after the dialog (meelee/range) or is it just my clumsines where I blame wrong things instead of me?

[ArchangelLBC]

I can only speak from the commando side and after commando gets Concussion Round at 22, those encounters become kinda easy because you can just knock out the gold, take out the adds with plenty of time to heal up and get full ammo if you need it before engaging the boss again.

 

Can any vanguards weigh in? I haven't really played vanguard and I get the feeling it truly is another class entirely.

[Jon-Lbs]

leveled a vanguard

 

 

its unbelievably easy compared to the jedi sentinel i leveled.

 

 

its honestly a cake walk.

 

 

they must be breast feeding you guys over on the sith side...

[JeRune]

As a vanguard these bosses are easy, tank specced and with Elara on healing, there's almost no 'single' mob that I can't handle.

[canobeansPL]

Sorry, but it's your clumsiness. Which is not a problem - any lack of skill is easily remedied through patience and training!

 

All in all, the Vanguard is an incredibly easy class to level. There is some initial learning curve with your basic concepts: ammo, cooldowns and interrupts, but as soon as you grasp them, you're golden. They're not very difficult either, and can be summarized as such:

 

Ammo: Keep in the highest regen zone. If you screw up, use Recharge Cells. Beyond level 20 you shouldn't be screwing up anymore. When you're nearing the end of the fight, burn down to 0. If you haven't used Recharge before, use it in the burn phase. You recharge 0.9 ammo + skilltree regen talents every global cooldown. Do the math (protip: Hammer Shot is your friend).

 

Cooldowns: If your Reactive Shield and LS/DS Relics are not on cooldown, you're doing it wrong. Same for Smoke Grenade if you're a shieldie. At 46 you will also receive a very powerful area stun.

 

Interrupts: Enemies who are allowed to use their abilities deal more damage. Every time Riot Strike comes off cooldown, something to interrupt appears rather quickly. Cryo Grenade interrupts too. As does Harpoon. Shieldguards have a fourth interrupt in the form of Storm.

 

Also: Use consumables. Elites can, at least initially, require a medpac. Ask a friend for stims. Use your brain to make the best use of our ridiculously powerful Pulse Cannon. Mortar can't be pushed back, so you can fire it behind melee while being pummelled. Take Explosive Shot off your skillbar (put it back on for Voidstar/Alderaan).

 

Pretty soon down the line you also obtain a healing companion whom I personally loathe, as she trivializes the game. At least for Shield Specialists she can turn the leveling process into a moronic zombie adventure, where you kill elites almost in your sleep by spamming some basic abilities and letting your healing companion go to town with her green goo.

 

Which is why I stuck with Aric - good, too, since his personality meshes with mine perfectly . He just needs to be shown the right target sometimes.

 

UPDATE: Also, don't face tank melee mobs. You're a quasi-ranged class, for chrissakes. To heal up against ranged, break line of sight. You can do many champions etc. by running around boxes .

Edited January 8, 2012 by canobeansPL

[Aradan]

As a vanguard these bosses are easy, tank specced and with Elara on healing, there's almost no 'single' mob that I can't handle.

 

I'm dps and I go down so bloody fast, that even Elara isn't able to do too much about it. But as somebody wrote, I will probably have to check the cells regeneration. If there is a range where it is better, I will have to bring better cell management.

Edit. Problem is Elara cant keep me alive even against silver mob, when I have Ion cell on.

Edited January 8, 2012 by Aradan

[Necodreus]

From other threads ive read, people have said to do shield spec for 30ish lvls as assult and tactics both rely on there 31 skill to be effective. Unless you completely gel with the way that spec is used. Since it sounds you are not, might want to respec into shield (makes best use of ion cell). At 22 with just quest armors im now starting to take on heroics +2, with just me and aric, and im only an okay player. Yojacks thread and in vanguard forums a thread called tanking basics have helped me tons.

 

mostly i lead off with mortar, then hs, sticky, hs, ss, hib, hs, pc, pulse, then hs as needed till cds are up. only champion, or an elite addon give me problems, then not much.

 

 

ps.. if i used interrupts better and also just didnt sit in front of mobs, im sure id be even better lol still getting the hang of awareness and using harpoon to position myself and mobs for a more effective pc

Edited January 8, 2012 by Necodreus

[Lady_Alyria]

I'm dps and I go down so bloody fast, that even Elara isn't able to do too much about it. But as somebody wrote, I will probably have to check the cells regeneration. If there is a range where it is better, I will have to bring better cell management.

Edit. Problem is Elara cant keep me alive even against silver mob, when I have Ion cell on.

 

This is gonna be a silly question, you did remember to update your gear, right? Someone in all heavy shouldn't be going down that fast to a silver.

Edited January 8, 2012 by Lady_Alyria

[Niconogood]

Leveling a commando and comparing to what my other friends tell me I think commando is the easiest class to level in the game. Best AoE, nice singletarget dmg, mez, decent CDs etc. I can solo elites 2 levels above me by only occasionally needing to pop 2 min. CDs and pots.

[Cronhour]

As a vanguard these bosses are easy, tank specced and with Elara on healing, there's almost no 'single' mob that I can't handle.

 

yeah I rarely have a problem myself, shield spec plus elara, if i double pull i just kite, LOS and cc till i've a couple of elites down then tank the golds head on popping my cooldowns as necessary.

[CzaplaM]

This may help you out if you are having trouble with boss fights.

 

http://1stvideogame.com/?p=2747

[RogueStrife]

Vanguard rocks!

 

I've been playing Vanguard all along. I only do class quests and then skip planets if needed. The only problem I had is in a certain quest in Belsavis wherein I need to kill a Sith Advisor, I'm level 42 and the mob is also 42 champion. That's the only time I needed help. Ever.

[aarka]

Leveling a commando and comparing to what my other friends tell me I think commando is the easiest class to level in the game. Best AoE, nice singletarget dmg, mez, decent CDs etc. I can solo elites 2 levels above me by only occasionally needing to pop 2 min. CDs and pots.

 

Nah, smuggler is even easier. I dont think I died on any storyline or planet storlyine quest. The bosses are a joke. Haven't died to storyline boss yet on my Trooper at level 40. Counsular in comparison has much harder boss fights.

[Dalmorn]

Nah, smuggler is even easier. I dont think I died on any storyline or planet storlyine quest. The bosses are a joke. Haven't died to storyline boss yet on my Trooper at level 40. Counsular in comparison has much harder boss fights.

 

I level 3 characters evenly.

 

Trooper/Vanguard/Shield Spec – lvl42

Jedi Consular/Sage/Balance – lvl41

Smuggler/Scoundrel/Scrapper – lvl40

 

It is a tossup on which one levels the easiest between my Trooper and Jedi Consular. If you have the healer companions out on both those classes, I can typically solo a Champion no problem.

 

I would however say the Jedi Consular has it easier when dealing with multiple Elites vs my trooper due to multi target perma stun a Balance sages can spec for. Sages have a easier time controlling a fight depending how they are specced.

 

I will say this though, I pretty much steam role everything on my vanguard Shield Spec with my healer companion out. If you are dying so fast, a few things you may want to look at.

 

• Is Ion Cell Active

• Is Armor within 3 levels of current level (assuming armor is green)

• Are Mods within 3 levels (Barrels, Mods, Enhancements, Armor, Headgear, Implants)

• Are you watching your ammo (Don’t want to burn it at the start a fight)

• Is you companions armor and Mods within 3 levels (Keeping companions gear updated makes a huge difference on their performance whether their healing, tanking or DPSing )

• Are you making use of your interrupts

• How are your AC points allocated (Shield Spec Builds are very powerful for leveling)

• What skill rotation are you using

 

These are just a few things you need to look at that can affect your performance and survivability. But as a Trooper Vanguard, you should not be going down fast.

Edited February 13, 2012 by Dalmorn

[Aeryl]

Quest classes are not designed to be difficult. People who can't beat them are any or all of these: under-geared, under-leveled or under-skilled (at utilizing their class abilities).

[Rhinzual]

I was leveling Sith warrior till lv 25. I just didnt like the dark side, didnt like that for Empire play too many pl, so I reroled to Republic. I've chosen trooper, vanguard.

I'm surprised, how hard are quest bosses for me now. As Sith warrior, I liked the pre-set difficulty. Quest bosses were challenging, sometimes I have died, but mostly I killed them and felt like a hero. As trooper, I usually take down adds (lets take ordinary scenario, that after dialog you have golden boss and some adds) and the main oponent kills me. Then I have to ressurect and kill him alone.

If I didn't play Sith warrior before, I would blame myself. But here I have to ask. Is Sith Warrior stronger then Trooper, is trooper in worse situation after the dialog (meelee/range) or is it just my clumsines where I blame wrong things instead of me?

 

Not sure why you mentioned DS, as my Juggernaut is pure LS and I prefer the larger empire population for FPs and such.

 

Anyway, leveling assault Trooper in PvE is like leveling Pyro-tech Powertech in PvE (mirror class w/ shared tree). Not fun at all. Pyro-tech and Assault are seen more as the mobile PvP builds. You'll want to go into the left tree, the tanking one and use Dorne as your companion, and make sure your both geared up and she has her CC turned off since it's an 8 second channel.

[NoFishing]

I think the only thing to add here is that Elara should have aim gear, not cunning. It is confusing, because her initial gear and a lot of "Requires Elara" drops have cunning in them. Never equip any of that!

[va_wanderer]

Not sure why you mentioned DS, as my Juggernaut is pure LS and I prefer the larger empire population for FPs and such.

 

Anyway, leveling assault Trooper in PvE is like leveling Pyro-tech Powertech in PvE (mirror class w/ shared tree). Not fun at all. Pyro-tech and Assault are seen more as the mobile PvP builds. You'll want to go into the left tree, the tanking one and use Dorne as your companion, and make sure your both geared up and she has her CC turned off since it's an 8 second channel.

 

Pssh. It's quite fun, actually. Assault Vanguard 42 here. What drives people nuts about doing PvE sometimes as one is they try and treat PvE targets without using the advantage of Assault- it's mobility and ability to kite mobs, the capacity to move and shoot, to properly use LOS cover and drive mobs insane. Forget Dorne- use Aric. You're the kiter. He's the turret you run the mobs around (if they're too big to kill fast).

 

You taunt, you zorch them with Ion Pulses for auto-snares, cycle your freebie (and energy-recovering) HIB's with glee, toss in grenades/Inc. rounds to keep the bleeding going while Aric just pours out the assault cannon fire into it's backside. Every serious fight is different, you learn to treat the terrain as your best friend and how to squeeze every ounce of damage prevention out of it. You let melee mobs try and close with Aric, then harpoon them and run away with the thing trailing plasma fire behind you, crippled.

 

Most Vanguards are tank-and-spankers. Assault Vanguards dance with fire and lightning. It may not be as fast, but it sure is FUN.

[va_wanderer]

I think the only thing to add here is that Elara should have aim gear, not cunning. It is confusing, because her initial gear and a lot of "Requires Elara" drops have cunning in them. Never equip any of that!

 

Yeah. It's an itemization bug from when Elara was considered a Smuggler-style healer. She's all about Aim- remod her starting blaster and use standard Trooper style healing gear.

 

It's sorta funny. Aric was originally a sniper rifle type, and Dorne used Smuggler stats as a healer. Now both of them just use the same armor and benefit from the same stats as you do...and the "sniper" has an assault cannon.

[Warrenb]

Might be worth pointing out that if you are using Elara, make sure you turn her med stance on. If that isn't enough healing, I guess you can deactivate all of her attacks and have her only heal. But as shield spec vanguard with Elara healing, it is very difficult to die.

[Cheeseblaster]

I was leveling Sith warrior till lv 25. I just didnt like the dark side, didnt like that for Empire play too many pl, so I reroled to Republic. I've chosen trooper, vanguard.

I'm surprised, how hard are quest bosses for me now. As Sith warrior, I liked the pre-set difficulty. Quest bosses were challenging, sometimes I have died, but mostly I killed them and felt like a hero. As trooper, I usually take down adds (lets take ordinary scenario, that after dialog you have golden boss and some adds) and the main oponent kills me. Then I have to ressurect and kill him alone.

If I didn't play Sith warrior before, I would blame myself. But here I have to ask. Is Sith Warrior stronger then Trooper, is trooper in worse situation after the dialog (meelee/range) or is it just my clumsines where I blame wrong things instead of me?

 

Lvl 36 currently, and I had some trouble leveling a Vangaurd too at the beginning. So here are my experiences.

 

- I never found the mission drops acceptable for armor and weapons. I'm new to the MMO thing so I'm not going to claim to be able to have done this easily. I needed help on quest bosses for awhile. I started buying my own armor and weapons through GTN or PVP, and it's MUCH better.

 

- Vangaurd I believe has less firepower than others starting out since you're a tank not a DPS. So rotations, tactics, strategy become really important. I'm leveling a Sith right now as well, and that's a cakewalk compared to my experience with the Vangaurd.

 

- After all that though, i'm Lvl 36 and like others said paired with Elara you should be able to outlast anybody. Buy the best armor and blasters you can, plus look at all your mods, upgrade barrell, crystal, etc...

 

- If you're really good with rotations etc.... you may not need to buy alot of stuff. But I'm not that great at it yet, s buying higher level armor than I was getting really helped.

[va_wanderer]

- Vangaurd I believe has less firepower than others starting out since you're a tank not a DPS. So rotations, tactics, strategy become really important. I'm leveling a Sith right now as well, and that's a cakewalk compared to my experience with the Vangaurd.

 

This is a common fallacy- like calling a Commando a DPS class. It's all in which tree you spec into- a Shield-spec Vanguard is very much "tank", but an Assault-heavy one isn't, even though we do get the benefit of heavy armor + some defense cooldowns. I shoot things and smash things and half the time when I shock or smash it, I get to put a big ol' High Impact Bolt up it's nose for good measure. I don't tank, I'm the guy the tank hates when I overdo it and peel the mob off till he taunts it back, but at least I'm not the one who generally does it and gets one-shotted in the process.. We DPS optimally at nose-picking ranges, though we can do it reasonably effectively at 10m if you want the world's most boring rotation short of Grav Round-Demo Round Commandos, and we can definitely tick off a mob at 30m- but who cares, we have Harpoon so it's not at 30m very long.

 

I honestly never had many worries early on. If it was weak, Mortar Volley obliterated it. If it was strong, Mortar Volley and a quick Cryo while Aric and me pummeled it for a second did the job. If it was elite, Aric would tank for a bit, when he got weak I'd taunt it over and kite it if it was REALLY strong. If it was a boss, see "if it's an elite". Once I had Sweltering Heat, it was real, real tough for a mob to keep up with me dancing around and as long as Aric was on his feet, that mob was going to die. It was just a matter of when.

[Cheeseblaster]

I honestly never had many worries early on. If it was weak, Mortar Volley obliterated it. If it was strong, Mortar Volley and a quick Cryo while Aric and me pummeled it for a second did the job. If it was elite, Aric would tank for a bit, when he got weak I'd taunt it over and kite it if it was REALLY strong. If it was a boss, see "if it's an elite". Once I had Sweltering Heat, it was real, real tough for a mob to keep up with me dancing around and as long as Aric was on his feet, that mob was going to die. It was just a matter of when.

 

I went SS all the way. And at the beginning at least, I found it to be fun, albeit at lower levels fairly squishy. The Vangaurd IMO doesn't come into it's own until the mid-20's. At least in this newcomers experience.