Guide: How to bridge the PVP gear gap for fresh level 50s in less than 2 days

[gofortheko]

Just a heads up, they have 16end 25 expertise 23pow enhancements in lvl 46 weapons, just have to look for the right ones.

[VNine]

To the OP:

In your screen shot it looks like you went with guardian armoring and deft mod 22As. I've been going with might armoring and deft 22s. I calculated the difference on a full set of 8 pieces of armor (that's including wrist and waist) to be 1200HP. Do feel at entry level 50 PvP HP is the most effective stat? I think I would like the STR from 22As as well (88 more STR than 22s), but they haven't been on my GTN.

Edited February 9, 2012 by VNine

[Saberolson]

 

I knew my limits when I didn't have my pvp gear, as a focus guardian, I simply tried to harm the other team as much as I could before I died, and I generally was satisfied with that.

 

This

 

People need to accept what they can do at 50, and push through.

 

Even when i was in my 45+ orange as a fresh 50, as a sin tank, I could tie up a DPS for a solid 30 secs while my teammates either came to save the day, or got away and scored. I could taunt, withers, and discharge to debuff the team. I was still getting 4-6 medals. I was dying a lot, which took some adjustment, but it wasnt near as bad as I expected based on the qq.

[madro]

This thread is no longer true. As a fresh 50 on my sentinel I had all orange gear (50 modes blues/purples) with purple implants/relics/earpiece and a blue belt and braces. Far better than Centrion gear, and yes my HPs are low (13K) but my STR (1250) and Surge (83%) are higher then mixed Champ/Centrion gear peeps. What it comes down to is Expertise.

 

A better geared person without expertise will do less damage and get hit harder against a lesser geared person with expertise.

 

Now with a large population of high expertise 50s its a very hostile pvp arena for fresh 50s. New bags slightly help, if your team does not desert, or you get lucky and get on the winning team. More needs to be done.

 

(50 sorc, 50 sent)

[Y-Yorle]

Awesome guide indeed, I'll be sure to point it out to others as well. Thanks a lot.

[AndantePhist]

This thread is no longer true. As a fresh 50 on my sentinel I had all orange gear (50 modes blues/purples) with purple implants/relics/earpiece and a blue belt and braces. Far better than Centrion gear, and yes my HPs are low (13K) but my STR (1250) and Surge (83%) are higher then mixed Champ/Centrion gear peeps. What it comes down to is Expertise.

 

A better geared person without expertise will do less damage and get hit harder against a lesser geared person with expertise.

 

Now with a large population of high expertise 50s its a very hostile pvp arena for fresh 50s. New bags slightly help, if your team does not desert, or you get lucky and get on the winning team. More needs to be done.

 

(50 sorc, 50 sent)

 

I never said you will be able to take on a battlemaster (that knows what they are doing) 1vs1. However, my guide is to help players that feel ABSOLUTELY HELPLESS in level 50 warzones.

 

Also if you follow my optional recommendation of saving up commendations for instant 6 bags upon hitting level 50, you can easily get up to 200ish expertise in the first few days if you do the weeklies/dailies.

 

That means within the first couple days you already have 5-6% worth of expertise along with decent offensive power and hp.

 

Meaning that 10-12% advantage a older level 50 has is now narrowed down to about 5-6% due your easy access to some pvp gear right off the bat.

[Kjetl]

subscribed

[Xtrema]

-----------OLD-----------NEW

HP--------12k-----------16.5k

Power ---750------------1000ish

Crit-------14%-----------23%

Crit Mult.-55%-----------84%

Strength--1000----------1200

 

This might have alrdy been asked, but the power gain from 750 to 1000ish, you meant endurance for that right?

[deltaminus]

That is mostly the problem with fresh 50s. They que up for pvp with 12k health buffed and expect to have a chance. Today I kept running into the same person that had 12k as a vanguard. Looked at the gear and it was all lvl 40 below stuff.

 

I see people like this everyday. I'm 100% sure they're the ones that cry about not getting gear outright from Champions bags.

 

I did the same thing mentioned in this guide when I hit 50, and I didn't even need a guide to do it. It just made too much sense.

Edited February 12, 2012 by deltaminus

[StoneJamison]

Great guide, thanks!

[AndantePhist]

This might have alrdy been asked, but the power gain from 750 to 1000ish, you meant endurance for that right?

 

like force power/tech power

[Knifewrench]

Bumped for creating a topic with actual useful info in it.

[furiousferret]

As a fresh 50 I'm doing okay in pvp. The key is for the 6 bags, matrix relics, and Ah items mixed in. I'll have to look into the dailies but I am no where near finishing my class quest

[Midasear]

I wish this thread could be stickied.

 

I also wish everyone was required to read it before queuing into an L50 WZ for the first time.

[AetherMcLoud]

I don't understand why this isn't sticky'd yet?!

[Archvampire]

I'm 100% positive someone has mentioned this but buy a champion bag AND THEN get max out on commedations. That way at level 50 you'll have 6 bags in total and that will get you a champion piece and a few pieces of centorian pieces. Trust me IT WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE AS A PVP LESS STRESSFULL! Especially after the nerf to the bags. Good luck everyone!

[well]

First of all, after playing many MMOs, I've found the modding system in SWTOR to be one of the most intuitive I've ever seen. With this system and some guidance, and a brain on your part, you can literally gear up your character in hours and become competitive.

 

What you will need:

 

1. orange armor gear and orange weapon.

 

2. 500-600k credits

 

3. about 10 hours of play time.

 

The Guide.

 

1. ORANGE GEAR! If you did not level with orange gear in every one of your main slots (weapon, helm, chest, gloves, boots, pants)... you're doing it wrong, Orange gear's flexibility is literally the cheapest option to keep your character in tip top shape until you get either tier 2+ PVE gear or PVP gear. If you don't have your full set, go to the GTN and pick up a full set/fill in slots you are empty. Buy the cheapest orange gear, the item level means nothing, because the power of your orange gear is literally determined by the mods placed in there. EDIT: Alternatively you can get orange gear through pvp, the level 40 orange gear is good for its level (low 40s), you'll still need to replace the mods which I will explain later when you get to 50.

 

2. Credits. By the time you hit 50, you should have 500k-600k credits saved up from just the questing. Skimp out on the 50 speeder training for now, gearing up is more important. What you want to do is find yourself a cybertech and a artificer for mods and enhancements specifically. Commission the artificer to make level 49 epic end/crit/surge enhancements(crit/surge is key for almost all classes) and the cybertech to make the level 49 epic mods with the main stat for your specific class. Epic level 49 mods/enhancements cost 25k-45k per depending on server. So expect to spend 300-500k on mods/enhancements for your orange gear.

 

3. TIME!(about 10 hours). Now if you don't have the credits... don't panic. Once you hit 50 and finish your class story, you unlock level 50 DAILIES. These dailies are located on Ilum and Belvavis (you grab starter quest from your fleet). Do the daily series in Ilum and Belvavis, and you'll be swimming in creds(100k+ creds per day!). Not only will you get credits, you also will get Daily Commendations (this is very important). Use these commendations asap to buy the epic level 50 hilts/barrels (depending on class) and armorings for your class. The heroic daily quests from belvasis and Ilum and definitely worth it, not only do they give you a lot more Daily Commendations, they also give you free mods/enhancers.

 

THERE YOU GO. Once you place all level 49 epic mods/enhance and level 50 armorings/hilt/barrel in your orange gear/weapon... you'll notice a dramatic increase in performance, and will give you a fighting chance against BM/champion geared level 50s.

 

Highly recommended additional tips.

 

1. Save 14 corelia commendations. You can buy a sweet level 50 blue offhand with 14 commendations.

 

2. level 49 epic crafted implants/earpiece. On most servers there will be plenty selection of these on the GTN, they'll cost 50k-100k each, but are highly worth it especially the (superior) versions.

 

3. Orange belt/bracers or epic crafted level 49+ (superior) belt/bracers. I've rarely seen orange belt/bracers on sale, but it could just be my server, but if you do have them on your server, don't be afraid to snatch them up and mod them with epic mods.

 

4. Matrix cubes. These relics are arguably the best for one of your relic slots. You'll need matrix shards to make a matrix cube. There are plenty of guides online that details how to get the matrix shards(datacrons) and forming matrix cubes. Just google "swtor matrix cube assembler" and "swtor datacrons".

 

EDIT: 5. HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 1000 valor and 1000 merc commendations. Thx for the additional tip guys! Before you hit 50, you can do WZs to cap out on 1000 valor and 1000 merc commendations. Now with the level 10-49 bracket, its a very fun and worthwile endevour (I didn't do it since when I was leveling, there was no lvl 10-49 bracket ). Make sure you buy a champion bag that cost 200/200 commendations, and then cap out with 1000/1000 commendations. That way the MOMENT you hit 50, you can open up to 6 bags by buying them one at a time from the pvp vendor. You are now guaranteed 42 champ commendations and 90 cent commendations from opening the 6 bags (as of 1.1.2), that is enough to buy you a couple cent pieces.

 

 

Sub note regarding Tip 5.- Getting your first few pieces of pvp gear is highly recommended, I would recommend getting the centurion belt/bracers/implants/earpiece if you can't find epic surperior crafted versions on GTN. A reason why getting a few pieces of pvp gear is important is because expertise has gradual diminishing returns, meaning your first few hundred points on expertise has be best bang for the buck. Going from 0-100 expertise gives you rougly 2.6% PVP bonus, however going from 500-600 expertise only nets 1.3% pvp bonus. This is why lots of guides recommend getting top quality PVE gear for PVP once you hit the 500ish expertise mark due to the low returns at that point, however since this guide is for fresh 50s, I won't go into all that. Just make note however, that at this point, expertise isn't the end all be all stat in pvp.

 

 

Additional Note

 

When I hit level 50 on my Jedi Guardian, I joined a WZ and was hitting like a wet noodle against my opponents. I spent 2 days doing dailies and by doing all the things I listed and the optionals, in just 2 days after hitting fifty, I turned my character completely around.

 

My stats changed something like this.

 

-----------OLD-----------NEW

HP--------12k-----------16.5k

Power ---750------------1000ish

Crit-------14%-----------23%

Crit Mult.-55%-----------84%

Strength--1000----------1200

 

The transformation is insane and anyone can do it!

 

 

Disclaimer: My guide will NOT substitute for lack of skill or intelligence. If you are a Jedi Knight that mod alacrity and armor with cunning etc. Or if you mouse click all your abilities in pvp... no amount of guides will help you succeed. But for those that have the will, intelligence, and determination to improve your character, I hope my guide helps you immensely.

 

PS. Here is an old photo of how I used look like a few days after hitting 50 (I'm now in champ/BM gear now, its an improvement, but not THAT big of an improvement)

 

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/2783/screenshot2012010913550.jpg

 

and yes if you follow my guide... you can look like a trooper as a jedi knight

 

PS. I am in no way saying you will be on par with full Champ/BM geared pvpers. This is a starting point, not an ending point (would be a pretty lame mmo if the ending point of gear progression can be reached in 2 days...). What I am saying is that you will be critting Champ/BM geared players for 2-4k damage on your biggest attacks depending on your class (instead of just tickling them) making you a threat that cannot just be ignored.

 

Good guide.I didn't start pvp till a few weeks ago.I have been saving my coins.Well I buy a bag when I get enough so I have both centurion and champion coins or such.I figure on grinding more.

[CEAF]

The L46 PvP weapons have enhancements with +25 expertise. You can get 6 of these (5 armor + weapon) BEFORE hitting 50 for a total of 150 expertise.

 

Upon hitting 50 you use your comms to buy belt/bracers/implants/power relic other cheap items with expertise and are immediately walking around at ~300 expertise. Use money/dailies to get L22 armoring/mods/hilt/barrel and go from there.

[Xtrema]

when you went from 12k hp to 16.5k did you do that going with tanking gear?

[AndantePhist]

when you went from 12k hp to 16.5k did you do that going with tanking gear?

 

no

 

/5char

[IceyFire]

Great guide. As an older 50, I usually try to get our new 50s in the guild to do this very thing. It really doesn't take long to gear up people. Not long at all.

[AetherMcLoud]

Bump for great justice. (And sticky hopefully)

[andysdead]

this is basically what I did when I hit 50.

 

This was back when there was no 50s-only bracket in pvp, and I was frankly shocked at how much my stats actually decreased now that I didn't have the bolster buff.

 

I went from having 16k health to something like 12-13k health between level 49 and level 50. It was weird for me.

 

But I got lucky with champion bags and was pretty well-geared within a week of doing dailies.

[Aidank]

This should really get a sticky.

[andysdead]

The L46 PvP weapons have enhancements with +25 expertise. You can get 6 of these (5 armor + weapon) BEFORE hitting 50 for a total of 150 expertise.

 

Upon hitting 50 you use your comms to buy belt/bracers/implants/power relic other cheap items with expertise and are immediately walking around at ~300 expertise. Use money/dailies to get L22 armoring/mods/hilt/barrel and go from there.

 

Good call, I should mention that I did this as well.