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

[Jazhara]

As a theoretical addition as a help to get orange gear:

 

It's likely people play Warzones before lvl50 if they intend to PvP at 50.

Simply use the WZ commendations on lvl40 PvP gear and update that set when at lvl50.

 

If you spend 8 hours total PvP'ing throughout your levelling, you can have a complete set, purely with commendations.

 

That still leaves out belt and bracers, but it's a great set, and often nice looking as well.

[Bartes]

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.

 

yeah, I keep saying the same. I even started to inspect/screenshot players in lvl 50 WZs and it still amazes me how poorly prepared some people come.

I dunno what's the problem here. Looks like some people rush to 50 with only space missions or something. Even then they should have at least few pieces of purple lvl 50 gear from Fleet Artifact boxes, right? Now all I see are people with 10-12k HP and lvl 40 green gear or orange gear with lvl 40 green/blue mods. Some of them don't even have poorest relics or implants/earpiece slotted.

[Daedricshots]

Orange gear would be viable if they had set bonuses.

 

Which bw has hinted at but i'll believe it when i see it.

[Jpope]

I love how you have all Trooper gear on. Made me giggle.

[Trujan]

The OP is clearly violating the TOS by bringing his half full glass of positivity around an official MMO gaming forum.

 

This post has now been reported.

 

Nice post OP, and I second the half glass comment above.

[airdog]

I still see fresh 50s with some level 35-40 gear sometimes. You gotta upgrade your gear a little come on get real.

[joeakrazo]

Thank you for the excellent guide.

[bounding]

This is a good post. Yes, I was able to achieve the same level of stats/gear/etc without it, but if there are people who will benefit from it, great. It might seem like the OP is stating the obvious to many of us, but so what? I for one have been playing various MMOs for the last 11 years. Many people have not, and to them, this kind of walkthough could be invaluable. We arn't going to build a community in this game that will last by flaming the crap out of well meaning people who are seeking knowledge they might not have the prior experience to attain elsewhere. Edited February 4, 2012 by bounding

[Dovafeyn]

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.

 

This right here, is wrong. I click and I'm 54 valor rank and can own pretty much anyone one on one. So don't say **** like if you are a clicker you are bad. It is that type of attitude that makes me hate people like you and pvp.

[Noctournys]

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. 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 might even get lucky and get a champ piece, but even if you get unlucky, you can use the 18 centurion tokens to buy yourself a piece that you badly need upgrading (the relics are really nice now).

 

 

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.

 

To add to this decent guide:

 

The Belsavis bonus series starts at level 47. it leads you, by the hand, DIRECTLY through the daily quest chains in that area. It takes roughly two hours to complete the bonus series and unlock the daily quests themselves and about another hour to do them all the first day.

 

EACH DAY, you get:

 

just shy of 20 daily commendations (14-16, i believe)

A rank 22 Purple Armoring of your choice

A rank 22 Purple Mod of your choice

An orange companion weapon or a level 50 blue item box

 

YOU CAN DO THESE BEFORE YOU HIT 50. YOu can also buy a rating 136 implant or earpiece for 120 daily comms.. seems like a lot but im sitting on just over 400 and i only do the quickest dalies for money.

 

OH YEAH.. this also nets you 150k credits, making buying the other stuff you need on the GTN even easier.

 

THEN!

 

Once you complete your class quest (which you can do at the 47-8 range) the GAME SENDS YOU TO ILUM.

 

The "unlock" quest series here gives you another 20 ish Daily Comms and unlocks the ability to do six more daily quests for 8 daily commendations and:

 

A rank 22 purple enhancement of your choice.

 

You can do ALL OF THIS before hitting 50.

 

There is NO EXCUSE to be level 50, even a fresh 50, and not have a complete set of rank 22 purple mods in every orange piece of gear (you can buy a rank 22 purple hilt/barrel for 8 daily comms), and great crafted belt/bracers/implants/earpieces IN EVERY SLOT, as well as a MATRIX SHARD (which takes all of 15 minutes for most people to create).

 

There is NO EXCUSE to be PvPing at 50 with 12k HP except laziness... it's not even a "grind" to get this stuff.

 

It's 10 hours of work spread over days.

[Noctournys]

Not really ... the expertise alone amounts to 27% dmg buff in best battlemaster gear. You can counter it simply by using an exp pot that buffs your damage by 35%. Freshly dinged lvl 50 that buys gear OP mentioned and pops a pot is on par with battlemaster geared player.

 

No, just no.

 

ALL ratings in this game suffer from sharp diminishing returns after a certain soft cap. The Expertise, if you have full BM in every slot, doesn't quite break 14%.

[Noctournys]

This simply isn't true. I'm not trying to ruin the hopes of fresh 50s but without Expertise (and yes, I agree Expertise is a flawed mechanic but that's a different story) and the extra Stamina from PvP gear, you will be fodder for Champion and Battlemaster geared players.

.

 

Um, not to burst your bubble...

 

but PvP gear has LESS endurance on it that equivalent item level PvE gear.

 

SUBSTANTIALLY less.

 

All that expertise? It's paid for, point-for-point, out of the endurance and primary stat on the armoring slot.

 

This guide/gear gets you the same HP as a roughly full-champ player (and uh, interestingly enough, FAR better DPS stats since PvP gear is also itemized like dog poo) and leaves him with only his 9%ish (can get to 10.5% if you sac even more damage stats) expertise as an advantage on you, which is NOT an insurmountable gain.

 

I have to spec back and forth as a sniper to PvE and PvP.. on the days when im PvE marskman because were going to be doing ops, i dont even bother to get my pvP gear out of the bank when i do my daily.

 

In full Columi or equivalent (equiavlent item level to CHamp gear) i have... 1500 MORE HP than my champ gear, 25% more surge, and 6% more crit. I notice almost no survivability loss due to the extra HP, but hit significantly harder.

[Noctournys]

It isn't removed, you can buy it on DK. I did for my class.

 

However, nice guide. But I would change some things. Guide is good if you already are in your 40's, but if your under. Don't buy the lvl 20/40 pvp gear. Buy the Lvl 50 pvp gear. It's right below champ, will get you decent expertise, and I used it to tank reg 4 man lvl 50.

So leveling, spent my com's on lvl 50 gear, then bought my 1 bag, saved up to 1000 of each. So yea you hope you get lucky from daily/weekly (make sure once you hit 50 you pick up daily/weekly, that's 8 bags+6 in 1 day) and out of the 14 bags from first day you'll get hopefully 2 pieces of champ.

 

It was removed 3 weeks after launch. It is no longer available.

 

I had several pieces of it, and logged in to get three more, only to find they had removed it. Then i figured out basically what this guide promotes and didnt care. But it is, in fact, gone.

[Noctournys]

Also the reason why pvp gear is good is because they have more TOTAL stat points(when expertise is included) than their PVE equivalent.

.

 

No they dont. Take two otherwise identical pieces (Columi chest and Champion chest of the same type, for instance) Teh mod and enhancement in them are identical, and the armoring slot (locked, but makes up the remaining stats)....

 

has a total of 48 less End/Main Stat - and has 48 expertise.

 

Expertise directly eats main stat/end off of the armoring slot.

[Slovic]

Awesome guide. This needs to be stickied, gogo

[Ganjimon]

crapy guide, rather nerf pvp gear instead... faster, easier, 90% who have it zerged exploited it on ilum anyways....

[Noctournys]

crapy guide, rather nerf pvp gear instead... faster, easier, 90% who have it zerged exploited it on ilum anyways....

 

This just in:

 

valor doesn't give you gear.

[BegaTasty]

why do you need to farm gear in 2 days ? why cant it take 6 months to gain a full set of shinys ?.Your lucky being BG farmers you dont have to worry about actual pvp. I have been world pvping since early access an I have not one single valor point or whatever the rubbish is called. Because proper pvp "world" is not seen as worth a progression tree.

 

Personally I would make BG farming actually difficult an time consuming instead of freebes thrown at you just for logging on./ Also make it so you ONLY ever get any points for actually killing someone, if you dont make the killing blow, or say 51% of damage on that person, yous should gain NO POINTS.

 

it is laughable to call what the excuse for pvp they are calling it is now. Even rift is more complex an that shouldn't be possible an still be rated for humans...

[Noctournys]

why do you need to farm gear in 2 days ? why cant it take 6 months to gain a full set of shinys ?.Your lucky being BG farmers you dont have to worry about actual pvp. I have been world pvping since early access an I have not one single valor point or whatever the rubbish is called. Because proper pvp "world" is not seen as worth a progression tree.

 

Personally I would make BG farming actually difficult an time consuming instead of freebes thrown at you just for logging on./ Also make it so you ONLY ever get any points for actually killing someone, if you dont make the killing blow, or say 51% of damage on that person, yous should gain NO POINTS.

 

it is laughable to call what the excuse for pvp they are calling it is now. Even rift is more complex an that shouldn't be possible an still be rated for humans...

 

ahh, another guy with coke-bottle thick rose colored glasses about "World PvP".

 

Get over it, it was never good, in any game.

[BegaTasty]

ahh, another guy with coke-bottle thick rose colored glasses about "World PvP".

 

Get over it, it was never good, in any game.

 

No not rose glasses, it was before pvp became about shinys, remember real MMos were not about farming shinys, wow did that to hook the young ones. because they know the best way to keep youngest interested is to throw a shiny at them everyday just for being on.

 

Real pvp was always far superior or every single MMO pre wow wouldn't have done it, an done it to perfection.The reason you dont like it (I am guessing) is because it means you have to actually fight, an the onus is on you to win. You cant bot it, you cant farm it, an it takes 20x longer to do than silly BG farming an kill trading.

Edited February 5, 2012 by BegaTasty

[Vikassi]

Good guide, thx.

[Noctournys]

No not rose glasses, it was before pvp became about shinys, remember real MMos were not about farming shinys, wow did that to hook the young ones. because they know the best way to keep youngest interested is to throw a shiny at them everyday just for being on.

 

Real pvp was always far superior or every single MMO pre wow wouldn't have done it, an done it to perfection.The reason you dont like it (I am guessing) is because it means you have to actually fight, an the onus is on you to win. You cant bot it, you cant farm it, an it takes 20x longer to do than silly BG farming an kill trading.

 

...

 

"every single MMO pre wow wouldnt have done it"..

 

what?

 

the single biggest success before WoW? Yeah, that was EQ.. with no PvP to speak of at all... and it was all about collecting "shinies".

 

You're deluded, man. Nothing short.

 

Keep on trollin, trollin, e'ery day.

[Jarfunkz]

You can already get near a ful set of columi pve gear in about four hours...

[kalexkhan]

Great guide.

 

This is the best a fresh 50 can do, and while it's not going to make up for a lack of expertise... It at least gives you the best chance out of the gate to contribute.

 

Thanks for giving everyone a step by step, what to do at 50 in retrospect may be obvious for people that have been doing the pvp grind for a while now...

 

But your first time can be overwhelming... You have all kinds of tokens and commendations and crap and it can be confusing to decide what's your best use of time. This guide helps clear that up.

[kalexkhan]

No not rose glasses, it was before pvp became about shinys, remember real MMos were not about farming shinys, wow did that to hook the young ones. because they know the best way to keep youngest interested is to throw a shiny at them everyday just for being on.

 

Real pvp was always far superior or every single MMO pre wow wouldn't have done it, an done it to perfection.The reason you dont like it (I am guessing) is because it means you have to actually fight, an the onus is on you to win. You cant bot it, you cant farm it, an it takes 20x longer to do than silly BG farming an kill trading.

 

If you thought old school mmo's were not about gear, particularly in pvp you were mistaken.

 

Just cause you were too in experienced to come to those realizations doesn't mean others did not.

Edited February 6, 2012 by kalexkhan