Getting CRUSHED while leveling :(

[Tsavo]

So I have the following characters:

29 Jedi Guardian

28 Sith Mara

27 Sith Jugg

28 Merc

19 Scoundrel

11 Commando

 

Without a doubt my Jedi Guardian is the hardest to level (No healer companion till 38? SW's get theirs at around 18......).

 

I am a pretty hardcore player and would have been 50 now if it were not for my alt-titis and my heavy work week(s).

 

I like my guardian a lot but ever since I hit alderaan I am just getting destroyed by mobs that bypass armor through DoT's/Elemental attacks.

 

At least on my Mara I had:

Self healing

A 90% accuracy debuff

and two defensive cd's I could rotate (3 later on)

 

My guardian has saber ward and that is really all. Enure is cool but when that timer runs out you can get GG'd pretty quickly.

 

I have geared myself and my copmanion (Kira) in all the pvp gear I could get. I'm not in full epics but my buddy plays a sage and he is DESTROYING content as he can shield and heal his tank companion.

[Faolon]

Usual questions we must work through:

 

 

Are you geared properly?

Is your gear up to date?

What spec are you using?

Are you using all of your abilities or are you expecting to win by mashing 2 buttons only?

Are you using your interrupt?

Are you using medpacks?

 

 

 

Enemies that do internal or elemental are always going to be tough because we get so little resistance to it. 10% talented. So you'll just have to work around that weakness with CC's and stuff.

 

Consulars and Inquisitors are easy mode. Don't expect to be able to do what they can do. They've got the largest, most useful, set of tools of any class in game.

Edited January 26, 2012 by Faolon

[solnar_xan]

If one class is "ezmode" and most others are significantly more difficult then there is a flaw in the design.

 

The design goal of a class should be to provide well rounded play with aspects that are good enough for the average player and advanced mechanics that will provide depth to the elite player.

 

If there are cries that one class is ez mode and others are too hard something is wrong or bioware needs to clue us in on this challenge scale.

 

Arena net for example stated that they released class info in order from easiest to play to most complex. Note the use of the word complex not HARD, another word would be rich, diverse, intricate, etc the JK is not these things it is basic and fairly striaght forward there is not complex nature it just dies to easy

 

ezmode shouldn't happen; I personally have no trouble on anything except the Jedi Knight/Warrior the fact is they are squishy and die pretty easy.

 

Bad game design.

Edited January 26, 2012 by solnar_xan

[SarimRune]

I thought BH were easy mode.

 

Anyway, I play a Sentinel and it's not much better. The Knight class in general, is a bit difficult to play.

[PantsOn]

So I have the following characters:

29 Jedi Guardian

28 Sith Mara

27 Sith Jugg

28 Merc

19 Scoundrel

11 Commando

 

Without a doubt my Jedi Guardian is the hardest to level (No healer companion till 38? SW's get theirs at around 18......).

 

I am a pretty hardcore player and would have been 50 now if it were not for my alt-titis and my heavy work week(s).

 

I like my guardian a lot but ever since I hit alderaan I am just getting destroyed by mobs that bypass armor through DoT's/Elemental attacks.

 

At least on my Mara I had:

Self healing

A 90% accuracy debuff

and two defensive cd's I could rotate (3 later on)

 

My guardian has saber ward and that is really all. Enure is cool but when that timer runs out you can get GG'd pretty quickly.

 

I have geared myself and my copmanion (Kira) in all the pvp gear I could get. I'm not in full epics but my buddy plays a sage and he is DESTROYING content as he can shield and heal his tank companion.

 

 

Your Guardian is a mirror of your Jugg. If you liked your Mara more, roll a Sentinel.

[EchoTwoOmega]

Usual questions we must work through:

 

 

-Are you geared properly? The jedi knight and other quests do not provide adequate gear. This is an issue.

-Is your gear up to date? If the quests provided adequate gear it would be. Sadly this is the only class where you NEED to spend cash on the GTN to get "up to date" gear to be successful.

-What spec are you using? Shouldnt matter, Any 1 of the 3 trees should be viable.

-Are you using all of your abilities or are you expecting to win by mashing 2 buttons only? CD watchign is CD watching with this class. Any big attack that does a lot of damage has a 1 min, 30sec, or 12 sec CD (unless reduced by spec)

-Are you using your interrupt? Not every mob has an attack that can be interupted.

-Are you using medpacks? Again. The only real class that is dependant on these in order to complete and encounter.

 

 

For those who do not thing the Jedi knight has issues, go play a trooper/bounty hunter, smuggler/imperial agent, and/or a jedi conselor/sith inquisitor and then come back and make a post on how great the jedi knight is and how there are no problems.

 

And again. If you dont think the class has issues there was an official post about how they are looking into how to increase survival.

 

And for reference you can get your healer companion earlier than 38. you can get him around 34 is you run down the class quests on balmora.

[Tsavo]

Usual questions we must work through:

 

 

Are you geared properly?

Is your gear up to date?

What spec are you using?

Are you using all of your abilities or are you expecting to win by mashing 2 buttons only?

Are you using your interrupt?

Are you using medpacks?

 

 

 

Enemies that do internal or elemental are always going to be tough because we get so little resistance to it. 10% talented. So you'll just have to work around that weakness with CC's and stuff.

 

Consulars and Inquisitors are easy mode. Don't expect to be able to do what they can do. They've got the largest, most useful, set of tools of any class in game.

 

Are you geared properly? - To the best of my knowledge, could use some quest reward upgrades but I have the best in slot that I could get via PVP/Social (light side). Itemization for me is End/Str/Heavy armor. I am just starting to get pieces with crit and surge.

 

 

What spec are you using? - I keep respecing between two different basic builds

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500ZhZGbRbdb.1

 

^ I am using that now as it AoE's better

 

However I really like the playstyle of Vigilance but its focus on single target damage seems to be sub-prime in a game designed around making you feel heroic by throwing 5 mobs on you.

 

Are you using all of your abilities or are you expecting to win by mashing 2 buttons only?

 

I bought a SW Razer Naga, I did this specifically for the Knight/Warrior caste.

 

Here is my current rotation

 

Fight start:

Charge ->Trinket -> Riposte (if up) ->Smash/Sweep -> Sunder -> Bladestorm -> rotate sunder/rage builder -> Zealous leap -> smash

 

For strong mobs I save my force stasis, master strike, saber ward

 

Are you using your interrupt?

 

I try but it seems some mob cast times are incredibly fast

 

Are you using medpacks?

 

Medpacks + Adrenals I have them both bound........

 

I basically have to rest after almost every fight it feels. T7 just gets destroyed by mobs since he tries to tank everything..... So I switched to using kira for the extra dps.

Edited January 26, 2012 by Tsavo

[Tsavo]

Your Guardian is a mirror of your Jugg. If you liked your Mara more, roll a Sentinel.

 

Well the jugg had the healer much earlier which made leveling A LOT better.

[Aleious]

I play a 40th level Gunslinger. No healer in site as of yet. So your not alone in that pain.

 

I'm not having problems with my guardian, granted he is only 30th level. However at that level my Gunslinger was getting killed probably 4 to 6 times an hour. We just stunk it up. It boiled down to my gear, tactics, and some really bad luck.

 

Problem is it's hard to pull out of that mess for what ever reason. Took me 10+ levels with the Gunslinger to get the right gear, the right spec skills, and all that junk.

 

Two things are helping my guardian.

 

#1 I have nearly everything converted to the Orange Modular gear, and it's way better than the gear that the quests are handing out. Most of my armor is 100 points over what is being handed out. And my friend makes me hilts for my weapons, so I always have the best hilt I can get ahold of for my level.

 

I got a lot of that though the flashpoints, and the world venders that sell mods with the credits. This is keeping my gear and Kira's gear pretty solid. I might suffer in the long run but for now it's working. I even converted a set of Trooper heavy armor to Guardian Armor. So ya I look damm fine in dem dar pants.

 

#2 I have three other people close to my level playing though the story arcs. Another Knight that went into the other spec, a Counselor that went for the healing, and a Scoundrel who also went for the healing. So when I need backup, say taking out Kira's brother, They came running. I think I could have done it solo but I kept getting the fall down bug and got smoked by his AOE Lightning (some nasty stuff right dar).

 

I'm also 3 levels above the quests so I'm sure that does not hurt.

 

In any case what my Gunfighter and his tanks could not take down....Kira and my Guardian are taking out without loosing half health.

 

Still wish I had an Area taunt that attracted all the baddies to me, and Kira needs to quit running off and attacking a mob all on her own. Stupid little girl, gonna get us all killed. And wile they are at it. A few more points of damage would not hurt.

[Legendaryl]

I'd just like to add some feedback. When I started this game I wanted to be a JK, but after hearing it was hard and seeing a lot of them I decided not to. I got my Sage to 23 and my commando to 28 but they were boring so I went JK and honestly, I LOVE IT!

 

I will agree, it definitely is much more challenging/harder than "EZ" mode classes, but I have 0 problems. The only time I had a slight issue was with that one boss guy on the space station, which I still beat with 1/4 health.

 

 

I guess I love this class because its challenging and I do good because I am very very good geared. Two light side trinkets, implants, good gear all of it. right now I'm 33 JK (tank tree, and its awesome) and I have 8175 health. I have saber ward and this one ability in the tank tree (i forgot the name) but it reduces dmg 40%, together with saber ward for like 10 seconds you take 0 dmg, but I rotate it up. IMHO, focus is amazing end game, but right now tank is the best tree of leveling. Loving it, though I plain to change to Focus end game for DPS. ALSO: I use kira, because I like her DPS better than T7. Oh and probably another think that really helps is I'm biochem, so I make really good reusable stims. I use a stim right now thats 2k-2.5k heal since I had 6k health, so this gives me 1/3-1/4 my health back. In PvP I usually break 100k dmg but its harder than my sage or mando (again "EZ" mode, but I do love it). I think consular and inquisters need a sliiight nerf and warriors and knights a sliiight buff. As it is, JK is a very good class if you are geared and can use it properly.

Edited January 26, 2012 by Legendaryl

[SilentKitty]

My JK has been pure joy except for those few lvl:s on Tatooine.... My bad gear finally smacked me down hard and that entire planet was spent getting her into some good orange stuff and lvl-ing an alt to sit on the fleet and to cybertech for her. A nice re-spec to the tree on the far left also helped me a lot, don't know why but it suits me much better. I really do get what you say, it is no fun when you char just suddenly dies all the time, but it is fixable with a little time and effort.

[solnar_xan]

You shouldn't have to work extra hard to get better gear just because you chose the JK class.

[Faolon]

You shouldn't have to work extra hard to get better gear just because you chose the JK class.

 

I look at it like WoW's Warrior class.

 

On a new server, where every player is at an even level, Warriors require a bit more work to do well with than the other classes.

However, once you start getting good gear, you start surpassing what other classes are capable of.

 

 

That's why I'm not so sure about buffing the Knight and Warrior classes. There is a decent chance you'll push them overboard when good gear becomes more common. Already I can do better than other people with my Guardian simply because I work to keep my gear as good as possible.

 

IMO, the devs should wait and see until more of us are 50 before making large sweeping changes because a portion of the player base has trouble, while others excel.

[Maidel]

Without a doubt my Jedi Guardian is the hardest to level (No healer companion till 38? SW's get theirs at around 18......).

.

 

ERm...

 

Think you have been doing something wrong there. I hit lvl 38 today (coincidentally) and ive had Doc for 2 planets now since about lvl 28-30ish...

[Faolon]

ERm...

 

Think you have been doing something wrong there. I hit lvl 38 today (coincidentally) and ive had Doc for 2 planets now since about lvl 28-30ish...

 

You must have had friends run you through your class story because you don't get Doc until you're done with your story quests on Balmorra.

Edited January 27, 2012 by Faolon

[Maidel]

You must have had friends run you through your class story because you don't get Doc until you're done with your story quests on Balmorra.

 

Nope - ive only teamed up once, im not a massively social gamer.

 

You dont get doc 'offically' until you leave balmora, but you get him for half the quests on the later stage of the planet as a guest.

 

On checking I was a little overestimating - you get him around lvl 32-34. You probably leave balmora lvl 34-35 assuming you are on level target.

[Seuria]

I look at it like WoW's Warrior class.

It's very much like a WoW warrior during the BC era, which is that they're very, very gear dependent.

 

Wearing mostly orange gear today my Sentinel edged through the Voss story quests at level 44, and I didn't have a terrible time of it. I doubt I could do that in the quest greens and random blues, but maybe. I prefer to out level content, though. It gets stupidly easy when you're just out there grinding quests and levels away from your story progression. They key, as far as orange gear, seems to be keeping your saber hilt(s) up-to-date as well as the actual armor that goes into your orange armor pieces.

 

Of course, this could all be solved in a simple way. Give Jedi Knights a small heal attached to a key ability (Zealous Strike would be perfect for Sentinels) that is dependent on them killing a mob that grants xp and has a short timeframe in which if could be used on another mob.

 

Sort of like how Blizz solved warrior leveling.

 

Edit: I should note I still use Kira. Doc slows me down waaaaaay toooooo much.

Edited January 27, 2012 by Seuria

[UnleashedSithGod]

I have a 50 Arsenal BH and a 30 Guardian JK. It's not a lot more difficult - it just takes more time and you've gotta make sure to keep your gear up to date. I take very little damage and (contrary to popular opinion) I have awesome focus generation.

 

I feel like Obi Wan out of the old movies - really durable and deadly.

[JediKamo]

I've found that Sentinel is prone to die when combat specced. it's easier if:

 

• You spec Watchman
  
• You have biochem/bioanalysis while leveling (better heals and cheaper)
  
• remember to use interrupts
  

 

This might seem obvious, but I learned the hard and it was the time I started Balmorra that I made these corrections.

[Elaithe]

I think it's more the fact that a lot of the other classes are just TOO easy. I have several characters ranging from 10-50 and my JK is most def the hardest for leveling...but it's not THAT bad. It's challenging for sure, but I like it.

 

Some tips

 

Interupt!

Stims!

Medpacks!

[UberRod]

I have to agree with the OP. I have a level 35 Guardian and it's getting tougher and tougher to stay alive, especially when I hit Balmorra. I was chewed up and spit out by the elite bug stingers.

 

My Sage can handle elite no problem.

 

Guardians really do need to have something boosted in order to survive. They are suppose to be tanks for the Gods' sakes! Heavy armor? I might be wearing light armor for all the good it seems to do me compared to my Commando. I have mostly orange gear that I keep updated regularly. I have artifice so my light saber has the best hilt I can make. I'm not under geared.

 

If Guardians had something like Sages (or is it just Consular?) Force Armor, things would be a lot better. But as it is the tools Guardians have are not good enough. At least give the class a decent quick self heal when times go bad.

 

Heck, even making force sweep with no cooldown would be a lot towards helping this class.

[matthiaskotor]

I have to agree with the OP. I have a level 35 Guardian and it's getting tougher and tougher to stay alive, especially when I hit Balmorra. I was chewed up and spit out by the elite bug stingers.

 

I've been specced as a tank and not having any problems fighting elites. (The 'Stinger' bugs on Balmorra are annoying, but I was killing them easily at 33.) You do have to stay geared and focus on your own survivability -- let your companion beat the crap out of the enemies. Use stuns and cooldowns, and interrupt anything you can. (Note that many special attacks COMPLETELY BYPASS ARMOR, so interrupting them means you take WAY less damage overall.) If you do lots of side quests you should have plenty of money and commendations to load yourself up with blue and orange gear.

 

Being DPS specced makes you squishy; best bet is to use T7 to tank, at least until you get Doc. If you're both geared well, you should kill elites before T7 is dead. Make sure you're using your high-damage abilities, and spamming Sundering Strike whenever it's up.

[MimicUnleashed]

Perhaps a self-heal ability that can keep you afloat (but not change the whole class) like WoW's victory rush has become? And I'd say it wouldn't be that out of place to give Guardians and Sentinels both a CC ability (on something besides droids). Those two things right there could make the fights while leveling 10x easier simply from trickle heals as you kill packs and the ability to CC the strong mob until you can focus it down.

 

Now this is not to say that for actual strong mobs (and elites) Knights couldn't use a little something extra, but those two thing take care of a large portion of later level issues. Now that is coming from a guy who leveled as Vigilance all the way, so maybe Defense spec is a whole new ballgame. But as stands I'm technically married to Kira, but I might as well have married Doc for all the time he and spend together.

Edited January 27, 2012 by MimicUnleashed

[Morthe]

 

 

What spec are you using? - I keep respecing between two different basic builds

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500ZhZGbRbdb.1

 

^ I am using that now as it AoE's better

 

 

Maybe try to go defence tree with little Vigilance. Personally i have no problem with leveling my guard (i go defen. Sometimes i even beat down champions (4 lvl lower than me) only with my Kira.

You have some fine skills to use during the fight, but smoetimes You have to be quick (inerrupt is my bred and butter), force push - love it specially when now when reset cooldown for force leap. You have force stasis, bubble, etc, etc....

 

Guardians obwiously needs some burst but its a very ineresting class but its not easy mode

Edited January 27, 2012 by Morthe

[Sacerdos]

T7 is your best leveling companion, because of how companions instantly refill their hp when you resummon them.

 

Send T7 into a group to tank, kill everything while taking no damage, resummon T7 to refill his health. On to the next group with only 1.5s (resummon) or .5s (mount/remount) of downtime.

Edited January 27, 2012 by Sacerdos