How to kill a Juggernaut

[VanguardXL]

Starvation.

 

Since the notion that Powertechs can tank everything better than Juggernauts, and that crafting skills are essentially worthless other than Biochem, I've started seeing a nasty trend on the servers I play on. The GTN is virtually empty of anything but BH gear. A few greens here and there, but no blues or purples. Certainly no oranges that can't also be used by a BH. No mods save for Aim and Cunning, other than the rare green. No hilts other than for Inquisitors.

 

Sadly my latest character is now stuck at 24, broke, wearing greens and quest rewards. Vette has better gear and more HP than I do, being Cunning.

 

I saw more than a few Juggernauts coming out of Korriban, a bit fewer on Dromund Kaas, one or two the entire time on Balmora... and none past that that weren't already 40+. I've seen 2 Marauders around my level, but I have no doubt they're running into the same problem, being unable to upgrade modifiable gear other than commendations. Commendations which seem to only drop once in a blue moon anymore. After finishing out Nar Shaddah, and being forced into taking the green gear as rewards (since they tended to be massive upgrades), ended the planet with 6 commendations.

 

Now I know the commendation drops are just bad luck on my part from the RNG, but the utter lack of any kind of purchasable gear, repair costs since it takes so much longer to finish any battle, and being unable to upgrade to a reasonable level spells the death of what I happen to think is a pretty fun class.

 

Without some sort of buff to make us viable as a tank, at least in comparison to a Powertech, Juggernauts and guardians are looking to be starved out of existence shortly.

 

Yes yes, I know. QQ, LTP, yadda yadda yadda. I have no intention of quitting the game or the like, but I hate being forced to shelf a fun character by attrition.

Edited February 5, 2012 by VanguardXL

[Jibbie]

I neither bought nor crafted any gear the entire time I leveled to 50 on my Jugg, nor did I run any flashpoints besides Black Talon at level 10. Quest rewards are completely sufficient.

 

What spec are leveling as and what are you having a hard time with?

[VanguardXL]

Immortal. Which has been serving me well enough. The fact that I'm 24, using lvl 14-18 mods because no-one crafts, and the commendations won't drop, as well as whatever hand-me-down green quest rewards I can get isn't helping matters.

 

I can clear content, but it comes at the price of spending 500 credits for repairs after every fight with more than a single Strong, or against a single Elite, since my gear is so shabby, and my companions isn't that much better. Thus far being a Juggernaut has been a credit hemorrhage. I've been reduced to running, and re-running, and re-re-running space missions just to cover costs. I was toying with the idea of going back to Heroic areas I've outleveled just to farm for cash. Anything I put in the GTN, unless it's BH or Agent gear (most agent gear gets put on Vette or Quinn), winds up right back in my inbox.

 

Do I seriously have to make and level 3 alts just to have crafting skills for level-approriate gear?

[dorkvid]

 

Do I seriously have to make and level 3 alts just to have crafting skills for level-approriate gear?

 

Erm, no. You plod along using quest rewards, that's it. I leveled to 50 without purchasing/crafting a single piece of gear for myself, it's not that difficult. I REALLY don't know what you're doing that makes it so incredibly difficult that you feel it's necessary to shelve the jugg at 24, but by all means do so if you can't make it work.

[Tankshoes]

1) Run through instances / daily flashpoint quest / pvp / H2&4 quests

 

2) Get orange gear through the above

 

3) Spend commendations from H2&4/daily FP on mods/hilts/enhancements

 

4) /thread

[xJACKTHERIPPERx]

1) Run through instances / daily flashpoint quest / pvp / H2&4 quests

 

2) Get orange gear through the above

 

3) Spend commendations from H2&4/daily FP on mods/hilts/enhancements

 

4) /thread

 

its not that easy you cant just- wait, yes it is. nvm.

[nRGon]

You don't even need to run flashpoints to get orange gear, you'll get some drops and quest rewards that are orange. Then use the mods you get from quest rewards or commendations to keep your gear current.

 

Do all the quests and heroics you can on a planet along with the bonus series quests. You'll get decent quest reward gear. When you get to a new planet, check out the equipment commendations vendor and see what's a good upgrade for you. Make sure you take commendations as quest rewards as often as you can (when you don't have to gear your pet or yourself).

 

You really shouldn't have this much trouble. Also, Immortal is fine for tanking.

[Lord_Rezo]

Problem is, if nobody buys Juggernaut stuff (because nobody wanna be Juggernaut) the people who can make gear for Juggernauts wont do it, i found my light pieces (from Synthweaving) sold quick as hell, but my heavy godlike pieces (as im Juggernaut i pick the best for me, screw everyone else :3 xD) doesnt sell even for 30k...

[VanguardXL]

1) Run through instances / daily flashpoint quest / pvp / H2&4 quests

 

2) Get orange gear through the above

 

3) Spend commendations from H2&4/daily FP on mods/hilts/enhancements

 

4) /thread .

 

Understood. Guess I need to reroll on a PvP server then, since that seems to be where everyone is. Haven't run a Heroic, instance, or PvP since on my server, a RP server, we have next-to-no people. Trying to get just a BT group together was 45 minutes of spamming, for nothing.

 

Ah well. Thanks for the feedback. Guess I'll QQ and LTP now.

Edited February 5, 2012 by VanguardXL

[TheZen]

You dont need to run flashpoints to get gear at all.

 

Just do quests and rack up commendations. If you have a chance to get an orange gear from commendation, grab it, then get mods/enhancement from commendation.

 

Some of the quest rewards from normal quest are orange gear as well, grab them even if the stats suck. just swap out the mods later.

 

Always prioritize orange gear over mods/enhancements/hilts from commendation.

 

I'm up 5 orange gear at lvl 35 (my first character btw, before you guys say "oh you have a main) for both me and my companion that is pretty much mod updated.

 

Makes me sad everytime I see another fellow jug at my level, 1.5k hp below me.

[SalsaDMA]

I've noticed a distinct lack of 'mod' mods that I want for my immortal tank on the GTN. I got artifice so have/are crafted/crafting crystal and enhancement myself (daily commendation hilt was better than anything I could ever make -.- ).

 

Mod I want: I've seen it... once... for around 300k, while other mods of the same quality/level costs a tenth of that.

 

So I have to agree with the 'starvation' thingie. I don't think I'll get a decent mod for my armour/saber untill I make an alt on the empire side just for the purpose of grinding up the crafting skill needed to get the mod I need on my juggernaut tank :-/

[Gixxerdude]

Do you not do quests or something, you get a large amount of commendations from each planet, easily 25 per planet and every planet has an Equipment commendations vendor where you can buy orange gear, or if you already have a piece of orange gear you like, there is a commendations MOD vendor so you can stay current, the space station has every vendor from each planet also. On top of that you can spend 24 commendations and try your luck at a piece of random purple gear.

 

Than the bonus series gives awesome rewards when you fully complete them.

 

On top of that the test realm patch notes should another nerf to biochem is incoming again.

[SalsaDMA]

Do you not do quests or something, you get a large amount of commendations from each planet, easily 25 per planet and every planet has an Equipment commendations vendor where you can buy orange gear, or if you already have a piece of orange gear you like, there is a commendations MOD vendor so you can stay current, the space station has every vendor from each planet also. On top of that you can spend 24 commendations and try your luck at a piece of random purple gear.

 

Than the bonus series gives awesome rewards when you fully complete them.

 

On top of that the test realm patch notes should another nerf to biochem is incoming again.

 

I have yet to find a place to get proper mods for my immortal level 50 tank.

 

Armor and hilts was buyable for daily commendations on Ilum, but that seems to be about it as far as I have seen so far. I made my crystal and enhancements myself, with artifice, but can't get mods from anywhere as the GTN is void of them. Lots of gear with aim on it for sale, though, or will -.-

[Aikagi]

I have yet to find a place to get proper mods for my immortal level 50 tank.

 

Armor and hilts was buyable for daily commendations on Ilum, but that seems to be about it as far as I have seen so far. I made my crystal and enhancements myself, with artifice, but can't get mods from anywhere as the GTN is void of them. Lots of gear with aim on it for sale, though, or will -.-

There's 4 heroic dailies on Ilum and Belsavis, and 3 out of 4 give mod pieces. One armoring, one enhancement and one mod.

[SalsaDMA]

There's 4 heroic dailies on Ilum and Belsavis, and 3 out of 4 give mod pieces. One armoring, one enhancement and one mod.

 

I don't do the heroic dailies, only regular dailies, so wasn't aware there were other rewards than mere commendations from the heroics.

 

The mod I am looking for is one with a decent amount of absorbtion rating on it. I know it exists because it's in the Torhead database and I saw it on the GTN once. Is this artifact mod possible to get from any of those dailies? Other artifact resources I need I can get from my own crafting skill (artifice) or daily commendations, but not that mod.

 

Irrespective, it is still a sign of a problem among the supply/demand chains that oodles of will/aim mods are supplied but zero or close of the strength mod that jug tanks use. I can only pin it down to there not being a particular high demand for them, compared to the others, which indicates an issue with balance between the classes when one class seems vastly less popular than others in the supply/demand chain.

[dutch-master]

Without some sort of buff to make us viable as a tank, at least in comparison to a Powertech, Juggernauts and guardians are looking to be starved out of existence shortly.

 

I take offence to this. Its pure propaganda construed by baddies and BHs.

 

Juggernauts do alright, don't let the fact that everybody went BH crazy fool you. BH are not that great and their AoE threat is a frigging lie.

 

As per your gearing issues; I suggest you get the COMMENDATIONS as rewards then buy slot-table gear. Upgrade the slot-able stuff until you get a replacement slot-table piece. Repeat as necessary...

Edited February 5, 2012 by dutch-master

[dutch-master]

I've noticed a distinct lack of 'mod' mods that I want for my immortal tank on the GTN. I got artifice so have/are crafted/crafting crystal and enhancement myself (daily commendation hilt was better than anything I could ever make -.- ).

 

Mod I want: I've seen it... once... for around 300k, while other mods of the same quality/level costs a tenth of that.

 

So I have to agree with the 'starvation' thingie. I don't think I'll get a decent mod for my armour/saber untill I make an alt on the empire side just for the purpose of grinding up the crafting skill needed to get the mod I need on my juggernaut tank :-/

 

Heroic 2 Man+ Dailies give you alright mods, look into belsavis/illum. Also, Cyberteck Schematics are a pain to get.

 

Also, I've been trying to get the tank stuff from RE for ages. Probably lost 500k...

[EdouardHolyhawk]

Vette has better gear and more HP than I do, being Cunning.

 

Quinn > Vette, all day long while levelling. Gear him up, put him on Med Watch, and go kick elite face in. Haters gonna hate, but I'm pretty sure haters scraped themselves off the ground a hell of a lot more often while leveling, trying to pewpew through things that take a little more tact than just "firin' mah lazorz".

[ZanriI]

Guardian here but seeing as how we're mirrors I'll give my 2 cents, the fact that you're writing off the class at 24 due to "lack of gear" is sad. With quests, AND commendations you should be more than fine whether or not you pvp or do flashpoints. I'm 90% sure quests give a few orange modifiable gears (even if they don't commendation vendors surely do), and all you have to do is keep up to date with the mods, simple as that. You'll also save way more credits that way, I'm level 42 and have NEVER bothered going to the GTN to buy a single thing.

[SalsaDMA]

Quinn > Vette, all day long while levelling. Gear him up, put him on Med Watch, and go kick elite face in. Haters gonna hate, but I'm pretty sure haters scraped themselves off the ground a hell of a lot more often while leveling, trying to pewpew through things that take a little more tact than just "firin' mah lazorz".

 

I can only disagree with this.

 

As tank specced during and after leveling, not having either vette or jaesa alongside me made mobs take too long to kill. Heck, on Ilum at 50 there was even a pull inside a questphase I simply would not have been able to do without a dps alongside me, as it consisted of 2 regular dps mobs and 2 silver healer mobs. Even with a dps companion out, it was a close shaving for me to be able to get a healer down before he was healed too fast.

 

I tried having quinn, or one of the tank companions, out. The results, compared to vette or jaesa, left me never look at anything but my dps companions again.

[Anatlos]

CT tends to be VERY useful for a Jugg as a leveling profession, or at least it was for me. Get orange armor, make your own armoring every 2 levels. Now I know that grenades aren't really THAT useful for juggernauts in most situations, but earpieces sell alright and your guildies will like having a mod factory built-in. You can PvP as a CT and rarely have to get gear, as you can make it yourself without having to earn comms.

[Gixxerdude]

I have yet to find a place to get proper mods for my immortal level 50 tank.

 

Armor and hilts was buyable for daily commendations on Ilum, but that seems to be about it as far as I have seen so far. I made my crystal and enhancements myself, with artifice, but can't get mods from anywhere as the GTN is void of them. Lots of gear with aim on it for sale, though, or will -.-

 

The mods come from one of the daily repeatable quests as a reward in belsavis.

 

lol though really I've found looting dublicate champion pvp items to be the best way for mods/enhancements.

 

Also From the OPs perspective he was talking about equipment while leveling.

[Ajanus]

After numerous 50s and having every class at at least 20, I felt I had to say some things to the OP.

 

Juggernauts and Guardians were by far the most challenging for me, however, I still didn't find anything "hard."

 

I usually just did my planet/class missions and used that gear until I found an orange piece. I ran Black Talon/Esseles 1 time each on most toons just for a level jump on DK/Coruscant.

 

Heroic 2s are pretty easy to do and I hardly had any problem at all finding a partner to run them with. Some nice gear and occasionally some oranges were reward loot.

 

My guardian and juggernaut both took Arch/Art/Treasure Hunting...however, I have to say that I do believe I have gotten exceptionally lucky with TH lockboxes and got some orange pieces that way.

 

Making friends with someone who can do armorings is insanely useful...I have a cybertech toon on every server I play on, usually that's the first one I make and finish. That way, my jedi/siths are only responsible for their weapon hilts and enhancements. This gives me a lot of leniency when deciding how to spend my planet commendations.

 

However, once you hit 26 and get force choke / force stasis (guardian), things do change a lot for you.

 

But if you feel you have hit a wall and there's no hope at all for you, I would suggest warzones for a level or 2...at level 20 there is a complete set of upgrades from pvp, and at 40 there is another complete set, I think all are oranges except belt and bracers.

 

If that still doesnt work, go solo black talon until you get 2 orange guns from the jedi padawan at the end for Vette, get updated barrels for them and she will destroy everything for you.

 

If it helps, I chose the Rage tree to level with because I also did some pvp...I will say, the auto-crit smash talent is probably the most amazing thing that Juggernauts have to level with

[Vid-szhite]

I've noticed a distinct lack of 'mod' mods that I want for my immortal tank on the GTN. I got artifice so have/are crafted/crafting crystal and enhancement myself (daily commendation hilt was better than anything I could ever make -.- ).

 

Mod I want: I've seen it... once... for around 300k, while other mods of the same quality/level costs a tenth of that.

 

So I have to agree with the 'starvation' thingie. I don't think I'll get a decent mod for my armour/saber untill I make an alt on the empire side just for the purpose of grinding up the crafting skill needed to get the mod I need on my juggernaut tank :-/

 

The reason nobody makes Immortal mods is because you can't make Immortal mods. Hell, you can't make tank mods period. My main is a capped-Cybertech Immortal Juggernaut, and about the only mods I could ever make for him were Guardian Armorings. Tank mods don't appear in the crafting list at all. Ever. There are no schematics that teach them to you, nothing. All the mods you can make are DPS mods, except sometimes they have more emphasis on Endurance.

 

The only source of tank mods is purples with extractable mods, random drops, and quest rewards. That's it. You can stop holding your breath now.

Edited February 6, 2012 by Vid-szhite

[Sookster]

Been immortal all the way from 10 to 50, picked up level 20 pvp gear and bought mods via planet comm vendors to upgrade the oranges with. Only had trouble going into Voss and Corellia since mobs got harder.

 

GTN on my server are full of stuff with end/willpower, they sell because of the popularity of sorcs, it's indeed hard to find stuff with end/str.