EasymodeX Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 (edited) WITH A COUPLE TIPS AT THE END. Anyways, apparently there's a rash of recent "Marauders/Sents suck at leveling" threads recently. So, I decided to write a short summary of my leveling experience: 1. Korriban Korriban is pretty straightforward. Run around, do ****. Tried to solo the H2 in the last tomb (the one with the robot) and almost made it, but the mob spawns were too staggered and I couldn't heal in between. I died, picked up a pug and 2 manned it. Obviously underpowered. Wait, I wasn't a Marauder yet, just a Warrior. 2. Dromund Kass Ran across the Mandalorian h2 near the start, didn't realize what a "heroic area" meant. Randomly killed most of the beasts down the road. Tried to solo the explosives heroic in the ravine. The chain spawns of mobs (leading up to the champ) were too much. Had to find another player to complete it. We 2-manned it; had to shuffle aggro between me and Vette a bunch. Was that a heroic 4 or h2? Went to the dude's estate later and found a convenient player who was also trying to do the shadow beast heroic. He had a heal pet so I tanked everything. Pew pew pew. Found out I missed the area4 in the middle of the map. Found a group with 2 other players (both DPS). No heals, no tanks. We CC spammed the **** out of stuff and burned the mobs down hard. Wiped once because we didn't focus fire properly and someone broke a CC. 3. Balmorra Gonna skip to the parts I remember more clearly: grouped with a guy to do the western zone heroics, but he was in the wrong spot. I was doing the biohazard heroic 2, and he was randomly over at the robot factory. So, I went and did it anyways. ****** mobs knocked me back into the acid pool. Thought that was funny; died on that pull. Ended up grouping with people for the rest of them. Hum. 4. Nar Shadaa No one around off the spaceport, so I solo'd that heroic 2. First time I really pushed my kill priorities and cooldowns. Don't really remember the first half of Nar Shadaa clearly. Must have been a 4am thing. That place had a lot of quests. 5. Tatooine Jawa Trade was a 10am thing. Not many people around at the time. A group of people were clearing it, looked like 3. I asked to join, they didn't respond. Decided that I was too impatient to get a group so I started soloing it with Vette (was undecided between Vette and Quinn at this time). Cleared half of the first pack and died. Respawned, re-thought out my attack sequence, targeting priority, and aggro management between me and Vette. Abused group medpac properly this time. Finished that group. Kill the next group. Killed the solo patrols. Almost died on several of those. Endurance stims win. In retrospect, not using Berserk properly. First H4 I clearly recall soloing. I was 26/27 IIRC. Helped that I bought the lightsabers off the merchant in Tatooine -- high level blues for at time (24/25?). Cost like 14k credits each ... but I had Slicing, and this was on release. Note: bought a gun for Vette as well. 42k was pushing how much I wanted to spend (I had about 300k from Slicing at this point). At this point I knew the Marauders were WINNING. I solo'd the exchange h2 with the speeders you clicked and ****. Jawa Trade had excellent rewards, so I solo'd it again at 28. Much faster this time. Jedi Rescue h2 was interesting. Caster mobs hurt like a *****. Figured out that I was supposed to run around during the guy's pulsing ****. And not to interrupt it -- 3 seconds of him channeling, doing 0 damage, was great time for Quinn to heal me. Ok fighting my shadowmirror was interesting. I hit a medpac and 'major' cooldowns. He's tuned pretty high for a /yawn elite. 6. Alderaan Don't recall any special exploits here. It was during primetime and tons of people were making groups nonstop. Just cruising. Edit: Sike. Ok, I solo'd that Jedi temple place in the sky. That was interesting because I learned that a champion caster mob beats the **** out of me. Luckily, the champ there is not part of the H4. 7. Nar Shadaa pt 2 So the bonus series here was at a distinctly different level. It was approaching off-hours when I came here. Picked up the heroics for the Jedi alien academy and the beastmonster (pound of flesh?) quests. The academy was a *****. More caster mobs. Can't interrupt fast enough, but LOS works great. Started using my Roar better. Beastmonster one was fun. I had solo'd a few champ mobs in the world with Quinn. The 2 champs (matron and patron? big beasties) in this quest were mean as hell. Ok they had like 10 million hp. I actually died 2 times to the first one. Figured out I needed to actually hit my Berserk key on cooldown. That, along with proper aggro switches to Quinn (using Force Camo), and I was able to kill the damn thing. Took forever though. Literally. The things have a ****huge pile of HP. Lot of people grinding with less job/rl commitments than I were nearing 50, so I decided to pick up my pace a bit. Spend less time soloing H4s maybe. Died once on the Jedi one and twice on the beast one. Takes up time. Oh, I think there were some H2s that had a droid or something. Complete joke. Marauders mez droids, permanently. I figure I can easily solo any H4/H2 that has a significant droid presence. 8. Taris Did most of the heroics in groups here, a bit faster. Ended up soloing one though (again, off-hours). The republic super trooper squad unit ******* in the tunnel place with an elevator that goes down to the phase. Learned several things: (1) sometimes the entrance pull is tuned higher than the rest, (2) I can't interrupt 4 mobs using full auto (Roar only once per minute), (3) mobs within a pull respawn, (4) I could die-respawn 40 feet behind the initial over-tuned pull and rickroll the rest of the instance. Well, rickroll is not the correct term I suppose, but "MAKE IT THROUGH" is good enough. Force Camo'd and let Quinn sacrifice himself so I could get to the boss (champ). Destroyed the champ. He was one of those that dropped the fire AOE probes. I just stood in "triangle" positions around him. Zzz. Interrupt random other ****, zzz. Cheesed a heroic4. Woo woo. Started thinking that maybe I had passed the point where Marauders could really solo h4s. Like the game caught up or something. 9. Hoth Ok after clearing most of Hoth I found my balls again and did the Area 4 in the southeast -- republic army scattered area, with the Hothnative igloos in the back. Died twice (elite patrols when you're fighting 3 elites and 2 strong mobs kind of suck dick). Then some of the mobs respawned while I was killing the rest of them! They respawned within 2 minutes! Wth. Ohwell. Still cleared it. Another heroic 4 in the southeast area had some trooper squads. Near the world boss IIRC. I was feeling down from cheesing the last trooperfag heroic on Taris, so I went balls to the wall on these, and won. Still pretty close -- the full auto spam is just rough. I used a different sequence of Cloak, Saber, and Roar. Key part is to soak the first set of attacks with a major cooldown (Saber) so that Quinn doesn't get destroyed. Then interrupt the second set (Roar). Then let Quinn take aggro from ~2 enemies. You have to fine-tune the aggro a bit. Then make sure you interrupt those two enemies when you can. Force Charge too. And Obfuscate. Key is to let Quinn soak some hits, but throttle his damage so he stays alive while you burn some down to reduce your side's damage intake. There was a mixed Jedi+republic heroic, somewhere in the northeast? That one was cool, because I didn't expect to solo it -- it had mixed champions with the elites. Note: I didn't NOTICE the champs until I was attacking one and wondering why he took so long to kill. After re-prioritizing my targets (kill elites first, then the champ), I rolled the rest of that one. I think the republic dudes in that heroic were snipers or something. NPC snipers are weak as hell against Marauders. 10. Quesh Wat. 11. Belsavis Ok, I couldn't solo the H4 in the last area -- the one where you attack the 4 elites, and then TWO MORE SPAWN. Not even stealthed, I mean they just spawn. Too much, QQ. Then again, I decided that 6 elites, 2 of which you cannot aggro/CC off the bat, was plenty of excuse to go BRING-A-FRIEND. And that's it. Voss I wasn't around for much. Started going back and doing some companion quests and hoarding PvP comms. Just did the first quest series or so and hit 50. Well, I did do one of the early heroics in a group -- don't recall if it was h2 or h4. Towards the end, our Jugg was dying to a droid champ boss, so I tanked instead. Because Marauders tank better than DPS hybrid Juggernauts (note: non-"TANK" hybrid spec). Lessons learned: 1. Kill the weak mobs first. Reducing your damage intake is key. 2. Press Berserk faster. 3. Balance aggro between you and the companion. Don't let the mobs "focus fire" either one of you. 4. Camo can swap aggro temporarily. 5. The you+companion medpacs will revive your companion. Their death = "aggro reset" for them. 6. Cloak of Anni is great for solo PvE. 7. Defense stim > Might stim. 8. Medpac early and often. The cooldown is not too huge. You will be able to use more than 1 in a champion fight. I used 3 medpacs in the fights against the big beasts in the Nar Shadaa bonus. I also used 3 on the general at the Alderaan waterfall. Note: had to cheese the monster that was in the water -- let the republic NPCs tank it for a while, hahahaha. Edited February 13, 2012 by EasymodeX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hizoka Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 the fact that you used medpacs when leveling shows you are bad... if you play right everything is dead before you even need to thin about a medpac... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kibaken Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 (edited) the fact that you used medpacs when leveling shows you are bad... if you play right everything is dead before you even need to thin about a medpac... You are just an original e-thug aren't you? OT: Good post; only thing I would add is to use your Defensive Cooldowns early and often; as I say they're not o-$hit buttons. Edited February 13, 2012 by Kibaken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EasymodeX Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 (edited) the fact that you used medpacs when leveling shows you are bad... if you play right everything is dead before you even need to thin about a medpac... sorry i am only nomal player haf to maek biochem 4 champon mobs, only player is no medpac still h4 winning is MEGAFATHER, u seen cron 4 afghan scepter? Edited February 13, 2012 by EasymodeX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kibaken Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 sorry i am only nomal player haf to maek biochem 4 champon mobs, only player is no medpac still h4 winning is MEGAFATHER, u seen cron 4 afghan scepter? Oh god I'm dying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vember Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I've soloed every H2 I've had on my marauder. I use Quinn and run Annihilation spec. Since I 'm already oranged out, and finding groups is such a pain in the ***, I pretty much skip H4's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herblaw Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 the fact that you used medpacs when leveling shows you are bad... if you play right everything is dead before you even need to thin about a medpac... Most people are ahead of their level Oo I'm usually on orange quests cuz im too lazy to stay and do the boring ones that are ez as crapz... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyonne Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 the fact that you used medpacs when leveling shows you are bad... if you play right everything is dead before you even need to thin about a medpac... I was going to reply with something useful here... but you don't deserve it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkvalll Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 the fact that you used medpacs when leveling shows you are bad... if you play right everything is dead before you even need to thin about a medpac... God, kids like you are so cool that act hard on forums. I can guarantee you buy a medpac every time you die. ***got Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhinzual Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 God, kids like you are so cool that act hard on forums. I can guarantee you buy a medpac every time you die. ***got So the OP was annihilation specced? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khallus Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 You sure do swear a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhinzual Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 You sure do swear a lot. No, that wasn't a lot of swearing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icees Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Let me not get off topic, And say that was a pretty cool read. Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EasymodeX Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 So the OP was annihilation specced? Absolutely. It was pretty obvious in beta: 1. At very low levels, 99% of your attacks are Vicious Slash and Smash. Enraged Slash and Quick Recovery = best talents in all the trees. 2. At level 20, an off-GCD high-damage ragedump in the form of Deadly Saber is the best DPS dump in any tree. 3. Beyond that, self-heals are useful. Both Carn and Rage are 5 levels behind Anni thanks to the placement of QR/ES. The superiority of DS compared to anything else near its tier makes Anni a no-brainer for leveling. The only thing vaguely comparable is the autocrit Smash for Rage, but that's only trash-efficient. And you should rickroll trash no matter what spec you are. Also I'll say it straight up: you can't solo ridiculous stuff with anything other than Anni spec. Against some of those champ bosses I self-healed 5x my HP bar or more, easily. And the most important part is living that extra 10 seconds so your other defensive cooldowns ... come off cooldown. The second, and third, Cloak/Obf/Choke, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoseman Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 biased opinion is biased. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EasymodeX Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 At least I'm biased by competence, unlike some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoseman Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 i didnt say you were dumb. Just that you're biased. It was a good read though. I went through most of the same experience you were having, until around mid 40's where i had to replace my monitor because i punched a hole through it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkaholic Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 U can solo H4's? Are they ur level? I can't solo H2s on my Vanguard (***/Tac Hybrid). I guess I need to roll a sent/mar... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkraid Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Nice story. I liked it. Don't we all wish we could go back to Korriban and use the baton, things were so peaceful then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EasymodeX Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 U can solo H4's? Are they ur level? I can't solo H2s on my Vanguard (***/Tac Hybrid). I guess I need to roll a sent/mar... Yes. No. Usually -1 to -4 when I was leveling. The exact threshold depends on: - Your gear. My gear was mostly up to par with "good blue mods" across the board. - Your companion's gear. My companion's gear was mostly quest greens with a few blues from random drops / commendations. - The exact mob composition of the H4. Some of them are not going to be possible. If the H4 has a droid in the pulls, it becomes super easy. If the enemies include snipers, it becomes easy. If it includes a few FullAuto Troopers, it's probably ok. If it includes a LOT of fullautospamlulz, then it's hard. Enemies that cast sometimes are easy. Enemies that chain-cast are hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anelyn Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 the fact that you used medpacs when leveling shows you are bad... if you play right everything is dead before you even need to thin about a medpac... The fact that you post that here, shows you are bad, for not taking advantage of what game offers to you. To OP: Marauders / Sentinels are a beast, and in a good player hands they can do amazing things. I leveled a sentinel to 46 as focus and was good fun, but I just couldn't swallow the republic anymore, all the do good but stab you behind your back got me to change my mind. So am remaking her as a marauder now, lvl 27 on tatooine, went with annihilation this time to try a different game play, and I like it. I also soloed Jawa Trade fully at lvl 27, without a single death. I decided to not tackle groups of 4 elites, but farmed the patrols and the groups of 2-3 elites with a weak sneaked in. All you need to do is to get agro on them all so that Quinn is only healing you and not himself as well, rotate CDs, interrupt, keep dots rolling, Zen Zen Zen (I mean berserk ofc!). I am looking forward to our aoe 1 rage attack, and I hope it applies burns from deadly saber to each mob hit (not sure if only 1 swing will apply 1 bleed to each target hit or only caps at 3 targets and consumes all charges of deadly saber, or you can stack to 3 on each mob with each new swing? curious on this one). The elites are clearly way easier with anni spec compared to rage, you have higher sustained dmg, and suppose burst won't be out of reach once we get annihilate. I won't comment on the PvP aspect, as I won't venture into WZs before lvl 40 when I complete my tree, but I played with and against some great mara / sents on my server, and I know they can do amazing stuff with or without backup. I have way easier time to kill juggs / guards of any spec, operatives / scoundrels, and rage / focus mara / sents on my full madness sorc than anni / watchmen variants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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