Losing the will to continue playing :( Help Needed!!

[KezJona]

First off, I'd like to say that I have read some other topics and taken bits and bobs from these threads, but still finding a hell of a lot of problems trying to level my commando, specced as a combat medic

 

I'll do my best to break it down on the different problems I am having.

 

Solo Levelling

Pre-Tatooine I was having a blast, not finding it very difficult to kill mobs, ran through the planets with relative ease. However, once I hit Tatooine I found that I struggled against mobs, and I mean really struggled

 

If I am against 1 x Strong and 2 x Weak, I will send my companion on the strong and focus on the 2 Weaks myself. With a mixture of heals and attacking the 2 weaks my companion goes down like a sack of **** against the strong. I have alternated between Jorgan and M1-4X as there is no need for Dorne.

 

Jorgan has always been given my hand me downs and M1-4X has always been modded up from quest items that I could find, but he goes down quicker then Jorgan does.

 

When I am in a conversation and get attacked immediately after, I don't even bother trying because I just die all the time, then have to rez up and then plan a battle attack, still inches away from death. Pretty much after any fight I am in I have to use "Recharge and Reload" and this gets very very tedious.

 

My main plan of attack, taking from the example of 1 x Strong and 2 x Weak, I will send my companion on the strong, sticky grenade one of the weaks followed by Plasma Grenande, then would either use Full Auto and Charged Bolts to take down what little health they had left. By this point the strong will be at about 1/2 - 3/4 health and my companion is then dead, leaving me to fight the strong.

 

My gear is pretty good, I am level 30 and just started out-growing my PVP gear so am replacing it with any drops that have better stats. I got to Alderaan yesterday and gave up on the first quest because I just can't defeat what would be relative easy mobs.

 

 

PVP

In PVP I know my role - the healer. However, 9/10 I get flagged as the healer and then can kiss any fun from the WZ's goodbye as I just get jumped on immediately. I fail extremely at 1vs1, obviously I know I am not specced right for the PVP being the combat medic spec but I should be able to at least pull 1/4 damage if possible, half the time I can't even break their barriers to even do any damage.

 

In terms of healing I do good, usually ranking in the top 3 of healers and have made a lot of friends who have said I was a good healer, but I'd like to actually be able to contribute something to a WZ other then healing and then being jumped on and then kiss my sorry *** goodbye.

 

 

Key-Bindings

I looked on YouTube at some Combat Medics in action and noticed their keybindings were not the standard 1 - = with shift and alt commands. But they had keys like E,R,F,G,T,Q all with shift & ctrl variations. So I copied this and found it is extremely helpful in fights, as all the keys are pretty much near your W,A,S,D keys.... but I still suck

 

 

I'm just wondering am I even playing this class right, or even specced right for that matter to enjoy the game. I've already rolled a Jedi Shadow alt @ level 10 but don't want to lose motivation for my commando, which is my main for role-play as well. The story on its own is fantastic, one of the best I have played in the game, yett with the constant deaths, waiting for 5 minutes to rez up or just being jumped on in PVP is really getting what is left of my motivation to play this class

 

Any hints, tips and advice are extremely welcome

[Draflorin]

If you are using companions to off tank for you then they need better gear than what the quests give you from time to time.

 

Any cybertech can make you a blue piece for your robot which will be cheaper better specced and easier to get than all the mod bits that you have to assemble for him.

 

You are wearing PVP gear at lvl30? I'm assuming its the lvl20 set, only replacing with gear from quests when they have better stats? I'd say that your statement about your gear being pretty good is not quite accurate. it WAS good between level 20 and 23 And im assuming Jorgan's going to inherit that gear after you get something better -

 

Advice, hit up an armourtech and a cybertech and spend some credits on getting your gear upgraded, and unless you are using Dorne you will probably always need a bit of repair and reload after a fight.

[Agonisis]

Your tactics are wrong, i had similar issues with my sage healer, mezz/cc the strong, pull the weak away from cc, pwn, double team strong. Works with elites as well. Also some companions are very gear sensitive meaaning that if they arent in the best gear possible they will fail. Get them some orange stuff and update as nessesay every 5 lvls or so. Best help i can give.

 

PVP: the trick is not to look like a healer...meaning attack first most will think your dps and stay off you for the most part, then heal when needed, cc your *** off. But if your unlucky and someone like me notices your healing..well sorry. The best way is yell for help, but that doesnt work to good while trying to live. And self heal like a mofo. I honestly stopped healing in pvp cuz of no back up. But those are tricks i picked up to stop getting ganged.

[BobaFaceroll]

You need better gear, and so do your companions. If you're 30 and you are just now 'outgrowing' your level 20 PvP gear you're rather behind the curve. This is especially true for 4X. If he's just using what you have gotten from quests (few and far between, green quality generally) it's no surprise he dies faster than Jorgen. When you gear him up in solid gear though he's going to be quite durable.

 

Get some blue quality L29 mods for your gear ASAP. Armoring, barrel, mods, and enhancements for every slot possible. If it's not a moddable piece either find one or find a level appropriate Blue quality piece. For your companion I'd stick with 4X if you're healer spec'd and get him the same quality gear. Moddable droid parts are available for every slot by now...get them and fill them with good mods. Get 4X a level appropriate weapon, blue quality. Find good implants and earpieces...you get the idea. It might take a little time and cash, but it's well worth it.

 

Tip: Barrels and Armoring are 7 (Planetary Commendations) while Mods and Enhancements are only 2. Try and find the pricey ones on the trade network and save your commendations for the cheap ones. You should easily be able to fill out all the Mod/Enhancement slots for you and your pet each planet.

 

Once you're geared your pet won't die to a Strong like you describe. Send him in to get all the aggro, start picking off things from weakest to strongest, and keep 4X healed. You shouldn't have any problems if your gear is current. I promise you the different will be quite drastic.

 

Regarding PvP: If you're keeping people alive you're contributing plenty. If you get targeted super fast resist the urge to use your "LASER BEAM SHOOT ME NOW" heal, use line of sight to duck away when you're targetd, and see if you can get a tank to guard you. Add DPS when you can but be sure that keeping people alive is just as vital to winning the WZ.

[IGsChevy]

I've had very few problems as a Combat Medic using 4X as my companion. I had some problems around lvl 30 myself, but that was because I hadn't upgraded 4X at all. Once I gave him some fresh gear he's a bad ***.

 

Also, make sure to CC on pulls with at least 1 strong/2 weak mobs. With better gear and proper CC you should have a lot less trouble in PvE.

 

As for PvP, I have seen a few people suggest using a blaster rifle rather than an assault cannon. You lose a few abilities (I'm not sure on specifics, but I don't believe any of your heals are affected), but you look like a Vanguard at first glance rather than a Commando. Also like a previous poster mentioned, try opening up with a couple of damaging abilities to appear less like a healer.

[badatt]

I don't want this to sound bad, but why are you even healing at that level? I would just be burning down anything I see with charged bolts, HIB and nades. You can still deal alot of damage and you have heavy armor to withstand some beatings even if specced for heals. Once you get your CC, it makes life even easier. The only time I would think about healing is against 2 golds or boss. 2 silvers and trash mobs you shouldn't need to heal.

 

If that doesn't work, take a serious look at your equipment. For example: If you are level 28 and using a mod cannon with level 16 mods, then obviously that may have an impact. Take the time and earn some cash and get some higher end gear for your level. Make sure you get the pieces with more aim than endurance. I see alot of people that think that more endurance is better than their primary stat. Maybe, if you are a tank. You are DPS, max out AIM as best you can.

 

As for PvP, don't EVER...EVER...use the hammer shot heal. You might as well put a green neon sign over your head that says "Kill Me ASAP." Just use your heal probes and Kolto.

[Calavero]

 

Solo Levelling

Pre-Tatooine I was having a blast, not finding it very difficult to kill mobs, ran through the planets with relative ease. However, once I hit Tatooine I found that I struggled against mobs, and I mean really struggled

 

If I am against 1 x Strong and 2 x Weak, I will send my companion on the strong and focus on the 2 Weaks myself. With a mixture of heals and attacking the 2 weaks my companion goes down like a sack of **** against the strong. I have alternated between Jorgan and M1-4X as there is no need for Dorne.

 

Jorgan has always been given my hand me downs and M1-4X has always been modded up from quest items that I could find, but he goes down quicker then Jorgan does.

 

When I am in a conversation and get attacked immediately after, I don't even bother trying because I just die all the time, then have to rez up and then plan a battle attack, still inches away from death. Pretty much after any fight I am in I have to use "Recharge and Reload" and this gets very very tedious.

 

 

I find it interesting that you've outlined a strategy that you admit flat out isn't working, and followed it with the statement "there's no need for Dorne".

 

As others have stated, using tank and DPS companions for leveling works fine, provided you keep both their and your gear up to date. Since it's pretty clear you haven't done that, you need to either adjust the gear issue, or adopt a different strategy.

 

I'm not sure how you're specced, but after having leveled a Merc BH to 50 and the Commando I'm currently working on to the mid 30s, I can assure you that the fastest, easiest and least gear-dependant way to level is to spec Gunnery and use Dorne exclusively.

 

Doing so, Strong/multiple regular mob pulls aren't worth even wasting time thinking about (just always kill everything from weakest to strongest while Dorne keeps your health topped off), and with your crowd control, multiple Strong/Elite pulls are a very easy, if occasionally lengthy affair.

 

Using a standard Gunnery spec and spending money and commendations equally on myself and Dorne, I've so far easily killed every elite I've crossed paths with, soloed just about every Champion I could find, and soloed most of the Heroic 2+ quests that have gotten into my log. (There was a Champion boss at the end of a group quest on Nar Shaddaa that chain mezzed my companion and eventually killed me at 1% health, heh. I got help on that one. Aside from that, they've all been soloable at my level.)

 

I'm not some uber player or anything, it's just a simple question of cause and effect and logical progression: You will always be the best damage dealing asset in your player+companion unit, and if there isn't a strong healing component to your setup, battles will always be a war of attrition which will rapidly sway away from favoring you as content gets tougher, more mobs are added to the equation, or adds come into the picture.

 

I'd advise swapping whatever gear you have on Jorgen to Dorne, buy her a good pistol, respec if necessary, and enjoy an easy and fun ride to 50. At that point you can respec to whatever you want, since aside from doing dailies you won't really be using your companions for anything.

[Aaoogaa]

If you are level 30 and think you are just now outgrowing your level 20 pvp gear then you are flat wrong. You are very undergeared.

[Gezzer]

I didn't notice if it was mentioned or not, but what stance are you using for your companions? I as well am a healer and I was struggling using a M1-4X as a tank, just went down way too fast. And yes I am a cyber and I was upgrading him.

A small side note I like to have all my tool bars exposed and have the 2 on the bottom and one on each side.

Well I was getting tired of M1-4X's cable tow because he seemed to always pull the wrong mob or just as I started to lay down a mortar volley. So in the preferences I set it so the companion tool bar would expand on my right side. Then I just left it expanded so I could toggle cable tow as needed. I then noticed something, M1-4X has a stance that increases shield chance by 20% and threat by 100% and it's off by default. Toggling it on makes M1-4X a truly viable tank.

Wouldn't be surprised if that was the problem.

 

P.S. Having the companion tool bar maximized also let's you have your companion initiate the fight and use cable tow on the target you want him too. It's how I've set up all my alt's UIs as well.

[Fatespuppet]

I am specced as commando healer, and I am having no issues with even champion level mobs. In addition, I am routinely under-equipped since I would rather look cool than kill fast. Below are my suggestions. Play style can go a long way to overcome gear problems. Don't be afraid to try new ways of fighting. You may discover a skill combo like the one I describe below that makes things laughably easy.

 

- If you are very under equipped then you should focus purely on healing your companion. As you get more used to the ebbs and flows of fights you will be able to do less healing and more DPS.

 

- Start fights by sending your companion against the toughest mob. If it is just one enemy then focus on healing him.

 

- Mortar volley followed by the sweeping fire/hail of bolts(or whatever the oher aoe attack is called) will wipe out weak enemies almost every time without any return fire.

 

- When MV is on cooldown use the plasma grenade in the attack pattern above.

 

- If you are very coordinated then you can add Aric's version of the hail of bolts and really clean house.

 

- It sounds counter intuitive, but give your companion the best gear and keep the hand me downs on your character. If they are the main tank and dps, then they should be geared a such.

 

And lastly a few tips on skill usage.

 

- Avoid using sticky grenade. It does a lot of damage, but pulls a lot of aggro as well. I typically only use it on melee mobs that are charging me. This keeps the blast from pulling aggro on more baddies, give you a chance for a free attack and knocks them down.

 

- Forget about the single shot mortar. It does pathetic damage, costs too much ammo, the aoe damage is all but zero, and the knock down portion only works on weak enemies.

 

- Make sure you have a full 30 charges on combat support cell. 3% added damage adds up quickly.

 

- Use concussion round in EVERY fight if you are having trouble. Zap the strongest mob after sending your companion on the second strongest to start the fight. Be sure to watch the recharge to reapply it if necessary.

[origional]

Pretty much what other people have said. I've learnt the hard way on my vanguard about not keeping companions properly geared and like you, when I hit Tatooine I struggled, at least for a while until I figured out where I was going wrong.

 

A nice advantage my commando has over my vanguard is a 60 second CC ability. This rocks. Stick it on the strongest mob, kill the trash and then its 2 on 1 for the strongest target. I've found allows you to take on 3 strongs at once or two elites at once pretty easily.

 

For gear. I used wz commendations to buy orange gear from the pvp vendor, gave it to my companions and that was their gear (ok you have to find boots and gloves for them but its a good start). That way you dont have to waste planet comms on new equipment, just get them new mods.

 

Same for me. Stayed with my first set of orange gear all the way through. Made staying current a lot easier than on my vanguard where I was always buying new armour sets. Not smart.

[RuQu]

Don't undervalue Dorne.

 

She makes a great companion even for a Combat Medic.

 

As a Combat Medic, you are pretty much a moving wall of pain. I had some initial trouble around the same level you are, and I decided to give Dorne a spin just to mix things up. Put her in her healing stance, and her heals will take care of you while Advanced Probe is on cooldown. This lets you stay very efficient, and clean house with Charged Bolts and Full Auto. Sure it isn't as much damage as Gunnery, but once you have Trauma Probe and Bacta Infusion for the free instant heal, you will be very, very hard to kill. Dorne's job is just to make you that much more invincible.

 

She also has a CC she will use often, which further decreases the damage coming in, and if that is on CD and she doesn't need to heal you, she will do some decent dps. Better yet, as your pocket healer, her gear is less important than trying to get a pet to tank.

 

Also, she uses the same armor as all of your companions, so make her wear Jorgan's gear if you decide to give her a shot.

[artillerybait]

The rotation I've always used is to send Forex at the strong mob, but as soon as I send him, I start a mortar volley. He'll get there when the rounds are going off (more of less), then I cryo grenade the strong. Then I use Hail of Bolts, making sure to hit the weak mobs (if it hits the strong mob, too, all the better). If the weak mobs aren't dead from that, its only 1 or 2 hammer shots or sticky grenade to finish them.

By then the strong mob is free, but you shouldn't have aggro, because Forex has had 4 seconds to aggro him (he's got flare as a taunt, though I don't remember what level he gets it).

Then you can just DPS and heal. I typically hammer shot (more on elites or champions) until my cells are charged, then start using real DPS skills.

But like everyone has said, if your gear or Forex's gear is outdated, that will cause a world of hurt.

[Aaoogaa]

When mortar volley is down use plasma grenade. Another nice AE with a cc weak ability attached.

[ttripp]

Gotta be honest, not sure why you would ever try to level as a healer... If your goal is to get to end game content quick, or just to enjoy the game-play while getting there, then I would never choose medic as the way for any class, in any game really(for leveling that is). You are useless in PvP because like you said you get gang banged right out of the gate, and you can't really stack enough expertise to matter until end game, that's not even considering your lack of CC abilities at that level.

 

Given my trooper is only lvl 40, I can kill almost any group i encounter without much resistance, the only time I actually have to worry about using stims and keeping aggro on Jorgan is if I encounter an Elite with 2 or 3 easy mobs alongside. Besides that situation i rarely even have to worry about CC. I obviously try and open each battle to my advantage and pick off easiest target first, but if I die I've either hugely misjudged my CD's or over-pulled a patrol along with the main group.

 

If i am dealing with just a standard group of mobs, mortar volley usually takes care of almost the entire group without firing another shot... If it doesn't kill everything its usually just mop up duties.

 

2 strong opponents and 2 normal ones, this can be a tough group but i generally just send Jorgan on first strong mob, concussive shot the second strong mob, decimate the 2 two easy mobs, help Jorgan finish the first strong, then we both just quickly burn the last strong mob when he awakens(gotta watch your aoe's if you do this).

 

If I were you I would switch to Gunnery or Assault, I prefer Gunnery because it fits my play style better(especially my PvP play-style, Gunnery has a few snares, a decent CC, a stealth detect, and tons of DPS), but they are both fun.

 

When you hit around 35 I would do battlegrounds regularly(which i promise you'll enjoy as DPS)... the lvl 40 warzone commendation set is a decent upgrade from anything you are going to have before then, and you can get the entire set for around 1500 commendations, which getting 80 or so for a victory really doesn't take all that much time.

 

As far as the companion thing goes... I truly don't know, Ive looked for advice on that but I personally think its a waste of time to level the gear for more than one companion. You can worry about their gear end game if you need to, but I just chose Jorgan and only worry about him. Obviously if something drops that works for someone else i use it, but he is the only companion I actually continuously upgrade. I do keep it up to date though, my Jorgan does massive damage, and if i change cells in my canon and use protection on him, as long as i don't pull too much aggro he can tank almost anything.

[Raeln]

I leveled as Gunnery using Dorne exclusively. I've killed almost everything in my path, including many heroic 2+ quests solo.

 

There were times that I wanted to use someone other than Dorne but it just ended up being too much downtime over all.

 

Honestly, I hope Bioware let's us re-kit what role our companions can fill because as it is, only a healing companion is useful to me.

[Nigyl]

Don't undervalue Dorne.

 

She makes a great companion even for a Combat Medic.

 

As a Combat Medic, you are pretty much a moving wall of pain. I had some initial trouble around the same level you are, and I decided to give Dorne a spin just to mix things up. Put her in her healing stance, and her heals will take care of you while Advanced Probe is on cooldown. This lets you stay very efficient, and clean house with Charged Bolts and Full Auto. Sure it isn't as much damage as Gunnery, but once you have Trauma Probe and Bacta Infusion for the free instant heal, you will be very, very hard to kill. Dorne's job is just to make you that much more invincible.

 

She also has a CC she will use often, which further decreases the damage coming in, and if that is on CD and she doesn't need to heal you, she will do some decent dps. Better yet, as your pocket healer, her gear is less important than trying to get a pet to tank.

 

Also, she uses the same armor as all of your companions, so make her wear Jorgan's gear if you decide to give her a shot.

 

This is what I do when questing. And even put Dorne in combat stance sometimes. I concentrate on moving and hurting things, with my kolto bomb and shield buttons both handy for those 'oh heck' moments. I 'roll' my center action bar, having one set up for healing, one for hurting - one is for PVP, one is for questing. Abilities I use in both are keybound, but placed on the side ABs.

 

In PvP, I focus mostly on healing, I like to think of myself as a 'tank', I pull the 'aggro' while my teammates kill the 'mobs'. Once I started being effective healing my teammates, I had to transition to healing myself more, since I essentially 'aggro'd' the Imps .

 

Edit: I really enjoy leveling as a healer in this game. After doing so in 'that really big MMO' where is was painful, I believe it's a lot easier here, but does require some strategy at times. I do hope that the advice from these nice folks above has helped, it's a playstyle that I like to promote. And do take a hard look at your gear, I'm guilty of being complacent about it myself, and usually have to die a few times before I realize I still have a piece from 2 planets ago.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Nigyl

[Grimgrey]

I've had no problems at all leveling as a Combat Medic - M1-4X and I are practically immortal as a team. I'm guessing this is mostly due to the fact that I have a max-skill Cybertech as an alt, and M1's gear is always the best he can possibly equip.

[Dazzine]

After getting a Sage and a Commando at lvl 50 I feel safe to say that leveling in your 30's is the worst part of the journey as the cool skills are still out of reach while the world keeps on evolving faster than you like.

[Kneelocked]

PVP: the trick is not to look like a healer...meaning attack first most will think your dps and stay off you for the most part, then heal when needed, cc your *** off. But if your unlucky and someone like me notices your healing..well sorry. The best way is yell for help, but that doesnt work to good while trying to live. And self heal like a mofo. I honestly stopped healing in pvp cuz of no back up. But those are tricks i picked up to stop getting ganged.

 

^Smart^

 

Most of the PVPers will get the DPS tunnel vision after about 3 seconds, and will take them btwn 5-9 seconds to realize they person they are fighting is not going down fast enough and will then look for the healer to CC or at least threaten.

[Nucor]

- Use concussion round in EVERY fight if you are having trouble. Zap the strongest mob after sending your companion on the second strongest to start the fight. Be sure to watch the recharge to reapply it if necessary.

 

If you have good gear and use this tactic PVE is very easy. Take the hardest mob and use concussion round on him. While you are casting, target one of the weaker mobs and force your companion to attack it. Switch to a 3rd mob (if needed) and dps that one yourself as soon as your concussion round launches. And yes, if you cast concussion round on a target and immediately switch targets the cc still affects the mob you had selected when casting started.

 

Especially useful on those times you get attacked right after quest conversations. CC the hardest guy immediately and take out the weak. Makes these events very manageable.

 

Also, check your level against the quests you are doing. If you are below the quest level you may want to go back to the previous planet and do more side quests. You could also do some PVP or space combat to get some quick exp and get back to the right level range.