Commando Newcomer: Lots of questions

[Vilens]

Hey all,

 

I'm new to the SWTOR community (5 days as of this post). I absolutely love this game and I have a VERY high level of respect for the amount of activity and collaboration that takes place on these forums.

 

Before I unleash my slew of questions, I thought it'd be helpful to explain my character, where i'm at in the game, and demonstrate my knowledge of the game mechanics as it stands.

 

THIS IS NOT a "I bought the game, now what?" thread.

 

This is my first playthrough of the game and I have been reading every forum guide I can get my hands on since starting this game. My Commando is at level 17 and I feel like this is a pivotal point in the game for me. If I'm doing things wrong and continue down this path my (PvE ONLY) character will start develop in the incorrect stats. I am on coruscant, do not have my own ship, and only 1 companion.

 

I will do my best to group my questions and number them in order for easier answering:

 

Crew Skills & My Companion

 

1. I have the first companion who has +10 armstech eff + 2+ diplomacy critical. So far because of these preordained stats I have been building up his armstech (w/ scavenger+investigation). So far the most worthwhile item I've gotten from this through building and re-engineering was a Reflex Barrell Mod 5. Many things I've read say I should be crafting Armormech, or even more so biochem (possibly cybertech).

 

A:

Should I stop crafting out my armstech and move to something better suited to provide me with things I can't purchase? (I heard many of the best weapons and armor can be bought as opposed to crafted if you're willing to part with the commendations)

 

B:

If so, what skill? Some say armormech, other say anything crafted in arms or armor can be surpassed with some thing(s) one can buy later in the game.

 

C:

If not armor or arms, would the ability to craft beastly medpacs pay off? There's no doubt that medpacs are needed by Tanks.

 

D: What if any role does cybertech play in regards to modding my guns and armor as opposed to pumping up arms or armortech?

 

2. Additional Companions

 

So I know I'll get more companions. Looking at the stats on some of the guides it appears as though some companions are better spent devoted to certain skills than others.

 

A:

When do I get my next companion?

 

B:

If I change what my first companion is focused on, what do I devote the second one, and ones thereafter to?

 

C:

Being at level 17 is is too late to make these changes?

 

Assorted Questions:

 

1. Healing - I've heard this is a huge part of being a tank, yet at level 17 and actively playing daily I don't know of any abilities I have to heal others. What role does healing play for me by nature of my class? Should i be doing or receiving the healing?

 

2. Skill Tree - Where should I focus my skill points as I get them? (How if at all does this play into my last question?)

 

3. Group Play - I'm often getting in groups with a bunch of Jedi. What should my role be when fighting with them? As this different than if we had one of each class?

 

4. Battle Proximity - Usually in fights with partners I lay back from a distance and unleash hell while the lightsabers get in close. Is this wrong/right?

 

This is all I can think of for now. I'm sure many more will come up but I wanted to start this thread and open communication first. I really appreciate any and all help and responses. See everybody online.

 

Spoiler note: I realize some of my questions' answers may have spoilers. Particularly those about companions. Feel free to spoil companion-related stuff with me. As always use spoilers tags in respect of other members.

 

Server : The Razor (PvE)

(if you want to play^)

[Fatespuppet]

Keep in mind that these are my opinions.

 

Crafting should really be about what you like. Many people ignore it since you can gear up rather well just using commendations and flash point drops. IMHO crafting is not as important until at least the 20s and 30s where leveling speed slows enough for the expense of making items to pay off. That being said, commendation gear and mods are almost always better than crafted ones unless you spend the time and money to RE up to blue or purple.

 

Companions are granted strictly through completion of the class quests. You can get them and your ship quicker by focusing only on those quests. Still, you will basically get one every other planet as you go along. Your class quest conversations will explain in greater detail.

 

Healing is done at the earliest levels by using Combat Support Cell and the Medical Probe skill. If you focus on the healing skill tree(one on the left) you will soon get more healing abilities. If you plan to go full out healer, then I suggest spending all skill points on healing from the start. As tempting as some of the other skill trees may be, spreading your points out weakens your character.

 

In general, commandos attack from range. We have a couple of close range attacks for emergencies, but they are not our bread and butter. However, I have not once had a group get mad at me for spending the entire fight healing. It may go a bit slower, but I enjoy seeing full health bars.

 

I am not sure I know what you mean about focusing your companion. Each has a basic role they are best at. Aric is DPS. You will eventually pick up a tank, a healer, more DPS etc. if you mean their crafting focus, then I suggest trying to keep your mission skill, Investigation, on par with the other two. That can be difficult.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Fatespuppet

[Vilens]

Wow, great first response. Thanks you.

 

So if I can focus weapon and armor acquisition on commendations, what is the best skill to make my primary? I lean towards biochem.

 

I will probably be a gunnery commando if this helps.

[Ganrax]

Hey all,

 

I'm new to the SWTOR community (5 days as of this post). I absolutely love this game and I have a VERY high level of respect for the amount of activity and collaboration that takes place on these forums.

 

Before I unleash my slew of questions, I thought it'd be helpful to explain my character, where i'm at in the game, and demonstrate my knowledge of the game mechanics as it stands.

 

THIS IS NOT a "I bought the game, now what?" thread.

 

This is my first playthrough of the game and I have been reading every forum guide I can get my hands on since starting this game. My Commando is at level 17 and I feel like this is a pivotal point in the game for me. If I'm doing things wrong and continue down this path my (PvE ONLY) character will start develop in the incorrect stats. I am on coruscant, do not have my own ship, and only 1 companion.

 

I will do my best to group my questions and number them in order for easier answering:

 

Crew Skills & My Companion

 

1. I have the first companion who has +10 armstech eff + 2+ diplomacy critical. So far because of these preordained stats I have been building up his armstech (w/ scavenger+investigation). So far the most worthwhile item I've gotten from this through building and re-engineering was a Reflex Barrell Mod 5. Many things I've read say I should be crafting Armormech, or even more so biochem (possibly cybertech).

 

A:

Should I stop crafting out my armstech and move to something better suited to provide me with things I can't purchase? (I heard many of the best weapons and armor can be bought as opposed to crafted if you're willing to part with the commendations)

 

I would stop crafting Armstech as it is only good for leveling at the moment. At 50 it is completely worthless as the rewards you get through 50 PvE will get you better than anything you can craft. I would say that it is the most worthless crew skill to have at level 50 at the moment.

 

B:

If so, what skill? Some say armormech, other say anything crafted in arms or armor can be surpassed with some thing(s) one can buy later in the game.

 

If you want to absolutely max out your character with PvE gear and don't mind the grind I would do this: Start with Armormech, max it out. After you start running Hardmode Flashpoints/Normal Mode Operations make sure you roll for Biometric Alloys and get as many as you can incase you have bad luck critting. Start crafting your Rakata Bracers and Belt(Rakata Eliminator if you are DPS Commando, Rakata Combat Medic if you are healer). Keep trying to craft them until you crit on one of each to get an augment slot. Rakata Belts/Bracers with augment slots are the best Belt/Bracer you can get in the game for PvE. After you craft those, drop Armormech. Grind out Artifice and craft yourself a Rakata Relic of your choice, personally I chose the power one. Again you'll need Biometric Alloys and want to crit for an augment slot. After you make your Relic, drop Artifice. Now finally grind out Biochem. Craft yourself the Rakata Medpack, Stim(Reflex), and Adrenal(again I chose power) again all require Biometric Alloys. You cannot crit on these and you must stay Biochem to use them. They are reusable so you will always have a medpack to use, a stim on for extra stats, and an adrenal which basically serves as another relic you can activate for burst damage. Just having these reusables will save you a ton of money and be a good increase in your performance. I personally did all of this and it cost me roughly 200k per crew skill and 2 hours to max it out with 5 10k affection companions. 200k may sound like a lot at your level but you will be making 200k+ a day just doing daily quests at 50 with nothing else to really spend it on. I can definitely say that it is worth it.

 

C:

If not armor or arms, would the ability to craft beastly medpacs pay off? There's no doubt that medpacs are needed by Tanks.

 

Medpacks are useful for everyone in PvE as the operations have a lot of unavoidable raid damage mechanics on just about every fight so popping a medpack(that you won't even consume) will help the healers a lot.

 

D: What if any role does cybertech play in regards to modding my guns and armor as opposed to pumping up arms or armortech?

 

At the moment Cybertech doesn't play much of a role at all in it for level 50. You can get better enhancements/mods/armoring/barrels from doing dailies on Ilum and Belsavis than anything that you can craft mod-wise.

 

2. Additional Companions

 

So I know I'll get more companions. Looking at the stats on some of the guides it appears as though some companions are better spent devoted to certain skills than others.

 

A:

When do I get my next companion?

 

Taris, you will get your healing companion. You will unlock them all just following your class quests to 50.

 

B:

If I change what my first companion is focused on, what do I devote the second one, and ones thereafter to?

 

Crew skills are bound to you, not your individual companions.

 

C:

Being at level 17 is is too late to make these changes?

 

Not at all, I would say it is better if you change it earlier, I did all of my changing at 50.

 

Assorted Questions:

 

1. Healing - I've heard this is a huge part of being a tank, yet at level 17 and actively playing daily I don't know of any abilities I have to heal others. What role does healing play for me by nature of my class? Should i be doing or receiving the healing?

 

As a Commando you have 2 options. You can either DPS or you can Heal. Commandos cannot tank. You will get healing abilities called Med Probe and Advanced Med Probe just for being a Commando as you level up, these are your standard healing abilities that you can use to heal others or yourself.

 

2. Skill Tree - Where should I focus my skill points as I get them? (How if at all does this play into my last question?)

 

It depends on what you want to do. If you want to DPS I would suggest Gunnery as it is a stationary ranged DPS spec. Assault Specialist is more of a mobile Ranged DPS spec. Combat Medic is our healing spec so if you are interested in healing you would go Combat Medic.

 

3. Group Play - I'm often getting in groups with a bunch of Jedi. What should my role be when fighting with them? As this different than if we had one of each class?

 

You'll have to decide if you want to DPS or Heal and then that will be your role in groups. Standard group comp of 4 players is 1 Tank, 1 Healer, 2 DPS.

 

4. Battle Proximity - Usually in fights with partners I lay back from a distance and unleash hell while the lightsabers get in close. Is this wrong/right?

 

That's smart to do, just make sure you are in range of the healers and grouped up with other Ranged DPS to make the healers job easier.

 

This is all I can think of for now. I'm sure many more will come up but I wanted to start this thread and open communication first. I really appreciate any and all help and responses. See everybody online.

 

Spoiler note: I realize some of my questions' answers may have spoilers. Particularly those about companions. Feel free to spoil companion-related stuff with me. As always use spoilers tags in respect of other members.

 

Server : The Razor (PvE)

(if you want to play^)

 

My comments to your questions are all in red below them. Hope it helped.

 

On the subject of my crew skills comments however, they are planning on making crew skills more viable so my suggestions may change before you hit 50. Not sure if you'll be 50 before 1.2 or not and what exactly they are doing with the crew skills as they have yet to release details.

[Vilens]

Ganrax, thank you very much.

 

I will not be a healer.

 

 

I'm confused about crew skills being attached to me as opposed to my companion. Currently my companion has armstech, investigation, and scavenging. I've never seen an option where I can craft things myself; everything crew skills has been done through my companion. I always am working through my 1 companion who has the three aforementioned skills (although i do the re-engineering). Although I will probably switch to armormech tonight.

 

When you say max something then move onto the next. Can you explain what my character is going to be doing as opposed to my companion? Does this involve having my character (not my companion) learn and unlearn skills? If so, how? I only know how to teach and unteach skills to my companion. Maybe I didn't have as strong a grasp on crew skills as I thought.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Vilens

[Raeln]

Ganrax, thank you very much.

 

I will not be a healer.

 

 

I'm confused about crew skills being attached to me as opposed to my companion. Currently my companion has armstech, investigation, and scavenging. I've never seen an option where I can craft things myself; everything crew skills has been done through my companion. I always am working through my 1 companion who has the three aforementioned skills (although i do the re-engineering). Although I will probably switch to armormech tonight.

 

You never do the crafting. The best way to approach crew skills is to imagine yourself the shop foreman. You instruct your "employees" on what jobs to do and they go do them.

 

You can manually harvest nodes or "skin" mobs out in the world though but you do not actually do the "building" when you make a stim, piece of gear, or what have you.

 

When you say max something then move onto the next. Can you explain what my character is going to be doing as opposed to my companion? Does this involve having my character (not my companion) learn and unlearn skills? If so, how? I only know how to teach and unteach skills to my companion. Maybe I didn't have as strong a grasp on crew skills as I thought.

 

If I were starting TOR fresh again (or starting a new server) - I'd take Biochem, Bioanalysis and Slicing.

 

1.) Biochem - I've found just having access to a mid-level reusable stim / medpack to be absolutely crucial to having fun soloing through the level-up game.

 

2.) Bioanalysis - Quite obvious that it feeds Biochem with supplies

 

3.) Slicing - bolsters your monetary income. It's not as good as it was when the game was first released but between picking up slicing nodes (which are always credit containers) and keeping idle companions doing missions, I'm rarely broke. At level 50, I already have max speeder rank, full cargo bay and full inventory purchased.

 

Note: you may want to swap Slicing for Diplomacy if you decide to stay with Biochem for the long haul, since Diplomacy gives the rare Biochem materials needed for reusables. For the leveling up though, I've found the lower level rare materials are not that expensive on the galactic market.

 

At level 50, you may want to change to a different crew skill. This is not as painful as it is in other MMOs (specifically WoW) as at level 50, you'll have 5 companions to send out on missions to gather materials and build things while you continue doing dailies or running end-game content.

 

Just remember, for TOR's crafting system - you don't get your hands dirty, you are the manager. You tell your companions what you want made and they make it.

[Vilens]

This is amazing. I can't thank you enough for you thought-out and patient responses.

 

I'm starting to understand now. I think Biochem makes sense. Like I said i'm only level 17 and just got to Taris for the first time.

 

I have been building my companion's already. Slicing may pay off in that money isn't tight for me, but I could definitely use more.

 

So I will train biochem, bio analysis, and slicing. IF I slice all the way up though, are the same materials I'll need that will only be available through crafting?

[Raeln]

This is amazing. I can't thank you enough for you thought-out and patient responses.

 

I'm starting to understand now. I think Biochem makes sense. Like I said i'm only level 17 and just got to Taris for the first time.

 

I have been building my companion's already. Slicing may pay off in that money isn't tight for me, but I could definitely use more.

 

So I will train biochem, bio analysis, and slicing. IF I slice all the way up though, are the same materials I'll need that will only be available through crafting?

 

Bioanalysis will provide you with the materials you need to make your green stims/medpacks/adrenals. When you reverse engineer those - you'll have a chance to discover a new prototype (blue) version of the recipe. You can reverse engineer the prototypes to eventually learn a reusable version that only you (the Biochem) can use. The prototype (blue) and reusable (purple) versions require rare materials that only come from Diplomacy. With Slicing, you should have plenty of credits to buy the lower level rare materials from the galactic market. The cost of those rare materials on the market skyrocket for max skill Biochem stuff at level 50, which is why you'll need to reconsider your choice between keeping Slicing or going Diplomacy.

 

Something I forgot to mention is Diplomacy also returns companion gifts, which are handy for raising your companion's affection.

 

I ended up switching mains after I got my first character to 50. I made my new main (my trooper) Biochem, Bioanalysis, and Slicing. My first main was a Biochem, Bioanalysis and Diplomacy. I had some major money problems with running Diplomacy missions. It's handy for me now though as I just feed cash from my Trooper's slicing returns to my alt's diplomacy missions. So I get the best of both worlds.

[Vilens]

So i'll do the following:

 

 

Companion spoilers:

 

I'll raise Aric Jorgan in Bioc, Bioa, and slicing. In the meantime I'll have my ship droid execute diplomacy missions?

 

[Raeln]

So i'll do the following:

 

 

Companion spoilers:

 

I'll raise Aric Jorgan in Bioc, Bioa, and slicing. In the meantime I'll have my ship droid execute diplomacy missions?

 

You choose three crew skills and then your all of your companions do only those three skills.

[artillerybait]

You get to choose 3 crew skills, and then all your companions help with those 3. You don't get 3 per companion. If you take Biochem, Bioanalysis and Slicing; all of your companions will do those 3.

I've heard it said repeatedly that biochem is the best for end game as far as crew skills go, and if you are going DPS instead of healing, then the med-packs will probably be something you'll grow to love.

[Ashu-ri]

So i'll do the following:

 

 

Companion spoilers:

 

I'll raise Aric Jorgan in Bioc, Bioa, and slicing. In the meantime I'll have my ship droid execute diplomacy missions?

 

You can't raise your companion's skills. And you can only have three skills. Jorgan's + is best for diplomacy. Mostly I used diplomacy for companion gifts, though. My next toon (3rd) is going to be just gathering options. But you can't have slicing and diplo at the same time, as far as I know.

[Vilens]

what an unbelievably resourceful thread this has become. Thank you so much guys. i'll be logging on soon. biochem is in my future. still undecided between slicing and and diplomacy.