Am I doing this right or?

[Henakk]

So I've been a commando since the game came out, I only do PVE. Right now i'm leveling on Belsavis and I swear I can go 20 minutes without dying, my survive ability has been out the window. I can barley kill an elite, in fact i'm waiting on a medical probe right now as I speak. My gear is up to date minus a piece here or two. My rotation is what I've always used and what I see other people use. So is it me or did the last patch just hurt us that bad? I"m gunnery, is assault better?

[Micadog]

Which companion are you using and are they up to date with gear as well?

 

Overall I think 1.2 dropped our dps to make things a bit more challenging, but using Elara for heals, I'm only really finding it's taking slightly longer to kill things and I'm not dying any more than I did pre 1.2.

 

Having said that, is this your first character?

[trance_fate]

FASTEST way to level is full gunnery with a fully upgraded dps companion ( i like AoE Jorgan personally). The safest way to level and to kill challenging content ( I solo heroic 2's and gold stars with ease) is with your tank mech, and in heal spec.

 

I reccomend leveling with something like this http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#800bfR0oZMcz.1 it gives you some passable damage single target with CB spam (during SCC) and quick enough heals that you can still take gold star mobs EASILY. I would reccomend dumping the rest of the points up gunnery until you are ready to respec into a full spec lategame (although that kolto bolts build of mine isn't bad in pvp or pve)

Edited May 14, 2012 by trance_fate

[NoFishing]

So I've been a commando since the game came out, I only do PVE. Right now i'm leveling on Belsavis and I swear I can go 20 minutes without dying, my survive ability has been out the window. I can barley kill an elite, in fact i'm waiting on a medical probe right now as I speak. My gear is up to date minus a piece here or two. My rotation is what I've always used and what I see other people use. So is it me or did the last patch just hurt us that bad? I"m gunnery, is assault better?

 

Not sure if this is your first character or not, but one thing that happens as you level up is that the mobs get tougher. Where you might have been able to easily out-level mobs before, once you get to lvl 40-45, it becomes much more difficult. At this level, "interrupts" become much more important as well...sticky grenades, stockstrike, concussive charge, and even concussive round (with damage immediately after) will interrupt any mob that is not immune to CC.

 

So, the next time you see an elite casting or channeling something, try to stockstrike him. You'll live longer.

Edited May 14, 2012 by NoFishing

[Freeborne]

Not sure if this is your first character or not, but one thing that happens as you level up is that the mobs get tougher.

 

I would also like to add that at 30ish and 40ish your gear gains secondary stats it did not have before.

 

Example: Early armor enhancements might only give + Endurance. Around 30 they give +Power and +Endurance, Around 40 they give +Crit, + Power, + Endurance.

 

So if any of your gear is significanly lower level you're kind of double gimping yourself (and your companion) on stats. It might be worth it to check out the Trade Network for some new implants and ear pieces. (These seem to be the ones that are the rarest gear ups while leveling up.)

 

I also cannot emphasis this enough: spec so your stock strike gives a knock back. Strocksrike, Concussion Charge, and Cryo Grenade can all interrupt abilities. And they're the only "interupts" we get. They will work on most elite mobs.

 

Also, for particularly tough mobs, take your healer and shut all her non-healing abilities. This way she spends more GCDs healing you instead of attacking the enemy. It made the difference for me on a few elite mob fights leveling up.

[Henakk]

So I respecced Assault last night, I have a bit more survive-ability, more so against melee mobs so that helps a lot. I'm basically just stuck on the one quest it seems, today I took multiple Elites down without dying. I've tried killing this guy with Aric who's my most up to date geared, then Tanno and then Elara. With Elara I almost got him down but his damage is insane I almost spend more time healing then anything. Its not a Heroic quest either.

 

My gear is up to date and yes I also know about secondary stats, Right now I try to take crit if I can or power. Please correct me if i need to switch them to something else.

[AzraelCales]

So I respecced Assault last night, I have a bit more survive-ability, more so against melee mobs so that helps a lot. I'm basically just stuck on the one quest it seems, today I took multiple Elites down without dying. I've tried killing this guy with Aric who's my most up to date geared, then Tanno and then Elara. With Elara I almost got him down but his damage is insane I almost spend more time healing then anything. Its not a Heroic quest either.

 

My gear is up to date and yes I also know about secondary stats, Right now I try to take crit if I can or power. Please correct me if i need to switch them to something else.

 

There's nothing wrong with asking for help in game to down a tough boss.

[Henakk]

There's nothing wrong with asking for help in game to down a tough boss.

 

Yea I tried that, unfortunately I'm on a server with low population so that didn't work. Although I did finally get the npc down. Concussive round didn't work before but it did this time So I took down the adds, healed up then got him down. Barley made it but I did.