Questions About Gear

[DemiGuido]

So I am completely new to the game and lets just say I am having a ball! Was not expecting to be so sucked into this MMO. But let me stop bloating on how much I love this game. I had a few questions about gear. So here it is.

 

First off I would like to say that I am a lvl 17 Sith Marauder and working on a Annihilation build;

 

1) What should I be looking for as far as mods and such when it comes to gear for my class/build?

2) Is the GTN a reliable market at low levels?

3) If you have the money to do so; is custom always the way to go when buying gear?

4) What is a good level to start investing in gear? (Besides lvl cap)

 

Take in mind that I know I am a "low level" and should'nt really even be worrying about gear at the moment; but in my spare time I do intend on purchasing some! Whether it be from a vendor or the GTN. All I really want to know is what I should be looking for with my character build. Whether it be now, or in the higher levels of my character! I appreciate all answers and advice and feel free to add me to your friends list in game. Looking for players to quest and raid with that can help me out!

 

Thanks,

DemiGuido

Jung Ma (East Coast Server)

[anthemambient]

All about Orange gear!

[mathisk]

1) The easy answer, until you get to higher levels and have learned the finer points of gearing, is to always stack your main stat first (strength, aim, willpower, cunning), then stack endurance. Later on, you can start picking stats based on what you what to achieve. Power will boost your baseline damage or healing. Surge will boost the damage of your critical hits or heals. Critical will increase your chance to get critical hits or heals. Absorb lets a tank's shield absorb more damage. Defense allows a tank to mitigate more of the incoming damage. And there are other stats I can't think of right now.

 

2) The GTN is both reliable and unreliable at all levels. It's also a mixed bag, pricewise. You can find some good deals and you can get ripped off. It just depends on the day and who's trying to level up their crew skills. Lately, I've found that my most useful profession is Cybertech. That way I can make my own mods for the custom (orange gear) I have. Then I use my planet commendations to buy Enhancements for my armor (if my artificer can't make one).

 

3) Not always. If you can't make your own mods, you might have to pay some pretty high prices to upgrade your gear, or settle for lesser grade mods that you can buy on the planets, that may not have exactly the stats you want. Sometimes, you can find some good bargains on gear on the GTN that end up being cheaper and better than the price you'd end up paying to get your custom gear to the same level.

 

4) Every level. The higher level your gear is, the easier it will be to do your quests and flashpoints. So it's always good to have the best gear you can. That said, I usually try to upgrade my character's gear every 5 levels or so, but I don't always remember. The time I REALLY think about upgrading my gear is when things start taking too long to kill and when I notice that I'm in real danger of getting killed by the mobs I'm fighting. Like when I noticed my Jedi guardian would be at 20% health after fighting a group of 3 mobs. I was 36, the mobs were 34, and my gear was back at level 28. So I was clearly due for some upgrades.

 

Other than that, the best place to learn (on these forums) is in your class forum. There should be a lot of good information there. People might also have posted links to specific websites that discuss the ins and outs of gearing, stats, and builds.

[DemiGuido]

This was a great amount of help! Thank you so much. Cleared up a lot.