70-Day Grind for Basic Gear at 55

[Elyssandra]

who the hell is going to gear up 5 characters? if you do do you have any life at all?

l2logic

 

Presumably the same people who leveled up the 5 lvl 50 characters capable of grinding out said comms per your first post.

What's illogical about that? Perhaps you forgot to look up what logic means prior to posting?

 

l2dictionary

[SleepyKing]

That all sounds good, until you get to the part where you can't earn more than 200 comms in a week, or hold more than 400 at a time.

 

There are actually five types of comms, each with their own weekly cap. So you can in fact, earn many more than 200 comms a week on each toon.

 

More to the point, you seem to be forgetting that comms aren't the only way to get gear. Actually running ops and flashpoints will drop gear. The level 55 FPs drop 66 and 69 gear. SM EV/KP drop BH, HM drops DG and things get better from there. High-end crafting is also still in the game, so you'll be able to buy BiS items as well.

 

In short, you'll have to earn gear by actually doing the higher level content, rather than just grinding the easy stuff.

[Aries_cz]

Its not like there will be a big gate up in front of Makeb that will say "your item level must be this big to enter".

No, there will be a sign that will check the size of your shoulder pads or your moth-like hat if you are inquisitor

Sorry, after reading your post, I had very vivid image in my mind of such a sign

[BobaScott]

So does anyone know what happens to your extra daily comms when they convert? I am at the cap currently on one toon because there is nothing to spend them on atm. When we flip to 2.0 do I just lose them all plus however many BH comms I have and just get started at the max of 400?

 

That would seem like a large loss. Could they just allow you to have more than 400 for the first week, then you either spend them or lose them?

Edited February 22, 2013 by BobaScott
reasking question

[Heezdedjim]

There are actually five types of comms, each with their own weekly cap. So you can in fact, earn many more than 200 comms a week on each toon.

 

More to the point, you seem to be forgetting that comms aren't the only way to get gear. Actually running ops and flashpoints will drop gear. The level 55 FPs drop 66 and 69 gear. SM EV/KP drop BH, HM drops DG and things get better from there. High-end crafting is also still in the game, so you'll be able to buy BiS items as well.

 

In short, you'll have to earn gear by actually doing the higher level content, rather than just grinding the easy stuff.

Basic Commendations are earned while doing quests on Makeb and also rewarded as a group finder daily for doing Level 50 Hardmode flashpoints.

 

http://dulfy.net/2013/02/22/swtor-commendations-system-in-patch-2-0/

 

The Basic gear comes only from Basic comms. So the only relevant limit is how many Basic comms you can get a week (200). Also, as the dev posts have stated, you're expected to have Basic gear in order to start the level 55 content (hence the reason that you get Basic comms from grinding Makeb and from grinding the level 50 FPs, not from grinding the level 55 FPs).

 

Note that you also need to get Hero standing with the planetary faction on Makeb in order to buy the "schematics" for many of the Basic pieces.

 

[Elite] Commendations are acquired from Level 55 Operations (storymode?), hardmode flashpoints, and weekly missions. These commendations will allow you to exchange for Arkanian gear at the Elite Gear Vendor.

 

The level 55 FPs are the grind to get the gear for the level 55 ops, which are in turn the grind to get the gear for the level 55 hard / nightmare ops. You don't get any basic comms from 55 hardmode FPs, because you're already supposed to have all the gear you would buy with them when you start the 55 hardmodes.

 

Giving out Basic gear in 55 HM FPs would be like having level 50 FPs that give you Corellia commendations and drop blue rank 22 gear or level 49 greens; you're expected to be geared at that level when you walk in the door, so it would be stupid to give you more of what you already have.

 

The level 55 hardmodes, as you would expect, give you stuff that you need to do the next step up in content (level 55 ops), not the baseline gear needed to run the 55 FPs themselves (that comes from what you do before the FPs . . . Makeb and level 50 FPs). And level 50 FPs don't "drop" any Basic gear, they drop Black Hole pieces, which are only good for leveling through Makeb, and are not what you will need to start any of the level 55 instances.

 

The level 50 Group Finder daily will only give Basic comms once a day, and you're still limited to 200 Basic comms a week no matter how you get them. So, you grind Makeb to get whatever you get, up to the weekly 200 cap, until you have enough for a full set of Basic. Then you're ready for 55 FPs.

Edited February 23, 2013 by Heezdedjim

[Heezdedjim]

So does anyone know what happens to your extra daily comms when they convert? I am at the cap currently on one toon because there is nothing to spend them on atm. When we flip to 2.0 do I just lose them all plus however many BH comms I have and just get started at the max of 400?

 

That would seem like a large loss. Could they just allow you to have more than 400 for the first week, then you either spend them or lose them?

I have no idea, but they mentioned that you can trade unassembled Rakata and Columi tokens for commendation boxes, so maybe they will just give you the 400 and then mail you three commendation boxes with 200 comms each in them, allowing you to cap your weekly limit without doing anything at all for a few weeks as you unpack the boxes. Nuking them seems like it would invite QQ the likes of which not even god has seen, so they'll have to do something to deal with the excess.

Edited February 22, 2013 by Heezdedjim

[Rafaman]

The truly entertaining thing about testing on PTS is the people who assume that what's on PTS at any one time encompasses everything exactly as it will be in the release.

 

Agreed. And... apparently testing is not what is going on... instead we get whining about gear. How about running the content first with the gear provided, then making generalizations about the changes.

Edited February 22, 2013 by Rafaman

[MaximusRex]

That 70 day grind is only if you don't get any drops. All of the gear has drop tokens as well.

[Heezdedjim]

That 70 day grind is only if you don't get any drops. All of the gear has drop tokens as well.

Basic purple gear – Rating 156 with L66 mods (Level 55 starter gear, no set bonus, purchased with Basic Commendations)

Arkanian – Rating 162 with L69 mods (Level 55 starter operation gear purchased with Elite Commendations or tokens)

Underworld/Verpine – Rating 168 with L72 mods. Verpine pieces do not have set bonus (Level 55 BiS gear purchased with Ultimate Commendations or tokens)

The Arkanian and Underworld has tokens. The Basic does not (it's the new Tionese). You'll also notice from Dulfy's screenshots that there are no token purchase options for Basic, only for the two higher tiers.

Edited February 22, 2013 by Heezdedjim

[jedimessiah]

Sometimes you just gotta color outside the lines! I'm sure a skilled group will be able to do the harder content that drops the tokens without having all of the new "basic" gear equipped.

[ZionHalcyon]

Gear is simply the equalizer between good and bad players.

 

A good ops team can run an op a level or sometimes 2 undergeared because they know what they are doing and execute it to precision.

 

I am sure things will be fine.

[CrazyOldMystic]

I am going to be blunt here and honest. In sto they tried this stunt the result was the people that ran end game task force missions, or our version fps and operations quit. By the time they were done there was not a single poster I recognized from when the game released. There was a few that kept going till they pulled that stunt. The pvers that ran the content on a regular basis quit sto. It is something perfect world and cryptic do not publish ever, as they would have people believe this never happened but it did.

 

If I have to play this game non stop for a year or longer just to do operations at level 55, then I am gone, and I wont be the only one. I do not need a game to dictate my age to me every time I log on. I get the gear at the end of a year, all I am going to see is a year wasted on what a half assed star wars mmo. I do not think so. I strongly recommend you do not follow stos example, and you let the pve people run the pve content as much as they want, and you allow them to collect as much reward as they want. The same goes for pvp. This whole idea of a weekly lockout is nothing more then a poor attempt for you to cut back on employees, and extend your development time. Ive spent enough time in the work world to know whats going on here. So do not do this, you will end up killing the game, you claim to want to improve. Doing this lockout timer for rep is one thing, but now your messing with the core aspect of the mmo, the end game.

[Brewski]

The Arkanian and Underworld has tokens. The Basic does not (it's the new Tionese). You'll also notice from Dulfy's screenshots that there are no token purchase options for Basic, only for the two higher tiers.

Okay, I am officially calling Shenanigans.

 

You are ignoring posts that clearly explain how things will actually work, and choosing to respond only to posts you can easily take out of context. Your intentions are not to inform or understand, but are instead the opposite.

 

Shenanigans.

Edited February 23, 2013 by Brewski
mistype

[SithKoriandr]

I am going to be blunt here and honest. In sto they tried this stunt the result was the people that ran end game task force missions, or our version fps and operations quit. By the time they were done there was not a single poster I recognized from when the game released. There was a few that kept going till they pulled that stunt. The pvers that ran the content on a regular basis quit sto. It is something perfect world and cryptic do not publish ever, as they would have people believe this never happened but it did.

 

If I have to play this game non stop for a year or longer just to do operations at level 55, then I am gone, and I wont be the only one. I do not need a game to dictate my age to me every time I log on. I get the gear at the end of a year, all I am going to see is a year wasted on what a half assed star wars mmo. I do not think so. I strongly recommend you do not follow stos example, and you let the pve people run the pve content as much as they want, and you allow them to collect as much reward as they want. The same goes for pvp. This whole idea of a weekly lockout is nothing more then a poor attempt for you to cut back on employees, and extend your development time. Ive spent enough time in the work world to know whats going on here. So do not do this, you will end up killing the game, you claim to want to improve. Doing this lockout timer for rep is one thing, but now your messing with the core aspect of the mmo, the end game.

 

While I'm unsure about the "cutting back of employees", I did see it as an artificial time sink to make the players take longer.

 

I would think, however, that it would take time for those with multiple 50s to really get there anyways, and only those with perhaps just one 50 or one dedicated main to get to the level cap.

 

Personally, I only really care about getting 2 characters to 55, one on each side of the fence, while I get the other 6 to 50 for the Legacy abilities. But I don't figure I'm the normal player either. I'm also sure there's people out there with only one character they want to develope.

[Heezdedjim]

You are ignoring posts that clearly explain how things will actually work, and choosing to respond only to posts you can easily take out of context. Your intentions are not to inform or understand, but are instead the opposite.

Look at the screenshots yourself. Point to where you see that Basic gear is purchasable for tokens. Read the text that says where Basic comms come from. Tell me where you're going to get them from. Read the patch notes that say the Basic vendor is there to prepare you for level 55 group content. There is nothing here that hasn't been clearly posted and explained either in the patch notes or on Dulfy's site.

 

Also, as noted above, the mistaken info about 51-54 gearing and Black Hole vs. Makeb leveling gear were corrected, based on the dev tracker posts that people pointed out.

Edited February 23, 2013 by Heezdedjim

[Heezdedjim]

Sometimes you just gotta color outside the lines! I'm sure a skilled group will be able to do the harder content that drops the tokens without having all of the new "basic" gear equipped.

Maybe. Anyone can do anything, if they try hard enough. But it's clear that 50 FPs were tuned for level 49 greens, because that's what the game would have you wearing when you arrived at them.

 

There is a difference at 55 though, which is you aren't getting a bunch of planetary comms while grinding Makeb; you're getting some green gear that lets you just do Makeb, and what's more important is that you're getting a bunch of Basic comms that let you buy the entry level 55 gear. They expect you to have this stuff when you arrive (stuff that is a step up from Dread Guard, in basic stats, but with no set bonus).

 

It's reasonable to think they have tuned those FPs for what the game would have you wearing when you walk in the door, which is Basic gear (a step beyond the highest level stuff we have ever seen in-game prior to 2.0).

Edited February 23, 2013 by Heezdedjim

[Monoth]

I don't want to grind gear, I just want some freakin fun content to play.... Seems to me Bioware is making repeatable dailies the bulk of the content for this game... It's been over a year now, we should have the next part of our class stories and more story quests for our companions to get to know them better, not more freakin repeatable dailies....

 

Bioware is doubling down on Dailies.... Big Mistake...

Edited February 23, 2013 by Monoth

[Heezdedjim]

I am going to be blunt here and honest. In sto they tried this stunt the result was the people that ran end game task force missions, or our version fps and operations quit. By the time they were done there was not a single poster I recognized from when the game released. There was a few that kept going till they pulled that stunt. The pvers that ran the content on a regular basis quit sto. It is something perfect world and cryptic do not publish ever, as they would have people believe this never happened but it did.

 

If I have to play this game non stop for a year or longer just to do operations at level 55, then I am gone, and I wont be the only one.

To be fair, 70 days isn't a year. And it's not like you're grinding non-stop for that long. It's actually pretty "casual friendly" in that there is a fairly low /played commitment before you're "done" each week. For whatever reason though, they do seem determined to strictly time gate all of the grindable content they put into the game at this point, whether to "stretch" the content, or to put "casuals" and "hardcore" players on an equal footing.

 

I left STO before the new STF grind came along, because I could see what was coming. In the long run it was a good thing I think, because it wound up with them finally canning the guy who created that whole grindtastic mess. What they're doing here doesn't look as bad as all that. It will tweak some people off, but then that will happen no matter what they do.

[AshlaBoga]

I've got full DG on my sorc, I suspect I'll gather Basic comms on Makeb and then start doing the level 55 HM fps in a 63/66 mix. I'll use my 63/66 to get myself through SM S&V, HM TFB and get a 66/69 mix which will allow me to do the first 4 bosses of HM S&V (the first 4 don't really require full 69s). After a couple of clears of the first 4 I'll have a 69/72 mix and that should be enough to finish HM S&V and get a full set of 72s.

 

So that's not 70 days to get full Basic, that's more like 7 weeks to go from DG to Ultimate.

[Brewski]

Look at the screenshots yourself. Point to where you see that Basic gear is purchasable for tokens. Read the text that says where Basic comms come from. Tell me where you're going to get them from. Read the patch notes that say the Basic vendor is there to prepare you for level 55 group content. There is nothing here that hasn't been clearly posted and explained either in the patch notes or on Dulfy's site.

 

Also, as noted above, the mistaken info about 51-54 gearing and Black Hole vs. Makeb leveling gear were corrected, based on the dev tracker posts that people pointed out.

 

I have read Dulfy's post, which is, as always, informative and complete in highlighting the data in the patch notes. Now, you read the Dev post noted here and earlier in this thread instead where an actual Dev addresses progression.

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=5893059#edit5893059

 

It clearly states that your natural progressions will allow you to start Makeb with the gear you have at level 50.

 

It clearly states that level appropriate gear drops as you level through Makeb.

 

It clearly states that those with high level gear now will be able to continue to use until level 53 or 54 without the need to change it out.

 

It clearly states that using classic commendations to buy high level gear to use while leveling is an optional alternative to using drops from Makeb.

 

So, to be clear, there will be no need to grind to start Makeb, and no need to grind to reach level 55. Once you reach level 55 you can grind for the new op gear, and again for the new BIS gear, if that's your thing, but there will be no need to do so before hand.

 

As I said. Shenanigans.

[Kourage]

Just charge all the new gear to my credit card.

[Talliara]

The main thing I find unacceptable about the new gear grind is the weekly cap for comms.

We've seen it added for the gree reputation, now for gear commendations. It's almost as if there's a deliberate move to slow down players gearing speed.

 

Personally I plan to grind through makeb in a day or two with a group to get started on the new op and back to ranked wz's. But these comm caps will mean having to do this on several alts as well just so I have a few 55's to avoid hitting the cap limit after a couple of days so I can properly gear one character within an acceptable time (to me) for new end-game content.

 

To make it clear - I'm not concerned about a new gear grind at all, but why add arbitrary limits on gear progression that only punishes people who play a lot or clear content at speed ?

Yes I know we can work around it with alts and legacy gear (as long as the comm limit isn't legacy wide), but the fact we'll have to use alts to gear mains at the speed we would normally do so, isn't right imo.

[Heezdedjim]

So, to be clear, there will be no need to grind to start Makeb, and no need to grind to reach level 55.

Welcome to three pages ago. As stated in the OP the grind at issue is the time it takes to get Basic gear, which is the entry level for all level 55 group content.

Edited February 23, 2013 by Heezdedjim

[Red_rocks]

All I'm going to say is I hate the way this game is going now with artificial timesinks, like the rep grind and weekly rep caps, just to stretch out an event.

If gearing up at 55 is the way way then this game will lose its luster very fast for me.

[Kourage]

So y'all are telling me the only way to get entry level 55 gear is to grind? There's no equivalent alternatives from crafting? No alternative equivalents BoE drops? Seems fishy. Edited February 23, 2013 by Kourage