Impossible to fully gear HK-51 For Republic because of Imperial-exclusive mods.

[Aelther]

BioWare has been discriminating droid companions since launch,

 

 

Before 1.2 Droid companions were not able to wear the best possible gear due to inability to extract end game Armorings / Barrels.

After 1.2 the situation became a bit better, because Armorings and Barrels became extractable. It was still hard to gear droids up, because most armorings were restricted to certain shells, like chest, gloves, etc, however belts, bracers and offhands were not restricted, so if you had enough patience you could gear droids up.

In 1.5 they added 154 rating non-moddable droid sets for cybertechs, which made droid gearing easier.

however after 2.0 things are worse than ever.

 

Every single armoring and barrel is restricted. Well fine I understand, you want people to waste more time gearing, however because even bracer and belt armorings are restricted now, there is no way to put them in any custom droid part. Also offhand barrels are not restricted to "general offhand" they are restricted to shotgun, knife, etc. Why would you do this!? Now only Imperials can give their HK a good end-game barrel, while Republic players are left in the dark. Why is HK-51 using a knife in the first place? Why can't he be using an offhand that both factions have access to like Generator or a Pistol?

 

Also as some people have mentioned these restrictions affect a lot more companions. For example why mainhand barrels are restricted to "Mainhand (ranged)"? What will that accomplish, why can't it just be "Mainhand"? is Guardian going to use a barrel in his lightsaber... with aim in it? I don't think so. So the only thing it accomplishes is prevents that aim barrel to be given to a melee companion that uses techstaff with aim.

 

There are similar problems on other companions, for example for "gunslinger" type companions on imp side and "sniper" type companions on rep side.

 

It seems to me like these restrictions on mods have not been given a lot of thought before being implemented.

 

There are multiple way you can fix this, here's just a few:

1) Transform all Shotgun, pistol, knife offhand restrictions into a single general "offhand" restriction and add proper legacy offhands, such as shield, generator, etc (because legacy pistols and lightsabers act as both main-hand and off-hand). Also update all armoring restrictions to equivalent droid parts, for example chest/primary core, legs/secondary core, head/sensor unit, belt/part etc.

 

2) Let HK-51 use a offhand generator and / or offhand pistol in addition to that knife. Also update all armoring restrictions to equivalent droid parts, for example chest/primary core, legs/secondary core, head/sensor unit, wrist/part etc.

 

3) Put a knife with underworld grade mods, which would be restricted to HK-51 to basic commendation vendor's inventory. Also allow droids to wear humanoid shells, like belt, chest, etc.

 

4) Create new underworld grade non-moddable droid sets for cybertechs AND Underworld grade shields annd knife restricted to droids for armstechs.

 

5) Let armstechs and artificers craft some sort of restriction removal kits, which would remove restrictions from barrels and hilts, but would make them usable ONLY by companions. Also let cybertechs craft some sort of droidification kits which would remove restrictions from armorings, but make them usable only by droids.

 

In my opinnion options two and five are best ones. We get to gear up our droids and other affected companions on both faction equally, you can keep your restrictions and you will also sink some credits because we will need to transfer a lot of mods. (And you will also improve crafting a bit if you do something similar to option 5).

 

Anyway it is up to you what you wanna do, but please do something, because this is unacceptable.

Edited May 21, 2013 by Aelther

[Monoth]

Can't you take the barrel from the Imp side and put it in a legacy weapon and mail it to your toon on the Republic Side?

[Aelther]

Can't you take the barrel from the Imp side and put it in a legacy weapon and mail it to your toon on the Republic Side?

 

Also offhand barrels <...> are restricted to shotgun, knife, etc.

 

Sure, just give me a legacy knife, when you find one. Oh wait...

Edited April 20, 2013 by Aelther

[tman_ac]

I have to agree, as a Rep you overall feel left behind in many ways in this game. It starts when you compare the Rep fleet with the Imperial and goes on to the issue with the Rep HK.

 

Actually I like to gear all my companions and noticed this discrepancy as well. I am not starting to argue that all these restrictions are dumb in the first place, but I expect BW to find a solution for us Rep players.

[Aelther]

I am not starting to argue that all these restrictions are dumb in the first place

 

I'm not saying that restrictions are completely dumb, cause I understand that they want the content to last longer, however the part about droids not being able to use that gear, while humanoid companions can wear it IS DUMB.

 

I mean you do a long quest chain to get a cool companion and then you find out that all your organic companions are much better, because your droid can't wear anything good. On top of that you learn that only imps can give him both weapons.

Edited April 20, 2013 by Aelther

[Dassvidanja]

I stopped reading at the bit about favouritism. I think that is utter bilge and have heard similar things in every MMO there I have ever played. Horde are favoured over Alliance in WoW, Minmatar are favoured in Eve... Jeez... I think people have a skewed perception.

Give me one, just one logical reason why they would favour one over the other? I'm intrigued.

[Aelther]

I stopped reading at the bit about favouritism. I think that is utter bilge and have heard similar things in every MMO there I have ever played. Horde are favoured over Alliance in WoW, Minmatar are favoured in Eve... Jeez... I think people have a skewed perception.

Give me one, just one logical reason why they would favour one over the other? I'm intrigued.

 

Maybe you should read the whole thing then? I'm not saying it is favouritism I said either that or developers do not thing everything through. Also seeing how only imps can give him knife barrels + all the previous bugs which were in empires favour kinda suggests favouritism, even if that's just a coincidence.

Edited April 20, 2013 by Aelther

[Morgani]

HK was such a let down. I don't understand why he has a vibroknife instead of a generator. To bring vibroknives onto the Republic side? We didn't need them, thanks.

 

I have him on one character and never bothered opening him up for anyone else. He doesn't talk during story missions where other companions do, his story is boring, and he's near impossible to gear up while leveling.

 

Now my 55 can't give him best in slot.

 

I should have left you on ice, HK.

[Jeweledleah]

I've given up trying to gear droids even prior to 2.0 why bother messing with mods for SCORPIO when I could just buy bounty hunter piece for Kaliyo and call it a day? as adorable as FOREX or Teseven are they just never seemed worth it to me.

 

I agree though that it sucks that republic has an extra disadvantage there and I like solution 2 myself. just allow HK to use generators.

[TalkingDinosaur]

Sure, just give me a legacy knife, when you find one. Oh wait...

Didn't BW also patch sending mods through legacy weapons?

[Aelther]

Didn't BW also patch sending mods through legacy weapons?

 

You don't get what I mean. Yes you can send over mods with legacy gear, and before 2.0 I could transfer barrels too. HOWEVER since all barrels were general, as in you could put knife barrel into main hand, etc they never created any legacy offhands. There was simply no need. But now knife barrel is bound to knife and there are no such thing as legacy knife (or ofhand of any kind). Anyway if they created legacy knives, it would only fix half of the problem, because droids would still not be able to equip any armor. Also not every person has lvl 55 imperial who is capable of doing end-game pve.

[Aelther]

He doesn't talk during story missions where other companions do, his story is boring, and he's near impossible to gear up while leveling.

He still talks when entering a new planet and he also talks to HK-47 if you bring him into False Emperor. But yeah I wish he had more story. However he is still great for combat. While levelling I always use HK and swap him out for class compannion for conversations. Me and my friend levelled up from 1 to 50 using HKs. We were able to 2man every single H4.

 

I've given up trying to gear droids even prior to 2.0 why bother messing with mods for SCORPIO when I could just buy bounty hunter piece for Kaliyo and call it a day? as adorable as FOREX or Teseven are they just never seemed worth it to me.

 

Well yes in tanks case I'd prefer lord Scourge myself, however since I am a tank Myself HK-51 is my favourite compannion. He crits for 4k+, he is able to 1-shot silvers, he has no aoe so he will never break any cc (Sure all compannions are smart enough to not attack ccd targets, however they sometimes accidentally hit them with aoe).

 

But it seems I will have to start using Kira for dailies again... just because HK-51 cannot wear good gear.

Edited April 20, 2013 by Aelther

[Magnusheart]

I agree with this through and through.

 

 

I got a [CRAFTED] might armoring 27 back in the day and in 2.0 it became restricted to my belt because that is where it was last put in for my gear. REALLLLY BIOWARE?

[OddballEasyEight]

Im pretty sure this is just an oversight from biowares side...but its still good to discuss it so it gets their attention, but calling them names or trying to make it sound like some sort of conspiracy is just idiotic.

[Aelther]

Im pretty sure this is just an oversight from biowares side...but its still good to discuss it so it gets their attention, but calling them names or trying to make it sound like some sort of conspiracy is just idiotic.

 

I don't remember calling them names... And if I somehow did I apologise, but this is still a serious matter. Companions are a big part of this game (and any other Bioware game) and there is no reason why organic companions should have an advantage over droid companions. Also not being able to put a barrel into HK's knife on republic side is just very ridiculous.

Edited April 20, 2013 by Aelther

[Monoth]

Unless you mean the barrel in the Knife is bound to Knifes only, I'm pretty sure your wrong, both Gunslingers and Mercs use off hand blasters and the legacy blasters work in both main and off hands, you should still be able to put the barrel from the knife into a legacy blaster unless of course its like I said above that the barrel is linked ONLY to knives.. If it doesnt work then Bioware just made all Legacy blasters main hand only... thats gonna piss off a lot of Gunslingers and Mercs

 

Have you even tried it yet?

Edited April 20, 2013 by Monoth

[Rothie]

Unless you mean the barrel in the Knife is bound to Knifes only, I'm pretty sure your wrong, both Gunslingers and Mercs use off hand blasters and the legacy blasters work in both main and off hands, you should still be able to put the barrel from the knife into a legacy blaster unless of course its like I said above that the barrel is linked ONLY to knives.. If it doesnt work then Bioware just made all Legacy blasters main hand only... thats gonna piss off a lot of Gunslingers and Mercs

 

Have you even tried it yet?

 

Yes, the knife barrel is bound to knives, and since Republicans dont get knives, there is no legacy weapon to move from Imp side to republic. Thats the problem he is talking about. I doubt its favoritism like someone said, or intentional malice, but just an oversight by the Devs.

 

Im hoping they remove the stupid slot restrictions, they're annoying in the extreme. Also, I think its silly to expect someone to have to grind out an opposite faction character to equip a companions mods.

[Sohaim]

This is really sad, meaning that even if we put the effort in obtaining the gear we cant give HK-51 any 72 Armorings or Offhand barrel? that really sucks, i use HK-51 all the time on many toons, ive been hoping for more then a year that the Devs would give the companions some love and make them some exclusive top end gear with set bonus and all, but i guess thats just hoping too much, after all 2.0 is here and no companion exclusive gear ;/.

[Philastra]

You do realize its the same for everyone? HK can use aim or cunning why cant you get a knife with comms? Also the other companions , ever think that it might be so crafters of mods and barrles have a reason to make em?

Looks crafted is the way to go for some comps. Everyone is in the same boat has nothing todo with pub/imp.

Edited April 20, 2013 by Philastra

[Rafaman]

I understand the concern, but it isn't a problem for me any longer. I used my Planet Comms to gear up HK with 58 purps (aka Rakata). The knife is full 58s. So... no, it is not impossible. But if you are a lowbie you have to choose who is the priority. Once you hit 50 and are on Makeb, you use your planet comms to gear him up and the classic comms to gear yourself up if needed.

 

And I tell you what... HK in full 58's is a wonderful thing to watch. Lol.

[Aelther]

I understand the concern, but it isn't a problem for me any longer. I used my Planet Comms to gear up HK with 58 purps (aka Rakata). The knife is full 58s. So... no, it is not impossible. But if you are a lowbie you have to choose who is the priority. Once you hit 50 and are on Makeb, you use your planet comms to gear him up and the classic comms to gear yourself up if needed.

 

And I tell you what... HK in full 58's is a wonderful thing to watch. Lol.

 

I don't need 58 gear. It's very very outdated. I am myself in half 69 half 72. My doc is half 69 half 61/63. My HK-51 could be half 69 now as well if not for these restrictions. That is my problem. Organics CAN use end-game gear, droids CAN'T. It should not be like this.

I'm ok with restrictions, but they must be adaptable to droid gear as I suggested: Helmet/Sensor unit; Chest/Primary core; Legs/Secondary Core; Hands/Primary motor; Feet/Secondary Motor; waist/primary part, wrist/secondary part.

Knife restriction makes barrels only obtainable by imperials. Also you cannot craft 72 yet. And even if you could. Why should imperials be able to buy a knife for comms and republic should be forced to buy a crafted one from imps?

 

Unless you mean the barrel in the Knife is bound to Knifes only, I'm pretty sure your wrong, both Gunslingers and Mercs use off hand blasters and the legacy blasters work in both main and off hands, you should still be able to put the barrel from the knife into a legacy blaster unless of course its like I said above that the barrel is linked ONLY to knives.. If it doesnt work then Bioware just made all Legacy blasters main hand only... thats gonna piss off a lot of Gunslingers and Mercs

 

Have you even tried it yet?

 

Yes, I mean EXACTLY what I underlined.

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/4392/shotgunbarrel2.jpg Look. 72 grade cunning barrel. I could extract it from a shotgun and put it in HK's Sniper or Knife as I have done always. Now I can put it to neither. And I will never be able to get 72 knife, unless they change something. Main hand barrels are not bound to Sniper, Canon, etc, they are bound to "Mainhand (ranged)". So why can't all offhands be simply "Offhand"? Why would they decide to split it up?

Edited April 20, 2013 by Aelther

[Andryah]

HK was such a let down. I don't understand why he has a vibroknife instead of a generator.

 

Because he's an assassin. Derp.

 

So is the issue that you cannot put a main hand barrel in an off hand weapon now or something?

[Andryah]

And I will never be able to get 72 knife, unless they change something.

 

I'm sure it's an itemization oversight and they will fix it .... IF you guys bug report it so it get reviewed.

 

Until then... OK.. so you are a little bit gimp in one mod on an off-hand weapon. How much difference in HKs abilities to function as an equal level companion is it really?

Edited April 20, 2013 by Andryah

[Sohaim]

Because he's an assassin. Derp.

 

So is the issue that you cannot put a main hand barrel in an off hand weapon now or something?

 

Yes, everything is now bound, Offhands Hilts can only be placed in Offhand sabers and it goes on, and about the offhand thing, i dont think HK uses it xD.

[Andryah]

Yes, everything is now bound, Offhands Hilts can only be placed in Offhand sabers and it goes on, and about the offhand thing, i dont think HK uses it xD.

 

Hehe.. so it he does not use it.. then it's just a stat stick right? Seems like only severe min/maxers would be getting shorts bunched over this.

 

Bug report the poor itemization and stand by IMO. Bug report it everyday if that makes you feel like it will make them move faster.