Quick question on gearing up

[Redshade]

Hi guys, glad to be back and started on my lvl 22 jedi sage.I wanted to make sure i was gearing up properly on my way to 55 and had a few short questions to get me back up to speed.

 

I'm trying to make sure my gear is up to par because my companion is getting hit pretty hard , but i don't want to spend too much credits on this.

 

1.I was told that the cheapest and best way to gear up without suffering "undergear issues" too much is getting orange gear and then buying new mods for it .Is that the best way to go ? or should i just continue using quest rewards and drops.

 

2 orange gear is commendation gear right? would it be easy for me to get a full set (and weps) then just buy mods every couple of levels?(btw can i get orange gear for my companion)?

 

3.I trying to dps as a jedi sage , but i would like to also heal, is there any prob with that? (all my talents are in TK and balance) i don't wanna get kicked from a group for bad performance and letting people die.I am trying to stack willpower though as per a dps guide i was reading.(i wanna dps for quest but heal for flashpoints so I get in faster)

[Khevar]

Generally speaking, using the Planetary commendations to purchase armoring, mods and such for you and your companion is a good way to go.

 

If you are still having troubles, there are a few things you can do:

 

1. Gaining a couple of levels can always help. When an enemy is a higher level that you, more of your attacks miss on them. When an enemy is a lower level than you, more of their attacks miss on you. I made the mistake of hitting Belsavis at level 38 on my Sorc. The first group I found was level 43 and every single attack I made missed or was resisted.

 

Level 22 is about halfway through the Nar Shaddaa recommended range. You could go back to Taris and run the Bonus Series quest. This would net you a couple more levels and make Nar Shaddaa quite a bit easier.

 

2. Spend some of your hard earned credits purchasing specific upgrades. At level 22 on your first character, you may not have enough credits to make this worthwhile. But it is always an option.

 

3. Practice a bit more of your CC's (crowd control). Apologies if you already know this, but before engaging a group, find the biggest one (Silver or Gold star) and use Force Lift. This will last 60 seconds and take them out of combat completely. You'll need to make sure you don't accidentally damage the lifted enemy with an area attack. Also turn off companion area attacks.

 

You also have a 4 second stun (Force Stun) which can be used right when an enemy is about to do a hard-hitting attack, and an interrupt (Mind Snap) which will stop an attack being cast (you can see the cast bar next to your opponent's portrain), and a knockback (Force Wave) which is useful not only for melee enemies, but for interrupting attacks.

 

On boss fights, don't forget your Heroic Moment. Save it for after you've used for Force Stun, as it makes the stun available for a second time immediately, as well as doing gradual healing for you and your companion.

 

Leveling as a healing sage is totally workable. It tends to make things go a bit slowly, as a companion will tend to do less damage than a player. But it does tend to make fights easier, as you can keep healing yourself and your companion during the fight, rather than racing to kill them before they kill you.

 

Good luck.

[Redshade]

I see , so i can take one orange chest piece gear, wear it to lvl 55 (buying mods to upgrade it) and sell all the other chest pieces i get while questing and looting?

[mike_is_valid]

I prefer to have orange gear on me and my companion, but it is perfectly possible to lvl with gear from rewards. You can get some nice orange pieces from the early FP like esseles/hammer station/athiss or check the GTN. Many ppl open those cartel packs in the hope to hit the lotto and dump orange pieces on the GTN for really low prices. It is very easy now to get yourself a full set of orange gear quickly, which you will then keep up to date by buying armor/mods/enhancements from the comm vendor. Don't forget the focus! A ear piece will also improve your stats a lot.

 

You can lvl just fine as a TK/healer with qyzen tanking. In FP when you queued as healer, ppl will expect you to heal and get mad if you can't do it well. You may consider queueing as DPS (takes forever) or respec into healing for it. Or you just sit it out, the SM FP's can be done with you in balance spec if the rest of the team is not too badly geared.

 

In general a TK sage does quite well for leveling and in PVE. But be aware that your build is quite static (cast require you to stand still), so in PVP you will get hit.

[redfurry]

3.I trying to dps as a jedi sage , but i would like to also heal, is there any prob with that? (all my talents are in TK and balance) i don't wanna get kicked from a group for bad performance and letting people die.I am trying to stack willpower though as per a dps guide i was reading.(i wanna dps for quest but heal for flashpoints so I get in faster)

 

At level 22 this is perfectly doable, but when you get to 25-30, you will be a subpar healer if you do not spend skill points in the Seer tree. You can either look up hybrid builds, or respec before queuing for a FP - if you are a subscriber it's free, and if you buy the field respec perk you can do it anywhere. The gear you need for a Seer healer or a TK DPS is largely the same, at least you don't have to change that.

[ThatGnome]

Hi guys, glad to be back and started on my lvl 22 jedi sage.I wanted to make sure i was gearing up properly on my way to 55 and had a few short questions to get me back up to speed.

 

I'm trying to make sure my gear is up to par because my companion is getting hit pretty hard , but i don't want to spend too much credits on this.

 

1.I was told that the cheapest and best way to gear up without suffering "undergear issues" too much is getting orange gear and then buying new mods for it .Is that the best way to go ? or should i just continue using quest rewards and drops.

 

Orange gear with up-to-date mods for it is better than most (though not all) of the gear that you'll get from random drops. It's also more reliable, in that you always rely on the right sort of gear dropping, but you can generally get the modifications you need by selecting them as quest rewards or spending planetary comms. Incidentally, some Purple gear also comes with mods, so it's not just Orange.

 

2 orange gear is commendation gear right? would it be easy for me to get a full set (and weps) then just buy mods every couple of levels?(btw can i get orange gear for my companion)?

 

You can certainly get Orange gear for your companion(s).

 

3.I trying to dps as a jedi sage , but i would like to also heal, is there any prob with that? (all my talents are in TK and balance) i don't wanna get kicked from a group for bad performance and letting people die.I am trying to stack willpower though as per a dps guide i was reading.(i wanna dps for quest but heal for flashpoints so I get in faster)

 

Up to 25th level or so, you probably won't be significantly worse than a specialist in a healing tree. Past a certain point though the person specialised in healing will be doing it much better than you can. More abilities, cheaper cost on their existing abilities, faster and better healing from them - all those things will be true. I certainly find that to be the case with my two Commando troopers, one of whom is a specialist healer while the other is DPS. The second can do a little healing when it's essential, enough to keep one person alive. The first can keep the whole group from dying unless things go horribly wrong. For normal adventuring when it's you and your companion, a DPS character with a little healing (like a Sage, a Commando, an Operative) can get by well enough, but for a Heroic or Flashpoint a DPS with some incidental healing won't be good enough for somewhere like Cademimu or at higher levels. I've seen it in practice, and had to respec in the flashpoint to compensate for a "healer" who wasn't.

[Rooff]

I see , so i can take one orange chest piece gear, wear it to lvl 55 (buying mods to upgrade it) and sell all the other chest pieces i get while questing and looting?

 

Yes.

 

Great place to get orange gear is from flashpoints. Using group finder to complete a random Flashpoint will get you some bonus comms once a day.

[Frog_brains]

They are trying to force people out of "hybrid" specs, they work alright as a hybrid between to dps specs, but not so well from a dps/heal spec. and all the changes since 2.0 are trying to make it more benificial to you to remain largely specialized in one tree. Again at the lvl your at the skill trees aren't divergent enough to make a huge difference. but once your at lvl 25-26 you will gain access to specific healing skills that are tree specific as long as you have enough points in the tree already to open them up.

 

I would not bother with orange gear for my companions while lvling unless your really trying to push to 55 quickly or have a lot of credits/crafting sills mats to keep them up to date. all of the planet side missions will reward you with the choice of a quest lvl green box, comms or a piece of equipment for one of your companions. most of the time those are good enough and you can backfill the rest from mob drop loot. the new way the coms are done is nice because they are no longer planet bound so if you earn a bunch from one planet where you're having an easy time you can stockpile them until you get to the next planet and buy the gear to help you with that planet.

 

If you really insist on orange gear, you can buy empty shells on the gtn from people cartel packs, some can be quite expensive, but often are on sale for less than 100credits because they are not saleble to vendors. you may not like the look of them but for some companions (bowdar and khem ) they dont display them anyway.

[Redshade]

thanks for all the help guys it has really helped me better understand the gearing system in this game.

[Thundergulch]

When I was leveling my Marauders (I have 2), I just used quest reward gear for my companion at every opportunity unless it wasn't an upgrade.

For yourself.. .same thing.. you don't NEED to be twinked out at all (doesn't hurt),blues will suffice. Don't worry about augments until higher level.

Just make sure you take the gear with the proper stats for you and your companion and you'll breeze through the levels with ease.