Feeling obnoxiously weak @ 55

[Evastian]

So, I just got my shadow to 55. I went out of my way to grind enough warzones to have enough commendations to afford an almost-full set of partisan gear before dinging 55. The rest of the slots were filled with basic gear. That is to say that I have full 63s to 66s in every slot.

 

However, relative to sub-55 pvp, 55 pvp I feel completely worthless outside of maybe spamming taunts (no, i'm not tank spec, btw) because i barely do any damage to people, and I get crushed quick.

 

However, I'm not using augments, because I looked and the price of adding an augment to a piece of gear would cost me ~80k for the kit, 36k to put the kit in, and then 15k for the augment itself, which would be fine, except for the part where I need to do this for all 14 slots.

 

I'm presuming that if I get augments for every slot, that my stats will rise dramatically, and pvp will be less of a waste of time. However, I don't have 1.8 mil to just dump on augments. 1.8 mil, as far as i can tell, is a **** ton of money.

 

Am I thinking about this wrong? Is there a cheaper way to get gear that already has augmentation slots in it?

Edited June 9, 2013 by Evastian

[CaptRavenous]

Augments will make a big difference. Yes, it is pricey, but that's why you buy a few at a time, make some more creds for awhile, buy a few more, etc.

 

I did it myself with my Jedi Shadow, focusing on defense. Got it over 26% so far, and not done upgrading yet, saving up for all purple augments, hoping to get my defense up to 30% or more.

 

But yes, it is well worth it. You just need to be patient and make some creds for it.

 

Creds are not hard to make if you grind some lvl 55 dailies.

[Evastian]

Creds are not hard to make if you grind some lvl 55 dailies.

that sounds like a major pain in the ***. now i'm struggling to think of a justification to bother with it.

Edited June 9, 2013 by Evastian

[CaptRavenous]

What did you expect, that augments should be handed out free?

 

Those guys in the warzones stomping your sorry butt had to grind for their gear as well. Whether they bought it, or made it, they had to grind for creds or resources to get/make them.

 

If you feel like you've done enough grinding, then get used to the current state of things for your toon. Other than that, there isn't much else you can do.

[Evastian]

What did you expect, that augments should be handed out free?

no, i was expecting that they'd have a reasonable, not-exorbitant price, and i was expecting that i'd be able to contribute to pvp without having a wall sticking out in front of me, arbitrarily placed there between levelling pvp and capped pvp.

 

id est:

 

levelling bgs - reasonably balanced, you can jump in and play at any time.

capped bgs - bolster does nothing useful

Edited June 9, 2013 by Evastian

[Kirtastropohe]

What did you expect, that augments should be handed out free?

 

Those guys in the warzones stomping your sorry butt had to grind for their gear as well. Whether they bought it, or made it, they had to grind for creds or resources to get/make them.

 

whoa whoa whoa... while what you said makes total sense (and I support it), it is also in direct opposition to the intended master plan by ea/bw...they don't want there to be a gear disperity. That was the justification for frakking up the existing system in favor of the wondrous world of 2.0 plus bolster. As was totally predictible, they didn't eliminate gear disperity, they just made gearing up a whole convoluted and screwed up process.

 

It would have better if they'd left well alone alone..instead they had to frak up world pvp, remove expertise sub 55, and a million other half-arse, incomprehensible work arounds to get a system that still doesn't work.

[Applicator]

no, i was expecting that they'd have a reasonable, not-exorbitant price, and i was expecting that i'd be able to contribute to pvp without having a wall sticking out in front of me, arbitrarily placed there between levelling pvp and capped pvp.

 

id est:

 

levelling bgs - reasonably balanced, you can jump in and play at any time.

capped bgs - bolster does nothing useful

 

You only have to do it once (or twice if you pve too). Just make sure you do it on some moddable gear and you're good to go. Gives you something else to work on other than just comms.

[CaptRavenous]

whoa whoa whoa... while what you said makes total sense (and I support it), it is also in direct opposition to the intended master plan by ea/bw...they don't want there to be a gear disperity. That was the justification for frakking up the existing system in favor of the wondrous world of 2.0 plus bolster. As was totally predictible, they didn't eliminate gear disperity, they just made gearing up a whole convoluted and screwed up process.

 

It would have better if they'd left well alone alone..instead they had to frak up world pvp, remove expertise sub 55, and a million other half-arse, incomprehensible work arounds to get a system that still doesn't work.

 

PvP never "works" in an MMORPG. Which is why I don't play it. Getting better gear in PvP just makes you a more lazy player as you butt-stomp everyone not as well geared as you. There is NOTHING in SW:TOR PvP that encourages players to learn to play their class better, its all about the gear. Grinding for gear is a trap , cleverly designed to keep PvP players subscribing. PvP balance is a pipe dream that will NEVER be realized.

 

But, that won't stop Bioware from continually changing aspects of it, and mucking up others.

[AlixMV]

the price of adding an augment to a piece of gear would cost me ~80k for the kit, 36k to put the kit in, and then 15k for the augment itself

 

no, i was expecting that they'd have a reasonable, not-exorbitant price

 

You know how they'd have a more reasonable, non-exorbitant price?

 

Craft them yourself.

 

Yeah, grinding 55s and Dailies may seem boring, but gear drives endgame progression, and you get gear either by spending comms or credits. The curtains drawn back, the secrets revealed. Just think of it as something to do to keep you playing the game.

[Evastian]

PvP never "works" in an MMORPG.

http://www.eveonline.com/

 

You know how they'd have a more reasonable, non-exorbitant price?

 

Craft them yourself.

are you one of those kinds of people who think that if you grind up materials that it makes those materials free

[Socialist]

PvP never "works" in an MMORPG. Which is why I don't play it. Getting better gear in PvP just makes you a more lazy player as you butt-stomp everyone not as well geared as you. There is NOTHING in SW:TOR PvP that encourages players to learn to play their class better, its all about the gear. Grinding for gear is a trap , cleverly designed to keep PvP players subscribing. PvP balance is a pipe dream that will NEVER be realized.

 

But, that won't stop Bioware from continually changing aspects of it, and mucking up others.

 

 

Well, there you go, I'd just narrow it from in 'in a MMORPG' to 'most MMORPGs'.

 

In that aspect being criticized, there is Guild Wars 2 that has sPVP to avoid it, but well, it has quite a few other problems...

[Feztonio]

that sounds like a major pain in the ***. now i'm struggling to think of a justification to bother with it.

 

level your crafting. then you can be self sufficient. i make my own kits and augs so all i need to do is my scavenging as i do dailies and level, and send my companions on scavenging missions. instant self-awesome!

[Solar_Breeze]

Am I thinking about this wrong? Is there a cheaper way to get gear that already has augmentation slots in it?

 

Craft lvl 54/55 gear and crit it - will give you a MK-9 slot.

Edited June 11, 2013 by Solar_Breeze

[translucentwolf]

Craft lvl 54/55 gear and crit it - will give you a MK-9 slot.

 

Actually, I've crafted 54 gear, and it only gets a mk 7 slot.

 

But, if you craft up 10 'cheapie' green gloves / belts, then you can r/e and get the components to make 1 aug slot.

 

You either grind crafting for slots, or grind to get credits to buy slots. I'd say that with a full set of companions, it takes a bit less time to craft up 14 aug kits on an armormech than it takes to earn the 1.4 million credits to buy off gtn.

 

Slicing crits are iffy. But, you know, you can just keep doing them, and eventually you'll have enough mats to make a full set of purple augs for yourself. Start saving up when you're young. Say in your 30s and 40s, and you'll have all you need by the time you're a godly 55

[CaptRavenous]

http://www.eveonline.com/

 

Yup, and they're constantly tweaking things there too, the PvPers complaining about one balancing aspect or another.

 

EVE has been chasing the PvP pipe-dream longer than most. But hey, if you call a game where players have no trust of one another and expect to be back-stabbed at any time a successful PvP MMO, then EVE is it.

 

Then again, EVE PvE is just like PvP here. A joke.

 

I guess no game gets it right.

[Jherad]

The difference between augmented and not is *huge*, and bolster ignores augments.

 

Bioware, in their infinite wisdom, decided that a PvP comms timesink creating a gear-gap for new players to PvP was unfair. So they replaced it with a cash grind timesink instead.

 

[Evastian]

Then again, EVE PvE is just like PvP here. A joke.

if by 'a joke' you mean 'they dont really have any' then yeah you're right. even mining is a part of the pvp system in eve.

 

eve's a pretty fun game and it's my primary mmo. the raw amount of balance and realism in the game is unparalleled by any other game.

 

i just play swtor between undocks, because sometimes nullsec gets a little quiet.