Question on Bolster (Pre-55 only)

[Vaspar]

I understand the basic concepts of Bolster, no expertise gear because you'll get about 2K expertise essentially naked.

 

My question is on how it bolsters based on the gear you have.

 

Here's my scenario:

Guardian, Level 48 had about 29K hp and did good damage, her mods were Level 43 (44) in gear

 

Fastforward Level 50, bought all the Makeb vendor level 50 mods (58) in gear, so basically the Rakata level mods. Suddenly her HP drops to about 25K and her damage is visibly lower.

 

So essentially this tells me, that I would be better off in level 49 (50) in gear blue mods, than in level 50 (58) in gear purple mods or the black hole level 50 (61) in gear mods.

 

So my question is, is this assumption accurate and would anyone be able to tell me how exactly that works?

 

edit: This is just how it pertains to PRE 55, I've read a lot of stuff about Bolster but people keep bringing in Conqueror's gear and stuff into the mix, I'm just referring to how different levels of PvE gear affect bolster while leveling up.

Edited January 11, 2014 by Vaspar

[Vaspar]

So my Guardian is level 53 now. I unequipped Hazmat Pummeler's MK-3 Headgear which have the following stats:

104 STR

168 END

60 Acc

58 Crit

 

My hit points in the game went down when I took the head piece off, but my primary weapon damage went up. ????

[georgemattson]

Someone else will likely explain this a lot better (and probably understand it a lot better) than me, but here's my understanding of the subject (at 55):

 

 

• Bolster applies expertise individually to each of the 14 pieces of gear you wear, although it's not an even mix. If you're wearing 13 pieces, you don't get the full bolster.
  
• Any expertise mods on a piece of gear = no bolster = you only get the expertise from the mods you have.
  
• From a PvE standpoint, the mods you have on a piece of gear are added up, and if they total over 193 for a piece of gear with three mods, your bolster gets nerfed and you don't get as much.
  
• As a follow up to that, your bracers and belt (two mods each) have a max rating that's much lower (I'm guessing an average of ~64, but that's purely a guess).
  
• Any augments you have don't affect bolster at all. I don't know if anyone actually uses augments in pre-55, but I'm curious to try it myself and see.
  

 

Of course all of this is at 55, but some of the points should apply at all levels (like bolstering individual items, not mixing PvE and PvP mods, and augment).

 

With regards to your specific question regarding your mods at lvl 50, I would wonder if the mods you're using are over a pro-rated 193 rating? In other words, maybe the 193 limit is adjusted downward at lower levels. If it's a purely linear scale, that would suggest a limit of (193 / 55 x 50) = 175, but I would guess it's lower since you're at 174 total. I'm also guessing the progression is a bit more geometric in nature. Or, of course, the progression could be from lvl 10 - 55, which would suggest (in a linear pro-rating scenario) a limit of 172, which you are over. Of course, a 4k drop in health suggests a bigger differential than 2 points, so I'm leaning again towards a geometrical progression.

 

Oh, and of course, there's always this:

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=7102456#post7102456

 

...aka the post that made me think, "Oh my God, now I don't have a flippin' clue."

[Vaspar]

Thanks for the input and link, I'm reading up on it now.