Made level 55...now what?

[teclado]

But it's not impossible. I went into two WZ's yesterday where I faced off against at least one 30's level and a scattering of low 40's levels. I can't remember the name of one of them---it was a domination WZ where we had to capture three turrets that were shooting at a landing capital-class ship. I saw a 39 in that one, and got ganked by two 43's working in tandem. The other WZ was a Huttball one---got a level 52, a 54, and a 49 in that one, against the three of us that were 55's across the board.

 

Before you ask---no, I didn't get any screenshots, although in retrospect I probably should have. My claims would carry more weight that way. In my defense I'll say that I was too busy playing AND getting melted at the time to snap a couple of pictures. I tell you what: I'll go back into WZ's again today, and try to get some snaps.

 

If what you all are telling me is true, then the only other thing I can think of is that the PvP system is borked, big-time. Not that it would have made a big difference, because I'm also learning---as I sift through the forums---is that I've got to somehow change out all my gear for PvP, which I can't do because I don't have anywhere near the awards to get any good gear.

 

As to the rest...when somebody posts up that they're having trouble, the first response is NOT "r u 4 real?" The correct first response is: "Okay. So which warzone/PvP instance was it, what time were you playing (because these servers DO get lagspikes and you may have gotten caught in one), and what were the players' names?" Additional questions like "What exactly is your gear and what are the adds on it?" are also reasonable.

 

But that response isn't gonna get it.

Yeah, you will need thick skin around here, unfortunately. Forum pvp is practiced regularly.

 

What I'm telling you is true - the brackets are 10-29, 30-54, and 55. The only way that a 55 can be in a 30-54 warzone bracket is if he were to level from 54 to 55 in that warzone, which does happen. Otherwise we're talking some major bug. I've never experienced it (been doing pvp for over a year).

 

The critical component here is bolster. Bolster is a system that EA/BW designed that attempts to somewhat level the stats playing field so that e.g. a 54 character won't have a huge stats advantage over a level 30. The 54 will still have more abilities, but their primary stats such as expertise, endurance, aim, strength, willpower, power, surge, crit, etc. will be relatively close. Bolster is present in all warzones, be it 10-29, 30-54, or 55.

 

Another critical component is expertise. Expertise affects your pvp damage and pvp damage reduction. So, if you have only around e.g. 500 expertise and another player has 2018 (max), he is going to wipe you out. So, you want to make sure that you have 2018 expertise in the warzone after bolster takes effect. At 55 it gets a little bit more complicated due to gear, but for sub-55 warzones, you want to make sure that you have ZERO expertise outside of a warzone (pre-bolster) and 2018 in the warzone (post-bolster). If a given item has ANY expertise on it, that item slot will not be bolstered and you will probably end up having less than 2018 total expertise. If you are wearing any of the old battlemaster or war hero gear that have expertise, you are going to have a really bad time in warzones because those pieces won't be the recipients of bolstered stats.

 

Now that you are at 55, here is what I would do if I were you. Get a set of the makeb 58 or classic comm 61 PVE gear. Yes, PVE gear. When bolster takes effect in 55 pvp, you will have 2018 expertise and will have relatively competitive stats. However, be careful not to use PVE gear that is 66 or higher (they will be bolstered such that you won't get max expertise - it's complicated). As you acquire warzone comms, you can purchase pieces of pvp gear from the pvp vendors and swap the PVE pieces for the pvp ones. The pvp pieces have the max allowable expertise for a given slot, so you should still have 2018 expertise in a warzone.

 

The other thing that you will want to do is augment your gear and use a stim (the prototype nano-infused type). You should be able to get the stims off the GTN for around 6-8K per unit and they give you 169 main stat and a good amount of the power stat. They last for two hours and persist on defeat. Stims are absolutely worth it - if you are not using them, you will be at a disadvantage from the start. I'm talking about 55 only here - you don't need to worry about stims or augments sub-55.

 

For more details on bolster and how to be competitive in 55 warzones, see L-RANLE's thread (sticky at the top of pvp forums). Also, I believe that he covers augments as well.

 

I hope that helps!

 

EDIT: Just starting out with pvp, you may want to start in the 10-29 bracket. That way you don't have to worry about gear at all (bolster takes care of it). Just make sure that you have SOMETHING in every slot as soon as you can (if nothing is in a given slot, it doesn't get bolstered. It also may help if you do PVE until level 15 or so (get more of your abilities and get somewhat used to them). Also, it gives you a chance to get the hang of the various maps and tactics.

Edited March 24, 2014 by teclado