What is the purpose changing the character sheet item level tooltips?

[Halinalle]

Do it every 4-8 levels that suffices.

(You can't even upgrade your mods every time you level up through planetary comms because the vendors only sell a new tier every 2nd level )

 

That's still ~80 planetary comms (~40 per level) every time next item rating is available. That's only for your own character, now think about gearing your companion too.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Halinalle

[Never_Hesitate]

That's still ~80 planetary comms (~40 per level) every time next item rating is available. That's only for your own character, now think about gearing your companion too.

 

I've leveled enough chars to know when to upgrade my and my companions gear pretty well.

[Vandicus]

That's still ~80 planetary comms (~40 per level) every time next item rating is available. That's only for your own character, now think about gearing your companion too.

 

Quest Rewards typically offer companion gear.

[CmdrShpd]

I like this change. It's been needed and makes sense. Being able to see item ratings on everything should have been done long ago. Before, if you looked at a mod you couldn't see it's level OR it's rating, just its number (which is different from both) until it got slotted, where the primary slot would show its rating, and the others would show its item level. Item level was inconsistent -- was a 33 green better than a 31 blue? How about a 29 purple? No idea, unless you look at all the stats. And earpieces? Implants? Forget about it! No ratings OR levels. No way to tell at a glance if it was decent without a comparison item.

 

I agree that in the short run, those of us used to the old system will be disoriented. Eventually we will learn to cope with it, and everyone will be better off.

 

This. I welcome the change, though it will certainly take a little bit to get used to.

[Starglitter]

Mmm

 

I really appreciate what BIOWARE intended to do with the upgrade, but frankly, I wish they woul dhave simplified it to were armor level would have been preserved and made to match the actual level of the player.

 

For example a level 50player would want to wear level 50 armor it could be green, blue or purple 50s.

 

When you get to 55, it gets a bit tricky for you have the old level 66, 69, 72 and 78. and PvP sets

 

I would think 66 would be green, blue and purple, the 69s would have a silver coloring, 72 gold coloring, and 78 Red coloring

 

thus a dreadforge piece of armor would read: Level 55 in red coloring.

 

The number values, while I can associate with the quality of gear mods, really does not mean much to me, for instance I see 180, which I know is level 78, or mod 34, but really what does the 180 specifically means? is the 180 the addition of the plusses of the mod itself? I imagine it has some kind of rational explanation, but it eludes me at this time. Same is with the mod 34, what is the significance of 34, does this mean there are 33 lower capable mods?

 

Hugs

 

Sue

[Halinalle]

Quest Rewards typically offer companion gear.

 

There's just one little problem: it's not interesting to do quests that are already grey to you. I have to skip all or almost all side quests on 3rd-5th planet on both sides (includes bonus series when available) because I'm usually 5-10 levels above the mob level.

[Vandicus]

There's just one little problem: it's not interesting to do quests that are already grey to you. I have to skip all or almost all side quests on 3rd-5th planet on both sides (includes bonus series when available) because I'm usually 5-10 levels above the mob level.

 

Then you won't have to worry about gearing your companion until you hit Makeb.

 

 

What's your leveling method? FPs grant extra comms, warzone comms can be traded for planetary comms. If you have a crew skill like treasure hunting or underworld trading, the purple gems and metals sell for a good amount respectively so you could gear that way.

[morfius]

Item level (level of usability) is more important in leveling than item rating.

Item rating is better at end game.

Now just stop and think, when player is supposed to learns about gearing, during leveling or during end game?

Is it too hard to have lines as - Elusive mod 168 (Level 55)?

[Halinalle]

The number values, while I can associate with the quality of gear mods, really does not mean much to me, for instance I see 180, which I know is level 78, or mod 34, but really what does the 180 specifically means? is the 180 the addition of the plusses of the mod itself? I imagine it has some kind of rational explanation, but it eludes me at this time. Same is with the mod 34, what is the significance of 34, does this mean there are 33 lower capable mods?

 

2*78+34?

No, that's 190.

 

Then you won't have to worry about gearing your companion until you hit Makeb.

 

Except that I needed mixed 58(Makeb?)/66 and full 66 for Xalek for SI act 3 finale. Even then Xalek went down twice.

 

What's your leveling method? FPs grant extra comms, warzone comms can be traded for planetary comms. If you have a crew skill like treasure hunting or underworld trading, the purple gems and metals sell for a good amount respectively so you could gear that way.

 

FPs and I try to remember to pick up the dailies/weekly from terminals when available. Casual PvP. Planetary quests but I don't really like to do them if they are grey (no XP). This is mostly because I want to be able to have best possible gear for my characters for every act finale.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Halinalle

[Vandicus]

Except that I needed mixed 58(Makeb?)/66 and full 66 for Xalek for SI act 3 finale. Even then Xalek went down twice.

 

 

 

FPs and I try to remember to pick up the dailies/weekly from terminals when available. Casual PvP. Planetary quests but I don't really like to do them if they are grey (no XP). This is mostly because I want to be able to have best possible gear for my characters for every act finale.

 

The SI act finale is way easier with a healing companion(pretty much trivial even with an un-geared healing companion, I was originally using a questing geared Khem Val; wiped like three times even with my heroic moment, then switched to Talos, and one-shot it without problem, who I hadn't put any new gear on since I got him) . The game has a massive bias towards healing companions, and seems to assume that everyone uses them.

 

Back before we had planetary comms that were universal, and before we had a lot of slottable gear, the finale bosses were done in leveling greens and blues. It was a matter of necessity to use a healing companion(if the player was not a healer, being a healer yourself trivializes most leveling content).

Edited April 10, 2014 by Vandicus

[redheadedtim]

2*78+34?

No, that's 190.

 

 

 

Except that I needed mixed 58(Makeb?)/66 and full 66 for Xalek for SI act 3 finale. Even then Xalek went down twice.

 

 

 

FPs and I try to remember to pick up the dailies/weekly from terminals when available. Casual PvP. Planetary quests but I don't really like to do them if they are grey (no XP). This is mostly because I want to be able to have best possible gear for my characters for every act finale.

 

You needed 58/66's for act 3 finale? You're bad. This is not good evidence of anything except for not being good. It's meant for level 47-50 and I did it at 46. Took a bit with some misses and whatnots, but was quite doable.

[Souliena]

I think they should make a option to decide how someone wants to see the itemlevel or level of modifikations and so on.

 

Its very confusing for a Low-Level-Character to see at Level 10 modifications with item-level 42 in weapons...

Now i have to go in the modification-menu too look for which level the modifications are.

[Gavin_Kelvar]

To show rating instead of level, as we were used to from start until now it is really confusing. Haven't found ONE man who is content with the change. As one of my previous poster said, I knew in one look where I stand or the people I was inspecting stood. Now I am blind.

 

Hi, I like the change very much. Prior to the change I always focused on looking at the rating anyway since level was by and large meaningless except for sorting in crafting. All seeing level told you was whether you were a high enough level to equip it, if you based your choice on the level number it was entirely possible to equip an item that was weaker than your current item with a lower level number (namely the difference between green/blue/purple). Why I like the change is pretty much for the following reason:

 

I like this change. It's been needed and makes sense. Being able to see item ratings on everything should have been done long ago. Before, if you looked at a mod you couldn't see it's level OR it's rating, just its number (which is different from both) until it got slotted, where the primary slot would show its rating, and the others would show its item level. Item level was inconsistent -- was a 33 green better than a 31 blue? How about a 29 purple? No idea, unless you look at all the stats. And earpieces? Implants? Forget about it! No ratings OR levels. No way to tell at a glance if it was decent without a comparison item.

[KyaniteD]

By the way, the tooltip of an item still shows the required level at the bottom. Since the level requirement for the entire item is determined by the modification with the highest level requirement AND pre-50 the required level coincides with item level, you can still get an idea if and by how much your gear is outdated.

 

So during leveling you can go by required level because that coincides with item level, and during endgame you can go by rating since level requirements tell nothing about item level past level 50 and rating is more important for endgame, anyway.

[MillionsKNives]

When you get to 55, it gets a bit tricky for you have the old level 66, 69, 72 and 78. and PvP sets

 

I would think 66 would be green, blue and purple, the 69s would have a silver coloring, 72 gold coloring, and 78 Red coloring

 

thus a dreadforge piece of armor would read: Level 55 in red coloring.

 

That's even worse. How are we supposed to know that red is better than blue, or silver is better than green? So when they release the next tier what's the new color? "Well obviously turquoise is better than fuchsia, which is better than orange, but not quite as good as lime."

 

The biggest problem with leaving the system as "the mod level is roughly equivalent to the level requirement" is that it completely explodes after 50. According to the mod level system the level 61s we got at 50 should be blue mods for a level 60 character. But in actuality when we get to level 60 we'd be wearing level 80-something gear.

 

It's not hard to figure out if you need to change out your gear. Look at the level requirement of the item, it will correspond to the highest level mod. Compare with the vendor. Open the item and take a look. Wait until you get used to the relative power of the items through exposure.

[Anuric]

This is an idiotic change that really only benefits end game players. While it is easier for them, it's more difficult for the players who are leveling. Even then it isn't so much of a big deal with non mod-able gear.

 

Green or blue gear always had a gear score before I just never paid attention to it. I always compared stats so I got an apples to apples look at it. Yes a Guardian piece and a Might piece might have the same rating but if I've been going heavy endurance then rating really doesn't mean as much.

 

As for mod-able purple or orange gear that is where my complaint comes in. Before I could look at a glance with no thought at all and see who mods needed to be updated while I was in imperial fleet. At level 37 I could open my character screen and see, about half of the stuff was for 35 and the other 33 or lower. Made it easy to count how many I needed and what types took all of 5 seconds. Now I have to ctrl + rclick a few pieces look at the installed mods level and then look at the rating. Try and remember that while I ctrl + rclick a few more pieces that are the lowest rating, and the mid rating. Then I can start adding up what pieces I need to replace after I've done that. I went from a quick 5 second glance to a process that takes 10 to 20 times that.

 

I don't have any characters that are max level. I do have 4 characters 30 + and powertech at 48. So I don't raid. Even if I did have a 55 I wouldn't raid. I haven't done an MMO raid in years. They aren't worth the time, and I question if they are really even worth the story. Yet here is a change made for raiders forced down the throat of the causal player. Bioware took a system that was stupid easy to understand and made it complicated. I guess somebody forgot the KISS theorem. Keep It Simple Stupid

[iankalo]

Cant we have something to show up what is our overall Items Rating ? Like a WoW`s Gear Score.

Well , that could be deceiving , cuz you can have 2-3 max rating items and your overall IR would be high , even if the rest of your items are green garbage. But if Im wrong about this , Overall Item Rating would be useful and easy to see how good is your armor and are you ready for HM, OPs , NiM.

[GalacticKegger]

It's essentially the equivalent of WoW's gear score, just for individual pieces. I use item rating all the time, and try to advance my gear by 10 points every 5 levels or so up to 50. As soon as my toons hit 50 they're at the Makeb vendor trading up their 108s & 112s for a fresh set of 140 purple Armorings. (Try and time it to where you have the full 100 when you hit 50.)

 

From there I go back and do dailies & weeklies for planetary comms to fill out the mods & enhancements. 140s will allow 2 players + companions (crafted level 49 108 to level 50 122 greens will suffice for them) to complete level 50 normal flashpoints. (Though Lost Island and Kaon are beasts for 2 level 50 players with 140 gear.) Level 50 FPs, Makeb & Oricon heroics are how we gear up to 156s & 162s for HMs, which we've 2-manned up to Athiss.

Edited April 11, 2014 by GalacticKegger

[Halinalle]

I guess they can now add item rating req for leveling FPs too.

Then we could start seeing "Undergeared" more often as a reason to kick someone. For example you could get kicked from Mando Raiders for not having item rating 76 gear or better.

[Aries_cz]

I guess they can now add item rating req for leveling FPs too.

Then we could start seeing "Undergeared" more often as a reason to kick someone. For example you could get kicked from Mando Raiders for not having item rating 76 gear or better.

 

Frankly, you could check that even before now, if you bothered about gear to know what the number meant. And I never found anyone care enough about gear while they were sub-50.

 

I think it was done to unify the system, which was needed, as 3 number meaning the same thing confused the hell out of many people.

[GalacticKegger]

Frankly, you could check that even before now, if you bothered about gear to know what the number meant. And I never found anyone care enough about gear while they were sub-50.

 

I think it was done to unify the system, which was needed, as 3 number meaning the same thing confused the hell out of many people.

This. It's not about exclusion, it's about understanding expectations. My wife & I enjoy 2-manning FPs and heroics. (We've made it up to HM Athiss - no small feat for 2 players in only 162 gear.) And working with the item level system to gear up as we level up is part of our preparation.

 

Understanding where our characters are with regard to item level versus the FP or heroic helps us to predetermine how badly we'll get our asses kicked. If we feel like the challenge of beating a wipe-night then we'll do the Foundry in 76 gear, or D7 in 106 gear, or Lost Island in the Makeb 140s. The item level system also helps us gear our companions properly.

Edited April 11, 2014 by GalacticKegger

[ML_DoubleTap]

This is one of the dumbest unrequested changes I can recall. I don't like it for end game...but I can get used to it I suppose. For leveling, though, it's a mess. For those saying that it's just another number to get used to that's really not relevant. The old number corresponded to your own level so it had meaning. You knew that if you were level 32 and your armoring or mod was level 26 you should probably upgrade. Now, I have no idea *** an item rating 82 corresponds too. There's no link between your level and that item rating to clue you into how far behind you are.

 

At the very least there should be an option of how to display in the UI settings. Similar to the different cooldown type options.

[Halinalle]

Frankly, you could check that even before now, if you bothered about gear to know what the number meant. And I never found anyone care enough about gear while they were sub-50.

 

I think it was done to unify the system, which was needed, as 3 number meaning the same thing confused the hell out of many people.

 

Actually I would like to see someone beating Emperor in level 30-ish greens.

Edited April 11, 2014 by Halinalle

[wainot-keel]

Frankly, you could check that even before now, if you bothered about gear to know what the number meant. And I never found anyone care enough about gear while they were sub-50.

 

I think it was done to unify the system, which was needed, as 3 number meaning the same thing confused the hell out of many people.

 

This confussion happened at end game, because then the lvl of the items no longer matters. It matters how powerful an item is compared to another of the same level.

 

But for leveling there was no confussion, since what matters is the level of the content. All the leveling content is shaped according to a lvl. Having the gear matching that is the most simple and effective way. Now, there's an completely arbitrary scale that means nothing per se. Yeah, one can get used to it by making a translation. Gear rating 82 -> lvl 28. That's great. What's the benefit of that ? None whatsoever.

[demotivator]

To show rating instead of level, as we were used to from start until now it is really confusing. Haven't found ONE man who is content with the change. As one of my previous poster said, I knew in one look where I stand or the people I was inspecting stood. Now I am blind.

 

All I see are senseless numbers, and can't quick evaluate the gear difference between 156 rating and 168 besides mathematically comparing numbers. It is 69, 72? The player inspected has 75 gear, indicating a good raiding player, who has completed NiM content? Now I have literally no ideea. Just a bunch of numbers.

 

It goes to show that this change was not really necessary. I have always talked about "72 gear" for (and instead of) Underworld or "78s" for Oriconian stuff. And now I keep getting back to these numbers so that they mean something, when I read 180 I translate it as 78 gear in order to have an idea of what kind of gear people are wearing.

 

I do agree that we had a lot of numbers but it's a little too late to change that. Maybe it was obscure to some idiots but to me each of these numbers had its meaning.