New to the game.

[DecoyThree]

Hi guys, I just started playing SWTOR and I'm enjoying it quite a bit, but I have a lot of questions that I'm having trouble answering. Most of the hits I get from Google are outdated or contradictory with one another, which makes it tough.

 

I'm leveling a Shadow as Kinetic Combat, and really enjoy tanking. I can understand if I'll need to respec to Infiltration to be useful to my team, but I'd really rather stay KC. Is that viable? Is the preferred spec full KC or a hybrid?

 

How exactly does bolster work? I tried finding a bolster guide for dummies, but I still see a lot of acronyms and other bits that are just over my head. I found a saber crystal on the GTN for cheap (lvl 10 +41 power), is this thing gimping my stats?

 

What's the deal with guides saying I should buy PvP sets? Is there something specifically on the armor I need (other than set bonuses), or can I just buy PvP item mods for the gear I have? (My cargo bay is full of gear that seems for the most part cosmetic with the item mod system.)

 

Would the level 20/40 pvp be worth using at all? It's looking like I'm going to cap commendations before Valor 40, so I don't really know what to spend them on.

 

Thanks to anyone that takes the time to help me out. It's like out of game carrying!

[Cox_The_Beast]

First of all, hello.

I can't answer to all of your questions because, frankly, some things are a mystery to me too, but I'll try to help with what I know. I don't usually write here, for I'm all but a great PvPer, but seeing that we talk about mid lvl I thought my feedback could be at least useful there.

 

First of all, I'd suggest you to focus on the build you prefer, rather than on the one others deem the best, as long as you enjoy it and can play well enough (minimizing your weaknesses, mainly).

 

About bolster, many have asked your same question, and tbh I never saw the answer though it could be just my disattention...

 

Then, the crystal. Stats wise that's a HUGE help in mid game, especially if you dps. As a tank I usually prefer endurane, though.

 

PvP sets come at lvl 55, not before, though I personally like the looks of lvl 40 gear you can buy with WZ Comms on the capital planet of your faction, so I spend some there before reaching Valor 40 and start working towards ranked comms. Which set you want depends on your specialization, but the main difference between PvP gear and "standard" gear is that the former has Expertise, a PvP stat that boosts the dmg and healing you deal to other players while reducing the dmg you take from them.

 

Hope this was useful, but if others know better or are able to supply more accurate answers, listen to them first.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Cox_The_Beast

[Kacynski]

The sticky thread here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=668162 should answer most of your questions, it's well worth to take the time and read all of it.

 

If you are new to the game, I assume you are not lvl55 yet. In that case don't bother with gear questions, bolster (i.e. the game buffing your stats to appropriate levels in warzones) is taking care of it.

 

Under 55 you should just focus on lerning your skills and learning how the different warzones play and what good strategies there are. You should also try to get an understanding of your role (to be a tank is fine in pvp if it what is most fun for you, a well played tank does make a difference).

 

When you are 55 you can start worrying about optimizing your gear, but in general the gear you will get for warzone commendations is fine for starters (well as a tank you will need to do more mod swapping than healers and dps, but it still provides a starting point).

 

But again, your first focus should be to learn your class/specialization and the hoe the different warzone scenarios play out. Focus on that first and bother about gear later.

 

E: as you said you will cap your warzone comms quickly and will not be able to trade them for ranked comms befor valor 40. You have a few options:

 

1. buy the lvl20/40 gear: Do this if you like the look of the armor. Some of the sets are quite nice looking imho. If you don't care for the look, don't waste comms on this. If you don't do any PvE and play only PvP I would at least get the implants and ear pieces, as empty gear slots will not be bolstered.

2. buy consumables: medpacks and stims are always nice to have, but generally you will get enough of these by doing the dailies and weeklies, may also be a waste of comms

3. Buy weapons and trade them back before the timer runs out: You can buy a pvp-weapon for 900 comms which will have a 2h-timer to be traded back. If you always get a new weapon when you exceed 900 comms and keep trading them back before the timer runs out you can "store" all your comms in these weapons and have a large amount of comms at hand when you reach lvl55. I usually manage to get a full pvp set at 55 with the comms saved by this method.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Kacynski

[Dawginole]

How exactly does bolster work? I tried finding a bolster guide for dummies,

 

See this is the perfect example of why bolster does not work. it just doesn't work. This poster is obviously a very capable human who is skilled at both typing and reading things. How is it then that the devs determined that Bolster that doesn't work correctly with all gear, doesn't have an explanation to players that they can't use Cartel Market crystals or end game raid gear is easier than sending him mail with a note that says, "LOOK GUY, IF YOU DON'T WEAR THIS FREE STARTER SET WE ARE GIVING YOU, THEN YOU'RE GOING TO GET STOMPED"?

 

I mean the whole point of bolster was so people didn't have to worry about starter gear, they didn't even have to know starter gear existed and could just walk in. But the reality is that a new player has to understand an astronomically more complex system of do's and don'ts to properly compete without any pvp gear. This is the kind of fail that would get me fired in my industry. It may be enough that I would have to switch career fields.

[Kacynski]

See this is the perfect example of why bolster does not work. it just doesn't work. This poster is obviously a very capable human who is skilled at both typing and reading things. How is it then that the devs determined that Bolster that doesn't work correctly with all gear, doesn't have an explanation to players that they can't use Cartel Market crystals or end game raid gear is easier than sending him mail with a note that says, "LOOK GUY, IF YOU DON'T WEAR THIS FREE STARTER SET WE ARE GIVING YOU, THEN YOU'RE GOING TO GET STOMPED"?

 

I mean the whole point of bolster was so people didn't have to worry about starter gear, they didn't even have to know starter gear existed and could just walk in. But the reality is that a new player has to understand an astronomically more complex system of do's and don'ts to properly compete without any pvp gear. This is the kind of fail that would get me fired in my industry. It may be enough that I would have to switch career fields.

 

Well, bolster is actually pretty easy to explain for beginners:

 

1. If you are below 55 just make sure that you wear a piece of gear on every slot. Make sure that each piece has the correct main stat. Bolster takes care of the rest.

 

2. If you are 55 do the same as before; additionally make sure your gear rating is below 162.

 

3. In one piece of gear either all mods (armoring, modification, enhancement) should have expertise or none of them should have it.

 

4. Never use a piece of gear with expertise on it, that has a level requirement lower than 55

 

5. When entering a warzone, check your expertise stat. If it is 2018 or very close, everything is fine. If it is lower than 2000 one of your gear pieces is either an old pvp gear, higher than 162 rating or has mixed mofications.

 

If people just follow rule 1 and 2 respectivly they would be fine already.

 

If people get more experienced and want to start optimizing their gear (and make maximum use of bolster) they will find the needed information with a little bit of research. But as a starting point the above rules are more than enough.

[Dawginole]

Well, bolster is actually pretty easy to explain for beginners:

 

1. If you are below 55 just make sure that you wear a piece of gear on every slot. Make sure that each piece has the correct main stat. Bolster takes care of the rest.

 

2. If you are 55 do the same as before; additionally make sure your gear rating is below 162.

 

3. In one piece of gear either all mods (armoring, modification, enhancement) should have expertise or none of them should have it.

 

4. Never use a piece of gear with expertise on it, that has a level requirement lower than 55

 

5. When entering a warzone, check your expertise stat. If it is 2018 or very close, everything is fine. If it is lower than 2000 one of your gear pieces is either an old pvp gear, higher than 162 rating or has mixed mofications.

 

If people just follow rule 1 and 2 respectivly they would be fine already.

 

If people get more experienced and want to start optimizing their gear (and make maximum use of bolster) they will find the needed information with a little bit of research. But as a starting point the above rules are more than enough.

 

You're not wrong. But you also just gave me 5 points I need to follow to be successful. And while your directions are both thorough and succinct I still don't understand how this is less complicated than sending folks a set of starter gear with a warning message about wearing it in wz's.

 

It appears to me that the plan from the get go was to Bolster every aspect of this game further putting it into easy mode and that Warzones was just the test bed since it has a lower percentage of players than PvE content. Essentially a version of Bolster is being used in Tactical Flashpoints, and according to the PTS notes it is currently being tested for implementation in Operations, though I believe that is just for older OPs at the moment. Can't remember off hand. But I'm anticipating that in the near future all PvP and Flashpoints and Operations content will have a version of Bolster and only HM and NiM OPs will be excluded from this.

[funkiestj]

• Get voice chat (mumble, ventrilo, teamspeak -- the clients are free for these).
  
• join a guild that uses voice chat
  
• ask your guild questions
  

 

When you are a n00b and lacking basic knowledge back and forth voice communication is a lot more efficient than going round and round on the forums.

[DecoyThree]

Thanks for the help so far guys.

 

I'm still a little bit confused on the item levels that keep being referenced. Is there a UI option to turn them on that I'm missing? (Here's my tooltip for reference: http://imgur.com/n6Q8fZL) There was a post in one of the threads that broke down ilvl 69/66/etc, but it would be nice if I could actually see it.

 

I'm also still unclear as to when my saber crystal starts gimping me. Is it fine until I get higher leveled mods in my weapon? The posts about MH weapons only list three ilvls, which I assume are Hilt/Mod/Enh items.

 

Also, if I wanted to put a new crystal in, is there a way to overwrite it without paying 7.3k creds to remove it?

[Vodrin]

Your crystal is not "gimping" you. You will not quite bolster to full expertise because of it, but you will have to trust me that the power boost makes up for that fact.

 

And item levels changed with the last patch. The blue 80's you see on your hilt and mod are item levels, but the 69/66/58 was the old system. In the new system I think 58 equates to 142, but I don't exactly remember now.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Vodrin

[Kacynski]

Thanks for the help so far guys.

 

I'm still a little bit confused on the item levels that keep being referenced. Is there a UI option to turn them on that I'm missing? (Here's my tooltip for reference: http://imgur.com/n6Q8fZL) There was a post in one of the threads that broke down ilvl 69/66/etc, but it would be nice if I could actually see it.

 

I'm also still unclear as to when my saber crystal starts gimping me. Is it fine until I get higher leveled mods in my weapon? The posts about MH weapons only list three ilvls, which I assume are Hilt/Mod/Enh items.

 

Also, if I wanted to put a new crystal in, is there a way to overwrite it without paying 7.3k creds to remove it?

 

Item levels are confusing you, because they have been confused by Bioware in a recent patch ..

To make a long story short, in the past there have been different numbers telling you the same information, now there is only the item rating. for reference the available endgame gear looks like this:

OLD - NEW

65 - 154 rating (Conqueror Gear) PvP (no longer obtainable)

66 - 156 rating (Basic or Oricon Quest Gear) PvE

68 - 158 rating (Obroan Gear) PvP

69 - 162 rating (Arkanian Gear) PvP

- 162 rating (Brutalizer Gear) PvP (has been introduced with the patch, no old numbering)

72 - 168 rating (Underworld or Verpine Gear) PvE

75 - 174 rating (Kell Dragon Gear) PvE

78 - 180 rating (Oriconion or Dreadforged Gear) PvE

 

For the crystal the following applies:

Are you using PvE mods -> 41 Power Crystal

Are you using PvP mods -> 41 Expertise Crystal

See my rules for bolster gearing above: never mix PvE and PvP mods/crystals in one piece of gear. You have to either get no expertise from that gear piece or maximum expertise from that gear piece.

 

You can overwrite old mods by simply putting the new one in without removing the old. You will get a waring saying that the old one will be destroyed if you proceed, then just click OK. No cost occurs.

[DecoyThree]

Alright guys, it's been a little while and I'm still playing and still enjoying it. I just have one major concern.

 

...how is tanking in pvp, really? I seem to only have ~2k more HP than DPS classes once bolstered, and melt just as fast as anyone. I don't have any self heals like Juggernauts seem to, and my only two defensive cooldowns are Deflection and Resilience. As an added bonus, I deal significantly less damage than a DPS class. Pretty much the only time I can feel confident in a 1v1 is when I know the other guy hasn't been updating his gear. Am I doing it wrong? Does this get better at 55 when I have more tank-centric item mods?