A PvP a Day...

[dead-cat]

as a sorc you are supposed to:

1. kite.

if targetet - los. if charged by melee - force speed (which you hopefully saved). don't forget to use phasewalk. make sure you specced electric bindings. make sure you use static barrier when targetet. if focused - force barrier.

2. be ranged

 

even as a dps class you can offheal easily for 500K+ /wz atm. you can cast barrier at allies and heal them, here and there (and you'll get credit for their kills too). you also have a raid buff. don't forget it.

once you know how to position and how/when to disengage, you'll find sorc/sage a maybe too powerful class.

you can also play guard as you basically have 2 stun breakers and the usual sin tricks of stealth mezz - instant whirlwind - cap won't work on you.

[DomiSotto]

Jedi-riches, anyone will absolutely have easier time in the lowbies than in 65s. 65s is where everyone ends up, but the lowbies is where people start. It is also played at a far slower pace. That is why the most common advice you will get is to start a new character of your AC and work your way through the lowbies and midbies to figure out how to play it. Note that in most cases a pug will be at a disadvantage when the ranked premmies are running (if that's the case on your server). If the 4X and Pierce is your target for a particular alt, getting your valor to 40 on levels 20-41 is your least painful options. Valor caps at the same level as your character is at that moment, so just keep an eye on it, and play matches while valor is growing, and do more PvE leveling when valor ain't growing. You can get a lot of valor points in the 28-40 stretch.

 

With a Sage/Sorc, I found that playing a healer first really helps me, as I got the basics of kiting, eluding focus, watching my team, and using bubble/HoT/cleanse and pull while having a lot of resources to stay alive. One thing to remember as a Sage, your god-bubble is a flag to an aware team that you are now a walking dead and will be out of the fight soon to Phase walk and offheal etc.

 

Every DPS, no matter how tough and what DCDs the AC has, without 1+ healer(s) on the team, will have to disengage and find a place to offheal. Having egress in mind at all times is a paramount.

 

Dacri’s Guide on Dulfy is golden for Sage/Sorc. As Jherad noted in one of his posts, a stationary target is a tempting target. To avoid being stationary and trying to position best, Hottie’s posts here:

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=8715874&postcount=124

http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=8730541&postcount=125

 

are basically a complete guide with pictures for any ranged class.

 

Finally, in HB, that’s my personal opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, but hope it helps. As a Sage/Sorc, you are the most valuable as an assists to the ball carrier – a tank, a Guardian, an Scoundrel- let them go for the ball. Your task is to get ahead and pull, bubble, cleanse, offheal and provide a target for Holotraverse/Intercede and slow down and wave the crowd off your tough guy with the ball.

 

In Hutball Classique, I usually shoot off the starting platform at an angle, to get to the side ramp and onto the platforms. Cox recommends to grab the speed boost on the bottom, saving the Force Speed. Good idea with the FS on a longer CD. Then you are positioned to either help your ball carrier or start Force Slowing/hitting the other team.

 

In Pipeball, I usually find it’s impossible for a Sage/Sorc to stay on the upper platform immediately after the beginning of the match because of the snipers and mercs, so I go for the side platform with the buff, see who grabbed the ball, help out there, or if there is enough folks there, grab the grapple up, and get ahead to try to pull (as by then there is probably a detahmatch at the top, and your chances of survival are better).

 

I hope these notes help.

Edited January 25, 2016 by DomiSotto

[Lhancelot]

 

Its really funny how I can have an easier time in a warzone with a level 15 Assassin (1 match is the quickest way to complete the left hand side of my gear), than I do with a level 65 Sorc. I have no idea if I was playing better or whether the other team was just poor, but on that one I was almost borderline enjoying that match, almost anyway.

 

I think I am only going to do the 20 warzones for companion once per faction and see what may lie behind this quest in the future as while I really, really hate leaving things incomplete, I cannot fathom doing 20 matches on each character I send through kotfe.

 

Lowbies is full of specs that are not fully developed, some barely have any abilities yet. 65s obviously you have all players with their entire kit at their disposal.

 

Also, more veterans are playing in 65s, so generally there should be a higher skill level.

 

If I was new to PVP, and doing PVP for companions I would be doing lowbies because it would be less stressful, easier, and tons of other noobs would be there too.

 

Everyone expects a 65 in PVP to understand the maps, strategies, etc. I know that's not fair especially with the fact that many people level to 65 now without ever doing PVP, but that's just how it is in 65s.

[Jedi_riches]

Lowbies is full of specs that are not fully developed, some barely have any abilities yet. 65s obviously you have all players with their entire kit at their disposal.

 

Also, more veterans are playing in 65s, so generally there should be a higher skill level.

 

If I was new to PVP, and doing PVP for companions I would be doing lowbies because it would be less stressful, easier, and tons of other noobs would be there too.

 

Everyone expects a 65 in PVP to understand the maps, strategies, etc. I know that's not fair especially with the fact that many people level to 65 now without ever doing PVP, but that's just how it is in 65s.

 

I wish it was that simple and to just deal with lowbie PvP, but I will end up doing more matches in the long run, than just the 20 I need for the companion, I mean I only PvP for 3 reasons:-

 

1) For M1-4x or Major Pierce

 

2) for a new character its the quickest way to fill out the whole left hand side of my character screen (earpieces, implants and relics).

 

3) I play this game for story and tend to "immerse" myself into my characters which includes how they look so I always prefer keeping a certain look for a weapon which means moddable weapons is the way to go for me and unfortunately for me the PvP weapons vendor is one of the few places left that I can get them.

 

If it was not for these 3, I doubt I would ever have set foot in a warzone, I mean I can live without the second but the removal of the equipment vendor has affected me greatly.

 

@DomiSotto - I will read the information you gave me when I am not at work, but thanks for the info.

[Ruhun]

I wish it was that simple and to just deal with lowbie PvP, but I will end up doing more matches in the long run, than just the 20 I need for the companion, I mean I only PvP for 3 reasons:-

 

Doing the low/mid brackets would allow you to get more comfortable and familiar with the maps and their tactics without being farmed by min/maxed 208s.

You can also get the coms from lows/mids and by the time you are level 65 you can get a full set and know the maps inside and out.

[DomiSotto]

Unless the look of the PvP weapons is exactly what you are shooting for, the Level 8 vendor on the Fleet has the orange weapons. You probably know this, but just in case. Rackghouls, Bounty Hunting and Gree events have legacy Main and Offhands as well, and now are far more frequent.

[Jedi_riches]

Unless the look of the PvP weapons is exactly what you are shooting for, the Level 8 vendor on the Fleet has the orange weapons. You probably know this, but just in case. Rackghouls, Bounty Hunting and Gree events have legacy Main and Offhands as well, and now are far more frequent.

 

Yeah its just trying to find the "right" weapon to fit the right character, I lost a lot of options when they removed almost all the vendors as not all the weapons I have from cartel market fit my characters, especially lightsabers and female characters. But its just the case of finding the right look.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Jedi_riches

[Ruhun]

Yeah its just trying to find the "right" weapon to fit the right character, I lost a lot of options when they removed almost all the vendors as not all the weapons I have from cartel market fit my characters, especially lightsabers and female characters. But its just the case of finding the right look.

 

Those old weapons are in the gtn and usually for dirt cheap.

The ones that get expensive are the Cartel ones.

[Jedi_riches]

Doing the low/mid brackets would allow you to get more comfortable and familiar with the maps and their tactics without being farmed by min/maxed 208s.

You can also get the coms from lows/mids and by the time you are level 65 you can get a full set and know the maps inside and out.

 

Thing is I am trying to get away with the least amount of PvP I can get away with, which maybe is twice per new character before getting to kotfe and forex. I never expect I will get valor 40 ever let alone before getting to the alliance unless they suddenly make Valor legacy wise.

 

Those old weapons are in the gtn and usually for dirt cheap.

The ones that get expensive are the Cartel ones.

Not on TRE they are not, pretty much all orange weapons you are looking to start at 100,000 (there are a few cheaper but again its down to looks).

Edited January 25, 2016 by Jedi_riches

[Ruhun]

Thing is I am trying to get away with the least amount of PvP I can get away with, which maybe is twice per new character before getting to kotfe and forex. I never expect I will get valor 40 ever let alone before getting to the alliance unless they suddenly make Valor legacy wise.

 

 

Not on TRE they are not, pretty much all orange weapons you are looking to start at 100,000 (there are a few cheaper but again its down to looks).

 

But 100,000 is cheap.

 

You would still have an easier time in low/mids then.

[DomiSotto]

I agree. For a non-PvP main, I would recommend running leveling with PvP queue button on, to accumulate comms & valor as needed instead of getting beaten black and blue in 65s for 20 points. If a pop comes at an inopportune time, cancelling it is no big deal. In all other cases, it is a fun addition to the game.

[AlrikFassbauer]

Its really funny how I can have an easier time in a warzone with a level 15 Assassin (1 match is the quickest way to complete the left hand side of my gear), than I do with a level 65 Sorc. I have no idea if I was playing better or whether the other team was just poor, but on that one I was almost borderline enjoying that match, almost anyway

 

THat's the way of the world : At later levels, everything gets harder.

 

However, in early levels, some classes get more powerful abilities earlier than other classes, that might be the reason why.

 

Personally, Lowbies is a TON more fun than Highbies PvP.

Edited January 25, 2016 by AlrikFassbauer

[Qaoz]

There needs to be another way to grind Warzone Commendations besides queuing up for warzones. And yes, I get that they're called Warzone Commendations, but really, would it hurt to have a secondary source of comms while we wait for the dev team (or guy, I'm not sure how many people are left on that team) to balance things out?

 

I last maybe 5 warzones, and then I have to log off to recuperate. There's nothing fun about regular warzones right now. You either join a match with healers on your side, in which case you win, or their side, in which case you lose, or both sides, in which case you win/lose after 40 minutes (unless you're playing Voidstar), making the comms/hour ratio truly terrible.

 

It's exhausting when you push yourself to the limit for 40 minutes and then lose because the opposing team had more healers. There's no skill involved, it's just a dice roll to see who gets the healers and the win.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Qaoz

[Ruhun]

The only other way would be to go on low/mid level queues and transfer the coms.

Hell I have 30K coms. I'll even give you some if you're on BC.

[Qaoz]

Do you get more comms per warzone at low levels? Or is it just that the matches are faster? Regardless, the system sucks. Yeah, I said it. It's an arbitrary time sink. We can stack 200,000 Warzone Commendations, but once we hit 65, the flood turns into a trickle. What's the point, even?

 

Meh, I should transition over to PvE and just be done with it. Complete the story arcs and unsubscribe until things change. BioWare isn't doing much to keep me interested, and I suppose that's fair enough. Just disappointed in the lack of attention to PvP.

[Ruhun]

The coms are the same, the matches just go by faster because players are inexperienced and don't have all of their tools.

 

So you can get your dailies and have enough to get your 204s in a few hours max.

 

The grind to get geared is pretty much gone.

Talk to me when they bring back Ranked Coms and the only way to get them is Ranked WZs or converting normal coms 3 to 1.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Ruhun

[DomiSotto]

In lowbies, healers are still a Force Multiplier, and they still will make you faceplant if doubled up and team-protected, but a lot more DPS can catch up to them on those levels.

 

Seeing they've actually asked if we want big but rare balance changes, or small and frequent, well, balance is on their mind. Hopefully. Maybe one day there will be a post as epic as the one dedicated to the in-depth description of the gear drops in the Eternal Championship (I am trying not to be bugged about it, I really am).

 

I am sorry you feel comms-starved. I know how annoying it could be getting there. But it is indeed much better now.

 

That's said, the awesomeness of getting Exemplar is far less than used to be for full Brutalizer/Dark Reaver before change. I used to stack weapons, and carefully measure my valor vs my comms, traded those weapons, and counted my progress towards my Obroan, then Brutalizer. Now it's like... yeah, I'll need 22-23 thou comms for a starter set. Coming right up from the Storage bin.

Edited January 25, 2016 by DomiSotto

[jedcjedcjedc]

In lowbies, healers are still a Force Multiplier, and they still will make you faceplant if doubled up and team-protected, but a lot more DPS can catch up to them on those levels.

 

nah its not even close. In lowbies its the complete opposite. Operatives dont have roll to get away and evasions CD cant be reduced, Sorcs cant force speed out of roots and don't have barrier or PW, and mercs....well they're mercs. healers die to just being slowed or rooted in lowbies.

[DomiSotto]

That's what I am trying to express. A defended healer is an asset to the team in the lowbies, but not beyond the scope of the regular DPS. I think most DPS folks that find double-heals comps challenging will find a bit of a respite in the lowbies. You can always run up a DPS of your choice to 41, pack up the comms, and reroll. Edited January 25, 2016 by DomiSotto

[Banderal]

Wow, this thread took off in the last day. I don't know if I agree that lows or mids are more fun. I find "faceroll comps" in all groups. And also people who seem to think that everyone should already know how to play, and no one should still be learning. But anyway... just to show how silly games can get, below I'm going to astound you with what I ended with today.

 

I'm on my midbies assassin tank. First, this is coming off a comeback in an arena. We lost round 1, but then adjusted and won the next 2. That was going to be my last match, but Domi came on just as that arena was starting, and then she "convinced" me (ow, stop twisting my arm!) to play one more.

 

So we grouped up for a CW. It started off pretty textbook. One went snow and took it. One went grass to delay. A bunch of us went mid, and we were stale-mating there. And then I see that the guy who went grass took it!

 

So we had the sides. They took mid soon after.

 

We defended pretty well for a while, but then one of the sides got taken. Someone typed "should have stayed snow noob!", just as we took mid. So that was ok.

 

We swapped turrets again I think, maybe more than once, but the end result was that we had more than double their score, and the sides again. They came at "their" side turret where just 2 of us were guarding, myself and a sorc. We called inc, and a few came to help, but a lot of people were still messing with mid. We lost the 2nd side.

 

But no problem, right, we just need to hold the one turret, and surely people will gather there to guard it. But NO! It was like 3/4 of our team had an allergy to any turret we owned. So we lose the one remaining turret on the side, but manage to grab mid. Ok, we still have one, sounds good.

 

I got a bit snarky, and typed something like "not complaining, but why is everyone running away from every turret we own?" Someone types back "quit complaining, we are winning!" Except at that point I'm running into mid, where I see the enemy is capping it, and none of the 3 people that are there are paying any attention, they are all fighting around the edges. I run up to the capper... 3 seconds... get around to his side of the turret... 2 seconds... swing my attack... AND MISS!!!!! I could not believe it. I rolled a miss, and he took the turret. At that point the guy who had type "we are winning" put into chat "oops! my bad!".

 

And after that we could not agree on a turret to attack. I think I know why though. Without us actually owning a turret, no one knew which one to run away from. So, for the first time, I was the victim of the other team pulling out a win on us by three capping. It was just such a comedy of errors (Domi called it the gong show) I couldn't even get upset. I was just laughing too much.

 

Lowbies, and midbies... never take anything for granted. (Or in 65's either, really. )

Edited January 26, 2016 by Banderal

[DomiSotto]

I spent that whole zone running to support people and ending up yoloing in the entire pub team. I swear, I should have stayed with Badneral on one damn turret, but I thought two Sins can hold a turret. But I guess, the second Sin was of the opinion Banderal can tackle it. Next time I am sticking with Banderal, I don't care!

 

I finally parsed my merc before trying him on a raid tonight. In 2pc set bonus, with 190 MH and PvP left side, it was about 3.8 on the dummy, and held between 3 and 3.5K in the Ravagers on the bosses. I need to parse higher to bring the wz DPS to the benchmark. Buttcharging Ruugar was priceless though.

 

In the upside of that fiasco, someone on the fleet complimented my dress. Well, that's a first after the Harbinger's warzone fashion police. Guess, dressing up for PvP finally paid off.

Edited January 26, 2016 by DomiSotto

[Jedi_riches]

 

In the upside of that fiasco, someone on the fleet complimented my dress. Well, that's a first after the Harbinger's warzone fashion police. Guess, dressing up for PvP finally paid off.

Funny it must be a PvP thing, I am on TRE server and after I finished the 1 run on my lowbie assassin at the weekend some random person in the PvP section of the fleet whispered me on to complement the outfit my female assassin was wearing, maybe its something about PvP players as I never see that anywhere else.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Jedi_riches

[DomiSotto]

All that spatial awareness is paying off, I am sure. Raiders do that too, but that's more of a social thing, since you raid together a few nights a week, you get used to everyone's alts.

 

And, yay, tunnels are done, and I can't wait to get back to PvP full time, and start parsing again on PT/Merc. Just realized that Merc was supposed to use the PT's MH, so hopefully I can pull him over 4K with it.

[Lhancelot]

All that spatial awareness is paying off, I am sure. Raiders do that too, but that's more of a social thing, since you raid together a few nights a week, you get used to everyone's alts.

 

And, yay, tunnels are done, and I can't wait to get back to PvP full time, and start parsing again on PT/Merc. Just realized that Merc was supposed to use the PT's MH, so hopefully I can pull him over 4K with it.

 

What? Is this some sort of internal hidden stat advantage or something, will this boost my mercs damage even higher? Do tell!

 

Oh, hey as for PVPers and fashion... I just mentioned this yesterday to someone, lol. I told them I was surprised how poorly RPers outfitted their toons. Compared to most PVPers, they are boring and very unimaginative!

 

I just would expect RPers to be more imaginative and so figured they would have better outfits etc. Maybe they are so imaginative they don't need interesting looking outfits.

[DomiSotto]

What? Is this some sort of internal hidden stat advantage or something, will this boost my mercs damage even higher? Do tell!

 

No, it's along the lines of Domi is too cheap to augment two main hands and tries to save time to roll on loot/minimize comms expenditures, so most of her toons go about sharing legacy everything like my grandma and her siblings used to take turns going to school because they had one pair of winter boots between the eight of them. So the blaster rifle is shared between the Operative and the Vanguard, Merc and PT share the blaster, PT will have the Vanguards Generator... if I ran a Gunslinger, Merc and she would swap the blasters too.

Edited January 26, 2016 by DomiSotto