I need a quick rundown of gearing.

[Highsis]

Hi. I recently started playing with 12 exp boost and I'm way undergeared.

 

I'm level 37 sniper, and I'm still using 20 rating helmet. I have no relics, no implants. As a result, I'm having difficulties with even strong mobs.

 

Due to real life restrictions, I have not much time to carefully search my options in game with trial and errors. Could anyone please give me rundown of following questions?

 

1. what do item colors mean?

 

2. how do I gear myself/companion while leveling? answers with specific examples would be nice.

 

3. relics? What are those?!

 

4. My character has no belt, no relics, no implant, rating 20 glove, and all equipped items are green. I tried to optimize my fighting style, but I'm having difficulties. Something is wrong, right? How should I go fix this?

 

5. what's makeb(?) and why is it important in gearing?

 

6. which vendors should I go to? Do every vendors sell the same stuff? Are the leveling list scaled to your level?

 

I have 25k credits saved up and GTN goods are so expansive! I've never used any credits throughout the entire game but repairing and saved everything upto this point.

 

 

Thanks in advance. I know you must be facepalming but I'm just really busy that I can barely play during 12 exp boost time. Save this poor soul, please?

Edited October 15, 2014 by Highsis

[Jedi_riches]

See below.

 

Hi. I recently started playing with 12 exp boost and I'm way undergeared.

 

I'm level 37 sniper, and I'm still using 20 rating helmet. I have no relics, no implants. As a result, I'm having difficulties with even strong mobs.

 

Due to real life restrictions, I have not much time to carefully search my options in game with trial and errors. Could anyone please give me rundown of following questions?

 

1. what do item colors mean?

The colour indicates the quality of item it goes GREEN - BLUE - PURPLE so if you had the gear at the same level the stats on the purple item will be much more than those on the green item.

2. how do I gear myself/companion while leveling? answers with specific examples would be nice.

 

Personally I use cybertech to help me level as I use all orange gear (i.e. empty items to input mods in) so I usually do all quests so I end up with about 100 planetary comms at the end of each level so I get the best mods I can from the vendors at the fleet and use cybertech to make the armour item since it costs 7 comms per item)

3. relics? What are those?!

 

Relics are items that give stat boosts, for example they usually carry endurance, but some can be clicked to give a 90 second boost to something like power.

 

4. My character has no belt, no relics, no implant, rating 20 glove, and all equipped items are green. I tried to optimize my fighting style, but I'm having difficulties. Something is wrong, right? How should I go fix this?

 

Well you should always try to fill all slots so you should find yourself a belt but the rated 20 gloves are only for a level 7 character, make sure you equip level appropriate gear on yourself and your companion.

5. what's makeb(?) and why is it important in gearing?

 

Makeb is a level 50 planet you can do later in the game so it is not applicable for you at the moment.

6. which vendors should I go to? Do every vendors sell the same stuff? Are the leveling list scaled to your level?

 

The gear will not scale to level so you have to replace it every so often (it varys both by opinion and by how good they are at playing) as mentioned in point 2 you can get some good gear from the planetary vendors at the fleet

 

I have 25k credits saved up and GTN goods are so expansive! I've never used any credits throughout the entire game but repairing and saved everything upto this point.

 

 

Thanks in advance. I know you must be facepalming but I'm just really busy that I can barely play during 12 exp boost time. Save this poor soul, please?

 

Hope it helps.

Edited October 15, 2014 by Jedi_riches

[Highsis]

See below.

 

 

Hope it helps.

 

It does. My thanks.

[Tito_O]

1. what do item colors mean?

White (usually only drop on the starter Planets)

Basic Gear with no stats, to be avoided where possible.

Even green gear that is meant for other classes (e.g. Willpower or Strength) is better for you than white gear.

 

Green

Basic gear with stats, use it if it has the mainstat you need (Cunning), try to avoid other classes' gear.

 

Blue

Advanced gear, usually better than green (if comparing items of similar level), watch for your mainstat.

 

Purple

Supreme Gear, usually best stats (if comparing items of similar level), watch for mainstat

 

 

2. how do I gear myself/companion while leveling? answers with specific examples would be nice.

I tend to gear through planetary comms. You get those by doing class- and sidequests on each planet, especially through Herioc missions and Flashpoints. You trade them for blue mods at the planetary Comms-vendor, either on the main base on the planet or the Vendor hub on the fleet. 96 Comms give you one whole set of blue mods for all 9 Itemslots (Head, Chest, Hand, Wrist, Waist, Legs, Feet, Offhand, Mainhand)

Of course you'll need a orange (i.e. moddable) item for each of those slots.

I tend to run a lot of FPs and do the planetary class- and main storyline each, so that at least every two or three planets i have gathered those 96 Comms to buy a new set of mods. The blue ones you get are quite good, so that i don't bother with purple stuff unless those drop random from enemies.

The older mods i replace go to my companion, bu of course you need a companion who utilises the same mainstat as you

 

 

3. relics? What are those?!

An Item that goes in your Relic-Slot (left side of your char-screen). You can get those from random drops, the lightside/darkside vendor on the fleet or from crafting, iirc.

They start to be available for chars Lv25 and higher, and most just give a passive stat bonus. Lateron, especially in endgame, there are relics who give you a significant boost for a short time, either as a passive proc each couple of seconds (e.g. Relic of Serendipitous Assault) or as an buff that you activate when needed (e.g. Relic of Boundless Ages)

 

 

4. My character has no belt, no relics, no implant, rating 20 glove, and all equipped items are green. I tried to optimize my fighting style, but I'm having difficulties. Something is wrong, right? How should I go fix this?

See if all items you got have your mainstat and the most usefull secondary stats for your class. As a Sniper you want to have Cunning on each (no Willpower, Strength or Aim unless you don't have anything else to put in that slot).

Secondary stats are Power (the more the better), Accuracy, Crit (some is good, too much is unnecessary) and Surge.

You don't need Alacrity, Defense, Shield and Absorption.

Having green instead of blue gear insn't a problen in itself, just try to stick to your main- and sec. stats and try to keep the items up to date. Having a 5 level old item isn't bad, 10 levels below your current level might start to get annoing.

 

 

5. what's makeb(?) and why is it important in gearing?

Makeb is a planet from the last big ExpansionPack, that is accessable once you reach L47. You get bolstered there, so you don't have to worry about the gear you're wearing and your level. You can even fight L54 mobs as a L47 player in all L10-green-gear.

The gear that drops there is quite good a start for endgame content (at least story mode L55 FPs and OPs)

[to get the bolster-buff you have to click a terminal on the Makeb orbital station right next to the shuttle, or else the first mob will hand you your behinds ^^]

 

 

6. which vendors should I go to? Do every vendors sell the same stuff? Are the leveling list scaled to your level?

Planetary vendors sell different stuff. Each Vendor's items are appropriate for the level range of that planet. There are two vendors for each planet. One sells whole items (blue or orange), the other individual mods. I only buy at the second vandor type, because i can choose the mods i need for the best stat distribution, but buying whole items can work too. Before buying anything, look for the next planetary vendor, if you can already buy stuff there if your level is already high enough, so the stuff you buy stays up-to-date a little longer.

 

 

I have 25k credits saved up and GTN goods are so expansive! I've never used any credits throughout the entire game but repairing and saved everything upto this point.

I'm not sure how my savings looked like on my first char, but it sure was tedious. Try do do lot's of side Quests. The give extra credits (not much, but some) and the additional EXP help you beat the following Quests easier so that you don't need to buy gear on every planet. Do FPs often, so that you get to learn to play together with others (in Terms of what class can do what) and get some nice FP-Gear (try to only roll 'Need' on stuff you need for yourself (e.g. Cunning-Gear)).

 

 

Thanks in advance. I know you must be facepalming but I'm just really busy that I can barely play during 12 exp boost time. Save this poor soul, please?

If you are eligible for the 12x EXP-Boost you shouldn't have a problem skillwise, as buying new skills from your Trainer is free and you outlevel all mobs on the planet fairly soon. But i know from my own experience that gearing is a pain, i leveled a PT-Tank last week, hit Makeb with L35 items ^^

If that's the case, try to ignore planetary comms and stick to the gear you get as a quest reward, and maybe do additional sidequests, even when they don't give you 12x EXP, to get some more gear. Good luck

Edited October 15, 2014 by Tito_O

[Highsis]

...

 

Everything sounds clear now. Thank you so much.

Edited October 15, 2014 by Highsis

[TrigPt]

Not sure how you only have 25k at level 37. Do you loot the mobs you kill? Before this 12x I used to vendor all the the gear I couldn't use but now I sell it all on the GTN. By the time I hit 50 I had 400k.

 

One tip on gearing try to keep your mainhand current. If you're using a modable weapon then upgrading the barrel with planet comms every 5 levels will help a lot.

[TaylorNova]

I was a terrible newbie on here 2 years ago, and in some ways I still am, was out of the game 11 months, but returned, with a whole lot of new stuff to learn, like star fighter combat and Strongholds. never done a flash point in my life, basically , because, the only one I did try doing, I got kicked of team for no good reason. Flashpoint leaders are not essentially bothered that you may be new to flash points, or that you may not be as strong as some, so they kick you out, rather like A prosecution team at a trial, They can or will reject certain jury members for one reason or another. So for me, I keep well away from flashpoints during my time here. can do without bully's who think they know all, but in fact no one tells me or someone else you got to go, just because you cant keep up. it dont bother me now, since Never did another flashpoint mission again, neither will I do groups, unless its my guilds group request ...most requests to join a group, is by just one person, who will take all, then when its finished spit you out, with not even a thank you. So , for me , that is the only downside, That I may be losing out in some credits and stuff by not doing flash points. All the rest is good

 

My mentor Who guided me for some many months, taught me how to modify and armour items, when At level 20 I had no idea what they were until then. This is a fairly technical game, not on a par with Eve, which is what I would call hard core, but learning about Mods, enhancements and armouring, is very important.

 

many newcomers get taken in there first hours, to a modification station. I found that to be totally useless to me just beginning, so much in fact That I never have used it. Most clothes you will get or even new generators or weapons you gain from mission, or mission ends, will normally be better than what your currently carrying, but Most do not have any form of altering of it , hence I tended to go to the GTN, or the planet commendation vendors. You can go to a GTN and look into modifications, most items will have 3...........one is armouring, second is Mod, third is Enhancement. The different colours are primarily about how good they are.. A level 30 green Armour plate, is going to be less effective than a blue or purple one, But green quality items should no be written off too quickly, Dont forget, you have companions, the main one you tend to take on missions with you, also needs to be up near your own level of power and endurance. You can get a blue modification, to replace the green, but dont sell it right away, Open your companions window and see what he or she is wearing, your redundant green mod, may well go into a slot thats open in one of his of hers items, as some clothes and objects, do come "Open" meaning that all slots in item are available for modding. Also dont forget to do daily war zones, a good source of early income, along with the weekly war Zone events. Im new to Starfighter zone, having been out of STW for many months, but its still worth joining in a group, you will still earn reputation and credits, and start to upgrade parts of your new ship.

 

"Stay Alive and good luck out there"!

[Merouk]

1. what do item colors mean?

 

Green = basic gear. You should try to have the green gear of the same level as you, although you can get by if a few of the items are 4-5 levels below your level.

 

Blue = equivalent to green gear that is 4 levels higher. So if you're 37 and have a level 33 blue piece of armor, you're ok.

 

Purple = equivalent to green gear + 8 levels. So if you're level 37 and have a level 29 purple piece, that's the same as if you had a level 37 green piece (you're ok).

 

Orange = this gear is a shell with no stats, and will take on the stats of the armorings, mods, and enhancements that you put in it. This allows you to keep the same look / same outfit, but level up the outfit itself by installing higher and higher modifications inside it. If you put in level 37 green armorings, mods, and enhancements, the armor will take on the same stats as if you had an actually green piece of armor.

 

You should try to have green gear of the same level as yourself, or if you have some blue or purple pieces, they can be lower level (as described above) and you'd still be ok. You should also try to have all the slots on your body (including earpiece, implants, relics, etc) filled with gear, because the stats from each piece add up.

 

2. how do I gear myself/companion while leveling? answers with specific examples would be nice.

 

Normally, quests offer you the choice of a piece of armor, an armoring, mod, or enhancement, or 1-3 planetary commendations. You can accept the armor if you're going to use it. You can accept the armoring, mod, or enhancement and put it in an orange piece that you have already. Or you can accumulate planet commendations and use those to buy armors or enhancements from vendors that can be found on each planet.

 

You can also get credits if you sell the loot that you find on the GTN auction house rather than to NPC vendors, and you can use the credits to buy armor that's useful to you.

 

You can train the 3 gathering trade skills (archeology, bioanalysis, scavenging), and gather mats from the nodes that you find all over the place as you level through a planet. Sell the mats on the GTN, make lots of money, use the money to buy armors that you need.

[Yezzan]

Even if you are doing only main story-line quests, you should still have better gear because those quests give you gear as you advance. In most cases you will have to chose between gear for yourself or your various companions or planetary commendations. Plus the mobs and bosses will drop gear appropriate for your class, since each class have their own specific instance where questing is concerned.

 

It's easy to rush through and not pay attention to things especially if you are pressed for time. Remember to use your companion and your croud control abilities. Unless you are using AOE skills, always disable one enemy, let your companion attack or aggro the rest and you pick which one you want to kill. That way you won't have more than 1-2 mobs on you at any given point.

[AlixMV]

Even if you are doing only main story-line quests, you should still have better gear because those quests give you gear as you advance..

 

No.

 

If all you do is the class story line and taking advance of the 12x class story XP, you're doing about four quests per planet, which means, at most, four rewards. Most of my leveling as been late Chapter 1/Chapter 2 so far and I haven't kept strict track, but it seems to generally be one Companion piece, one armor piece for the character, one mod, and then some miscellaneous piece like a Main or Offhand. It's not nearly good enough to keep your character or your Companion geared solely through drops.

 

(For example, my Jugg is level 42 on Hoth and just replaced my preferred Companion's Chest piece with one that was last updated on Tatooine (level 28). My toon is currently rocking the Level 33 mods I crafted for him on Taris and starting to struggle).

Edited October 16, 2014 by AlixMV

[Algus]

In general you want to get into moddable gear. Orange gear is moddable as is some purple gear. This comes from quests/drops, crafting, and buying from the Cartel Market.

 

Assuming you are F2P, you will probably want to hunt down some orange gear via quests and crafting. The game is fairly liberal about giving you weapons (ie Jedi/Sith get orange lightsabers to start, Bounty Hunter gets an Orange Blaster, other classes get an Orange weapon at the end of tutorial planet). For more oranges, you can use the Planetary Com Equipment Vendors. This is an easy way IE to get an orange shield or power generator, which you may have trouble finding otherwise.

 

Some of the small pieces: belts, bracers, etc. are quite difficult to come across before endgame without just buying a set or oranges off the Cartel Market, but these are also not essential to leveling up. As long as you have your chest piece and some other major pieces moddable, you can keep boosting them up.

 

You can buy green armorings on each planet with credits. This is a decent way to give yourself a gear boost on older pieces of gear and a fresh set of mods can make a HUGE difference. Enhancements and Mods are much cheaper than Armorings when you spend coms so a good trick is to buy green armorings and save your coms for the cheaper enhancements/mods so you can have everything maxed instead of just a couple pieces.

 

I wouldn't bother getting caught up in the minutae of efficient statting as you are leveling. As long as you're not throwing tank mods onto your DPS/soloing gear, you can't mess it up that bad. Once you get to 55 and start gearing, then you can deal with making sure your secondary stats (power, crit, alacrity, etc.) are set properly.

 

Make sure to do the Bonus Series quests on each planet. If you are F2P you will need the added XP rewards and a lot of times the Bonus Series quests will give you a very good piece of gear at the end of the quest chain. A lot of planets have an orange set where like a heroic will give you the boots and the bonus will give you the chest and the equipment commendation vendor will give you some other part. It is different from planet to planet but this is just an example of a way you can round up oranges that match with each other.

[AlixMV]

Assuming you are F2P

 

F2P can't post on the forums.

 

Make sure to do the Bonus Series quests on each planet.

 

You must've missed the first sentence of the OP's post which said:

 

Hi. I recently started playing with 12 exp boost

 

Your advice is fine for a general noob, but his problem seems to be specific to the issue that's cropped up on about a million threads (mostly in General Discussion) about how to stay geared doing only Class Quests with the 12x XP boost.

 

Advising to do the Bonus Series for gear is the antithesis of taking advantage of that.