L55 gearing for a SOLO player

[Obilam]

Hi,

 

I love the game but one key thing it requires I can not deliver which is grouping. Thus I find myself with a growing number of under geared L55 characters.

 

I will solo queue for warzones and also run the dailies solo. I can not commit to groups due to family commitments (am likely to get called to change a nappy at any time).

 

How can I gear my characters up? What sort of gear should I be looking for? Classic? Oberan etc etc?

 

Do I need to dedicate some time to a single character and just grind him through dailies and warzones etc?

 

Really need some help on this.

 

Please remember, I very very rarely group.

 

If it makes a difference have L55: Sage, Assassin, Sniper

 

Regards

 

LAM

 

ps. I did post this elsewhere however it was in a class forum.

pps. I have some purchased Cartel armour sets. Am I going to lose these when gearing up?

ppps. Are there solo flashpoints that help? If so, what are they and is there enough to actualy get gear from (will have to run it an infinite amount of times?

Edited October 31, 2014 by Obilam

[LordArtemis]

Ok, assuming you are a solo casual PVE player, here is what I would recommend.....

 

I am going to assume you have to purchase everything. If you intend to craft everything, I can link some guides you may find useful.

 

Essentially you should rely on Orange adaptive armor, either from the GTN or CM, install 148 level mods from the Makeb comm vendor, and install level 9 Augmentation kits and Augments.

 

I would recommend you concentrate on your main stat, power and alacrity unless you use a shield. They are general stats that prove reasonably useful in PVE.

Edited October 31, 2014 by LordArtemis

[Obilam]

thanks for the prompt reply.

 

I was concerned that as a casual player it would be NEXT christmas that I might purchase something with daily comms.

 

I do have some high level crafters (400 ish). I can make modifications (armour), barrells and biochem.

 

Sadly I'm not rich either..... not going well this thread

[LordArtemis]

Ok, well, you have three level 55 characters. I have a method that keeps me in mats for mods and kits.

 

Can you tell me the exact crew skills each character has?

Edited October 31, 2014 by LordArtemis

[LilSaihah]

If he can make armor mods, barrels, and biochem, he has Cybertech, Armstech and Biochem. The crewskill he needs is Artifice, which will allow him to make hilts, crystals and enhancements.

[BuriDogshin]

Why can't you use Group Finder? The rewards are pretty good. Sure, you're not solo, but there is no commitment. Just queue while you are running Section X, CZ, or Oricon dailies/weeklies. If you have a healer or tank, the queue should pop in a reasonable amount of time. Edited October 31, 2014 by BuriDogshin

[agamemnon-]

Google Dulfy. She has all the guides for classes and endgame gearing (as well as stat allocations).

[Gleneagle]

Why can't you use Group Finder? The rewards are pretty good. Sure, you're not solo, but there is no commitment. Just queue while you are running Section X, CZ, or Oricon dailies/weeklies. If you have a healer or tank, the queue should pop in a reasonable amount of time.

Why should he have to? Whyever would anyone want to? Subjugation should not be compulsory unless we are a darkside culture. Even if we often seem a darkside culture... Edited October 31, 2014 by Gleneagle

[Obilam]

Google Dulfy. She has all the guides for classes and endgame gearing (as well as stat allocations).

 

I use this regularly as I am leveling up some of my characters. The trouble, based on my interpretation, is that it doesn't really account for a casual solo player. Though, I'll happily stand corrected.

 

Why can't you use Group Finder? The rewards are pretty good. Sure, you're not solo, but there is no commitment. Just queue while you are running Section X, CZ, or Oricon dailies/weeklies. If you have a healer or tank, the queue should pop in a reasonable amount of time.

 

I have done this a few times with success however the concern I have is not for me but whatever group I land with. Can you imagine how you'd feel if you have queued for 10 minutes only to have your tank leave 10 minutes in to change a nappy! (It's happened more than once )

 

If he can make armor mods, barrels, and biochem, he has Cybertech, Armstech and Biochem. The crewskill he needs is Artifice, which will allow him to make hilts, crystals and enhancements.

 

This is correct. I am about to start re-leveling my Powertech and thought about switching him from Scavenging (310), Slicing (400) and Investigation(316), but those are fairly well advanced skills.

 

Ok, well, you have three level 55 characters. I have a method that keeps me in mats for mods and kits.

 

Can you tell me the exact crew skills each character has?

 

I'm set up in the following fashion:

 

Reggad. Assassin (55)

• Biochem 401
  
• Bioanalysis 450
  
• Diplomacy
  

 

Draxar. Sorc (48) Main Biomaker

• Biochem 423
  
• Bioanalysis 438
  
• Diplomacy
  

 

Ammir. Sniper (55)

• Armstech 410
  
• Scavenging 400
  
• Slicing 400
  

 

Snapster. Powertech (29)

• Scavenging 310
  
• Slicing 400
  
• Investigation 316
  

 

Bigbilly. Jugg (49) will likely take him to 55 this weekend.

• 
  
• Cybertech 450
  
• Scavenging 400
  
• Underworld Trading 315
  

 

Ralusnoc. Sage (55)

• Biochem 405
  
• Scavenging 450
  
• UNderworld Trading 450
  

 

Hope that helps

Edited October 31, 2014 by Obilam

[Orizuru]

I quit playing tanks for similar reasons and prefer to play dps roles since I can get pulled away to take care of the baby from time to time. Most flashpoints are fine with 1 dps away from the keyboard during trash pulls if you can make it back before the boss. I try to focus my group play during the hours when the baby is sleeping though, and if he wakes up while I'm in a group, I let the group know my baby woke up and I need a few minutes. I'm usually able to get him back to sleep in 2 or 3 minutes ( I know, I'm quite fortunate and have been blessed with a child that sleeps very well ) and I'm back in the game. If I think its going to take longer, I apologize to the group and leave the instance so they can find a replacement.

 

I know every child's needs are different, especially during the infant and toddler years, and this may not work for all parents, but it's worth trying if you really want to play the content. As long as you are communicating with the group though, most people are fairly understanding in this regard. And if you ever make a group wait too long the worst thing that can happen is you get kicked from the group. People get kicked all the time, its not that big of a deal really. Some people will put you on ignore, but if you're on a healthy server there are enough players queuing that the few who end up ignoring you won't really make that much of a different to your queue times. Gone are the days of MMOs where one person can name/shame you in chat or on the forums and get you blacklisted for upsetting a single player or even a single guild.

 

Another option is to find a casual guild with players who may be in similar situations. There are a lot of young players out there in the exact same situation as you. If you can find a guild of players that share this situation with you, then the guild can form premade groups and queue together with an understanding that anyone in the group might need a short break at any time.

[theJudeAbides]

I'm in the same boat as you, although I probably play a bit more than you, it's just usually very late at night when there aren't nearly as many people around.

 

After you hit Lvl 55, you're first task is to get Orange Armor with Purple 28 Armorings/Mods/Enhancements, etc.. in. Orange armor is pretty easy to come by, and there's a wide variety of it. I assume you know about it, but generally the GTN is a great place to shop when you want a specific look. You'll probably have some from missions already, although the Belt and Bracers are more rare, but easily attainable on the GTN.

 

The Purple 28 (level 53) items can be gotten a number of ways. I definitely recommend getting your crafting skills up, and then Reverse Engineering until you have the purple schematics. It will take time to do this, but will be worth it in the long run as you can then make the items for all your characters.

You can also just buy them off the GTN, although this WILL get expensive very quickly. Especially right now with 12x thing going on. Everyone's leveling new toons like crazy, which means these high-end goods are in high demand. Crafters are making a KILLING right now (I just sold like 37 blue-quality enhancements in one day for 15k apiece! Purple quality is going for like 50-60k apiece right now!)

There's a couple easier options though, if you don't care as much what your armor looks like. You can either grind Makeb for reputation, and then purchase armor from the Makeb-station vendor. Or, you can play through the Oricon missions, which will give you a pretty good set as well (although I think it's missing the belt and bracers).

 

 

 

So, once you have that, the question becomes: Do you want to go for the Basic-Commendation level armor (armor rating 162)? The main point of this gear is to prepare you for group-centric content like Flashpoints and Operations. It also make solo missions much easier. However, you'll have to grind them so many times to get enough Basic Commendations, you'll probably be sick of them by the time you have a full armor set.

 

But assuming you do, focus on the following missions, making sure to get the Weekly mission for them, as it usually gives about 20 Basic Comms.

GSI Missions - These missions are generally pretty easy, but tend to be tedious. The Heroics are soloable if you have a good healer companion, but honestly, you'll only need to group for about 5 minutes to kill a single boss.

 

Makeb Staged Dailies - The good news is, you don't have to do any Heroics if you don't want to (although you'll get more comms if you do), the bad news is, they're kind of annoying as they're spread out across all the islands. If you do these, I recommend grabbing the GSI and regular dailies as well, and doing them all together. It'll take you a while to complete them all, but you'll get a lot of comms and a decent amount of rep as well.

 

Section X (Belsavis) - These are pretty easy missions as well. There's one Heroic which takes about 5-10 minutes to beat if you have a decent group. Getting a group together is pretty easy, too, since just about everyone in the area will being doing the quest at some point. It does require 4 people, though, as the final part requires each person clicking on a different thing.

 

Oricon - These are a bit tougher; you'll definitely need your 156s for these. The Heroic isn't too bad if you have a good group. Honestly, though, grouping for all the quests makes them much easier and they'll go by much faster.

 

CZ-198 - The regular quests are a little easier than the Oricon ones, although they're still a bit tough. The weekly requires you to complete 2 Flashpoints as well, though. You can use group-finder to do them, and it usually pops pretty quick. However, they're both fairly lengthy, about 15-20 minutes each. However, as you practice them and get better, they'll go a little faster unless you get stuck with a bad group (but I haven't had too much problem with that).

 

You'll need a little over 700 Basic Comms to get a full set of armor, and even more for the earpiece and implants. It is a grind, that's for sure. But to prevent it from becoming tedious, I recommend just doing them one a week, per toon, along with the weekly. Doing it that way, it'll probably take you a couple months to farm the necessary comms.

[Obilam]

Thanks for all the detailed replies.

 

I'm not entirely sure that I'm going to have the time to grind one characters worth of armour let alone the 4/5 L55's I have.

 

I'm certainly interesting in getting one there though, I so I guess I'll have to pick soon.

 

How do I get to a point where I can craft the higher level items. Are the green versions available on the vendors/trainers or do I need to purchase the blue/other colours from somewhere else?

 

Regards

 

LAM

 

*edit*

 

Just checking through my characters again and it seems that I can already make one purple 53 with my Cybertech. So I guess I just need to get the main crafters to 450.

Edited October 31, 2014 by Obilam

[Icestar]

I'm not entirely sure that I'm going to have the time to grind one characters worth of armour let alone the 4/5 L55's I have.

 

The expansion is near and when that hits you will find better gear instantly when you progress through that.

 

It is only a little more then a month away. Try to find a guild that has a very casual image, there are good guilds that respects a afk even through ops for taking care of the family.

 

Takes a little time to find them but they are there, try to write in your serverforum explaining your situation and if you are lucky you get a good guild.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Icestar

[Cernow]

Here's a shopping list to get a level 55 toon kitted out in some respectable gear. All of this is achievable solo, apart from one of the Oricon pieces which will likely need another player's assistance for the Heroic.

 

Head, Chest, Gloves, Legs, Boots

You can get a set of five 156 pieces from the Oricon storyline missions. These are modded, so you can rip the mods into orange gear if you don't like the appearance. The Oricon storyline can be solo'd if you read up on the boss tactics first. The Heroic you will probably need to team up for (unless your Heroic Moment is well buffed), but it doesn't take long.

 

Belt, Bracers

You can get 156 belt and bracers from the GTN (these are random drops). Expect to pay about 50k each. These are non-modded, so you can'r rip the mods. Alternatively you can fit crafted 148 mods into orange shells cheaply, or buy 148 orange belt / bracers on the GTN.

 

Mainhand, Offhand

Use 156 crafted Barrel / Hilt / Armoring. Either craft yourself or buy on the GTN (usually quite cheap, especially barrels). It's hard to get better than 156 without comms or a lot of credits.

 

Earpiece, Implants

Search for "Microfilament" on the GTN. You'll see lots of artifact 156 in various flavours. These all have excellent stats. You can craft these yourself, but you need Basic comms to buy the recipes, so it's usually best to just buy on the GTN as they are often pretty cheap.

 

Relics

Run Warzones to get the comms for two Obroan relics. While you are doing this, use the THORN relics as a stopgap.

 

With the above gear you can then start farming dailies for Basic comms and then purchase some 162 gear.

 

168 gear needs elite comms which mostly come from content you can't solo. However, Tactical FPs might be do-able for someone in your situation. If you have time, run a daily tactical FP via Group Finder as you'll get 10 elite comms per day from this and another 10 from the Weekly (5 Tacticals). The tacticals don't usually take long (under 30 mins) and are casual friendly. If you have to suddenly leave no-one is going to care (they can probably finish as 3 + companion or get a replacement).

 

Alternatively, wait for the expansion as current gear is going to be redundant soon.

Edited October 31, 2014 by Cernow

[IndigoHawk]

If you're gearing up so you can run dailies a bit easier, then you don't need much. On alts (that don't run flashpoints, just do crafting / dailies) I use blue 28 armoring/mods/enhancements. I also use purple 28s for the main and offhand, since those give the largest benefit. Then I do the Oricon story missions to get a few more purples. And that's it. That's enough gear for running dailies. It's not enough gear to do the 2+ Heroic on Oricon easily but I can do it. Usually I ask around and group up for that one quest.

 

If you run Makeb dailies, you can simply use the stat boost so you don't need to gear up at all. So if your gear is really bad, just run Makeb to make enough money to craft/buy blue 28s.

 

Keep in mind that when the expansion arrives, all the current gear will be junk. So, if you are earning any basic comms right now, don't spend them. Save them up. Spend them when the new, better gear arrives in the expansion.

[Lotharofxev]

(This is a bit dated insofar as the naming convention, otherwise it's a pretty solid guide)

 

 

**************************************************************

 

Don't wait until 55 to gear for 55. Need to think about three milestones: Level 50, 53 and 55. With most classes (DPS especially), upgrading your barrel / hilt should be priority # 1.

 

1) Here are some goals to set:

 

a) PvP comms: 1400 regular commendations, 2600 ranked. (Don't spend until 55)

 

b) Planetary comms: As close to 100 as possible for when you hit level 50

 

c) Basic Comms: 175 minimum (Do not spend until 55)

 

d) Classic Comms: If you can accumulate some - great - but not a priority (unless you like the look). Be advised there is a set bonus difference between classic gear and Arkanian.

 

2) You hit 50, now what?

 

a) Remember in 1)b) we talked about Planetary comms? Now's the time to go spend them at the Makeb planetary vendor (located on fleet)

 

b) (level 50) Flash points. You want to start doing these in order to accumulate 175 Basic comms

 

c) Any and all raids that you can join. EV (SM/HM), KP (SM/HM) Most groups will let you need to your heart's content.

 

3) You hit 53, now what?

 

a) Now you can upgrade to (66) crafted to include barrel / hilt. This will be a significant power and HP boost from your old gear. Get as much (66) as you can.

 

b) Continue to raid as per 2) c).

 

3) Check GTN for (66) Blue gear (esp. Earpiece and Implants)

 

4) You just hit 55, now what?

 

a) Take the PvP comms to the PvP vendor. You are looking (first) for Conqueror relics (700 regular comms each), then upgrade at the vendor right next door for 1 Conqueror Relic and 1300 ranked comms. (Currently these are BIS in game (12/31/2013)

 

b) Take your basic comms and purchase five (5) Isotope-5 "tubes". (They look like a test tube filled with Mt Dew). Get in on a SM TFB or SM S & V. Completing either for the first time rewards you with Mass Manipulation Generator. You will need five Isotope-5s', one MMG and some minor items for a (72) Hilt / Barrel.

 

At this point you should be in all (66) crafted (minimum) with the exception of your MH (72) and relics (78 equiv). If you have the credits, check the GTN for Ear and Implants (54-55). Often they are sold very cheap (20k)

 

Continue to raid. While it is up to you, I recommend your first purchase with Ultimates (78) is your OH. (esp Marauder and BH).

 

Good luck!

[Orizuru]

nm, someone else said it better than I did, so I'm removing my post to avoid confusion.

 

Good luck OP!

Edited October 31, 2014 by Orizuru

[Obilam]

All,

 

I really appreciate the feedback and the level of detail is.... wow....

 

Gonna have to digest all of this. Normally takes one of my threads a few weeks to generate this much information, so my head is about to explode with what has been delivered in one morning.

 

I think there are two things I HAVE to do now.

 

1. Join a guild (Tomb of Freedon Nadd)

2. Continue to run dailies with the characters that can walk them easily enough.

 

Please keep any further information coming.

 

Regards

 

LAM

[Cernow]

I think there are two things I HAVE to do now.

 

1. Join a guild (Tomb of Freedon Nadd)

 

This. You just need to find a guild oriented towards maturer players. There are plenty of these guilds out there.

 

Once you find a good guild then you will be able to run Heroics and Flashpoints with like-minded players who won't mind if you are suddenly called away for a nappy change or whatever. Guildies will understand and be patient, especially if they're made aware of your situation. Depending on how often you're called away from the keyboard and for how long, Ops might be out of your reach, but guild Flashpoint runs should be do-able and get you geared up nicely.

[Jadefoxx]

If you don't use the group finder because you might have to go afk. I have a few tips to help with that.

1. tell the people that if you might have to go afk before hand. Most people are reasonable if they know before hand.

At this point in time a lot of groups can 3 man the tactical Flashpoints and Hard Mode FlashPoints.

 

2. If/When you have to afk. just type a quick message that you are. Let the group know that they are free to kick you if they need to replace you.

 

If you do those 2 things 90% of groups will have no issues.

 

The group finder dailies have a good return on comms , for the time involved. Also the CZ weekly nets you one piece of Artifact gear. It gives you a whole week to squeeze the 2 Flashpoints in for a free piece of gear.

[LordArtemis]

I'm set up in the following fashion:

 

Reggad. Assassin (55)

 

Biochem 401

Bioanalysis 450

Diplomacy

 

 

Draxar. Sorc (48) Main Biomaker

 

Biochem 423

Bioanalysis 438

Diplomacy

 

 

Ammir. Sniper (55)

 

Armstech 410

Scavenging 400

Slicing 400

 

 

Snapster. Powertech (29)

 

Scavenging 310

Slicing 400

Investigation 316

 

 

Bigbilly. Jugg (49) will likely take him to 55 this weekend.

 

Cybertech 450

Scavenging 400

Underworld Trading 315

 

 

Ralusnoc. Sage (55)

 

Biochem 405

Scavenging 450

UNderworld Trading 450

 

Ok, I marked in red the ones that are useful to making mods, kits and augs and need to be raised up to 450. What you need to make level 53 148 quality mods, kits and augs is as follows....

Mythra

Turadium

Frasium

Bio-Mechanical interface chip

Tricopper Flux

------------------------

Carbonic Crystal

Primordial Artifact Fragment

Rainbow Gem

 

The Mythra and Turadium are level 9 Mats, Frasium is a level 9 underworld metal, Bio-Mechanical Interface Chip is a level 9 slice item and Tricopper Flux is a level 9 crafting supply. The Carbonic Crystal is a level 9 power crystal, Primordial Artifact Fragment a level 9 fragment and the Rainbow Gem a level 9 gem. The Tricopper costs 600c each on the crafting vendor, in my experience it is better to get them from crew missions (401 - 450 scavenging).

 

Mythra and Turadium comes from level 51-55 mechanical mobs, top level nodes and 401 - 450 scavenging (level 9 missions)

Frasium comes from 401 - 450 underworld (level 9 missions)

Bio-Mechanical interface chips come from 401 - 450 slicing (level 9 missions)

Carbonic Crystals and Primordial Artifact Fragments come from top level nodes and 401 - 450 Archeology (level 9 missions)

Rainbow Gems come from 401 - 450 Treasure Hunting (level 9 missions)

 

Now, I recommend you RE the green level 9 mods you craft to at least blue quality.

 

I will list each item that will be useful IMO to a solo casual player, what it requires in mats and who can make it. These items are my recommendations, as they are useful by all classes, but there are specific items that are more focused for specific ACs and builds. This is a general "getting started" casual PVE guide.

 

 

Mods for armor slots

 

You will need the following crew skills. All are 401 - 450, in recommended sets for efficiency.

 

Cybertech

Scavenging

Underworld

 

For making Armorings, Mods and the QT-10 parts (droid armor) for RE to get parts for making MK-9 kits.

 

Artifice

Archeology

Treasure Hunting

 

For making Enhancements (and also hilts)

 

Armoring/Mod 28 - 2 Mythra, 2 Turadium, 2 Tricopper flux, 2 Frasium - No link (too many to list) - Cybertech

 

Quick Savant Enhancement 28 - 2 Carbonic Crystal, 2 Primordial Artifact Fragment, 2 Rainbow Gem - LINK - Artifice

 

QT-10 Parts - 2 Mythra, 2 Turadium, 2 Tricopper flux - LINK - Cybertech

 

This is the best item, IMO to reverse engineer to get Augmentation Slot Components for your MK-9 Kits. It requires the lowest amount of mats, and the same mats as other important items in the list.

 

 

MK-9 kits and augments

 

You will need the following crew skills. All are 401 - 450, in recommended sets for efficiency.

 

Armstech

Scavenging

Investigation (you do not need this for the items listed here, but this goes good with Armstech)

 

For making MK-9 kits and augments (and also barrels)

 

Augmentation Kit MK-9 - 2 Mythra, 2 Turadium, 2 Tricopper flux, 2 Bio-Mechanical Interface Chips, 10 Augmentation Slot Component MK-9 - LINK - Armstech, Armormech

 

(note, these can also be made by synthweavers, but the mats are different, so I did not list that option here)

 

Fortitude Augment 28 - 2 Mythra, 2 Turadium, 2 Tricopper flux, 2 Bio-Mechanical Interface Chips - LINK - Armstech

 

 

Now that that is out of the way....how to go about the gathering and crafting part.

 

Ok, the object is to spend as little as possible, so this is my method...a few pointers.

 

1) Send out all characters crew on scavenging missions that you can. You have to build a good base of Mythra and Turadium before you begin. Once they run out of money, have them run Black Hole (gets you about 50k each run)...that gets you about 25 missions or so you can send your companions on. Dont forget to run the Archeology, Slicing and Treasure Hunting missions as well to get the alternate mats you will need. Also, try to make sure to run any crafting supply missions that pop up in the list to provide cheap Tricopper Flux.

 

2) Best place to farm Mythra and Turadium is the Solida Hesk's Estate area on Makeb. The mechanical strongs and the champion there (silver) drop both mats, and there are also spawns. There might be a better spot, but this is the one I found that is easiest for a casual PVE player. Remember to get the GSI Satellite buff on the station before you go to the surface.

 

3) Have your Cybertech craft the QT-10 parts, 5 each companion, 25 total. Two sets will give you 50 parts after you RE them, enough to make 5 MK-9 kits. Your going to need full stacks of Mythra, Turadium and Tricopper flux for every set of 50 QT-10s. If you wish to augment your companion and yourself, armor/weapon/offhand only, your looking at 8 kits each, and 8 augments for those kits....16 kits, 16 augments.

 

4) I recommend you craft the Armorings you need at least, since they cost 10 comms on the Makeb vendor. Mods and Enhancements only cost 4 comms each, so they are cheap enough to just buy.

 

I can break down the mats that you will need for the armorings, mods and enhancements, and how to get them in another post if you would like. But that is the gist to get you going.

Edited October 31, 2014 by LordArtemis

[Calsetes]

Typically, here's what I do when I try to gear up a level 55:

 

Do all of Makeb's stuff. Try to get all level 140 mods in your gear minimum before leaving Makeb, if not even higher than that. Cybertech, Artifice, and Armstech can help you out a bit if you have one of them, otherwise you'll have to rip mods out of orange gear.

 

Head over to Oricon. Try to solo / work with a team to do the storyline there. Pick whatever gear piece has what you want the most in it and equip it / rip the mods out of it.

 

Try to grind out the basic comms / elite comms for a weapon you want. Keep in mind with that gear that things like hilts are, I believe, "locked" to being an offhand hilt if it's an offhand weapon unless you somehow break it down, learn the plan, and make it yourself (which is what I did for the higher-IR offhand hilt for my saber and tossed it into my mainhand saber.)

 

After that, since I'm also a solo player, I consider myself "done enough." I don't do ops and raids, so no point in trying to gear up to that point for stuff I won't ever even do. Maybe once I get more characters to the cap, I'll work on grinding out the marks needed for various gearsets and learn to break them down / make them myself so it's less of a grind later on for subsequent characters.

[ScarletBlaze]

You can also do the dailies on CZ and Oricon and Makeb to get dailies. If you don't have the 168 yet, you can run the w eekly on Makeb for the basic and elites. Though it gives you only 12 elites it is a start as well as well as Orcion gives you elites.

 

I don't use group pickup as well due to my time restraints as well. I have managed to gear up 2 of my level 3 55 this way, and yes it takes a lot of time to do so.

 

At the moment I am getting elites to get comms to get items that I can RE for my boyfriend's toon as his time is limited as well.

 

Though you may want to wait till December for new gear before you try RE the items or purchasing them as they will change.

 

They are supposed to be making Forged Alliances solo so there is the possiblity you will be able to run the tacticals weekly with this.

[DomiSotto]

While I am tentatively trying to set aside time to do group content nowadays, here are the ways I got by when I hit the wall with my first L55 wearing a mix of 112's and 116's. And, heh, when mine was in diapers I only barely managed a bit of SP games, so kudos!

 

Under 3.0 planetary = classic= basic = L186 gear. So, what you need is to max out Planetary and WZ comms and wait for 3.0 to have an appropriately geared L55. The easiest way is Warzones. They are fast, you get loads of comms and converting them to planetary - YES! Other way, that is longer is to do Heroics overlevelled on the planets that string them together, like Balmorra. I prefer Warzones. You can also run Makeb under Bolster (it will scale your underlevelled gear to 156 for this planet) to earn credits and you can get a few good blue drops.

 

Some wz suits are Okay in leveling and will be an improvement on what you have. WZs are pretty much the only way to get a decent relic for a solo player on L55 (prior to that it's Rak event relics for 25, 35 and 45).

 

If you are currently in 112-116, spend some comms at Makeb vendor to update to 140. But keep most back to get 186's in December for those same comms!

 

Credits. Just do Blackhole till you puke. No matter how your 55 is equipped, she can do it. One run without a heroic is about 35 min long once you know what you are doing and nets a solo player ~ 70 thousand credits. The other dailies are an option too, but it takes longer to get around, so on limited time, go Black Hole. Whenever Bounty Hunting Event is on, grind it till you puke and sell contracts, they are 30-40 thou for 15 min of a run. If you have Treek, run level 1 and 2 missions on her all the time to get the materials that sell for ~ 1000 creds per sheet. if you don't have Treek, well, run your most likely to crit companion on those. Hells, run a ship droid. Cybertech products in L30 bracket right now go as hot cakes on my server. Make a few, check your server's demand.

 

Right now a Rak event is on. Go there with ALL your alts and run it apart from Heroics till you get a Newcomer status. Then do 2 missions ONLY. Navigating tunnels, talk to 2 quest giving characters and Finsing Jeeves for the first time. Save canisters and purchase as many sets of Legacy gear as you can. Legacy gear saves time as it can be used to shuttle parts that are bound. You can also create sets for your companions on certain levels, particularly if you have Treek. Just have a L50 set with 140/148 bits, a 156 (or a 186 set under 3.0) for Level 55, and a Level 60 suit in the future. That's it, a companion geared for as many alts as you want! Bounty Hunting event gives you Legacy gear as well, but it is not as prolific. Still, it happens 1ce a month....

[Aaramis]

*snip*

 

This is pretty good advice. Grinding credits is actually your most efficient way to get top gear if you don't want to go the route of crafting (which still costs credits to get going). Grind credits and buy your barrels or hilts, relics, and whatever else.

 

For armour progression:

Level 1-47 via 12 x XP main story;

47-55 Makeb and use bolster.

At 55, if your gear is pretty underlevelled you can grind Black Hole (BH) as mentioned by Domi, or buy greens off your highest planet (Corellia, perhaps?), or use planetary comms to buy a few armorings / hilts / barrels / mods. From there, I'd tackle Oricon. It'll be tough, but take each fight slowly and/or find a group to blitz through the dailies. Oricon will net you a set of 156s which will put you in relatively good gear for a solo player.

 

After that, your best (and only) bet is to grind dailies and weeklies for comms (basic / elite / ultimate). Note that you'll need a group for the elite / ulti comms, although not at the expense of a lot of free time on your behalf - you can knock out 55 FPs in under an hour easily three times a week to get that weekly knocked out (plus the daily bonus on top), and do the same for the tactical flashpoints (need 5) and you're suddenly looking at a total of 20 basic, 102 elite, and 82 ultimate comms per week for not a lot of time or social investment - just an hour here and there several times a week.

 

And, of course, once 3.0 hits, all of this is moot.