Khantalas Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 (edited) Having been burned out by my Combat Medic in group content lately, I have decided to try out getting to level 55 as a DPS character and experiencing Forged Alliances and Shadow of Revan that way. He is level 47 at the moment, and I intend to respec him after Act 3 is finished, just so I can still carry around Forex until then (especially since companion input is gone afterwards, so it matters less). The question is not whether I should go Gunnery or Assault Specialist - having an Arsenal Merc, I have no desire to repeat the exact mechanics with another character, so I will choose Assault Specialist, or whatever it becomes in 3.0. The questions I have are as follows: 1) What changes are necessary in gear to keep competitive in group content post-Corellia? I have a feeling simply dropping Alacrity and replacing it with Accuracy and Surge should be enough, but still not sure. 2) How soon can I make those changes? Will I be able to get the necessary gear at level 50 with Makeb comm mods without suffering too much for it while doing Voss and Corellia? 3) With Cybertech, I have been able to keep Forex sufficiently equipped, but other companions suffered for it. Will I have trouble soloing Act 4 content with only Forex, and if yes, which companion should I focus on? I have never respecced a character this drastically before (usually I only make minor changes within the same tree), so thanks for all your input. Edited November 10, 2014 by Khantalas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venomlash Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 (edited) 1. Currently, Alacrity is suboptimal for DPS (except for TK sages and possibly one or two others). However, in 3.0 in addition to speeding up casts & channels and increasing resource regen, it will also cause DoTs to tick faster and reduce the cooldowns of abilities and the internal rate limits of procs. This means that Alacrity will become substantially more useful for most specs. Now, there's relatively little information out about 3.0 specifics, and all numbers are still subject to change, so the theorycrafters haven't done their work yet. All I can really tell you for sure is that to DPS you will want to stack a decent amount of Accuracy, enough to push you (at endgame) to 100% Ranged/110% Tech accuracy. 2. You can start immediately. I'd say just respec, pick out a new set of moddable gear whose appearance you like, and then start filling it in as you get the modifications. Wear your healing gear in the mean time, replacing each piece as you fill in the new one. Note that this means you'll have two sets of gear, one optimized for damage and one for healing. 3. You should be okay with Forex, but Elara makes you pretty much invincible. (Just make sure to manage your CDs well and throw enough AoE around to keep aggro on enemies so she doesn't get jumped.) See how I suggested you hang on to a set of healing gear? Put yours on Elara and she'll be just fine. Pro tip: switch off her Carbonized Stream, it's rubbish and gimps her healing output, and if you need an enemy CCed that is what Concussive Round is for. Happy pewpew-ing! Edited November 10, 2014 by venomlash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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