The Endgame Reward System is terrible and needs to be completely redone

[Kyovarde]

Problem 1: Aside from a select group of pieces, commendation gear is worthless. Okay, it's not literally worthless, but an optimized 186 set of a gear is superior to elite commendation gear AND possibly ultimate commendation gear as well.

 

Solution: Allow level 60 armoring, mods, hilts, barrels, and enhancements to be purchasable for commendations instead of the poorly fitted armor pieces.

 

Problem 2: There is no incentive to run Hard Mode Flashpoints because 1) see above, problem 1, and 2) the actual item drops are poor as well. Why does the 184 tier of gear exist AT ALL?

 

Solution: The first two bosses now drop 186 tier equipment. The bonus boss and final boss also drop 186 tier equipment, BUT from a newly created "Flashpoint Tier" set complete with a set bonus a la Operations gear. This set bonus will be shared with Operations gear allowing players to continue to mix and match pieces as they transition from 186 to ultimately 198 tier.

[Elracor]

AFAIK higher-tier-but-not-optimized mods are still better than optimized previous-tier for healing+DPS. You lose power/crit but gain equally much mainstat and a tad of Endurance as well.

 

As for commendation gear being largely useless, that issue will kinda solve itself once the next tier of gear is out (so commendations will give 198 and 204? gear).

 

I like your suggestion about having HM FPs drop 186 set bonus gear. It'd make for a nice stepstone into operations.

[annabethchase]

This system would be ok, if it didn't take hours of wiping to pick up group the story mode ops or hm flashpoints. In 2.0, the gear was similar but pugs would only routinely wipe on the bonus boss for fp's thus you could get a roll at a decent gear piece a few times a day. Now, nobody even runs the fp's on a routine basis because of all the wiping. And ops pick up groups have stopped on my server as well.

[Kyovarde]

AFAIK higher-tier-but-not-optimized mods are still better than optimized previous-tier for healing+DPS. You lose power/crit but gain equally much mainstat and a tad of Endurance as well.

 

As for commendation gear being largely useless, that issue will kinda solve itself once the next tier of gear is out (so commendations will give 198 and 204? gear).

 

I like your suggestion about having HM FPs drop 186 set bonus gear. It'd make for a nice stepstone into operations.

 

Optimized gear from the previous tier is without a doubt better for DPS. I can't speak for healing. All 7 of my 60s are DPS.

[Kyovarde]

This system would be ok, if it didn't take hours of wiping to pick up group the story mode ops or hm flashpoints. In 2.0, the gear was similar but pugs would only routinely wipe on the bonus boss for fp's thus you could get a roll at a decent gear piece a few times a day. Now, nobody even runs the fp's on a routine basis because of all the wiping. And ops pick up groups have stopped on my server as well.

 

I clear Ravagers 3-5 per week and ToS once or twice on the Harbinger just fine. I usually do 1-3 HMFPs per day if I feel like it. I'm sorry that your server isn't the same.

[Elracor]

Optimized gear from the previous tier is without a doubt better for DPS. I can't speak for healing. All 7 of my 60s are DPS.

 

Unoptimized Enhancements are waaay worse than previous tier optimized, but Mods are pretty much the same:

 

Advanced Artful Mod 37

+74 Endurance

+97 Cunning

+82 Power

 

Advanced Artful Mod 38A

+90 Endurance

+127 Cunning

+52 Power

 

You lose 30 power and gain 30 mainstat (and the difference between mainstat and power is extremely small), and then you also gain 160 health. 160 extra health * 9 potential Mods is almost 1500 extra health, and even DPS can IMO use the extra health when progressing through HM Operations. Therefore I'd pick unoptimized top-tier mods over previous tier optimized.

Edited February 20, 2015 by MFollin

[Bachannal]

I clear Ravagers 3-5 per week and ToS once or twice on the Harbinger just fine. I usually do 1-3 HMFPs per day if I feel like it. I'm sorry that your server isn't the same.

 

You're so cool...I'ma call you Fonzie. EYYYYYYYYYY!

[BrintoSFJ]

Problem 1: Aside from a select group of pieces, commendation gear is worthless. Okay, it's not literally worthless, but an optimized 186 set of a gear is superior to elite commendation gear AND possibly ultimate commendation gear as well.

 

Solution: Allow level 60 armoring, mods, hilts, barrels, and enhancements to be purchasable for commendations instead of the poorly fitted armor pieces.

 

Problem 2: There is no incentive to run Hard Mode Flashpoints because 1) see above, problem 1, and 2) the actual item drops are poor as well. Why does the 184 tier of gear exist AT ALL?

 

Solution: The first two bosses now drop 186 tier equipment. The bonus boss and final boss also drop 186 tier equipment, BUT from a newly created "Flashpoint Tier" set complete with a set bonus a la Operations gear. This set bonus will be shared with Operations gear allowing players to continue to mix and match pieces as they transition from 186 to ultimately 198 tier.

 

For your solution 1: i would agree but i make lots of money selling 186 rating armoring/barrel/mod/enhancement. so no. But if they find a middle ground say selling 184 rating optimum mod/enhancement for basic comm, then i accept.And also 192/198 rating items should never be sold separately from armors. it will just make gearing way too easy and meaningless..

[iKlone]

The token gear is essentially for the armoring. Then the task is to min/max using whatever you can. Token implants/ears are far and away superior to anything else. Whopping tertiary stats, roughly the same main stat and endurance.

 

It's not terrible it just takes a little more thought than, get token, trade token. Which in my honest opinion is a good thing.

[Kryand]

Problem 1: Aside from a select group of pieces, commendation gear is worthless. Okay, it's not literally worthless, but an optimized 186 set of a gear is superior to elite commendation gear AND possibly ultimate commendation gear as well.

 

What's really funny is that, in some cases, using 186 set armorings (or even 180) is better than 198 set armorings, because the new set bonuses are so terrible. Sin/Shadow tank being the most painfully obvious one.

 

Anyway, I think the best solution would be to allow comms to be spent on individual optimized mods/enhancements. Even if it takes a full 300 ultimate comes to get one optimized mod, that would be a huge improvement over the current situation.

[AdrianDmitruk]

It's literally nigh impossible to find the ability to RE unlettered 36 mods. I've looked, and it seems you have to have access to the old NiM DP and RE from the exotic drops there. 2 full months after the expansion, and there still aren't unlettered 36 mods available on GTN on my server. They're all 36As and 36Bs. There are a few unlettered 37s but I haven't seen any for the class I want to main PVE in quite a while.

 

Sadly 3.0 killed pugging ops on my server, and it was only in the last week or so that I was able to wrest a consistent day off. Before that, my ability to commit to any kind of raid schedule was nil.

 

EDIT TO ADD: It's not like asking for the ability to craft properly itemized 36s is asking for BiS to instantly jump into HM ops. 186 is basic tier for Force's sake. In fact I find the thought that I see unlettered 37s on GTN before unlettered 36s quite disturbing. The 36s should be substantially easier to get than 37s, not harder because there's no way to RE them.

Edited February 20, 2015 by AdrianDmitruk

[dbears]

What's really funny is that, in some cases, using 186 set armorings (or even 180) is better than 198 set armorings, because the new set bonuses are so terrible. Sin/Shadow tank being the most painfully obvious one.

 

You obviously don't sin tank. Or are a bad sin tank.

 

Losing the 4 piece you lose 2% DR, but you pretty much gain it back through the higher level armorings.

 

Losing the 2 piece you lose 5% shield chance, yes that really sucks. But increased duration and charges from the 6 piece is essential for the hardmode operations.

 

Almost all boss abilities are split in to several smaller ones (use parsec/starparse to see). Bulos "Scatter Blaster" is a perfect example. It actually hits you 5 times each shot. It's the same situation on other bosses, and it eats through your charges very quickly.

 

Also, the increased duration gives you more uptime on Dark Bulwark.

Edited February 20, 2015 by dbears

[ZETA_SCORPII]

The new level 60 HM's should reward 10 Ultimate Comms for the daily. I can't run all my 60's with my guild due to time constraints, and every time Blood Hunt or Battle of Rishi pops someone drops. It's easier to just queue up for 55 HM's to complete the weekly now unfortunately.

[Kryand]

Losing the 4 piece you lose 2% DR, but you pretty much gain it back through the higher level armorings.

LOL, no. You gain less then half of a percent from the armorings, which only works on 2 damage types.

 

Losing the 2 piece you lose 5% shield chance, yes that really sucks. But increased duration and charges from the 6 piece is essential for the hardmode operations.

No, it's not. First of all, pretty much nothing gear-related is "essential" as long as you aren't in full 186 comm gear or worse, and only baddies think that it is. Playing ability clears content, not gear. Second, 5% shield chance far outweighs the incredibly unlikely scenario that you will run out of Dark Ward stacks before it's off cooldown, as well as the negligible increase in Dark Bulwark up-time.

 

You obviously don't sin tank. Or are a bad sin tank.

Even if we assume that your ideas about gear are better than mine, then that means I am massively out-clearing you on my sin tank with worse gear. You might want to double-check the meaning of "bad".

[dbears]

LOL, no. You gain less then half of a percent from the armorings, which only works on 2 damage types.

Pretty sure my damage reduction went up more than that. Will have to confirm though.

 

No, it's not. First of all, pretty much nothing gear-related is "essential" as long as you aren't in full 186 comm gear or worse, and only baddies think that it is. Playing ability clears content, not gear. Second, 5% shield chance far outweighs the incredibly unlikely scenario that you will run out of Dark Ward stacks before it's off cooldown, as well as the negligible increase in Dark Bulwark up-time.

Firstly, ya I agree. Player skill clears content. The best gear in the game wouldn't make a bad player good. But gear does play a role. In this case we're talking set bonuses. If you very rarely, or never, run out of Dark Ward charges with your (what I'm assuming) is a ~59% shield chance, you're either lying or don't pay enough attention.

 

For sure you'll shield more attacks with the extra 5%, but your charges WILL run out and that will leave you open to spike damage. Huge spike damage.

 

The increased time of Dark Bulwark is far from negligible. But that all runs on the assumption that you can admit your Dark Ward charges get used up before the cooldown is finished.

[BrintoSFJ]

Or perhaps blue quality 190 rating barrel, hilt, mod and enhancement that can be bought with reasonable amount of elite comm? That could be good.

[TACeMossie]

What's really funny is that, in some cases, using 186 set armorings (or even 180) is better than 198 set armorings, because the new set bonuses are so terrible. Sin/Shadow tank being the most painfully obvious one.

 

In half of the new fights, using the old set bonus means you'll have time where you don't have Kinetic Ward/Dark Ward up at all while using the new set bonus lets you have it up. In other words, its not the obvious one.

 

An obvious one though is the Sorc DPS 4-piece. Doesn't work on Sages because bug, but with Sorcs its a 5% alacrity buff with 75% uptime. Its alternative is a slightly reduced cooldown on an auto-crit. Now lets be honest, which do you think is better?

 

ON TOPIC

 

Honestly, they got most of it right, with a couple of screwups.

 

THE SCREWUPS

 

SM Ops + HM FPs dropping MK-1 Gear instead of MK-2 Gear for the trash drops.

 

DONE

 

However, I wouldn't mind a slight change to the system, by altering the loot table of the HM FPs.

 

Instead of having the earlier bosses dropping 184 rating gear, have them drop MK-3 186s (MK-3's being a new kind of gear that behaves exactly like the old MK1s did - Unlettered mods, High Endurance enhancements)