First MMORPG for me - Too difficult?

[DarthRychter]

So I have had SWTOR ever since it came out and it is the first MMORPG i have ever played. However, here is my problem. I have two different characters, one is a Sith Marauder at level 37 and the other is a Jedi Knight at level 27.

 

Seeing as how i've had the game since it came out you would think i would have at least 5 characters all at level 50 right? Wrong . I constantly stop playing the game because i feel like i am EXTREMELY terrible at it. I have never played an MMO in my entire life however i am a huge huge star wars fan (especially the KOTOR games) and i really wanted to play this. I actually love the game, however i do NOT know what i am doing... at all.

 

I'm always getting my *** kicked in fights and usually the only reason i win is because of luck. Especially class missions when it comes to boss fights. My characters are ALWAYS matched with the level cap of the mission (for example the mission requires you to be on level 36 but my character is 37) and yet for some reason i am always taking a significant amount of damage.

 

So my question is, and this is going to sound really broad and dumb, HOW DO YOU PLAY THE GAME?? I know you have to upgrade your weapons/accessories/etc but i am completely clueless when it comes to such things. Then it seems like the only armor that is good for the character is the bulky "ugly" looking armor. I want to be able to wear an awesome Sith Robe i purchased in the cartel market but there are other pieces of armor with better stats and just....the game is so confusing to me.

 

Please don't think i'm trolling or attack me for not being well-educated when it comes to stuff like this, it's just that MMO's are typically not my thing but seeing as how this game is interesting and it's as close to KOTOR as i'm gonna get it, i want to keep playing it.

 

 

P.S. I never play Heroic+ missions, only missions that i can go through by myself.

[Icestar]

My characters are ALWAYS matched with the level cap of the mission (for example the mission requires you to be on level 36 but my character is 37) and yet for some reason i am always taking a significant amount of damage.

 

You have to update your armor and weapons to be near the level of the quest you do. I am sure you have seen that you get comms from missions and with those you can upgrade your gear, buy from the modification vendors at Fleet it is the best way since they sell those items cheap. You can find complete armor pieces and weapons in the planetary vendors at Fleet aswell.

 

Buy a relic that matches your light or dark option at Fleet or if you did the Rakghoul event go buy a relic from that vendor at Nar Shaddaa since it is not dependable of light or dark points. It is also VERY important that you choose the right stat for your character. You have to buy strength gear for your marauder or knight, do not use cunning or aim or something like that.

 

Remember to update your companion from time to time and use a healing companion if you feel you get low on hp during fights, your knight might not have that yet but when you do use it. Choose your fights carefully and attack what you feel you can handle.

 

Since you have played this MMO since it was new I suggest you find legacy gear and upgrade the modifications in it. If you do not for some reason have legacy gear you can use the orange gear that you get from planetary vendors or buy custom gear from GTN and upgrade that instead.

 

Do not worry about the look, use the outfit designer if you find gear that looks better while wearing the armor you upgrade when you level.

 

I think that once you update your gear you will find that you can play much easier, update once every 5-7 levels and you will be fine.

 

It can be hard if the character is not updated with proper gear, but I am sure once you learn how to get your character properly geared you will enjoy this game very much even at higher levels.

Edited August 1, 2015 by Icestar

[Cylluz]

There are some good guides out there and sites:

 

This might help give you some basic info on classes and the like:

http://swtor.wikia.com/wiki/Classes

 

This is a great site for pretty much all things SWtoR;

http://dulfy.net/category/swtor/

 

And this one for most of the info you are looking for

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=254353

Edited August 1, 2015 by Cylluz

[GythralSWTOR]

Also are you using your companion and is it geared to match the content?

[Timorelle]

I will say that Sith Marauder and Jedi Sentinel are probably *the* most challenging characters to level (you didn't specify which AC your Jedi Knight was, though Guardians can have several of the same problems as Sentinels if you're not actively using your cooldowns). At lower levels, they tend to simultaneously take *more* damage and deal *less* damage per second than any other class. I've heard it gets better at endgame, but actually *getting* to endgame is a colossal struggle.

 

It's not as bad once you have several alts, who can build up a lot of Presence and your companion can help you out more. But I would never recommend Mara or Sent to a first-timer. I'm sure there are things you could be doing to make your gaming experience easier (and you've received some solid advice in this thread already), but before you give the game up entirely in frustration, I would at least implore you to try *any* other class than a SW/JK.

[DocDAM]

Good advice from everyone above. I'll add:

 

DO check out the links in sticky at the top of this forum: New Players Fleet Pass. Especially Guide: Newcomers, and the one already linked in above post.

 

ALWAYS have your companion out. For DPS classes, best to use your healer comp when you get them.

 

Do you know the "trinity" of MMO's? Tank/Heal/DPS? Your two characters are DPS (unless you chose Guardian/Defense (a Tank). DPS (damage per second, i.e. his job is to hit things) should be matched with a Tank companion (T7 you have already on your JK), or more preferably a healer (you already have Quinn for your SW).

 

When fighting a group, take out the lower rated ("standard") mobs first, the toughest last. They all do damage, but the lower level ones die faster.

 

Use your interrupts and defensive cooldowns. If you see an enemy's channel bar start winding up, in general, a big damage attack is coming. You can stop it with an interrupt. Defensive cooldowns are your abilities that increase your defense rating, mitigate damage, heal you.

 

But that's all in the guides, I think.

 

And yeah, I think SW and JK are the toughest ones to start with (I made a post about that ). But that's what I used for my first and got through it (though I had a LOT of expert advice from a good, and patient, friend).

Edited August 1, 2015 by DocDAM

[JediQuaker]

. My characters are ALWAYS matched with the level cap of the mission (for example the mission requires you to be on level 36 but my character is 37) and yet for some reason i am always taking a significant amount of damage.

As has been said, make sure that you and your (main) companion are properly geared. See guides.

 

Then it seems like the only armor that is good for the character is the bulky "ugly" looking armor. I want to be able to wear an awesome Sith Robe i purchased in the cartel market but there are other pieces of armor with better stats and just....the game is so confusing to me.

Nowadays, the Costume Designer will fix that for you. There are guides for that to, but the basics are that you can have base armor that holds all the pieces that contribute to your stats. Overlaid on that is a "costume" (or costumes) that don't affect your stats, but just your look. You can put the "ugly" pieces on your base and put the Sith Robe on your costume.

[Sidicous]

Another idea for you: read up on the Dungeons and Dragons system of combat, specifically the combat triangle.

 

While technically SWTOR is not wizards and knights and scouts one can see the similarities. All MMO's follow the basic combat triangle derived from classic DnD too. Also, every MMO I have run across has had trouble balancing the 3 classes and sub classes. In EQ2 it was Rangers and their ranged style of fighting blew the system. In this game you will find loads of posts about ranged being superior to melee, or melee problems. A lot of other games you will see Finger Wigglers, or spell casters (consular/sorcerer) blow the balance out of whack as they are hard to fit a high damage low armor zero melee all ranged without weapon against the other 2 types using weapons.

 

There is also the light, medium, heavy armor that follows the classic DnD model.

 

Also in relation to tanking styles available in this and other MMO's. Direct Damage, or shield tanking where one absorbs or blocks or shields versus avoidance tanking where one does exactly that, avoids the blows. Here it is the Knight/Warrior sword and board (saber and shield) versus the assassin/shadow avoidance.

 

Look for websites with charts as that will really help to make it all click. Basically you will learn to recognize the who, what, why of your skills and how to use them to best effect per fight.

 

You play with heavy and medium melee: great against spellcasters, evenly matched on heavy/medium melees, and weak against all ranged. So you have 1/3 of potential bosses beat out of the gate, the other 2/3 are gonna be heavily gear dependent and player skill dependent. Good luck.

[SharlaSedai]

With this as my first MMO as well, I can say that the best advice I ever got was to use my commendations to buy mods at fleet to upgrade my adaptive armor (the orange kind). Also, if you have a healer comp, use them, and uncheck most, if not all, of their combat buffs and make sure their healing buffs are all checked. That way, they will spend all of their time healing you and not fighting. It will take you a little longer to kill mobs, but you should stay alive. Make sure that your comp's armor is upgraded as well, always take commendations as the reward for missions accomplished. Main thing, just have fun, don't feel bad, and know that you will get better with experience. I've completed class stories for all of the eight classes, and recently started another JK, "just because", and I can't believe how much easier it is this time around.

[Kevora]

Yes, indeed all you need to remember (besides learning what your skills do and how to use them) is to regularly buy new mods for your equipment (or whenever you feel that you take too much damage).

Other than that I have to say that SWTOR is probably one of the easiest MMO's PVE-wise because it is just so well-structured and therefore hard to lose track of what to do or where to go, especially due to the 100% voiced dialog-sequences and class stories.

Just bear these things in mind and the fact that (as long as there is no ridiculously high 12x XP bonus for class quests) you should just pick up every quest you can find (they are usually structured in a way that you will solve them all within the same area, so you can pick up rewards in waves, so to speak) and you should be perfectly fine!

 

I have played about every major MMO on the market (except all the Pay2Win crap) and believe me when I say that SWTOR is probably the easiest "classic" MMO there is.

 

Have fun!

[DarthRychter]

Thank you SO SO MUCH to everyone! I literally wrote down something from everything you guys posted lol. I'll be sure to add those of you who left your information as well. I'm going to give it another try today and try to upgrade as much of my gear as possible as well as my companions gear! Again thank you so much!!

[Icestar]

Thank you SO SO MUCH to everyone! I literally wrote down something from everything you guys posted lol. I'll be sure to add those of you who left your information as well. I'm going to give it another try today and try to upgrade as much of my gear as possible as well as my companions gear! Again thank you so much!!

 

Happy to help, please write more questions here if you got them

[Kulyok]

I'll just add the bit about healing companion once again: the game becomes tons easier when you use Doc for your Jedi Knight or Malavai Quinn for the Sith warrior.

 

You've gotten tons of great advice about gearing, but the truth is, Maras and Jedi Knights need healing like air.

 

(You can also buy Treek's contract for 2100cc from the Cartel Market, unlock her in your legacy window and have an unbeatable healer-tank companion for the rest of the game for all your alts).

[Bobs_YourUncle]

So I have had SWTOR ever since it came out and it is the first MMORPG i have ever played. However, here is my problem. I have two different characters, one is a Sith Marauder at level 37 and the other is a Jedi Knight at level 27.

 

Seeing as how i've had the game since it came out you would think i would have at least 5 characters all at level 50 right? Wrong . I constantly stop playing the game because i feel like i am EXTREMELY terrible at it. I have never played an MMO in my entire life however i am a huge huge star wars fan (especially the KOTOR games) and i really wanted to play this. I actually love the game, however i do NOT know what i am doing... at all.

 

I'm always getting my *** kicked in fights and usually the only reason i win is because of luck. Especially class missions when it comes to boss fights. My characters are ALWAYS matched with the level cap of the mission (for example the mission requires you to be on level 36 but my character is 37) and yet for some reason i am always taking a significant amount of damage.

 

So my question is, and this is going to sound really broad and dumb, HOW DO YOU PLAY THE GAME?? I know you have to upgrade your weapons/accessories/etc but i am completely clueless when it comes to such things. Then it seems like the only armor that is good for the character is the bulky "ugly" looking armor. I want to be able to wear an awesome Sith Robe i purchased in the cartel market but there are other pieces of armor with better stats and just....the game is so confusing to me.

 

Please don't think i'm trolling or attack me for not being well-educated when it comes to stuff like this, it's just that MMO's are typically not my thing but seeing as how this game is interesting and it's as close to KOTOR as i'm gonna get it, i want to keep playing it.

 

 

P.S. I never play Heroic+ missions, only missions that i can go through by myself.

 

You aren't alone. This is my first and currently only MMO too. I played one other single player RPG, Skyrim a bit, but other than that its been a few older console RPGs. My biggest learning curve was all the skills and when to use them, next was equipment. No, its not hard, just different. If you stick with it, the game will be a breeze. I haven't read everyone's reply, they probably said much the same, but I will say that I used YouTube religiously, there are a ton of video tutorials on classes skills, rotations, and equipment.

 

Other than that, I practiced a lot. I would go to underleveled or easier mobs and try different skills, read the description for them, started learning when certain skills would light up and why. When a skill lights up its either going to cost you nothing to use it or it will do more damage.

 

I tried using keybinds because I read everywhere that was the way to go, but I found clicking much easier myself. Sure, you might not get the optimal dps or heals, but its more than adequate if that's more comfortable for you. Learn to use tab to auto target the nearest enemy when one dies.

 

As far as equipment goes, I found and it seems everyone says the same, that using orange gear and keeping the mods kept up with every few levels is the best way to go. Again, there are a lot of guides out there that explain what all the different stats mean and which classes should use what. i.e. DPS is accuracy, power, crit, surge and even how much of what is best.

 

If you like SW, this game is great, and can absolutely be done by the average single player. Oh and try the different classes, some will be harder than others to play. Inquisator Sorcerer spec is one of the easiest to learn on, imo. Good luck.

[abrownsname]

This is my first mmo as well. I died a lot too my first few levels. I was a Seer Sage healer. That was a grind. Took me a month to level with 12xp and doing planet and flashpoints too. You dont get challenged really until boss fights, then you wipe a couple.

Stick with it until you get to the end of chapter 2 . Things generally smooth out by then. And did you know whatever ability is in the #1 slot on your bar is what is cast when you right click your mouse button? Make sure you have a fast, short cooldown, go to ability there. For my ranged sage I put throw there instead of the melee ability originally assigned.

[Frenesi]

Probably the most important thing - visit your class trainer and always get everything he has. After that spend a few minutes understanding what exactly new skills do. Same goes for discipline percs. Always read the descriptions until you remember every sinergy necessary to perform proper rotation.

[Mithros]

If all else fails, try something different.

 

You picked two melee classes. Maybe melee just doesn't agree with you.

Maybe if you tried a ranged toon you might find more success and more fun.

[Adric_the_Red]

One more thing: make sure you're using gear with the right stats on it.

 

For starters, as a Sith Warrior or Jedi Knight, the "main" stat you want is Strength. Don't wear gear that has Aim, Cunning or Willpower. The first two stats will give you zero benefit. Willpower will give you a little help on your "Force" abilities, but it will be on light armor, and as a SW/JK you want Heavy or Medium armor, depending on your Advanced Class. And don't ever buy/use modifications with those stats, either.

 

The one exception to this rule: some armor is always better than no armor. So if, early on, you find some armor piece that goes in an "empty" slot on your sheet, use it, whatever the stats on it. And then get rid of it when you find something better (IOW, the right weight & stats). Though by level 27 or 37, you should have at something in all your gear slots.

 

And the same goes for your companion, except they mostly will have different "main" stats than your character. So you need to check their stats on your character sheet and make sure you're getting the right gear for them, too.

Edited August 11, 2015 by Adric_the_Red

[Rabin_Lorac]

What server are you on?

 

I have at least 4 level 55 characters on 4 different servers. So, whatever role/help you need I am available. I will gladly log into the game with you and personally walk you through and show you anything.

[Sugarmaple]

This is also my first MMO, and there's been a learning curve, but I think I've got the hang of it. Some things that have helped me:

 

1. Expanded quick bars. I really like having at least 3 quick bars up. For me, the best layout is one to the left, one to the right, and two down front & center. No, I don't fill every single slot, but the space lets me sort out abilities into their "situational usefulness.". For example, I put my healing abilities, plus a few med-packs in one spot. In that same general area, I put any buffs. For my Jedi Shadow, I have a stealth spot where I put my stealth ability, and the abilities that correspond with it. In my main bar front & center (the one that's automatically hot keyed to numbers) I put the stuff I use most frequently. I find it comfortable to keep one hand on the mouse and one hand on the keyboard, so I usually use #s 1, 2, & 3, because I don't have to reach far from my movement keys to get to them. Therefore, in the slots corresponding to those numbers, I put the stuff that I use the most frequently. For my Jedi, it's lightsaber stuff. For my bounty hunter, it's blaster stuff. I try to keep the stuff I use most often in a more accessible spot, and in more out of the way areas (top corners of my screen, for me) I put non-combat abilities, like travel stuff (quick travel, speeder piloting) , etc

 

2. Basically the key is to know what your abilities do, and what situations to use them in. As others have said, a good way to practice is to go to lower level areas and pick a few fights. Draw them out; dont go for the kill right away. Take the time to use your abilities to really see what they can do. If you're having difficulty keeping track at pace, you can test out your abilities on practice targets, which are in most larger cities (although they may be tucked away; sometimes you have to look for them). If the lower level mobs are dying too quickly, or you want to practice a boss fight, you can try soloing a 2+ heroic on a low-level planet.

 

3. (and this is important) It's ok to die!!!. The biggest learning curve that I had to deal with was my instinctual aversion to death built up by single player video games. The great thing about an MMO is that your toon can die and it's ok. You don't loose a life, you're not out anything. You just pop back over to the nearest medical droid (where you get a chance to sell off any unwanted spoils of war, btw) and get back to it. If you're a subscriber, you can summon a medical probe and pop back right where you were (although you'll want to move off to a safe spot to finish healing yourself, of course). Sometimes letting a critter kill you is the quickest way to get where you're going. You might be in a remote spot and the quest turn in is near a medical droid, but the nearest quick travel point is far away, and the route from where you are to where you need to be is long/full of critters/annoying. Sometimes it's easiest to just walk off a cliff or let a critter kill you and pop back up right near where you need to be. It's ok!

 

4. Also, healing companions are awesome.

[DNGDangerous]

Ok so i am going to tell you some important information... Coming from my Trials And Tribulations of leveling a marauder.

 

Most important thing about marauders is killing the target before it kills you... Period! Make sure your HILT for your weapon is always upgraded- make sure this is blue or purple with the best level appropriate rating! All other slots can be blue or green!

 

If a fight looks grim:

-if its a boss fight thats Required for your class/story mission; click your UNITY button. Its a special boost for you and your companion. Also click your highest level medpack (make sure both of these are on a hotkey slot)

-if its a random agro- run- leave your companion- get somewhere safe; then click his/her companion circle and dismiss- hopfully dropping agro from th monster. (Agro means the monsters want to fight you and you are locked into a combatitivr state).

 

Make sure your armor is always repaire. If you have a yellow or red armor icon on your screen- that means its damaged. When ever you see a shop droid or person- stop off to repair all.

 

I recommend the healer companion.

[Icestar]

-if its a boss fight thats Required for your class/story mission; click your UNITY button. Its a special boost for you and your companion..

 

Unity is a legacy ability, not all players have that.

[DNGDangerous]

Unity is a legacy ability, not all players have that.

 

That i didnt know, marauder was my first class i played, and the only class i maxed leveled... And it feels like I always had it. Maybe it was easier to gain legacy levels in the past? I know i used it by the time i was on alderan because there are fights on that planet i remember bearly sc****** by on my 3rd+ attempt to beat a story boss. (I remember my usual method for beating bosses before was the "Head vs Brick wall" theory.

[DocDAM]

Yeah, I've long since forgotten how I got Unity. But it's the following:

L50 AND Light Side V

 

Or:

Buy with CC and need L50 toon, or:

250K + L50 + Legacy level 10

 

So, get one toon to L50 and be a goody two shoes