Ok, I am sorry but.....

[chemithir]

I need to ask this question for what is undoubtedly the 5 billionth time, yet when I search the forums, I am not exactly finding the answer i am looking for.

 

I have been playing this game for a while now. I leveled my main all the way through all of the content and have been at end game for some time. I have been using GF A LOT. Usually TFP, some HM and the rare SM Op. I am wearing all 208/216 gear. I did two SM Ops the past two days (I know, shocking that GF put together an Op) and to my pleasant surprise, a few 216 pieces dropped. That is where my 208/216 mixed set comes in.

 

I still was told "your gear needs some work." Well, yeah, that is why I am here, trying to earn crystals and see if a decent piece drops. If you are not geared properly to do the HM FP's and Ops, where the heck else do you get the gear to be able to do them since you need to do them for the crystals?

 

What am I missing? I assume everyone else had to suffer through being squishy to get their top tier gear? Or am I missing a critical piece of the game?

 

Also, how is it that having a full set of 208/216, my health is only 66k? I have seen other Sents with 78k, that just seems crazy to be that high. I don't think his gear was much higher than mine either if I remember right.

 

I am a Jedi Sent, Combat Spec. All of the gear i buy and pick up is heavy on Mastery and Endurance, formerly Strength and Endurance. I feel like i hold my own in a fight and deal some good damage.

 

So I ask again, what is the secret to good gear besides grinding the FP's and Ops for crystals and drops?

 

Thanks for your time.

[AngFour]

I don't do end game stuff, but I *THINK* what they are referring to is augments. You can augment all your gear, including earpieces and implants. You didn't mention that you've done that, so that's what I'm assuming.

[iacon]

Have you augmented any of your gear with the latest tier of augments? All 14 pieces can be augmented and that will give a significant boost to your stats. I used augment kits on a set of adaptive gear and simply dump the armoring, mods and enhancements into the shell so that I don't have to keep redoing the kits for every new piece of gear I get. It does cost credits to take out the armoring/mods/enhancements so it may or may not be cheaper to do. I have not done a cost comparison. Only the earpiece, implants and relics require redoing the augment slots. The outfit designer also makes it very easy to have the look I want without having to worry about the stat gear appearance. Edited October 28, 2015 by iacon

[chemithir]

Have you augmented any of your gear with the latest tier of augments? All 14 pieces can be augmented and that will give a significant boost to your stats. I used augment kits on a set of adaptive gear and simply dump the armoring, mods and enhancements into the shell so that I don't have to keep redoing the kits for every new piece of gear I get. Only the earpiece, implants and relics require redoing the augment slots. The outfit designer also makes it very easy to have the look I want without having to worry about the stat gear appearance.

 

Sorry for confusion. I have Augmented my sabers and a couple of pieces of gear but not all. It is incredibly expensive to by the MK8 slot and then by the augment from the GTN. I plan to eventually augment all of it but am trying to raise the credits.

[heythereqt]

Unfortunately, this is how the end-game scene is in this game, as well as many other MMOs. People rush through the content as quickly as possible in a progression guild, gear up as quickly as possible, and then become gear/achievement elitists. They had to go through the exact same process you're going through to gear up, but just because you didn't do it as quickly as they did, you're called "under-geared" and removed from the group...despite the fact that many of us could out-play a lot of the elitists any day of the week.

 

Also, is all of your gear augmented? If not, that's very likely the difference between you and another person of the same class, who has better stats than you do. Datacrons play a bigger role with stats as well, now that most of them award Mastery and are legacy-wide.

[DirtyDiggler]

Join a guild that runs stuff so you dont have to hear stupidity from carebear PVE'ers who are the same ones that cry rivers of tears when they have to pvp for alliance.

[chemithir]

Unfortunately, this is how the end-game scene is in this game, as well as many other MMOs. People rush through the content as quickly as possible in a progression guild, gear up as quickly as possible, and then become gear/achievement elitists. They had to go through the exact same process you're going through to gear up, but just because you didn't do it as quickly as they did, you're called "under-geared" and removed from the group...despite the fact that many of us could out-play a lot of the elitists any day of the week.

 

Also, is all of your gear augmented? If not, that's very likely the difference between you and another person of the same class, who has better stats than you do. Datacrons play a bigger role with stats as well, now that most of them award Mastery and are legacy-wide.

 

Now datacrons I haven't done. I will look into that. I will also just keep grinding the credits till I can augment my entire set.

 

Edit: I mean i knew about dc's but just haven't gotten around to collecting them yet.

Edited October 28, 2015 by chemithir

[iacon]

Oh yeah, forgot about the datacrons. With the stat change to mastery and being legacy wide it makes sense to run around to collect them all.

 

And since the heroics have a terminal and teleporting, it's really easy to grind those out for credits. You don't even have to leave the terminal.

Edited October 28, 2015 by iacon

[teclado]

Here's is what I have been doing for my Lightning Sorc.

 

Relics = 208 Exemplar PVP relics (power and mastery ones).

Mainhand = 208 Exemplar PVP

 

I started with 190 ziost gear. I leveled from 60-65 doing the KotFE story. By the time I hit 65, I had max common data crystals (basic comms) and a good amount of glowing and radiant crystals. If you don't have many common or basic crystals, run Ziost / Oricon / Yavin dailies or KotFE or Heroics (see Heroic terminal on Odessen) until you do. This will get you full 208 gear. Use whatever glowing crystals you have to get as many 216 pieces as you can.

 

Augments and stims. See here to figure out which augments to use. Please note, if you are a dps, you want 110% force / tech accuracy.

 

Next, run SM ops to get set bonus 216 drops. Use glowing and radiant crystals that you accumulate from said ops to get some 216 and 220 pieces. Then again, SM ops are bolstered, so you don't even have to be level 65, so gear is not required.

 

Once you have full 216 with full set bonus, then you are ready to try HM ops.

 

With all that said, personally I don't run any SM or HM ops outside of guild. Not worth the hassle. HM PUG? Hahahaha no thanks. For some of the mechanics, you have to be on voice comms, or it will never work.

 

EDIT: It sounds like people are looking at your 208/216 mix, no set bonus, missing augments, and trying to tell you that you are not geared enough for Hard Mode. Run Story Mode until you have full augments (with stats optimized according to that thread I linked above) and full set bonus 216.

Edited October 28, 2015 by teclado

[chemithir]

With all that said, personally I don't run any SM or HM ops outside of guild. Not worth the hassle. HM PUG? Hahahaha no thanks.

 

I know, tell me about it. The problem is, the Guild i am in, while very active never seem to run HM FP's or SM Ops. They are focused on Conquest it seems and that doesn't really interest me. So GF PuGs is where I live. LMAO!!!

[chemithir]

Here's is what I have been doing for my Lightning Sorc.

 

Relics = 208 Exemplar PVP relics (power and mastery ones).

Mainhand = 208 Exemplar PVP

 

I started with 190 ziost gear. I leveled from 60-65 doing the KotFE story. By the time I hit 65, I had max common data crystals (basic comms) and a good amount of glowing and radiant crystals. If you don't have many common or basic crystals, run Ziost / Oricon / Yavin dailies or KotFE or Heroics (see Heroic terminal on Odessen) until you do. This will get you full 208 gear. Use whatever glowing crystals you have to get as many 216 pieces as you can.

 

Augments and stims. See here to figure out which augments to use. Please note, if you are a dps, you want 110% force / tech accuracy.

 

Next, run SM ops to get set bonus 216 drops. Use glowing and radiant crystals that you accumulate from said ops to get some 216 and 220 pieces. Then again, SM ops are bolstered, so you don't even have to be level 65, so gear is not required.

 

Once you have full 216 with full set bonus, then you are ready to try HM ops.

 

With all that said, personally I don't run any SM or HM ops outside of guild. Not worth the hassle. HM PUG? Hahahaha no thanks. For some of the mechanics, you have to be on voice comms, or it will never work.

 

EDIT: It sounds like people are looking at your 208/216 mix, no set bonus, missing augments, and trying to tell you that you are not geared enough for Hard Mode. Run Story Mode until you have full augments (with stats optimized according to that thread I linked above) and full set bonus 216.

 

Thanks for the tips.

[heythereqt]

I know, tell me about it. The problem is, the Guild i am in, while very active never seem to run HM FP's or SM Ops. They are focused on Conquest it seems and that doesn't really interest me. So GF PuGs is where I live. LMAO!!!

 

I'm in the same boat. I run a casual guild so I'm usually stuck doing GF or fleet PuGs haha. With that said, there's nothing quite like the feeling of grouping with a bunch of complete strangers, and finally finishing a HM operation after wiping 5 or 6 times. Definite sense of accomplishment there.

[Zharik]

Sorry for confusion. I have Augmented my sabers and a couple of pieces of gear but not all. It is incredibly expensive to by the MK8 slot and then by the augment from the GTN. I plan to eventually augment all of it but am trying to raise the credits.

 

All your old Mk-8 thru Mk-10 slotted items are now Mk-8 (top of the line) so all you need is new augments.

 

Advice: For DPS get to 110% accuracy then rest in crit and alacrity, do NOT stack power or mainstat on augs you get plenty by default on power.

For healers same as DPS -accuracy.

For tanks aug for shield and absorb, you get plenty of defense already by default.

[chemithir]

All your old Mk-8 thru Mk-10 slotted items are now Mk-8 (top of the line) so all you need is new augments.

 

Advice: For DPS get to 110% accuracy then rest in crit and alacrity, do NOT stack power or mainstat on augs you get plenty by default on power.

For healers same as DPS -accuracy.

For tanks aug for shield and absorb, you get plenty of defense already by default.

 

Excellent advice. Thanks!

[chemithir]

I'm in the same boat. I run a casual guild so I'm usually stuck doing GF or fleet PuGs haha. With that said, there's nothing quite like the feeling of grouping with a bunch of complete strangers, and finally finishing a HM operation after wiping 5 or 6 times. Definite sense of accomplishment there.

 

I have to be honest. Recently the quality of PuGs increased for me. I am no longer the target for their anger. When i was running with the Ziost 190 set? Whoa!!! They freaking hated my guts. Nowadays it seems to be the 200 geared folks that take the brunt of it. LMAO.. I usually get the "your gear needs work but..... should be good enough. Just stay out of my way." LMAO!

 

Edit: I know i shouldn't give a rats backside what they think, and I don't. But I hate being a drain on the group. Plus, I am interested in learning all the ins and outs of the runs. Therefore i will tolerate it until someone gets belligerent. then i usually quit.

Edited October 28, 2015 by chemithir

[Jamtas]

If you are in 208/216 you are more than geared for SM. My group cleared HM in new ops in our old 198 gear

 

Without seeing gear, I'd ask if you are in all DPS gear or if you have some tanking stat based ones in there too? In addition to augmenting, this is another thing I see people mistakenly doing. I've helped correct some pug folk in past who thought they needed some def/shield gear in their mix. Some of them appreciated the help, others were set in their beliefs and told me that their setup worked for them as they had been successful in FPs with this gear so they were staying pat.

 

For credits, just as other mentioned, the new heroics are good for that as well as the old weekly areas like black hole, CZ, etc.

 

Finally, if you find yourself in a guild that doesn't match you playstyle, can always look for another to run in.

[chemithir]

If you are in 208/216 you are more than geared for SM. My group cleared HM in new ops in our old 198 gear

 

Without seeing gear, I'd ask if you are in all DPS gear or if you have some tanking stat based ones in there too? In addition to augmenting, this is another thing I see people mistakenly doing. I've helped correct some pug folk in past who thought they needed some def/shield gear in their mix. Some of them appreciated the help, others were set in their beliefs and told me that their setup worked for them as they had been successful in FPs with this gear so they were staying pat.

 

For credits, just as other mentioned, the new heroics are good for that as well as the old weekly areas like black hole, CZ, etc.

 

Finally, if you find yourself in a guild that doesn't match you playstyle, can always look for another to run in.

 

Oh definitely not!! I learned that lesson the hard way over a year ago. Someone in a group went ballistic on me. Of course i was just learning then so i had no business running a group anyway. No it is all Master/Endurance and either Accuracy or Critical. Nothing with Shield or Absorption.

[Jadescythe]

Gear is irrelevant for anything other than HM/NiM operations with the bolster you get. I hear you on augment prices, but you literally cannot do HM content without them. I don't even remember the stats on augments right now, but you are missing thousands of hit points from not having them as well as potential accuracy, crit, or alacrity. Without the boost given in SM, you won't be able to start HM without a full set of augments and preferably min/max 208/216 gear with set bonus.