Eternal Championship Arena Loot

[Tjarin]

As a player since beta and always subscriber, lover of this game, I can honestly say I am shaking my head at decisions Bioware and EA are making with the new content - specifically in regards to rewards for Eternal Championships.

 

As an active raider who is almost 100% on all the raids in the game I can tell you I would not be excited to group with any player in static gear. Static gear is a complete and total waste of time. There will be no reason for me, who is geared in full 224 set gear to run these Eternal Championships short of getting the story done 1 time, and getting the decos and mounts I cannot buy on the GTN. I would not do a HM flashpoint with a person in static gear, nor a HM OP, nor would I want to pvp with a person who took that gear into a warzone.

 

Why waste the average players time giving gear that is useless in the elder game? You have killed the lowbie and mid-game with lvl 60 tokens and x2 XP. If you are planning on removing raids altogether from SWToR then just do it.

 

My feeling, and i am not alone on this, is that the Eternal champion Boss 10 should grant a rank 216 piece of raid gear - this is story mode gear. Story mode ops are bolster and can be run by lvl 50 +. It doesn't matter if you give this gear away because no one uses it anyway. The two levels of gear that matter are 220 and 224. I would take a new person in full 216 who'd never seen an op over someone in static gear. If someone is going to put in the time to beat the EC Boss 10, they should be rewarded adequately.

 

I doubt this post will have any impact on anything, Bioware/EA seems to be making decisions in a bunker. But I can say honestly as a veteran player that static gear is a complete waste of time; it is not BiS for anything; nor is it useful considering bolster in SM ops and tactical FPs. I would not run a HM op or HM FP with anyone in static gear so the people who struggle and work hard to collect this crap will be at a disadvantage, not only because their hard earned gear is garbage vendor trash, but also because the community of raiders will not want to run anything with anyone who is wearing it.

[BrianDavion]

with respect man, the type of casuals who the EC is intended for aren't the type of people to do HM ops. they're not trying to gear them for HM ops but for the entry level stuff like flashpoints and SM ops.

[TX_Angel]

I would not do a HM flashpoint with a person in static gear, nor a HM OP, nor would I want to pvp with a person who took that gear into a warzone.

 

You said it more bluntly than I wanted to, but you speak the truth...

 

If someone shows up at lvl 65 in that static gear for a HM FP or a OP of any level, what it tells me is that they are so lazy as to not even bother getting the 208 common data crystal gear off the fleet or Odessen.

 

If they are that lazy, then I don't want to run with them.

 

This is an actual conversation that I've had in a HM FP:

 

Me (lvl 65, well geared): Why are you in 190 greens and 186 purples?

DPS: (lvl 65, in 186/190/200 gear): I'm using the FP to gear up.

Me: You're level 65, why haven't you bought the 208 gear from fleet?

DPS: I used my common data crystals to buy companion gifts.

Me: (Vote kick)

 

That is someone who wants to be carried in HM FP at lvl 65, because they used their crystals for gifts. Their choice, but I'm not going to run anything with such a player. Gear first, gifts second. At least if you plan to run HM FP.

[TX_Angel]

with respect man, the type of casuals who the EC is intended for aren't the type of people to do HM ops. they're not trying to gear them for HM ops but for the entry level stuff like flashpoints and SM ops.

 

If you show up in SM ops with that static gear, at level 65, it speaks volumes about the player.

 

I wouldn't run with such a player. A lot of other people won't either. It says you can't be bothered to gear properly, or to care.

[hof_th]

I'm primarily a solo player and I see no value in those static Gear rewards for my main characters, for an alt that is used for grinding Heroics, Dailies and Events on the other hand it is certainly good enough.

[GavinBail]

So you would kick someone from a FP for having static gear instead of moddable regardless of quality of gear? That seems remarkably arbitrary and elitist. If someone shows up to a HM FP in 190s I can understand kicking them, but if they show up in 220/216 statc crafted gear that is of sufficient quality (the crafted stuff is better optimized then vendor-bought gear) that should really be fine. Maybe not for a HM OP, but for a FP, that should be just fine.

[Eurydemus]

I wouldn't kick anybody for having static gear, but the OP's points about the Eternal Championship and its rewards echo my own. The current incarnation seems like an utterly unfulfilling feature that's destined to have a very short shelf life.

[BrianDavion]

So you would kick someone from a FP for having static gear instead of moddable regardless of quality of gear? That seems remarkably arbitrary and elitist. If someone shows up to a HM FP in 190s I can understand kicking them, but if they show up in 220/216 statc crafted gear that is of sufficient quality (the crafted stuff is better optimized then vendor-bought gear) that should really be fine. Maybe not for a HM OP, but for a FP, that should be just fine.

 

honestly would you want to group with a player who seems to think someone in 216 gear that you get one peice a week of, is lazier then someone who just saved his CDCs while leveling to buy a buncha gear from a vendor?

[BrianDavion]

If you show up in SM ops with that static gear, at level 65, it speaks volumes about the player.

 

I wouldn't run with such a player. A lot of other people won't either. It says you can't be bothered to gear properly, or to care.

 

the only thing being spoke of in volumes here is your reading comprehension.

 

the tier 10 weekly awards a piece of static 216 gear. assuming this includes relics, implants etc, that's 14 peices of gear. which means someone whose got a full set of this static gear has been grinding 14 weeks (or 3 and a half months if you perfer) to get the set of gear. meanwhile someone in a set of 208 moddable gear has, assuming they're not an idiot, proably gotten that the minute he's let level 65.

 

but it's the guy in the statisticly better static gear whom you think is the lazy one?

[TX_Angel]

So you would kick someone from a FP for having static gear instead of moddable regardless of quality of gear? That seems remarkably arbitrary and elitist. If someone shows up to a HM FP in 190s I can understand kicking them, but if they show up in 220/216 statc crafted gear that is of sufficient quality (the crafted stuff is better optimized then vendor-bought gear) that should really be fine. Maybe not for a HM OP, but for a FP, that should be just fine.

 

I didn't say static crafted... I said static drops from the world, or from EC... not the same thing...

 

I will say, I have not seen much of the static crafted. Once or twice, but it is rare. Most people seem to do the comms/token thing...

 

For HM FP, I generally want to see nothing under 208, and I want to see augments. That tells me you bothered to show up ready to play and aren't looking to be carried. If it is all good and your MH is still stuck at 190, then that is fine for some that aren't DPS checks, but a few bosses won't tolerate that.

 

You might think that is arbitrary, and that's fine, but after awhile the tolerance for stupid grows short. Tonight I had a tank show up in a HM FP queued as a DPS. I was the other DPS. We were having trouble killing the bosses due to a lack of total DPS output (and I was doing more than my share)

 

A week ago, I had Lost Island HM pop, the tank was a Jugg, but in DPS gear. He WAS in tank stance, but had no shield/absorb gear at all. His comment "aww, it'll be fine, lets give it a try!"

 

Yea, that is why "arbitrary" is a thing. Way, way too much of the above going on...

[BrianDavion]

asking your tank to be in tank gear is differant though. there is no reason to assume the static gear will be inferior. in fact most likely? it's going to be the same as the crafted stuff

[TX_Angel]

the only thing being spoke of in volumes here is your reading comprehension.

 

the tier 10 weekly awards a piece of static 216 gear. assuming this includes relics, implants etc, that's 14 peices of gear. which means someone whose got a full set of this static gear has been grinding 14 weeks (or 3 and a half months if you perfer) to get the set of gear. meanwhile someone in a set of 208 moddable gear has, assuming they're not an idiot, proably gotten that the minute he's let level 65.

 

but it's the guy in the statisticly better static gear whom you think is the lazy one?

 

My reading works just fine, you fail to see the problem with the above... If you show up in all this EC dropped static gear, it tells me that you generally are a solo player, not a group person. Now you want into a group setting, likely with no idea how to do that. Worse. you want to show up in HM content without being a group player.

 

THAT is the problem, not the gear itself.

 

You also leave off half the equation... 208 crystal gear WITH AUGMENTS... so easy to leave that last part off, but it changes the equation a lot. If you have the knowledge and credits to augment your full set of gear, you're far ahead of the pack.

 

From my personal experience, I have far fewer problems in groups with people who have augmented, than with those who haven't. Not because it makes or breaks it by the numbers, but because it shows who has put in the effort and has some idea of what they are doing.

[DisIzMe]

with respect man, the type of casuals who the EC is intended for aren't the type of people to do HM ops. they're not trying to gear them for HM ops but for the entry level stuff like flashpoints and SM ops.

 

This,over 9000 times. SWTOR now caters to story players that rarely join groups,and those story players do not have end game challenge (due to people like OP that need 216 gear and achievments for EV group finder run) so they unsub once experiencing the story. Now they will have an end game grind too and chance of gearing up.

 

Plus,this arena even in tougher levels will not be a challenge for raider,but a player that only experienced post-KOTFE difficulty of SWTOR single player and still has green-blue gear will be stuck on it for a while and may even,God forbid,learn few things besides spamming basic attacks.

 

By the way OP ,as a healer that had to deal in HM fps with people (even tank) in starting planets gear i enthusiastically welcome whatever gear that will drop from the arena because its target audience usually runs around in worse one.

[TX_Angel]

asking your tank to be in tank gear is differant though. there is no reason to assume the static gear will be inferior. in fact most likely? it's going to be the same as the crafted stuff

 

I don't care what the stats of the gear is. They are completely beside the point.

 

It is a person who has geared up in SOLO content, now wanting to come do hard mode GROUP content. The problem is, they don't know how to do group content. I have no interest in having them learn with me in HM stuff.

 

Since I no longer play the SM stuff, they can go do that if they like, I'm only talking about HM FP/OPS.

[Overmind]

1. Tactics > Gear. Did KPHM in full 186-192 and still DPsed my part fine. Noone complained, noone died.

2. 208 have no use in HMs, except if auged. Auged 186-208 is fine in EV/Kp HM.

3. 216s can be acquired very easy by doing around 4-5 opses in SM to get some sets and some non-sets.

Then aug, and youre ready for HM. The 1st HM can gear you up in mostly 220s.

4. Regarding 1st point, I prefer a skilled lower geared than a better geared clueless person.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Overmind

[GavinBail]

1. Tactics > Gear. Did KPHM in full 186-192 and still DPsed my part fine. Noone complained, noone died.

2. 208 have no use in HMs, except if auged. Auged 186-208 is fine in EV/Kp HM.

3. 216s can be acquired very easy by doing around 45 opses in SM to get some sets and some non-sets.

Then aug, and youre ready for HM. The 1st HM can gear you up in mostly 220s.

4. Regarding 1st point, I prefer a skilled lower geared than a better geared clueless person.

 

If you think 45 OPs run is "very easy" I'm pretty sure the EC rewards are not geared towards you.

[Nkya]

Sound slike misplaced elitism. HM FP are bolstered and drop at most 216. Why you you demand people to get the gear droped in content to do the content? Are you suggesting EC should drop 224 token so people could have "average" gear like you have?

 

All the failures I've seen in FP wasn't because of he gear, but because of the tactics or skills. Gear only help to make it faster.

[Overmind]

EC now being considered by some the most difficult SM run... but you don't have to start with that 1. Edited January 25, 2016 by Overmind

[TX_Angel]

Sound slike misplaced elitism. HM FP are bolstered and drop at most 216. Why you you demand people to get the gear droped in content to do the content? Are you suggesting EC should drop 224 token so people could have "average" gear like you have?

 

All the failures I've seen in FP wasn't because of he gear, but because of the tactics or skills. Gear only help to make it faster.

 

Bolster in most HM FP isn't enough, some of them are brutal...

 

Try Lost Island HM with everyone in 208 crystal gear and no augments. Can it be done? I'm sure someone can, but your average group won't be able to do it.

 

The second boss of Korriban HM is a DPS check, if you're not geared up for it, you'll fail it as often as not. Yes, the right combination of skill and luck helps, but that one is brutal if you have a pair of undergeared DPS depending on bolster.

 

Blood Hunt's first boss, Battle of Rishi's last boss, and the list goes on...

 

For all of the above, if you're not in a mix of 208/216 with some augments, forget it, you're just wasting your time. The sad thing is that this is really Bioware's fault for making HM FP so uneven in challenge, and for not making it clear to the newer players which ones are HM and which are NiM. Perhaps one solution would be to split the HM FP list in half, putting the easy ones in one list and the REALLY hard ones in another list.

 

Are the above HM FP "hard" when you have a group of 65 geared players in raid gear? No, they aren't. Are they hard when you have a group of casuals in 208 crystal gear with no augments, or worse, level 50-60 toons in lower gear bolster? Yea, they are nearly impossible.

 

That isn't elitism, that is reality.

 

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EC should probably drop 216 token gear at the end boss (10), and moddable 208 gear from lvl 7 on. Before 7? Just a mix of crystals.

 

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Side note: I think it is a mistake of Bioware to label such different gear with the same "rating".

 

Common data crystals should buy 204 rated gear, the better mod gear drops in FP/OPS should be 208, glowing data crystals should buy 212 gear, the SM ops token/HM FP bonus boss/final boss should drop 216, and so on.

 

Put some clairty that the common data crystal gear is not as good as what drops in end game content. The various "marks" of gear are not at all clear to your average player who just sees "208/216" and thinks it ends there.

 

Maybe EC can be helpful there, have lvl 1-5 drop 204 mod gear, 6-9 drop 212 mod gear, and 10 drop 218 mod gear.

[TX_Angel]

If you think 45 OPs run is "very easy" I'm pretty sure the EC rewards are not geared towards you.

 

That was likely a typo, meant to say "4 to 5 OPs runs".

 

Or 4-5 ops runs if you prefer. 5 SM ops runs would be enough, in most cases, to end up with a decent starter set of gear for HM content. Combined with all the crystals you'd get, you could have a mix of 216/220 crystal gear and 216 token gear, plus 14 augments, you're ready for HM content then.

[Overmind]

Yes, exactly my point.

[Surbatu]

I'm 100% solo pug player and even I am *facedesk* about this loot. Static 216 gear? jeez