Coming Back to SWTOR after a two year absence

[Lium]

Still only have level 55s. I know there's been a TON of changes and I'm going to have to relearn everything. But where should I start? Shadow of Revan?

 

Any tips would be appreciated. By the way, I'm maining a Sentinel.

[DarthWoad]

Still only have level 55s. I know there's been a TON of changes and I'm going to have to relearn everything. But where should I start? Shadow of Revan?

 

Any tips would be appreciated. By the way, I'm maining a Sentinel.

 

Shadow of Revan to get 55-60, then KOTFE to get 60-65. You should get decent gear from the missions anyway and you should be able to relearn your skills by the time you reach 65.

 

Use group finder to practise some flashpoints and operations with Afaik most of the operations have been scaled up to 65 and you get bolstered

[Lium]

Shadow of Revan to get 55-60, then KOTFE to get 60-65. You should get decent gear from the missions anyway and you should be able to relearn your skills by the time you reach 65.

 

Use group finder to practise some flashpoints and operations with Afaik most of the operations have been scaled up to 65 and you get bolstered

 

Thanks so much! Looking forward to getting back into it.

[DarthWoad]

Thanks so much! Looking forward to getting back into it.

 

Also, what server are you on?

[Lium]

Also, what server are you on?

 

Last I remember it was Jedi Covenant. But that was back in 2014. Still patching up the game now.

[IanArgent]

Last I remember it was Jedi Covenant. But that was back in 2014. Still patching up the game now.

 

You're still on JC, then. There haven't been any server merges since 2014. There have been some fairly major changes in rules since 2014; you probably want to at least skim the patch notes

[SFDebris]

There's a Prelude to SoR that you'll likely want to go through first, it's a series of four linked missions involving flashpoints. If you're not into grouping, don't worry, they have a solo mode now that allows you to complete it by yourself.

[LyraineAlei]

There's a Prelude to SoR that you'll likely want to go through first, it's a series of four linked missions involving flashpoints. If you're not into grouping, don't worry, they have a solo mode now that allows you to complete it by yourself.

 

Which also gives you (Thread OP) a chance to catch up on rotations.

 

To OP: Your gear may also no longer work as quite well as it used to because Aim/Strength/Willpower/Cunning are no longer stats (all are now Mastery), with a few other stat changes that were made when 4.0 went live. Or was it 3.0?

 

Disciplines as well. They replace Skill Trees, so no more hybrid builds of any kind.

 

You could also create a new character (leveling is not the chore it was pre-4.0) and get used to the playing styles that way as well.

[Andryah]

Which also gives you (Thread OP) a chance to catch up on rotations.

 

To OP: Your gear may also no longer work as quite well as it used to because Aim/Strength/Willpower/Cunning are no longer stats (all are now Mastery), with a few other stat changes that were made when 4.0 went live. Or was it 3.0?

 

Disciplines as well. They replace Skill Trees, so no more hybrid builds of any kind.

 

You could also create a new character (leveling is not the chore it was pre-4.0) and get used to the playing styles that way as well.

 

And to add to this.. if you find yourself with equipment issues, almost all the old heroics were reworked for 4.0 so that they are level appropriate, can be soloed, and will drop level appropriate gear boxes when you complete them. They also give out good XP and reasonable credits too. You can pick up a full mission log full of them if you like on Fleet (there is a machine that issues them there) and each comes with a free teleport directly to the Heroic too.

Edited September 22, 2016 by Andryah

[IanArgent]

And to add to this.. if you find yourself with equipment issues, almost all the old heroics were reworked for 4.0 so that they are level appropriate, can be soloed, and will drop level appropriate gear boxes when you complete them. They also give out good XP and reasonable credits too. You can pick up a full mission log full of them if you like on Fleet (there is a machine that issues them there) and each comes with a free teleport directly to the Heroic too.

 

They only drop level appropriate gear at 60 and below. at 61+, you get alliance crates

[TUXs]

They only drop level appropriate gear at 60 and below. at 61+, you get alliance crates

This ^^ Gear up as much as you can prior to that. Heroics are 90% of how I level any new toon because of how quickly it can be done. At 65, I have enough comms from the Heroics to buy a set of 208 gear (I think it's 208?!).

[Andryah]

They only drop level appropriate gear at 60 and below. at 61+, you get alliance crates

 

True... but you can in fact complete your run to 65 on that level 60 gear.

 

of course the OP may also be sitting on a stack of crystals (converted while he was gone) and could also buy low cost 190 mods for adaptive gear that would also take them to 65.

 

Point being.. no need to spend any real credits or effort to equip for that 60-65 run. At 65 they can then buy 208+ gear (starting at 64 actually).

Edited September 22, 2016 by Andryah

[Dbohrius]

OP, you might start a new set of toons to re-learn your classes as you go, and get some nice freebies while you're at it, as per the Dark vs Light event currently going on.

 

Also, be advised that game version 5.0 is just around the corner. More changes are expected.

[IanArgent]

True... but you can in fact complete your run to 65 on that level 60 gear.

 

of course the OP may also be sitting on a stack of crystals (converted while he was gone) and could also buy low cost 190 mods for adaptive gear that would also take them to 65.

 

Point being.. no need to spend any real credits or effort to equip for that 60-65 run. At 65 they can then buy 208+ gear (starting at 64 actually).

 

Oh, sure. I was just noting that the rward boxes from heroics switch from the statted gear to alliance boixes at 61

[Keta]

Still only have level 55s. I know there's been a TON of changes and I'm going to have to relearn everything. But where should I start? Shadow of Revan?

 

Any tips would be appreciated. By the way, I'm maining a Sentinel.

 

I came back last year after a similar absence. Personally I'd start a new toon to learn the mechanics of the class you enjoy the most then switch back and finish your older toons. Have fun.

[jimmorrisson]

This game is being "maintained" as a holdover until EA starts pumping out new Star Wars games for Disney is what you came back to. Edited September 24, 2016 by jimmorrisson

[IanArgent]

This game is being "maintained" as a holdover until EA starts pumping out new Star Wars games for Disney is what you came back too.

 

The ground-up refurbishment of several game subsystems in 4.0 was just a spot of maintenance. Sure it was.

[LyraineAlei]

The ground-up refurbishment of several game subsystems in 4.0 was just a spot of maintenance. Sure it was.

 

So is the upcoming KotET. And so was KotFE. Though the latter didn't do much to fix much.

[IanArgent]

So is the upcoming KotET. And so was KotFE. Though the latter didn't do much to fix much.

 

I haven't seen much of anything to suggest that 5.x will include anything on the scale of level sync or conversion of all FPs to Tactical; both big systemic changes. Whether that means they have resources freed to do other things or not, we will have to see.

[LyraineAlei]

I haven't seen much of anything to suggest that 5.x will include anything on the scale of level sync or conversion of all FPs to Tactical; both big systemic changes. Whether that means they have resources freed to do other things or not, we will have to see.

 

Truetrue. But KotET is new stuff. Well, no it's not, because the game is dead and KotET is a figment of our imagination, isn't it? >=P

[IanArgent]

Truetrue. But KotET is new stuff. Well, no it's not, because the game is dead and KotET is a figment of our imagination, isn't it? >=P

 

Um. I kinda lost the thread here. I'm claiming that 4.x's mechanical changes were almost, but not quite, the entire opposite of "maintenance mode," and that unless things change drastically, KotET s not "maintenance mode" either.

[LyraineAlei]

Um. I kinda lost the thread here. I'm claiming that 4.x's mechanical changes were almost, but not quite, the entire opposite of "maintenance mode," and that unless things change drastically, KotET s not "maintenance mode" either.

 

I wasn't indicating my sarcasm very well. My bad.

[Lium]

Thanks for all the tips. I'm already level 59 after only a couple days playing through SoR.

 

I figured instead of creating a new toon and re-learning my main, I would just jump back in and learn on the fly. Like trial by fire. I've died a few times, but for the most part I'm not doing too bad. I'm gearing up via questing. I've been able to replace almost all of my old gear by just completing missions on Rishi.

 

The only frustrating thing so far has been doing the Blood Hunt flashpoint solo mode. It took me like five or six attempts to beat the husband and wife boss because the encounter was bugged. It kept resetting and the support droid kept getting knocked into the lava.

 

I looked up the encounter online and found this has been a known bug for quite some time in solo mode and the fix was to dismiss your companion. I was actually able to finally defeat the boss with the companion and the droid out but it was still very annoying. I will say the fact that this is apparently a known bug and has been reported several times over the last couple years and still is not fixed is troubling. It means the game may not have the manpower to resolve it.

 

Anyway, it's good to be back and I'm having fun. My companion, Kira, is stupidly OP. Even with her outdated gear (which I'm slowly upgrading) she's practically two-shotting everything. I have her at max influence so not sure if that's why she's so powerful. Sometimes it seems like she hits harder than I do.

 

I'll be into KotFE content in the next day or so. :-)

[Andryah]

My companion, Kira, is stupidly OP. Even with her outdated gear (which I'm slowly upgrading) she's practically two-shotting everything. I have her at max influence so not sure if that's why she's so powerful. Sometimes it seems like she hits harder than I do.

 

Note: gear on companions is now strictly cosmetic. They have the same effective power in level 1 items or level 65 items.

 

Companion influence is what determines their power curve now days. Companions are beasts at influence level 50. Actually from about level 20 on, they are beasts for most normal leveling content.

 

And it's pretty easy to level any companion to at least level 20 influence using inexpensive level 1 gifts that are sold on vendors in fleet and on capital planets. Takes about 10 minutes of spamming gifts to the companion to get to 20, and at 20 they are powerful enough to handle just about anything until you get to level cap.

[IanArgent]

Note: gear on companions is now strictly cosmetic. They have the same effective power in level 1 items or level 65 items.

 

Companion influence is what determines their power curve now days. Companions are beasts at influence level 50. Actually from about level 20 on, they are beasts for most normal leveling content.

 

And it's pretty easy to level any companion to at least level 20 influence using inexpensive level 1 gifts that are sold on vendors in fleet and on capital planets. Takes about 10 minutes of spamming gifts to the companion to get to 20, and at 20 they are powerful enough to handle just about anything until you get to level cap.

 

For that matter - companion conversation influence gains are much larger than they used to be, and "disapproval" actually nets you a (small) gain over no reaction. On a trooper I just did, I ran Aric to 10 on gifts (mix of purchased L1s and some stuff I had sitting in Legacy hold), then brought him to 30 on what I crafted on the way and conversations. (Side, note, Aric is one bloodthirsty cat).