Sost Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Hey all, So a little backstory. I have played the game for years. I have literally, 16 level 65 toons. I have a couple hundred million credits between my toons. The thing is, that I have never grouped, never pvped, and always just soloed everything. It's getting to the point where I want to try to group up, but I am nervous to try. A friend of mine recently started playing, and now he has a couple level 65 toons. Tonight, with just the two of us and 2 companions, we tried some instances. We each have gear which has been self crafted which tends to be 208 - 212 ish gear. We did tactical instances with ease. Never dying except to silly things like forgetting positioning, and getting thrown off ledges, etc. Our Companions died a couple of times, mostly because they are idiots. For the most part, we didn't have any issues, although we had to look up boss tactics a couple of times on the internet because we didn't know exactly what to do in certain situations. So, because it was SO easy, we decided to try a hard mode instance with the 2 of us and our companions. Both of our companions are around level 30 influence. This one didn't go well. We wiped several times... sometimes on trash mobs or getting patrol adds, etc. We did manage to kill a couple of bosses, but it wasn't working well, and we were unable to finish the instance. So, my question is, is hardmode the next progression after tactical? There didn't seem to be anything in between. The problem is, that I don't know tactics well, and I am not sure I am ready to jump into hard mode group finder... I hear that some group members can be fairly demanding, and I have no doubt I would do something wrong and piss somebody off. So, thoughts on how I should proceed? Any insight here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragondog Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 (edited) Hard Mode is the next difficulty after tactical and it's quite the difference as you've noticed. I would suggest two additional players, instead of companions, and, if needed, better gear. You may also want to google the tactics. Though most players, in my experience, are friendly enough to help you figure it out if you let them know at the start that you're there for the first time. Edited October 29, 2016 by Dragondog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JediQuaker Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Unlike tactical FPs, HM FPs are designed to have the classic 2 DPS, 1 healer, and 1 tank. This makes it a bit harder with 2 people and 2 companions, but, by taking the roles or assigning them to companions, you should be able to do them with some planning and practice. One way around this is to group up the 2 of you and then join a Group Finder queue together. The GF will (eventually) fill your group with the 2 missing roles and you can proceed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adric_the_Red Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Unlike tactical FPs, HM FPs are designed to have the classic 2 DPS, 1 healer, and 1 tank. This makes it a bit harder with 2 people and 2 companions, but, by taking the roles or assigning them to companions, you should be able to do them with some planning and practice. One way around this is to group up the 2 of you and then join a Group Finder queue together. The GF will (eventually) fill your group with the 2 missing roles and you can proceed.The problem with using companions instaed of players, is comapnions don't do "mechanics". IOW, you can't tell your companion "don't stand in stupid" or expect them to do this on their own. That's right, when that big circle appears on the ground under your companion, they will just stand there and get hit with whatever effect, instead of moving out of it, or in the case of effects that "follow" the target, moving to where it won't affect everyone else.... They also don't interrupt, or at least can't be relied on to interrupt the specific "you must interrupt this" action for a given fight. Then again, you often run into these issues with actual players in PUGs.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrwayn Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 The problem with using companions instaed of players, is comapnions don't do "mechanics". IOW, you can't tell your companion "don't stand in stupid" or expect them to do this on their own. That's right, when that big circle appears on the ground under your companion, they will just stand there and get hit with whatever effect, instead of moving out of it, or in the case of effects that "follow" the target, moving to where it won't affect everyone else.... They also don't interrupt, or at least can't be relied on to interrupt the specific "you must interrupt this" action for a given fight. Then again, you often run into these issues with actual players in PUGs.... I think you would be surprised how rare (note: I didn't say "non existant" ) this kind of mechanics actually are in hm fp's. Part of it is, because comps get outright ignored by a few mechanics (just off the top of my head: Cademimu last boss: fire doesn't hurt comps; HK in FE: no circles on comps; second boss in czerka labs: no circles on comps...). Another part is, that standing in stupid in hm fp's rarely kills you instantly, so companions just heal through the damage. And finally you can pull them out of stupid (or reposition them in general) by setting them to passiv for a few seconds. As for other mechanics: interrupts can be handled by a single player (at least the ones that would wipe the group) so no need for comps to interrupt. And when there is a cleanse mechanic, your comp will probably be more reliable than your average pug-healer (for example: when doing first boss in hammer station with a comp healer I rarely get more then 3-4 stacks of the laser debuff) To the OP: if you want to duo hm-fp's I would suggest that one of you plays a tank. If you have a real tank it makes the fights, and trash pulls in particular, much easier. (Assuming that the tank has at least a basic understanding of his class and role of course...). Start with the "classic" ones (BT, HS, Athiss, MR, Cad, RR), they are a bit easier than the later ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nepochop Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 Well so that you know there are 2 types of HM flahspoints. There are the old HM flashpoints, which are very easy to do and mostly even soloable, then there are the Shadow of Revan HM flashpoints, which are a bit tougher since they have been introduced later and with higher level. Anyway, you are fine with the 2 of you yet its complicated since you should manage your companions. The best situation is 3 ppl and 1 companion that is healing the group. Anyway, an issue is also your gear. If you got the mechanics down there is nothing keeping you from doing Storymode opertaions. The 2 of you just find a group on fleet and que for the current group finder ops. Check what ops it is, read about the bosses and do it. THe rewards from SM OPS is 216 token gear and 216 trash drops, that is far better than what you have. So you might consider doing the operations for a week and you will be full 216 in no time. Most of the SM operations have been nerfed in terms of difficulty and they are 4manable, so you can be carried by the group, but its mostly just tank and spank anyway. So get into ops, use groupfinder, get gear and you can continue your HM FPS farm. There is also nothing hindering you in using groupfinder for HM fps, at least you will have a full group! ALSO you get bolster in SM ops so you dont even need gear to enter it. The bolster in HM fps is not as good as in SM OPS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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