How Much Does Gear Matter in PvP?

[clocknane]

I just want to know how much it matters. I thought bolstering helped, but it seems a 10 item rating difference makes a rather large difference in terms of damage output and healing. I am in no way a pvp master, in fact I am average at best probably, but I just want to know if me having an item rating of 233 really puts me at a huge disadvantage. Thanks.

[Evolixe]

Enough to matter significantly. Bolster allows you to participate, but anyone saying that you're on nearly equal terms with a fully loaded 248 character is taking the piss with themselves. Edited December 12, 2017 by Evolixe

[Glower]

For regs?

 

Get augments ("old" 228 purples are good enough), 248 mainhand and offhand and you are good.

[Glower]

Enough to matter significantly. Bolster allows you to participate, but anyone saying that you're on nearly equal terms with a fully loaded 248 character is taking the piss with themselves.

 

On my op i got -300 damage with my old 208 gear but with 248 mainhand and offhand vs full 248. Its tolerable i think.

 

On my tank i got MORE stats in crappy gear (not even 208) vs my full 248 gear (i know that you can optimize it, but it's another thing).

[Evolixe]

On my op i got -300 damage with my old 208 gear but with 248 mainhand and offhand vs full 248. Its tolerable i think.

 

On my tank i got MORE stats in crappy gear (not even 208) vs my full 248 gear (i know that you can optimize it, but it's another thing).

 

Don't compare it to 208 gear. The people that bolster is intended for (or at least, need it the hardest) don't have that.

 

In gear you pick up from the story and other solo outside world missions you'll barely if at all break 3000 bonus damage.

And have nearly nothing on secondaries.

[Aeneas_Falco]

A very good player in bolstered 208s is probably still going to beat a poor one in full 248s.

 

That said however it would be wrong to state that gear does not matter at all, as it clearly does. If all things are equal a player in full 248s with the best augments is going to have an advantage over a player without them. For one the player in 248 is going to have a larger health poll. The difference between 208 and 248 however is smaller (though there is a difference) than the difference between no set bonus and set bonus. Full set bonus is the biggest advantage of them all when it comes to PVP gearing.

 

Gear level is also one of the big determining factors in who gets first focus in an arena, and it's much harder to dish out big damage numbers when you are spending most of the match just trying to survive long enough for your teammates to kill one of the three or four enemies that are on you like white on rice.

Edited December 12, 2017 by Aeneas_Falco

[Glower]

Don't compare it to 208 gear. The people that bolster is intended for (or at least, need it the hardest) don't have that.

 

In gear you pick up from the story and other solo outside world missions you'll barely if at all break 3000 bonus damage.

And have nearly nothing on secondaries.

 

Well i must admit that i never used crappy pve gear on my dps, only on tanks (it works on them very good). So maybe you are right.

[Rafiknoll]

I had only a quick reading of all responses, but I there is one important technical detail which I didn't notice if it was mentioned here:

The bolster bolsters your up to 242 rating (disregarding augments), therefore, if you have augments 228 and gear 230, you should be as strong (stat-wise) as a guy geared 242 with 228 augment (but maybe less min-maxed than him). If you have no augment you get bolstered up to 242 without augments. Not sure if it is exactly same if you have, say 208 with 236 augment, that you will necessarily bounce all the way up to 242 with 236 augments, because these augments are new and I am not sure how are they taken into account. What is however certain is that those who have gear above 242 will simply have more stats just as they would have outside the warzone. That means that there is quite a big difference (mostly noticed in HP) between a guy who has 242 or less and a guy who has 248, assuming both use 14 augments. This isn't as great a difference to say that the worst 1v1 spec would solo the best 1v1 spec if they were to fight alone in the warzone, and there is always the skill factor, and the latency factor. But now you know what to compare this too. So when you ask if there is a disadvantage with 233 gear, it is almost the same question as if there is a disadvantage with 242 gear (when many people have 246+)

 

Hope this helps.

[TrixxieTriss]

On my op i got -300 damage with my old 208 gear but with 248 mainhand and offhand vs full 248. Its tolerable i think.

 

On my tank i got MORE stats in crappy gear (not even 208) vs my full 248 gear (i know that you can optimize it, but it's another thing).

 

You get better Bolster or at least perform better in old 208 gear over any gear between 228 and 242.

But you need to have “all” 208 items. If you mix and match, it won’t be as good. The only exception I’ve seen to that is weapons

I’ve kept all my 208 gear for new Alts when they hit lvl 70

Edited December 13, 2017 by TrixxieTriss

[KumbayaGOD]

I just want to know how much it matters. I thought bolstering helped, but it seems a 10 item rating difference makes a rather large difference in terms of damage output and healing. I am in no way a pvp master, in fact I am average at best probably, but I just want to know if me having an item rating of 233 really puts me at a huge disadvantage. Thanks.

 

 

better gear better eveything , meaning say you hit 22k with 230 and with 248 you hit 27k meaning better damage overall and it goes same with say alacrity you get 8% in 230 and 10% in 248 meaning you can load up your ability faster

[TrixxieTriss]

I had a guy complain loudly how gear reliant the game was in pvp and how he wasn’t performing as well as others. The problem was, he was in lowbies and everyone bolsters the same to lvl 70 stats.

I had a great laugh at that, especially when he argued with us all and told us he wasn’t underperforming and that it was the gear.

I will say though, that people still don’t understand how Bolster works. They do not undstand they need all slots filled with a full piece of armor, weapon, relic, implants and ear or Bolster won’t work as well for them.

I still see people at lvl 70 that have no crystals in weapons or wearing legacy gear with only armor in it and not mods or enhancements. Or even worse, I see people wearing empty shells and they tell you Bolster takes care of it, so you don’t have to worry (that is more prevalent in lowbies and mids)

So yes, gear matters, but only if you don’t understand Bolster or/and you are in lvl 70 and only if you are playing people of equal or higher skill than you. If you are skilled enough, then gear matters less and less.

Edited December 13, 2017 by TrixxieTriss

[themachinemann]

A good player in bolstered 208s is probably still going to beat a poor one in full 248s.

 

This, but there's no "probably" about it. If the pvp scene had a good number of top tier players, then yeah, gear would matter. Truth is most players would be just as bad if they had full 248 because they're still clicking, don't know defensives, have bad positioning, no rotation or strategy, etc. Hell, some people seem to think using your defensives or raid buff before the gate opens is useful to them.

 

Sure gear matters a bit, but most players would be much better off by parsing for 5 mins, starting to keybind etc rather than try upgrade their gear.

[kiiltz]

I don't think it's gear as much as it is bolster. I've seen quite a few people in 208's out perform those in >242's and I myself queue in 178's. T1 and T2 just don't seem to do that well in my experience. I've also seen people in the 65 starting gear do pretty well dps wise.

 

Of course none if it really comes close against real pvpers in BiS 248's and it's a bit hard to figure out with the disparity in skill level.

[TrixxieTriss]

I don't think it's gear as much as it is bolster. I've seen quite a few people in 208's out perform those in >242's and I myself queue in 178's. T1 and T2 just don't seem to do that well in my experience. I've also seen people in the 65 starting gear do pretty well dps wise.

 

Of course none if it really comes close against real pvpers in BiS 248's and it's a bit hard to figure out with the disparity in skill level.

 

Yes, Bolster has always been fickle. It’s really hard to tell what’s going on with each change unless someone is dedicated enough and is willing to test extensively for the community and post the results. Unfortunately we have lost people from the game who used to do this for us, like Icykill_

I can only speculate that 208 is what Icy would call the sweet spot for gear under 242. I recently started a new lvl 65 and got 208 armor, which is the same as the old ranked pvp armor. Both my old ranked armor and this new 208 armor perform the same and give me the best results.

I think those people you see out performing in 208 vs 242 will be old time or dedicated pvpers of above average skill. In those cases, skill will usually close a small gear discrepancy made by Bolster and allow those higher skilled players to win. It’s only when there is too much of a gear discrenpancy, that skill gets muted. People in 242 vs 208 with the same skill, will beat those in 208.

I won’t equip any 242 gear until I have a full set, I still use my 208 gear till then because if you mix the higher gear with the 208 gear, you lose the sweet spot the 208 gear gives you.

What I’m do is save for 248 weapons and equipment them with my 208 gear (It doesn’t seem to affect the 208 sweet spot).

Then I save up buy gear, but don’t equip till it’s all 242.

I then remove my 208 internals and put them in legacy gear and store them for Alts.

Once you are past the 242 barrier, you don’t have to worry about different gear rating affecting Bolster and I just upgrade as I go.

I also remove 242 internal and store them in legacy gear for furture Alts,

[Monterone]

I also like PvPing in my old set 208s until I can get to 242s or better, however the difference between being bolstered and being full 248 optimized is noticeable.

 

I would say the extra stats and damage/healing output is close to 10% better. The bonus damage/healing will go from 3300/3400 to 3800/3900 and that itself is a ~9-11% boost, not factoring in the additional crit and alacrity. (Mine went from 3400 to 3800, but I changed my optimization a bit.)

 

On top of this the health pool is much larger as well - they like to add a lot more health each tier gear to offset the power creep. This can be a difference of another 10%, which means that 10% more damage you're doing, you now have an extra 10% time to do it. Base x 1.1 x 1.1

 

So, if you did 2 million damage in a warzone, for example, with fully optimized 248s that may be closer to 2.4 million. All rough estimates.

Edited December 13, 2017 by Monterone

[TrixxieTriss]

I also like PvPing in my old set 208s until I can get to 242s or better, however the difference between being bolstered and being full 248 optimized is noticeable.

 

I would say the extra stats and damage/healing output is close to 10% better. The bonus damage/healing will go from 3300/3400 to 3800/3900 and that itself is a ~9-11% boost, not factoring in the additional crit and alacrity. (Mine went from 3400 to 3800, but I changed my optimization a bit.)

 

On top of this the health pool is much larger as well - they like to add a lot more health each tier gear to offset the power creep. This can be a difference of another 10%, which means that 10% more damage you're doing, you now have an extra 10% time to do it. Base x 1.1 x 1.1

 

So, if you did 2 million damage in a warzone, for example, with fully optimized 248s that may be closer to 2.4 million. All rough estimates.

 

Yes, I agree, there is still a rather large gap between 242 and 248. But at least they have now made it easier to gear up faster. Before when Bolster was lower and it took for ever to gear up, I was a proponent of Bolster being higher than 242. Now it doesn’t seem to be an issue for me as much and it would only affect me in Ranked, which I would never do under geared (the way it should be for everyone).

 

What I would like to see is unassembled components being earned in lowbie-mid pvp to be used at lvl 70, the same as we used to have with WZ Comms. It doesn’t have to be a lot of components per match, maybe two-three. This would help encourage people to lvl Alts and play pvp as they do. It would help people learn the basics of pvp and their classes properly in lower tiered pvp and not at lvl 70. This helps everyone and ultimately helps the health and quality of pvp.

[Turn-XGundam]

gear matters a lot and always did since launch, anyone saying otherwise is just a moron.

 

bolster has always been crap imo. it doesn't really boost important stats like crit/alacrity.

[Lundorff]

Having 248 gear also works as a deterrent in SR. Whom are you going to focus? The sniper with 244 gear and 124k HP or the sniper with 248 gear and 130K HP. (Yes yes there might a other factors to influence the decision, but you know what I mean.)

[Jadescythe]

My initial thought is gear isn't important. I did my first 2 warzones since I came back last night on my Jugg and did 2 million damage in both and went immortal in the first. I'm in a mix of tier 1/tier 2 stuff and have no augments in my gear atm. In serious ranked play, it will likely matter, but you'll be fine in regs depending on your skill level.

[LordTurin]

My initial thought is gear isn't important. I did my first 2 warzones since I came back last night on my Jugg and did 2 million damage in both and went immortal in the first. I'm in a mix of tier 1/tier 2 stuff and have no augments in my gear atm. In serious ranked play, it will likely matter, but you'll be fine in regs depending on your skill level.

 

Yup, basically this.

 

Skill>class imbalance (some classes are better at certain things than others)>gear.

 

Set bonus is easily the most important thing you can do as far as gear goes. Having it is a huge help vs. not having it. After that, there is a relatively small difference between bolstered vs 248. Not that there is no difference, but if you are getting completely destroyed by someone over and over and over again, better gear is not going to save you. Only in a tie between 2 players of basically equal skill playing on basically equal classes will gear really make a difference.

[Izariel]

Gear is everything.

[Aeneas_Falco]

My initial thought is gear isn't important. I did my first 2 warzones since I came back last night on my Jugg and did 2 million damage in both and went immortal in the first. I'm in a mix of tier 1/tier 2 stuff and have no augments in my gear atm. In serious ranked play, it will likely matter, but you'll be fine in regs depending on your skill level.

 

Gear is important.

 

Keep playing and keep track of the damage you do as make your way into tiers 3 and 4. You'll notice in tier 3 or 4 you are often doing more damage than you did in tier 1 and 2.

 

Gear isn't the end-all-be-all and skill matters more than any other factor, but if you run up against another player who is just as skilled as you you're going to want gear that is either on par with his or better. Better gear may not be an overwhelming advantage but it is an advantage nonetheless.

[Jadescythe]

Gear is important.

 

Keep playing and keep track of the damage you do as make your way into tiers 3 and 4. You'll notice in tier 3 or 4 you are often doing more damage than you did in tier 1 and 2.

 

Gear isn't the end-all-be-all and skill matters more than any other factor, but if you run up against another player who is just as skilled as you you're going to want gear that is either on par with his or better. Better gear may not be an overwhelming advantage but it is an advantage nonetheless.

 

The point is that people shouldn't blame gear for their performance. No one is saying you won't do better in the best gear, it would be hard not to with higher stats. Anyone thinking their poor performance is solely due to lower gear isn't being honest with themself though. If you fought someone of equal skill using bolster vs. optimized max gear you would still win 2-3 fights out of 10 and the times you lose would be close. It isn't like they would beat you with 50% HP still. The advantage is there, but the importance is almost non-existence in an 8v8 environment.