So about gearing, was there any explanation from the devs that I missed?

[RACATW]

Am I doing this wrong or why did they think it would be a good idea for us to run to the tier 1 unassembled components vendor, then run all the way to the tier 1 gear vendor, then run to the tier 2 unassembled vendor, then run to the tier 2 gear vendor, then run to the tier 3 unassembled vendor then run to the tier 3 gear vendor, then run to the tier 4 unassembled vendor, then run to the tier 4 gear vendor? And then after all the hoops we just jumped through we can't even customize or buy any armorings, mods or enhancements from a vendor? Edited December 15, 2017 by RACATW

[KumbayaGOD]

bioware at their best

[TexasMarine]

What do you need to customize? They implemented the outfit designer so we wouldn't have to rip mods out every time we got better level gear. If its just the 246 rating you want you can buy the mods and armor pieces needed on the GTN. The vendors only offer stuff with set bonuses that, while useful, are not required for end game play.

[nyrkverse]

What do you need to customize? They implemented the outfit designer so we wouldn't have to rip mods out every time we got better level gear. If its just the 246 rating you want you can buy the mods and armor pieces needed on the GTN. The vendors only offer stuff with set bonuses that, while useful, are not required for end game play.

 

customize stats distribution, min-maxing and generally it's more efficient to use a legacy set you augment just once and can swap between mirror classes instead of keep augmenting the full pieces of gear every time you get a new one (obvs this excludes ear/implants/relics).

 

@OP: back when 5.0 launched there were no vendors, no currencies and no boss drops. just rng crates and a muuuuuch longer grind as cxp gains were much lower than now. players were...not happy, to put it midly, and the current system is the result of months of tweaking and concessions and that's why it's so convoluted.

 

the funny part is that back when 5.0 launched among the many things said ("the thrill of the hunt!" "rng is exciting!") there was some spiel about how the old system was too complicated and they were aiming to simplify it.

 

edit: the faster way to gear is HM ops to obtain 242 gear pieces and then upgrade those to 248. you can start with Eternity Vault and Karagga's Palace, the eternal loot pinatas

Edited December 15, 2017 by nyrkverse

[merovejec]

Am I doing this wrong or why did they think it would be a good idea for us to run to the tier 1 unassembled components vendor, then run all the way to the tier 1 gear vendor, then run to the tier 2 unassembled vendor, then run to the tier 2 gear vendor, then run to the tier 3 unassembled vendor then run to the tier 3 gear vendor, then run to the tier 4 unassembled vendor, then run to the tier 4 gear vendor? And then after all the hoops we just jumped through we can't even customize or buy any armorings, mods or enhancements from a vendor?

 

What Ben Irving said back then was that "they want to make gearing more simple"

 

Anyway, the process you describe is not optimal at all. The best you can do now is raid Veteran mode Operations for 242 gear tokens and only upgrade those with unassembled components. This is the most efficient way.

[SteveTheCynic]

Am I doing this wrong or why did they think it would be a good idea for us to run to the tier 1 unassembled components vendor, then run all the way to the tier 1 gear vendor, then run to the tier 2 unassembled vendor, then run to the tier 2 gear vendor, then run to the tier 3 unassembled vendor then run to the tier 3 gear vendor, then run to the tier 4 unassembled vendor, then run to the tier 4 gear vendor? And then after all the hoops we just jumped through we can't even customize or buy any armorings, mods or enhancements from a vendor?

Don't do it all at once? When you get enough UCs to buy the T2U piece, buy it (it's an improvement), then go away and gather more UCs to be able to buy the T3U piece, and so on.

[RACATW]

Don't do it all at once? When you get enough UCs to buy the T2U piece, buy it (it's an improvement), then go away and gather more UCs to be able to buy the T3U piece, and so on.

 

Travelling to fleet, waiting for load screen, and running all the way up and then over to the supplies area is even worse and more of a waste of time, isn't it? Because I'd have to do that 56 times. (14 slots *4 tiers)

 

Which means a few hours of my life wasted (loading screen alone is around a minute) when I could've just bought enhancements and mods and arrmorings from a vendor.

Edited December 15, 2017 by RACATW

[TUXs]

Am I doing this wrong or why did they think it would be a good idea for us to run to the tier 1 unassembled components vendor, then run all the way to the tier 1 gear vendor, then run to the tier 2 unassembled vendor, then run to the tier 2 gear vendor, then run to the tier 3 unassembled vendor then run to the tier 3 gear vendor, then run to the tier 4 unassembled vendor, then run to the tier 4 gear vendor? And then after all the hoops we just jumped through we can't even customize or buy any armorings, mods or enhancements from a vendor?

The old system was far too complex...this system is much easier...

[TrixxieTriss]

Am I doing this wrong or why did they think it would be a good idea for us to run to the tier 1 unassembled components vendor, then run all the way to the tier 1 gear vendor, then run to the tier 2 unassembled vendor, then run to the tier 2 gear vendor, then run to the tier 3 unassembled vendor then run to the tier 3 gear vendor, then run to the tier 4 unassembled vendor, then run to the tier 4 gear vendor? And then after all the hoops we just jumped through we can't even customize or buy any armorings, mods or enhancements from a vendor?

 

You didn’t miss anything. This is Biowares more streamlined and less confusing way of gearing now that they’ve removed individual currencies.

The whole thing is a shambles. All they need to do is remove the unassembled vendors and make each item cost x amount of components at the gear venedor.

[TrixxieTriss]

The old system was far too complex...this system is much easier...

 

So true

[PennyAnn]

As mentioned in other posts here: This is the result of fine-tuning a truly awful system. Their intention was to make it much more simple, and at the launch of 5.0 it was. It was also really, really bad.

 

Now it is infinitely better in terms of getting gear, and the price is a confusing system that has been added piecemeal over the last calendar year. It wasn't designed to work this way - it was designed, redesigned, tweaked, redesigned again, and this is the result.

 

I will take the mild amount of confusion and the extra few seconds of going from one gear vendor to another over the months and months of waiting for a single piece of gear to drop from the only source it was available... via RNG.

 

What you see as a pain in the rear is actually a vast improvement over what was there a year ago, albeit more than a little cluster-screwy. Yep, I just made up that word (as the original version would fit better, but get me in trouble).

[AlrikFassbauer]

Am I doing this wrong or why did they think it would be a good idea for us to run to the tier 1 unassembled components vendor, then run all the way to the tier 1 gear vendor, then run to the tier 2 unassembled vendor, then run to the tier 2 gear vendor, then run to the tier 3 unassembled vendor then run to the tier 3 gear vendor, then run to the tier 4 unassembled vendor, then run to the tier 4 gear vendor? And then after all the hoops we just jumped through we can't even customize or buy any armorings, mods or enhancements from a vendor?

 

You very clearly haven't been playinf SWTOR in 2013 or 2014 where we all had to run to all various mod vendors in the first place ... Or craft stuff ... Or, very. very rarely, got already fitting modded armor as drops ...

Edited December 15, 2017 by AlrikFassbauer

[RACATW]

You very clearly haven't been playinf SWTOR in 2013 or 2014 where we all had to run to all various mod vendors in the first place ... Or craft stuff ... Or, very. very rarely, got already fitting modded armor as drops ...

 

It was pretty easy there was just one vendor for my max level gear which I could min max all my highest rated mods and enhancements. And one guy I bought my default max rating gear from.

So why isn't it like 3.0 and 4.0??? This 5.0 is so complicated now and wastes so much time

Edited December 15, 2017 by RACATW

[PennyAnn]

It was pretty easy there was just one vendor for my max level gear which I could min max all my highest rated mods and enhancements. And one guy I bought my default max rating gear from.

So why isn't it like 3.0 and 4.0??? This 5.0 is so complicated now and wastes so much time

 

Complicated, yes... but wastes time, no. It has never been easier to get BiS gear for any player in the history of this game. It isn't set up the way the other expansions were because, as explained, it has been tweaked and re-tweaked to become what it is today - a VAST improvement over what we were given in the start of 5.0.

[RACATW]

Complicated, yes... but wastes time, no. It has never been easier to get BiS gear for any player in the history of this game. It isn't set up the way the other expansions were because, as explained, it has been tweaked and re-tweaked to become what it is today - a VAST improvement over what we were given in the start of 5.0.

 

I completely disagree, 3.0 and 4.0 was the easiest by far! Back then I could get all the enhancements/mods & gear I wanted from one single vendor with the click of a button. The selection ranged from every single available type of mod/enhancement. It was wonderful.

 

But now? Lol, there is no BiS nowdays, just random 248 crap in the gear if you're extremely lucky (1 in 1000 chance) that I don't want, like absorb enhancements. You have to be satisfied with 246s which isn't BiS.

Edited December 16, 2017 by RACATW

[yaxmutal]

Travelling to fleet, waiting for load screen, and running all the way up and then over to the supplies area is even worse and more of a waste of time, isn't it? Because I'd have to do that 56 times. (14 slots *4 tiers)

 

Which means a few hours of my life wasted (loading screen alone is around a minute) when I could've just bought enhancements and mods and arrmorings from a vendor.

 

You must be kidding right? That would take hundreds of thousands of UNCs to do. It is madness to try and upgrade gear from 230 to 248. Just be sensible and only upgrade the 242 gear.

[RACATW]

You must be kidding right? That would take hundreds of thousands of UNCs to do. It is madness to try and upgrade gear from 230 to 248. Just be sensible and only upgrade the 242 gear.

 

Lol what? Hundreds of thousands? I just did around 4 pieces of gear to 248 the other day, for the armorings. It's literally run to the one place, run to the other. You have to run back and forth (4*4) 16 times. It's ridiculous

 

I had a couple ten thousand (20-30k, roughly) or so out of moderate disillusion in the current gearing system.

Edited December 16, 2017 by RACATW

[PennyAnn]

I completely disagree, 3.0 and 4.0 was the easiest by far! Back then I could get all the enhancements/mods & gear I wanted from one single vendor with the click of a button. The selection ranged from every single available type of mod/enhancement. It was wonderful.

 

But now? Lol, there is no BiS nowdays, just random 248 crap in the gear if you're extremely lucky (1 in 1000 chance) that I don't want, like absorb enhancements. You have to be satisfied with 246s which isn't BiS.

 

Take ANY 242 token out of your crates and turn it into literally ANY other type of that gear for ANY class. Turn your operative chest token into a mercenary chest token. Turn that alacrity ear piece into a crit one (make it a token, and just redeem token for crit instead of the alacrity version it started out as).

 

Once upon a time, you could not get BiS without end game raiding. Now you can literally do any content in the game and have a chance to get it. You can get 248 drops from doing story mode chapters. If you want to just do a HM raid, you can turn those 242 tokens into 248s with UCs. Agree or not, it is a fact that the player base at large has never had an easier time of getting top tier gear in this game. Ever have a chance at a top tier gear piece from doing story chapters? You do now. Whether you agree or not, this is the truth of it.

 

You might not like running from one vendor to another, but that's just a side effect of having to rework the system since the launch of 5.0 a year ago to improve it. But trust me, it is improved from what it was.

 

Besides, the rooms with all vendors are right next to each other on the fleet. You act like you have to run from one side of Hoth to the other.

Edited December 16, 2017 by PennyAnn

[SteveTheCynic]

Travelling to fleet, waiting for load screen, and running all the way up and then over to the supplies area is even worse and more of a waste of time, isn't it? Because I'd have to do that 56 times. (14 slots *4 tiers)

 

Which means a few hours of my life wasted (loading screen alone is around a minute) when I could've just bought enhancements and mods and arrmorings from a vendor.

Depends on whether you are going to the Fleet anyway. And if you are using UCs in a hurry, it's because you're doing PvP, and you might as well plonk yourself in a corner of the Fleet while you are in the queue. (Depending, of course, on whether you play at times when the queues pop easily.)

 

And I can just hear the comments (exaggerating "slightly")...

* I finished my gear after 20 minutes. Now what can I do?

* Well, that went quickly, when is the next tier of gear?

 

And so on.

 

The monetary economy of the game requires credit sinks, ways to remove excess credits from the game. Real-world economies don't have this because there is nothing (normally) that *just* produces money out of nowhere. Armed robbery (which our characters engage in from the very beginning of their journey) is, in real-world money terms, a zero-sum game - the robbee loses money (and possibly his life), while the robber gains it. In the game, the credits we gain come in effect from nowhere.

 

And the activity economy of the game requires time sinks in much the same way, and the design of the UC/UT/gear sequence functions effectively as one. I have no idea if it was designed with that in mind, but there's a strong possibility that it was.

[RACATW]

Take ANY 242 token out of your crates and turn it into literally ANY other type of that gear for ANY class. Turn your operative chest token into a mercenary chest token. Turn that alacrity ear piece into a crit one (make it a token, and just redeem token for crit instead of the alacrity version it started out as).

 

Once upon a time, you could not get BiS without end game raiding. Now you can literally do any content in the game and have a chance to get it. You can get 248 drops from doing story mode chapters. If you want to just do a HM raid, you can turn those 242 tokens into 248s with UCs. Agree or not, it is a fact that the player base at large has never had an easier time of getting top tier gear in this game. Ever have a chance at a top tier gear piece from doing story chapters? You do now. Whether you agree or not, this is the truth of it.

 

You might not like running from one vendor to another, but that's just a side effect of having to rework the system since the launch of 5.0 a year ago to improve it. But trust me, it is improved from what it was.

 

Besides, the rooms with all vendors are right next to each other on the fleet. You act like you have to run from one side of Hoth to the other.

 

PvP BiS which the new vendors are mostly based on was much simpler. Personally I find raiding very boring and my guild only did it when they were drunk.

[RACATW]

Depends on whether you are going to the Fleet anyway. And if you are using UCs in a hurry, it's because you're doing PvP, and you might as well plonk yourself in a corner of the Fleet while you are in the queue. (Depending, of course, on whether you play at times when the queues pop easily.)

 

And I can just hear the comments (exaggerating "slightly")...

* I finished my gear after 20 minutes. Now what can I do?

* Well, that went quickly, when is the next tier of gear?

 

And so on.

 

The monetary economy of the game requires credit sinks, ways to remove excess credits from the game. Real-world economies don't have this because there is nothing (normally) that *just* produces money out of nowhere. Armed robbery (which our characters engage in from the very beginning of their journey) is, in real-world money terms, a zero-sum game - the robbee loses money (and possibly his life), while the robber gains it. In the game, the credits we gain come in effect from nowhere.

 

And the activity economy of the game requires time sinks in much the same way, and the design of the UC/UT/gear sequence functions effectively as one. I have no idea if it was designed with that in mind, but there's a strong possibility that it was.

 

Nobody complained about our gearing in 3.0 and 4.0. The time sink was in maximizing and customizing your BiS mods and enhancements and augging. We actually were doing things with our gear and experimenting but now? It's run around in circles and loading screens, along with *no* BiS customization.

Edited December 16, 2017 by RACATW

[Tsillah]

Nobody complained about our gearing in 3.0 and 4.0. The time sink was in maximizing and customizing your BiS mods and enhancements and augging. We actually were doing things with our gear and experimenting but now? It's run around in circles and loading screens, along with *no* BiS customization.

What do you mean? You can still rip and swap mods out so I'm not sure what you are getting at here.

 

The current system is overly complext and has too many tiers and mostly subtiers and other problems but you can still swap out mods like before so I really just don't get this part of the complaint.

[RACATW]

What do you mean? You can still rip and swap mods out so I'm not sure what you are getting at here.

 

The current system is overly complext and has too many tiers and mostly subtiers and other problems but you can still swap out mods like before so I really just don't get this part of the complaint.

 

When you're used to having user-friendly BiS customization why settle for less? BiS = *Best* not 'Second Best' or 'Third Best' etc.

[Tsillah]

When you're used to having user-friendly BiS customization why settle for less? BiS = *Best* not 'Second Best' or 'Third Best' etc.

I think since 5.6 getting BiS gear is easier than it was ever before. It's a stupid system, but it's easy as hell. So easy I get too bored doing it I admit.

 

But between GF last boss runs and losing ranked warzones, you can get BiS gear quite quickly and it's so easy it's really rather embarrassing.

 

So I guess I'm not sure what you mean with "user-friendly". If it means quick and easy, then you're wrong - it's much easier now to get BiS gear. Ok, so ripping bis mods out of gear is a bit more expensive but that's it really.

 

Don't get me wrong, I do not like the GC system at all, but getting BiS gear is dead easy at the moment.

[RACATW]

I think since 5.6 getting BiS gear is easier than it was ever before. It's a stupid system, but it's easy as hell. So easy I get too bored doing it I admit.

 

But between GF last boss runs and losing ranked warzones, you can get BiS gear quite quickly and it's so easy it's really rather embarrassing.

 

So I guess I'm not sure what you mean with "user-friendly". If it means quick and easy, then you're wrong - it's much easier now to get BiS gear. Ok, so ripping bis mods out of gear is a bit more expensive but that's it really.

 

Don't get me wrong, I do not like the GC system at all, but getting BiS gear is dead easy at the moment.

 

Abusing the system? No thanks... I find queueing ranked just to lose really distasteful, for those who it actually means something to still.