Gear Confusion

[vacalpotan]

Some noob questions.

 

What is the best gear I can get solo at lvl70 and where to get it?

If I wear purple gear and/or purple modifications, what happens if I drop sub? Will I lose the ability to wear them?

With a new expansion around the corner, is it still worth it to spend millions on lvl70 gear?

 

Thanks!

 

EDIT: I'm talking about dps gear.

Edited May 15, 2018 by vacalpotan

[exfell]

The best gear for you (and everyone else atm. *) will be yellow 248 rated set bonus gear. You get this as a very rare drops from command boxes and buying from fleet vendors with unassembled components that you get from disintegrating gear you do not want from boxes. If you do no group content, this will be a long and slow process. (I can't remember if you get components directly from any solo content)

 

Buying 246 purple crafted gear costs some but might still be your best option, esp for left side. Wether it is worth it or not for you depends on how much you want better gear right now and how much credits you have to spend. It is relatively cheap though. To give an idea of what comes after, a set of new 240 augments costs somewhere around 75-80 million. Some people would never touch them and some have bought several sets already; most are somewhere in between.

 

* let's not nitpick about 246 B-mods, etc.

Edited May 15, 2018 by exfell

[DocDAM]

On your second Q:

 

Any artifact-quality gear already bound to you can still be worn after your sub ends. So no worries there. But I’d still recommend you purchase an account-wide artifact equipment authorization if you plan to play as Preferred for extended periods. It is costly though (2700 CC or goes for 10’s of millions of credits on GTN).

[vacalpotan]

The best gear for you (and everyone else atm. *) will be yellow 248 rated set bonus gear. You get this as a very rare drops from command boxes and buying from fleet vendors with unassembled components that you get from disintegrating gear you do not want from boxes. If you do no group content, this will be a long and slow process. (I can't remember if you get components directly from any solo content)

 

Buying 246 purple crafted gear costs some but might still be your best option, esp for left side. Wether it is worth it or not for you depends on how much you want better gear right now and how much credits you have to spend. It is relatively cheap though. To give an idea of what comes after, a set of new 240 augments costs somewhere around 75-80 million. Some people would never touch them and some have bought several sets already; most are somewhere in between.

 

* let's not nitpick about 246 B-mods, etc.

 

At the moment the best way I know how to farm money is Heroics, and they don't yield anywhere near enough to have hundreds of mil to spend on gear. I'm still working on my storage unlocks, too. So I guess purple is not gonna be for me. Yellow is also very far away for obvious reasons.

 

So I guess I'll go with orange adaptive gear and the best mods I can find.

 

Thanks.

[vacalpotan]

At the moment the best way I know how to farm money is Heroics, and they don't yield anywhere near enough to have hundreds of mil to spend on gear. I'm still working on my storage unlocks, too. So I guess purple is not gonna be for me. Yellow is also very far away for obvious reasons.

 

So I guess I'll go with orange adaptive gear and the best mods I can find.

 

Thanks.

 

I had no idea this unlock could be bought with CC. I thought it was strictly for subscribers. Thanks!

[Andryah]

Some noob questions.

 

What is the best gear I can get solo at lvl70 and where to get it?

If I wear purple gear and/or purple modifications, what happens if I drop sub? Will I lose the ability to wear them?

With a new expansion around the corner, is it still worth it to spend millions on lvl70 gear?

 

Thanks!

 

EDIT: I'm talking about dps gear.

 

You never said exactly what you plan to do in game. It matters... with regard to what you actually need.

 

Unless you do competitive PvP, or a lot of Ops..... you don't need anything near the best gear. You might want it.. but you don't need it... and "want" implies you are willing to pay what it takes to get it.

 

You can purchase artifact quality 228s for all your gear slots for very reasonable prices off the GTN. Add Augments to all that (which lets you tune your final stats as well) and you have gear sufficient for most things in this game to be honest. 228s are dirt cheap to craft, as well as fairly common world drops.. hence they are inexpensive (~ 50K a piece, or less). Even easier.. particularly for the non-subscriber would be 220 blues. Even orange shells filled with green mods from the mod merchants on fleet + adding augments is pretty effective gear for casual play

 

If you do indeed do competitive PvP or hard OPs... then there is a price to be paid for doing so.. either in time (grinding GC) or credits (buying 246 crafted gear). There is no welfare program for this.. you either grind for GC gear and/or acquire crafted 246s. Honestly.. it would be faster to grind for credits and then buy the 246s and that gets you close to what you can do with GC 248s, save for the set bonus on the 248s.

Edited May 15, 2018 by Andryah

[Dbohrius]

Some noob questions.

 

What is the best gear I can get solo at lvl70 and where to get it?

If I wear purple gear and/or purple modifications, what happens if I drop sub? Will I lose the ability to wear them?

With a new expansion around the corner, is it still worth it to spend millions on lvl70 gear?

 

Thanks!

 

EDIT: I'm talking about dps gear.

 

If you play no group content at all the least difficult way to gear up is by grinding the planetary Heroics and weekly missions at Black Hole, Section-X, Makeb, CZ-198, Oricon, Yavin-IV, Ziost, and Iokath.

 

After you gain enough command crates, you can also directly buy Tier 1 gear appropriate to your class and spec at the vendor on the Fleet. This Tier 1 gear will be bought with Command Tokens you get when opening the crates and will give you a set bonus for your class and spec.

 

After that you may spend your credits to buy gifts for you favorite companion. You'll need about 5 million (4.81 mil, to be exact, plus 90k to buy Legacy of Altruism I thru III at the Legacy tab) to get any companion from Influence Level 1 to Influence level 50.

 

With a full set of Tier 1 gear and an Influence level 50 Companion you can beat any solo content in this game. Anything at all.

[vacalpotan]

Thanks guys. Much appreciated.

 

I'm not familiar with the structure of group content in this game. What I aim for right now is gear that allows me to do all the solo content as well as flashpoints that are the equivalent of 4/5/6-man dungeons in other games. I need gear to enter these groups.

 

I do not aim to do operations and stuff that is the equivalent of raids in other games.

 

So like in other games, I imagine there is a relatively fast way to get "BiS" solo gear that allows me to enter the most basic dungeons, where I can probably get better gear for the harder dungeons.

[Aeneas_Falco]

At the moment the best way I know how to farm money is Heroics, and they don't yield anywhere near enough to have hundreds of mil to spend on gear. I'm still working on my storage unlocks, too. So I guess purple is not gonna be for me. Yellow is also very far away for obvious reasons.

 

So I guess I'll go with orange adaptive gear and the best mods I can find.

 

Thanks.

 

The best credit generator in the game by far, short of gaming the GTN or flipping Cartel Market items, is crafting. The downside is that doesn't really become a big credit generator until you've maxed out a crafting skill and obtained a lot of schematics, and since all crafting skills use three crew skills for crafting materials (and you are capped at only three total skills per character for subscribers), it is much better when you have an alt that can take that third crew skill. It is also requires some credit investment while levelling your crafting skill.

 

Tl;dr: Crafting is the best way to go for credit generating in the long term. Heroics is better if you need credits now and don't yet have a maxed out crafter.

Edited May 15, 2018 by Aeneas_Falco

[Aeneas_Falco]

Thanks guys. Much appreciated.

 

I'm not familiar with the structure of group content in this game. What I aim for right now is gear that allows me to do all the solo content as well as flashpoints that are the equivalent of 4/5/6-man dungeons in other games. I need gear to enter these groups.

 

I do not aim to do operations and stuff that is the equivalent of raids in other games.

 

So like in other games, I imagine there is a relatively fast way to get "BiS" solo gear that allows me to enter the most basic dungeons, where I can probably get better gear for the harder dungeons.

 

There are a few different ways in SWTOR to get BiS gear.

 

The first of course is by doing Operations, but I won't go more into that since it isn't something your interested in. Another is by Galactic Command drops.

 

Once you hit level 70 you'll start gaining levels in something called Galactic Command whenever running content. With each level in Galactic Command you'll get awarded crates that when opened have a chance to drop either purple or yellow set bonus gear for a tier that corresponds to your GC level. Yellow is slightly better than purple. The drop rate is not bad at lower levels, but is quite slow at max, and yellow gear pieces have lower drop rates than purple. Galactic Command will also award Command Tokens that can be used to purchase a full set of starter set bonus gear (purple, item level 230) from a vendor on Fleet.

 

The third is by doing PVP or GSF. PVP and GSF awards something called unassembled components which is sort of vendor currency that can be used to purchase unassembled gear pieces from a vendor on Fleet, which then can be exchanged for an assembled (a.k.a. useful) set bonus gear piece at 236 item level or above (248 is max) at a separate vendor in exchange for some of those Command Tokens I mentioned earlier. Short of doing an Operation (which drops assembled & unassembled gear pieces) unassembled components are the only means of gaining unassembled gear pieces to convert into useable set bonus gear at item level 236 or above. Galactic Command drops assembled set bonus gear, but is a much slower means of reaching BiS if relying on that alone. Originally PVP and GSF were the only means of obtaining unassembled components, but that was changed and now there are additional means. PVP is still the fastest means to obtain them, but if PVP isn't your thing you can also get them by disintegrating gear with stats from Galactic Command that you don't need, or by doing things like Flashpoints or Uprisings. If you do all of the above they pile up quickly. Unassembled Components can also be mailed between your characters.

 

The final means of gearing is either by crafting or purchasing from crafters. You won't get BiS via crafting other than augments, but crafters can create gear all the way up to item tier 246, which is not far behind 248 in quality. The main thing crafted gear lacks is the set bonus, but crafting is a good way to get very good gear quickly and then replacing with set bonus as you obtain it (assuming you craft or have excess credits) or using for pieces that don't come paired with a set bonus, like for example earpieces or implants, or hilts, mods, or enhancements.

 

When you start obtaining yellow set bonus gear, either from Galactic Command or from the Fleet vendors, the set bonus is attached to the armoring within that piece. You can take the armoring out of the shell and place it in a cosmetic shell of your own, and the set bonus will carry over. However if you upgrade for example a 236 set bonus armoring with a crafted 246 armoring, the contribution that piece makes toward your set bonus will disappear. Replacing the 236 armoring with a higher set bonus armoring (242 or 248) will preserve your set bonus. You can freely upgrade mods or enhancements from set bonus gear with superior crafted ones without affecting the set bonus. Set bonuses are tied only to the armoring.

 

Only yellow set bonus gear can be converted to the next highest tier via the gear vendor on Fleet. A 230 (purple) set bonus set couldn't be converted to 236 (yellow) in that way, for example.

 

Finally, when you start getting the yellow set bonus gear (236, 242, and 248 item levels) save the shells if you rip out the armoring, mods, and enhancements to put in cosmetic or Cartel Market gear of your choosing. You'll need your 236 shells for example to upgrade to 242 at the vendor. The usuable 236 gear piece will be converted into a 242 unassembled piece when upgrading at the unassembled gear vendor. Whatever you do, don't vendor or delete the shells or you'll set your gear progression back.

Edited May 15, 2018 by Aeneas_Falco

[Dbohrius]

Also, let's talk about Flashpoints in SWTOR, as they are a bit different from Dungeons in other games.

 

Flashpoints (henceforth FPs) are a form of group content for FOUR players, no more, no less. Depending on the level of skill involved you can sometimes complete FPs with two players and two Companions, but I'll not speak about it here. So, four players.

 

FPs currently have three difficulty levels or MODES.

 

Story mode -- these are deemed "story-essential Flashpoints" and can be played solo. They have interesting bits of in-game lore and it is generally assumed that every character should go through them at least once.

Veteran mode - originally the "standard" difficulty level, which requires a full 4-person group to clear.

Master mode - the old "hard mode" FP designed for skilled players and die hards. Master mode FPs are really hard to beat and require that everyone in the group know their role very well. It is also intended that players must have at least full Tier 2 or even Tier 3 gear to clear some of the harder ones.

 

Story mode FPs can be cleared solo and aren't difficult or challenging at all. Period.

 

Veteran mode FPs are easy enough if you know your class and if you get a half-decent group. You get healing kolto stations every boss fight, there's no Enrage timer and very limited mechanics to learn. You just have to pay attention to the game. Gear is also no problem, because everyone is bolsterd in Veteran mode; meaning your gear will be at least the bare minimum to clear the content.

 

Master mode FPs, well.... what I understood from you last comment is that you may be trying to get gear for the Hard mode FPs. If that's really the case, I'm sorry to say there are no shorcuts: you must grind your way through the Command system until you get enough Tier 2 or 3 gear to even try. That, or you manage to get 3 other very good players that agree to carry you through the FPs.

 

Unfortunately, the Master modes currently do NOT give gear directly. They do, however, give a fairly good amount of Command Experience, or CXP.

 

The only "short cut" there is was already mentioned somewhere upthread: get another 7 friends and try a Story Mode Operation (Ops, for short). These have bolster, too, like Veteran mode FPs, but the mechanics are harder and there are no healing kolto stations. But generally speaking they are "easy" (some more than others) and every boss drop Tier 2 gear. Story mode Ops also award a very nice amount of CXP.

 

Well, that was quite a bit. I wish you good luck and good games

 

 

Also, in case you want to know more about Story mode FPs, click on the spoiler tag below.

 

 

These are the following Story mode FPs in chronological order (Republic version / Empire version):

 

-Esseles / Black Talon

-Taral V / Boarding Party

-Maelstrom Prison / The Foundry

-Directive 7

-The Battle of Illum

-The False Emperor

 

These comprise the basic plot of levels 10-50 in the original game.

 

Then we have the Prelude to the Shadow of Revan:

 

-Incursion on Korriban

-Assault on Tython (Empire players do these in reverse order)

-Depths of Manaan

-Legacy of the Rakata

 

Then we have the Shadow of Revan FPs:

 

-Blood Hunt

-The Battle of Rishi

 

Then we play through KOTFE / KOTET and have no more FPs until the Traitor storyline, where we get:

 

-Crisis on Umbara

-A Traitor Among the Chiss

-The Nathema Conspiracy

 

And that is currently where we are at.

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2018 by Dbohrius

[vacalpotan]

Thank you so much, guys. Your overview of gear progression and dungeons helps more than you can imagine. Yes, I'm interested in all of these things, only my work schedule limits how much I can play these days. It sounds like a good guild can help greatly with those story-mode Ops. Overall, I like how the game works. There is so much to do, too.

 

EDIT: One last question. I also play with my brother regularly, just doing the class and planet stories. Will we be able to duo the story-mode FPs or are those strictly solo?

Edited May 16, 2018 by vacalpotan

[Dbohrius]

EDIT: One last question. I also play with my brother regularly, just doing the class and planet stories. Will we be able to duo the story-mode FPs or are those strictly solo?

 

I'm not entirely sure... you'll have to try for yourselves.

 

The Story mode FPs are very easy, though, and at least Esseles / Black Talon can be played on Veteran mode with just two competent players plus two Influence level 10-15 companions.

 

What is your server and time zone, BTW?

[vacalpotan]

I'm not entirely sure... you'll have to try for yourselves.

 

The Story mode FPs are very easy, though, and at least Esseles / Black Talon can be played on Veteran mode with just two competent players plus two Influence level 10-15 companions.

 

What is your server and time zone, BTW?

Darth Malgus and CET.

[Dbohrius]

Ah, well, I only have starting toons on Darth Malgus, so I'll not be able to help you there... unless they have another server transfer sale

 

But if you re-roll on Satele Shan someday give me a call! I'm at GMT-3 most of the year.

[vacalpotan]

Ah, well, I only have starting toons on Darth Malgus, so I'll not be able to help you there... unless they have another server transfer sale

 

But if you re-roll on Satele Shan someday give me a call! I'm at GMT-3 most of the year.

 

Thank you, my friend. I will keep this in mind.

 

Though, tbh, you've already helped me a lot.

Edited May 16, 2018 by vacalpotan

[TrixxieTriss]

You can earn over a mil credits playing for about an hour doing highend heroics or dailies

[vacalpotan]

You can earn over a mil credits playing for about an hour doing highend heroics or dailies

 

Yeah, I mean let's not talk about that. I've done my research. I read somewhere that doing all Heroics can net 2.8mil per day. I guess with my gear that takes 3h per day. So roughly 1 mil per hour. Like you said.

 

Or... I can spend a lot of real money on the cash shop and sell stuff in the GTN making hundreds of mil an hour, or however much I want, depending on my budget. But I'm not salty about that. Every game is like this now. But it still hurts, learning the prices of endgame gear and the fact that I'd literally have to grind hundreds of hours if I wanted top gear. But like I said, every MMO is like this now and the only appropriate response, as far as I'm concerned, is not bothering. I will do the story. I will do what I enjoy. I'll probably never have great gear.

[Aeneas_Falco]

Thank you so much, guys. Your overview of gear progression and dungeons helps more than you can imagine. Yes, I'm interested in all of these things, only my work schedule limits how much I can play these days. It sounds like a good guild can help greatly with those story-mode Ops. Overall, I like how the game works. There is so much to do, too.

 

EDIT: One last question. I also play with my brother regularly, just doing the class and planet stories. Will we be able to duo the story-mode FPs or are those strictly solo?

 

You'll be able to run the story mode flashpoints together. While story mode is essentially solo mode for the Flashpoints, you can run them grouped without issue.

[vacalpotan]

You'll be able to run the story mode flashpoints together. While story mode is essentially solo mode for the Flashpoints, you can run them grouped without issue.

 

Very nice. Thanks.

[exfell]

At the moment the best way I know how to farm money is Heroics, and they don't yield anywhere near enough to have hundreds of mil to spend on gear. I'm still working on my storage unlocks, too. So I guess purple is not gonna be for me. Yellow is also very far away for obvious reasons.

 

So I guess I'll go with orange adaptive gear and the best mods I can find.

 

Thanks.

 

Others have given you great answers already, I just want to clarify that crafted 246 gear does not cost hundreds of millions. It is the new augments that are really expensive and you do not need them.

However be aware that if you drop sub the amount of credits you can have at your disposal at any given moment will be limited. That will be a hindrance to any future gtn purchases.

[vacalpotan]

Others have given you great answers already, I just want to clarify that crafted 246 gear does not cost hundreds of millions. It is the new augments that are really expensive and you do not need them.

However be aware that if you drop sub the amount of credits you can have at your disposal at any given moment will be limited. That will be a hindrance to any future gtn purchases.

 

I'ma have to check out 246 crafted gear then. I'm also hearing I stop earning command points if I drop sub. I guess I'll have to stick with it after all.

[vacalpotan]

Others have given you great answers already, I just want to clarify that crafted 246 gear does not cost hundreds of millions. It is the new augments that are really expensive and you do not need them.

However be aware that if you drop sub the amount of credits you can have at your disposal at any given moment will be limited. That will be a hindrance to any future gtn purchases.

 

Okay, this is frustrating af now... How do I search for 246 crafted gear in GTN? I can't figure it out.

[Dbohrius]

Do a search for Versatile hilt (or barrel) 54. Presto!

 

For mods: Advanced Lethal Mod 54

 

For Enhancements:

 

Advancement Adept Enhancement 54 (gives you Critical)

Advancement Quick Savant Enhancement 54 (gives you Alacrity)

 

Good luck

 

EDIT: Thank you for the correction, TrixxieTriss

Edited May 17, 2018 by Dbohrius

[vacalpotan]

Do a search for Versatile hilt (or barrel) 54. Presto!

 

For mods: Advanced Lethal Mod 54

 

For Enhancements: Advanced Critical (or Alacrity) 54

 

Good luck

 

Thank you, again.