252/258 Gearing System not viable for Casual/PvP players

[Andryah]

Here's a guess (completely out out of left field because I like napkin math)

 

12 alts x weekly Ossus heroics = 12 MWS * 10 weeks = 120 MWS

4 alts x weekly MM flashpoints = 4 MWS * 10 weeks = 40 MWS

10,000 stockpiled UCs = 500 per week per character = 20 MWS

 

Running 12 alts on the weekly is going to gain GC levels, and destroying gear will gain more UCs. Perhaps 2000 more?

 

Total 184 MWS

 

Some gear is 5 MWS, most is 4 MWS. So for the sake of the argument, let's say 4.25 MWS per slot. 9 of the alts for right side legacy shlepping, the other 4 for actual gearing.

 

184 MWS / 4.25 = 43 pieces of gear.

 

Assuming that mainhand / offhand stays out of the vendor, that would be 12 pieces per character == 3.5 character geared.

 

By that time, barrels / hilts will be selling on GTN, for (this is a guess) 50 million credits a pop. So another 150 million for those three characters.

 

 

Yep... and this has all been discussed before in the rolling threads. People are just mostly interested in complaining rather then embracing and conquering a challenge in an efficient manner.

 

It's really not that much different then most of the past BiS grinds in this game (with the exception of the 4.0 super easy grind being and exception, along with the lowbie alt play for tokens to insta gear at 70 that some PvPers really enjoyed). The one notable difference being you cannot really parallel gear on a dozen characters all at once in the coming methodology. Then again... why do you need gear on all your alts? Really... I get that some players want that, but it is not actually a need.. just a want.

 

I'm exhausted just thinking about doing all that.

 

Why? This means the average focused and intelligent player will have their main in full BiS in a couple weeks.. and can play on.. while continuing to spend a few minutes each week with alts doing the alt-a-rama approach. It will take at least two weeks to build the faction to hero to get to the vendors.... due to the usual anti-grind throttles the studio likes to place on faction buiding.... so this actually appears to be tuned fairly well at this point by the studio (except for the players that feel time to Bis per character should be less then one or two calendar days). You can even accelerate this a bit by actually playing missions each week on the new planet/zone.

 

Once the patch goes live and players actually have the BiS pathway accessible... I would bet that 4 weeks post patch.. most players that actually want to be in full 258s, and have any level of focus and commitment ... will be.. which makes it much better then the 5.0 Command Crate route. The really focused and determined players will probably only take two weeks to gear their main. Then they can move on to prosecuting their next favored tragedy about SWTOR in the forum.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Andryah

[translucentwolf]

Simple deal, 'pvp heroes'.

 

You want to stay at the top of the game, you have to *work* for it.

 

PvE. Or don't.

 

Your call.

[Andryah]

Simple deal, 'pvp heroes'.

 

You want to stay at the top of the game, you have to *work* for it.

 

PvE. Or don't.

 

Your call.

 

Except, other then a few hours to build the faction to get to the vendors (and the need to split the build over a couple weeks due to throttling of faction per week), they don't even have to touch PvE unless they want to do some crafted pieces as well.

 

They can of course accelerate their time to gear if they simply work more then one of the available pathways in parallel (and the throttling planned by the studio for UC conversions, Missions for MWS, etc... seem to make it clear that they actually want to encourage this to some degeree). I think even PvPers who say they "refuse to PvE" will in fact do so at least to get their main in BiS ASAP.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Andryah

[Khevar]

I'm exhausted just thinking about doing all that.

Why?

Because planetary dailies / weeklies aren't part of the game that I enjoy.

 

Doing the Ossus weekly every week on one character would result in burn out pretty quickly.

Doing the Ossus weekly every week on 3-4 characters wouldn't feel like a game, but a job.

Doing the Ossus weekly every week on 12 characters would be worse than chewing broken glass (for me anyway).

 

Which is one of the reasons I'm planning on skipping the 5.10 gear grind.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Khevar

[Jdast]

I'm curious too Dasty - what exactly are you doing? Are you using an alt army and a vault full of UC's to get that many toons to BiS??

 

I believe you think you realistically can do this, I just would like you to explain how you intend to do it.

 

Tux,

 

Happy to oblige! The following is based on the current PTS. Obviously, this includes speculation on MH / OH, which are not yet available for purchase. It also assumes that they resolve the mod /enh swapping issue.

 

The analysis below will be tailored to my situation of having a veritable Scrooge McDuckian vault of Unassembled Components (UCs). Regardless, it is still arguably the fastest way to gear up even if you do not have that vault.

As of now on the PTS, some pieces of gear cost 4 Masterwork Shards (MWS), some 5. We do not yet know MH / OH. With 14 slots, and to make the math easy – let’s assume between 60 and 65 MWS to get all the pieces. Let’s go with 65.

 

Here is my strategy for the first 10 weeks:

The key is to maximize MWS shard acquisition across alts, while focusing on a select few characters because relics, implants, earpiece are not transferable by legacy. While I actually have 24 level 70s (yes, all at GC 300), I’m not psychotic and will focus on playing 10. You must not only have 10 alts for this to work, you must enjoy playing each alt a bit each week or this will not work.

 

Here’s how it works for me noting a few key points:

 

1. I have an average of 12-15 hours / week to play.

 

2. I currently have 50,000 UCs. When 5.10 drops in a month, I'll have roughly 55,000. For the past few months, I’ve had my 4 mains (1 tank, 1 healer, 1 melee dps, 1 ranged dps) at BiS, with the notable exception that I have 236 Augments in gear and 240 in Weapons. I do not suffer from BiS-its for alts. Having alts at Ilvl 242-46 was just fine.

 

3. Through disintegrating and doing the PvP dailies / weeklies (something Trixie’s analysis on Joonbeam’s thread does NOT take into account) I have pretty easily been accumulating about 2500 UC’s / week. Note: If you are not hoarding UCs now you are not the brightest bulb on the tree.

 

Let’s begin:

1. Each week on 10 characters, I will purchase ONLY the first MWS that costs 500 UCs. Thus, for 5,000 UC, I will get 10 MWS. This means that without even playing 1 New York Nanosecond of 5.10, after 10 weeks, I will have 100 MWS. Even though I have more alts at 70, I do not want to overextend and use all 24 alts because you have to actually be able to purchase a piece of gear -- and having 3 MWS on each character doesn’t cut it.

 

2. On each of those 10 alts, I will either complete the Ossus Heroic Weekly, which currently takes less than an hour, or I will complete the Weekly Event depending on my mood. Both of these currently grant 1 MWS upon completion, per character. Dulfy used the Weekly Event example of 4 Master Mode FPs, but presumably others will rotate, including, hopefully, a PvP one.

 

In so doing, for about 10 -12 hrs / week, I will accumulate another 10 MWS per character / per week. After 10 weeks, I will have accumulated another 100 MWS, bringing the total to 200.

 

3. For the remainder of the time, I will focus on PvP dailies / weeklies across a smattering of characters to increase UC production. The reason this is important is because I will probably want to buy on the first three characters I wish to gear that second MWS for 1000 UC. Why? Because relics, implants, and earpieces are not transferable across legacies, so I have to be sure for those pieces that I have the actual MWS shard on that character. Heck, on two or three characters I may even do both the Ossus and Weekly Event, increasing my MWS shard production even more!

 

4. The above analysis does not even assume the chance for MWS to drop from Command Crates.

 

Conclusion:

 

By utilizing 10 alts and playing 10 alts wisely I will have 200 MWS at the end of 10 weeks through just steps 1 and 2. Steps 3 and 4 are gravy and will only lower the time. Even if you do not have a vault of UCs, the above way works to gear up faster, though not as fast as moi because I saved up my UCs.

 

So, by combining PvE, doing PvP dailies / weeklies across alts, I can choose the first three characters I want to gear up reasonably quickly in comparison to the crafting method which currently is less pleasant than being locked in a vault with the Jawa Opera troupe. At 65 MWS to get BiS, that’s 185 total.

 

Please note: I’m not saying I will actually do the above because I play for fun, and will sometimes want to level alts, etc. The above is just a possible pathway given the current PTS maximizing efficiency, not necessarily enjoyment.

 

For those who only PvP, I can only recommend that you emphasize doing dailies / weeklies across alts to maximize gains. You do yourselves no favors, however, when you distort UC acquisition time by ignoring dailies / weeklies / disintegrations. And complaining about hero rep? Give me a break.

 

Dasty

Edited November 7, 2018 by Jdast

[Andryah]

Because planetary dailies / weeklies aren't part of the game that I enjoy.

 

Doing the Ossus weekly every week on one character would result in burn out pretty quickly.

Doing the Ossus weekly every week on 3-4 characters wouldn't feel like a game, but a job.

Doing the Ossus weekly every week on 12 characters would be worse than chewing broken glass (for me anyway).

 

Which is one of the reasons I'm planning on skipping the 5.10 gear grind.

 

Other then the faction build though, which is pretty short and results in legacy hero standing for all your legacy ... these are not required.. they simply accelerate completion some if you do them along with whatever your prefer to play. Player choice, like always.

 

And for the record.. I do not plan to chase the gear either... and I certainly won't grind for it. Why? It's a small improvement in gear for a lot of effort/resources and is clearly meant to be a carrot driven attention cycle while we wait for 6.0 (which will immediately obsolete the 258s with green random drops at 70-71). I may acquire a full set from the gearing factory of my guild once everyone else has a set... providing we even light off the gearing factory once we see the final live patch. I will play the new content of Ossus some, but not for the gear.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Andryah

[Jdast]

Sorry, double post!

 

I'll think of something interesting to say and replace.

 

Doh! Dasty

Edited November 7, 2018 by Jdast

[Khevar]

Other then the faction build though, which is pretty short and results in legacy hero standing for all your legacy ... these are not required.. they simply accelerate completion some if you do them along with whatever your prefer to play. Player choice, like always.

Of course.

 

But please realize that my "imagined exhaustion" comment was at the idea of getting 3-4 alts fully geared in 10 weeks.

[TUXs]

Tux,

 

Happy to oblige! The following is based on the current PTS. Obviously, this includes speculation on MH / OH, which are not yet available for purchase. It also assumes that they resolve the mod /enh swapping issue.

 

The analysis below will be tailored to my situation of having a veritable Scrooge McDuckian vault of Unassembled Components (UCs). Regardless, it is still arguably the fastest way to gear up even if you do not have that vault.

As of now on the PTS, some pieces of gear cost 4 Masterwork Shards (MWS), some 5. We do not yet know MH / OH. With 14 slots, and to make the math easy – let’s assume between 60 and 65 MWS to get all the pieces. Let’s go with 65.

 

Here is my strategy for the first 10 weeks:

The key is to maximize MWS shard acquisition across alts, while focusing on a select few characters because relics, implants, earpiece are not transferable by legacy. While I actually have 24 level 70s (yes, all at GC 300), I’m not psychotic and will focus on playing 10. You must not only have 10 alts for this to work, you must enjoy playing each alt a bit each week or this will not work.

 

Here’s how it works for me noting a few key points:

 

1. I have an average of 12-15 hours / week to play.

 

2. I currently have 50,000 UCs. When 5.10 drops in a month, I'll have roughly 55,000. For the past few months, I’ve had my 4 mains (1 tank, 1 healer, 1 melee dps, 1 ranged dps) at BiS, with the notable exception that I have 236 Augments in gear and 240 in Weapons. I do not suffer from BiS-its for alts. Having alts at Ilvl 242-46 was just fine.

 

3. Through disintegrating and doing the PvP dailies / weeklies (something Trixie’s analysis on Joonbeam’s thread does NOT take into account) I have pretty easily been accumulating about 2500 UC’s / week. Note: If you are not hoarding UCs now you are not the brightest bulb on the tree.

 

Let’s begin:

1. Each week on 10 characters, I will purchase ONLY the first MWS that costs 500 UCs. Thus, for 5,000 UC, I will get 10 MWS. This means that without even playing 1 New York Nanosecond of 5.10, after 10 weeks, I will have 100 MWS. Even though I have more alts at 70, I do not want to overextend and use all 24 alts because you have to actually be able to purchase a piece of gear -- and having 3 MWS on each character doesn’t cut it.

 

2. On each of those 10 alts, I will either complete the Ossus Heroic Weekly, which currently takes less than an hour, or I will complete the Weekly Event depending on my mood. Both of these currently grant 1 MWS upon completion, per character. Dulfy used the Weekly Event example of 4 Master Mode FPs, but presumably others will rotate, including, hopefully, a PvP one.

 

In so doing, for about 10 -12 hrs / week, I will accumulate another 10 MWS per character / per week. After 10 weeks, I will have accumulated another 100 MWS, bringing the total to 200.

 

3. For the remainder of the time, I will focus on PvP dailies / weeklies across a smattering of characters to increase UC production. The reason this is important is because I will probably want to buy on the first three characters I wish to gear that second MWS for 1000 UC. Why? Because relics, implants, and earpieces are not transferable across legacies, so I have to be sure for those pieces that I have the actual MWS shard on that character. Heck, on two or three characters I may even do both the Ossus and Weekly Event, increasing my MWS shard production even more!

 

4. The above analysis does not even assume the chance for MWS to drop from Command Crates.

 

Conclusion:

 

By utilizing 10 alts and playing 10 alts wisely I will have 200 MWS at the end of 10 weeks through just steps 1 and 2. Steps 3 and 4 are gravy and will only lower the time. Even if you do not have a vault of UCs, the above way works to gear up faster, though not as fast as moi because I saved up my UCs.

 

So, by combining PvE, doing PvP dailies / weeklies across alts, I can choose the first three characters I want to gear up reasonably quickly in comparison to the crafting method which currently is less pleasant than being locked in a vault with the Jawa Opera troupe. At 65 MWS to get BiS, that’s 185 total.

 

Please note: I’m not saying I will actually do the above because I play for fun, and will sometimes want to level alts, etc. The above is just a possible pathway given the current PTS maximizing efficiency, not necessarily enjoyment.

 

For those who only PvP, I can only recommend that you emphasize doing dailies / weeklies across alts to maximize gains. You do yourselves no favors, however, when you distort UC acquisition time by ignoring dailies / weeklies / disintegrations. And complaining about hero rep? Give me a break.

 

Dasty

I sincerely appreciate the reply Dasty - THANK YOU!

 

I'm very focused when I play, so I can see me taking a similar path as you, but I just don't think I can do it on 10 alts...I'll be pushing on 4 max. Focusing on nothing but the most expedient way to gear sucks, but I've done it wit GC ranks and reputation in the past...I'll do it again here if it's my best bet, which I believe you've demonstrated that it is.

 

I think you're right too - I think this is going to be the most sensible way to gear for most of us...grind it out.

 

I'm bookmarking this reply - that's how much I appreciate it

[Andryah]

Of course.

 

But please realize that my "imagined exhaustion" comment was at the idea of getting 3-4 alts fully geared in 10 weeks.

 

Understood... thanks for the clarification.

 

Why would you need this gear for multiple alts though? Really... given the modest boost in stats/power and the fact that most content in game does not actually need it... "why" is an appropriate question to ask I think.

 

It is of course an individual decision for each player to make... but I do get the sense that some players are going way overboard on gear-for-alts. The PvP player that plays a series of alts in rotation in their PvP play... and do so in a very competitive approach would be a valid exception. Then again.. this has always been more effort for this type fo player for the very same reasons over and over again ---> X effort for Y gain... and alts always multiply the effort for gain.

 

To use an analogy for a moment here........ I think most everyone would "love and want" a high end Ferrari.... and at a steep discount price if they can get it. But the number of people who actually "need" a Ferrari is extremely small... competitive race or rally drivers being just about the only genuine need. That said... every person on the planet has equal access to a Ferarri... though they each have different means and resources to obtain one... hence each person is faced with an actual ROI to work through.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Andryah

[Khevar]

Why would you need this gear for multiple alts though? Really... given the modest boost in stats/power and the fact that most content in game does not actually need it... "why" is an appropriate question to ask I think.

Need is too strong a word. "Would benefit my playstyle" would be more accurate.

 

Generally speaking, I spend most of my time in-game pugging PvE, (with the occasional PvP match in-between). I'm not sure how alone I am in this regard, but unskilled players in pugs don't bother me.

 

My basic tactic is to "carry" the other players in the group, if it is needed. If they're chatty and interested, I'll happily give tips, but for the most part, I'm either going to heal everyone through the stupid, or dps hard enough that we can bypass troubles. (I don't tank pugs).

 

For what it's worth, this is actually fun for me, as it can be a legitimate challenge at times. Heck, I used to do this in the old days as "practice" for healing NM Ops runs. By way an example, I healed a MM Lost Island last Satuday, with a tank and dps that had never stepped foot in LI before (in any difficulty mode). We made it through the entire flashpoint with only one wipe on Sav-Rak. I had a good time, and the new players were thrilled.

 

I'm rambling a bit, but to get back to the point, the more characters I have in good gear, the more variety I have to enjoy the game. Realize that I took a break for almost 2 years and the game is practically the same as it was when I left it. The devs aren't doing much to make it easy for me to keep from getting bored -- it is up to ME to find ways to enjoy it, or leave again.

 

My commando plays differently than my sniper than my sage than my sentinel than my jugg. Switching around is how I keep from getting bored in this era of not much being added to the game.

 

Now as I stated earlier, I'm planning on skipping the 5.10 gear grind, simply because it doesn't sound fun. But if I had the opportunity to leverage my 248 gear to upgrade to 258? Of if the grind weren't quite as extensive? I would have participated, as more gear on more alts would make my personal experience in the game more enjoyable.

 

Just my 2cr.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Khevar

[Jdast]

I sincerely appreciate the reply Dasty - THANK YOU!

 

I'm very focused when I play, so I can see me taking a similar path as you, but I just don't think I can do it on 10 alts...I'll be pushing on 4 max. Focusing on nothing but the most expedient way to gear sucks, but I've done it wit GC ranks and reputation in the past...I'll do it again here if it's my best bet, which I believe you've demonstrated that it is.

 

I think you're right too - I think this is going to be the most sensible way to gear for most of us...grind it out.

 

I'm bookmarking this reply - that's how much I appreciate it

 

No problem, and thank you for the kind words. And, you are absolutely right. The point about alts is that it is a sliding scale. The more alts you play the better. As it turns out, I know some who will push it above the 10 alt example I've given. Given the synergistic effects, they will increase even faster!

 

Nevertheless, I still think you gave the best reason of all to support increasing the current acquisition rate -- namely -- those who are on the cusp of beating HM. Current acquisition rate is too low across the board IMHO, including PvP.

 

Cheers,

 

Dasty

 

P.S. I always used my initials when inputting my tag next to a high score on arcade games. I'm sure you did too. I'm so, so sorry your parents named you "Tiberius Umbara Xanadu" -- I can't imagine how awful high school was for you.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Jdast

[KendraP]

I still don't see the point in new gear. Its adding an unnecessary carrot in a futless attempt to get people to do their new content. Is the content itself not supposed to be a big enough draw?

 

That said, I do have several questions beyond the obvious (i.e. what is going on with MH/OH):

1. This is all gated behind ossus. Do I have to repeat all of KOTFE/ET/Iokath/etc to begin? I am entirely up to date on exactly one toon. KOTFE/ET frankly sucked so bad I have no desire to repeat them on all the alts I plan to use to get gear.

 

2. Weekly areas vary wildly in the time commitment required. Is ossus like cz 198 or like section x?

 

3. I am apparently an idiot because until the announcement of the new gear tier I happily assumed I could use my UC to gear alts for lack of anything better to do with them. I'm at about 20k now, which is half of what is required to gear one toon. I might add that there are people who do not have stockpiles like I do that are calling the existing system a grind - so why make it grindier?

 

4. Do they intend to fix the absurd enhancement locking thing that prevents customization? I have been operating on the assumption this is unintended/a bug because pts. On that same note, and on the off chance this is intended, will it be possible to have a vendor for mods/enhancements for UC/command tokens/MDC?

 

5. Do we know anything about 252 gear? As a tank I depend on high endurance stuff from crafting - will this be inordinately expensive?

 

As a friend of mine said, this new gear system feels very much like they're giving us the middle finger alongside a carrot.

[Jdast]

I still don't see the point in new gear. Its adding an unnecessary carrot in a futless attempt to get people to do their new content. Is the content itself not supposed to be a big enough draw?

 

That said, I do have several questions beyond the obvious (i.e. what is going on with MH/OH):

1. This is all gated behind ossus. Do I have to repeat all of KOTFE/ET/Iokath/etc to begin? I am entirely up to date on exactly one toon. KOTFE/ET frankly sucked so bad I have no desire to repeat them on all the alts I plan to use to get gear.

 

2. Weekly areas vary wildly in the time commitment required. Is ossus like cz 198 or like section x?

 

3. I am apparently an idiot because until the announcement of the new gear tier I happily assumed I could use my UC to gear alts for lack of anything better to do with them. I'm at about 20k now, which is half of what is required to gear one toon. I might add that there are people who do not have stockpiles like I do that are calling the existing system a grind - so why make it grindier?

 

4. Do they intend to fix the absurd enhancement locking thing that prevents customization? I have been operating on the assumption this is unintended/a bug because pts. On that same note, and on the off chance this is intended, will it be possible to have a vendor for mods/enhancements for UC/command tokens/MDC?

 

5. Do we know anything about 252 gear? As a tank I depend on high endurance stuff from crafting - will this be inordinately expensive?

 

As a friend of mine said, this new gear system feels very much like they're giving us the middle finger alongside a carrot.

 

Every single one of your questions has been answered REPEATEDLY across multiple threads in multiple forums.

 

Dasty

Edited November 7, 2018 by Jdast

[KendraP]

Every single one of your questions has been answered REPEATEDLY across multiple threads in multiple forums.

 

Dasty

 

Ok genius, where? I see a lot of "suck it up we're adding gear" or otherwise complaining about the grind. Anything constructive i have seen has been called wrong by someone else, and I can't find the most up to date pts information outside of someone who gets called wrong.

 

But i forgot, its the swtor forums where we don't have someone avaliable to answer simple questions or interface with the community.

[Khevar]

Every single one of your questions has been answered REPEATEDLY across multiple threads in multiple forums.

 

Dasty

That's a little harsh.

 

First of all, the dev tracker doesn't contain any answers to any of those questions. So there's no official answer. Secondly, there's no sticky posts on this subject to make it easier to find the data. Getting any real information requires digging through the avalanche of people sniping at each other to find the rare useful post.

 

As to the questions asked, here's the best I can do:

 

1. Do you have to repeat KotFE/KotET? This would be no, as you can already skip it and go straight to the Iokath / Traitor story through the mission terminal in your starship. I vaguely seem to recall someone saying a new "skip Iokath" was added, but I haven't been on the PTS to be sure.

 

2. Weekly area time required. There's a thread on the PTS mentioning that some of the heroics are poorly tuned (making it difficult to complete), but I haven't seen any mention about how long it takes to run. Anyone have any links on this?

 

3. Why make it grindier? No idea. Best guess I've seen is that 6.0 could be as much as a year out, so this is a grind intended to keep the hamster wheel going.

 

4. Enhancement slot-bound locks. I've yet to see a single dev post confirming whether or not this is intended, or a mistake on the PTS. Anyone got any links?

 

5. 252 gear. I saw someone post that they got one in a command crate on the PTS. It was, however, a box-within-a-box. So you didn't know what the gear was without opening it. The question asked was, if you didn't want that gear, can you destroy it for UCs after the box-in-a-box was opened? Not sure if that was answered.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Khevar

[TUXs]

P.S. I always used my initials when inputting my tag next to a high score on arcade games. I'm sure you did too. I'm so, so sorry your parents named you "Tiberius Umbara Xanadu" -- I can't imagine how awful high school was for you.

HA! You know it lol

[Andryah]

I still don't see the point in new gear. Its adding an unnecessary carrot in a futless attempt to get people to do their new content. Is the content itself not supposed to be a big enough draw?

 

That said, I do have several questions beyond the obvious (i.e. what is going on with MH/OH):

1. This is all gated behind ossus. Do I have to repeat all of KOTFE/ET/Iokath/etc to begin? I am entirely up to date on exactly one toon. KOTFE/ET frankly sucked so bad I have no desire to repeat them on all the alts I plan to use to get gear.

 

2. Weekly areas vary wildly in the time commitment required. Is ossus like cz 198 or like section x?

 

3. I am apparently an idiot because until the announcement of the new gear tier I happily assumed I could use my UC to gear alts for lack of anything better to do with them. I'm at about 20k now, which is half of what is required to gear one toon. I might add that there are people who do not have stockpiles like I do that are calling the existing system a grind - so why make it grindier?

 

4. Do they intend to fix the absurd enhancement locking thing that prevents customization? I have been operating on the assumption this is unintended/a bug because pts. On that same note, and on the off chance this is intended, will it be possible to have a vendor for mods/enhancements for UC/command tokens/MDC?

 

5. Do we know anything about 252 gear? As a tank I depend on high endurance stuff from crafting - will this be inordinately expensive?

 

As a friend of mine said, this new gear system feels very much like they're giving us the middle finger alongside a carrot.

 

Most of the answers to your questions above are already in the public domain in a combination of gold posts, their streams AND... player derived information on the PTS forum, not to mention Dulfy, and other fan support sites who actually take time to gleen all this info from PTS and then distill it down into an organized format for consumption.

 

Suggestion: Maybe actually seek information on your own rather then keep demanding other players feed you an answer to every question and instead of just sitting back and continuing to complain about the new gear being released to the game... optional gear by the way. For example... 252 gear is actually live on PTS now.. and is dropping from crates. For example... story can be triggered to complete once you log in so you can immediately head for Ossus. I could go on, but I am simply not going to spoon feed you answers that already are prevalent and known by many. Go look please, for your answers.

 

Also.. some of your assumptions are simply wrong... like stating that enhancements locked to gear slot makes it impossible to "customize". In point of fact... there can and will be mods and enhancements available through a number of means. And it has already been confirmed and reported in the PTS forum that you can RE the mods and make more (and there does not appear to be a gear lock on crafted ones at this point in time). Currently, there is even a vendor on PTS that sells mods and enhancements.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Andryah

[Andryah]

That's a little harsh.

 

Actually what I think is harsh is someone dropping into every thread to declare how upset (using a range of emotional pejoratives) they are that the studio is releasing new gear, stating that they don't like it.. pulling a topic off topic... and then demanding answers from other players about what is actually being revealed on PTS. My guess is that in KendraP's case.. they feel that this will somehow destroy their PvP guild.

 

But it's academic at this point.. because the complaining will continue and the questions to other players probably will not end.

 

Back on topic... I think based on all we have now learned... this gear is actually within reach of casual players both PvE and PvP. And there are both PvP and PvE pathways to chase the gear. It will be a grind.. but.. it's effectively the same grind for everyone. Yes.. some players are better at a grind then others (some even love it) and some players have more time to grind then others.... but this has always been true and MMOs always continue to evolve and change over time. Of course, some people simply will never be happy if they have to exert some real focus and effort to have the best gear in the game.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Andryah

[KendraP]

Most of the answers to your questions above are already in the public domain in a combination of gold posts, their streams AND... player derived information on the PTS forum, not to mention Dulfy, and other fan support sites who actually take time to gleen all this info from PTS and then distill it down into an organized format for consumption.

 

Suggestion: Maybe actually seek information on your own rather then keep demanding other players feed you an answer to every question, rather then just sit back and continue to rant about the new gear being released to the game. For example... 252 gear is actually live on PTS now.. and is dropping from crates. For example... story can be triggered to complete once you log in so you can immediately head for Ossus. I could go on, but I am simply not going to spoon feed you answers that already are prevalent and known by many. Go look please, for your answers.

Well, person who should get Musco's job:

I checked the dev section before I asked, googled and got the dulfy and vulkk information, and if it wasn't obvious have been following about 3 of these threads from the beginning and still do not have satisfactory answers to these questions even from someone above claiming to be on pts. Or is that not enough research to satisfy your excellency since I happen to find their management of this game incredibly dim witted?

 

Suggestion: either troll better, or continue to glorify us with information obviously coming directly from Musco himself.

 

Also.. some of your assumptions are simply wrong... like stating that enhancements locked to gear slot makes it impossible to "customize". In point of fact... there can and will be mods and enhancements available through a number of means. And it has already been confirmed and reported in the PTS forum that you can RE the mods and make more (and there does not appear to be a gear lock on crafted ones at this point in time). Currently, there is even a vendor on PTS that sells mods and enhancements.

 

Ahh so there it is - the catch I was looking for. I thought the pts vendor was there strictly because pts (i.e. they want ptsers to be focusing on bug finding, not gear grinding). Thus I assumed the lock on enhancements was a bug, but it seems I was mistaken so they could add yet another grind.

 

If 252 gear only comes from crates, god help us. I thought they had finally figured out 100% rng dependency was a total garbage path to gearing that merely ran people off. But alas, how do i forget how exciting randomness is, and now we get random and a totally futless grindfest.

 

But by all means, continue to inform the masses how wrong we are.

Edited November 7, 2018 by KendraP

[Totemdancer]

Ahh so there it is - the catch I was looking for. I thought the pts vendor was there strictly because pts (i.e. they want ptsers to be focusing on bug finding, not gear grinding). Thus I assumed the lock on enhancements was a bug, but it seems I was mistaken so they could add yet another grind.

 

If 252 gear only comes from crates, god help us. I thought they had finally figured out 100% rng dependency was a total garbage path to gearing that merely ran people off. But alas, how do i forget how exciting randomness is, and now we get random and a totally futless grindfest.

 

Hey Kendra,

From what I’ve been following on the PTS and discussing with others.

 

* The Mods, Armor, Enhancments, barrels and hilts that are within shells can be RE. There is a 60% chance they will give a schematic.

* The mats to make them is still extreme and I believe you still need mats from the MM op (trying to confirm for you).

* Expect them to very expensive because of the cost to make them and also the RE to start with isnt 100%.

* The actual Armor internal will most probably not have a gear bonus.

* 252 gear can come from 2 sources. Buying from the Vendor or RNG drop from tier 4 crate (low drop rate apparently).

* Still no update on wether you will be able to move enhancments via legacy gear and remove to min max.

 

I think I’ve gotten all of that right.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Totemdancer

[KendraP]

Hey Kendra,

From what I’ve been following on the PTS and discussing with others.

 

* The Mods, Armor, Enhancments, barrels and hilts that are within shells can be RE. There is a 60% chance they will give a schematic.

So i was right, a grind within a grind. Great...

* The mats to make them is still extreme and I believe you still need mats from the MM op (trying to confirm for you).

* Expect them to very expensive because of the cost to make them and also the RE to start with isnt 100%.

* The actual Armor internal will most probably not have a gear bonus.

All expected, if disappointing. One question: if you can buy schematics off a vendor, why would you RE for the same recipe?

 

* 252 gear can come from 2 sources. Buying from the Vendor or RNG drop from tier 4 crate (low drop rate apparently).

* Still no update on wether you will be able to move enhancments via legacy gear and remove to min max.

 

I think I’ve gotten all of that right.

Whats the cost off the vendor? And i figured on the stupid crates.

 

Provided you can remove enhancements from the gear, why would they not be able to be swapped via legacy gear?

[kodrac]

As it turns out, I know some who will push it above the 10 alt example I've given.

 

Ain't nobody got time fo dat!

[Totemdancer]

All expected, if disappointing. One question: if you can buy schematics off a vendor, why would you RE for the same recipe?

Provided you can remove enhancements from the gear, why would they not be able to be swapped via legacy gear?

 

The schematics at the vendor are for a full Armor piece. Not for the individual internal pieces. The only way to get schematics for mods/enhancements/etc is to pull them out of gear and RE them

 

There is a bug or it’s intended (we’ve no confirmation from the Devs) that enhancements are being locked to the armor slot they came from. ie. If you have an enhancement in a leg and you remove it, you can only put it into another leg slot (the same as bonus armoring).

[giorgo]

Tux,

 

Happy to oblige! The following is based on the current PTS. Obviously, this includes speculation on MH / OH, which are not yet available for purchase. It also assumes that they resolve the mod /enh swapping issue.

 

The analysis below will be tailored to my situation of having a veritable Scrooge McDuckian vault of Unassembled Components (UCs). Regardless, it is still arguably the fastest way to gear up even if you do not have that vault.

As of now on the PTS, some pieces of gear cost 4 Masterwork Shards (MWS), some 5. We do not yet know MH / OH. With 14 slots, and to make the math easy – let’s assume between 60 and 65 MWS to get all the pieces. Let’s go with 65.

 

Here is my strategy for the first 10 weeks:

The key is to maximize MWS shard acquisition across alts, while focusing on a select few characters because relics, implants, earpiece are not transferable by legacy. While I actually have 24 level 70s (yes, all at GC 300), I’m not psychotic and will focus on playing 10. You must not only have 10 alts for this to work, you must enjoy playing each alt a bit each week or this will not work.

 

Here’s how it works for me noting a few key points:

 

1. I have an average of 12-15 hours / week to play.

 

2. I currently have 50,000 UCs. When 5.10 drops in a month, I'll have roughly 55,000. For the past few months, I’ve had my 4 mains (1 tank, 1 healer, 1 melee dps, 1 ranged dps) at BiS, with the notable exception that I have 236 Augments in gear and 240 in Weapons. I do not suffer from BiS-its for alts. Having alts at Ilvl 242-46 was just fine.

 

3. Through disintegrating and doing the PvP dailies / weeklies (something Trixie’s analysis on Joonbeam’s thread does NOT take into account) I have pretty easily been accumulating about 2500 UC’s / week. Note: If you are not hoarding UCs now you are not the brightest bulb on the tree.

 

Let’s begin:

1. Each week on 10 characters, I will purchase ONLY the first MWS that costs 500 UCs. Thus, for 5,000 UC, I will get 10 MWS. This means that without even playing 1 New York Nanosecond of 5.10, after 10 weeks, I will have 100 MWS. Even though I have more alts at 70, I do not want to overextend and use all 24 alts because you have to actually be able to purchase a piece of gear -- and having 3 MWS on each character doesn’t cut it.

 

2. On each of those 10 alts, I will either complete the Ossus Heroic Weekly, which currently takes less than an hour, or I will complete the Weekly Event depending on my mood. Both of these currently grant 1 MWS upon completion, per character. Dulfy used the Weekly Event example of 4 Master Mode FPs, but presumably others will rotate, including, hopefully, a PvP one.

 

In so doing, for about 10 -12 hrs / week, I will accumulate another 10 MWS per character / per week. After 10 weeks, I will have accumulated another 100 MWS, bringing the total to 200.

 

3. For the remainder of the time, I will focus on PvP dailies / weeklies across a smattering of characters to increase UC production. The reason this is important is because I will probably want to buy on the first three characters I wish to gear that second MWS for 1000 UC. Why? Because relics, implants, and earpieces are not transferable across legacies, so I have to be sure for those pieces that I have the actual MWS shard on that character. Heck, on two or three characters I may even do both the Ossus and Weekly Event, increasing my MWS shard production even more!

 

4. The above analysis does not even assume the chance for MWS to drop from Command Crates.

 

Conclusion:

 

By utilizing 10 alts and playing 10 alts wisely I will have 200 MWS at the end of 10 weeks through just steps 1 and 2. Steps 3 and 4 are gravy and will only lower the time. Even if you do not have a vault of UCs, the above way works to gear up faster, though not as fast as moi because I saved up my UCs.

 

So, by combining PvE, doing PvP dailies / weeklies across alts, I can choose the first three characters I want to gear up reasonably quickly in comparison to the crafting method which currently is less pleasant than being locked in a vault with the Jawa Opera troupe. At 65 MWS to get BiS, that’s 185 total.

 

Please note: I’m not saying I will actually do the above because I play for fun, and will sometimes want to level alts, etc. The above is just a possible pathway given the current PTS maximizing efficiency, not necessarily enjoyment.

 

For those who only PvP, I can only recommend that you emphasize doing dailies / weeklies across alts to maximize gains. You do yourselves no favors, however, when you distort UC acquisition time by ignoring dailies / weeklies / disintegrations. And complaining about hero rep? Give me a break.

 

Dasty

 

Lol. What part of "i don't want to grind pve everyday in order to play pvp" don't you still get m9?

What the heck. I would think you are a troll if you didn't put so much effort in this...

10 weeks of pve grind to gear up for pvp. Kek.