PTS Phase 2 Loot Acquisition Feedback (Newest Patch)

[Batwer]

Eric this system is a worse System, why - the rewards are to low for playing the content.

 

Keep in mind that there are many solo players and not only raiders and flash point runners. The rewards for the dailies and weeklies are to low.

 

For examble: in the Moment you revieve 4 command chests für the yavin 4 Weekly, but here not even one renown chest for the same effort - that is frustrating.

 

I got 3 chests and 2 contents green parts below the level of my char, the next Frustration.

 

BTW: 50.000 points for conquest a much to high

 

I also like to play solo. There should still be a difference in the effort. One or two boxes for a weekly, nothing else.

[Pietrastor]

Player base: Ossus and Command ranks is a terrible way to get gear

 

Developers: Hold my beer.

That's my biggest issue. Everyone thought they would apply all the good lessons & experience learned from 5.0 and Ossus but instead they seem to be combining all the WORST and most criticized aspects of both early 5.0 and Ossus gearing systems... the super-slow grind, the RNG nature in multiple layers, the absolutely useless crafting etc.

 

Like what ??? :rak_grin:

Edited September 8, 2019 by Pietrastor

[fire-breath]

I was under the impression that personal loot would now be tied to discipline.

In the last hammerstation run I did (solo on veteran) I got 13 pieces of which:

- defense mod

- tank armoring

- reacting warding relic (the 270 version gave me an absorb shield for a whopping 1 damage for 6 seconds )

- tank mainhand

[TerraStomper]

Being bored waiting for queues to pop I decided to test Takanna using a Bodyguard spec Merc today with item level starting at 300.

 

It looks like everything that can drop now is usually a sidegrade with most items respecting class and discipline. Upgrades do happen. Downgrades are possible too if the returned gear piece is moddable or if the stat roll ends up being particularly fuzzed by "R-factor" wonkiness.

 

All gear returns are either 302 unless the drop is a moddable piece -- then the average item level could be lower, containing mods starting at about 292 going up to 302. Once the character's item level averages 302 or 303, 304 gear starts dropping, as expected, capping at 306.

 

Gear Stats Usually are a Sidegrade

Gear stats are all over the place. There are far more combinations of stats with armoring, mod, or enhancement slots (unmoddable gear still have slots) also having supplemental "R-factor" qualifiers, e.g., Resistive Armoring 77R-3, Lethal Mod 77BR-20 or Barrage Enhancement 78R-11. If a stat ends up high, another stat is lower with the third usually being about average, Or one stat could be quite high with the other two lowered. Or, one could be significantly lowered while the other two are raised a bit. What is Resistive versus what is Versatile can be blurred by R-factor qualifiers, along with being able to get non-BiS enhancements like Discipline, Barrage, Efficient, Proficient, Savant, or Studious, right along side the likes of Adept, Initiative, or Quick Savant. Any of them can have R-factor qualifiers too.

 

I'm not sure what the R-factors do exactly as I have yet to see any two mods of the same title, type, and item level; each influenced by different R-factor qualifiers. I guess a "clean" mod is R-0. Is that BiS, or is perhaps "R-something" could be? The largest "something" I've seen is 29.

 

Getting gear with moddable shells is uncommon, and when they do drop, they are either green, blue or in one trial a surprise gold shell with set bonus. The gold was one pair of boots from the Victor set (which is tank) containing 294, 298 and 300 mods appropriate for a DPS or healer.

 

Exceptions and Potential Bugs

This is in the context of my PTS Bodyguard Merc. Other players, classes, and disciplines may experience different results.

• If Discipline is not set, Takanna takes the required Tech Fragments and returns nothing with no warning.
  
• Unidentified Relics ignore class and discipline, always returning a random relic from all possible types.
  
• Unidentified Off Hand Weapon respects class but is weird with regard to discipline. The returned off hand is always a blaster pistol, usable in either hand, unless it was moddable, then it was either off hand only or usable in either hand. The piece can otherwise contain Tank, DPS, or Healer stats. In my testing 40% of the time the stats were power+accuracy, 30% defense+absorb, 15% power+critical, 10% defense+shield, and 5% power+alacrity.
  
• Unidentified Main Hand Weapon respects class but is also weird with regard to discipline. The returned blaster pistol is always usable in the main hand only unless it was moddable, then it was either main hand only, or could be used in either hand. 70% of the drops were power+critical, 20% defense+absorb, 10% power+alacrity. None from defense+shield or power+accuracy, fortunately.
  
• Unidentified Mod (?) has no title or tooltip description. It also ignores class and discipline returning a random armoring, mod, or enhancement with random R-factor qualifiers. Armorings or Mods were common. Enhancements were uncommon, occurring about 10% of the time.
  

 

AB versus BA Confusion

Mods can also have similar prefixes but can otherwise balance stats very differently. For example, and I do not remember where I got them, I have a "Superior Lethal Mod 80A" and "Lethal Superior Mod 80A". Both have the same +451 to mastery. The Superior Lethal has +339 Endurance and +221 Power while the Lethal Superior has +313 Endurance and +225 Power. Perhaps the difference is a coding error with a hidden R-factor not showing? The Lethal Superior 80A also came up short compared with the stat budget of the Superior Lethal. Or maybe the Superior Lethal overshot the stat budget. Or, are one or both glitched?

 

Also, what is the difference supposed to be between "Quick Savant" and "Nimble" they seem to be very similar, but again it is hard to tell as all of the ones that have dropped for me have different R-factor qualifiers.

 

The Pursuit of Best in Slot

I'm at 306 now. I have one clean unlettered Superior Lethal Mod 80, and one clean Superior Adept Enhancement 80 and what may be a BiS non-moddable 306 chest piece. The Lethal Superior Mod 80A probably is not BiS. The rest of the mods are 304-306 with stats all over the place like two Resistive Superior Armoring 80R-16s, with +441 mastery and +441 endurance each, still somewhat tanky and somewhat inferior to a DPS or healer. One of them came from a Kai Zykken set bracer. The other came from Takanna.

 

Conclusion

I find 6.0 gearing to be weird, chaotic and complex. Being subject to RNG makes it punishing, frustrating or rewarding all at the same time. It is more confusing as to what is "best". The new green upgrade arrow on gear also appears to be just as confused making it unhelpful. Now toss in amplifiers and throw them all into an industrial blender that goes to 11, making for one massive pun-intended grind fest.

 

At least discipline appears to mostly steer one of the RNG variables on personal and tech vendor drops toward better gear. This merc is no longer getting foci, generators, vibroknives, shotguns, sniper rifles, assault cannons, shields, or lightsaber drops, from them. The developers are listening. Renown crates still yield trash however.

Edited September 8, 2019 by TerraStomper

[nyrkverse]

I did a few solo runs of Vet Hammer Station today, Deception Assassin with dps companion, so they went by very quickly, at least.

 

I really hate the deluge of badly itemized gear, having to deconstruct all the time, being forced to wear stuff regardless of stats just because it has a bigger number to ensure a chance that something actually good and useful drops. The myriad of slightly differently statted mods dropping is also more annoying than anything. It's not that it's complicated, it's just tedious and messy. Half of the stuff that dropped was for tanks btw, including the second "best" item, a blue headpiece. I know this is changing, so cool. I have yet to try the vendors, waiting for next patch.

 

I also resent the fact that my current mix-maxed BiS gear will become useless the minute I hit 75 if I want good drops. Well, a *chance* at good drops, which makes it infinitely worse. Plus the set bonus erasure, ugh.

 

I don't play to gear, I gear to play. Unless there's a clear, RNG-free path - gear tokens on bosses or the ability to buy the item I want/need with whatever currency without playing roulette - I'm not really interested.

[Tiranea]

I transferred my level 70 Guardian tank over and ran a MM Hammer Station and SM Karagga's Palace with my guildies, and my main takeaway from this was that you clearly forgot that people will also be running this content below the level cap because while my guildies were ooh-ing and aah-ing about a supposed deluge of loot, I got absolutely nothing from most of the bosses (besides being allowed to roll on the shared drops) and the few times I did get something it was an empty green shell which I wasn't even able to equip as it required level 75.

[TerraStomper]

I transferred my level 70 Guardian tank over and ran a MM Hammer Station and SM Karagga's Palace with my guildies, and my main takeaway from this was that you clearly forgot that people will also be running this content below the level cap because while my guildies were ooh-ing and aah-ing about a supposed deluge of loot, I got absolutely nothing from most of the bosses (besides being allowed to roll on the shared drops) and the few times I did get something it was an empty green shell which I wasn't even able to equip as it required level 75.

 

The green shells you got may not really be empty. They may populate once you equip them at level 75. Still, the point you bring up is totally valid with the new loot tables not necessarily dropping decent rewards for level 70-74 players.

[Hawkebatt]

Any modable gear that comes from the Renown crates are blank until you CLAIM them.

[Xina_LA]

I feel like I'm getting a lot of duplicate loot.

 

I thought at first the green up arrow icon would be useful, but it isn't.

It tells me an item is an upgrade if it's numerically better, even if it would reduce my class' primary stats and give me boosts to stats I really don't need. So... not an upgrade in performance, just numbers.

 

Also, that Onderon Targeters Jacket. Why does it only go part way over my female character's breasts?

It looks like classy/functional armor, not sexy armor, so why does it have a bad case of under-b**b?

(Body type 2 and human, in case anyone is wondering.)

Edited September 9, 2019 by Xina_LA

[ZionHalcyon]

I'll be honest - I am waiting for the next round of patching before I test. Seems like this batch tweaked things a little but didn't fix a ton, and waiting for the more substantial changes coming.

 

Also, they really need to address the crafting (WAY TOO EXPENSIVE FOR GREENS) so we can properly test it.

[elspethfire]

Hello

 

So im on my sniper and so far most of the drops i have been getting are for a jug tank or has tanking specs in it which really disappoints me. I will say from doing dailies i have gotten gear over time but from just mob drops. The renown crate and the vet flashpoints well i just stuff that is lower then my gear i have now and have yet to get any set pieces. Also correct me if im wrong but i thought the stuff to get with the tact frag stuff was suppose to go down in price but i dont see it . ill have to say getting gear for my sniper is taking a while. As for gear from Hammer station i NEVER get anything that is either an upgrade or even a set piece for my sniper Marybelbis. So please let me know what im doing wrong and is it only the master mode FP that u can get a tatical?

 

Thank you

 

 

Ok so this me again just re posting what i posted the other day to let u know that as of today i have been Hammer station VM and im happy with what i have been getting first off getting gear that is for my DPS not getting much tank stuff anymore and im getting upgrades for my sniper not only that the last 2 runs i did i got 2 diff set peices but i can see how they will work for my toon. With that said i know i i said i wasn't getting anything and i was upset about i may have been running a bad streak the other day but out of 5 runs the other day i didnt get much but today i am which is well odd but happy. I do still get random drops for toons i dont play on but not as much as the other day. Im still hoping u will either UP the amount of TECH FRAGS we get or bring the prices down a little so we can get some stuff a little faster for those of us who SOLO in this game as well. I mean i love OPS but its hard to get in them when u dont have a full team or there are not many ppl on to even test it out. BUT with that said im getting gear at a good pace not too fast or to slow.

 

Thank you

Marybelbis

[TerraStomper]

I feel like I'm getting a lot of duplicate loot.

 

I thought at first the green up arrow icon would be useful, but it isn't.

It tells me an item is an upgrade if it's numerically better, even if it would reduce my class' primary stats and give me boosts to stats I really don't need. So... not an upgrade in performance, just numbers.

 

 

I am seeing lots of duplicate loot too. Like one Vet mode Hammer Station run yielded three identical 306 non-mod chest pieces off the last boss as personal loot. Personal loot also included one odd 306 pair of boots with horrible stats -- critical rating in the mid 250s, power at 255, average mastery and way too much endurance. The second boss also dropped an identical chest piece, making 4 identical chest pieces from that run alone.

[Banthabreeder]

Can't we just go back to the way Ossus worked. Save up crystals (Tech Fragments) and purchase the gear we want for our spec?

 

This new system just sucks raw eggs. Having to go through 19 levels of gear only to get to 306 that still who know how many times we roll the dice to get what we need and want.

 

Losing our set bonuses only to eventually get new ones that aren't as good as pre 6.0 ones.

 

Most the theory crafters have abandoned the game so a lot of people who depended on Dulfy.net or other helpful websites will completely feel left in the dark not know what enhancement, armoring, mod, crystal, hilt, barrel, augment is needed for gearing properly.

[Solarmind]

If I want to be flooded by the tons of useless items, I'd rather go and play Diablo 3 or any similar H&S RPG game. Not some MMORPG. Why did you think such gear system would be good for this kind of game I wonder ?

 

Form the other hand… There is no tons of loot ! All the generic enemy in the flashpoints rarely had something other than credits. While the flashpoint's bosses gave some tactical items that suited noone in the group.

So, what we supposed to do with that huge RNG + amplifiers we've got on the gear now and no loot ?

Edited September 9, 2019 by Solarmind

[Kraysk]

Something should be done to Renown. Because now it simply makes no sense.

Either remove it completely or fix it.

What's the purpose of Renown in its current state even?

As supplementary system it doesn't work.

As RNG protection? Hahaha nope.

Edited September 9, 2019 by Kraysk

[g_mK]

My biggest complain of the current system is that there are simply way too many tiers of gear and 95% is unmoddable making min/max very difficult and augmenting either something you will do at the end or very expensive. All this is even worst now that set bonuses are in shells instead of armorings.

 

My preferred method of gear is the one we have with Ossus but getting components to buy gear from all types of content not just ad specific set of dailies.

Edited September 9, 2019 by g_mK

[Eloi_BG]

Ran MM hammer station twice this morning

How it went

- First run was fine, started in full 248-252, got a lot of 270 pieces, close to a full set. However, it was all unmoddable. The mods that dropped were all warding even if I was on a healing merc. Also had a reactive warding relic. All the rest was ok with my spec though

- A set bonus moddable 293 dropped as shared loot at the end, which was nice.

- Second run I started mostly 270 (around 267-268 item rating). Had all the same drops, only 270 all FP even if by the end I was in full 270. Same sharable piece dropped at the end.

- Tried to get an extra relic with the tech fragment vendor, he gave me 2 272 relics (upgrade, yay) but one was tank relic and the other one was not the one I wanted (yay RNG)

 

My comments

- First run felt good cause lots of upgrades. Second run was bad, cause nearly nothing was an upgrade.

- All my gear now is unmoddable, which I hate, but if the goal is only to use this gear as a gateway to top gear that's fine

- Only 1 set bonus piece for 4 players is kinda low imo, especially since it was a tank one both times (the same)

- No tacticals

- At the end my inventory felt bloated, would prefer less drops but better ones

- The set bonus piece had a mix of different level mods (294 armoring, 296 mod, 290 enh) which I thought was odd

- Side note not related to gearing, healing felt about 100 times harder than on live, I had to actually work when it's normally a snoozefest

 

My quesitons

- Why wasn't there a single drop for me (not shareable) over 270 even when I had that gear rating?

- Once we reach higher the top gear level, will there be more moddable gear/mods/set bonuses, cause if not that kinda blows? Seriously no one likes unmoddable gear in endgame.

Edited September 9, 2019 by Eloi_BG

[Eloi_BG]

Update:

 

Did a veteran HS after and got a bunch of 274/276, not sure what was up with that 2nd master mode run.

Edited September 9, 2019 by Eloi_BG

[dfgfssdf]

Ok so Im not trying to add salt to the wound but I'm going to add my two cents. Many people have said similar things here and I will probably say things which sound pretty similar.

 

I spent a few hours (not a crazy amount) on the PTS and have been playing around with the gearing. Firstly, if the only way of getting the gear is by randomized vendors then I will cry. That was literally the one thing I didn't want to see in the game anymore. I don't mind high prices for things (so that I need to grind), however, the fact that I can spend 12k fragments and only walk out with one semi decent gear for my char. I have many alts but I don't get why I would ever want tank gear dropping on my sorc healer. I play a certain char to level and gear that one, not my other alts. I think you need to change the amount of unnecessary items dropping for some chars and classes. It's just plane unnecessary for me to get random gear from these events. It clutters my inventory and I dont end up using it on my other chars because when I play the other alts I end up wanting to gear them themselves. It just doesn't work for me having loads of gear all over the place.

 

Now, tbh I don't have such a problem with the rate the gear drops but because of the above reason it makes the game pointless for me. If I was getting gear that makes sense with no RNG and I knew what I was grinding for then I would enjoy it. However, rn I can spend 5 hours playing and not getting anything for the char that I want to play. It just seems stupid to me. You guys said RNG was going but now it seems that there is more than ever. Every single thing is RNG. Even the rotating vendor is RNG because it's RNG how they rotate weekly . There needs to be some way that I can grind for 3 - 5 hours a night and get something that I want and know what im grinding for... RN why would I want to come home from work and grind for hours only to get nothing that I even wanted? There needs to be some sort of system like 1.0 (or even 3.0) where you can walk up to a vendor after many many many hours of grinding but you at least get something that you have been working towards. RN its just all based on how the RNG feels that day and I don't feel rewarded when I log on/off.

 

Lastly, what is the point of renown? I doesn't give anything useful to my char (as of rn). It seems to just be there because you get a bar to grind... therefore, causing players to want to grind it. However, the rewards from the packs don't give you anything. Well, they give me less than I get rn from a command crate...

 

Overall please please please please please please please I beg of you to do away with the RNG. Let me grind ( I don't mind that) but please let it feel rewarding. I honestly think that this might kill the game for me. It's so bad. I can't sit and gear even for 3 hours. It seems pointless to give so much time to a game yet get almost nothing that I want out of it because the RNG sucks that day

[Balameb]

My quesitons

- Why wasn't there a single drop for me (not shareable) over 270 even when I had that gear rating?

Because your rating was not 270 yet. You personal loot looks for your average rating so if your rating is 269 the chances for upgrades of 272+ are very low.

But once your average rating is 270, you get 272+

 

BW idea is that when 1 piece of gear is turning your average rating low, spend tech crystals in the "RNG" slot vendor.

 

It is very grindy as it is now. And unless they make more big changes, i also think the best route to max rating will be to completly ignore modded gear and set bonus and just use whatever makes rating higher until we are at least 304 average.

[Eloi_BG]

Because your rating was not 270 yet. You personal loot looks for your average rating so if your rating is 269 the chances for upgrades of 272+ are very low.

But once your average rating is 270, you get 272+

 

BW idea is that when 1 piece of gear is turning your average rating low, spend tech crystals in the "RNG" slot vendor.

 

It is very grindy as it is now. And unless they make more big changes, i also think the best route to max rating will be to completly ignore modded gear and set bonus and just use whatever makes rating higher until we are at least 304 average.

 

This is not what happened though. I had 0 drops higher than 270 with 269 (or maybe even 270 rating) in master mode hammer station. Then I did a veteran mode and I got full 274/276 drops all flashpoint. My gear rating didn't change between the runs. Harder content is supposed to drop better gear (or better odds for better gear), which is not at all what happened. I'll try and run another master mode later so I see what happens.

[cibacrome]

Yeah I noticed that even with the improvements there are some very odd quirks with roll numbers. On some Hammer Station bosses I'd get all <= 294 even though I've got 306 gear, on other bosses it's side-grades and maybe a downgrade when there's a set bonus item.

 

It just 'feels' like the RNG protection isn't quite working correctly yet.

 

Also on vendor it's not working well at all. While certain items do drop in the correct discipline/class, others don't (left side & mods - don't even get me started on mods haha)

 

And Kai Zykken RNG is just ridiculous not matter how you slice it. I have all 306 gear, and when I buy from that vendor I have to re-roll like 10-15 times before I get anywhere above 300.

 

And again I'll re-iterate my opinion that unmoddable gear has no place in lvl75 gearing.

 

I will say this though - I was able to gear up to 306 quite fast solo spamming Vet Hammer Station. Between those spams, the RNG vendor, and Kai I have 306 with 4 set berserker and 2 set alacrity bonus. My mods are still not ideal, and with the RNG vendor rolling 90% wrong discipline it's a bit silly to try, but also there should be NO rng with mods. In what universe does that make any sense? Mods are there to alter stats on a more granular level. If devs are looking to alienate customers, then RNG on mods is a great idea. Otherwise just cut that out and give us a selection of mods to choose from.

 

Also the tech frag cap really needs to be raised, or the prices need to come way down. Been said by almost everyone, needs to be addressed.

Edited September 9, 2019 by cibacrome

[NaiadL]

Thank you for making adjustments.

I am really hoping for a lot more changes, because I really like the game and want to see my friends and other people stick around. We currently have several more guild members with "one foot out the door"

 

 

 

This is going to be a bit long.

 

 

We have run some things on the PTS as a guild, mostly a lot of Hammer Stations. We have a small casual guild with several long time players (some since 2012,, like myself) who like to run OPs and have always had hopes of running the harder content, including NIM as a group,but it takes us too long to all gear up, and this new system, in many cases, leaves us hopeless, and pretty much giving up on gear with what this is looking like. None of us like the RNG.

 

Most of us have MANY alts given how long we have been in game (plus Light versus Dark) and we do like to play them, so gearing can take a longer for "non mains" but we still like to play them and run in OPs with them. The gearing is too much of a grind and is too long to accomplish even for mains.

 

Playing to get gear is fine, but there are too many tiers of gear and way too much stuff to sort through that isn't useful. It feels like work and not fun. The majority of the guild members agree that the goal is to play the content and not collect gear.

 

 

I really don't understand the concern about gearing too fast to do content that has mostly been in the game for years. It is actually annoying to have to re-gear to do the SAME content in any mode that has been out for years. Yes gearing for NEW content and grinding for that is fine, but not so that we can go back to doing the same content.

 

 

In addition, with the down leveling, myself and other guild members are questioning what the gear is even for except for the new OP since stats will be capped.

 

 

Not a fan of the single items out of Renown crates that take forever to get. I like the other items such as companions gifts that currently drop.

 

 

Did not get enough of the currency to try out the vendors, except for the Spoils of War vendor, and not about to take my time to do the "medpac thing" just to have a chance at trying to get gear to try it out.

 

Other guild members I spoke to said the gearing and drops were a lot of RNG junk that was not useful. That is exactly what happened with that random vendor, it was a complete waste of currency and I will never do that again if it goes live.

 

We ran about 10 flash points with a different mix of groups, and there was a lot that dropped, but nothing really useful. I like the look of the gear that dropped, but that is all I would use it for is in the appearance designer.

 

Also on one run a rating 38 focus dropped in Hammer Station.

 

 

There is a lot of potential, but not liking many of the implementations currently.

 

Gearing

 

Pros

• Like the looks of many of the new gear pieces
  
• Like the Variety with the set bonuses
  
• Like the idea of the amplifiers & Tunings
  
• Like the fact that loot will drop for discipline
  
• LOVE the upcoming toggle for discipline (YAY)
  

 

 

 

Cons

• TOO MUCH RNG - needs to go
  
• Items dropping below current gear as rewards and items toons cannot use, this isn't a "reward"
  
• WAY Too many gear tiers
  
• Too much static gear
  
• Gear being tied to the irating you have on
  
• Set bonuses tied to shells
  
• Not enough tech fragments to get what you want
  
• Too much of a grind
  
• Renown crates worthless, takes forever to get one and then you get 1 item that may not even be worth it
  
• Too much gear dropping from FP to deal with that is worthless and takes up play time to get rid of. This is going to get old fast. Already became annoying during the Hammer Station FP runs
  
• Do NOT like the fact the current set bonuses are being taken away
  

 

 

 

 

 

Gear Suggestions

 

• A direct way to get gear with the set bonuses. The actual set bonuses you want
   
  
• Why not have something like the tokens that currently drop off bosses, just as they do now and then use those with a currency, then just make it cost more of the currency for different levels of gear?
   
  
• Or just Switch to common currency for all gear. If this is "play your way" then allow people to get currency for every thing you do and let people buy their gear. Something other than what it currently is: Get rid of the RNG
   
  
• Create a spot on the armor for a set bonus "token" instead of being tied to the shell
  

 

 

 

 

Additional Feedback

 

 

• Love the looks of Oderon - really nice on the looks and graphics. Have not tried all the missions yet
   
   
  
• I am, and most people in our guild are Very unhappy with the conquest changes and higher amounts to meet.
   
   
  
• The higher summoning cost is uncalled for and a burden for smaller guilds. We are very lucky, we have had some very generous members donate the credits we have as a guild, plus we have done some fundraising. We buy the guild perks and that is enough of a credit sink. Unfortunately a lot of our guild credits came from long time members quitting the game over 5.0 and the first changes to conquest.
   
   
  
• Yes there are players in the game with LOTS of credits, but not everyone. The higher costs makes it difficult for regular players to buy stuff and smaller guilds to consistently purchase all the guild perks
   
   
  
• Crafting is too expensive, requires too many mats, and is cumbersome
  

[Mallorea]

So after my gear trials and tribulations, I have acquired a full set of tank gear... which is horribly unoptimized. My only recourse to optimize my mods, barrels, armorings, and enhances is to either roll randomly at kai zykken to get a piece with the mod I want, or to endlessly spam takanna's random mod button to find an un-numbered or unlettered mod, at the expense of thousands and thousands of tech fragments. operations drop gear with mixtures of good and bad mods, so that is not a clear upgrade path. As far as I can tell, there is no straight and clear path to BiS, unlike every single expansion this game has had so far. I do not want the grind to BiS to be a game of inches with incremental upgrades that have to be fine tuned to an extreme. This is the worst symptoms of most mobile games and most asian mmos. this benefits people who have massive amounts of time or massive amounts of money, and not the people who cannot devote the time or energy to grind a millionth of a percentage point. I play obsessively sometimes, but I do not think that people should have to play as much as me to compete on the same level as me.

 

TLDR: please make it easier to get BiS mods/enh, either having ops dropping BiS gear with no bs letters or numbers and not have it be a slot machine process.

[phalczen]

Methods:

(*) I have a level 75 Sith Assassin Darkness spec, transferred over from the live servers.

(*) Mostly using the gifted 268 gear from dinging 75 at the Odessen terminal. Exceptions include my two relics, which were 248 SA and FR relics augmented with 228 augments, until I got satisfactory relic replacements. I replaced my beloved legacy moddable saberstaff with the free green premium 268 saberstaff, but inserted the color crystals from my existing MH/OH into the free green premium unmoddable 268 ones.

(*) I performed five (5) veteran mode Hammer Station flashpoint runs, specced as tank and only tank.

(*) Matched through activity finder

(*) The tests were conducted between Friday Sept 13 and Saturday Sept 14.

(*) I had a Renown boost equipped, converted over from the CXP boosts when I transferred my toon from live.

 

Findings:

- Kai Zyken had things available to sell at 3 pm on Saturday the 14th but nothing at 4 pm on Friday the 13th.

- During two of the five final boss fights against Battlelord Kreshan, a tactical item dropped. One of them was "One for All" which if i recall correctly is for Sage Seers/Corruption Sorcs. The other was the tactical that enhances Wither, so perfect for my assassin tank.

- Deconstructing all the gear I was not using resulted in just over 1000 tech fragments, including the fragments earned with each of the 15 boss fights and those earned from the [WEEKLY] to do five VM FPs.

- After starting off with an average character iRating below 268, I'm sitting at 272.

- I acquired one moddable green premium shell, a rating 270 chest piece I believe, with a bugged mod slot that had an "Unnamed Mod" with no stats.

- I acquired four (4) item modifications, one was a lethal A mod, which no one uses let alone a tank, and two were versatile armorings, which are not useful for tanks either.

- I did have about four or five renown crates that I earned during the test. I had a renown boost active, but no XP boost. I forgot to check if all the legacy perks were still unlocked, but I assume they were once I named my legacy.

- Between the renown crates, the actual dropped gear, and the loot rolls I won, I probably got around 130 or so pieces of gear:

(*) the four item modifications, of which I naturally deconstructed the Lethal A mod

(*) one blue prototype head piece

(*) one tactical item relevant for my active advanced class and discipline

- I used 750 of my tech fragments to buy two RNG offhand boxes from Takana on the imperial fleet, and got iRating 274 green premium shields identical to what I was wearing.

- totals above do not include the grade 11 crafting materials (usually blue prototype) that the bosses dropped, which were loot rolls and which I did not frequently win.

 

Pros:

Its nice to have a guaranteed drop per player per boss. Actually, its more than nice, its an improvement over live.

 

Cons:

Most of the 130s pieces of gear were deconstructed. I have replaced all 14 pieces of gear at least once, but out of a hundred or so pieces deconstructed I only had enough tech fragments for two 274 offhands that I already had.

 

Clearly, drops are still not looking at the player's discipline correctly yet. If it didn't have a green up arrow it promptly went into the deconstruction window, except for item modifications. This means that I did not examine a majority of pieces for their relevance, but 75% of the item modifications that I acquired were not really useful for a tank. Filled shells are clearly in a state of inconsistency.

 

I am disappointed that I will not be able to use my favorite mainhands/offhands until much later in the gearing game. Honestly I dislike the notion that I'll have to spend weeks to months using a lightsaber or ranged weapon I dislike just to ensure I get better iRating drops for the next boss.

 

On that note, in reality, you are hurting yourself by not spending time to check your inventory and swap out better rating gear as soon as you loot it, otherwise your drops with the next boss will not be as good as they could be. That won't be a problem when I am playing with my guild ... we will all look out for each other and wait for everyone to make the swaps. PUGs ... I am less confident about them.

 

I dislike the limitation on old set bonuses being level 74 or lower. Its fine to have old things replaced, but at least we should be able to keep using in a meaningful way what we've earned until we've replaced it. Maybe it will be irrelevant in light of the new level-syncing technology, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth that I will be going back to a time when I don't have any set bonuses, something I haven't had since 2.x.

 

Overall, based on a very limited experience, I do not see this as an overall improvement over LIVE. Under the same scenario as in LIVE 5.0, but a fresh level 70, I would have at least crafted 228 item modifications everywhere I could and my 216-224 set bonus armorings wherever I could. After the five VM FPs with the weekly I would be several command crates into tier 1 and probably have at least one set bonus rating 230 piece at this point that would stack with my 4.x pieces. If I had a new level 70 in 5.10.4, with 5 VM Hammers plus the weekly, I'd have earned at least ten tier 2 command crates if not more, plus have the command tokens throughout my other legacy toons that I'd be in at least full 230 with a handful of 236 pieces to boot. Perhaps my memory is not accurate, but this is my first informed impression of the system.

 

Thanks for being willing to listen to feedback. I hope this helps.