PVP perspectives on current state of gearing

[Metthew]

...from the perspective of a ranked PVP'er.

 

The current state of gearing seems to be this:

1. It is fairly easy to increase your item level. This -will- be the priority number one in terms of gearing up - accumulation of a "gearing" set, with which you can roll for higher ilvl modifications. I don't think that the ~many tiers of item levels~ is a problem in light of this.
   
2. Getting the set-bonus itself seems strictly harder. Doing warzones on my sniper, I did not really get any of my sniper set bonus shells, so this will probably take a lot longer. The chances of rolling a set bonus item should be increased. With a 100% chance of a set bonus item dropping, to get a full PVP set, I would need to complete 14 warzones, and with probability p of a set bonus item dropping, I would need to complete an expected 13.6 * 1/p warzones (cf. coupon collector problem). For a reasonable grind for set bonuses (say, expected 75-100 warzones completed), the probability of a set bonus item dropping should be 15%-20%. A 40% probability would decrease this number to 50 warzones. Note that this ratio actually applies for ANY content, so other gearing methods could use an increase in their set bonus drop rates too.
   
3. An aside on the previous point - if we assume that other methods will be prevalent in gearing up to 306, set bonus drop ratios -could- be lower. If we assume, for example, that I would be doing 200 warzones while grinding up to 306, we could have a set bonus drop rate of 7%-ish. However, people may do different things for getting the ilvl up and locking in on the specific set bonus, so the set bonus drop rate should be at least 20%-25% IMHO. ESPECIALLY since people may want multiple sets for different specs, different content, different compositions (amplifiers and sets for 4DPS vs. tank/heal, cleave vs. burst etc.). The current odds seem lower, and should be bumped up (at least for ranked warzones).
   
4. The ranked warzones drops seem to be better in ilvl compared to the unranked warzone ilvl, but it is still not a guaranteed ilvl increase. The chances should be skewed higher for ranked warzones.
   
5. The number of modifications needed to improve the gear seems daunting, but doubling / tripling the number of modifications dropping from content should greatly improve the chances. I should note that BiS items DO drop from Takanna, which is OK I guess. Modification grind will need to be repeated many times for different set bonuses, re-rolling amplifiers, etc., so there is no harm in increasing the drop number and rate of modifications.
   
6. That the new stims and augments are prohibitively expensive to craft is terrible. I understand that higher ilvl items should be harder to craft, since it allows bypassing the first step of the item grind, but stims and augments should be much more within reach. In particular, these items should not be gated behind conquest, since there will be massive demand for these items (especially consumable stims). I understand, however, that items may require more mats overall, since with deconstruction we should all be swimming in Jawa Junk which everyone in turn should be selling on GTN.
   
7. In terms of crafting being viable, nice set bonus (empty) shells gated behind conquest mats crafting would give crafting more meaning and allow conquest crafting to be viable IMHO.
   

 

I do think that gearing is on a promising path - but please keep working on it. We have just gotten around to testing PVP gearing (since PVP wasn't really tested in phase 2), so there is still work to be done.

 

EDIT: Another point - the tertiary stat budget should be increased. The augments are just a mild improvement right now - they should give a lot more tertiary stats. That they are so close to current 240 augments is, to put it mildly, a bit disappointing.

Edited October 7, 2019 by Metthew

[Lhancelot]

...from the perspective of a ranked PVP'er.

 

The current state of gearing seems to be this:

1. It is fairly easy to increase your item level. This -will- be the priority number one in terms of gearing up - accumulation of a "gearing" set, with which you can roll for higher ilvl modifications. I don't think that the ~many tiers of item levels~ is a problem in light of this.
   
2. Getting the set-bonus itself seems strictly harder. Doing warzones on my sniper, I did not really get any of my sniper set bonus shells, so this will probably take a lot longer. The chances of rolling a set bonus item should be increased. With a 100% chance of a set bonus item dropping, to get a full PVP set, I would need to complete 14 warzones, and with probability p of a set bonus item dropping, I would need to complete an expected 13.6 * 1/p warzones (cf. coupon collector problem). For a reasonable grind for set bonuses (say, expected 75-100 warzones completed), the probability of a set bonus item dropping should be 15%-20%. A 40% probability would decrease this number to 50 warzones. Note that this ratio actually applies for ANY content, so other gearing methods could use an increase in their set bonus drop rates too.
   
3. An aside on the previous point - if we assume that other methods will be prevalent in gearing up to 306, set bonus drop ratios -could- be lower. If we assume, for example, that I would be doing 200 warzones while grinding up to 306, we could have a set bonus drop rate of 7%-ish. However, people may do different things for getting the ilvl up and locking in on the specific set bonus, so the set bonus drop rate should be at least 20%-25% IMHO. ESPECIALLY since people may want multiple sets for different specs, different content, different compositions (amplifiers and sets for 4DPS vs. tank/heal, cleave vs. burst etc.). The current odds seem lower, and should be bumped up (at least for ranked warzones).
   
4. The ranked warzones drops seem to be better in ilvl compared to the unranked warzone ilvl, but it is still not a guaranteed ilvl increase. The chances should be skewed higher for ranked warzones.
   
5. The number of modifications needed to improve the gear seems daunting, but doubling / tripling the number of modifications dropping from content should greatly improve the chances. I should note that BiS items DO drop from Takanna, which is OK I guess. Modification grind will need to be repeated many times for different set bonuses, re-rolling amplifiers, etc., so there is no harm in increasing the drop number and rate of modifications.
   
6. That the new stims and augments are prohibitively expensive to craft is terrible. I understand that higher ilvl items should be harder to craft, since it allows bypassing the first step of the item grind, but stims and augments should be much more within reach. In particular, these items should not be gated behind conquest, since there will be massive demand for these items (especially consumable stims). I understand, however, that items may require more mats overall, since with deconstruction we should all be swimming in Jawa Junk which everyone in turn should be selling on GTN.
   
7. In terms of crafting being viable, nice set bonus (empty) shells gated behind conquest mats crafting would give crafting more meaning and allow conquest crafting to be viable IMHO.
   

 

I do think that gearing is on a promising path - but please keep working on it. We have just gotten around to testing PVP gearing (since PVP wasn't really tested in phase 2), so there is still work to be done.

 

Thanks for you sharing your findings on PTS. Thanks also for some optimism added to the end of it, even if slightly critical throughout the post.

[Metthew]

Thanks for you sharing your findings on PTS. Thanks also for some optimism added to the end of it, even if slightly critical throughout the post.

I do actually believe the system isn't fundamentally flawed, and making different sets for different occasions can be fun (cleave set, burst set, 4DPS set, etc.). There is definitely room for improvement though, and it wouldn't be helpful if I got a more negative tone.