The Old Republic for Dummies

[Miltiades]

Like?

I'm always willing to help, as I'm sure many in the guild are. Or as Hassat pointed out, asking in the area might get you the help, especially if you explain why (maybe someone there might know the solution as well).

 

@Eefluxx: Seijin (TWC's GM) pretty much laid it out nice and simple on our forum, I'm sure he won't mind me quoting him here:

 

For just about every DPS spec, it seems as if the best way to maximize your damage is to gear according to the following rules:

 

Always take Power over Critical Rating.

Always you the unlettered Mod as this contains the most total Main Stat + Power.

Always Augment with Main Stat augments.

Get Accuracy to 110% (for Force/Tech attacks) and then stack Surge after that. Alacrity also extremely shallow, especially relative to Surge and Accuracy is way better than both of them.

 

From what I have seen with parse data is that full power has about a 5% edge in DPS over crit/power.

[Char Ell]

As SWTOR is my first MMO I have to say that I've found the end game gearing riddle rather annoying. From what I've seen in general chat it sounds like other MMO's have had similar issues. As I'm gearing with Black Market drops from 55 HM FP's and items purchased from the elite comms vendor I find the Black Market (Boltblaster) gear for my DPS commando to be very lacking in accuracy and high in crit. I just don't understand why it is left to the players to figure out how to best gear their toon.

[Lynk Former]

Yeah, not a lot of people are happy with the way things are right now in terms of endgame gearing.

[Eefluxx]

@Eefluxx: Seijin (TWC's GM) pretty much laid it out nice and simple on our forum, I'm sure he won't mind me quoting him here:

 

Yeh but my Sorc is a healer not dps

 

I just read the updated version for the seer tho from the TWC site.

 

Currently my sorc has 330 crit and around 450 surge with about 450 power but from theupdated version he says to get crit to around 200 or below and stack power now so I pretty much have my answer for a straight healer and non dps.

 

However what you said does help me on my slinger, commando and sniper.

[mimartin]

Like?

Like milt wrote, catch me online I will come...my Sage is underleveled for it, but I have 4 55s that can help, you would get much/any xp, but you would get past it.

[Pho3nix]

No need anymore! thanks though.

 

I just figured **** it, I'll do this without my companion so I ended up completing it without her lol. Got promoted to Major today.

[mimartin]

Well, unlike Milt, I forget to offer, but if anyone on The Harbinger gets stuck on something and needs a little help, I am always willing.

[Eefluxx]

So a few questions

 

As a healer I like using HK51 with me. HK has 2 primary stats in Aim and Cunning. Since molecular stabilizers dropped to like 10k on the gtn I have been buying them up and had my cybertech person build the assassin droid armor for him. However that armor is primarly aim and no cunning.

 

So my question or questions is/are does his aim and cunning stack together or separate? Should I concentrate on getting everything into aim for him for max dps or is using a combo of the 2 the same?

 

His original armor I think is all aim but his gun and shiv and implants and ear are all cunning. I have made him a better ear with aim and gave him a 28 aim barrel. He did just fine with me soloing End of Torvix even tho it took forever.

 

Anyways was just wondering about his 2 primary stats where all other comps have just one.

 

Another one is M14X or however you spell his name. I made him the mando armor droid set. It is all defense and absorb. The only power he has is from his BH gun I bought him with comms for a tank but he still does 1k damage with it. If I were to aug him should I go with Aim his primary stat or power for more damage or give him some absorb and defense augs?

 

I haven't tried to solo Chasing the Shadow yet with him but I did use him once as a tank when our group couldn't find a fourth for it.

 

And for the life of me I can't remember what my other two questions I had were.

[Char Ell]

I've wondered this myself. When I first picked up HK-51 he had aim-based armor, implants, and earpiece but cunning-based weapon and off-hand. As I recall this was the same with Elara Dorne when she joined my trooper's crew. I'm not sure why BioWare makes it confusing. In the end I decided that since HK-51 is an assassin droid and uses a sniper rifle and vibroknife that he should use cunning-based gear, just like the sniper advanced class for Imperial agent uses. My untested theory is that it doesn't matter all that much. As long as you're equipping characters with tech-power based abilities with aim or cunning and and force-power based characters with strength or willpower then you're generally OK. But I haven't verified this is the case. I can tell you that my HK-51 with all cunning gear puts out plenty of damage.

 

As for M1-4X and the Mandalorian wardroid gear you can make using Cybertech, there are cores, parts, and motors that have have defense/absorb and shield/absorb. I personally view M1-4X as a mitigation tank more than an avoidance tank so before 2.0 hit I think I had him at 10-15% defense, 35% shield and 33-35% absorption. I haven't used M1-4X since 2.0 though so I expect that his defense, shield, and absorption chance percentages have dropped since M1 still has the same gear he did pre-2.0.

[Hassat Hunter]

No gear has 2 stats on them. So finding cunning and aim on a single item wont happen. But from what I know you can apply both. Probably want to balance it out to profit the most (what with diminishing returns).

 

Anyway, my question;

So, actually decided to reapply my skills. Considering it has an incremental cost per use and as old-school RPG player I have a fundemental objection to respeccing I thought a lot on it, but I really had to learning a bit more post-2.0 about my skills. Also learned that you don't actually have to put 5 skill points in each row, when I put 8 in the lower and 2 in the nex I could suddenly access row 3. Didn't know that before (damn), but now that I did I could avoid some really sucky skills. Like the one giving whirlwind instant Force Breach. I don't think I ever had it on my quickbar after using it 5 times and declaring it sucky, and from what I heard, 2.0 has made it even worse.

 

Also a power 2.0 ruined was force lift. Pretty useful pre-2.0, I had removed it from my quickbar, so this allowed me to take away skill points away from that doing more damage with the powers I do use. Also was using project a lot before 2.0, but now realised, it's a waste of Force. No more 10% melee damage boost, no more stun-attack giving a powerfull 1-2 combo. It's more points than it's worth, so re-invested those skill points too. In a force-increasing skill, considering I did run out of force point before a lot. Helped mainly by afore-mentioned project, Force in Balance being more costly (not much to do there), and not having a stun-attack anymore and having to waste 40 points doing the same damage with 2 double strikes. Still missing it, being the only power not using Force aside from Wave.

 

And a lot of people don't like me using wave. But it's the only 'free' power. And I agree it sucks if I wave on the exact same moment a green reticle appears on the ground for a massive assault, but that's more exception than rule. And I always try to push enemies into said green markers with wave if possible. Atleast on bosses it's free damage with no push.

 

But yeah, now learning a bit of how 2.0 makes powers suck (3 more of my quickbar, it's starting to get empty ) I am not left with a lot. And invested points in them, hopefully getting a bit more powerful and useful.

 

Now you might wonder, where's the question. Well, during appointing my skill points I noticed "Mind Warp" Before it was just one of the 5 so I didn't mind it much, but learning it could be avoided, I definitely tried applying points to it, and then re-applying them again afterwards learning it did exactly what it said, not more. It states it makes Mind Crush last 1 second longer. The second skill point does 2.

 

So unmodified it does x-x damage instantly (don't recall) and at that moment did 2030 damage over 6 seconds. Applying one point it did the same x-x damage instantly and still 2030 damage. But now over 7 seconds. 2 points, still 2030 damage over time, this time 8 seconds. I mean... doesn't that make Mind Crush WORSE per invested skill point? Am I missing something here? Or is it seriously the worst skill ever, making a power less potent than more. Is it's function hidden or did BioWare really drop a ball here?

[Eefluxx]

Actually my HK's gun and shiv do have two stats on them as they have an aim barrel and cunning mod on them. Tho why a Shiv uses a barrel and not a handle I've never been able to figure out.

 

As for reapplying skills I always refer to the TWC website and see what they say. They have a lot of intelligent people who have played way more than I have and give reasons why you want certain skill points in certain skills.

 

I remembered my other questions.

 

1. I first thought of this during the Gree event and kept forgetting to ask. But if I am flagged pvp and in a group and heal someone outside of my group just to be nice do they get flagged?

 

I ask this because my group was doing the heroic 4 Primary something or the other where you fight the big robot 3 times and the set of 3 robots 6 times. While we were fighting the big robot another group of 3 people using a very obviously poorly geared comp healer was doing the 3 robot thing and losing badly. So while I was healing my group I would toss the random circle in their direction to heal them as well and they wouldn't get flagged. I was afraid if I actually popped a bubble on them or used a direct heal on a certain member I would flag them pvp and some people get upset when they get flagged by something that is not their fault.

 

I did whisper the tank after all the battles were over and said I was trying to help out without getting them flagged and he said he noticed and appreciated it and I just made 3 peoples friend list, also said he was impressed no one died from either group and that I was able to toss heals to both groups. Was a proud moment for Synfal my sorc healer.

 

2. This question is from more recent events. How do you figure out which way to go with the seeker droids?

 

I get the green ring and solid bar on part of it. I move in the direction of the bar a few feet and drop the droid again and then bar points in a completely different direction. I move that way and get another direction. Then I get a red circle and can't find a green again until I am in a different area. Meanwhile my buddy gets the same thing on his bar is telling him to go in a different direction than mine and we are grouped up. Is there a secret to figuring out how this works? And for whatever reason the triangulation you can take doesn't seem to help out either.

[Hassat Hunter]

TWC?

 

1) Yes. Isn't the pvp-flagging great? Already had a lot of flak over this, so leaving it at that...

2) Can't help here, since I don't have the expansion

[Lynk Former]

http://www.thewalkingcarpets.com

[Miltiades]

As for the seeker mission: it's pretty clunky, I'll admit. But I had it pretty much down after a while. When you get a green bar, I tend to scan the area in a circle by following the green bar. Get too far, and it'll become red. The bar isn't that precise, so if it shows you to a direction in front of you, it doesn't necessarily mean you need to go straight ahead, you can still go slightly left or right. I don't use the items that are meant to narrow the search since I tend to find what I'm looking for on my own.

 

There's usually more than one item in the area, which may be why it can show two peopel different directions to go to, I don't know. Blue/purple items are the kind that the seeker droid tends to notice and it keeps telling there is something until someone finds the special item in the area (which I have on multiple occasions).

[Hassat Hunter]

http://www.thewalkingcarpets.com

Looks like they don't a guide for Shadow's with Balance...

[mimartin]

Looks like they don't a guide for Shadow's with Balance...

 

Or infiltration for that matter.

 

Don't believe we have any balance shadows in the guild and the only infiltration shadow is me. As far as operations, my advice for a infiltration shadow is, roll a different dps class. So if I wrote a write up, it would be really short. Still I love the class for solo game play and have refused to respec Leyn'a to a tank, so far.

[Mav]

Looks like they don't a guide for Shadow's with Balance...

I'm too lazy to respec and learn a new skill tree and then type a guide up.

[Miltiades]

1. I first thought of this during the Gree event and kept forgetting to ask. But if I am flagged pvp and in a group and heal someone outside of my group just to be nice do they get flagged?

 

To get back to this: I've been doing Primary Testing the last couple of days and I didn't get flagged for PvP when our group's healer, who was flagged, healed me throughout. I did get flagged at another occasion when I healed a flagged person within my group. This is all within a group, but this shouldn't be any different for doing the same with a person not in the group.

[Eefluxx]

To get back to this: I've been doing Primary Testing the last couple of days and I didn't get flagged for PvP when our group's healer, who was flagged, healed me throughout. I did get flagged at another occasion when I healed a flagged person within my group. This is all within a group, but this shouldn't be any different for doing the same with a person not in the group.

 

Well I have noticed that in groups for heroics or big groups for world bosses and such I can get flagged or flag people, but in FP's it doesn't seem to happen. I don't know for sure about OP's like TFB or S&V or KP and others.

 

Another question. Before 2.0 I had all the datacrons. Every planet I went to and searched and found them even got the +10 cron. When 2.0 came out I went to Makeb and got those crons. However on Alderaan it all of a sudden says 5 of 7 datacrons found. Are there 2 more datacrons on Alderaan now or is this just a glitch?

[Hassat Hunter]

Just a glitch...

[Eefluxx]

So another question

 

I guess this would be for Mav since he did the gunslinger guide on the website.

 

In the guide you mention there has been talk of going no crit and all power by people even tho you still suggested using crit and gave good reasons for it.

 

As a gunslinger compared to a sniper would it be better going more power since you are doing more damage per second with 2 guns as opposed to a sniper who takes one shot at a time?

 

I would think a sniper would benefit from the crit more since he has the one shot at a time on most of his/her shots and the slinger would benefit from more power since he/her is firing multiple shots at a time.

 

For one shot at time I would think you are hoping it would crit. I don't know if on the slinger if it goes by you fired so this is the damage or if it goes by how many shots actually hit and that does the damage per shot. For instance snipe fires one shot for the sniper but twin fire fires multiple shots for the slinger.

 

If it is confusing I will try to explain better.

 

Also you mention going with unlettered mods and enhancements. I know the 28A mods give you more cunning and less power where the unlettered ones give you less cunning and more power. Is it a math thing where the main stat bonus doesn't give you as much oomph as just overall power in that scenario?

[Mav]

So first of all as far as Sniper vs. Gunslinger and 1 Gun vs. 2 Guns or 1 Shot vs. Multiple shots, don't let the animations confuse you. The animations are there to be pretty and are essentially just for show, under the hood the combat is still all dice rolls. That being said there is a slight difference, if you had 2 identically geared characters 1 being a Sniper and 1 being a Gunslinger you'd notice their base damages differ even though being identically geared.

 

A Sniper's base damage may read 1700-2000

 

While a Gunny may have Primary: 1350-1500; Secondary 350-500

 

So while technically yes a Gunslinger has both his primary and his secondary weapon dealing damage, it takes both the primary and offhand weapon to total the same damage as the single sniper rifle. Now, the offhand of the Gunslinger has a different accuracy, so yes there will be very marginal differences, but basically in practice the end result is that if both classes are identically geared, then Sniper=Gunslinger.

 

As to the argument that Gunslingers have 2 sources of damage so are less dependent on crits, again over a given period of time identically geared Snipers and Slingers will produce identical crit rates so it wont matter.

 

Now going specifically over the argument of Power vs. Crit after patch 2.0, its true that after initial testing most theory crafters were saying, 0 Crit All Power. As more and more practical parses come through though, it became evident that gearing really does depend on what spec or skill tree you choose. Using the Sniper/Slinger as an example, the Marksman/Sharpshooter tree does not have a lot of talents that boost Crit/Surge on certain abilities so those trees benefit more from a Power build, while the Engineering/Saboteur and Lethality/Dirty Fighting trees have a lot of talents with increased Surge and Crit percentages and so they actually parse higher when they sacrifice some Power for Crit in their gear. Keep in mind though that the differences rarely exceed more than 50 DPS and when you're talking about dealing 2650 DPS vs. 2600 DPS it isn't going to be a life or death outcome.

 

As to the question about lettered vs. unlettered mods there are a couple formulae you'll want to take into account. Basically every 1 point in Mainstat will give you +0.2 Bonus Damage and a very small amount of Crit%; and every 1 point in Power will give you +0.24 Bonus Damage.

 

So lets look at the unlettered Artful Mod 31

 

69 Cunning * 1.09 (+9% from skill tree) = 75.21 * .2 Bonus Damage = 15.042

57 Power * .24 Bonus Damage = 13.68

Total Bonus Damage = 28.722

 

Now the Artful Mod 31A

 

84 Cunning * 1.09 = 91.56 * .2 = 18.312

32 Power * .24 = 7.68

Total Bonus Damage = 25.992

 

So again, you're looking at a 2.73 DPS difference.... which is pretty insignificant so it isn't a huge issue if you only have one mod and not the other, but when given the choice, the unlettered mods are just that tiny bit better.

[Eefluxx]

thank you for clearing that up for me. I went with all the A lettered mods on all my toons and might rethink that now. Also clearing my one gun vs two guns of damage. I am glad you understood what I was talking about.

 

So would the same apply to sages and the resolve mods? Would it be better to go with the unlettered? I noticed today that with a stim and the four buffs I had 3152 in willpower. While my heals seem to be great would they get better with unlettered mods? Basically is it the same formula for willpower as it is for cunning I guess?

[Mav]

Same formula for all mainstats, also I believe Sage's skill trees only gives a 6% bonus to mainstat so the unletttered mods would be even better for a Sage since there is less of a bonus with mainstat.

[mimartin]

Just going to say what mav and Seijin have beat into my head, unlettered mods are always better. Right now, I have alot of lettered mods on all my 55 toons, but I am working on replacing them as I get the comms and drops to do it.