There is a lot info in this post, so I'll start with a summary:
• Follow the storyline to its conclusion on Ziost and you'll have 190 armor pieces in every major slot.
• Use basic and elite comms to purchase gear to fill out your remaining slots.
• High quality crafted 186 gear is available, especially earpieces and implants.
• Check the guild bank for relics and 186 barrel/hilts. Ask an officer if you don't see what you need.
• Dps: shoot for 110% Tech/Force accuracy.
• Tanks: 15-20% Defense, 35-40% Shield and Absorb ratings.
• Healers: 5-6% Alacrity.
• Augment your gear.
Patch 3.2 Update
Patch 3.2: Rise of the Emperor continues the story from Shadow of Revan but also rewards players with an excellent set of 190 rating gear. Once you’ve confronted Revan on Yavin, pick up the Ziost storyline on your ship and continue from there.
The story awards 190 armor pieces in every major slot. This gear is superior to the 186 equipment from the basic comms vendor not only because of its higher rating, but also because it comes with superior Enhancements (Adept, Initiative and Quick Savant) which cannot be found on any of the Vendor gear.
Even as you replace mods with 192s from the Elite comms vendor it’s worth holding on to 190 enhancements. Basically, if the mod you’re using currently has higher Power than its replacement, keep the one you’ve already got, even it’s lower level.
When filling out the rest of your gear slots, you can either use crafted implants and earpieces (there are many NORbies out there willing to cook these up for anyone who asks) or buy those from the comms vendor. Crafted main hand hilts and barrels and relics are still the best place to start in those slots. We try to keep the guild bank stocked with those, so feel free to ask an officer to set you up with those as well!
Fresh: I just hit 60
Mods
If you do not have orange mod-able gear, there are plenty of cheap options for you on the GTN (all armor, off hand and main hand)
Do you have level 172 mods from the Rishi planetary commendation vendor, or quest rewards from Rishi/Yavin, or loot from even earlier? If so you’ll want to look for upgrades. If you collected some Dread Forged operations gear (rating 180), that is barely good enough for the 60 hard mode flashpoints and you can focus on other slots first.
The first thing to do is check the guild bank. The gear and crafting materials are there specifically to help people gear up, so please help yourself to ANYTHING that will improve your character. If you don’t see what you need, don’t be shy about asking. Everyone in the guild benefits when individuals gear up.
186 Barrels and Hilts will give you the biggest boost to your damage, threat or healing output and should be your first priority. The guild bank is stocked with these. Any officer will gladly send you these so you can pop 'em in place the moment you hit level 58.
If you quested up through Rishi and Yavin, you should have a good stash of Basic Comms and can spend them once you hit 60. The basic comm vendor has for every slot but main hand weapon and relics.
Purple quality/186 rating implants and earpieces are available from Biochem and Cybertech crafters. Some of these are a good value as reverse engineering now allows very well itemized crafted gear. Check out this thread for what NORbies can craft: http://www.newoutriders.org/forums/view ... 117&t=3537
Relics
Artificers can craft very good relics that are far superior to anything available at level 55. The guild banks should be stocked with FREE blue quality relics. If you can use 'em, take 'em!
As for which relics to get:
- DPS and Healers should grab the Serendipitous Assault and Focused Retribution relics.
- Tanks should use relics of the Fortunate Redoubt and Reactive Warding.
Augments
Prior to the addition to the outfit designer, augmenting your gear meant committing to your look unless you were willing to spend hundreds of thousands of credits swapping mods from one set of gear to another. Now, however, it's much cheaper to try out a tier set or cartel market outfit without the expensive of removing even a single mod. Moreover, if you'd like to share your gear with another character in your legacy who shares the same stats (say a Republic Scoundrel and an Imperial Operative) you can add mods to a set of Legacy gear and swap it between characters via the mail or your Legacy bank.
The flexibility offered by the Outfit Designer means you can (and should!) commit to augmenting your major pieces without having worry about getting tired of your armor's appearance. With all 14 slots augmented, you will see a huge bump in your performance; this is a necessary step to take if you want to start doing Ops.
Blue quality augments are fine to start, and in abundance in the guild bank.
The augment kits, however, take some effort to create:
- Each kit take 10 "Augmentation Slot Components MK-10" which result from reverse engineering a wearable and crafted piece of high level non-modable equipment
- NOTE: That is anything that is NOT a mod or hilt etc, is NOT a random drop from a defeated mob or is NOT an orange piece of gear.
- Basically, to gather enough components, you’ll need to create and reverse engineer 140 level 56+ items. Yes, that is a lot.
- Synthweavers, Armormechs, Armstechs, Cybertechs, Artificers and Biochemists can make items to reverse engineers for components.
- Synthweavers, Armormechs and Armstechs can make the kits themselves.
An Introduction to Stats
This section is a brief introduction to the various stats available on gear and what goes into the process of maximizing gear. For more information, especially detailed stat priorities for each particular class and spec, feel free to ask an officer or DMG member. We are glad to help out! On the web, I suggest checking out the class guides on dulfy.net or in the class sections of the swtor.com forums.
3.0 has changed things up a bit, but for the most part the stat balance remains the same as it was 55.
The Stats
- Primary: Aim, Cunning, Strength, and Willpower
- Secondary: Critical Strike, Power, Absorb, and Defense
- Tertiary: Accuracy, Alacrity, Surge, and Shield Chance
Power vs. Crit - At this time, Power remains the winner, since it provides a linear increase to healing and dps, while the benefits from Crit fall off quickly. All healer and dps classes that benefit from Crit have enough after around 2% of Crit Rating. That’s only one or two pieces of Crit gear. After that, you should prefer Power whenever possible.
Accuracy – For all dps classes and specs, reaching 110% Tech or Force Accuracy is very important; I cannot overstate this enough. If you wish to maximize your potential in Operations, reaching the Accuracy cap should be your first goal. Missing may not seem like a big deal, but one miss can throw off your entire rotation and be a significant dps loss. To hit 110% accuracy you'll need 755 accuracy. 5 accuracy enhancements and 3 accuracy augments will hit that mark. You can substitute crafted "Hawkeye" implants and earpieces for enhancements in order to hit the accuracy target
Alacrity – Once the red-headed stepchild of stats, Alacrity has been redesigned for Shadow of Revan. It remains a good stat for Healers who want at least 5% Alacrity, but it also can benefit some dps classes and specs since it reduces ability cool downs and can smooth out some rotations. The class guides on the official SWTOR forums or dulfy.net should indicate whether your class benefits from Alacrity.
Surge – After getting enough Accuracy or Alacrity, Surge is the stat you want. Bigger crits make the world go ‘round.
Defense, Absorb, Shield – Each tank has their own set of priorities, but in general, shoot for 15-20% defense rating, and 35-40% absorb and shield rating. If you’re interested in serious tanking and more detailed information, check out KBN's famous Ideal Tank Stat Distribution post or chat up Malykk in game.
The Mods
Armor Mods - these contain a primary stat and Endurance. Armoring from tokens that drop in operations for also contain set bonuses. Set bonus are important for many classes since they often affect key rotational abilities or grant percentage increases to the output of major abilities. That means a 192 Resurrected armor mod that allows you to keep a set bonus is superior to a 198 Deceiver armoring from the Ultimate gear vendor despite the difference in item level. I suggest always holding on to armor mods with set bonuses, so you have the most flexibility in gearing. Finally remember that purple armor mods are specific to the slot they came from; for example, chest armorings can only fit in chest pieces and cannot be fitted in gloves.
Mods – these contain a primary stat, Endurance and a secondary stat and come in 3 difference varieties: unlettered, A and B. In general unlettered mods are the best choice since they contain the best balance of all three stats.
Enhancements – these contain Endurance, a Secondary stat, and a Tertiary stat (or in one case for tanks, another Secondary stat). As with mods, different enhancements contain different ratios of the three stats. For dps and healers the best enhancements are
- Adept – Power and Surge
- Initiative - Power and Accuracy
- Battle - Critical and Surge
- Acute - Critical and Accuracy
- Quick Savant – Power and Alacrity
Augments – It is no longer the case that it's best just to augment power or main stat in every slot. We are at the start of the gearing curve and the increased amount of accuracy needed means that augments can be used to balance out the stats we've had to sacrifice elsewhere. Again, consult class guides to see how they suggest augmenting.
Companion Affection Bonus
Aside from bonuses to crafting, maximizing your affection with each type of companion in your legacy will grant each of your characters various bonuses.
- Melee Tank – +1% Accuracy
- Ranged Tank – +1% maximum hit points
- Melee Dps – +1% Surge
- Ranged Dps – +1% Critical Strike
- Healer – +2% healing received
You receive these bonuses only once per companion type per Legacy. So if you’ve maxed your affection with Bowdaar, you don’t need to give gifts to Skadge for the bonus.
Conclusion
Min-maxing gear has a long tradition in MMOs and SWTOR is no exception. Anyone can improve their character by increasing their primary stat through comms gear and casual play. The difference between poorly and well itemized gear is a matter of degrees. That said, across an entire set of gear, it can be a big deal. If you want to get the most out of your character, tweaking each piece of gear is the way to go. It does take some work, but there are plenty of resources in the guild and online to help you on your way. Don’t be afraid to ask for help; the DMG group in the guild was created just that reason!
