There is a ton info in this post, so I'll start with a summary:
• Follow the storyline to its conclusion on Odessen and you'll have 190 armor pieces in most slots.
• Spend Glowing and Radiant Data Crystals on gear upgrades, starting with off-hands.
• DPS: shoot for 110% Tech/Force accuracy.
• Tanks: 20% Defense, 40% Shield and Absorb ratings.
• Healers and DPS: a mix of Alacrity and Critical enhancements & augments
• Augment your gear.
Bolster and You
Bolster now applies to all flashpoint and storymode operations making gear much less important. Do you even need to worry about gearing at all? In truth, the short answer is no. This is great thing for NOR. Characters of any gear level from level 50 and up can run flashpoints and storymode Operations and fully participate in the action.
That said, we do encourage people to gear as appropriately as they can. Tanks should have Defense gear and a shield. Healers and DPS should have Power gear.
Improving your gear above the bolster level will also make a big difference to the group. Most flashpoint and storymode Operations are forgiving, but they will go much smoother the better folks are equipped. Min-maxing gear has a long tradition in MMOs, and SWTOR is no exception. Anyone can improve their character through casual play. The difference between a poorly and well-itemized piece of gear is a matter of degrees. However, across an entire set, it can be a big deal. If you want to get the most out of your character, tweaking each piece 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!
An Introduction to Stats
This section is a brief introduction to the stats available on gear. For more information, especially detailed stat priorities for each particular class and spec, feel free to ask an officer or DMG member. On the web, I suggest checking out the class guides on dulfy.net or in this comprehensive guide from the official swtor.com forums.
The Stats
- Primary: Mastery and Endurance
- Secondary: Power, and Defense
- Tertiary: Absorb, Accuracy, Alacrity, Critical and Shield
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. A tiny chance to miss 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 685 Accuracy rating You can substitute crafted "Initiative" implants and earpieces for enhancements in order to hit the accuracy target
Critical - Critical rating has been significantly redesigned for Knights of the Fallen Empire. The old Surge stat has now been baked into Critical. Therefor Crit now increases both your chance to critically hit and the size of your critical strikes. Moreover, Crit rating which had been useless for classes with lots of automatically critically striking abilities now applies excess Crit rating to the size of the critical hit. Despite diminishing returns, Crit is arguable the most powerful tertiary stat for DPS and healers.
Alacrity - Once the redheaded stepchild of stats, Alacrity is now a good stat for all healers and DPS. Because of diminishing returns on Critical rating, it benefits many DPS classes and specs since it reduces ability cool downs and can smooth out rotations.
Defense, Absorb, Shield - Each tank has their own set of priorities, but in general, shoot for 20% defense rating, and 40% absorb and shield rating. If you're interested in serious tanking and more detailed information, check out this detailed tank-theorycrafting thread on the official forums or chat up Malykk in game.
The Mods
Armor Mods - these contain Mastery and Endurance. Armoring from tokens that drop in operations for also include set bonuses. Set bonuses are important since they often affect key rotational abilities or grant percentage increases to the output of major abilities. That means a 212 Defiant armor mod that allows you to keep a set bonus is superior to a 220 Exarch armoring from the Radiant Data Crystal 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 Mastery, Endurance and either Power or Defense; they come in 3 difference varieties: unlettered, A and B. Unlettered mods are the choice for DPS and Healers since they contain the best balance of all three stats. Tanks prefer B mods since they are highest in Endurance.
Enhancements - these contain Endurance, a Secondary stat (Power or Defense), and a Tertiary stat. As with mods, different enhancements contain different ratios of the three stats. For DPS and healers the best enhancements are:
- Adept - Power and Critical
- Initiative - Power and Accuracy
- Quick Savant - Power and Alacrity
- Immunity - Defense and Shield
- Sturdiness - Defense and Absorb
Augments - It is no longer the case that it's best just to augment power or main stat in every slot. For most DPS and healers, a balance of Critical and Alacrity augments is recommended. This guide from the official swtor.com forums covers the ideal distribution of Crit and Alacrity for each class and spec.
Fresh: I just hit 65
208 Barrels and Hilts will give you the biggest boost to your damage, threat or healing output and should be your first priority. 208 rating hilts and barrels are common drops from both the Star Fortress heroics and Tactical and HM flashpoints. These items are BOE, so check the guild bank to see if there are any available.
Your first Data Crystal purchase at level 65 should be an off-hand weapon, focus, generator or shield, depending on your class and spec. Like main hands, they provide the biggest bump to your power rating.
Other Sources of Gear
Crafting - High quality crafted armor, weapons, implants and earpieces are available; however, the crafter must learn the recipes by reverse engineering. Blue gear recipes with 208 rating can be crafted and reverse engineered into equivalent 212 gear. And that gear can again be crafted and reverse engineered to learn the pattern for 220 rating gear. On the plus side, the reverse engineering chance for these patterns is 100% and the gear created is better itemized than the equivalent pieces from the Crystal vendors. In addition, the gear is BOE, so you can craft it on one character and equip it on another.
On the negative side, the gear is non-modable, and the crafting requires Strategic Resource Matrices, which are rewarded from completing your personal Conquest objective.
212 and 220 Modifications such as hilts, barrels, armorings, mods and enhancements can also be reverse engineered. Modifications pulled from items acquired from flashpoints, operations AND the Data Crystal vendors on fleet can be learned by their associated crafters. MK-1 versions of implants, earpieces and relics, which only come from the operations, can also be reverse engineered. Crafting these items require Dark Matter Catalysts which drop from operations. At the moment, NOR is working on building up a stash of Catalysts to help folks gear up. I do not recommend crafting 212 items since they can be replaced by 220s.
PVP - The base level PVP gear now has a rating of 204, which makes it competitive with similar PVE gear. However, because the gear itemization includes Expertise, it will never be on par with PVE gear. I do not encourage anyone who does not want to PVP to do so to improve their character in PVE. That said, this change along with Bolster does allow people who do PVP to wear their PVP gear in flashpoints and SM operations.
Relics
The best easily crafted relics are level 60, 186 rating relics. These are perfectly fine starter relics for flashpoints, Star Fortresses and SM operations.
Higher level relics can be purchased from the Crystal vendors on fleet. However, unlike the crafted relics, these are "On Use". If you don't mind the extra inconvenience of remembering to use them, these are also fine to start
As for which relics are best:
- DPS and Healers should grab the Serendipitous Assault and Focused Retribution relics. Despite the change to Crit, the Mastery and Power proc relics still provide the most bang for your buck.
- 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 , 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-8" which result from reverse engineering a high level CRAFTED item.
- The best items to craft to reverse engineer for components are the highest level Assembly Components (Armstech, Armormech, Cybertech), Bonded Attachments (Artifice and Synthweaving) and Cell Grafts (Biochem). Not only do these items stack allowing bulk reverse engineering, it is also possible to create two for the price of one on a critical crafting result
- To gather enough components, you'll need to create and reverse engineer 140 level 60+ items. Yes, that is a lot. Synthweavers, Armormechs and Armstechs can craft the kits.
Green/Common Data Crystals can be used to buy more than just gear now. If you're interested in building up Influence with your Alliance, I recommend not spending any Common Data Crystals on 208 gear. This equipment can easily be replaced by flashpoint, Star Fortress and SM operations drops. Instead, I suggest visiting Silas Fleetfire, the Smuggled Supplies Vendor in the cantina on Odessen who will take your crystals in exchange for Supply Crates for your Alliance Specialists and Dark Blue quality gifts for your favorite Companions. Blue/Glowing and purple/Radiant Data Crystals can be still be used to buy gear upgrades.
Conclusion
And that's the gist of it. I hope this doesn't seem overwhelming, it's not meant to be. Let me re-iterate that if anyone at all need help gearing up, please don't be afraid to ask. I'm sure there is no shortage of NORbies in guild chat or on these forums who would be more than happy to help!
In addition, we try to keep the guild bank stocked with useful items such as main hand hilt and barrels, relics, augments and kits. 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.