First off, I've only been playing about 7 weeks so a lot of things are still new to me.
I play an assassin tank currently doing HM lvl 55 flashpoints. Before 2.0, gearing seemed a bit more straightforward. I was given Tionese then I moved onto Columni etc, These all had set bonuses and dropped from HM flashpoints then there was raid gear.
Gearing seems a bit more blurry now. I'm gearing from hard modes/comms (basic/elite) and no gear has set bonuses anymore. My previous mods with the set bonus attached is AR 136 and my new ones are all 146 to 162 so putting the old mods in for the bonus seems pointless. Am i supposed to run lvl 50 Ops to obtain gear with set bonuses that I can rip? And if that is the gear progression route, why cant i choose these in group finder? I'm currently in a small guild that never has more than 5 online so guild ops are out of the questiion for now. Also, I've never raided in SWTOR before (I have in other games but not here). The first time I tried to do EV before 2.0, a mate invited me to a group, I said it was my first time tanking an Op but I've tanked all hard modes and watched EV vids and immediately 4 out of 6 people left. How do I start doing Ops now that I cant even use GF?
My next point of confusion is the new gear itself. From a previous post, my total defensive stat budget is 1100. This points me to
{1100,{defense->524,shield->440,absorb->136}}
My current stats are D : 472, S : 401, SA : 230 and no set bonus
Its a mix of Campaign Survivors, Black Hole Duelists (MK2/3), Black Market Duelists MK2 and [Artifact] Prisine Exemplars
All new gear is really heavy on shield, shield abs. I lose defense on nearly every upgrade. I was tryin to get my ACC as close to 100% as well but read this isnt necessary so I ditched that idea. I currently have 100+ basic/elite comms and dont know what to spend them on. Where should I be getting new mods to upgrade?
I'm currently doing dailies and HM FPs (only Athiss/Hammer station atm). Where/What else should I be doing to gear up?
Also, if I rip a mod from a chestpiece, does that mean I can only use the mod on another chestpiece? Is that how it works?
Thx in advance to anyone that can offer some advice
