I've been playing SWTOR since beta, and I've found some great tips for gearing PVE. Some of the stuff was bound to rub off on me...

 

Gearing 1-50

 

You don't really need to worry about orange gearing (adaptive armor) until the later levels (55-60). The green gear drops are adequate to get you through the whole game. If you go for orange armor, then you have to worry about keeping your mods up to date. Nobody needs that!! You're too busy questing!! I know what you're saying... "But I want to look cool while playing the game!!" I know you do, but it's more of a hassle to keep track of coms & mods that way.

 

Keep ahead of the leveling curve. Which is to say, be 3-4 levels AHEAD of where you're supposed to be. During the first 10-15 levels, take every mission you can get your hands on. After you leave your capital planet you can start picking & choosing missions. Use GTN to buy greens, or have someone craft them for you, as needed if the drops aren't coming. Each slot at this point is only 1K-10K credit cost.

 

Gearing 55 - 60

 

So you've finished your class quest up through Chapter 3. Congrats!! You still shouldn't be using adaptive at this point... I'm sure you picked up some cool stuff along the way. Put it in your Cargo Bay. Continue using greens.

 

By this time you should be right around Level 50-55. After you end Chapter 3 go right to Makeb (You need the Rise Of The Hutt Cartel expansion for this!) Use the GSI armor and HP bolster to your advantage. That is to say, that it will bring you upto the appropriate armor and HP level needed to complete it. Bypass all of the dailies (Section X, Black Hole, Makeb dailies,etc) until later. It's worth it. The payoff will be phenomenal. All of the main story missions should be soloable.

 

After Makeb, you should be at 55 or above (if you have the Shadow Of Revan expansion pack).. At this point, STILL use greens for gearing. (Don't worry! Adaptive armor is coming!!)

 

Go through the Shadow Of Revan experience. They will GIVE you 172 then 178 rated adaptive armoring. plus 300 - 600 basic comms. SAVE YOUR COMS!!! You'll be level 60 half way through Rishi. Personally, i think the adaptive armoring they give you looks dumb. if you have a set you want to use, transfer the mods to the new set. It'll cost some credits.

 

60 and Beyond

 

Now, you go to Fleet & grab the Basic Armor: Class Here mission. This is where you do Section X, Black Hole and the Makeb dalies. You will get enough coms to buy a full set of 186 purple (also moddable!!) gear from Fleet!! It's your choice to transfer the mods to your adaptive armoring gear or keep it with the Purple gear. it gets expensive though (11K per mod if your a Sub!!) but if you have alot of credits built up, it's worth transferring it. Now go do all of the dailies and Illum.. you'll breeze through them! HardMode Flashpoints will be a breeze too.

 

Augments

Now would be a great time to augment your gear. This WILL get expensive. Buy (or craft) 9 Mk-10 augment slots. Head to a place that has a modification table & install them. It will say MK-1. scroll down to Mk-10. Put them in. This is the most expensive part of gearing. then craft or buy the appropriate augments. Augments are ridiculously cheap right now.

 

Hard Mode Flashpoints

 

Regular story Mode Flashpoints are level appropriate, but Hard Mode Flashpoints require you to pay attention to armor ratings. Level 50 Flashpoints require a 148 rating and Level 55 Flashpoints require a 156 armor rating. THEY ARE SOLOABLE AFTER YOU GET YOUR 178 GEAR!!! HM FPs are a great way to grind up extra coms, cash & sellable equipment on GTN.

 

Operations

 

To be honest I haven't had too much experience with Operations, but you can get 198 rated gear doing these.

 

Thanks for reading and feel free to add anything into this. This is by no means the only way to do the gearing, but it is the best way I found out for me.

Edited March 26, 2015 by DoctorBeckett

People really need to quit making posts that equate "orange" armor and adaptive armor. This is an especially important distinction for a guide intended for less experienced players. All adaptive armor is "orange", but not all "orange" armor is adaptive.

 

An "adaptive" chestpiece will ... adapt ... to be the heaviest armor a character or companion can use. IOW, the exact same piece will be Heavy for one character or companion, but Medium for another, and Light for a third.

 

An "orange" chestpiece that is Heavy will always be Heavy and which of your characters or companions can use it will be limited by that fact. LIkewise for an "orange" piece that is Medium or Light. And many "orange" (but not adaptive) armor pieces are further limited by class, meaning that your companions won't be able to use it regardles of whether they can equip that "weight" of armor piece. AFAIK, there is no adaptive armor that is class-restricted.

 

And to further confuse the issue, not all modable armor is "orange". There is plenty of modable armor that is "purple". There is even some modable armor that is "green", though the only modable "green" armor I am aware of is crafted Droid armor, which makes it companion-only, since players, even if they're Cyborgs, aren't Droids.

 

/end rant

That's one way to do it, and it's a perfectly valid way. Thank you for showing us how you can effectively do it that way. But other ways are also valid. I've known people to use adaptive armor beginning at level 9 or so and be perfectly happy doing it that way. Personally I stay in greens until about level 20, but that's just me.

 

I did an experiment along those lines. I stayed in green armor and made sure each piece was for that level. i.e. I was "at level" in greens which had the highest stats I could find. I took note of my HP, etc., then switched to orange and modded it to the same level. The difference in stats was about +25%. For myself and my style pf play, this was a big boost and made the difference from being perpetually frustrated and enjoying the game.

 

We all play differently and are under certain handicaps or not. I use a touchpad, for example, something other players have told me would be "impossible to conceive doing" and I understand. Doing so probably makes me not as good a player. I use arrow keys to move, too, because I can't make my left hand do the wasb shuffle, so effectively I play only with one hand for everything.

 

I'm all for people playing the way they want to and appreciate posts like the OPs for showing how a particular way is viable. But it's important to understand there are several paths to get there.

I use a touchpad, for example .... I use arrow keys to move, too, because I can't make my left hand do the wasb shuffle, so effectively I play only with one hand for everything.

This sounds like you are using a laptop. You might consider plugging a mouse into it, and using that. It's a lot easier than a touchpad, and still allows you to play with one hand. I often play while my chihuahua is sleeping on my left arm, so I'm very used to playing with only my right arm/hand/mouse. Usually, I'm only doing solo PvE one-handed, but I've done lots of tactical FPs that way as well.

I prefer my adaptive armor as I can't stand the looks of the green ones and having max crafters at all the crafting skills is very useful for this.

 

I make my boyfriends and my upgrades and it not really a problem considering all the mats I have.

Looks from 1-55 are irrelevant imho. I'm much more concerned with gearing than some outfit package. There'd be plenty of time to find an outfit in the later levels. Personal preference I guess.

Yah i wouldnt say that people should stay away from adaptive/custom gear while leveling. Some people need every little bit of help they can get. When i first started playing i actually came up with a whole process for gearing up that would work with no help from cybertech, artifice or armstech. At first it might look confusing but i've been doing it for so long that its become second nature now. When leveling on Coruscant for example you should finish there with about 50-55 comms. That is without doing the heroics and that doesnt even factor in the 9 comms you can get from Ord Mantell if you are a Trooper/Smuggler. Here is what i do:

 

Level 15 Coruscant/Drommund Kaas Modification Comm Vendor

-buy 1 barrel/hilt, 1 mod, 1 enhancement (if you are a dual wield class then buy another set)

-buy 2 armoring, 3 mod, 2 enhancement

-upgrade in this order: weapon(s), bracers, chest, gloves

*only buy two armoring because while leveling on Cor/DK you get a level 15 blue armoring as a quest reward if you do the Gree quest chain or the Revanite quest chain.

**Imperial players can do the Heroic 2+ mission "Saving Face" on DK for a moddable offhand appropriate to your class (ie vibroknife or generators). DK has lots of players in it so it should be easy enough to get a group for it if you want/need help.

 

Level 19 Taris/Balmorra Mod Comm Vendor

-buy 1 barrel/hilt, 1 mod, 1 enhancement (if you are a dual wield class then buy another set)

-buy 3 armoring, 3 mod, 2 enhancement

-upgrade in this order: weapon(s), belt, leggings, boots

*if you cant afford all the armoring/mods for the armor its ok

 

Level 23 Nar Shadaa Mod Comm Vendor

-buy 1 barrel/hilt, 1 mod, 1 enhancement (if you are a dual wield class then buy another set)

-buy 3 armoring, 3 mod, 2 enhancement

-upgrade in this order: weapon(s), bracers, chest, gloves

*if you cant afford all the armoring/mods for the armor its ok

 

Level 27 Tatooine Mod Comm Vendor AND Specialty Vendor

-go to the Specialty Vendor that has the custom/moddable weapons

-buy the weapon type for your class for credits (each one costs ~11-12k creds)

-buy 3 armoring, 3 mod, 2 enhancement

-upgrade in this order: weapon(s), belt, leggings, boots

*the moddable weapons from the Specialty Vendor have a level requirement of level 28. BUT the actual barrel/hilt, mod and enhancement inside of the weapon have a level requirement of level 27. So you can rip them out and put them in your existing weapons and you can use it at level 27.

**you just saved yourself 11-22 comms so at this point you will start to accumulate comms faster

***Republic players can do the Heroic 2+ mission "Breaking the Code" which rewards a moddable offhand appropriate for your class (ie scattergun, generator). If you have your healing comp it should be possible to solo it as long as you are careful. If you are a Jedi Shadow or Scoundrel you can just stealth and go right to the objective without fighting anything.

 

Level 31 Alderaan Mod Comm Vendor

-buy 1 barrel/hilt, 1 mod, 1 enhancement (if you are a dual wield class then buy another set)

-buy 3 armoring, 3 mod, 2 enhancement

-upgrade in this order: weapon(s), bracers, chest, gloves

*you can get a moddable helmet if you havent already done so.

 

Level 35 Balmorra (rep) Taris (imp)

-buy 1 barrel/hilt, 1 mod, 1 enhancement (if you are a dual wield class then buy another set)

-buy 3 armoring, 3 mod, 2 enhancement

-upgrade in this order: weapon(s), belt, leggings, boots

 

Level 39 Hoth Mod Comm Vendor

-buy 1 barrel/hilt, 1 mod, 1 enhancement (if you are a dual wield class then buy another set)

-buy 3 armoring, 3 mod, 2 enhancement

-upgrade in this order: weapon(s), bracers, chest, gloves

 

And so on...again the above assumes the player has no support from a cybertech, artificer or an armstech. Meaning you have no support from them so you have to buy the armoring, barrels and hilts which cost 7 comms each.

 

There are also a few other tips and tricks you could do. That main one that i like to use is getting to Tatooine and buying the weapon from the Specialty Vendors for credits which saves you on 11 comms (22 if you have a moddable offhand). There is also another one that applies to certain classes like for example if you just hit level 19 and you are a Sith Inquisitor. You can go to the Balmorra Mod Comm Vendor and buy Force Wielder Armoring 7 or Force Wielder Hilt 7 both of which have a level 19 requirement. OR you can go to the Nar Shadaa Mod Comm Vendor and buy Resolve Armoring 7 or Resolve Hilt 7. That option isnt available for all classes though. If you want to squeeze every little bit of dps out of your toon for leveling or attempting to solo heroics or if you just need all the help you can get you can do that. When double xp isnt running i just go back to the fleet and do my shopping at the mod comm vendors there.

 

Some classes depending on what companion they like to use can also give their hand-me-down armor sets to their comp when it comes time to upgrade the player gear. This is pretty easy to do with Troopers since a lot of your comps use heavy and aim as their primary stat. So if you just hit level 23 and its time to upgrade your Troopers personal gear you can remove all your armor and give it to Jorgan or Dorne. Then you take the armor that Jorgan/Dorne were wearing and you upgrade *that* and then you wear it. Level 27 when you have to upgrade your gear again just take off what you are wearing again and give it to your companion. Then take their armor upgrade the armoring and mods in that and when you are done you wear it. With that method you will always be upgrading your personal armor every 4 levels and your companions gear will always be 4 levels beneath you but it will be all blue quality mods.

 

The process i listed above was before i had a Cybertech. Now that i have a max level cybertech they craft all my armorings for me. I actually level a bunch of alts and they are all double gatherer and underworld trading. The underworld metal from all my alts all goes to my cybertech and thats how i'm able to craft blue quality armoring every 4 levels just for alts. If you arent an altoholic like me then you can probably get away with just using green quality crafted armoring and mail it to your alt that needs it. Then that alt can equip it and then all they have to buy with comms are the mod, enhancement and barrel/hilt. If you have a cybertech crafting armoring for you then you wont have to do like i did above and alternate upgrading bracers/chest/gloves at level 15 then belt/legs/boots at level 19 and then back to the other stuff. Instead you can equip all the crafted armoring that your cybertech is supplying to your toons and buy 7-9 mod, and 5-7 enhancements. Then you could be upgrading 7 pieces of armor and 1-2 weapons every 4 levels. If you do the above procedure i listed above with the dark orange text you are upgrading your weapons every 4 levels but your armor only actually gets upgraded every 8 levels.

 

Anyways, i know all that stuff is pretty unnecessary but i like to do it. And it sounds confusing at first but once you do it enough times it becomes second nature. But the main thing i think is if anyone is going to try and give out tips to newbies you should tell them all what their options are and maybe list the pros and cons of it. And then let the person decide what route they want to take. It seems like you guys already covered the greens/blues so i thought i would list what i thought was a decent (and complicated hehe) way to stay geared up with comms as you level.

You can't solo level 55 HMFPs, and if I'm not mistaken, they are scaled up to level 60 now.

After you end Chapter 3 go right to Makeb (You need the Rise Of The Hutt Cartel expansion for this!) Use the GSI armor and HP bolster to your advantage.

What is this "GSI armor"? All I can think of is the reputation-req't BoL stuff. But that wouldn't seem to fit your theme.

 

I always followed a friend's advice to buy blue mods every 4 or so levels (I usually maxed out my Planetary Comms by then, anyway). But now that they switched to Basics, with their 1000 limit, and I was massively over-leveled (2XP + Bounty week), and have a Cybertech, I mostly used green mods and green gear.

 

Lots of ways to play, all pretty easy to level a toon through class story.

What is this "GSI armor"? All I can think of is the reputation-req't BoL stuff. But that wouldn't seem to fit your theme.

 

Not "GSI armor", he wrote "armor and HP bolster", meaning the bolster from the GSI terminal.