I'm having a problem with Star Fortresses.

 

So.... before I go on to Iokath, I want to finish up all the loose ends, and for most of my characters that means doing the Liberate (some planet) quest line, for my characters as many as three times. The big problem I'm having with this is, Star Fortresses are NOT current content. Lots of people are DONE with them, and have no interest in running them. My characters are already using 228/230 gear, and are level 70... so I can almost solo these. ALMOST. Usually, it's the final boss that stalls me out.

 

Specifically, there's one boss (or boss ability) that is a massive self heal, with very little cooldown. Or, at the very least, the cooldown on this ability is a LOT shorter than the cooldown on my Interrupt. Trying to solo this boss on my Shadow tank... he couldn't kill me, but I couldn't kill him, either. I literally fought him for 20 minutes (not even exaggerating, I checked my clock) before I jumped to my death because I was DONE WITH THIS FOOLISHNESS.

...I was able to recruit a helper, and we curb-stomped him in about 90 seconds.

 

In addition to being Massively Tedious and Not Even Slightly Fun, the other problem with a 20 minute fight is that the "Star Fortress is going to explode any second!!!"

...ok. But not until after this literally 20 minute fight is over.

 

Twenty Minutes.

 

....so.

 

I'd like you guys to revisit the Heroic Modes for Star Fortresses (btw, to Liberate the Planet, you have to do the Star Fortress on Heroic, but there's a misnomer between quest and quest giver; this should be Veteran mode now, even though this is the same thing, this caused me a great deal of confusion). I think, you should be looking at scaling Star Fortresses to level 65... and definitely revisiting giving your final boss a massive self-heal that he can Spam.

 

Someone told me that "no one does Star Fortresses anymore, because they don't drop nice loot anymore." I guess you're only going to see CXP boxes now. Really, most players who ran a lot of Star Fortresses back when they were current content got all the Stronghold Decorations from them that they wanted, but I wouldn't mind seeing these returned to the loot tables.

Hmm I don't remember having a problem with the exarch healing up but yeah the heroic Star Fortresses are real slogs solo. I recently did one on an alt in 230 gear with low influence companions and it was a bit rough sometimes but I got through it. Felt like it took forever though.

 

I made sure to get my advisors to influence rank 10 so I could get those four special abilities and used the buff thing at the start. I also used heroic moment on all the tougher fights. Those help a lot.

 

I wish they'd make them more appealing to do, too. There's really no reason to do them more than once right now.

Be ready to have an even harder time in the future, the exarchs were buffed to lvl 70 so they now do things they weren't supposed to when they were made, plus all classes will be nerfed, so we have stronger bosses and less dps.

 

The reward for doing the Star Fortress weekly (5 runs) is 1 alliance crate, that shows how much they care about that content.

When they were current I ran them so many times, too many times I think. They weren't too bad then I actually enjoyed running them. I have *thought about doing those more. Interrupting their regen at the end became common; at that point they became just a series of steps. They're probably what burned me out come to think of it.

You should be able to do all these with only a companion. Try leveling up your companion more. If you have a high enough rank with your alliance section leaders you will also gain access to special buffs and abilities in the Star Fortress that will be of significant help.

 

Good Luck.

Tried them once about a month ago. Spent a few times in the escape prison minigame, then I looked to see if they are worth bothering with. Turns out they aren't.

Yeah I always solo these on heroic, they are easy. not sure why everyone needs help with them. And the only Exarch that heals is the Voss one, even with a tank I easily defeated him. you just have to play smart. There is no reason to dumb things down when something gets too "hard". we need harder content and always calling for nerfs is not a good route. Devs have listened to that too much and this game is a cake walk now. I want this game to be like when it was released, actually a good fight, and just walk in and poke something and it dies.

I did the Alderaan one today ( my second time soloing a heroic one). Was quite proud that I did not land in prison even once, but then I was on my stealther so the first part was relatively easy. Died a few times to the groups before the exarch (less than the first time though) and then died because of how bad I played about five times in the exarch fight. I just couldn't stop flying off of that damn platform.

 

But I honestly agree with not nerfing it. I never tried getting a group for it but I guess it would be possible, even though the incentives are ridiculously small once you did all six of them one time and got that sun reactor deco (the reason I'm doing them in the first place). I'm really not sure why the normal ones drop decos but the heroic ones don't, that seems very counterintuitive.

 

Anyways, it is challenging to solo (even as a healer with a level 50 healer companion and all the specialists' buffs and gadgets) and while I'm the first to say that I'm mostly here for the more relaxed content, I do enjoy a challenge every now and then and this fits the bill nicely.

Were you using the special items you can obtain after getting each of your alliance specialists to 10 influence? That gives you a second interrupt (yes, the CD is lengthy, but so is the fight, so you'll have multiple opportunities to use it) and the turret, which is designed for tanking but still generates additional damage to help you wear the exarch down more quickly.

This and the Eternal Championship.

 

Either that or have more incentives for players to group up for them. And allow us to form a custom group via group finder tool like you can do in WoW, so we don't have to sit there typing LFG in chat. This will also allow others to see what other players want to group up for from anywhere in the game and would therefore liven the game up a bit, so we don't perceive everything as ghost town central and that other players aren't actually doing anything.

Edited October 2, 2017 by ForfiniteStories

Are you popping your Heroic Moment when off cooldown? A lot of players seem to forget about that ability. If you have all the abilities for all the classes you can you melt Heroic/Flashpoint bosses. Some of the abilities dish out a lot of damage.

 

Also do you have do you have all of the Alliance buffs, particularly the turret and the device from Sana Rae that deals AOE damage? Both of this make taking down the Exarchs a lot easier.

And the only Exarch that heals is the Voss one

 

False, Nar Shaddaa and Voss both heal.

 

OP, I'll just echo what the others have said, namely the importance of getting the four temp abilities from your alliance specialist caches, and using the heroic moment to give yourself a bit extra healing so you can focus on dps'ing down the exarch as much as possible. It is definitely harder going solo with a class that only has one interrupt, but using the grenade from the alliance specialist and having your comp at influence 50 will help take advantage of the burst windows in between interrupts.

 

I think a big problem with the star fortresses is that the loot drops are definitely broken. The conquered exarch bracers literally stopped dropping entirely after 4.7 or 4.8 and the decorations stopped dropping after 5.0.

I didn't even know these guys were different. I thought we just fought the same one again and again for some reason. I did my first one with a sub 50 companion and so so gear without any of the abilities for the achievement (which I got). I had the one that knocks you off the platform which is where I had issues but eventually I was able to aim my knockbacks so I didn't get knocked off. I'm gonna do the rest now that I know its a different fight.

 

But I can imagine a low damage or lacking some of the skills of other classes could make them a pain. Its too bad they aren't tuned for whatever class enters (I also thought they were solo only like almost all heroics). I need to finish these up and work on these alliance alerts I still haven't paid attention to. I suffer from lack of information and gotten so used to having to do things again and again I guess I just considered them more of the same.

 

I'm not opposed to lowering the difficulty of things that used to be group as long as you keep both options open so those that want an easier time can take it and those that don't don't have to. As long as the rewards are near useless, I don't see the harm in that. Really the preferred method is to make things worthwhile to do instead of some achievement. I'm not the biggest chaser of them but some times they're all that's left to obtain. Over the life of the game, new additions shouldn't make old content obsolete because its always going to be new to someone unless the game is just so dead there's never that new player.

 

That's one area they could improve on. Its one area most games could improve on but if you're selling levels in your store, that seems to get lost as a reason to do so. Not to say games didn't neglect new players in this manner. Over time, new players become less and less as more and more of the game is catering to those that did the content years ago. Sort of a self fulfilling prophesy. Not so many new players so no need to welcome them, not so much for new players to play with so no need to play. Just buy a token that bypasses some of the best content because sure, makes sense. Those should only be purchasable by accounts that have played beyond that level for their alts. Not new to game players.

To be clear... all my characters that are finishing up this kind of content are level 70, with 228/230 gear. I also have level 10 influence with all the Alliance Specialists (minimum) on all these characters... and my companions generally have an influence of 20 to 30.

 

...I'm not a super serious player, but then again, I used to main-heal my guild's raid team, and would sometimes get called to main-tank the raid team as well. I mean, before my guild died. I know what I'm doing, and I can handle a challenge, but there's reasonable limits.

 

I have all 8 class stories, so my Heroic Moment has all 8 abilities. I went into the Exarch fight (pretty sure it was Voss) with all 4 of the Alliance special gear packs you get from fighting the named Knights of Zakuul... if the cooldown on Heroic Moment is 2 minutes, I popped Heroic moment at least TEN times. If I got the Exarch down to 20% he'd just spam his heal until he was back up to 50%.

 

If the reality is that I *need* to get my companion to Influence 50 to do this... that's utter crap. Another instance of making the Companion the vessel that determines how successful my character is. No. No freaking way. My character is the Outlander. The Alliance Commander. The one destined to control the Eternal Throne... not "the guy who can only succeed if he grinds influence with his companion to level 50."

 

*I honestly believe that this encounter is not winnable solo, and that is poor game design.

*A fight that literally went on for 20 minutes isn't good game design either; it's frustrating tedium.

*I'm only doing this content because it's "necessary" not because it's FUN or GOOD, this, also, is poor game design.

*I honestly believe that this encounter is not winnable solo, and that is poor game design.

*A fight that literally went on for 20 minutes isn't good game design either; it's frustrating tedium.

*I'm only doing this content because it's "necessary" not because it's FUN or GOOD, this, also, is poor game design.

I did all six on my Gunnery Commando back in the 4.0 days. I *started* with Voss before the Great Companion Nerf *also* fixed their defensives to make them less squishy. That squishiness combined with OP damage output meant that if you went with a companion above about rank 20-25 (mine was 21), they would inevitably win the threat-gen race and get focussed into a Lana-coloured smear on the floor in almost no time. That was fun. Um. Well. Yeah, actually it was, because it was a challenge.

 

I also did a couple recently (post 5.0) with an Infiltration Shadow with better-than-230 gear, but not *much* better than 230. The first was Tatooine, and went pretty well, but for some reason my attempt against the Nar Shaddaa one went far, far south.

 

As for the 20 minute thing: yeah, especially if it is 20 minutes of spank-and-tank with no variety. GW2 has some *long* boss fights, but they are liberally dosed with mechanics (far beyond anything in soloable SWTOR) to add variety to what you must do.

 

It might be "necessary" from an OCD/completionist point of view, but it isn't actually necessary from any sort of gameplay / mechanics standpoint. (I get wanting to see the story, including the scene at the end of the sixth bunker, but that's not what I'm talking about. You only have to do the set one time on one character for those things.)

Yes, get the alliance leads up to 10 - that basically gets you those additional powers that round out your trinity. (If you're running with a tank and you have a healer companion, you need some extra dps. If you're running with dps and heals, you need something that generates threat. These perks let you have it.)

 

As someone who is a tad OCD about completion and has a bunch of alts, I've done these on multiple characters during both 4.0 and 5.0. The one thing that continues to strike me about them is it seems as if it's the only place in the game where you can actually practice your role while going solo. You need to tank if you're a tank, heal if you're a heal and you absolutely need to brush up your crowd control skills and use your stuns and interrupts.

 

You don't need a 50 companion - I usually run these with a companion between 20-25. Sometimes you have to switch around the companions role and tinker with the perks a bit, there are definitely some set-ups that are easier than others.

 

A couple of those last Exarchs are hard - but they are not impossible.

Edited October 2, 2017 by Lxndra

I'm having a problem with Star Fortresses.

SNIP...

 

Thats understandable. Star Fortresses are not the most balanced of content.

 

Sadly though to answer your thread title. I would not expect a balance to SF. Just like I wouldn't expect a balance to OPS either.

 

So much of those areas are out of balance for todays players and now gear because of all the nerfs. bioware will spend time in a so called balance classes to some recently made up target but can't find the time to actually balance the content that deserves it more than the classes nerf did.

 

I wouldn't expect it a balance pass to that content if I were you. I really just don't feel it will ever happen there or to OPS.

To be clear... all my characters that are finishing up this kind of content are level 70, with 228/230 gear. I also have level 10 influence with all the Alliance Specialists (minimum) on all these characters... and my companions generally have an influence of 20 to 30.

You need to get level 20 influence with the Alliance Specialists to get the buffs during the Star Fortresses. (The buffs are found in boxes in the rooms with the mini-bosses)

You should get your main healing companion to level 50. Spend a couple of million on companion gifts on the Fleet.

While you're at it, do some Command dailies, etc, to get some higher level gear.

 

That will make soloing the SFs a lot easier.

 

Also, while fighting the last boss, keep yourself positioned on the side of the boss away from the edge, so you don't get knocked over.

You need to get level 20 influence with the Alliance Specialists to get the buffs during the Star Fortresses. (The buffs are found in boxes in the rooms with the mini-bosses)

SNIP...

 

Actually I think you only need to get to level 10 for those buffs but you do need to be level 10 with each Alliance commander to get all the buffs.

Edited October 2, 2017 by Quraswren

You need to get level 20 influence with the Alliance Specialists to get the buffs during the Star Fortresses. (The buffs are found in boxes in the rooms with the mini-bosses)

You should get your main healing companion to level 50. Spend a couple of million on companion gifts on the Fleet.

While you're at it, do some Command dailies, etc, to get some higher level gear.

 

That will make soloing the SFs a lot easier.

 

Also, while fighting the last boss, keep yourself positioned on the side of the boss away from the edge, so you don't get knocked over.

You get the perks at level 10. I know this for sure. 20 is Max influence; I get the perks on all my characters, and most of them don't have any max influence.

 

As I've said, I'm an experienced player, I've played enough to make it to my guild's Raid Team in both Healing and Tank capacity... but I'm not a hardcore enough player to just spend millions pushing my companion's influence to 50. Also, as I've said before... My character should be the hero. My success in SWTOR should not, and never be, contingent on how buff my sidekick is.

 

Also... my gear is at 228/230. This should be MORE than high enough to do Star Fortresses... As far as I can tell, this Gear is good enough for me to start raiding New Content... Star Fortresses are Dead Content; I shouldn't need better than, say, 216 to do them.

Edited October 2, 2017 by LordFell

To be clear... all my characters that are finishing up this kind of content are level 70, with 228/230 gear. I also have level 10 influence with all the Alliance Specialists (minimum) on all these characters... and my companions generally have an influence of 20 to 30.

 

...I'm not a super serious player, but then again, I used to main-heal my guild's raid team, and would sometimes get called to main-tank the raid team as well. I mean, before my guild died. I know what I'm doing, and I can handle a challenge, but there's reasonable limits.

 

I have all 8 class stories, so my Heroic Moment has all 8 abilities. I went into the Exarch fight (pretty sure it was Voss) with all 4 of the Alliance special gear packs you get from fighting the named Knights of Zakuul... if the cooldown on Heroic Moment is 2 minutes, I popped Heroic moment at least TEN times. If I got the Exarch down to 20% he'd just spam his heal until he was back up to 50%.

 

If the reality is that I *need* to get my companion to Influence 50 to do this... that's utter crap. Another instance of making the Companion the vessel that determines how successful my character is. No. No freaking way. My character is the Outlander. The Alliance Commander. The one destined to control the Eternal Throne... not "the guy who can only succeed if he grinds influence with his companion to level 50."

 

*I honestly believe that this encounter is not winnable solo, and that is poor game design.

*A fight that literally went on for 20 minutes isn't good game design either; it's frustrating tedium.

*I'm only doing this content because it's "necessary" not because it's FUN or GOOD, this, also, is poor game design.

1- your belief is wrong, people solo this content all the time. On heroic. did it without any buffs for the achievement.

2- Fight does not have to go on for 20 minutes, it only lasts that long if you don't know what you're doing.

3- this content is not necessary, you can easily skip it with no change to the actual story. And they are fun, and were a good design. It was something new for us to play

4- I don't care what you supposedly did in your guild, OPS are not that difficult for any role. and if you were "supposedly" able to perform such in the ops, then SFs should be a breeze for you.

1- your belief is wrong, people solo this content all the time. On heroic. did it without any buffs for the achievement.

2- Fight does not have to go on for 20 minutes, it only lasts that long if you don't know what you're doing.

3- this content is not necessary, you can easily skip it with no change to the actual story. And they are fun, and were a good design. It was something new for us to play

4- I don't care what you supposedly did in your guild, OPS are not that difficult for any role. and if you were "supposedly" able to perform such in the ops, then SFs should be a breeze for you.

With no respect at all intended... you don't know what you're talking about.

 

The other thing that you need to keep in mind is... Star Fortresses are DEAD CONTENT. People who are NOT end game ready have to be able to do these... even if someone doesn't want to liberate all 4 planets, they STILL have to be able to do AT LEAST ONE... while they're STILL doing the START of the KotFE expansion. The START, not the END.

....A level 65 character with a gearscore of about 216 should be able to solo the Heroic, and I'm certain that's not possible.

2- Fight does not have to go on for 20 minutes, it only lasts that long if you don't know what you're doing.

 

Please tell me how do you interrupt the Voss-bosses self-heal if your interrupts are on cool-down? I read that you played a tank, so maybe you have enough interrupts available. But how do you beat the boss as a commando medic when you yourself barely do any DPS, have only few interrupts with very high CD and your companion's DPS equals the self-heal (more or less)?

 

That's a scenario where you get a 20 minutes long fight and you realise that neither side will go down, because there is nothing you can do about it. I have experienced exactly the same as the OP. Only with my medic, mind you. And only the Voss-boss. Because I can only interrupt every second self-heal. This leads to the described stalemate.

 

In my opinion, it depends on the class that you play, more specifically, the amount of interrupt abilities this class has. And all classes should be able to defeat the Voss-boss (if the player plays properly).

you have to cycle your interrups, knockbacks, pushbacks and stus /mezzes. - And possibly micromanage your companion a bit as well.

 

There are also several aids you collect around the star fortress, the grenades and sentry gun to name but two.

A few stun grenades might help - tho' they're on a long cooldown IIRC.

 

- You might also try differing roles for your character and/or your companion.

 

have to know a bit about your class abilities and utilities; your rotation; use of stims and adrenals; and study the mechanics a bit to know what casts to interrupt and which you can avoid or mitigate, and what looks scary but actually doesn't hurt much.

 

But it certainly isn't difficult to do even without all these things. It's old content and you're probably already over-geared for it, OP, so just hone your abilities a little. - If you can survive 20 mins, you can surely burn the end boss down in a few minutes. GL.

Please tell me how do you interrupt the Voss-bosses self-heal if your interrupts are on cool-down? I read that you played a tank, so maybe you have enough interrupts available. But how do you beat the boss as a commando medic when you yourself barely do any DPS, have only few interrupts with very high CD and your companion's DPS equals the self-heal (more or less)?

 

That's a scenario where you get a 20 minutes long fight and you realise that neither side will go down, because there is nothing you can do about it. I have experienced exactly the same as the OP. Only with my medic, mind you. And only the Voss-boss. Because I can only interrupt every second self-heal. This leads to the described stalemate.

 

In my opinion, it depends on the class that you play, more specifically, the amount of interrupt abilities this class has. And all classes should be able to defeat the Voss-boss (if the player plays properly).

 

Even if a boss is not knocked back by a knockback, the interrupt still applies. Also, a level 40 companion is super tedious to do if you use the rank 1 gift method, but it's only about 600k or something, and a level 40 companion, best ranged here I think is best for DPS role, will do a very nice job in there.