It seems like an odd design choice to add a tier of gear for both PvP and PvE that is appreciated by no one.

 

HM instances reward Columni gear, which also drops in most normal raid encounters.

 

Centurion gear is the unappreciated loot from the first day you start getting bags.

 

 

Why did Bioware opt to create a whole tier of gear that nobody really wants?

 

Instead of having a logical, intuitive system say...

 

Tionese drop in HM flashpoints.

Columni drop in normal/hm raids

Rataka drops in hm/nm raids

 

Centurion is a "starter PvP set"

Champion is a "advanced PvP set"

Battlemaster is a "elite PvP set"

 

...we now have a system where 80% of the loot, in both normal raids and HM flashpoints feels unwanted and unappreciated.

It's a good question and I am not sure if they just thought their HM-Flashpoints would be harder as they actually are.

 

I just use Tionese to equip my companions and ('cause i had no championtoken for 28 bags now) Centurion Gear to have all bonuses of my PvP-set.

They're fixing the PvP system right by making it so people aren't just entirely skipping out on T1 (Centurion) by making Champion gear much rarer. I completely agree with you that they somehow messed up the loot tables because it doesn't seem like T2 should drop in hard mode group instances AND raid instances; the progression order should go something like you listed. We'll probably see changes to the PvE progression order in the near future like we're seeing to the PvP progression order in this next patch.

I don't think the problem is with the gear itself, but how difficult it is to get relative to their quality. It costs a **** ton of tionese crystals/commendations to get gear. By the time you get enough for one or two pieces, you'll probably already be gearing in columi and won't really need tionese anymore. Same with centurion/champion.

I don't think the problem is with the gear itself, but how difficult it is to get relative to their quality. It costs a **** ton of tionese crystals/commendations to get gear. By the time you get enough for one or two pieces, you'll probably already be gearing in columi and won't really need tionese anymore. Same with centurion/champion.

 

+1 for emphasis. If the Centurion and Tionese gear is ever to be used the cost structure really needs to change. You'll be in the next tier long before you ever gear out to any appreciable degree in those pieces.

 

Is there really a value in having all that gear just as filler in case you need to get [Random piece you have bad luck obtaining] to finish a set?

I'll have to agree with this. I presently only have T1 gear because I've yet to get the drop for the T2 version yet. And most of the T1 stuff I do have I had to buy myself. The PVP wasn't so bad, but the Tionese was pretty crap, to date I've only gotten 2 cheap items because it's so expensive and so hard to get enough commendations/crystals to buy anything decent from there.

 

Instead of that I just wait for the T2 drops from the ops.

I think that normal mode lvl 50 Flashpoints should drop Tionese gear tokens and a low number of Tionese commendations/crystals. Hardmode Flashpoints should drop Columi gear (as they currently do) and also drop Columi commendations AND Tionese commendations/crystals at a higher rate.

 

There should also be a conversion from Tionese commendations/crystals to Columi Commendations. Or at least let us use the Tionese commendations/Crystals for something useful.

On the pve side I absolutely concur. The gear levels should be tied to the level of difficulty. I'd also say that HM flashpoints should drop a commendation each (with crystals being off minibosses and more off them so intake remains the same). Since the normal mode operations are of such a low level the flashpoints arent really meant to lead into it I'd hardly think it'd harm things.

 

Hard/nightmare mode operations are the substantial content in that regard and the whole system shoudl be weighted accordingly. The hash-bash mix up atm has a fundamental disconnect between the content and half its rewards.

Should be more something like:

 

Tionese: Hardmode FP/Normal-Ops

Columi: HM-Ops

Rakata: Nightmare-Ops

 

And yes im serious...

Enough can't be said about this. T1 is absolutely the most useless and least attainable gear in the game right now. The implications for this are wide ranging also. Not only does it affect Lvl 50 pvp and pve, it also affects crafting and daily questing.

 

(if it's too long just skip to the last part)

For example,

 

Warzones on my server are dominated by full champion geared PvPers. Doesn't sound bad right? Except for the fact that these aren't champions or higher. No. I'm a valor 58 Merc who places in the top 3 for dps in every warzone I play in, frequently placing first. And yet I find myself locked in duels with valor 20-40 (Duelist/cent/gladiators) on a daily basis. There is nothing more that I can't stand than losing to someone who has not earned the gear he or she is wearing. I hate it. I earned my gear! I have to compete in 42 warzones worth of valor (1000+ valor per match) just to make the next valor level, yet I have to work my way through a horde of Duelists and gladiators with champion gear to get there. I see someone wearing a piece of centurion gear maybe once a day, that's it. A guildy of mine is valor 28 with a full champion set and I have to listen to him brag about almost matching my dps. His first three champion pieces came from his first four bags btw.

 

Crafting is devastated by this. The highest craftable item I have has a rating of 124. Centurion/tionese is 126 i believe. Champion/columni is 136! So, if tier 1 was actually as common as 136 gear as it should be, and 136 gear was rare and only owned by dedicated pvp/pve'ers, then crafting would be feasible. As it is now, I can only sell my rating 124 gear to freshly ding'd lvl 50's who have saved up their credits to obtain gear. Anybody who has been 50 for more than a week will already have rating 136 gear, and the time I have to sell them my gear will drop dramatically as they begin to realize how easy it is to get 136 gear. This drops the value of all crafted items severely, making the market only aimed at newly turned 50's. So not only is rating 126 almost completely skipped, so too is rating 124 (crafted Superiors) items.

 

Champion bags contain 3 centurion commendations. By the time you have enough commendations to buy a relic, you already have a few Champion pieces (at least). By the time you have 39 cent comms, you will probably have half your champ set. Why is a champion bag available to players below valor 50 and why does it contain centurion commendations?

 

The take away:

 

Centurion bags should contain centurion commendations with a chance to drop a centurion piece. Champion bags should contain champion commendations with a chance to drop a champion piece. Battlemaster bags should contain battlemaster commendations with a chance to drop a battlemaster piece. The drop rate for the bags should be extremely rare and the price in commendations for pieces should be lowered (or amount of comms per bag raised). You should be able to choose what piece you want. Am I *********** crazy or something? Is this counter-intuitive? What am I missing? Help ME!

 

EDIT: oh and btw, I have two of my companions decked out in champion and columi gear, but I'm still wearing centurion gloves and belt. Awesome.

Edited February 2, 2012 by Sybaris

Instead of nerfing Champion and battlemaster, boost up Centurion gear and make it cheaper, same with Tionese. Right now Centurion only seems to be used for companions, it is totally unwanted trash.

 

I had 5 pieces of Columi gear before I had enough to pay for my mainhand Tionese (which I had to mod to make useful)

Instead of nerfing Champion and battlemaster, boost up Centurion gear and make it cheaper, same with Tionese. Right now Centurion only seems to be used for companions, it is totally unwanted trash.

 

I had 5 pieces of Columi gear before I had enough to pay for my mainhand Tionese (which I had to mod to make useful)

 

I think we're on the same page here but I didn't say anything about nerfing Champion gear, just making it harder to obtain by putting a valor requirement on it. This way you'll see anybody less than valor 50 in centurion gear. Hell they can even make centurion gear available to any valor level if they want. That would be fair. But I agree, make cent/tionese gear cheaper. It takes so long to go from 50 to 60 that most players would be able to buy a full champion set before they make battlemaster. They could also add lower tier commendations for anybody that wants to buy a lower tier piece for whatever reason. So Battlemaster bags would have battlemaster comms, champion comms, and cent comms. Win win.

Edited February 2, 2012 by Sybaris

been saying this for like 3 weeks now, the whole thing is redundant