1. some players move continuously - do they use num-lock or is that an expression of a mastery of the awsd? (I doubt I can do it, but I am curious)

They're most likely running/turning their toon with the mouse while only mixing in keyboard movement for the strafing. A common setup is to change A + D to strafe left and right while doing the turning/facing by holding down right click on the mouse (holding left and right moves the toon forward and you can "steer" your toon doing this as well).

I aim to reduce the number of alts for PvP, yes. So soon it won't be a concern.

 

Howeve, with the interface, I do it in a somewhat similar way, my interface is left for reusables, top row for offense (aligned in a rotational pattern), bottom row for interrupts/defense (same sequence) and the right for the long-term, rarely used ones (heroic, travel, forms and super-buff).

 

Now, I do not queue the first thing, I go and kill a little fodder to warm-up the character if I haven't played her/him for a bit. It is easy since I am leveling. Maybe I should dismiss the companion while doing it to simulate the un-grouped character fighting.

 

Unfortunately I do not have the blind typing skill, so I mouse-over too much. Working on this skill now + the all important tabbing targets. Getting a mouse with extra buttons for the new machine as well (something I have resited till now). Funnily, initially I found targeting and fighting too fast-paced in leveling (coming from turn-based games) now I feel that hell, mob sitting there waiting on you is a luxury!

 

Two questions, if I may:

 

1. some players move continuously - do they use num-lock or is that an expression of a mastery of the awsd? (I doubt I can do it, but I am curious)

2. training dummy - I tried one on Coruscant but I did not see any numbers pop on it. There is an option to get a combat log 'to file' on the preferences, but where is the file? I am so used to the SP games when you can see everything in the 'chat' window, the RT numbers are hard to track down.

Well, Domi, I believe I may be able to answer these for you. The first thing you asked about is something that I have been practicing. Its done by pressing both buttons on your mouse, that makes you run. When you release a button, it will move your camera, with your camera moved, you then reclick the other button and you will instantly turn in that direction. It's called, obviously enough, mouse turning, lol. It is touted by most of the pvp players I talk to and read as the best way to move in a match. It is also difficult to learn if you have been playing a different way for awhile. It is worth learning.

The second thing you asked about, viewing your combat logs, and the dummy, can be done with a program made for swtor by a swtor player, called parsec. It is an amazing, free, program. When you enable combat logging to file, with parsec you can view that log in an easy to read way. It can also tell you your: DPS, damage taken per second, threat per second, heals per second, and effective healing. What a lot of guys do is this: You buy from the droid you unlock on your ship or someone else's ship droid 2 debuffs for the dummy. One makes it have one million health and one makes it have an armor debuff. Then they proceed to place these on the dummy and kill it. You can then look at your dps and make changes and fine tune it to get the max dps from your rotation. Beware though, this is not indicative of what you will be putting out. This is a perfect environment, with a static target that is not hitting you back, and you just stand there and hit it. Not a lot of scenarios like that. It will however give you insight on what you need to do to improve. Now, that said, that is what we do in PvE, idk if it is different for pvp, or if you use the pvp dummy, or the bolsterizer section of the Gav Daragon/Ziost Shadow (?) (which is where you will find all the dummy's) Parsec also has a timer function that you can program to certain abilities, so it will go off when something comes off cool-down, or different stuff. It is worth looking into and definitely worth having.

Hope I was able to shed a bit of light on your questions. Good luck.

Why, I'd never!!! Pressing two buttons! How clever! Itching to see how it works and which characters actually can do attacks on the move. And try to move smoothly like that. Yay!

And had to look up the "strafing" Which sounds like a wet dream.

Jrworthwhile, you certainly rocked this weekend! I myself covet access to implants tbh, because I was playing for 6 months with the drops. And accidental relics. So, my entire left side as you called it was never taken care of.

I certainly did not level my Mara through PvP, lol, but I was thinking my gaming abilities are far too low to start playing a toon that about to hit 55 and keep playing it. I need someone lower so I have ample time to learn things like moving and starfing and still be familiar with the basic character's style and having most of its abilities (so L20 is not a good idea). I do love the SW story, it is one class I have two characters for, LS and DS. Still love Consular/Smuggler the best.

I think I am learning more about this gameplay in this thread than I did up to now. I kind of feel that my first 6 months were about learning the options available, now I can actually start L2P. It was a wise choice to try, if for seeing what people can do in the game. Erm, sorry if I am gushing, but the warzones are a revelation to me.

Well, Domi, I believe I may be able to answer these for you. The first thing you asked about is something that I have been practicing. Its done by pressing both buttons on your mouse, that makes you run. When you release a button, it will move your camera, with your camera moved, you then reclick the other button and you will instantly turn in that direction. It's called, obviously enough, mouse turning, lol. It is touted by most of the pvp players I talk to and read as the best way to move in a match. It is also difficult to learn if you have been playing a different way for awhile. It is worth learning.

It is totally worth it . I mean think about it, that totally frees up yoru left hand to hit all your abilities while you move at the same time. So +1 for you. Keep in mind holding just the right click turns your toon, just left click turns the camera. Often times in melee I don't even let off the right click at all, it's a good way to stay facing your opponent.

If you really want to get cheeky use back peddle. Make sure the opponents see you do this, It's an instant aggro builder. They see that, they'll think "fresh meat/n00b" You can kite them all the way away from an objective while your teammate caps. You can also flip them with your faux noobness, once then realize what happened, you'll catch them confused, alone and often naked.

make a new toon, different adv class or same and do only wzs, you'll learn about your abilities better that way.

really wise advice, i got two guild mates into pvp with this same strategy: start from scratch..surviving all the low brackets it's the best way to stand 55pvp..which is another game

Hi!

Just thought I would add my opinion to this.

I enjoy questing and used to be a raider in World of Warcraft, I hated the Warzone PvP in WoW and only did it to obtain the basic mounts.

I enjoy the sub max lvl PvP matches. I think the way SWTOR has implemented PvP matches is fab. You won't be steam rolled just because you are lower level and do not have expertise gear. Also the WZs are dependent on the objective.

I enjoy PvP the most as a Sage as opposed to my lvl 40ish Smuggler Healer. I try and do my two PvP matches for the experience.

1. Stay by the objective. (Or stay in range of people fighting by the objective if you are a healer, you don't want to make it too easy for the opposing team.)

2. Keep an eye on the objective. I always try to move my camera in such a way I can see the objective.

3. Low Health - Fall back. Try and see if you can get out of the fight for heals.

4. Do not let the other team trick you and keep you busy.

5. Try and be a sneaky son of a gun! Sometimes the other team is too busy and has been 'pulled' away from the door. See f you can get a sneaky cap in! I have done it several times and it is always personally rewarding on a teeheehee scale.

6. Line of Sight! Use it to your advantage, especially as a healer.

7. Attack the same person. You can't heal up someone who is being beaten on by five people.

Good luck in Warzones and I hope you enjoy it.

I'm not a big fan of PvP, but I still do it.

Why?

Because it is part of the game. It is "something else to do" that keeps me from being bored to tears. The guides and most of the people you find here will make it easy to "learn" PvP, and once a day you'll put what you've learned into practice.

It may lead to "maybe just one more" or "well, nothing else is going on so...PvP" and, dare I say it, to "OMG roflstomp, Moar PvP!!!!"

Have fun, remember it's just a game, and turn off your chat.

really wise advice, i got two guild mates into pvp with this same strategy: start from scratch..surviving all the low brackets it's the best way to stand 55pvp..which is another game

I do want to try that with my last character. I can see a wisdom in it, certainly. I plan to build a Vanguard like that as my next solo toon once my Marauder finished Chapter 2 (that way he starts with 4 buffs). Yet, I do want to help a couple of my toons before that, and definitely learn these new cool skills that is a total revelation to me right now!

I am yet to find myself in a position of having nothing to do with the game, lol! I started only 6 months ago, and to this day I enjoy the incredible variety the game offers; if anything I am overwhelmed by the choices every time I load. It is a mind-blowingly rich environment with the temptations around every corner.

Thank you for all the suggestions I will spend this afternoon practicing moving and keybinding without a companion on wildlife and ranged environmental low level creatures, until I feel confident I can use it in the wz. Then I will repeat the process on the Sage and Smuggler, and see if the Smuggler is allowed to shoot while moving.

I will spend this afternoon practicing moving and keybinding without a companion on wildlife and ranged environmental low level creatures, until I feel confident I can use it in the wz. Then I will repeat the process on the Sage and Smuggler, and see if the Smuggler is allowed to shoot while moving.

Yeah this really a good way to practice this, I did the same thing when I made the keybinding switch.

You can attack/heal on the move if the ability doesn't have a cast time. The only time you have to stop is to channel attacks/heals, otherwise you can keep moving.

This would also be a good chance to get used to tab targeting --no clicking when mouse moving because you won't see your pointer. So get a good feel for facing targets when tabbing. You may also want to play around with binding next and previous enemies under preferences (I use shif-tab and ctrl-tab for those).

As a healer I've also bound the ~ (the key above tab) for next ally for easy cycling through teammates. I set it to next ally (instead of nearest) because usually you're healing people away from you, then I use the ctrl ~/shift ~ modifiers for the other two. On my tanks, that gets bound to nearest as I'm usually moving towards the person I want to guard.

I usally use both hands to move and act:

Left one is on WASD for move and strafe while holding the right mousebutton to control the character turning while moving around.

And then my little finger, thumb and lashing out with my index and ringfinger control the skills assigned to keys around that position. That's why 2 is actually a bad key, for me. Can't get there properly while holding "W".

And yes, move. Only stop moving if you have to (for casting) or are rooted or stunned. And if your enemy is an assasin or operative: turn to face him/her! They cant backstab your chest!

Okok, when nodeguarding I can understand that eating pizza CAN be a priority over moving, just don't get pieces all over the screen when the stealther globals you!

I did not have much time after I finished thinking and binding, but I started experimenting with it. So far, pretty awful with it, as I tend to run out of melee range. After I bound target to the wheel, it went smoother, and once I get the new mouse (along with the new system, woot!) later this week, I will also tie a couple of important abilities to the side buttons to activate them as soon as they come from the cooldown.

Oh, and as I was straining myself there keybinding and practicing around a lonely Manka Cat, a Pub Player stopped by and made a nice bow. That was so hilariously inappropriate seeing I was literally learning to walk, heh. I guess a BT3 Sith F!Lord with a bare-chested Pierce (I am trying to balance out all the nekkid ladies out there) is a sight on a white hillock on Hoth.

I will still do a warzone this afternoon to keep the habit but likely fall into the stop and mouse-over trap. I printed out touch typing chart and will continue with it both at work and on vacations(my last attempt at it was in the professional development course in high school on a mechanical typewriter and not on a QWERTY LOL! Now I want it for like important things!)

I did not have much time after I finished thinking and binding, but I started experimenting with it. So far, pretty awful with it, as I tend to run out of melee range. After I bound target to the wheel, it went smoother, and once I get the new mouse (along with the new system, woot!) later this week, I will also tie a couple of important abilities to the side buttons to activate them as soon as they come from the cooldown.

 

Oh, and as I was straining myself there keybinding and practicing around a lonely Manka Cat, a Pub Player stopped by and made a nice bow. That was so hilariously inappropriate seeing I was literally learning to walk, heh. I guess a BT3 Sith F!Lord with a bare-chested Pierce (I am trying to balance out all the nekkid ladies out there) is a sight on a white hillock on Hoth.

 

I will still do a warzone this afternoon to keep the habit but likely fall into the stop and mouse-over trap. I printed out touch typing chart and will continue with it both at work and on vacations(my last attempt at it was in the professional development course in high school on a mechanical typewriter and not on a QWERTY LOL! Now I want it for like important things!)

Keybind practice is key (no pun intended ) keep it up. It'll come faster than you think. Think I missed the answer going through the thread, but what mouse are you picking up?

perfect one. Used it myself for a long time.

Remember: you can bind Mouse4 and shift+mouse4 to different abilities.

My son broke my mouse, so I am just using a plain old plain old. Really though I need to start a toon and use the mouse running from the start, I am just too ingrained in my style of using the directional buttons and my hot bar which I shift+directional up/down and a few abilities bound to other keys. A step at a time I suppose.

Nice to see your enjoying the new style Domi. Keep it up. Did you ever look into parsec, for your dummy rotation practice? It's an awesome tool.

Yesterday was a very busy day for me, and last night was a progression night, so I only got one match done.

A PVP A DAY

SAND'ARI

LEVEL 55

SAWBONES SCOUNDREL

Obroan relics, MH, chest and pants

So my one match of the day was my kryptonite. It was an arena. I really really need to improve in this area if I ever expect to try ranked. Personally, I wouldn't Q for ranked without the fully augmented whole obroan pvp set and a sht ton of practice. It just seems I usually get put on a team with 3 dps and the other team has 4 dps or 3 and a tank, or something. Things just happen so damn fast. Now I know it is right to try to shut down the healer first, and I try to break cc and escape. I just seem to melt so fast. Get stunned, dotted up, I break, cleanse, stealth and scamper, and am dead before scamper ends due to the dots. Sometimes I die before I can even CC break. And of course while this is happening my team is not getting healed. If I focus on heals I get shut down and killed fast. Is there any scouprative out there that can maybe give me some tips?

I will say though, that since I saw this thread and committed to a pvp a day with Domi, that I have been having fun. I love raiding, and that will not change, but that doesn't mean I can't also have fun doing this. Anyhow, carry on gentlemen, I will report back later.

So my one match of the day was my kryptonite. It was an arena. I really really need to improve in this area if I ever expect to try ranked. Personally, I wouldn't Q for ranked without the fully augmented whole obroan pvp set and a sht ton of practice. It just seems I usually get put on a team with 3 dps and the other team has 4 dps or 3 and a tank, or something. Things just happen so damn fast. Now I know it is right to try to shut down the healer first, and I try to break cc and escape. I just seem to melt so fast. Get stunned, dotted up, I break, cleanse, stealth and scamper, and am dead before scamper ends due to the dots. Sometimes I die before I can even CC break. And of course while this is happening my team is not getting healed. If I focus on heals I get shut down and killed fast. Is there any scouprative out there that can maybe give me some tips?

 

This thread is so great. I was you six months ago, and now i'm geared and wrecking things! Healing with my operative is definitely a joy, even in arenas, let me see if i can help a little.

So yeah, when you're the healer with 3 dps, you know you're going to get focused, right? In that specific situation, it's your job to survive longer than whichever toon your team has decided to focus on the other team. That is your job. Clear your mind and prioritize your survival among all else for the first 10-20sec.

First step - make sure your 3 dps are agreed on who THEY are going to kill first. If that conversation isn't happening in chat, then start it. "Who are you guys going to kill first?" Reg. arenas are mostly about numbers advantages, and you can't have an advantage if your team isn't focused. If you're facing 4 dps, try to steer your team away from killing the sorc/sage or stealth classes first as they can prolong the process...i usually suggest killing the warrior or BH class first because they don't have the escapability or immunity of a stealth or sorc/sage.

Next step - use smuggle to position your team in a place where you have a lot of LOS cover to run around. You're the one with the stealth field, you're the one who needs to survive the dps focus, you pick the initial battleground to suit your needs.

Next - i try to scamper/roll away right as my stealth field is going to end so that when they aoe the now-visible dps, I'm not unstealthed. If successful, get far away and start healing whichever of your teammates drew focus until the enemy notices and focuses you. If unsuccessful, hot yourself and use your shield probe before you get stunned. Forget your teammates right now.

Normally in a wz the rule of thumb is don't break cc until your resolve bar is full. That'll get you killed as a focused healer in the arena, though, without a tank guarding you. Break the stun if you're really getting pounded, aoe flashbang mezz if you have more than one melee on you, and roll. Don't stealth yet if your hots are still rolling, they'll pop you out of stealth. Instead, use your instaheal and your wzmedpack.

This is where practice will eventually make perfect. Are their dps waiting out your mezz so they don't waste their ccbreaker? Great, heal yourself to full and hot your teammates while running out of range. Usually at least 1-2 of their dps will break your cc. If they're ranged, LOS them and continue healing yourself. If one is melee, he'll leap or force speed to you and you kick them in the balls and now you have 4 free seconds because they already used their cc breaker.

Do you see where i'm going? The longer you live, the more time your team has to chip away at their team. Your team doesn't need to be healed, any dmg they're taking is desperation dmg from the death throes of whoever your team has focused first. You live by planning the initial phase of the encounter on your terms and surviving that first burst, which almost always involves breaking cc, aoe mezzing the melee and rolling with a medpack and a quick heal.

The second phase of the encounter is quickly (it'll take practice) diagnosing who you can LOS to heal yourself and who you need to kick in the balls, who used their ccbreaker already and who waited for your mezz to end. You'll know you're getting better at it when you can get through phase 1 and 2 without having to restealth - if you can save that for phase 3, when their remaining dps have shaken off your stuns and are catching up to you, your team will win. Weave around every possible obstacle, keep your hots rolling, keep your shield probe thingy up, be as much of a pain in the #%$%^ to catch and kill as possible without ending up too far from your team.

Remember, use your evasion (smugg equivalent?) and not your cleanse before you emergency stealth, it will remove ALL the dots, giving you a better chance to get the hell out of there.

When i'm dps'ing in an arena with two other dps and a healer, i literally tell the healer "your only job is to live, don't worry about us, if you live longer than the poor soul we're about to slaughter, we win".

Keep at it. Being a smuggler/operative healer in pvp is about learning to run and LOS while simultaneously healing your team, which means you get to be incredibly frustrating to the enemy. Soooo much fun.

Folks, good morning!

There is something I wanted to ask - what is mezz?

Also, noobish suggestion - could it be helpful to use heroic moment when focused?

15 July 2014

pulled one of those - replacement on a Hutt ball with the team that gave up and was like in jrwellworth case just standing by the platform. The Republic even threw aoe on it once in a while. So I just went to the middle to at least see the ball or ball carrier. Didn't try to fight at all. Didn't see the ball, but made it to the middle twice before dying. And that was it.

Brian rewiring goes slowly so far. I am focusing on remembering buttons and using them not mouse for the time being. Of course I die a lot more but it is to be expected. Also saw that I am not using my saber throw at all probably because I was overusing my Charge in leveling. Gotta make a concerted effort to open with it whenever the range allows.

If by the end of Chapter 2 I achieve some degree of fluidity with my Mara I may continue with her. If not, I will start at zero with my vanguard, adding buttons as he levels and moving.

A mezz is a stun that breaks on damage. (i.e. blind) while a hard stun does not break on damage (i.e. electrodart)

Heroic Moment only works with an active companion afaik, something you don't have in pvp.

This thread is so great. I was you six months ago, and now i'm geared and wrecking things! Healing with my operative is definitely a joy, even in arenas, let me see if i can help a little.

 

{-SNIP- due to length}.

I clipped your message so that using it as a quote wouldn't take up so much room, but I'd like to say thank you. That advice pretty much covered everything I was looking for in terms of my arena problems. I am setting to work right away but alas I got no arena pops with which to practice your arena specific tips, though most of that was really good advice in general, thank you again. It will be put to good use.