apologies if this had already been discussed

I'm a new player trying to decide how to gear up while leveling. It would seem custom gear with mods is the best stat wise, so I've been artificing what I can and spending commendations on what I can't. but I'm seeming to level too fast to keep up (lv 23). should I continue to accept commendations from quest rewards or accept more gear rewards?

what strategy do you guys use to gear up whIle leveling?

The first character is always the trickiest because you can't supply it with funds from a lvl 50, where it's easy to make money. From what I can remember I didnt care much about my gear while leveling my first char. I would keep my main companion geared through mission rewards and just throw whatever I could find ,or what the few comms I had could buy me, on my own character. The gear isnt that important, I went through Voss in a good deal of lvl 27 items on my commando.

I guess you could farm or find a market niche for an income but both approaches will slow down your progress.

Mix it up.

If the gear is significantly higher go with it and keep +upgrade your orange gear later when you have alot of comms and mods.

It seems like leveling to 30 is lightning quick. Then it slow down a bit to 40,then it feels like you're not even earning XP it goes so slow. So things should settle down pretty soon and you can focus more on your optimum gear.

my recommendation is to not spend the credits on gear unless it's for earpieces or implants. Get your gear from using the planet commendations or running flashpoints. If you do the dailies for flashpoints and all or most of the side Questa on each of the planets, you will have plenty of commendations to gear yourself and maybe 1 companion. I would also pvp and use the commendations from that to buy your implants and what not. The commendations there are only useful between the levels of 20and maybe 28(that's pushing). The next level set in there is for level 40.

When I do the flashpoints often, I tend to visit a planet for the first time with around 20+ commendations. (I actually landed on hoth with 50).

my recommendation is to not spend the credits on gear unless it's for earpieces or implants. Get your gear from using the planet commendations or running flashpoints. If you do the dailies for flashpoints and all or most of the side Questa on each of the planets, you will have plenty of commendations to gear yourself and maybe 1 companion. I would also pvp and use the commendations from that to buy your implants and what not. The commendations there are only useful between the levels of 20and maybe 28(that's pushing). The next level set in there is for level 40.

 

When I do the flashpoints often, I tend to visit a planet for the first time with around 20+ commendations. (I actually landed on hoth with 50).

this. flashpoint dailies and planet side quests are good enough to keep you and 1 companion geared for leveling. what i would do on a first toon is get a couple of gathering skills to build up enough mats so that when you start to level an alt, they'll have plenty of mats to craft with as they level.

thanks for the replies

This all sits well and good for armor. You want to keep the look so you upgrade the mods as you go and can keep the same custom armor as long as you like.

But what about lightsabers? I see no difference between a custom [Corrupting Focus Lightsaber] and a custom [Lightsaber]. Since the sabers look the same and there are no stat differences, is there literally no difference between the two other than the name? Can i level to 50 with just the first custom saber I come across in this game and just switch out the mods like with armor? Kind of silly imo.

I understand at endgame there are some purple sabers that will be better.

thanks for the replies

 

This all sits well and good for armor. You want to keep the look so you upgrade the mods as you go and can keep the same custom armor as long as you like.

 

But what about lightsabers? I see no difference between a custom [Corrupting Focus Lightsaber] and a custom [Lightsaber]. Since the sabers look the same and there are no stat differences, is there literally no difference between the two other than the name? Can i level to 50 with just the first custom saber I come across in this game and just switch out the mods like with armor? Kind of silly imo.

 

I understand at endgame there are some purple sabers that will be better.

basically weapons are moddable because they have unique looks. but yes switching mods out from one to the other will have it keep the same stats

the thing with lightsabers is that the only difference between moddable sabers is the look of the hilt, which you cant really see. guns are more seeable when they are different looks.

One thing to keep in mind while leveling a low level toon is that you basically can't stack enough of the crit stat to reliably make critical hits. So the critical & surge stats are nearly worthless at a low level. The same could be said of alacrity & accuracy, for the same reason.

The best bet early on is to load up on as much power as fast as you can, and then start dumping it for crit and surge about level 35 or so.

I get most of my gears from running Flash Points. If you're willing to "play dirty", select "Need" when you see gears for your companion drop. Many do that, I usually don't unless someone in the group does it first. When that happens I go "eff this" and hit Need on everything, damn the torpedo.

doing this will usually get you on ignore lists since its not considered to be polite if you roll need on everything.

if you are on a person's ignore list you will not be grouped with them using group finder... which will lead to longer wait times on your queues

doing this will usually get you on ignore lists since its not considered to be polite if you roll need on everything.

 

if you are on a person's ignore list you will not be grouped with them using group finder... which will lead to longer wait times on your queues

The ignore system doesn't work that well. Experienced the same thing with WoW, with that many subscribers, many players were intentionally grief playing with sole intention of wiping a group with no consequences whatsoever. Now with lots of Free to Play players online, chances of you being grouped with the same person is minimal.

Also, I think subscribers get a free name chance once a month or something like that. I think it will bypass the ignore system. Not 100% sure about this though.

Not sure if anyone else mentioned this but PVP is also a good way to gear up. Once you hit level 20 you can get your first pvp set. It's moddable too so when you get Armoring and Mod drops you can use that to upgrade your gear. Or with the comms you get you can get armoring and mods from fleet comm vendors and it's cheaper and you can spend the rest of the comms on your companion.

Once you get to level 30 you get a new pvp gear set and one at level 40 as well. Level 20 gear can carry you all the way to level 30 and so on. I never did that but it does work.

SN: My companions get whatever gear I donate to them lol.

I get most of my gears from running Flash Points. If you're willing to "play dirty", select "Need" when you see gears for your companion drop. Many do that, I usually don't unless someone in the group does it first. When that happens I go "eff this" and hit Need on everything, damn the torpedo.

I was running a FP with my smuggler and I had a Shadow "need" on a cunning item that I really did need and I let him know it too. I hate with a passion when someone does that without asking first. He said he needed it for Tharan. I passed on multiple strength, willpower and aim items that I could have used just to make sure they at least had balanced chance of getting gear they needed. I think it's at least a courtesy to ask for if it's something you don't really need.

Most of this has already been said, but here's my personal approach upon my return and start over.

Main toon: Jedi Consular

This toon has armormech. Why, one might ask. Well, first off, the relatively cheap and easy to obtain blue recipes are usually more than enough to gear up your companions better than most quest rewards. I find it considerably cheaper to just craft Qyzen's armor than try to get him comm gear or keep up with orange mods. Secondly, my primary alt.

Primary Alt: Trooper

This toon has cybertech, with the gathering skills for artificing. My third, less played toon has artifice, and some cash making gathering skills for making monies. With the leftover mats my main gets for it's armormech, this toon can keep up with some of the mods cybertech has to offer. Great for keeping my main and this toon geared in decent oranges. What cybertech can't make, i fill with comm mods from whatever planet I'm on.

I'm Bored Alt: Jedi Knight

Spare time character, picked up artifice to cover what the cybertech can't. Not too helpful since I barely play this one, but some crystals and hilts here and there have been pleasant easy upgrades. This toon also gathers for cash to fund my careers.

Long story short, I'd seriously look into at least armormech for your companions. Crafting their gear leaves you more room to gear yourself with fewer comms. Also, don't neglect them dailies and flashpoints, between the gear that drops there and the comms for completing, they're fairly invaluable for gearing a first character throughout it's leveling process.

EDIT: Guess i should point out that... once you are end game, or near end game you can and probably should drop armormech for a more useful crew skill. Once you are 50, making money is easy enough, which makes grinding out a new crew skill pretty painless as long as you can find the mats you need on the GTN. This is hardly ever a problem since, for just grinding, you rarely/never need anything exotic.

Also, I think subscribers get a free name chance once a month or something like that. I think it will bypass the ignore system. Not 100% sure about this though.

The system does not support this currently..Was forced to rename due to server transfers, submitted a ticket to allow me to rename back to my original name since I had created an alt with my original name literally the next morning after transfers, denied. So no, we don't get a free rename once per month, and you cannot bypass the ignore system, you will never be grouped with anyone on your ignore list or anyone who has ignored you.

Except warzones, because ya know, communication is completely unneccessary in warzones...

Working on toons #5 and #6, some of what I have learned.

Orange gear is great to keep powered but it takes more "work" to monitor. I always try to get orange pieces on as sonn as I can (and I find something that looks good). On planet side quests, unless the item offered is better than what I got, I take the commendations. Then. at the end of each planet I go do what upgrades I can to the orange items.

The process changed a bit now that I have a L50 Cybertech 400, so I can make armoring and mods at will. It still doesn't pay to spend too many materials upgrading at every level. I review mods every two to three levels and continue to research blue components as I go along. Also, now we other toons at 50, anything that is bind on equip can be shared across the toons.

One thing I have learned : I used to leave heroics for "later", to come back over level to do. Now I do them at level. Most of the stuff you get is only valuable at the level they are, and later they become vendor feed.

Orange pieces are about look. There are lots of websites with picts. Research what you like, hunt for it (or buy it) and then mod it forever. Leave augments for L50. It becomes very costly to create, install and outfit them to have to replace them all the time for a few points.

Working on toons #5 and #6, some of what I have learned.

 

Orange gear is great to keep powered but it takes more "work" to monitor. I always try to get orange pieces on as sonn as I can (and I find something that looks good). On planet side quests, unless the item offered is better than what I got, I take the commendations. Then. at the end of each planet I go do what upgrades I can to the orange items.

 

The process changed a bit now that I have a L50 Cybertech 400, so I can make armoring and mods at will. It still doesn't pay to spend too many materials upgrading at every level. I review mods every two to three levels and continue to research blue components as I go along. Also, now we other toons at 50, anything that is bind on equip can be shared across the toons.

 

One thing I have learned : I used to leave heroics for "later", to come back over level to do. Now I do them at level. Most of the stuff you get is only valuable at the level they are, and later they become vendor feed.

 

Orange pieces are about look. There are lots of websites with picts. Research what you like, hunt for it (or buy it) and then mod it forever. Leave augments for L50. It becomes very costly to create, install and outfit them to have to replace them all the time for a few points.

i pick up a social armor set for myself and my companion asap, i use my cybertech/artifice to create armorings/mods/enhancements at every 4th level.

the cybertech also creates earpieces and then i usually buy barrels and implants

I did social armor on my Jedi Knight because I got sick of all that brown. Then later bent to the brown deal but kept the social pants. My Jedi Counselor (female) stays on her social elegant oranges, looks better. I am still trying to find something with some color for her, but for now white and gold looks good (except the hat, I took that off and found me an orange band headpiece).

Social I or II will get you starter oranges at Corruscant or Drumond Kass. Or the sexy outfit at Nar Shadaa.

thanks for the on topic replies

To those discussing how to lot--common sense tells me to just not be a dick so we ok there.

PVP sounds interesting, may give that a try soon if the gear is coo.

Yup, run the FP's while lvling 2 or 3 runs thru a fp you should have all your gear at your level and maybe a couple piece for a companion

also armormech can easily make you money at top lvl... ask my vice gm he made 50 million in augments and kits just yesterday

apologies if this had already been discussed

 

I'm a new player trying to decide how to gear up while leveling. It would seem custom gear with mods is the best stat wise, so I've been artificing what I can and spending commendations on what I can't. but I'm seeming to level too fast to keep up (lv 23). should I continue to accept commendations from quest rewards or accept more gear rewards?

 

what strategy do you guys use to gear up whIle leveling?

If you want to keep your crew skill level equal to or ahead of your character level, so you can craft stuff for your level, you need to use the mission feature of your skills that feed your craft. In your case, you should have archeology, and Treasure Hunting as your other two skills to feed your artifice crafting. You should be sending companions on missions to acquire materials so that you can craft items slightly above your level. This will give you time to RE to get better schematics. The intent is to have the enhancements, crystals, etc waiting in your cargo hold when you reach a given level.

Even on a 1st character this is possible. But you may be a little credit starved. I did this on my first character, a JK with synth, arch, and UT. The only issue I had was that I was unable to buy faster speeder training right away.

As for quest rewards, while modded gear is generally better there will be times when the armorings, hilts, and mods you can get from comms are insufficient and the quest rewards or non-moddable drop is better than what you have. So what if it only lasts you a level or two. that is a level or two that you had better stats

I also watch out for companion upgrades. One planet comm is not worth sacrificing your companion's ability to do what he/she is supposed to do. So I always compare quest rewards to the gear my active companion has.

The point is a balanced approach is best. Do not get tunnel vision when it comes to what type of gear is better than another.

I get most of my gears from running Flash Points. If you're willing to "play dirty", select "Need" when you see gears for your companion drop. Many do that, I usually don't unless someone in the group does it first. When that happens I go "eff this" and hit Need on everything, damn the torpedo.

Anyone pulling stuff like that will get one warning. If it happens again, it's straight to my ignore list and a vote kick from the group.

Sith Sorcerer Madness lv 35

I noticed new triple stat enhancements that can be artificed. I still don't know exactly what all the stats do or how much of an impact they have. Should I continue to focus on Power and craft Savant enhancements? Or is it time to switch to critical with Insight enhancements?

Which of these new level 35 enhancements should I craft for myself?

The 3 stats you want to focus on are power, crit rating, and surge rating.

Power is a linear stat that is always going to be helpful.

Surge rating is a stat that gives you the most bang for your buck if you have a moderate amount of it. It makes your crits hit harder. It also has diminishing returns when you start to collect alot of it, so even though it's the best stat early on, if you just stack nothing but surge you'll end up weaker than if you take a more balanced approach.

Crit rating is a stat that makes you crit more often. If you play a class that has alot of ability to make your stuff crit from abilities, then this isn't a good stat, but for most classes, you want to get it as a companion to Surge rating.

For most classes, you want to get a Moderate amount of Surge and Crit, favoring Surge a little more because it's more useful per point as long as you don't stack it exclusively, and don't be afraid to take power as a 3rd stat. Power is still universally good for any damage dealer.