So, I want to preface this by saying that i don't have all the answers and that player skill really goes a long way to providing comfort under duress (Oh god, I'm the healer and everyone's taking waaaaay too much damage) as opposed to relying on gear for everything. Also, before we get too much deeper into this-- most of this is based on my experience as a healer (started as a sorc, moved onto merc healing--cause shooting people heals them).

So, I was hoping to get a rough guide for what sort of gear one should have before attempting different end-game content.

For HM Flashpoints, I would recommend a progression of BT-BP-FE-Foundry-Kaon (MIND THE TRASH)-BI- then D7. Be mindful, you can probably take that progression 2-3 at a time (for instance I was healing through BT, BP, and FE with only a handful of mods from dailies for my orange gear and a few Tionese pieces). I'd shoot for something like 1-2 Columi pieces for Foundry & Kaon. After 3-4 Columi pieces you should be able to clear any pre1.2 HM FP (especially now that the last boss in D7 doesn't relentlessly hassle the healer).

Once you're able to tackle Battle of Ilum and Kaon, Story-Mode Operations are within reach (though keep in mind a successful raid depends on the overall skill of the group, not just yourself). Of course, at this point I would recommend doing only EV/ KP (preferably start with KP as it's a little more forgiving and less buggy).

After that (roughly full Columi gear), start taking shots at HM Lost Island. I can not overstate how hard this FP is. Not only is every boss a gear check, but each has intense and tight mechanics that will wipe the floor with your face if you're not bringing the A game.

This is where my experience ends, however. I would venture that with full Columi gear one should be able to clear HM KP/ EV; but, I don't have experience there and can't vouch for this statement.

If someone would be kind enough to take this to the next step, i would appreciate it greatly. So for starters: What gear is recommended for pre-1.2 HM Ops?; What about Story Mode EC?; HM EC? What are some guidelines for getting into Nightmare modes?

Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

Great post, I would just add that PvP gear is a good way to get gear faster. If you are only doing BT HM you only get 6 Columni commendations for dailies, plus your weekly. This is a huge grind to get a full set of Columni gear. PvP Battlemaster gear is much faster.

With PvP you can get around 100 commendations for every win and around 50 for a loss (as of this mornings patch). The most expensive Battlemaster gear is around 1500 commendations with many pieces costing 500-600. A full Battlemaster is going to be comparable to Colmni gear but so much easier to get.

If someone would be kind enough to take this to the next step, i would appreciate it greatly. So for starters: What gear is recommended for pre-1.2 HM Ops?; What about Story Mode EC?; HM EC? What are some guidelines for getting into Nightmare modes?

You don't really need to do HM FPs before taking on SM Operations. Modded level 50/Tionese gear is just fine for them. Only reason I'd even suggest doing HMs first is if the player is completely new to raiding/grouping and needs it as a learning experience (Don't laugh, I've grouped with level 50 "tanks" that didn't know about guard), as gearing up through Operations is much faster than doing HM FPs.

@ Ogien: That's entirely valid. PVP is a great way to gear up after dinging 50. I only focused on the PVE side of things as that's my main purveyance. I do PVP from time to time, but not often enough to be really familiar with it or the systems involved therein. I do have one question though, is the War Leader set viable for EC raiding?

@ Hulkweazel: Thank you for the insights. I would still recommend going through the HM FP step though. It's a great way for learning your role in a group, which leads to knowing your role in an operation. DPS worry about boss mechanics and staying out of environmental hazards; tanks hold as much aggro as possible while minding their defense values; healers provide as much supplemental HP to tanks/other healers and dps (yaaay triage healing) as possible while minding environmental hazards. Also, I wanted to mention that I meant "getting into" HM/NM modes as a function of guild growth rather than pugging; my guild is currently still adding/ growing players to the point where we can attempt these challenges rather than picking up some pugs.

All things considered though, pvp can also be a great teacher (especially since you're almost always being pressured by game objectives (i.e. environmental hazards) and other players (i.e. boss mechanics).

@ Ogien: That's entirely valid. PVP is a great way to gear up after dinging 50. I only focused on the PVE side of things as that's my main purveyance. I do PVP from time to time, but not often enough to be really familiar with it or the systems involved therein. I do have one question though, is the War Leader set viable for EC raiding?

 

@ Hulkweazel: Thank you for the insights. I would still recommend going through the HM FP step though. It's a great way for learning your role in a group, which leads to knowing your role in an operation. DPS worry about boss mechanics and staying out of environmental hazards; tanks hold as much aggro as possible while minding their defense values; healers provide as much supplemental HP to tanks/other healers and dps (yaaay triage healing) as possible while minding environmental hazards. Also, I wanted to mention that I meant "getting into" HM/NM modes as a function of guild growth rather than pugging; my guild is currently still adding/ growing players to the point where we can attempt these challenges rather than picking up some pugs.

 

All things considered though, pvp can also be a great teacher (especially since you're almost always being pressured by game objectives (i.e. environmental hazards) and other players (i.e. boss mechanics).

You're much better off to just do the FP's story mode OPS first.

Ah yes, but the discrepancy between PVE's pure output vs. PVP's purely defensive stat will always be the Sword of Damocles hanging over anyone doing end-game PVE content in PVP gear.

A little can't hurt, but only a fool would attempt end-game, high-proficiency raiding in full Battlemaster/ War Leader gear.

Ah yes, but the discrepancy between PVE's pure output vs. PVP's purely defensive stat will always be the Sword of Damocles hanging over anyone doing end-game PVE content in PVP gear.

 

A little can't hurt, but only a fool would attempt end-game, high-proficiency raiding in full Battlemaster/ War Leader gear.

Ah yes, but the discrepancy between PVE's pure output vs. PVP's purely defensive stat will always be the Sword of Damocles hanging over anyone doing end-game PVE content in PVP gear.

 

A little can't hurt, but only a fool would attempt end-game, high-proficiency raiding in full Battlemaster/ War Leader gear.

Well, I recently moved to a new guild that is PVP focused and was just starting doing Operations. A few of us had Columi and Rakatta gear but half the group were just in full BM. We managed to clear HM Ops without too many issues (just getting people to learn the mechanics on SOA to be honest.) While Columi is superior to Battlemaster for PVE you can definitely get away with mixing Battlemaster gear with PVE gear while gearing up.

When we started doing ops a short while after the game launched, i was in oranges with a mix of 124/126 mods on the armor and weapon, and my guildies had a few columi pieces,maybe some champion and we did normal mode raids without any issue. A week later when most of use were at least half columi, we tried hard mode ops and got them down without problems, soa being the only one that actually proved to be a challenge.

The first week we did EC most of use were half-rakata and had issues with the first boss until we had the strat down to a letter and then killed it without problems. This week, we did Zorn and Toth with 1 guildie who was undergeared (116/124 oranges, bm weap) and we 1 shot it on story mode, so i'm going to assume that for story EC a group with FULL columi at least is recommended, with everyone having to bring their A-game to the table.

TL;DR :

-hm flashpoints (minus lost island) : 116/124 gear. some flashpoints are actually harder than normal mode EV/KP imo.

-hm lost island: at least full columi imo with everyone having to pay attention

-normal mode EV/KP : 116/124 gear should work if people aren't crap and pay attention and contribute.

-hard mode EV/KP: a few pieces of columi/124 gear

-normal mode EC: at least full columi if the players are good enough or try to compensate with as much rakata as possible (though only to an extent, as bad players will die if they don't pay attention)