I've hit the level cap and would love to start doing operations and hard mode flashpoints, but whenever i join a group they always say my gear is too bad. So, What is a good way to get better gear? also, what is the best gear in the game?

well, the first thing to do is several level 50 normal flashpoints, probably battle of ilum and false emperor, where you can get tionese crystals, and occasionally tionese commendations. once you use those to buy several tionese items, you are ready to start trying hard mode flashpoints, which you can get unnassembled columni gear from.

 

after you have a several columni items (mixed in with maybe an exotech item and one tionese item at most) you are ready to start on the harder stuff. but start slow.

tbh - the tionese crystals ARE a great place to start, BUT run your dailies (gross, i know!)...and then start simply by trading the dailies for the 126 level armor mods and weapons. running HM's is perfectly doable in 126's and seems to be the standard accepted starting gear levels. Again, NOT SAYING dont go after false emperor or battle of ilum, just that you can go around even that much, while filling your credit-stick up with a nice haul of creds! the dailies also offer - at the 200ish mark - relics and implants and all sorts of other goodies!

good luck!

You're not specific about what gear you DO have.

I met a newbish 50 the other day wearing a mismatch of gear strength/cunning/aim...

Solo grinding your way to 50, whatever gear you can find is better than none, but at end game, you need to start focusing on what you have, and how does it help you.

PM me what you've got and what class you play, and I'll try to help from there.

First off, you can clear a hardmode in blue 48 mods. Don't play with gear snobs.

 

Second off,

you can get 1 purple 50 enhancement from [Darkness on Ilum] HEROIC 2+

a purple 50 mod & armoring from the heroic dailies on Belsavis

 

If you do the full set of dailies 6 times - you can fully mod 6 pieces of gear and earn enough commendations for 1 rakata implant/51 purple armorings/ hilt/ barrel, plus about 3 million credits to buy relics/ear/ and another implant.

 

This is a gear set- right under Tionese. And it's more than enough gear to start doing Hard Modes.

 

The most important thing is really knowing how to play your class pretty well, and having your skill points spent wisely for your role. Few fresh 50's do. Change your spec up a little bit- and see what your talents actually do. And if you've got any ability that you don't use -- learn to use it. Once you can Solo [Darkness on Ilum] you're probably ready for Hard Modes.

 

If you're a healer or a DPS - always go for the gear with the highest main stat.

If you're a tank- go for gear with the highest absorb/defense/shield chance

No one mentioned it but I will. PVP. I started doing HM's in Centurion gear and worked my way up to BM gear to where now I have a mix of Columi gear, War Hero, Battlemaster, Rakata (self made) and other gear I added mods to. Like someone else mentioned, you can and should use those 126 mods you get from dailies because if you were in blue gear before you can bring it up to purple quality orange gear in no time.

First off, you can clear a hardmode in blue 48 mods. Don't play with gear snobs.

 

Very true! If you're on Jedi Covenant, Republic side, I can solo/2-man every heroic daily. You don't have to be fully geared if you run with a full Rakata healer.

Not being a gear-snob, I just like being a good Samaritan. And it helps me meet new people which is always cool.

 

 

The most important thing is really knowing how to play your class pretty well, and having your skill points spent wisely for your role. Few fresh 50's do. Change your spec up a little bit- and see what your talents actually do. And if you've got any ability that you don't use -- learn to use it. Once you can Solo [Darkness on Ilum] you're probably ready for Hard Modes.

 

If you're a healer or a DPS - always go for the gear with the highest main stat.

If you're a tank- go for gear with the highest absorb/defense/shield chance

 

Beg to differ here. Not all classes can solo this one, even in full Rakata. Some can, yes. It goes a long way if you can CC an elite and burn the rest down. Unfortunately, smugglers do not have an effective CC that works on this particular quest.

So if you can solo this, you are already well beyond HM flash points and are ready for HM Ops.

Edited July 17, 2012 by JacksonMo

Basics: Make sure you hvae all 7 pieces of moddable (orange text) gear, plus your weapon. Head, chest, hands,waist, legs, feet, wrists), and your weapon. Waist and wrist pieces are hard to come by, but if you do dailies you can get the credits to buy them from the Legacy vendor (150K or thereabouts), or the GTN.

 

If you do all the solo daily missions, you can make 151K in credits and get 19 commendations. The heroics add another 47K and 12 more comms. Armorings and hilts or barrels are 8 comms each. Get those first, then save up for the earpiece and implants.

 

The daily heroics award some mods: "A Lesson is Learned" on Belsavis gives out a class specific mod, and "Open Communications" a companion weapon.

 

Some people have difficulty with the dailies at first, but as you acquire the gear, they get easier. And by sheer repetition... (Don't try to solo the heroics.)

 

If you're not in a guild, try to find one that's "casual" and friendly, so you don't have to group up with "gear snobs". If you're Republic and on Drooga's Pleasure Barge, send me a PM.

Edited July 17, 2012 by Gidrea

No one mentioned it but I will. PVP. I started doing HM's in Centurion gear and worked my way up to BM gear to where now I have a mix of Columi gear, War Hero, Battlemaster, Rakata (self made) and other gear I added mods to. Like someone else mentioned, you can and should use those 126 mods you get from dailies because if you were in blue gear before you can bring it up to purple quality orange gear in no time.

 

This^

IMO PvP gear is much easier to obtain and is a good starting point. It's also a lot less boring than the PvE dailes.

Edited July 17, 2012 by Owsley

Not everyone likes PvP. Some people hate it. So the Daily Missions are good for them. They do get boring, that's true, but after a while you get better at them and faster, too.

My suggestion is take the FREE recruit PvP gear; regardless of whether you like PvP or not. It is free and is 90% of the time an upgrade of what you are using when you first hit 50, for PVE and PvP content. I ran 2x EV and a KP with full recruit gear and had zero problems as a DPS sage.

 

Once you get that, do PvP whether you enjoy PvP or not; it does not take long to get full battlemaster which is comparable to Columi in most respects. I guarantee you will spend far longer in queues for group finder, and far longer trudging through Ops possibly getting gear drops, than if you spend the same (usually less) time just doing PvP and getting battlemaster.

 

If I had someone come into an Ops group (SM) with full BM gear, I would have no issues with it; I would not tell them they are gimped, or have bad gear; I would most likely realize either they forgot to change into their Columi or were just starting Ops. I would probably ask why they had full BM on, and if they said they hadn't done Ops before, or were just starting Ops, I would be totally OK about it.

This is a fair point. If you know the fights, their strategies and know how to play your class well, you can do very punishing content without high-level gear.

 

Saying that, having decent gear will really be a boon when you're still learning how to put everything together. When doing a pug through the group finder, I never complain when someone has poor gear, or pvp gear. But I have noticed that brand-new 50s in recruit gear have a much harder time doing HM FPs because they ALSO have the disadvantage of not knowing the fights.

 

But if you are lucky, you'll end up grouped with other players that can give you pointers on the strategies and can make it through anyway.

This is a fair point. If you know the fights, their strategies and know how to play your class well, you can do very punishing content without high-level gear.

 

Saying that, having decent gear will really be a boon when you're still learning how to put everything together. When doing a pug through the group finder, I never complain when someone has poor gear, or pvp gear. But I have noticed that brand-new 50s in recruit gear have a much harder time doing HM FPs because they ALSO have the disadvantage of not knowing the fights.

 

But if you are lucky, you'll end up grouped with other players that can give you pointers on the strategies and can make it through anyway.

 

Hmmm, yea... blue recruit gear, from a healer's perspective, is "ok" for a DPS, but for the tank, you really want the stats from purple mods you can pick up from doing the heroic dailies. Two on Belsavis give a Mod or armor, and the one on Illum gives an enhancement.

HM FP's are no place for recruit gear. If it's all you have, stick to story mode flashpoints till you have enough crystals to buy a tionese set. It's not about being a "gear snob". HM bosses hit very hard and have much harder mechanics. Even a fully geared healer who knows the fights front to back can't "heal through". Full recruit for PVE content is a sure sign this is your first 50, and by that it's safe to assume you don't know the fights either. (My alt 50 had a basic set of purple modded orange gear right off the bat.)

In that case, it would be best if you have a good guild to help you along. When I was a scruffy, blue modded newb, one of my guildies 2-manned the heroic Black Hole quest with me. My guild basically corpse dragged me through EV several times till I had enough gear to advance to hard mode. That was were being a scoundrel helped me. Being the only smuggler, I picked up gear faster.

Which leads to a side point. If you have a good guild, you can do class runs (4 troopers for example) and pick up four class specific mods and armors. It's a great way to give a helping hand to a guild-mate getting his new 50 geared up.

 

Edit: I made a mistake, you do need HM fp's to gain tionese gear.

Edited July 21, 2012 by JacksonMo