Did bolster change with this last patch?

 

I ran with 2 pieces of 61/63mods for sorc healer pve-set bonus and since last night I've lost a lot of Willpower from bolster.

I don't think so. Are you mixing PvP and PvE mods on that piece?

great guide man, i have plenty of people asking me in game for this - now i can send them here.

TY!

I don't think so. Are you mixing PvP and PvE mods on that piece?

61 Armoring and 66 mod and Enhancement in gloves and legs on my otherwise Conq/Obroan Sorc. In WZ my Willpower is the same as on fleet.

Last night it was 2980-something and today 2800-something. If they "fixed" bolster I wouldn't mind going back to full PvP-gear. But that PvE-set bonus is soooo nice

61 Armoring and 66 mod and Enhancement in gloves and legs on my otherwise Conq/Obroan Sorc. In WZ my Willpower is the same as on fleet.

 

Last night it was 2980-something and today 2800-something. If they "fixed" bolster I wouldn't mind going back to full PvP-gear. But that PvE-set bonus is soooo nice

Well that was a ninja nerf b/c there were no notes indicating that "bolster was adjusted". Are you missing a stim or buff? I think Nano-Infused is like 180 Main, this could be why.

Well that was a ninja nerf b/c there were no notes indicating that "bolster was adjusted". Are you missing a stim or buff? I think Nano-Infused is like 180 Main, this could be why.

No. Stim and class buffs active. I tried 3 WZs as well. Same stats in all :/

It's absolutely absurd that someone can be fully min/maxed in the highest tier of pvp gear and not be BiS for PvP.

 

<lotsa good stuff elided ...>

QFMFT! Heck, no PvE gear (set bonus questions aside) should be better than Conqueror, much less Obroan!

Also I meant to mention. If you guys think this is worthy of being stickied, your support would be appreciated. I grow weary of having to explain bolster seemingly every week in new threads.

Yes this is good research mate. You are doing the community a big favour highlighting your findings, thank you. This really should be stickied simply because it's so helpful.

lvl 66 blues are 148 rating and are below lvl 63 purps which are 150 rating, and they do get fully bolstered.

 

Dps BiS relics are spenditious assault (power proc) and focused retribution (main stats proc). Just to give you an idea, spenditious assault gives 187.5 power (625*6/20) and focused retribution provides minimum 196.875 main stats with inquisitor buff (625*1.05*6/20). Matrix cube is no where close. Even conquer provides better stats than matrix cube.

Awesome. Thanks for this. Guess I need to start running HM Ops again, to get some 63 armorings and mods. But the blue 66s were so easy since I have a cybertech.

Also, just picked up the Obroan Focused Retribution last night. So, now I just need enough Ranked comms to pick up the Obroan earpiece (grabbed Conq last night), so that I can augment that. Then it's focusing on getting my Conq gear upgraded to Obroan.

 

I didn't try blues as they are below the cutoff, but again, the difference between blue 66 and purple 58's are minor. Players should choose based on "what is the cheapest". Whether its by getting planetary comms, buying from the GTN, or crafting them yourself, choose the path of least resistance before you hit 55, and you will be fine.

 

For the implants, see my post above. BiS can mean a lot of things. If you value stat diversity, then the Crafted Purples are BiS (my stance). Some people value raw attack ratings more, but in the end, they are soooooo damn close, it really doesn't matter, so long as you augment either.

Below the cutoff? Now I'm confused again. I thought the purple 66s did not handle bolster well. Or did you mean because the blue 66s are below the purple 63s? If so, then nevermind, I gotcha. For me the path of least resistance was crafting the blue 66s with my cybertech.

Fortunately, I'm slowly getting my non-modifiable gear up to Obroan so I can augment it. Got the two relics for Mara, now I just need to upgrade my Conq Earpiece to Obroan. I'll take a closer look at my implants to see what, if anything, I need to adjust there.

This guide is great! Just like the old one, which I used a bunch.

Below the cutoff? Now I'm confused again. I thought the purple 66s did not handle bolster well. Or did you mean because the blue 66s are below the purple 63s? If so, then nevermind, I gotcha. For me the path of least resistance was crafting the blue 66s with my cybertech.

 

Fortunately, I'm slowly getting my non-modifiable gear up to Obroan so I can augment it. Got the two relics for Mara, now I just need to upgrade my Conq Earpiece to Obroan. I'll take a closer look at my implants to see what, if anything, I need to adjust there.

 

This guide is great! Just like the old one, which I used a bunch.

Quality wise, for a certain level of mods purple>blue>green. Wearing three purple 66 is the point where bolster DR kicks in. Blue 66 is a tier below that, and have no bolster penalty, green 66 are below that and have no bolster penalty, purple 63 is below that, so no penalty, etc, etc.

Even with this in mind, with the way bolster works, there is vituality no difference between something like this:

Purple 58 Armoring

Blue 66 Armoring

The reason is this, bolster increases your main stat and HP to a certain number x, regardless of what number is on said piece. So if it want your main on that armoring to be, say, 100MAIN, bolster will provide an additional 25 main on the blue 66 armoring, and like 42 on the purple 58 armoring. At the end of the day, your HP and main is about the same. The only difference is in secondary stats like crit, surge, defense, etc, but since we already have ample amounts of those stats at toon level 50+, and the DR on those stats at high levels are atrocious, even thosse differences are minor enough to be ignored. Just look at my crit multiplier. Even if I did a full set Obroan, versus a full set Crafted 58s my crit multi would still be around 74%-75% versus low 76% on Obroan.

Quality wise, for a certain level of mods purple>blue>green. Wearing three purple 66 is the point where bolster DR kicks in. Blue 66 is a tier below that, and have no bolster penalty, green 66 are below that and have no bolster penalty, purple 63 is below that, so no penalty, etc, etc.

 

Even with this in mind, with the way bolster works, there is vituality no difference between something like this:

 

Purple 58 Armoring

Blue 66 Armoring

 

The reason is this, bolster increases your main stat and HP to a certain number x, regardless if what number is on said piece. So if it want your main on that armoring to be, say, 100MAIN, bolster will provide an additional 25 main on the blue 66 armoring, and like 42 on the purple 58 armoring. At the end of the day, your HP and main is about the same. The only difference is in secondary stats like crit, surge, defense, etc, but since we already have ample amounts of those stats at toon level 50+, and the DR on those stats at high levels are atrocious, even thosse differences are minor enough to be ignored. Just look at my crit multiplier. Even if I did a full set Obroan, versus a full set Crafted 58s my crit multi would still be around 74%-75% versus low 76% on Obroan.

Okay, yeah, that's what I thought you were talking about. Now I'm on the same page, hahahaha. Sounds like I'm at least on the right track for now. Basically, I'm just trying to keep my Exp as close to 2018 as possible while still getting the most out of the stats on the gear.

One more question. You mention that three purple 66s is where the DR starts hitting hard. Is that overall throughout all gear? Or is that per piece? Basically, would the DR hit if I had a purple 66 armoring, purple 66 mod, and a blue 66 enhancement (or purple 63 enhancement)? If so, I could upgrade a few of my armorings and mods to purples and still not lose out on bolster. Anyway, just curious.

Thanks again for all the great responses!

Okay, yeah, that's what I thought you were talking about. Now I'm on the same page, hahahaha. Sounds like I'm at least on the right track for now. Basically, I'm just trying to keep my Exp as close to 2018 as possible while still getting the most out of the stats on the gear.

 

One more question. You mention that three purple 66s is where the DR starts hitting hard. Is that overall throughout all gear? Or is that per piece? Basically, would the DR hit if I had a purple 66 armoring, purple 66 mod, and a blue 66 enhancement (or purple 63 enhancement)? If so, I could upgrade a few of my armorings and mods to purples and still not lose out on bolster. Anyway, just curious.

 

Thanks again for all the great responses!

Purple 66 works the similarly for all pieces if you have them in alI slots. When i carried all purple 66, in all three slots for every piece I could, my EXP was around 1700, I then bought PvP relics and got over 1800, but that is still not a good trade off..

In the interest of time and forum space I didn't try a ton of combinations. Another reason was that I wanted to keep it simple, but I also left another post for people to help with this as well since BW has remained silent to the inner workings of bolster. If you follow my approach, compare different combos, and post a screen, I will copy it to the front page reserved section.

Ill be honest, I am not going to spent time or credits to raid for 63/69/72/75 pieces, but I know some people here have so I am more than willing to edit the OP with other example. We should solve the bolster equation once and for all and sticky it so people know exactly what their options are.

Correct me if I am wrong, but bolster does not work on endurance at lvl 55. So your endurance inside and outside the WZ does not change; at least in lvl 58 gear and above.

I ran into a problem with the bolster that I can't explain. My PT MH (PvE) has 66 barrel, 66 mod and 61 enhancement at full expertise. When I switch the enhancement to 66, I lost roughly 50 expertise, which is not possible considering that the enhancement provided around 40 total expertise. My OH has 61 armoring, 66 mode and 63 enhancement. When I change the armoring or the enhancement I ran into the same issue. I still can't explain why.

My merc has PvE OH with 69 barrel, 66 mod and 58 enhancement with full expertise. I tried to use the 69 in the main barrel, but every time I lose substantial expertise. Again, can't explain.

Correct me if I am wrong, but bolster does not work on endurance at lvl 55. So your endurance inside and outside the WZ does not change; at least in lvl 58 gear and above.

the fleet station is somehow bolstered now too... (i´ve got the exakt same stats in and outside a wz/arena/ilum but my expertise stat (wich is only bolstered in pvp areas).

and they silently nerfed bolster effectivity, i´ve lost ~50points in all my stats. from before to after patch.

I ran into a problem with the bolster that I can't explain. My PT MH (PvE) has 66 barrel, 66 mod and 61 enhancement at full expertise. When I switch the enhancement to 66, I lost roughly 50 expertise, which is not possible considering that the enhancement provided around 40 total expertise.

nope thats correct when you swiththe enhc to 66 you have 3x 66 sloted wich is in a "different" bolster tier where you will recieve lower expertise.

My OH has 61 armoring, 66 mode and 63 enhancement. When I change the armoring or the enhancement I ran into the same issue. I still can't explain why.

 

My merc has PvE OH with 69 barrel, 66 mod and 58 enhancement with full expertise. I tried to use the 69 in the main barrel, but every time I lose substantial expertise. Again, can't explain.

the "system is quite simple" add all 3 mod lvls /3 must be <than 65 to obtain full expertise.

61+66+63=190/3 = 63.33 full exp

(69+66+63)/3= 66 reduced exp

Correct me if I am wrong, but bolster does not work on endurance at lvl 55. So your endurance inside and outside the WZ does not change; at least in lvl 58 gear and above.

 

I ran into a problem with the bolster that I can't explain. My PT MH (PvE) has 66 barrel, 66 mod and 61 enhancement at full expertise. When I switch the enhancement to 66, I lost roughly 50 expertise, which is not possible considering that the enhancement provided around 40 total expertise. My OH has 61 armoring, 66 mode and 63 enhancement. When I change the armoring or the enhancement I ran into the same issue. I still can't explain why.

 

My merc has PvE OH with 69 barrel, 66 mod and 58 enhancement with full expertise. I tried to use the 69 in the main barrel, but every time I lose substantial expertise. Again, can't explain.

here's what I believe:

Conq = 65. 65x3=195

Therefore, any combination (whether it be weapon or armor) cannot exceed a combined total of 195 or it will effect your EXP.

So, MH/OH combination of 69/66/58 (193) will yield 2018 expertise...Although, I cannot verify 69/63/63 (195) will yield the same, as I n00bishly overwrote all my 63 mods/enhancements w/ Conq gear, as it was slightly better.

I can testify 69/66/58 > Conq MH/OH on my VG, in terms of DPS/DMG.

If I can get my hands on some 63's, I will experiment more. Currently, 69/66/58 seems BiS for PvE gear in a bolstered PvP environment.

Purples, of course...No self-respecting l33t gamers uses blues at end-game

the "system is quite simple" add all 3 mod lvls /3 must be <than 65 to obtain full expertise.

61+66+63=190/3 = 63.33 full exp

(69+66+63)/3= 66 reduced exp

I believe this to be true as well.

69/66/58 = 193 no EXP penalty

69/63/63 = 195 not sure, if EXP penalty (need mods/enh to verify)

anything greater than 195 = EXP penalty.

the fleet station is somehow bolstered now too... (i´ve got the exakt same stats in and outside a wz/arena/ilum but my expertise stat (wich is only bolstered in pvp areas).

 

and they silently nerfed bolster effectivity, i´ve lost ~50points in all my stats. from before to after patch.

Can you be more specific in what "all stats" mean? I didnt get to really look at anything after the patch, but I assume you mean you had a main and HP drops, but even that could depend on what PvE pieces you have on. I think we need to narrow down which of the three areas, MH/OH, non-weapon modifiable, or non modifiable was affected.

here's what I believe:

 

Conq = 65. 65x3=195

 

Therefore, any combination (whether it be weapon or armor) cannot exceed a combined total of 195 or it will effect your EXP.

 

So, MH/OH combination of 69/66/58 (193) will yield 2018 expertise...Although, I cannot verify 69/63/63 (195) will yield the same, as I n00bishly overwrote all my 63 mods/enhancements w/ Conq gear, as it was slightly better.

 

I can testify 69/66/58 > Conq MH/OH on my VG, in terms of DPS/DMG.

 

If I can get my hands on some 63's, I will experiment more. Currently, 69/66/58 seems BiS for PvE gear in a bolstered PvP environment.

 

Purples, of course...No self-respecting l33t gamers uses blues at end-game

This is awesome. I'll do some checking of my own when I get a chance.

Does this hold true only for weapons/offhands? Or does it work for armor, too?

Can you be more specific in what "all stats" mean? I didnt get to really look at anything after the patch, but I assume you mean you had a main and HP drops, but even that could depend on what PvE pieces you have on. I think we need to narrow down which of the three areas, MH/OH, non-weapon modifiable, or non modifiable was affected.

to be more precise i´m using 2 times 63/63/66 pve(gloves/boots) items everything else full obroan, lost sth like 20main stat from 303x (x=6 i believe) down to 3014. endu from 2,7k down to 2682, regarding a thread i did in my gild forum i´ve lost 13.3points in healing power and 0.28% surgevalue but gained 0.01% alacrity.

Can anyone confirm this for weapons as well?

Also, for the people having this issue, I am curious as to where Obroan stands versus this.

This reminds me of when Obroan came out. I had mostly partisan gear on, but my EXP dropped after the patch even though I was wearing the same stuff. I was like ***....

BW.... /facepalm