What armor should I be buying for my level 55 Sage with Healing spec? I've been using classic comms to buy the Force Mystic armor for the set bonus, but is the bonus worth it? I just started doing Hard Mode Flashpoints, and other toons have been telling me that my gear isn't good enough. All my gear is 146 or better. Should I be buying the Black Market Force Healer armor with my basic and elite comms? I like the shorter cooldown for Healing Trance, so should I just equip 2 pieces of Mystic Armor and go with Black Market for the rest? At this point, I'm really just doing pve. Been getting into Flashpoints and want to start doing OPS. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

I would also like a little feedback on whether I should be equipping a shield generator, or a D-Focus? I have always had a focus, but am not sure if that is the norm.

 

Thanks

Your gear should be fine as it is for HM FPs. Set-bonus helps a lot, even if its just lvl 50. I recommend, though, that you go through the Oricon storyline, rip out the mods and enhancements from the quest rewards, and put them in your current gear. That way, you'll have the 146 set-bonus and 156 mods and enhancements. If possible, use your basic comms to get some 162 gear (but keep the set-bonus). After that, you should be ready for at least lvl 55 tier 1 ops (Terror from Beyond and Scum & Villainy). Run that, try to get some Arkanian tokens, which will give you rating 162 gear with set-bonus. The lvl 55 set-bonus is identical to the lvl 50 set-bonus for sage healers, but they don't stack. You will, however, get a significant stat upgrade from that.

 

Take care not to neglect the left side of your character sheet -- you can buy 156 / Artifact bracers, belts, implants and earpieces on the GTN for pretty cheap. For relics, go with Serendipituous Assault and Focused Retribution (you'll get one Arkanian relic of your choice each for completing the one-time quests for Dread Fortress and Dread Palace, but you'll probably be better off spending 1400 Warzone Commendations on the equivalent Obroan PvP relics).

 

Hope that answers your questions.

Healers (or sages in general) can't use shield generators, so a focus is your only option anyway.

Thanks a lot for the replies. You guys were super helpful!