I just made a character to Level 50, and I wasn't intending on doing any Ops, just Dailies and Normal-mode Flashpoints. Unfortunately I found out that to get our "new companion" in 1.5 we will have to do HM Maelstrom Prison/Foundry to get part of him. Therefore I did a little research and found out that apparently it's not a good idea to do HM FP's without Op gear - i.e. Columi/Tionese/Rakata. Therefore I will, unfortunately, have to go against my initial hopes and do ops. So here are several questions.

1. As to gearing, for my first op would Black Hole gear be acceptable?

2. Relating to the question above, you get BH commendations from doing Dailies, right? (I'm just finishing Corellia)

3. What is the shortest and/or easiest Op? (I've heard Eternity Vault)

4. How many Ops would I have to do to get a full set of gear?

5. Can I get the gear in Story Mode or must I do HM Ops?

6. How long is the shortest Op?

Hard Mode Foundry is one of the easier HM Flashpoints. Best way to get geared for it is daily comms. You can get armorings and hilts / barrels that are rank 23 for 8 comms each.

If you have those, Black Talon, Boarding Party, and Foundry are pretty easy to complete. There's no need to run Ops to do those. In fact, I did EVERY HM Flashpoint on one character before doing my first Operation.

Just don't try to do Lost Island until you've got some gear and a good group. That one's a pain in the rear.

I just made a character to Level 50, and I wasn't intending on doing any Ops, just Dailies and Normal-mode Flashpoints. Unfortunately I found out that to get our "new companion" in 1.5 we will have to do HM Maelstrom Prison/Foundry to get part of him. Therefore I did a little research and found out that apparently it's not a good idea to do HM FP's without Op gear - i.e. Columi/Tionese/Rakata. Therefore I will, unfortunately, have to go against my initial hopes and do ops. So here are several questions.

 

1. As to gearing, for my first op would Black Hole gear be acceptable?

2. Relating to the question above, you get BH commendations from doing Dailies, right? (I'm just finishing Corellia)

3. What is the shortest and/or easiest Op? (I've heard Eternity Vault)

4. How many Ops would I have to do to get a full set of gear?

5. Can I get the gear in Story Mode or must I do HM Ops?

6. How long is the shortest Op?

I'll try to clear up a few things

The gear progression is Tionese -> Columi -> Rakata -> Campaign -> Dread Guard. Black Hole is the equivalent of Campaign, but without the set bonus. In order to do HM MP, you honestly could probably use mostly recruit or battlemaster (PVP) gear, although a few columi pieces would help. You get columi either from doing HM FPs or doing story mode Ops (EV and KP). Personally, I'd try to do a SM EV run - with a good group it shouldn't take more than an hour, and if you're geared in recruit, it should be fine as long as you know how to play, stay out of fire, etc. That should get you a couple columi pieces. Once you get columi, if you want to get some Rakata, I'd do HM EV and KP, although you definitely do NOT need Rakata to do HM MP.

If you get a BH piece or two from comms, you'd be more than set - you get BH comms from HM EC (but that requires rakata gear to start), black hole dailies (8/wk), and the group finder ops/HM FPs (both of which you could do with recruit/battlemaster, except Lost Island).

Hope that helps!

Okay, thanks for a bit of clearance there.

First off: So by doing Dailies I get commendations which I can use to buy mods that will be sufficient for HM Foundry. Cool. Second: I have not done PVP my whole character () so Recruit gear isn't much of an option. Third: So I'm getting the vibe that ops aren't really necessary in order to do HM Foundry. Sweet. So I should be able to get HK-51 wearing orange gear with Daily mods. Did I get all that right?

Okay, thanks for a bit of clearance there.

 

First off: So by doing Dailies I get commendations which I can use to buy mods that will be sufficient for HM Foundry. Cool. Second: I have not done PVP my whole character () so Recruit gear isn't much of an option. Third: So I'm getting the vibe that ops aren't really necessary in order to do HM Foundry. Sweet. So I should be able to get HK-51 wearing orange gear with Daily mods. Did I get all that right?

The Recruit gear is free, actually. If you go to the PvP terminal in the fleet that offers PvP quests, one of them is a technology related quest (don't remember the exact name). You pick up the quest, then turn it in right away and you can get a set of gear for your spec.

You can definitely do the Foundry wearing orange gear with daily mods. The nice thing about the Recruit gear is that some of the pieces in the set may be upgrades so some of the gear your wearing. I would get it anyway and then swap out any slot with a recruit piece that would be an upgrade.

If you haven't done much 4-man content, I would offer these tips (just in case you don't already know)

1. Some of the mobs have multiple elites in them. It can help to stun (CC) some of these before the fight. Be careful not to attack CCed mobs either directly or with area attacks or it will break the CC.

2. DPS generally kill the weaker mobs first -- this helps reduce the overall damage the group is taking.

3. Most of the boss fights have some specific mechanics to be aware of. For example, Revan casts an ability called "Power of the Force" which needs be interrupted.

Cheers.

I usually take the token that's worth 320k and then go buy any recruit pieces that are an upgrade. This usually ends up being just the relics, usually the earpiece, sometimes an offhand and occasionally an implant.

PvP recruit vendor sells stuff for cash, so no need to PvP to get the stuff.

I usually take the token that's worth 320k and then go buy any recruit pieces that are an upgrade. This usually ends up being just the relics, usually the earpiece, sometimes an offhand and occasionally an implant.

PvP recruit vendor sells stuff for cash, so no need to PvP to get the stuff.

An unfortunate change as of 1.4 is the the PvP token can no longer be redeemed for money. You can only get the gear.

An unfortunate change as of 1.4 is the the PvP token can no longer be redeemed for money. You can only get the gear.

F**k and here i was hoping on another cash in with my sentinel damn.

Well poo. Since I don't PvP, recruit gear was worthless as gear on two of my 50's. By the time they got to 50, I had collected enough gear that I had surpassed the stats of the recruit, so the credits were a nice bonus.

Guess I have no reason at all to get the crap now.

Well poo. Since I don't PvP, recruit gear was worthless as gear on two of my 50's. By the time they got to 50, I had collected enough gear that I had surpassed the stats of the recruit, so the credits were a nice bonus.

 

Guess I have no reason at all to get the crap now.

On my latest 50, I had Columi mods (in legacy gear) ready to go, but I used the Recruit token to gear up my companion to run dailies and such. Of course, this only works if your main companion is the same class as you.

I just made a character to Level 50, and I wasn't intending on doing any Ops, just Dailies and Normal-mode Flashpoints. Unfortunately I found out that to get our "new companion" in 1.5 we will have to do HM Maelstrom Prison/Foundry to get part of him. Therefore I did a little research and found out that apparently it's not a good idea to do HM FP's without Op gear - i.e. Columi/Tionese/Rakata. Therefore I will, unfortunately, have to go against my initial hopes and do ops. So here are several questions.

 

1. As to gearing, for my first op would Black Hole gear be acceptable?

2. Relating to the question above, you get BH commendations from doing Dailies, right? (I'm just finishing Corellia)

3. What is the shortest and/or easiest Op? (I've heard Eternity Vault)

4. How many Ops would I have to do to get a full set of gear?

5. Can I get the gear in Story Mode or must I do HM Ops?

6. How long is the shortest Op?

When you hit 50 you got free recruit gear (if you don't have it get it as a mission reward via PvP terminal). That gear is sufficient to beat HM Foundry - Operation gear is actually better than what you need:p

Been Running Hardmodes T1 (have not got to LI yet) Ran first Opp succesfully.

Question that I have though is it necessary to run in the shells for the bonuses? I ripped out all the mods and put them into my adaptive sand people gear. All 56mods with one set of 61BH mods, BH Bracers and Rataka Belt.

Do I need to have one set for when I want to run around in SP Gear and another set to swap into just for the bonuses?

Am a Sawbones

Been Running Hardmodes T1 (have not got to LI yet) Ran first Opp succesfully.

 

Question that I have though is it necessary to run in the shells for the bonuses? I ripped out all the mods and put them into my adaptive sand people gear. All 56mods with one set of 61BH mods, BH Bracers and Rataka Belt.

 

Do I need to have one set for when I want to run around in SP Gear and another set to swap into just for the bonuses?

 

Am a Sawbones

My Operative is too low level to comment on the set bonuses. I do know that some set bonuses can be "meh" (e.g. Sage dps) and other set bonuses are spectacular (e.g. Commando dps)

If you find your healing as a Scoundrel is really improved by the set bonus, then you would need to keep your Columi/Rakata shell, at least until you get Campaign gear or Dread Guard gear. The set bonuses for those are tied to the armoring, so you can rip it out and put it in any moddable gear and keep your set bonus.

My Operative is too low level to comment on the set bonuses. I do know that some set bonuses can be "meh" (e.g. Sage dps) and other set bonuses are spectacular (e.g. Commando dps)

 

If you find your healing as a Scoundrel is really improved by the set bonus, then you would need to keep your Columi/Rakata shell, at least until you get Campaign gear or Dread Guard gear. The set bonuses for those are tied to the armoring, so you can rip it out and put it in any moddable gear and keep your set bonus.

The 4 part-set bonus for pve-Sawbones is **** though, 15% boost to crit chance on Kolto Pack? Yay. I try to run a mixed set in pve, so I would have a lowered cost on Kolto Cloud and have it's healing done boosted by 15%. PvP 4 part bonus is better (+5 max energy) but not that great either.