I am a level 53 sith juggernaut. I am new to the MMO world and so I find all of this armor and stats and other things like that overwhelming. Anyway, I have found that throughout my leveling experience, it is difficult for me to kill some enemies of my level (usually elite ones), or even ones at level lower than me if I don't use my healer. I like my other companions but they aren't even close to as useful? It this normal? Edited March 1, 2014 by DPswfan

I am a level 53 sith juggernaut. I am new to the MMO world and so I find all of this armor and stats and other things like that overwhelming. Anyway, I have found that throughout my leveling experience, it is difficult for me to kill some enemies of my level (usually elite ones), or even ones at level lower than me if I don't use my healer. I like my other companions but they aren't even close to as useful? It this normal?

 

For new players, yes, this is normal. Seeing as you haven't fully grasped the concept of maxing your stats, using your abilities to maximize the damage you do, etc.

 

Another thing to take into account is what role you are playing. Depending on the role you choose (DPS, Tank, Healer) you need to use different companions to succeed. If you are playing DPS and/or Tank then it is normal for you to need a healer companion to pull you through.

 

Seeing as you are new to MMOs, this guide may help you out with stats: Click Here

I am a level 53 sith juggernaut. I am new to the MMO world and so I find all of this armor and stats and other things like that overwhelming. Anyway, I have found that throughout my leveling experience, it is difficult for me to kill some enemies of my level (usually elite ones), or even ones at level lower than me if I don't use my healer. I like my other companions but they aren't even close to as useful? It this normal?

 

it's definitely normal if you're new to the game.. but most people catch on by 53.. First make sure you're build is sound and you aren't trying use all skill trees. Focus on if you want to damage or tank. Then gear up accordingly. it's important that you're gear is current particularly if your tackling 50+ content. It would take way too much for me to tell you how to gear so you should probably research that. But, personally i think companions kind of give us a little crutch and don't think they even belong in an MMO but since we have them, once your gear is in order try to get them equipped decently as well. Until then i'd stick to only using your healing companion. If you have a fair amount of credits saved up I'd spend some time Shopping GTN as most of what you find outside of OPs/FPs quickly becomes obsolete.

I am a level 53 sith juggernaut. I am new to the MMO world and so I find all of this armor and stats and other things like that overwhelming. Anyway, I have found that throughout my leveling experience, it is difficult for me to kill some enemies of my level (usually elite ones), or even ones at level lower than me if I don't use my healer. I like my other companions but they aren't even close to as useful? It this normal?

I had the same experience on my first character.

 

In addition to maximizing your gear potential (as the other posters have mentioned), there are other ways to improve your survival with other characters. Sending your companions in first, knowing which are the most damaging enemy abilities and interrupting them (as a Juggernaut you have more than 1 interrupt), killing the enemy healers (and weaker enemies) first, these are all things that help.

 

It used to be that an Elite enemy was too difficult to tackle on my own. Once I got more comfortable with all of the skills at my disposals, taking on three at a time became doable.

 

I would recommend reading up guides on running group content, as the skills you learn there will help you solo the more difficult enemies as well.

Thanks for the replies, for the record I am a Tank but I chose the skill tree that is more damage focused.

Thanks for the replies, for the record I am a Tank but I chose the skill tree that is more damage focused.

 

Then you aren't a Tank, the other two are DPS trees.

I'd highly recommend not trying to tank hardmode Flashpoints when you reach level 55 unless you actually take the spec that says tank - you'll save yourself a lot of headaches (and angry groupmates).

Thanks for the replies, for the record I am a Tank but I chose the skill tree that is more damage focused.

 

Then you really arn't a tank

 

You are only a tank if you choose the tanking tree basically. You might be a hybrid kinda thing, but for all intents and purposes, you are not a tank.

 

As a DPS (which you would be then) you need your healing companion.

Tanks need a DPS companion.

Healers need a Tank companion.

 

For the record, the Advanced Class doesn't determine if you are a tank or not. I have a pure DPS Power Tech Bounty Hunter for example.

And you can be a Bounty Hunter Mercenary that isn't a healer. And so on and so forth.

Goes for all the classes.

Most advanced classes can be either DPS or Tank/Healer. The ones that can't are usually split in AOE, direct or DOT specials...

Thanks for the replies, for the record I am a Tank but I chose the skill tree that is more damage focused.

 

then you're not quite a tank, you're a hybrid which is harder to manage than a dedicated Tank, Healer, or DPS would be... not impossible, but a bit more difficult... i'd suggest going back to fleet and re-spec for a true Tank (the Defense Tree)...

then you're not quite a tank, you're a hybrid which is harder to manage than a dedicated Tank, Healer, or DPS would be... not impossible, but a bit more difficult... i'd suggest going back to fleet and re-spec for a true Tank (the Defense Tree)...

 

I'd reccomend DPS since that is easier for someone who is new to MMO's.

I'd reccomend DPS since that is easier for someone who is new to MMO's.

 

Less pressure during group oriented stuff as well.

I'd reccomend DPS since that is easier for someone who is new to MMO's.

 

true, i'd have to agree for a beginner DPS is the easier route, Tank is probably the hardest to get used to and efficient with... personally my Assassin and Shadow are both Tanks, but this ain't my first rodeo...

Edited March 1, 2014 by Elly_Dawn

I'd reccomend DPS since that is easier for someone who is new to MMO's.

 

Pretty much sums up what I was going to suggest ^

What everyone else said. Tank = tank tree. Maybe a few points elsewhere, but if you're in the dps tree, you're a dps, even with endurance heavy gear and a shield (which wouldn't do you nearly as much good, btw, without tree points). You can either hop into the tank tree to use what's likely you're current gear, or learn to dps and re-gear as you go.

 

You aren't locked into using any particular type of companion by the role you play. It sounds like it'll be much easier for you to play with a heal companion, but if you equipped a dps one and could kill things faster you could make it work.

 

Did you remember to gear your companions? If they're still in the gear they came in, or even just hand-me-downs which for anyone but troopers will have the wrong mainstat, they WOULD be highly ineffective. Companions are only as good as you gear them up to be.

 

I'd recommend seeking out a n00b friendly but experienced guild to help you along the way and who you can bounce questions off of. There are great class guides out there - Dulfy has several, and there are many on the forums (though some better than others, always skim the comments) - but sometimes it's going to be easier to just ask someone who knows the role(s) well.

As someone new to MMO's you are making a classic mistake of someone used to single player RPG mechanics. As a single player, you can (and sometimes need to) dabble in all different roles at the same time. This really does not work in most MMO's (especially ones like this that are tank/dps/heal-trinity based).

 

Putting on a shield generator and some gear with mixed dps/tank gear and having skills mixed indifferent trees will mean you are not good at any of the roles. A shield generator will not even be active without being in tank stance. Some key DPS abilities do not work at all if you are in tank stance. Pick one role (DPS is a good start as others have said) and go all the way with it.

I actually prefer the variety of tank + dps(jugg + Vette), DPS + tank(Sniper + Kaliyo), Healer + DPS etc. I also prefer going with other than healers because then you have to think and plan ahead, not just count on the free heals. And ofc, there are those sweet crafted medpacks(BioChem) that Heal you for at least 33% at once and another 33% over 9s. In that way you can bypass Healing completely. But if you still use them with an actual Healer present...you can solo champs and I mean it.

 

If you expected to be a tank just purely on AC and then slapping the DPS tree to become a tanky DPS, you picked a wrong AC. See, Mara can become more tanky than the venge jugg. Anyhow, I'd recommend you play as a DPS at first because it's literally the easiest way to play(and gear up). Gearing up as a DPS: keep your barrel/hilt/whatever as close up to date as possible + in a blue colour. Easy right?

If you expected to be a tank just purely on AC and then slapping the DPS tree to become a tanky DPS, you picked a wrong AC. See, Mara can become more tanky than the venge jugg. Anyhow, I'd recommend you play as a DPS at first because it's literally the easiest way to play(and gear up). Gearing up as a DPS: keep your barrel/hilt/whatever as close up to date as possible + in a blue colour. Easy right?

 

You sure? Cause I always thought this Tank/DPS hybrid (run in tank stance) was incredibly tough, and if I remember correctly could even out-do full tank tree in survivability (its threat gen is worse though)

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#101GMRbddMoMZcGrMb0sob.3

You sure? Cause I always thought this Tank/DPS hybrid (run in tank stance) was incredibly tough, and if I remember correctly could even out-do full tank tree in survivability (its threat gen is worse though)

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#101GMRbddMoMZcGrMb0sob.3

 

Ok, let me stop you right there. First of all, that spec is GROSSLY outdated and it wasn't even that effective at the time it was proposed. Go back and re-read all the talents in that trees again, since launch Guardian/Juggernaut had went through massive overhaul that made hybrids like that a cripple with mental deficiency.

 

Like people had said before you, pick a role and stick with it. Don't go thinking you can invent something new.

If you really want to tank, respec so most of your points are in the tank tree. Be sure you have a shield equipped and that your mods are tank mods - defense, absorb & shield. When you hit 55 and start augmenting your gear, again, get tanking augments, not endurance.

true, i'd have to agree for a beginner DPS is the easier route, Tank is probably the hardest to get used to and efficient with... personally my Assassin and Shadow are both Tanks, but this ain't my first rodeo...

 

I'd have to disagree, tanking is actually fairly easy if you know the fights. Holding aggro as a guardian can be a pain sometimes, but basically as long as you make sure you're the main one getting hit and not dying you are doing okay as tank. Ofcourse when you do it late game there's a little more too it than that but then you probably would have grasped the concept well enough to do it well.

 

Especially leveling. Knights/warriors (particularly new players) are notorious for sucking and dying for what is a very frustrating experience when you level as non tank. People tend to feel like they are super indomitable because your wear Heavy.. but this game has a way of humbling you out of that notion real quick.

I'll add this to the discussion:

 

As a new player, you also picked one of the classes that is least forgiving to a new player.

 

1) Juggernaut/Guardian class is slow to mature: while you are past that threshold (usually the mid 40's), the class itself matures (a.k.a it gets its best skills) much later in its leveling game. This makes it much more difficult to get an overall feel for the classes function early on.

 

2) Jugg/Guard is very gear dependent. Always has been (most it's damage is based on your weapon and stats). That means that stat optimization affects you more then most, and also impacts you negatively more then most when you DONT optimize. not game breaking, but it is there.

 

3) Jugg Guard has NO personal healing abilities....at all...period. most other hybrid classes have some personal healing Capactiy (the tank classes all deal with this limitation now... assassin not as much, but still there). And if you play MMO's long enough, you will come to know the cardinal rule....healing damage is always more beneficial in the long run then resisting damage. so no matter how tough we jugg's are, damage taken is damage taken...and not healed. Which means that unless you have a healer lying around, you will spend far more time recovering.

 

all this aside. once you get intimate with the class, used to balancing skill use, aggro on yourself vs. aggro on your companion, timing pulls (letting your comp get A and B, you grab C and D, etc), and gearing yourself appropriately, you will see your Jugg bloom into an awesome character. In the meantime, give yourself some grace, don't sweat the losses, and keep yourself oriented on this thought:

 

"what could I have done better in that last fight?"

 

after a tough fight, run over your skill descriptions (all of them), and see if any of your skills could have been used slightly better (or just used period) to make that last tough fight easier. make a mental note if you find one, and promise yourself that you'll use it in the next fight.

 

Personal example: Early in my juggs life, I realized that allot of mobs i was hitting with my leap/smash combo were still alive....but perhaps with only a sliver of life left. I would often find myself using a heavy hitting ability to finish them off, only to find myself with nothing but my auto attack to use on the next mob until my heavy hitters came back off of Cooldown. So I got used to using my Auto attack on the almost dead mobs, and saved my hard hitting abilities (that often spent rage) on the next mob. suddenly my kill speed increased dramatically!

 

It was a simply case of refining resource use.....wasting a rage spending ability on an almost dead mob is a waste of the overall damage you do with that ability. But I didn't realize this until I spent some time in post battle analysis.

 

EDIT:

Just in case you aren't familiar with a few terms:

Auto Attack - not really "auto", but it describes a basic ability that costs no resources, and you start with from the very beginning. Often referred to as "auto attack" because in other MMO's, this starting basic ability is often literally on auto pilot from the moment you engage a mob. In SWtOR, we actually have to trigger it each time we want it to be used. in the case of your Juggernaut, it's called Assault.

 

Cooldown: term describing the amount of time it takes an ability, once used, to become available again. for some, its zero, others can be as high as 30 seconds, or even minutes. More powerful abilites often have longer Cooldowns.

Edited March 2, 2014 by Elyx

I'll add this to the discussion:

 

As a new player, you also picked one of the classes that is least forgiving to a new player.

 

1) Juggernaut/Guardian class is slow to mature: while you are past that threshold (usually the mid 40's), the class itself matures (a.k.a it gets its best skills) much later in its leveling game. This makes it much more difficult to get an overall feel for the classes function early on.

.

 

I beg to differ. Life is so much harder for a scoundrel/operative trying to get to 40, particularly if you aren't heal spec.

I beg to differ. Life is so much harder for a scoundrel/operative trying to get to 40, particularly if you aren't heal spec.

 

I could see that...my Operative and scoundrel i both leveled initially as healing...then as a hybrid, so i can't say from the perspective of a non healing spec.

 

But then again, that's why I said "one of" the least forgiving and in all honesty...I see them both as more difficult classes to level initially...the scoundrel/Op having a slight edge due to "some" healing ability....but losing in the comp category as they both get their healing comps very late...which is why i went a heal hybrid.

 

On the flip side....the juggernaut doesn't have an healing spec option at all.And the guardian has it even worse...his healing comp isn't had until the mid to late 30's. but either way they are both tough on new players.

The problem is sitting in your chair: having a pocket healer worked as a giant shield that protected you from too many mistakes, which is how you learn to play. So that protection from your mistakes also meant that you wee robbed of learning opportunities.

 

A Sith Warrior gets a healing companion very early. It's easy to become dependant on that hand hold-y mechanic of having your pocket healer there and thus you haven't really learned basics like interrupts or moving out of the way of telegraphed attacks.

 

The simplest solution is to stop using Quinn until you can survive while using all of your other companions. Start with Pierce or Broonmark and let them take the damage for you while you do the killing. Then move on to using Vette and Jeassa and you'll be killing everything in sight within seconds.

 

Yes, you're going to get killed a lot. But you're also going to get alot better.

The problem is sitting in your chair: having a pocket healer worked as a giant shield that protected you from too many mistakes, which is how you learn to play. So that protection from your mistakes also meant that you wee robbed of learning opportunities.

 

A Sith Warrior gets a healing companion very early. It's easy to become dependant on that hand hold-y mechanic of having your pocket healer there and thus you haven't really learned basics like interrupts or moving out of the way of telegraphed attacks.

 

The simplest solution is to stop using Quinn until you can survive while using all of your other companions. Start with Pierce or Broonmark and let them take the damage for you while you do the killing. Then move on to using Vette and Jeassa and you'll be killing everything in sight within seconds.

 

Yes, you're going to get killed a lot. But you're also going to get alot better.

 

While I want to agree with you very much, I have to put in a few points of contention. The scope of companion utility is quite limited by the gear that they equip. If you honestly mean for someone to try and gear out all of their comps on their first toon solely as a means for combat training then I have to call shenanigans (it's just fun to say). Even with a healer there are plenty of encounters that REQUIRE the use of interrupts and aggro splitting. As a seasoned player, there are still some daunting encounters that I have to deal with since I don't twink out my healer comp (unless I just decide to use all 8 legacy abilities). I do (however) absolutely agree that getting killed makes you better.

 

To the op, the game gets much easier as you progress, when I start a new toon I get a ridiculous amount of companion bolstering due to 500-ish presence at creation and all of the legacy perks that are granted. Just remember: Do or do not, there is no try... and you'll be fine.

Edited March 3, 2014 by mokkh