Update :

I plan on checking if the system is still current since the 3.2 update... I'm assuming it is... From what I can tell all they have done is up lower lvl stats to match lvl 55-60...

I'll let you know if there are changes... But Im guessing bolster will still be the same as before... Just better balanced for lower lvls

Excellent post, I am @ 58 and was only getting 1890 expertise until I read the line about you changing out your weapon and off hand pieces to item rating 148s. Worked like a charm.

"I dont always used exotic mods for weapons and off-hands beyond level 55, but when I do i use 148 mods" - stay forcefull my friends...

One thing I have noticed is that at lower lvls, people now have to take more responsibility for secondary stats and gear...

While in the past you could get away with wearing much lower gear and letting bolster take care of the rest... This isn't really true anymore

From what I have tested myself and what I have seen others geared with in WZs, I can say that you need to stay more up to date with your gear... As you LvL you get more access to different spec mods etc... So for instance, once your lvl has access to enhancements or mods that start to add the 3rd secondary to them, bolster does less of the work... This is why wearing gear much lower than your lvl will not give you very good secondary stats and as you lvl up you will lose more and more of them, even main stats are eventually affected too... As an example, if you were lvl 55 with lvl 29 gear you would get no secondary stat bolster and your main stats would be basic... So the people you see in WZs wearing green lvl items that are 10 or more lvls below them are gimping themselves and your team

With the increase in the amount of basic Comms you get from doing class quests and the reduced cost of the items from the gear vendors, you should be more than able to keep your gear upto date as you lvl... Even before lvl 40 you can convert extra WZ Comms to basic comms if you don't have enough from class missions

Bolster issues did not bother me before but now its quite a problem with 12x XP. Class quests do not give enough LS/DS points, so your relic slots will be empty. And if you do not spend time on GTN/crafting, you might miss earpiece/implants. Which means your character will not have full expertise and something like 40% dmg boost instead of 60%.

Why is it so damn hard to give 2018 expertise and proper bolster so you are forced to waste time and credits to make it work properly. Pre-60 if you cannot join it at any time and have a good time with proper bolster it is essentially failed system.

I'm now using implants for my level 21 Gunslinger - but still no 2018 expertise / competence (it is called "competence" in German-language SWTOR).

I wonder where I can get a Relic for that level ?

I'm now using implants for my level 21 Gunslinger - but still no 2018 expertise / competence (it is called "competence" in German-language SWTOR).

I wonder where I can get a Relic for that level ?

Do you have relics in the slots?

You need to have every slot filled to get 2018 expertise...

Personally I start diplomacy as my first profession and send my companion all the time to do missions... Even then sometimes I get to lvl 19 (the earliest you can equip relics) and don't have enough light side or dark side points to hit Lvl 2... The easiest way to fix this is to run 2-3 of the starting Flash Point for either Imp or Rep,,. You can do this at lvL 15-18 solo and at 17-19 without companions... You also don't have to kill everything... Just speed run it to finish and get your light/dark side points... I can speed run in 7 mins... So you can get 600 points in 20-30 mins

Inside PvP warzones and arenas Bio should drop the stats from all PvE gear to one basic level with 2018exp. But hey, this is to easy for them, lets use overcomplicated bolster instead!

The idea is to make people gear up and be responsible for their gearing, the same as pve... It's part of an MMOs experience to gear up... Also not everyone has the same setup... Some prefer to run more Surge or Crit or Accuracy or Alacrity... The sort of setup you are suggesting takes away any ability to set that up the way you like

Maybe it could be easier or maybe a tutorial about bolster could be added to WZs similar to when you go into GSF

Bolster issues did not bother me before but now its quite a problem with 12x XP. Class quests do not give enough LS/DS points, so your relic slots will be empty. And if you do not spend time on GTN/crafting, you might miss earpiece/implants. Which means your character will not have full expertise and something like 40% dmg boost instead of 60%.

 

Why is it so damn hard to give 2018 expertise and proper bolster so you are forced to waste time and credits to make it work properly. Pre-60 if you cannot join it at any time and have a good time with proper bolster it is essentially failed system.

I can understand the implants and possibly the relics... But you should pick up an ear piece around LvL 15-16 in your class quests

I've been told that you can also pick up implants from the pvp vendor (PVE gear) on your capital planet of your faction... I've never checked as I don't go to them... Any confirmation by anyone would be appreciated

Edit: I've confirmed that implants and ear are available at lvl 20 with WZ comms

In my previous post I suggested a work around for the relics, use diplomacy and also run a couple of starting FPs to boost the rep...

Ideally an ear, implant, relic pack at lvl 10 to pvp with would bring everyone up to 2018 expertise... They don't even need to have stats... They can just be standard ones that fill the slots... Then it would be the players responsibility to upgrade them when they can

The idea is to make people gear up and be responsible for their gearing, the same as pve... It's part of an MMOs experience to gear up... Also not everyone has the same setup... Some prefer to run more Surge or Crit or Accuracy or Alacrity... The sort of setup you are suggesting takes away any ability to set that up the way you like

Maybe it could be easier or maybe a tutorial about bolster could be added to WZs similar to when you go into GSF

Sorry but this is bs. PvE gear bolstered to 2018 is already not with original stats. Especially low level gear. You can easily get huge DEFENCE and ABSORPTION (20-30%) with a pure pve-dps gear + shield with dps mods as a tank.

A flat bolster can solve almost all problems with PvE gear and/or outdated PvP gear. Just cap it let say at 95% of entry PvP gear. And you can still customize your actual PvP gear.

Sorry but this is bs. PvE gear bolstered to 2018 is already not with original stats. Especially low level gear. You can easily get huge DEFENCE and ABSORPTION (20-30%) with a pure pve-dps gear + shield with dps mods as a tank.

 

A flat bolster can solve almost all problems with PvE gear and/or outdated PvP gear. Just cap it let say at 95% of entry PvP gear. And you can still customize your actual PvP gear.

Not BS...

Let me explain... At lower lvls you do not have access to gear that gives you more secondary stats... ie, at the lowest lvls, enhancements only give you endurance... It's not until you get higher up that secondary stats are added to gear... And not until above lvl 30 that you get 3 lots of stats on enhancements and mods

Bolster works to give you those extra stats prior to you reaching those lvls so that it makes it a bit more fair in pvp... Sure the stats aren't perfect, we know the Devs ideas on perfect class stats aren't what we think they should be... But they do build into bolster what they think they are... As you move up in lvl, to where you have the ability to equip more appropriate gear, you get less and less bolster on these stats... You will notice this more, post lvl 30 and the closer you get to 59, then bolster on these is nearly no existent or at lvl 60 bolster lvls

Like I said.. All MMOs are about gearing up... It's the same in PVE as well as pvp... You have to gear up your PVE gear or you can't do higher lvl quests... It's the same with pvp... You need to take some responsibility for your gear... If you want to play a vanilla game where you don't have to worry about such stuff you should look to PS or XBox games... Not MMOs

It sounds like you are defending mess with bolster on PvE items in combinations with expertise. And this is really weird...

Please stop posting unless you have something constructive to ask in this thread on how to maximise your bolster... It was started to help people understand bolster... I have offered ways and alternatives as well as updated information so you can maximise your gear,.. I do not appreciate being attacked and questioned about my motives when all I have done it to try to help the community...

I will not be answering anymore of your posts that arent on topic... So please don't bother polluting this thread anymore... I don't appreciate being trolled and I'm sure people who come to this thread dont want have to read pages and pages of you trying to bait me

Whoa... I'm not attacking you, please calm down.

pages and pages

4 posts which include this one, man WTH with you...

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Have fun!

I've got a question I hope hasn't been asked already. Are people in WZs really checking on their opponents' stats and expertise? I'm relatively new to pvp, and maybe just a slow learner, but everything moves so fast in there I could never take the time to do that.

By looking at the opponents health bar you can get a pretty good idea of how much expertise they have. A dps/healer will have between 38k to 42k hp when geared correctly. If you see someone with 45k to 50k they are geared wrong and are an easy kill. The only point of difficulty would be a tank. However, each tank has a buff on their bar which indicates the stance they are in. If you know the tank stances by a glance you can identify them quickly.

Hope that helps!!!

I'm not attacking this post....but I was arguing heavily against Expertise in beta and post release. It was more a hindrance than a help and bolster did nothing in regards to EXP back then.

Now your gear literally doesn't matter, its just all down to filling slots to get the arbitrary number to 2018 to be competitive.

How is that even rational? If I can cap expertise with gear that literally doesn't even mean anything to my level, simply to cap expertise with reward gear....why have a reward?

Expertise has been the dumbest stat this game ever had, Resilience was bullcrap in WoW as well and they removed it in WoD and to be honest the PVP game started making a lot more sense after they did, though to be fair sub numbers took a huge dive after WoD but that had zero to do with the removal of resi.

Simple facts are is arbitrary numbers have no place in PVP...I get that this post is about adapting to that idea and maximizing on it....its just sad that its all that matters.

I'm not attacking this post....but I was arguing heavily against Expertise in beta and post release. It was more a hindrance than a help and bolster did nothing in regards to EXP back then.

 

Now your gear literally doesn't matter, its just all down to filling slots to get the arbitrary number to 2018 to be competitive.

 

How is that even rational? If I can cap expertise with gear that literally doesn't even mean anything to my level, simply to cap expertise with reward gear....why have a reward?

 

Expertise has been the dumbest stat this game ever had, Resilience was bullcrap in WoW as well and they removed it in WoD and to be honest the PVP game started making a lot more sense after they did, though to be fair sub numbers took a huge dive after WoD but that had zero to do with the removal of resi.

 

Simple facts are is arbitrary numbers have no place in PVP...I get that this post is about adapting to that idea and maximizing on it....its just sad that its all that matters.

Actually, your gear matters a lot. Just not in the conventional sense. Load up on 162's then 148 MH/OH and you're good to go. For everything but ranked, you will be as good off as anyone in the game. The best part is that if you do the flashpoints for the SoR quests, you will get the gear you need to be a contender, the MH/OH you can get from basic coms on fleet.

And taking away exp isn't a solution. That's all I need is a keyboard turning PVE'er that can barely pull a standard rotation on a target dummy, having a 30-40% advantage over me in a WZ because he has no life and fills the one dead weight spot on a raid team (every team has one... if you don't know who it is on yours, it's probably you)...

Expertise isn't and hasn't been the issue, the issue has and will be Bolster. Even then, it's not an impossible system to work with. We basically all get a starter set when we complete the first part of the REVAN quest line.

I've got a question I hope hasn't been asked already. Are people in WZs really checking on their opponents' stats and expertise? I'm relatively new to pvp, and maybe just a slow learner, but everything moves so fast in there I could never take the time to do that.

Yes we check... But usually only if you can see that they have way too much health for their class... ie, if you see a Sorc with 48k health, then you know instantly they are geared wrong... Same goes for most classes, except tanks... And if your health is way too low, it tells us you're not geared right...

When you do an arena match, if you see someone on the other team with the wrong health stat for their class... Nearly always target first as they will be extra squishy and put out less dps... They can be 2-3 hit killed

So when you see someone on your own team like that, you know they are letting you down... This is why I politely point people to this thread

This is a great thread. Thanks for taking the time @Icykill_ to put it together and thanks to everyone for contributing their knowledge here. Swtor Pvp beginners like myself appreciate it. I have already applied the gearing principles to a couple of my toons that are still leveling and seen great improvement. 2018 expertise makes a world of difference. Of course, you guys are right!

My current project is gearing my main level 60 Op healer. I have most everything put together, but ran into one problem. I cannot locate any level 162 barrel mods for MH weapon. I, unfortunately, didn't save any of 162 barrels while leveling up as I was unaware of the pvp use at the time. I've scoured the GTN with no luck finding any. Does anyone know of a source for a 162 barrel mod or weapon that might have a 162 barrel that I can strip?

Thanks!

Welp, I followed your suggestions and went all 162 except for my hands, which are 148s, and I'm at 2018 EXP now. About 43K hp. I think it's important to remember that you can make any piece of adaptive armor any rank you want by putting the correctly-ranked modifications into it, so you're not stuck with the same gear everybody else is using.

Didn't try a WZ last night because I also just switched over to being a tank, and want to get to know the new abilities a little better first.

Thanks for the advice.

Welp, I followed your suggestions and went all 162 except for my hands, which are 148s, and I'm at 2018 EXP now. About 43K hp. I think it's important to remember that you can make any piece of adaptive armor any rank you want by putting the correctly-ranked modifications into it, so you're not stuck with the same gear everybody else is using.

 

Didn't try a WZ last night because I also just switched over to being a tank, and want to get to know the new abilities a little better first.

 

Thanks for the advice.

I'm not going to argue with all of Icy's points as I'm sure they have taken a lot of time to give us this information. However regarding tanking gear, I personally have found mixed results using good PVE gear and my PVP gear. It seems I have a lot more survivability with the PVE gear on, but DPS is extremely low even for a tank. However if I'm on a proper team, the ability to stay alive and guard switch teammates tends to mitigate the low DPS. If I'm in all PVP gear it seems my survivability takes a significant shot. Just something I've noticed. I play a guardian tank.

regarding tanking gear, I personally have found mixed results using good PVE gear and my PVP gear. It seems I have a lot more survivability with the PVE gear on,

Maybe I just don't get the difference between what PVE gear and PVP gear is. Most of what I'm wearing is the Force-lord stuff I got during SoR. I am wearing one piece of exhumed, but it's 162, not 168, and now I can't remember if I changed its mods or not. I don't think I did. I am wearing an earpiece and one implant that I got from the PVP vendor, but hell, I'm wearing this same stuff on Oricon right now.

Maybe I'll just do a little experimentation, sometimes with my higher EXP, sometimes without. I can tell you, I was dying all over the damned place before, with about 1100 EXP. Now the question is: how much will the gear help, vs. do I just have to get better at PVP?

Maybe I'll just do a little experimentation, sometimes with my higher EXP, sometimes without. I can tell you, I was dying all over the damned place before, with about 1100 EXP. Now the question is: how much will the gear help, vs. do I just have to get better at PVP?

Having 2018 expertise puts you on the same level, which will allow you to survive more effectively for sure. Past that it comes down to learning the class you're playing. The big thing is you won't be handing the enemy team extra damage percentages for each attack , which is huge.

The way i think about it is % wise; 2018 expertise gives everyone 60% damage increase and 30% damage decrease (I think its 30%, at work and don't remember, but irrelevant for comparison) The idea is that damage reduction from max expertise works to nulify a portion of that bonus pvp damage increase the enemy has. When you don't have max expertise, lets say that 1.1k you were saying before, you have only around half the pvp damage reduction, and every enemy that has 60% pvp damage increase (most people and every pvp geared player) is having less of that number mitigated on you for each of their attacks (down to 0% for no expertise gear, which is why pvp gear in open world vs pve gear is God) Conversely, if a DPS doesn't have 2018 expertise and has 1.1k, they're only doing a hair over 30% PvP damage, and their damage bonus is cut to next to nothing (or even less than normal if they have 900, which is around where full 192's puts you) when attacking a player with max expertise and conversly, max pvp damage reduction.

Maybe I just don't get the difference between what PVE gear and PVP gear is. Most of what I'm wearing is the Force-lord stuff I got during SoR. I am wearing one piece of exhumed, but it's 162, not 168, and now I can't remember if I changed its mods or not. I don't think I did. I am wearing an earpiece and one implant that I got from the PVP vendor, but hell, I'm wearing this same stuff on Oricon right now.

 

Maybe I'll just do a little experimentation, sometimes with my higher EXP, sometimes without. I can tell you, I was dying all over the damned place before, with about 1100 EXP. Now the question is: how much will the gear help, vs. do I just have to get better at PVP?

When I say PVE gear I mean a mix of 192/198 and when talking about PVP gear in your case I'm talking about 162s. I should have clarified this, but full tank gear at 168/174 is likely better, but when I was doing the gear grind after 3.0 I found that I had more survivability in my raid gear than in 162s in reg warzones.

For DPS and Heals, it probably makes sense, but I was pointing out as a Tank in reg warzones it seems I have noticeably more survivability in my mix of 192/198s, but I also can't hit enemies for crap, but that isn't really my job as a tank.

I might also have to do with the fact that I've been playing this game since launch and I only have one level 60 toon which is my guardian. In ranked, I would never use PVE gear, but I also run a vigilance spec in ranked because as a tank queues during season 3 took forever if another tank wasn't online. When season 4 came along I geared up a DPS set for ranked.