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6.0 Gearing and Content - An explanation from a PTS player


ZionHalcyon

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So, in my other thread here(yes, the title was meant to be facetious), I saw a lot of concern over gearing, some valid, and a lot based on bad or outdated information.

 

What I want to do here is to give people the correct information. I won't tell you how to feel about it - that's on you and to each their own. But at least, I want everyone working off the same playbook.

 

 

First the gearing system.

 

Once you hit level 70, throw out EVERYTHING you think about gearing.

 

In the past, it used to be each tier of gear had a green, blue, purple, and in some cases yellow/gold tier.

 

THAT IS NO LONGER THE CASE once you hit 70.

 

Now it goes like this (using fake numbers because I can't exactly remember off the top of my head):

 

Green tier: Pieces with Item Rating 270-278

Blue Tier: Pieces with Item Rating 280-288

Purple Tier: Pieces with Item Rating 290-298

Gold Tier: Pieces with Item Rating 300-308

 

Numbers are rough but convey the concept.

 

Also, the system looks at your current item rating per slot and drops only offer you gear equal to or better than what you have. You will on occasion get a loot that does have mods you can strip from it, but say you are tier 274 - the gear you get may have 2 274 mods and one for 276. So you can use one to pull out.

 

However in most cases, you will get unmoddable gear drops.

 

 

Spoils of War vendor:

There are reports that this only gives unmoddable armor - while yes, the armor is unmoddable, this isn't entirely correct. This vendor also give Armorings, Enhancements, Modifications, Barrels and Hilts.

 

EVERYTHING on the vendor is random, BUT it uses the same system as loot in that it will NOT give you gear worse than what you got. The stats may not be ideal, but it will be either the same gear tier or one up from what you have.

 

Operations:

I saw a lot of people worried about not having the right gear to get into operations now.

 

The ONLY operation where that will be a concern is the NEW one on DXUN.

 

The developers actually went back and used a type of Level sync to down-level the Operations currently existing to their original levels, and also used a reverse level sync to down-level the players to that level.

 

In practice, it worked out a lot better than it sounds and if you were geared to run NIM operations prior to 6.0, you can still run NiM operations in those same places after 6.0 - the gear change won't affect you at all.

 

Hope that helps!

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While I do believe you are correct that gear purchased from Takana will check against the specific slot's irating I believe that drops, from a FP boss for example, drop based on your overall irating. In that case it is possible to get a lower rating piece of gear as a drop (which is something I was still seeing right before PTS shut down). The best way to use Takana is to fill in gaps on slots that are lagging behind.

 

Otherwise, nice write-up (both this one and your other post).

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Once you hit level 70, throw out EVERYTHING you think about gearing.

 

Just some minor nitpicking, but you mean level 75 due to the level increase. From lvl 70 to lvl 74 everything will remain the same and the entire new gearing treadmill will only start with lvl 75.

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Just some minor nitpicking, but you mean level 75 due to the level increase. From lvl 70 to lvl 74 everything will remain the same and the entire new gearing treadmill will only start with lvl 75.

 

I wasn't able to test this but you are likely right.

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If I remember correctly, green gear was 268 - 274, blue started with 276. I didn't get past that, so I'm not sure where the other quality breaks are.

 

Keep an eye out for Sha'tek armor at low levels, because that is moddable, and looks nice too!

 

It sounds like enough changes will be made to crafting that at least the early tiers will be doable. Yay they removed conquest mats from the early stages!

 

My strategy when this goes live will be this:

 

Use a token to make a fresh Nautolan character and skip all skipable content to try out the new story without the fear of losing companions or breaking story tags. (I got burned pretty badly with Ossus and I don't want to go through that again.) Get 268 gear from story rewards.

 

At lvl 75 do any and all dailies/weeklies, including conquest, that give gear box rewards. I meant to check which ones had loot box rewards, but I never got around to it :( (Anyone on SF in a solo tolerant conquest guild with room?) I might buck up and do VM flashpoints since it is significantly faster to get those early gear levels in group content. Once he gets into 300, which is where I think (but don't know for sure) set bonus gear drops, I'll farm out his best gear to alts when I play them. (I say "he" because the Nautolan females look just dreadful, IMO.)

 

When I'm close to maxing tech fragments I'll buy empty shell set piece pieces and stuff them with whatever mods drop or I can craft. I'm not going to toss my creds at the slot machines. I don't make enough for that!

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When I'm close to maxing tech fragments I'll buy empty shell set piece pieces and stuff them with whatever mods drop or I can craft. I'm not going to toss my creds at the slot machines. I don't make enough for that!

 

Can you expand on this last bit pls. I'm guessing tech fragments are the new UCs, but do the old set bonuses no longer work or no longer mix and match?

 

Also need clarification on the slot machines. - Is this some new mechanic or a metaphor for some new system.

 

Sorry to be a PITA but I don't read the forums as often as before, nor play as much as I would like. I'm assuming that PVP and dailies are gonna be a reasonable way to progress gear in the future.

 

TY for the explanation thus far.

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So, in my other thread here(yes, the title was meant to be facetious), I saw a lot of concern over gearing, some valid, and a lot based on bad or outdated information.

 

What I want to do here is to give people the correct information. I won't tell you how to feel about it - that's on you and to each their own. But at least, I want everyone working off the same playbook.

 

 

First the gearing system.

 

Once you hit level 70, throw out EVERYTHING you think about gearing.

 

In the past, it used to be each tier of gear had a green, blue, purple, and in some cases yellow/gold tier.

 

THAT IS NO LONGER THE CASE once you hit 70.

 

Now it goes like this (using fake numbers because I can't exactly remember off the top of my head):

 

Green tier: Pieces with Item Rating 270-278

Blue Tier: Pieces with Item Rating 280-288

Purple Tier: Pieces with Item Rating 290-298

Gold Tier: Pieces with Item Rating 300-308

 

Numbers are rough but convey the concept.

 

Also, the system looks at your current item rating per slot and drops only offer you gear equal to or better than what you have. You will on occasion get a loot that does have mods you can strip from it, but say you are tier 274 - the gear you get may have 2 274 mods and one for 276. So you can use one to pull out.

 

However in most cases, you will get unmoddable gear drops.

 

 

Spoils of War vendor:

There are reports that this only gives unmoddable armor - while yes, the armor is unmoddable, this isn't entirely correct. This vendor also give Armorings, Enhancements, Modifications, Barrels and Hilts.

 

EVERYTHING on the vendor is random, BUT it uses the same system as loot in that it will NOT give you gear worse than what you got. The stats may not be ideal, but it will be either the same gear tier or one up from what you have.

 

Operations:

I saw a lot of people worried about not having the right gear to get into operations now.

 

The ONLY operation where that will be a concern is the NEW one on DXUN.

 

The developers actually went back and used a type of Level sync to down-level the Operations currently existing to their original levels, and also used a reverse level sync to down-level the players to that level.

 

In practice, it worked out a lot better than it sounds and if you were geared to run NIM operations prior to 6.0, you can still run NiM operations in those same places after 6.0 - the gear change won't affect you at all.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Good analysis … again !

 

I think that perhaps for me that the gearing leveling thing was what was a bit puzzling … We were all use to "greens" being the bottom rung of the ladder. Now that just indicates the over all "level" . 268 I think is starting . So from 268 to 274 is green. The of course the others as you have mentioned. Back in the old days of course a player might have 274's in green / blue and purple !!

 

At any rate .. good point to make !

 

Unmoddable gear might be an issue for some... Although I can see what you are driving at. We can use it until we get the gear we really want. IMO the entire matter is designed to slow the progression of obtaining BiS gear.

 

It's all just going to take getting use to … and a LOT of patience waiting to get gear that we really want.

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Can you expand on this last bit pls. I'm guessing tech fragments are the new UCs, but do the old set bonuses no longer work or no longer mix and match?

 

Also need clarification on the slot machines. - Is this some new mechanic or a metaphor for some new system.

 

Sorry to be a PITA but I don't read the forums as often as before, nor play as much as I would like. I'm assuming that PVP and dailies are gonna be a reasonable way to progress gear in the future.

 

TY for the explanation thus far.

 

Tech fragments are indeed the replacement for unassembled components.

 

Old set bonuses will no longer work once you get past level 70 I believe.

 

Slot machines is just a derogatory term for the RNG nature of The Spoils of War vendor that hands out armor and modifications in exchange for Tech fragments.

 

You get a random item of your selection type that is the same or one node higher in item rating to what your current item rating is.

Edited by ZionHalcyon
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Can you expand on this last bit pls. I'm guessing tech fragments are the new UCs, but do the old set bonuses no longer work or no longer mix and match?

 

Also need clarification on the slot machines. - Is this some new mechanic or a metaphor for some new system.

 

Sorry to be a PITA but I don't read the forums as often as before, nor play as much as I would like. I'm assuming that PVP and dailies are gonna be a reasonable way to progress gear in the future.

 

TY for the explanation thus far.

 

Tech Fragments are the new UC's, however you get them from running more then PvP. As for our current set bonuses, Whem you turn 75 instead of appearing green they show as red (Meaning they no longer function). So we will all be starting from scratch at max level for set bonuses.

Edited by Toraak
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In practice, it worked out a lot better than it sounds and if you were geared to run NIM operations prior to 6.0, you can still run NiM operations in those same places after 6.0 - the gear change won't affect you at all.

 

I don't think this statement is correct as you will lose your set bonus, if I remember it right.

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I don't think this statement is correct as you will lose your set bonus, if I remember it right.

 

Yes, you lose your set bonus. But you will also be running lets say NiM EV, at the level where NiM EV was when it launched, at level sync 50. And look at how far gear has come since then? So when I say you can still run the content, you can still run the content. Even with the set bonus loss, and particularly if you have been keeping up with your gear since that particular operation launched.

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Yes, you lose your set bonus. But you will also be running lets say NiM EV, at the level where NiM EV was when it launched, at level sync 50. And look at how far gear has come since then? So when I say you can still run the content, you can still run the content. Even with the set bonus loss, and particularly if you have been keeping up with your gear since that particular operation launched.

 

Well NiM EV isn't very good example as that one is laughably easy. I would be more concerned about missing set bonuses in operations like NiM GotM, NiM Dread Council, or HM Revan. Especially for some specs like Corruption sorc, which I can't really imagine to heal that type of content without CD reduction on Innervate.

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Unless they changed it, it worked until 74 last I saw someone state on the PTS area.

It's 75 when it quits working.

 

Yeah, I could be wrong on that one - I wasn't sure.

 

Either way, the loss of set bonuses will be offset by the gear in the meantime.

 

As I was just explaining to someone else, lets take NiM KP for example, at the original level 50 it launched at.

 

Gear tier at that time I believe was what, 158 tops? It wasn't in the 200's yet, I know that.

 

But with the downscaling of Operations back to their original levels, the gear tiers that people have acquired since then more than make up for the loss of set bonuses in terms of any NiM DPS race.

 

This isn't me just theory crafting either - I ran a bunch of Ops in phase 2, before the gearing was implemented, on a transferred over, top spec (pre 6.0) character and ran some NiM to test the level sync for KP, and then later tested others in Phase 3.

 

I lost my set bonus out of the gate as I auto-leveled to 75, and yet still didn't have any troubles.

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Well NiM EV isn't very good example as that one is laughably easy. I would be more concerned about missing set bonuses in operations like NiM GotM, NiM Dread Council, or HM Revan. Especially for some specs like Corruption sorc, which I can't really imagine to heal that type of content without CD reduction on Innervate.

 

I hear you, but one of the first things you are going to want to do it get a tactical that will help before going back, and that will help with the issues.

 

And still, even with those, item rating has still come a ways, and it will be ok in those.

 

Also, you may want to give the amplifier system a try - there are some that will help with heals. Just a fair warning - it can get very expensive though. The increases reset once a week.

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I hear you, but one of the first things you are going to want to do it get a tactical that will help before going back, and that will help with the issues. And still, even with those, item rating has still come a ways, and it will be ok in those.

Sadly, not every stat in this down-sync is better. Endurance, Mastery, Power stays low. Not really sure if little more on other stats make for the loss of set bonuses. Also, you said in your OP, that we don't have to worry about not having new gear for old operations and now you are negating that with the "we will have to worry with adding new tacticals." Not saying that to bash you, personally i don't see that much problem with farming new gear. After all, repeated gear farm is natural for MMOs.

 

But this is also problem in PvP, players with old gear with removed set bonuses will also be in disadvantage when facing players in new gear with new set bonuses, despite bolster gives both roughly same stats.

 

Also, you may want to give the amplifier system a try - there are some that will help with heals. Just a fair warning - it can get very expensive though. The increases reset once a week.

Again, amplifiers are something, only new gear can have if I understand it correctly - you can't get them on your old gear when all you want to do is old content. Are you sure about cost reset every week? If that is true, this will be helpful.

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I hear you, but one of the first things you are going to want to do it get a tactical that will help before going back, and that will help with the issues.

 

And still, even with those, item rating has still come a ways, and it will be ok in those.

 

Also, you may want to give the amplifier system a try - there are some that will help with heals. Just a fair warning - it can get very expensive though. The increases reset once a week.

 

Are you sure on this? when I tried the amplifiers out on PTS, I didn't notice a reset the next week.

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Are you sure on this? when I tried the amplifiers out on PTS, I didn't notice a reset the next week.

 

Well, I thought there was a weekly reset. Thing is, I went nuts on the terminal to get enough to first get my set bonus from the kai zykken vendor, and then again to roll the amps I wanted on everything. However as prices increased, it got boring to keep going, so I thought I gave up on a few pieces. When I came back to them at a later date (more than a week), I was starting from the 5k again.

 

I'll be the first to say that if I am wrong on this, than it REALLY makes amplifiers not even worth the time invested, and no BioWare, I will not keep trying for gear with the "right" amplifier as a carrot on the end of the stick - at this point, I would just forget about the system altogether.

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Well, I thought there was a weekly reset. Thing is, I went nuts on the terminal to get enough to first get my set bonus from the kai zykken vendor, and then again to roll the amps I wanted on everything. However as prices increased, it got boring to keep going, so I thought I gave up on a few pieces. When I came back to them at a later date (more than a week), I was starting from the 5k again.

 

I'll be the first to say that if I am wrong on this, than it REALLY makes amplifiers not even worth the time invested, and no BioWare, I will not keep trying for gear with the "right" amplifier as a carrot on the end of the stick - at this point, I would just forget about the system altogether.

 

You gave me hope. And then took it. Shame on you. :p

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You gave me hope. And then took it. Shame on you. :p

 

Frankly, I still don't know. So I guess we both will find out lol.

 

Anyway, amplifiers really are meant to be a bonus add on. They cumulatively help but its not by a ton.

 

Before anything else, I guess based on what I played, I would suggest everyone "live in" the new gear system for a couple months before forming any real solid opinions on it. I get the rush in this day and age for everyone to deliver their own "hot take", but I feel like the scope of the change is so massive with gear, we really aren't going to get the full picture just by playing it for an hour or two.

 

It could even be that with the characters that are already level 70 or so with all the gear grind towards them, there ends up being some "growing pains", but for newer characters, it just flows easily into the new system.

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As for our current set bonuses, Whem you turn 75 instead of appearing green they show as red (Meaning they no longer function). So we will all be starting from scratch at max level for set bonuses.

 

Seriously that's what BioWare have chosen to go with? Breaking set bonuses for lower level gear? It's not like it causes any advantage due it being low level gear.

 

The more I'm hearing about the gearing changes, the less inclined I am to even bother playing Onslaught.

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Seriously that's what BioWare have chosen to go with? Breaking set bonuses for lower level gear? It's not like it causes any advantage due it being low level gear.

 

The more I'm hearing about the gearing changes, the less inclined I am to even bother playing Onslaught.

 

I admit its not the cleanest method.

 

But I have a feeling they are looking to make the gearing a lot more universal, but those with existing characters will be caught in the middle.

 

Conversely, if you were to start a character from level 1 post Onslaught, I bet there would be a smoother flow.

 

Its basically growing pains moving from one gearing system to another, and there is no way to do it cleanly.

 

Not saying I like it, mind you. Just merely stating that if they are moving everyone to a new gearing system, any sort of legacy things they grandfather in can potentially just muck up the system.

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Seriously that's what BioWare have chosen to go with? Breaking set bonuses for lower level gear? It's not like it causes any advantage due it being low level gear.

 

The more I'm hearing about the gearing changes, the less inclined I am to even bother playing Onslaught.

 

from my understanding, Set bonus work, until you reach level 75. That is when they stop working. They worked on my level 70 characters when I tested CZ dailies, but as soon as I hit the level up terminal to get boosted to 75 they stopped working.

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Old set bonuses will no longer work once you get past level 70 I believe.

 

Pretty sure they work up to lvl 74 and it’s the empty shells. If you are using the Armoring, they don’t work.

 

I have asked Bioware if there is a possibility they can make them active at lvl75 because you can “see” the set bonus on the Armor shells, even at lvl 75. But they are red and disabled.

 

It’s why I am keeping my empty shells for the mean time.

Edited by TrixxieTriss
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