I'm thinking about transferring here from POT5 (East Coast).

I have many questions that I'd like to ask about Harbinger in general.

For my fellow East Coasters out there who play on Harbinger, what's the ping like? I get around ~30 ms on POT5.

What's the faction balance like? Is it roughly even? Are there definitely more Imps than Pubs or vice versa?

How is the quality of PUGs for flashpoints, warzones, and operations? Should I avoid them like the plague or is everything OK?

Who is the dominant faction for PVE and why?

Who is the dominant faction for PVP and why?

How is the GTN economy? Are prices cheap and items abundant?

For example/comparison on POT5: The CHEAPEST level 10 +41 stat crystal is a yellow-blue endurance for 140k. At their cheapest, Mass Manipulation Generators here are only 220k, while Isotope-5s are 64k.

Thanks in advance.

I'm thinking about transferring here from POT5 (East Coast).

 

I have many questions that I'd like to ask about Harbinger in general.

 

For my fellow East Coasters out there who play on Harbinger, what's the ping like? I get around ~30 ms on POT5.

 

What's the faction balance like? Is it roughly even? Are there definitely more Imps than Pubs or vice versa?

 

How is the quality of PUGs for flashpoints, warzones, and operations? Should I avoid them like the plague or is everything OK?

 

Who is the dominant faction for PVE and why?

 

Who is the dominant faction for PVP and why?

 

How is the GTN economy? Are prices cheap and items abundant?

For example/comparison on POT5: The CHEAPEST level 10 +41 stat crystal is a yellow-blue endurance for 140k. At their cheapest, Mass Manipulation Generators here are only 220k, while Isotope-5s are 64k.

 

 

Thanks in advance.

1. I'm central time but I get about 73 MS

2.Pubs win about 95% of warzones

3.Pub pugs are pretty good with warzones. The are also pretty good with Ops. Imps on the other hand have better progression in Ops but dont have the patience of the pubs do with wiping. I don't do flashpoints so i can't speak there.

4.The Imps are obviously the best faction for PVE progression guilds. Many world firsts are from them.

5.Pubs are the best for PVP hands down

6. Mass Manips are about 350-400k, Iso-5 is about 80-90k

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQlPb0Eoi9vdWMm0x245fBgrARAoYFsQ-epboozNoHLcgG3NI_s0A

Happens plenty.

PvE - Imp guilds get stuff done first, Pubs have more guilds progressing (at least on basis of last update of DP/DF tracker)

PvP - Hard to tell, probably more Imp, at least they are lot more vocal about it.

GSF - Pub about 9/10 matches I've been in.

I forgot to ask, what are the queue times like for flashpoints and warzones across all roles?

I actually have to wait as a tank for low level flashpoints on POT5 (not including KDY). As a pure DPS character like a marauder or sniper it takes even longer. As a healer, I can't say because I don't play as one.

Just to reaffirm what others have said...

1. I don't play on the East coast but run with a lot of East coast players and their MS isn't bad enough to notice. It's probably not 30ms, but all of them seem to average ~50ms-70ms.
   
2. More Imps than Pubs, in my experience (Imp fleet is more populated and the level planets are pretty populated).
   
3. Group finder is always a gamble and I have had great and terrible experiences, but more good than bad. For a tank or healer at any level queues are fairly quick, when I leveled my tank (pre-tactical flashpoints) I never waited more than 10 minutes. DPS you can expect a 15-30min wait during primetime (again pre-tactical). Warzones pop pretty quickly and regs seem pretty Rep dominated these days. Reps have GSF on lockdown.
   
4. I can't speak for Imp side but PUGging for Ops on Rep side isn't too bad. I've only had a few poor experiences PUGging a player or PUGging into a group. Skill level in general seems decent and there's usually someone interested in running something.
   
5. Imps have PvE progression on lockdown, as you can tell. However, don't expect to get into any of the Imp guild's A teams, they're mostly recruiting for their C and D teams. There's a lot more room on Rep side to wiggle onto a good Ops team (from what I can tell), but don't expect them to be too serious about server firsts.
   
6. As I said, unranked usually has Reps rolling teams pretty often. I can't speak for ranked.
   
7. GTN is a bit pricey here. Exotic Equalizers are ~35k and Mass Manips float around ~350k.
   

I'm thinking about transferring here from POT5 (East Coast).

 

I have many questions that I'd like to ask about Harbinger in general.

 

For my fellow East Coasters out there who play on Harbinger, what's the ping like? I get around ~30 ms on POT5.

 

What's the faction balance like? Is it roughly even? Are there definitely more Imps than Pubs or vice versa?

 

How is the quality of PUGs for flashpoints, warzones, and operations? Should I avoid them like the plague or is everything OK?

 

Who is the dominant faction for PVE and why?

 

Who is the dominant faction for PVP and why?

 

How is the GTN economy? Are prices cheap and items abundant?

For example/comparison on POT5: The CHEAPEST level 10 +41 stat crystal is a yellow-blue endurance for 140k. At their cheapest, Mass Manipulation Generators here are only 220k, while Isotope-5s are 64k.

 

 

Thanks in advance.

1.) I'm in the Central Time zone and see ping times typically around 43-53ms and lately a ton of lag spikes. Sometimes I see ping times in the 70-80ms range as of late. Harbinger lags badly in a lot of cases. You'll see ability lag and more downtime than any other server BioWare has. We have a lot of APAC players and people from other continents playing and as a result their latencies are pitiful. You see people disconnect randomly and lag out for several seconds at a time during boss fights all the time. Regardless of your connection, this server's poor performance will end up pissing you off.

2.) There are quite a bit more Imperials than Republic players on at any given time.

3A.) PUG groups for flashpoints seem to be about the same. I don't do a lot of them but the amount of mouth breathers and window lickers seems to be about the same either way.

3B.) For Operations my experiences on the Republic side have been "Short Bus Express" all the way. I got kicked out of an Eternity Vault Hard Mode before we even zoned in due to not having 30k+ health on a Gunslinger in almost full Arkanian gear. The raid leader called me a liar when I whispered him and told him that I used to do this **** on my Marauder in Tionese / Columi gear all the time with around 14k health or so. I was in an EC story mode that we couldn't clear with people in 69 and 72 gear because they were just too *********** retarded. I had one semi-good experience with a Dread Palace Story mode, but that is far from the norm on that side in my experience.

The Imperial side has it's share of ******* as well, but my luck with PUG groups as bad as it is definitely favors the Imperial side. For more serious progression the Imperial side is where you want to be as many of the better progression guilds on the server are Imperial.

3C.) For Warzones, under 55 it can go either way. This level range seems to have a fairly good balance most times. I win as many as I lose easily. At 55 is another story. Republic dominates at most times of the day. You can win on the Imperial side, but only if you play really late at night or super early in the morning. The rest of the time you'll 4 shot your daily quest and it will probably take you 13 or 14 matches to finish your weekly.

Pubs are usually better geared it seems. Tons of Imperials come into warzones in PvE gear and most pubs seem to be full Obroan or damn near it. The biggest problem is that Republic teams are often premades consisting of 2 or 3 healers while Imperials are lucky to have just one healer. Often times Imperials may even out damage their Republic counterparts but it's all for nothing when they don't play objectives. Ranked PvP is virtually non-existent on this server. It's so bad that Imperials almost never queue.

4.) As for the GTN, Hawkeye crystals go for the most by far. Most of them fetch a 400k price tag in a lot of cases regardless of color. Eviscerating crystals tend to be around half the price of the Hawkeyes and Endurance crystals rarely eclipse 150k. People who sell things on the GTN are pretty retarded undercutting the next lowest price by as much as 50% due to a lack of patience. So it can often be hard to make a living selling things on the GTN yourself. Mass Manipulation generators are usually between 350-400k often times and Isotope-5's go for around $80-90k in most cases.

When I was last on the Bastion, its GTN was generally more expensive for everything compared to Harbinger. I only mention Bastion because being a PvP server, the wants and needs of its community are likely the closest to POT5.

While you do get drive by super undercutting here often enough, I find most of those "super deals" are bought up by the time most of the WC players quit for the night. That leaves the Aussies (big pop of them here) left buying up the more reasonably priced stuff over night.

Thank you all for the very detailed responses.

Just one more thing:

Does anyone know whether or not your legacy transfers with you to a new server, regardless of whether or not that character is the original legacy creator?

From the FAQ: (http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=6394323#post6394323)

Will my Legacy, Achievements, and Collections all transfer with my character?

Yes! All of your Legacy unlocks, Achievements earned, and triggered Collections will be waiting for you.

Thank you all for the very detailed responses.

 

Just one more thing:

 

Does anyone know whether or not your legacy transfers with you to a new server, regardless of whether or not that character is the original legacy creator?

 

From the FAQ: (http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=6394323#post6394323)

Will my Legacy, Achievements, and Collections all transfer with my character?

Yes! All of your Legacy unlocks, Achievements earned, and triggered Collections will be waiting for you.

Yes it does regardless of character. However, it took a bit longer for everything to register legacy wise for me then the time it took to get the characters themselves transferred.

I'm thinking about transferring here from POT5 (East Coast).

 

I have many questions that I'd like to ask about Harbinger in general.

 

For my fellow East Coasters out there who play on Harbinger, what's the ping like? I get around ~30 ms on POT5.

 

My ping is 70-80 MS.

 

What's the faction balance like? Is it roughly even? Are there definitely more Imps than Pubs or vice versa?

 

I think it is balanced.

 

How is the quality of PUGs for flashpoints, warzones, and operations? Should I avoid them like the plague or is everything OK?

 

My PvE experience is good in puging. PvP not so much.

 

Who is the dominant faction for PVE and why?

 

I do not do end game PvE, but many guild first to beat content is imp.

 

Who is the dominant faction for PVP and why?

This is complicated. My experience is the avg pug on the imp side is better than pub side, but pub side runs way more premades. My winning % on imp side is higher than 50%, but I have to dominate games to win in many situations.

 

How is the GTN economy? Are prices cheap and items abundant?

 

I thinks the prices are around the same Mass Manipulation Generators here and isos sell for slightly more. And crystals for slightly less.

For example/comparison on POT5: The CHEAPEST level 10 +41 stat crystal is a yellow-blue endurance for 140k. At their cheapest, Mass Manipulation Generators here are only 220k, while Isotope-5s are 64k.

 

 

Thanks in advance.

I hope the information was useful.

Good point:

Harbinger is an active and highly populated server, both on imp and pub side.

Not so good:

It's one of the oldest servers, thus if there are server problems, it seems to hit Harbinger 1st. And sometimes, other servers aren't having issues, but Harbinger is down for maintenence. That's not to say that Harbinger is down every week for a night, it's not, but there are times (once every 2 or 3 months) where it seems like Harbinger is down for a night for some kind of extended downtime.

In terms of ops, it's pretty much what you can make of it. There are top world guilds, and ones that struggle to finish sm DF/DP as well as sv and tfb. You'll find it all. There are lots of pugs on both sides.

In terms of pvp. Realistically, pub dominates. Tha'ts not to say there aren't good pvpers on imp side, but in terms of shear numbers, pub side is best. I find, at least on pub side, at least 50% of the time, it's pub v pub. That said though, if you can find a good pvp guild on imp side, they can and do do just as good as any pub pvp guild. The silver lining in that though is that if you can find a decent imp pvp guild, you'll have a better chance of getting into good competitive pvp wz matches instead of the boring one sided dominance you see in a lot of wz's.

1. I'm central time but I get about 73 MS

2.Pubs win about 95% of warzones

3.Pub pugs are pretty good with warzones. The are also pretty good with Ops. Imps on the other hand have better progression in Ops but dont have the patience of the pubs do with wiping. I don't do flashpoints so i can't speak there.

4.The Imps are obviously the best faction for PVE progression guilds. Many world firsts are from them.

5.Pubs are the best for PVP hands down

6. Mass Manips are about 350-400k, Iso-5 is about 80-90k

Figures a Goof Trooper would say that.

The truth is that the top PvP faction largely depends on when you sign on -- the actual results are more like 60-40 for Pubs (but YMMV depending on your gear and who you play with). Tip: take advantage of friend making early on if you want to get some decent PvPing on Impside. Usually I see that some times of the day the Imps do better (late evening on the West Coast); other times the Pubs do better (early to mid evening on the West Coast). Both sides (Pub and Imp) have been affected by an influx of newbie players in PvP, which lead to lopsided games. (No comments on which side is more guilty about taking advantage of exploits, etc. )

The Pub side has some very good Operations based guilds. The Imp side has many more small guilds. So think large groups versus boutique groups.

Imp side tends to be younger in attitude; while the Pub side tends to have an inexplicable fascination with movies that feature Jawas. ( I kid you not! Still don't get the Jawa thing.)

It's one of the oldest servers, thus if there are server problems, it seems to hit Harbinger 1st. And sometimes, other servers aren't having issues, but Harbinger is down for maintenence. That's not to say that Harbinger is down every week for a night, it's not, but there are times (once every 2 or 3 months) where it seems like Harbinger is down for a night for some kind of extended downtime.

Actually, I have a question about that. I've only recently come back to SWTOR after several months off, and I was wondering if Harbinger stability is as bad as it used to be. Harbinger went down so often last Autumn that I was seriously considering shelling out the cash to transfer all of my characters over to Shadowlands.

You know I've never been on Harbinger during a server outage that didn't affect the rest of swtor. But I play after midnight, so I often get booted on Tuesday mornings when patches are loaded.

As for the PvP noobs and bads they are actually better on Harbinger than when I played on Pot5, the still suck but they don't have an attitude. So you can give advice or plan strategies and they actually listen and join in (most are from PvE and the advice is probably welcome).

I'm not in a guild so I don't get any of those nice TeamSpeak benefits. As for PvP I agree it's about 60-40 now rep:imp. But if If Goof Troop is involved it becomes 95% repub wins.

But I was in one of those 5% where the imps pug wins. It was GLORIOUS!

I've won along side GT and it's actually boring. Wining when the odds are in your favor gets grindy, winning a match after 4 people abandoned it out of hopelessness is why I keep playing.