I have seen a statement derived from the live stream that 252s will be a rare drop from GC crates. My guess is they may also be a random drop chance inside OPs, perhaps even from some FP bosses when played on hard mode.

Can they be crafted? Not sure... probably... with a different material requirement then 258s.

Thanks. I must have missed that portion of the very long livestream. That, or too many distracting squirrels.

Which is exactly why they should make paw-cuffs, and rodent gags for squirrels. :p

Note: to animal lovers (I am one myself)... no squirrels were harmed by my jovial comment.

So if 258 armors cost 4 masterwork crystals, how do you obtain 252's?

I never liked word problems.

There is a vendor on Ossus that sales 252 and they cost 2 master work crystals each making it worthless to get them as it's better to save up for the 258.

^^ that's a new bit of news for sure.

"worth it" is relative though. It really depends what the actual difference in stats is between 252 and 258.... unless you are a player that simply must have the best of the best.

^^ that's a new bit of news for sure.

 

"worth it" is relative though. It really depends what the actual difference in stats is between 252 and 258.... unless you are a player that simply must have the best of the best.

Actually, it depends on what you get "Ossan Assembly Components" from. If you get them by reverse engineering a 252 piece, then you might have to spend the shards to craft the 258 gear. It depends on how often MWS drop from tier 4 galactic command crates and how often 252 gear drops from T4GC crates and if that 252 gear is reverse-engineerable.

EDIT: They (Ossan Assembly Components) could be like the Advanced Assembly components that use the purple Iokath Recombinator material to make 246 stuff. They may be crafted from some type of raw material obtained on Ossus, likely for existing currency and reputation rank, like Command Tokens can be used for Iokath Recombinantors. That would obviously be preferable to REing them from 252 gear, wasting MWSs

Actually, it depends on what you get "Ossan Assembly Components" from. If you get them by reverse engineering a 252 piece, then you might have to spend the shards to craft the 258 gear. It depends on how often MWS drop from tier 4 galactic command crates and how often 252 gear drops from T4GC crates and if that 252 gear is reverse-engineerable.

 

EDIT: They (Ossan Assembly Components) could be like the Advanced Assembly components that use the purple Iokath Recombinator material to make 246 stuff. They may be crafted from some type of raw material obtained on Ossus, likely for existing currency and reputation rank, like Command Tokens can be used for Iokath Recombinantors. That would obviously be preferable to REing them from 252 gear, wasting MWSs

You don't need to craft 258 you can simply buy them with 4 master work crystals per piece its actually more costly to craft 258.

A big difference as 252s are purple rarity while 258 are epics and stat wise the 252 are only slightly better than T4 epics while 258 has roughly 15 extra of each stat per armoring mod and enhancement.

No, the stat difference comes from the item rating. The Legendary (epic, gold) vs Artifact (purple) distinction relates to the cost for repairs and removing the mods from shells. Case in point: 244 blue prototype gear, dropping from Tier 4 galactic command crates, has the exact same stats as 242 gold epic Legendary gear, but costs considerably less to repair or move around shells. Although, I have read that 244 armorings or hilts/barrels will give slightly more Armor Rating or Force/Tech Power than their 242 half-siblings, even though they contain the same Mastery and Endurance. If that is true, then its proof against your statement. 258's have better stats than 252s because they are a higher item rating, and they also happen to be Legendary rarity.

You don't need to craft 258 you can simply buy them with 4 master work crystals per piece its actually more costly to craft 258.

I'm aware of that. But, the Devs said that crafting 258 is going to be the fastest, and if 258 doesn't drop directly boss loot from MM GOTM (Maybe the bosses drop 252s?) then you're going to have to get the Ossan Assembly Components somehow. If the 252 drops are totally random, meaning you get a non-class-specific whole piece and not an unassembled token, there's going to be a lot of REing of that loot. For the record, I think random non-class-specific whole pieces was pretty much how the loot drops worked in master mode ops when 5.0 first dropped, so there's precedent for this design.

No, the stat difference comes from the item rating. The Legendary (epic, gold) vs Artifact (purple) distinction relates to the cost for repairs and removing the mods from shells. Case in point: 244 blue prototype gear, dropping from Tier 4 galactic command crates, has the exact same stats as 242 gold epic Legendary gear, but costs considerably less to repair or move around shells. Although, I have read that 244 armorings or hilts/barrels will give slightly more Armor Rating or Force/Tech Power than their 242 half-siblings, even though they contain the same Mastery and Endurance. If that is true, then its proof against your statement. 258's have better stats than 252s because they are a higher item rating, and they also happen to be Legendary rarity.

You realize that I pointed that out in my own statement when I compared T4 epics to 252 by saying they are only slightly better because they are only purple 252 I pointed that out because people likely assume that both 252 and 258 are epics like the previous set so I needed to make that distinction otherwise he might assume that state wise there wouldn't be much difference between the 2.

I'm aware of that. But, the Devs said that crafting 258 is going to be the fastest, and if 258 doesn't drop directly boss loot from MM GOTM (Maybe the bosses drop 252s?) then you're going to have to get the Ossan Assembly Components somehow. If the 252 drops are totally random, meaning you get a non-class-specific whole piece and not an unassembled token, there's going to be a lot of REing of that loot. For the record, I think random non-class-specific whole pieces was pretty much how the loot drops worked in master mode ops when 5.0 first dropped, so there's precedent for this design.

Haha no it's only faster if you have several billion credits as the average cost is estimated are 200 million per piece given the required crafting materials.

I'm aware of that. But, the Devs said that crafting 258 is going to be the fastest, and if 258 doesn't drop directly boss loot from MM GOTM (Maybe the bosses drop 252s?) then you're going to have to get the Ossan Assembly Components somehow. If the 252 drops are totally random, meaning you get a non-class-specific whole piece and not an unassembled token, there's going to be a lot of REing of that loot. For the record, I think random non-class-specific whole pieces was pretty much how the loot drops worked in master mode ops when 5.0 first dropped, so there's precedent for this design.

To put it into perspective for you the total cost to craft all pieces is estimated at 3.6 billion credits.

I'm aware of that. But, the Devs said that crafting 258 is going to be the fastest, and if 258 doesn't drop directly boss loot from MM GOTM (Maybe the bosses drop 252s?) then you're going to have to get the Ossan Assembly Components somehow. If the 252 drops are totally random, meaning you get a non-class-specific whole piece and not an unassembled token, there's going to be a lot of REing of that loot. For the record, I think random non-class-specific whole pieces was pretty much how the loot drops worked in master mode ops when 5.0 first dropped, so there's precedent for this design.

Based on current content in test on PTS.. the studio sold you a bill of goods regarding crafting this gear.

Now.. maybe they started high on the recipes initially and plan to tone them down a lot, OR increase the drop rates of materials. The pure economics of what is currently on PTS is completely unworkable for a marginal increase in stats that 258s represent vs 248s (~5% based on KendraPs workups posted today on the forum). Time will tell on this, though I tend to think they will do some combination of both adjustments to move the crafting economics where it needs to be to be sustainable ... or they will have effectively killed off crafting with patch 5.10. The new gear should carry a premium price for crafted gear for sure.. but it should be no more then 50% more in materials cost or people simply won't bother to craft it.

If they leave crafting of 258s as it is now on PTS.. then UCs is likely the fastest way to gear up in 5.10.

Based on current content in test on PTS.. the studio sold you a bill of goods regarding crafting this gear.

 

Now.. maybe they started high on the recipes initially and plan to tone them down a lot, OR increase the drop rates of materials. The pure economics of what is currently on PTS is completely unworkable for a marginal increase in stats that 258s represent vs 248s (~5% based on KendraPs workups posted today on the forum). Time will tell on this, though I tend to think they will do some combination of both adjustments to move the crafting economics where it needs to be to be sustainable ... or they will have effectively killed off crafting with patch 5.10. The new gear should carry a premium price for crafted gear for sure.. but it should be no more then 50% more in materials cost or people simply won't bother to craft it.

 

If they leave crafting of 258s as it is now on PTS.. then UCs is likely the fastest way to gear up in 5.10.

I agree, it certainly seems that way, as the boost in stat budget per Charged Matter Transubstantiator for each 258 piece is a mere fraction of that same ratio for 236 augments. I'm not trying to defend the studio's schematic material requirements, I'm only parroting their narrative.

• Six to fifteen Conquest materials, at about 2 per week per character
  
• Twenty-four to thirty six CMTs, which is highly variable acquisition rate. I estimate one in twenty T4GCs, based on my drop rate last week during double rewards, and then more frequent from pvp rewards.
  
• Five to eleven Ancient Tomes, which themselves require 65 Relics of Ossus (I'm envisioning them to be just like Iokath Power Shards, so easy to get several hundred per week with no cap, no big deal there, just lots of daily grinding)
  
• Two Forgotten "somethings" which are probably the MM operation-specific material drop. If they are like, say, the Barnacle of the Eyeless, we could be talking about only 2-4 per boss, depending on 8p/16p.
  
• Four to ten Ossan Assembly Components, which who knows what they come from yet
  

It certainly doesn't seem like, "the fastest way." It seems like, the quickest way you get gear if you are sitting on billions of credits (to buy Forgotten somethings and Ancient Tomes) AND stacks of hundreds of the materials (106 SRMs and 424 CMTs per character), because the billions alone won't get you enough materials … There simply aren't enough SRMs or CMTs on the GTN at any given time. We're talking buying over 40 page-screens worth of CMT sale listings … there's not that many on SS and I doubt there are on SF either.

So no, I haven't bought that bill of goods yet.

It looks the best move will be to buy your 258 MH first because that will have the greatest benefits: increased force/tech power, 5% stat increase, and higher base weapon damage.

The vendor on Ossus selling 258's doesnt have a MH or OH. Just the 252 vendor. Also all the mods in the MH/OH are specific for that piece. So as of right now you can't buy say two OH's and put the mods/enhancements in another piece I.E. chest piece.

The vendor on Ossus selling 258's doesnt have a MH or OH. Just the 252 vendor. Also all the mods in the MH/OH are specific for that piece. So as of right now you can't buy say two OH's and put the mods/enhancements in another piece I.E. chest piece.

Previously only armoring have been bound to specific piece. Did they change it so that mods and enhancements are also bound?

Previously only armoring have been bound to specific piece. Did they change it so that mods and enhancements are also bound?

As of right now in the 252 MH/OH, the mods/enhancements aren't interchangeable. Also have to take into account that they aren't ready for it to be tested, so things might change. I'm sure they understand min/max and wouldn't go this route

As of right now in the 252 MH/OH, the mods/enhancements aren't interchangeable. Also have to take into account that they aren't ready for it to be tested, so things might change. I'm sure they understand min/max and wouldn't go this route

I hope you're right and its a bug because pts... not yet another ninja nerf

I hope you're right and its a bug because pts... not yet another ninja nerf

I would not call it a nerf. Not every change in an MMO that players do not like automatically = a nerf. Nerf generally refers to making something notably inferior to what is was in the context of actual game play .... be it a skill, or an encounter, or discipline specs, etc. It's definitely a change that I do not think any player would say... "great! .. do some more of that."

As already discussed.. it could just be a bug, It could just be a developer gone rogue, or it could be the studio is testing making all mods in a piece of gear --> gear slot dependent. If it is a testing exercise.. PTS is exactly where to do it.. not in the live servers. Why do a testing exercise you ask? To test what will and will not work and be accepted by players and what is judged as over the top by players. PTS is a perfect place to test out changes like this to measure player reaction. It certainly deserves a question by players and a firm and unambiguous answer from the studio as to "working as intended, or not".

I'm actually surprised they went with only the armor mod being slot dependent in the first place..... but then again.. armor typically carried the set bonus variable so I guess it makes sense in that context.