Hey everyone,

i just dinged 60 and was looking for help. i am new to MMO's so bear with me. As i said, i just hit 60. i have been doing a lot of group finders in an attempt to get Elite and Ult comms, or a good set of gear. So i am running with this group on HM Tython, i passed on EVERYTHING except one pair of 192 wrists, which i clicked "need" for. i soon realized my error as i was immediately called a noob and a "ninja" and informed of my lack of skill at the game. oh well, lived and learned. DON'T EVER CLICK need.

When i clicked greed on the other HM FP's, i didnt win one piece of gear. so how does one gear appropriately in solo story at 60?

i heard that Ziost will yield a set of 192's from quests? i stupidly wasted all my BC's on the Yavin 186 vendor gear which i just found out is not worth it.

so is Ziost solo quest gear worth the run?

When i clicked greed on the other HM FP's, i didnt win one piece of gear. so how does one gear appropriately in solo story at 60?

 

i heard that Ziost will yield a set of 192's from quests? i stupidly wasted all my BC's on the Yavin 186 vendor gear which i just found out is not worth it.

 

so is Ziost solo quest gear worth the run?

Hi!

If the items have the correct stats for your class then you can click need, if not then use greed. This will not be a issue in the expansion and foward since all items will have a mastery stat instead. If you are a agent for example you need on cunning gear and not willpower for example. It can also be polite to press greed if you already have the armor piece but you are still in the right to press need anyway if you want the mods for example.

The best way is to communicate when the OPS or FP start, what lootrules the team agrees upon then no problems will occur.

I highly advice you to do the Ziost questline for two reasons, first they give good gear that is useable in all SM OPS and HM FPs at level 60 and second for the story so you know a bit more what happens in the expansion.

Thanks for the advice... i thought need was ok because i did need it, but i guess not everyone agrees.

Good to know. on my way to Ziost when i sign in tonight...

Thanks again.

HI!

Gratz on your level 60!

First what class are you? And what spec?

Ziost gear is definitely worth it for starting gear. Ultimate & Elite gear isn't all that great, it needs optimized.

I'd save the coms for once the expansion drops. 186 BC gear works fine for even running OPs in SM. But especially the Ziost gear. If you want to run The Ravagers & Temple of Sacrifice, I would advise you to take time to read the mechanics & watch the fights. That way you can get in a pug group, if your guild doesn't run it.

Any other questions you have I'll do what I can to answer.

HI!

Gratz on your level 60!

 

First what class are you? And what spec?

 

Ziost gear is definitely worth it for starting gear. Ultimate & Elite gear isn't all that great, it needs optimized.

I'd save the coms for once the expansion drops. 186 BC gear works fine for even running OPs in SM. But especially the Ziost gear. If you want to run The Ravagers & Temple of Sacrifice, I would advise you to take time to read the mechanics & watch the fights. That way you can get in a pug group, if your guild doesn't run it.

 

Any other questions you have I'll do what I can to answer.

Thanks! Appreciate the help.

i am a Jedi Sentinel combat spec. it sounds like the Ziost gear is what im looking for. During the HM Tython, i felt a little squishy. but that could have been the fact that we had no tank and the healer was in the same guild as the guy calling me a ninja. so i assume at some point they just stopped healing me during battles. most other FP's i feel like i hold my own just fine, even if we lack a healer.

good advice on saving comms. i might just get the Ziost set for a while.

So just to confirm. You said Ziost drops are good starting gear. what does that mean? after getting it, what would be a good intermediate set? especially if the elite and ultimate comms are being saved for xpac.

are you saying use the ziost gear till the xpac?

excuse the bad grammar. im on an ipad and getting lazy.

So just to confirm. You said Ziost drops are good starting gear. what does that mean? after getting it, what would be a good intermediate set? especially if the elite and ultimate comms are being saved for xpac.

 

are you saying use the ziost gear till the xpac?

 

excuse the bad grammar. im on an ipad and getting lazy.

Ziost is good gear to start with if you plan on participating in end game operations. It has a "rating" of 190 which is only slightly worse than rating 192 which is what you can get from Story Mode Operations or using elite commendations. For comparison, by the end of Yavin IV your character should have a full set of rating 178 gear, and then basic comms gear is rating 186.

Once you get Ziost 190, the "intermediate set" would be 192 from SMOPs and elite comms. And an "advanced set" would be rating 198 gear that drops in HMOPs or ultimate comms.

That being said, in about three weeks the KotFE expansion will start and the starting gear (the gear you would get by going through the story) is rating 188. Ziost and Operations gear is obviously better, but all it will do is make KotFE content that much easier...you do not NEED current top end gear to be successful in the coming expansion, but it would not be a waste of time to get that gear either.

Sentinels feel squishy as it is. So nothing new there. lol

As a sent, right now you need Strengh, Endurance, Power & Accuracy gear. If that's what you rolled NEED on, then ignore those idiots.

FP rules are roll need on what you can use for yourself. If they don't like it they can leave.

Oh & don't augment your gear till after the expansion hits, but you can add the MK-10 kits because those aren't changing.

Yes, just use the Ziost set until you get the token drops from the Operations, if you run them.

I mean you can go ahead & get 192 Elite gear or 198 com gear if you have it. It will help you level in the Expansion, but com gear is being raised if I remember correctly, so you have all that stacked you should get like 208 (elite) or 210 (Ultimate) something close to those numbers gear after KOTFE drops which will be even better gear. Basic I think is being moved to 188, instead of 186.

you do not NEED current top end gear to be successful in the coming expansion, but it would not be a waste of time to get that gear either.

I mean you can go ahead & get 192 Elite gear or 198 com gear if you have it.

My advice here is to save the comms for the expansion and use the gear that the Ziost questline gives. There is no need to burn comms that will be highly useful in a few weeks in a much better way

I think that the expansion questline will give us good gear along the way when we start the expansion just as the previous questlines have. When we hit level 65 it will be real nice to have a bunch of comms to get better gear right away.

Thanks everyone! All of these posts were super helpful. I have decided to forgo the GF, go to Ziost and grab that gear set.

Then it will be end game till the expansion and save up the comms.

As far as that group, eh. I got a nice pair of 192 wrists and all it cost me was taking some grief and 3 more added to my ignore list.

Thanks again everyone.

I think saving for KotFE is the right call. No reason spending a lot for best in class now when it'll change in 2 weeks.

But I'm still curious about the abuse. You are a strength spec, the 192 you "needed" on was strength, right? If not, that's why they griped. Otherwise, I have no clue what their problem would be (unless it is heavy armor, and thus you can't wear it!).

Basic rule: Need only if:

(a) it is with your mainstat (strength for you)

AND

(b) it is better than the gear you already have

AND

© it isn't for the other discipline in your class and one of those is in your group. (Ex: Guardian DPS shouldn't need on Guardian Tank gear). Not an issue for a sentinel as all sentinels are DPS and go for the same gear.

Don't need just to sell, or equip a companion.

To the OP ...

If it is equipment a companion can use, ask the group first if you can roll "need"? Depending on what you are running, they may agree to it.

As for whether to augment the Ziost set or not ... I wouldn't put in max level purple augments. I would instead go with greens or blues. A whole lot cheaper and ever bit of increase in stats helps.

I can't tell you what price to expect on the augment kits. On my server, level 10 augment kits run about 40k each. And then you still have the installation cost (about 40k again) and then you still have the costs of the augment itself. On PoT5, assuming you have to buy everything, a full setup of purple max level augments in all your gear will run you about 1 - 2 million / toon or companion.

Ziost is a very good set to get. Extremely easy to acquire too. You can run Ziost even in PVP gear. I have and not had to struggle at all. Also do all missions. Nice pay day. Kill any boss (gold elite) that crosses your path (5k - 9k credits per kill) and they also have a chance to drop earpieces and implants. Equipment wise, Ziost will give you everything for your toon except a mainhand. When you gain enough comms at ziost to buy an offhand (to take the mods out so you can put it in your mainhand) you can do so with everything but the barrels or hilts. These pieces will not carry over. Your best bet is to buy the barrel or hilt off the GTN or use some of the elite comms to buy a mainhand instead.

I think saving for KotFE is the right call. No reason spending a lot for best in class now when it'll change in 2 weeks.

 

But I'm still curious about the abuse. You are a strength spec, the 192 you "needed" on was strength, right? If not, that's why they griped. Otherwise, I have no clue what their problem would be (unless it is heavy armor, and thus you can't wear it!).

 

Basic rule: Need only if:

(a) it is with your mainstat (strength for you)

AND

(b) it is better than the gear you already have

AND

© it isn't for the other discipline in your class and one of those is in your group. (Ex: Guardian DPS shouldn't need on Guardian Tank gear). Not an issue for a sentinel as all sentinels are DPS and go for the same gear.

 

Don't need just to sell, or equip a companion.

So after posting yesterday, I started to doubt myself. "Was I took excited about the 192's and thought I had seen my stats?" Nope. The wrists were Primary Strength and Secondary Endurance like I thought. The two stats I am focused on right now. So your guess is as good as mine. I am not one to "ninja" gear to make a buck. If I cannot use it, I pass, I don't even greed it. My feeling is let someone else have a better shot. My comps can have hand me downs or in some cases if the stats they use are different, I spend the comms and or credits and get them the gear and or mods that stack their stats. No need to take a piece away from a live player.

I have been playing SWTOR for a while and that was probably the one and only time anyone has ever said anything to me if I needed a piece I would use. Probably because like I said, I do pass everything else I cannot use. Out of all the FP's I have run with PUGs, I have needed maybe 6 or 7 pieces. I usually run them because they are fun, challenging and the occasional piece I need drops.

My comps can have hand me downs or in some cases if the stats they use are different, I spend the comms and or credits and get them the gear and or mods that stack their stats. No need to take a piece away from a live player.

If you needed on gear with the correct stat then the other players did a mistake to accuse you.

One good thing about the expansion is that there will be no need to gear up companions anymore, they gain power alongside the characters level. The gear is only used for looks and not for the stats

If you needed on gear with the correct stat then the other players did a mistake to accuse you.

 

One good thing about the expansion is that there will be no need to gear up companions anymore, they gain power alongside the characters level. The gear is only used for looks and not for the stats

WOW! I haven't had time to read al about it so I was unaware. That actually helps a lot. I hate having to always think about comps. Because then I usually forget, they are constantly dying and I am left standing their wondering why.

WOW! I haven't had time to read al about it so I was unaware. That actually helps a lot. I hate having to always think about comps. Because then I usually forget, they are constantly dying and I am left standing their wondering why.

Yeah it is a nice change to not have to gear up the companions anymore.

There are lots of other changes aswell in the expansion so if you want to know more I advice you to check out the Cantina summaries, the DEV posts and blogs here and perhaps watch a archieved livestream from the Twitch site (watch out for spoilers though, they show alot of the story for some reason).

Quick question: So I completed the SoR content and am on Ziost. I almost have the full set of Ziost 190 gear. But it seems to lower my endurance from the 186's I had equipped. What am I missing? I assumed for my Combat Jedi Sentinel, Strength and Endurance were the two most important stats?

The other thing is some of the pieces I had were heavy on critical rating and these pieces are dropping that down quite a bit in favor of defense and absorption rating which I am guessing is replacing the beefed up endurance of my previous set?

I know some people say that these pieces are "tuned" better. So does that sound about right?

Ok, here's a quickie guide to gearing in 3.0

Starter Gear: 186 Artifice Purple Relics, 186 MH+OH, and 190 Ziost everything else.

Intermideate Gear: 192 Set Bonus Gear (Piss easy to get) + 186 Augments.

Expert Gear: 198 Set Bonus Gear + Augments

Top Tier Gear: 198 Set Bonus Gear + Augments + 204 MH.

If you are in a Guild, getting your full 192 SB gear is really easy. You will want to look up a guide for Combat Sentinel, i'd reccomend Hayete's guide. Welcome to your first 60 though! the 65 Cap that comes in 2 weeks ought to be easier to gear with, because you can do an operation a day and still have 2 left over to gear with!

Quick question: So I completed the SoR content and am on Ziost. I almost have the full set of Ziost 190 gear. But it seems to lower my endurance from the 186's I had equipped. What am I missing? I assumed for my Combat Jedi Sentinel, Strength and Endurance were the two most important stats?

 

The other thing is some of the pieces I had were heavy on critical rating and these pieces are dropping that down quite a bit in favor of defense and absorption rating which I am guessing is replacing the beefed up endurance of my previous set?

 

I know some people say that these pieces are "tuned" better. So does that sound about right?

As Sentinel you are a DPS. Endurance is of little importance for you. I call it "collateral damage", myself, it comes with gear regardless of what you really need... In fact, a piece of gear for DPS is ideally as low as possible on Endurance and as high as possible on Mainstat and secondary stats.

Ideally, for the moment you'd want to have more damaging stats than Endurance. So, Mainstat should be your priority at all times. Followed by Accuracy till the 100% Melee/Ranged rating. Then Power, Surge, Alacrity and Critical, at your preference.

Tanks and Healers have a difference on how they gear up than DPS. Healers are the simplest, because they can pretty much go with the same as DPS, but remove Accuracy and replace it with Alacrity, which speeds up castings and reduces cooldowns.

Tanks want to have Endurance over Mainstat, usually. Then Defence, Shield and Absorb. Nothing else.

As such, yes. Lowering your HP as a DPS is perfectly viable, as long as you gain on your damaging stats.

That said, in a couple weeks there should be a couple changes to how gear works, so it'd be a good idea to do some more research on that regard...

Thanks guys! Excellent points.

I know I have to research the new expansion but I just haven't had time lately. I am planning to get on that though before it drops.

I am flying through Ziost, though so I want to be geared and ready for HM FP's while I wait for the new content. I supposed I could try and power level a new alt but I feel like making this main as good as he can be for the time being.

Quick question: So I completed the SoR content and am on Ziost. I almost have the full set of Ziost 190 gear. But it seems to lower my endurance from the 186's I had equipped. What am I missing? I assumed for my Combat Jedi Sentinel, Strength and Endurance were the two most important stats?

 

The other thing is some of the pieces I had were heavy on critical rating and these pieces are dropping that down quite a bit in favor of defense and absorption rating which I am guessing is replacing the beefed up endurance of my previous set?

 

I know some people say that these pieces are "tuned" better. So does that sound about right?

So other people explained why lower Endurance isn't a bad thing, but I did want to go over the rest of your post. You should not be using Citadel Bulwark's gear, you want to be using Citadel Pummeler's gear instead. Bulwark is the melee tank gear, and while you can gain a marginal bonus from Defense Rating, Jedi Sentinels don't have shield generators, and cannot gain any benefit from Absorption Rating (which affects how much damage your shield absorbs when it activates). You won't be able to re-do the Ziost quest chain if you picked Bulwark gear by accident, unfortunately, but you can try sending Customer Service a ticket explaining you picked the wrong gear reward, and if that doesn't work, you can buy Citadel gear from the vendor on Ziost Orbital Station.

So other people explained why lower Endurance isn't a bad thing, but I did want to go over the rest of your post. You should not be using Citadel Bulwark's gear, you want to be using Citadel Pummeler's gear instead. Bulwark is the melee tank gear, and while you can gain a marginal bonus from Defense Rating, Jedi Sentinels don't have shield generators, and cannot gain any benefit from Absorption Rating (which affects how much damage your shield absorbs when it activates). You won't be able to re-do the Ziost quest chain if you picked Bulwark gear by accident, unfortunately, but you can try sending Customer Service a ticket explaining you picked the wrong gear reward, and if that doesn't work, you can buy Citadel gear from the vendor on Ziost Orbital Station.

Hmmmm, it didn't give me a choice. There was only one set piece per quest reward so there is no way I could have picked the wrong thing. It is Pummelers gear though for sure so I know I have the right stuff.

Curious what you mean about choices. did you have choices when you did Ziost? pretty much everything I got was a single reward piece for completing the quest?

If anyone is curious, when I sign on next, I will jot down all the stats of the gear I have.

Curious what you mean about choices. did you have choices when you did Ziost? pretty much everything I got was a single reward piece for completing the quest?

A class that can both tank and DPS have a choice of either DPS gear or tank gear, a pure DPS will only have one choice and that is the DPS.

Since you play a sentinel the only kind of gear you will recieve is the DPS gear

There is no need to post stats, if you got the blue Ziost gear you can enter the content.

If you have the time and want to spend a little creds it can be useful to augment with blue augments (the expansion is not that far away but if you got a few hundred thousand credits to spend it can help a bit with your HP). This is something that you do not need to do but it will improve your survivability a bit if you feel your HP is low.

A class that can both tank and DPS have a choice of either DPS gear or tank gear, a pure DPS will only have one choice and that is the DPS.

 

Since you play a sentinel the only kind of gear you will recieve is the DPS gear

 

There is no need to post stats, if you got the blue Ziost gear you can enter the content.

 

If you have the time and want to spend a little creds it can be useful to augment with blue augments (the expansion is not that far away but if you got a few hundred thousand credits to spend it can help a bit with your HP). This is something that you do not need to do but it will improve your survivability a bit if you feel your HP is low.

Ah! I didn't realize that dual roles have choices since this is the only character I have above level 25.

Thanks for the help everyone! I think I am all set now.

The other thing is some of the pieces I had were heavy on critical rating and these pieces are dropping that down quite a bit in favor of defense and absorption rating which I am guessing is replacing the beefed up endurance of my previous set?

#1: OK, I'm really still wondering why you are getting gear with Absorption on it. Pummeler doesn't have it.

#2:

Shield and Absorption are only useful at all if your character offhand is a shield. It increases the amount of damage reduction assuming the chance to shield hits (where chance of shield succeeding is determined by, surprise, “shield”). Note for 4.0 shield & absorption are going to be combined into one stat.

A sentinel thus gets ZERO benefit out of these two stats as they can’t wear shields.

Defense, OTOH, does benefit all characters. But any DPS will choose gear that forgoes Defense in favor of an offensive secondary stat.

And to be clear: endurance is useful. It’s just that it is traded off on any piece of gear with mainstat. Look at the two types of gear for a Knight, Might and Guardian. For a given level, the Strength + Endurance total is just about the same. But since all Sentinels are DPS, and focus on damage, the optimum choice is the high Strength one.

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I'd suggest spending less time optimizing for something that may be superceeded by L65 green or blue gear (I'm just guessing) in 2 weeks, and more time leveling a new alt while 12XP still exists. But hey, that's my bias, it's your game!