Hello all...

I've been crafting a bunch of items recently in my Armormech skill and I was under the initial impression that Power would be a better way to go ...instead of nearly identical items that instead have Critical.

This was based on the idea that power basically increases EVERY attack... and critical only happens on a seldom basis.

However, I noticed that 60 points in Power is only netting me 11 bonus damage points ...or something measly like that.

Should I focus more on making items that increase my critical chance???? Would that be a more worthy choice???

Thanks for your advice!

I cant say from experience, but a lot of have been mentioning on the forums that crits good for lower levels but power should be the focus, after accuracy, for higher levels.

Personally, I'm all defense

Simple:

Crit/surge for DPS

Power/alacrity for Heals

Tanks... mix of power/crit... mainly power

That's all you need to know

really ?

noooooooo my dps as all power attached

So... for my commando trooper.....

I should choose critical then? I don't even know how to increase surge...

...and then for my friend who is a healing/damaging consular... she should focus on power???

Simple:

 

Crit/surge for DPS

Power/alacrity for Heals

Tanks... mix of power/crit... mainly power

 

That's all you need to know

lol, I can see you are not an end game raider..

This is my opinion and preference from past experience:

When you are talking about DPS:

Crit for PvP

Power for PvE

Although the PvP gear would beg to differ.

This is my opinion and preference from past experience:

 

When you are talking about DPS:

 

Crit for PvP

Power for PvE

 

Although the PvP gear would beg to differ.

I replace all my PvP mods. Gotta do something with those duplicates after all. Crit / surge for the win...

*** is PvE?

Its really not that simple. Power does not have diminishing returns, crit does. Initially, for nearly anyone looking to increase dmg or healing, crit will initially give much larger returns. However, there is both a soft and a hard cap for crit. Generally, the following list will give you the best damage returns. Note that the accuracy soft cap here is 100% (so 10% accuracy). This is the point where your miss rate goes as low as it can, over this it starts removing enemy defense.

Accuracy, up until soft cap

Surge, up until 200

Crit, up until 300

Main Stat (cunning/str/willpower/aim)

Crit, up until 400

Surge, up until 250

Power

Crit, beyond 400

Surge, beyond 250

Accuracy, beyond soft cap

*These numbers are from theorycrafting at Sithwarrior.com. Its hard to tell exact numbers atm, as there is no combat log or parsing. But this is a list based off char screen stat bonuses you get from these stats.

It's not a very simple thing to answer as most secondary stats have diminishing returns, meaning you get less benefit for each additional point put into them.

I would say generally speaking you want something like this:

Crit: 35-40% (30% is the limit of crit received from crit rating, so with bonuses from other sources 35-40 is good)

Surge: 75% (30% is limit from surge rating, plus base of 50%, so 75% is good goal)

alacrity: this one is really personal preference and class (I don't like this stat on any of my toons, even my healers but that's just me)

Accuracy: 100% (for dps & tank classes only, not necessary at all for healers. Between 100-110 you get some benefit and more if you're a dual wield class but it's not really worth stacking huge amounts over 100%)

For Tanks (I don't play my tank a whole lot so the following could be a bit off)

Shield Chance: 50%

Absorption: 50%

You try to hit the goals above first. After that, if you're a dps or healer, you should stack your main stat (no diminishing returns and you get extra crit and it's the best stat when you factor in class buffs and any talents that increase your main stat by a certain percentage). If you don't have that choice then power is your next best bet to stack. It gives a slightly higher amount of bonus dam/heal and has no diminishing returns. Same rules apply to tanks but you also want to stack as much defense as you can.

If I messed up on any of these numbers, someone please correct me, but generally that's what you should shoot for.

lol, I can see you are not an end game raider..

this ^

Hello all...

 

I've been crafting a bunch of items recently in my Armormech skill and I was under the initial impression that Power would be a better way to go ...instead of nearly identical items that instead have Critical.

 

This was based on the idea that power basically increases EVERY attack... and critical only happens on a seldom basis.

 

However, I noticed that 60 points in Power is only netting me 11 bonus damage points ...or something measly like that.

 

Should I focus more on making items that increase my critical chance???? Would that be a more worthy choice???

 

Thanks for your advice!

I think Lunabaguna gave some sound advice above.

What you need to realize first, is you are almost never done "balancing" your character, every time you upgrade gear...you start re-balancing. That being said, there are some general "guidelines" I follow when trying to "optimize" performance:

Healer and DPS:

I try to get my stats in this "neighborhood", and mind you it changes per advanced class (like critical chance on my watchman-sentinel, I don't try to stack it) I also do not PvP, these are strictly for my PvE characters.

Critical chance: 35-40%

Surge: 70-75%

Main stat: 1800 (really easy to over-reach this number even in Rakata gear)

Alacrity: (healer only) 5-10% (not that I try...just really hard to avoid even if you want to)

Accuracy: (watchman-sentinel only) 100% because I use the default attack SO often to build focus

Accuracy: (other DPS) 95% should be more than enough

AFTER THE ABOVE NUMBERS ARE MET: MOAR POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now mind you there are some specs and advanced classes that these numbers will not work well for (like sage DPS and alacrity builds for spamming attacks). Take it with a grain of salt and understand your character. The reason I don;t stack crit on my watchmen sentinel is the "zen" ability, which guarantees crits on my burns.

Critical chance: 35-40%

Surge: 70-75%

Main stat: 1800 (really easy to over-reach this number even in Rakata gear)

Alacrity: (healer only) 5-10% (not that I try...just really hard to avoid even if you want to)

Accuracy: (watchman-sentinel only) 100% because I use the default attack SO often to build focus

Accuracy: (other DPS) 95% should be more than enough

AFTER THE ABOVE NUMBERS ARE MET: MOAR POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why would you ever stack power instead of your primary stat? Here's the thing, most classes have a talent that boosts your primary stat by at least 6-9% and most standard builds include this talent. Class buffs will increase your primary stat by another 5%. The crit from your primary stat doesn't hit diminishing returns like crit from crit rating. Unless you're a class that doesn't value crit at all (and I can't think of any-maybe watchman or something), you are almost always better off stacking your primary stat instead of power.