I honestly don't know how to best gear up my T7, so anyone with advice it would be appreciated, but I would also like to better understand how to get damage bonus with my T7's blaster, if it's Strength? which doesn't seem to fit considering it's a blaster etc.

Can anyone explain this? Thanks in advance.

T7's primary stat is Aim. The easiest way to find a companion's primary stat is to look at the gear they already have - for T7, you'll see that it's Aim-based.

It's not an intuitive thing - blasters can be Aim or Cunning, sabers can be Strength or Willpower. I think BW did this to minimize the amount of different stats your companions have. This lets you give your old gear to some companions as "hand me downs" and allows you to swap gear between different companions more easily.

T7's primary stat is Aim. The easiest way to find a companion's primary stat is to look at the gear they already have - for T7, you'll see that it's Aim-based.

 

It's not an intuitive thing - blasters can be Aim or Cunning, sabers can be Strength or Willpower. I think BW did this to minimize the amount of different stats your companions have. This lets you give your old gear to some companions as "hand me downs" and allows you to swap gear between different companions more easily.

Ahhh so if the blaster he's using says Aim it contributes to his primary stat. Got it... so if I'm adding mods avoid those that say cunning? or does it contribute at all?

Anything but main stat on anybody, player or companion, is wasted stats. Some are more wasted than others; Cunning does provide a miniscule benefit to Aim-based characters in that it increases their Tech critical chance, but when you could put Aim in the same slot and gain a boost to all damage and a bigger increase to crit, it's still a waste. Not the waste that Willpower would be, but a waste all the same.

However, when it comes time to collect datacrons, if you are not the type to get all of them just for completion's sake and only want to get ones that will help you min/max, then Jedi/Sith should get all the Willpower and Strength ones, regardless of class, and non-Force users should get all the Aim and Cunning ones, regardless of class, because as I say, those stats do have a benefit even if they're not your main stat. Just not enough to trade your main stat for them. (Everybody should get all the Endurance crons, and IMO the Presence crons as well, although those don't help you in FP/Ops/PvP.)

Also, when you're still a lowbie and have nothing at all in a slot(like it usually takes a little while to get head/ear/implants), then anything will be an upgrade, even if it's the wrong stats completely. It's still more armor(for pieces that have armor rating) and more endurance, and possibly some useful secondary stat. You want to swap that stuff out for main stat pieces ASAP, but something is better than nothing.

Oh, also, all droids are Aim-based. All of them.

Oh my alts are coming up quite nicely now that I'm starting to get into the groove of things. Synthweaving is almost 400, Artifice is about 330, Cybertech is low at 200, and I've yet to even touch Bio/Arms and I do want to make one for each of those as well, if only to provide proper blasters for my T7.

Once I have all those alts up to a high enough level to produce all the gear and have all the money ready to go, I'll roll my main. But until then, I'm still learning.

Anything but main stat on anybody, player or companion, is wasted stats....

Oh, also, all droids are Aim-based. All of them.

Unlurking noob here to say thanks for that info. I had just been putting on whatever was higher level equipment and had most or all stats in green vs what I had on and then wondering why I get my *** handed to me sometimes.

I've got a lot to learn about this game I guess.

(Everybody should get all the Endurance crons, and IMO the Presence crons as well, although those don't help you in FP/Ops/PvP.).

A small point, but, you can run FPs with companions and in that case presence will help. I run FPs with my spouse and we both use our companions to form a four man group.

A small point, but, you can run FPs with companions and in that case presence will help. I run FPs with my spouse and we both use our companions to form a four man group.

Ah, I should have clarified that I was mostly talking about HM FPs at level 50. Once you have sufficient gear and/or skill you can still run most if not all of those with just your companions, but that takes a while.