Hey,

 

I've returned to the game after about 2 years and got back to PVP. After a while I've started reading about best gear for my class (Lethality operative). I'm now at level 28 and I've updated all of my equipment with adapative armour and appropriate modifications.

 

But from what I've seen my damage seems to have actually taken a sharp decline, whereas I was doing very good at earlier levels, when I had some greens without even simplest mods.

 

Is that the cause of it?

Hey,

 

I've returned to the game after about 2 years and got back to PVP. After a while I've started reading about best gear for my class (Lethality operative). I'm now at level 28 and I've updated all of my equipment with adapative armour and appropriate modifications.

 

But from what I've seen my damage seems to have actually taken a sharp decline, whereas I was doing very good at earlier levels, when I had some greens without even simplest mods.

 

Is that the cause of it?

 

Are the mods/armorings/etc. in your adaptive gear up to level? I've found that with 5.0, in my experience, it makes a difference (unlike pre 5.0, where it seemed I could level all the way to the top with lvl 10 gear on, and bolster would stay about the same).

 

I've found that I update my gear about every 15-20 levels. And my stats showed a noticeable gain when I checked the difference.

 

Have you played many games since you updated gear? Not knocking your ability, but if not, it might just be that you came up against players that knew better how to shut you down.

 

But, yeah, in my experience, in lowbies, you DO want to update your gear every so often.

 

Bolster at max level is a whole different story. And a different thread.

You're right, that seemed more like a temporary thing, maybe bugged somehow? And perhaps I shouldn't be expecting to beat Commando/Mercenary DPS

If it's been 2 years since you played, I'm not sure how you could remember or notice a DPS difference. Lethality was over-performing last year, and was subsequently nerfed. That said, Lethality is about sustained DPS, not burst. While you'll do great on Operations, you'll find PvP more challenging where burst is king. In PvP, you'll need more finesse than other class specs, and you'll have to pick your fights much more carefully. If played well, Lethality Operatives can be a very effective and gratifying class to play in regular WZs. It's my opinion, however, that Lethality Operatives are ill-suited for Group Ranked PvP.

Leth is terrible in pvp. Fluff damage coupled with long settle up to get damage started. It also has the worst survivability out of all the operative specs. Play leth in pve, I would highly suggest playing concealment if you want to pvp dps. It has more survivability, one of the best 1v1 specs, low damage set up/good burst and actually viable in solo ranked. Leth is a joke in pvp, always has been. Edited March 18, 2018 by kissingaiur

Turns out auguments reduce your DPS, at least at low levels. Anything else I should know about gearing?

 

I've been inspecting people in WZs and it seems that they have higher bonus damage and critical rating (talking about 40-69 WZs) than I do, despite keeping the gear updated and even using some crafted purples.

 

As for the Lethality - I'm still doing good, at least in lower levels, we'll see how it'll be later on. For now I disagree about fluff damage If I play my cards right, I'm a murder machine, able to offer some healing to team-mates too. We'll see if it'll hold up...

Edited March 18, 2018 by Saprezzan

Turns out auguments reduce your DPS, at least at low levels. Anything else I should know about gearing?

 

I've been inspecting people in WZs and it seems that they have higher bonus damage and critical rating (talking about 40-69 WZs) than I do, despite keeping the gear updated and even using some crafted purples.

 

As for the Lethality - I'm still doing good, at least in lower levels, we'll see how it'll be later on. For now I disagree about fluff damage If I play my cards right, I'm a murder machine, able to offer some healing to team-mates too. We'll see if it'll hold up...

 

Leth is trash. Concealment is hands down better in every department.

Turns out auguments reduce your DPS, at least at low levels. Anything else I should know about gearing?

 

Yes, Augments before lvl 70 and even at lvl 70 below 242 gear are detrimental to all of your stats.

 

I’ve been lvling up about 10 Alts since the merge because I’ve swapped servers.

 

This is what I’ve been able to assertain from my observations.

(I always use Icykill’s gearing theory from a few years for pre lvl 70 and it seems to work well)

 

Bolster for the whole game is set at 242, so it doesn’t matter what lvl you are at, the system try’s to set you at 242. Except below lvl 70, there is a massive difference in gear lvls, so Bolster works the hardest when you are higher up and your gear is lower. So it can give you some good stats (up to a certain point)

What I mean is if you use the best gear for each lvl, Bolster is a little slack and doesn’t work so hard, so you have to min max yourself and even then, your stats won’t be as good as lower gear (it’s a messed up way it works)

When you add Augments, Bolster does something even weirder, it reduces stats. It even affects gear in a weird way between 220-242 (lvl 70 gear). My advice is don’t equip any Augments to any gear unless you have “all” 242 gear equiped.

 

But running the lowest gear from lvl 10 to lvl 69 is also bad on your stats, it’s not terrible, but it can be better if you follow the method I use.

This is what I’ve found prior to lvl 41 (lowbie bracket) from testing as I’ve lvld these toons to 70. (All are dps)

1. Don’t use blue or purple gear. Only use green gear. Lvl 10 ear, implants and relics are the exception as these are free blues you get when you do your first pvp mission, you get those as a reward. Use them because they are the best till lvl 70. (If you are lvling a toon you had from before and they are equiped with higher ones, you can buy plenty of lvl 10 ones on the GTN)

2. From lvl 10 gear until you get lvl 22, use lvl 10 green gear only because this is the best.

3. When you get to around lvl 22 or just above, use the gear at the lvl 22 vendor (I think it’s gear lvl 70). Keep using that till lvl 41.

4. At lvl 41, upgrade to gear lvl 90-92 (sorry I can’t remember the exact gear number, I think it’s at the lvl 34-36 vendor). Keep using it till you get to about lvl 46.

5. At lvl 46, go to the lvl 42 vendor and get gear.

5a. Its important to note. Always use all the same gear lvl (not including the lvl 10 ear, implants and relics, keep using those till you get to lvl 70) or the results can be different and not normally good. I also only equip Crit enhancements for dps class because Bolster will give you all the Alacrity and accuracy you need. It will actually give you way more accuracy than you’d ever equip at lvl 70

6. I keep using that gear till I get to 65. Then I get the gear from the lvl 65 vendor. I then use this until lvl 70 and can start getting lvl 70 gear. Don’t bother buying 220-228 gear or making it. You will get plenty from early command xp boxes or you can buy 230 gear at the vendor when you get enough command Comms,

 

I hope that helps. I’m sure other people have different ways of doing it. I’m not saying mine is perfect. But it is lowbies/Mids and Bolster does a lot of the heavy lifting for you. The simple rule to remember is past lvl 22, always use gear a few lvls below you for as long as you can. Using gear at your exact lvl will give you less stats in some areas, usually accuracy, Alacrity and especially endurance and dps bonus

 

Side note : you can always tell if someone is missing gear or hasn’t equiped crystals because they will have much lower health than everyone else and do heaps less damage than they could if equiped properly.

I find worst offenders are those with empty red armor shells and those in legacy xp bonus gear (yellow shells). They don’t equip mods or enhancements and expect Bolster to work to make up the difference, except it doesn’t. It actually gives them less secondary stats and less health and they will die faster and do less damage. This includes people who refuse to put crystals in weapons or just don’t realise they need them. Most are extremely arrogant about it and will get nasty if you try to help them. It’s nearly always a loss if you have these guys on your team.

I also use this legacy gear sometimes, but I will always put in mods and enhancements and use the absolute lowest ones (lvl 10) because the armor is 160 gear lvl and messes up Bolster if you use higher mods and enhancements.

 

In my honest opinion, gearing in lowbies and Mids makes pvp the most balanced (as far as gear goes).There are no gear gods because everyone have nearly exactly the same stats (for their class) as every other person. It makes pvp more about skill and not gear. If Bioware would introduce a system that gave everyone the max amount of abilities you can have for each bracket, it would be the most even and balanced pvp in the game and would be totally skill based. Even without the max abilities (especially in Mids), I find it more balanced than lvl 70 pvp because gear isnt a factor and it’s all about skill.

 

I personally wish we had the same system at lvl 70, where pvp could be about skill and not gear. If everyone had the same basic gear at lvl 70, that you just min/max to your preference, then pvp would be totally about skill and gear wouldn’t be a factor. I think skilled based pvp is better than gear based because if you pvp, you want to pit yourself against others. If you need a gear advantage to stomp people, then you are too worried about your own skill and ego. Real pvpers don’t need a gear advantage. “Gear centric” pvpers need an advantage to try and cover their own inadequacies for as long as possible.