While leveling a new character on the PTS, class missions were not enough to keep the character level caught up with the planet. So players (without legacy perks, guild perks, and XP boosting gear) need to do planetary missions, heroics, FPs, or WZs to supplement XP to the character. The loot drops seemed in line with the character level. The mission rewards as well. But there didn't seem to be any way to get any "better" gear along the way. No artifact gear dropped along the way. There wasn't really a source for "better than premium" mods, enhancements, armoring, hilts, barrels without crafters. So it looks like crafting will be the only way to ever really get a gear "boost" during leveling.

 

At max level, the gearing progressed early through FPs to get to 320, but RNG still played a factor. I probably had 35-40 gear drops before I finally had a 320 mainhand drop. I would prefer if the system based the drop on what upgrades a character was needing, rather than purely RNG. After getting to 320, the gearing gets slower as items over 320 rarely drop from vet mode FPs. So this could be frustrating for players that want to play alts or employ loadouts.

I've always had to do heroics or side missions on live to keep up with the planetary level. The only time I didn't was during double exp event. So, that's not new. Never got any artifact gear while leveling either.

I've always had to do heroics or side missions on live to keep up with the planetary level. The only time I didn't was during double exp event. So, that's not new. Never got any artifact gear while leveling either.

I wasn't really trying to say it was new or even a concern. I was just clarifying that in order to accurately explain my gearing experience.

Please remove the automatically equipping upgraded gear/weapons as soon as you buy it malarkey. Or at least add a "you're about to lose your augments and crystals unless you remove them before buying new stuff" warning. I know it's just the PTS but lost my black/red non-collections crystal The level of rage-quit fury if this would live would have been legendary.

Edit - positives:

Other than that, I think I like the new way of gearing, especially not having to think about mods for my weapons/off hands. However, I hope those of us who use the Conquest route to gearing are not left behind in gear level.

I stayed up late to see if I could try a bit of unranked PvP. Did some 4v4 rounds and it was great fun. We had a variety of specs, however gear levels were very similar and the matches were really close. Losing matches did not feel like you had no chance of winning which is a huge change from live. And best of all, I was not stun-locked to death! And I had enough self preservation to survive, even with the changes to the ability tree. Maybe they've finally balanced out PvP? And thank you for reducing the unranked weekly to 4 wins not 10 (hooray)!

If you want to make people happy, increase grind, but still not punish players I suggest the following.

Abandon this gearing fiasco now, no matter how you package it removing the loot/mod gear aspect is going to be hated. Save yourself the massive backlash.

However, I suggest you keep the Legendary items aspect.

You can easily make acquiring them take a combo of crafting and material retrieval.

Example:

You want Apex pieces? You have to acquire the materials for it to be crafted. It can be made from breaking down 306 era set bonuses or drop from Operations ("Apex Module, Storm Module, etc")

This would allow people to get the bonuses they want, you keep your gearing change so there's less switching parts for loadouts, it gives crafters more of a purpose, would minimize the grief aspect, and it adds more to what people like from 6.0 versus removing it.

In current form though gearing is awful with the upgrade parts vs. loot. Its just a very nonsensical decision... Why would people grind content they've already done if its less rewarding and more punishing?

You can make things harder, but reducing people to picking up scraps instead of shiny new loot seems very out of touch to today's playerbase.

As many have stated here already: the lack of ability to mod gear out for optimization is poor. Since most gear sets give you far more endurance and less on useful stats it makes everything feel more bogged down and more of a grind fest for fighting. Nothing sells futility like smacking things with a lightsaber for 20 minutes.

Also from an alternate perspective the removal of amplifiers from the gear makes other parts of the game, such as crafting materials, harder to manage. If the amplifiers that are aimed at increasing yields and reducing companion mission time, etc. are to be removed then those things should be rebalanced to suit the crafting model that is in place. OR the crafting costs need to be reduced for generic items so that you don't have to harvest as much to craft the generic items.

Aside from the fact that the crafting system is worthless for gearing since base line introduction to gearing already out paces the gear from the start. And while crafting the "Best" gear should take effort to work up to, it should also not be useless as soon as it's crafted. Another option would be to allow crafting to be more useful by making crafted items be modded so that those items can be customized. Just options.

 

Aside from the fact that the crafting system is worthless for gearing since base line introduction to gearing already out paces the gear from the start. And while crafting the "Best" gear should take effort to work up to, it should also not be useless as soon as it's crafted. Another option would be to allow crafting to be more useful by making crafted items be modded so that those items can be customized. Just options.

Well HOPEFULLY we get new crafting ranks at some point. Hopefully new stims, augments, mods would be great frankly (once they hopefully realize that it was a big mistake not to let us mod our gear), and heck, let us craft the upgrade parts too with components that cost a bunch of credits, there you go, great credit sink in the process...

I've been leveling a toon on the PTS and the gear drops are terrible. From level 65 to level 74 I got 2 pieces of gear that were improvements over what I had (most gear is level 61 with a piece or two of level 66 that I got from the Illum flashpoints). Both were purple "lucky" drops. Illum, both Illum flashpoints, Section X, Black Hole, and most of Makeb and only getting 2 pieces of improved gear is a bit slow. It results in the toon getting weaker and weaker as it progresses since the gear is not keeping pace with the increasing NPC strength.

What needs to be done: More level appropriate drops need to happen. All I have been getting is low grade greens that just get sold since they are worthless for improving the character.

Sort of a lesser issue, but an issue none-the-less, companion gear keeps changing from what it should be. Anything from equipping to cut scenes, the gear changes for default game gear. Playing Guardian and equipped a set that finally looked like it was supposed to after sifting through multiple different items to give to companion. Only to get to the orbital station above Ord Mantel to find companion wearing dark side equivalent to the gear that I put on her.

Again, lesser issue, but still an overall annoyance (especially since I cannot use cartel gear on the PTS server even though I have unlocked it account wide before.).

Sort of a lesser issue, but an issue none-the-less, companion gear keeps changing from what it should be. Anything from equipping to cut scenes, the gear changes for default game gear. Playing Guardian and equipped a set that finally looked like it was supposed to after sifting through multiple different items to give to companion. Only to get to the orbital station above Ord Mantel to find companion wearing dark side equivalent to the gear that I put on her.

 

Again, lesser issue, but still an overall annoyance (especially since I cannot use cartel gear on the PTS server even though I have unlocked it account wide before.).

I think that's been broken for years.

I think that's been broken for years.

Personally never seen that except with companions that are cross faction starting in KotFE when you started seeing Imp comps of pub and vice versa. If it's going to change it should stay that way, the inconsistency of it is what bugs me so much about it.

It took me about three weeks on a Jedi Consular/Sage Seer healer to gear to 322, with influence rank 50 comp. I used a mix of veteran flashpoint "Elite" decurion gear and some conquest/planetary heroics/dailies "Noble" decurion gear. I discovered the Implant mission kind of late and didn't join a guild until I think the second week.

Gearing is considerably slower than 6.x. It is considerably more complicated than 6.x. I profoundly dislike that if I've augmented my gear (something that is necessary to reach adequate accuracy or alacrity for the 1.4s GCD in uncapped content), the piece is consumed without a warning. Once I realized this, the convenience factor was more apparent.

I don't like that the drops of gear from bosses will only be at the lowest iRating equipped. I think there should be a chance of getting something 2 iRatings higher. For example, if your boots are 320, and that is your lowest iRating item, you should have a chance to get an iRating 322 from the boss drop. Not guaranteed, but a modest chance to incentivize running flashpoints more than the amount required for the [WEEKLY]. I do not think that the chance for an upgrade should only come from [WEEKLY] boxes. This is further compounded by the fact that Decurion Isotope Stabilizers (DIS) from deconstruction of flashpoint gear are in such small quantities. One could argue, "Well, you can just switch to an alt to get more [WEEKLY] boxes." However, conquest changes clearly disincentivize alts, and the paucity of DIS means your playing alts for your MAIN, which is pretty counter-intuitive.

The amount of Aquatic Resource Matrices (ARMs) seems ok to upgrade "Noble" pieces as the developer-desired slow pace, but I still think the grinding work is out of proportion. Taking the republic Alderaan heroics as an example, killing the 35 Killiks is painfully slow. And I was by myself on Alderaan, so I had no opportunity to test whether shared tagging was working correctly or not. When 7.0 goes live, especially if shared tagging isn't working, this is going to be a literal disaster. The combined impotency of my character in the level lock/ scaling downgrade process, lost abilities in the ability pruning, the loss of the Endless Offensive set bonus already make the grind slow, but it will be worse when everyone is trying to grind there, and impossible if shared tagging isn't working. In my experience, ARM grinding is most efficient if you try to complete the heroic planetary [WEEKLY] that day, so that you can pick up the weekly again the next day if its offered. I'm interpreting this as intended since the developers probably don't want people just doing the easy heroics over the course of 2-3 days to complete the [WEEKLY].

Overall, I'm disappointed with the gear grind of 7.0 as it currently stands. I am willing to acknowledge that the 6.x grind is exceptionally easy once you get those first couple of characters to 306, but watching returning and new players joining my guild in the last couple of weeks, it isn't as fast as some of the veterans here are claiming. But the speed to 306 was balanced out by the min-maxing that took place afterwards, which was substantially slower with RNG and for example 33 different possible MOD outcomes: unlettered 80s, and R1-20, A's, and B's. With that confession in writing, 7.0 grinding looks to be a dismal complicated grind that promises to rob me of fun. Not to mention that the chances I will fully be in the top iRating gear are slim to none. I acknowledge the statements of many veterans here that one doesn't need top iRating to be competitive in most content, but that's not the point. Part of my character's development, and my mental image of his strength/competence, is his gear, and knowing that I cannot be in the top end of gear because I don't do exclusively Nightmare operations is saddening, compared to how the last several years[/u ]have been. I am admittedly mostly a story mode operations "hero." That's what we do as a guild on Saturday nights. At least in the 6.x gearing scheme everything I do helps me in my gear progression. Now, I'll be stuck with a ceiling.

I don't presume to understand the new gearing system fully, but I have one problem with it. I don't mind if it takes me half a year to equip all my characters, I frankly found it a bit too easy in Onslaught, however the number of tokens I can collect in a week is a bit low, seeing that I can only get 999 Medals of Commendation, but get 200 for a finished conquest. You should know I have 24 characters. Finishing the conquest on all of them is a thing for me, because I'm currently collecting flagship plans for my flagship. But with that system I only need to finish 5 conquests. On top of that gearing 24 characters will take me two years, or more, since I also have a job

That is probably not a problem though, because with the changed conquest points both in what I receive and what I need, I might not get more conquests done. Which BTW again makes it harder for small guilds to actually attack a large planet for better rewards.

SWTOR always felt like a game that wasn't promoting mass guilds, and was actually rewarding playing several characters, seeing were the story took you, when you make other decisions. Because of that there a many players with as many and even more characters than I have. Now I feel punished for that.

I guess what I'm asking is, if you can leave the conquest system alone in the next update, and let us make 9.999 instead of 999 Medals of Commendation, and also all the other stuff we need to get gear.

And yes, I know the gear is legacy bound, but I really like to have a set for each character.

I don't presume to understand the new gearing system fully, but I have one problem with it. I don't mind if it takes me half a year to equip all my characters, I frankly found it a bit too easy in Onslaught, however the number of tokens I can collect in a week is a bit low, seeing that I can only get 999 Medals of Commendation, but get 200 for a finished conquest. You should know I have 24 characters. Finishing the conquest on all of them is a thing for me, because I'm currently collecting flagship plans for my flagship. But with that system I only need to finish 5 conquests. On top of that gearing 24 characters will take me two years, or more, since I also have a job

That is probably not a problem though, because with the changed conquest points both in what I receive and what I need, I might not get more conquests done. Which BTW again makes it harder for small guilds to actually attack a large planet for better rewards.

SWTOR always felt like a game that wasn't promoting mass guilds, and was actually rewarding playing several characters, seeing were the story took you, when you make other decisions. Because of that there a many players with as many and even more characters than I have. Now I feel punished for that.

I guess what I'm asking is, if you can leave the conquest system alone in the next update, and let us make 9.999 instead of 999 Medals of Commendation, and also all the other stuff we need to get gear.

And yes, I know the gear is legacy bound, but I really like to have a set for each character.

Yeah people don't get that some of us like gearing every character and find putting everything in storage back and forth a pain in the neck (and a huge waste of space. I don't even have the free storage for it right now). Mostly, having to go back to my stronghold to log off every time.

I suppose it won't take longer than disintegrating gear and open boxes though, and we lose that... I guess I'm going to have to accept that I'm going to have to transfer gear between characters because gearing up my 34 characters would take 3 years otherwise...

Multiple flashpoints have not been counting for the weekly mission for getting the gear upgrade from the weekly.

one person had 7/7 veteran flashpoints available at level 80 when I have 8/8 and none of their flashpoints via activity finder have given credit for the weekly, where as for me traitor among the chiss was the only one.

I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but also some content is dropping different gear than expected. Like getting master mode flashpoint gear in veteran mode, or rakata (mm ops) gear from veteran operations. I don't know if this intentional or bugged.

Yeah people don't get that some of us like gearing every character and find putting everything in storage back and forth a pain in the neck (and a huge waste of space. I don't even have the free storage for it right now). Mostly, having to go back to my stronghold to log off every time.

 

I suppose it won't take longer than disintegrating gear and open boxes though, and we lose that... I guess I'm going to have to accept that I'm going to have to transfer gear between characters because gearing up my 34 characters would take 3 years otherwise...

Yeah, I have 28 toons geared up right now (I play a LOT, and what the heck else was I going to spend tech frags on before we could buy OEM/RPMs?)--only a few min-maxed, though. I HATE trying to remember which of my 10 shadows/inquisitors has the gear set today. I tried the 'put the gear in legacy bank and transfer to new toon' thing, and always forgot to put the set in the bay or whatever. It's also annoying because I'll switch toons around for an Operation or master mode FP to work around what other guildies bring, and having to take the stuff off, put it in the bay, log on to the new toon, get it out of the bay, put it on business takes time, especially with my long load screens.

This new gearing system is terrible for any of us who play multiple classes regularly.

Yeah, I have 28 toons geared up right now (I play a LOT, and what the heck else was I going to spend tech frags on before we could buy OEM/RPMs?)--only a few min-maxed, though. I HATE trying to remember which of my 10 shadows/inquisitors has the gear set today. I tried the 'put the gear in legacy bank and transfer to new toon' thing, and always forgot to put the set in the bay or whatever. It's also annoying because I'll switch toons around for an Operation or master mode FP to work around what other guildies bring, and having to take the stuff off, put it in the bay, log on to the new toon, get it out of the bay, put it on business takes time, especially with my long load screens.

 

This new gearing system is terrible for any of us who play multiple classes regularly.

Yep I agree on all points.

I do a lot of heroics and often end up having to wait for a respawn (hellllllllloooo BW? Are you going to fix the WAY TOO LONG respawn on heroic clikies????). So often I just switch toons and come back 5 minutes later.

So now I'm going to have to...

Go back to my stronghold, dump off the gear, and go back to the heroic naked (because if I log off in my stronghold, it won't take me down to where I was, and my heroic transport will be down).

Then switch toons, go to stronghold, do CQ with that toon, go back to the stronghold, dump gear.

Log back on my naked toon, go back to the stronghold to get the gear, then go back to the heroic spot, hoping nobody will have clicked on it while I was getting my gear back.

Seriously... Screw this. I don't care how people say it's a huge waste of time to gear up 34 characters - it was no effort at all in 6.0 because I was just gearing up while playing anyway.

7.0 is going to suck. Period.

 

Seriously... Screw this. I don't care how people say it's a huge waste of time to gear up 34 characters - it was no effort at all in 6.0 because I was just gearing up while playing anyway.

 

7.0 is going to suck. Period.

I do switch my gear around, and have started many a heroic and story flashpoint naked because I forgot. I even managed to show up to a warzone without gear. Talk about embarrassing! I was all, "Why are my skills greyed out?" Then there are the times when I forget to put it back in storage and don't remember who has it, so I have to rummage through 25 lvl 75 characters to find it again. Yah, it's better to have them all geared up.

I do switch my gear around, and have started many a heroic and story flashpoint naked because I forgot. I even managed to show up to a warzone without gear. Talk about embarrassing! I was all, "Why are my skills greyed out?" Then there are the times when I forget to put it back in storage and don't remember who has it, so I have to rummage through 25 lvl 75 characters to find it again. Yah, it's better to have them all geared up.

Well, now solo players are getting drops at least, so it might be doable to gear them all up after all...

We'll see.

I have just barely scratched the surface here on test, so I can't comment on specific gearing issues, but there is something I found that, well, it just isn't right.

Example 1: I was awarded a new pair of boots, and comparing them to what I had I am not sure that the rating is good...

The first pair: Duraplate Boots. Heavy armor, 59 armor rating, gear rating 20. Basic boots, "standard" quality.

The second pair: Mantellian Battler Boots. Adaptive armor, 52 armor rating, +5 Mastery, +5 Endurance, +2 Accuracy, +2 Power. Gear rating 18, "green" quality.

So maybe the extra armor is worth a lot more than I give it. Maybe the 7 extra armor that the Duraplate Boots offer is worth all the stat boosts that the other boots have and then some. I doubt it, though.

The next example is even more egregious. Two pair of pants.

The first pair: Frilled Leatheris Pants. Medium armor, 65 armor rating, gear rating 20. Basic pants. "standard" quality.

The second pair: Mantellian Battler Leggings. Adaptive armor, 83 armor rating, +5 Mastery, +5 Endurance, +2 Power, +2 Critical Rating, gear rating 18, "green" quality.

There is nothing about that first pair, the pair rated 20, that is better than the second pair, which is rated 18.

So why is it rated higher?

Is this good for new players? Gear rating should be a measure of what is "best". It may never be perfect, but in a vacuum it should be able to look at two items that share a slot and offer a reasonable guide as to which is better.

It clearly fails here.

Oh, and one other small thing... The starting gear is classified as "junk" to vendors. I would like to see it classified as "standard" quality, like the basic armors in my above examples.

If someone wants to keep their starting gear for appearance purposes I think it would be nice if they didn't have to work around the "sell junk" button until they can stash it away somewhere.

Junk, once sold, can not be retrieved, so one slip and it's gone forever.

And there may be other designs available that look identical to this or that starting gear, but it isn't the starting gear.

Thank you.

EDIT: Two more things to add. This seems like the place for them, though I could be wrong.

1 - Companion - So Corso and I are off to storm the Separatist base. Great. My mission reward from the last mission was a pair of bracers and a customization for Corso.

Except I can not use the customization because I haven't "officially" been awarded him as a companion yet.

I know that the game can make companions unavailable. I main a Trooper on live and they have a mission that takes a companion away from you for a time.

So if the issue is that I am supposed to have a companion at this point but then not that point or whatever you do not need to withhold the companion to make it happen.

As it is, though? I am about to storm the base with a "companion" that looks one way but that will be undergoing a full appearance change in a very short time.

Better to just let me use the reward now and have him look this certain way ASAP.

2- Speaking of companion appearances, the preview window doesn't let me move my character within the window itself. I can zoom in, but I am just zooming in on the middle of the window, and my character. Okay if I want to see how a new belt will look, not so useful if I am trying to check out some new headgear or some boots, or what my companiion will look like if I pick this appearance modification over that appearance modification.

That's not good. That's the opposite of good.