I've been working really hard to try and get my stats better. I had thought they weren't bad, but seeing people do 40-50 points higher in Salvation and getting 6K heals (I have only done so 3 times...once being on a ship dummy), I'm starting to feel otherwise.

I have all the datacrons and every single part of my gear has a MK-6 Augment Slot with an Advanced Resolve Augment 22 ATM.

Detailed Stats:

Specific Equipment (once again, everything also has an Advanced Resolve Augment 22):

So, any suggestions on what should be switched out for what to get some of the biggest heals? I just want to not feel like a sucky healer anymore v-v

Edit: And if needed, my tree:

At first glance I was wondering what would cause your heals to be relatively weak at that gear level... but holy lettered mods Batman. Those have gotta go. All your mods should be unlettered, as a rule of thumb; i.e. 25/26, not 25A/26B/etc. Swap at least one Alacrity enhancement for Surge too.

Next, aside from getting more Black Hole 61-level mods, the Force-lord Implants are a definite upgrade.

Mending relics are pretty crappy IMHO The War Hero Boundless Ages relics are definitely BiS now.

At first glance I was wondering what would cause your heals to be relatively weak at that gear level... but holy lettered mods Batman. Those have gotta go. All your mods should be unlettered, as a rule of thumb; i.e. 25/26, not 25A/26B/etc. Swap at least one Alacrity enhancement for Surge too.

 

Next, aside from getting more Black Hole 61-level mods, the Force-lord Implants are a definite upgrade.

 

Mending relics are pretty crappy IMHO The War Hero Boundless Ages relics are definitely BiS now.

Shall try and see if I can find some for sale then. I'm guessing I need to lower willpower for some other stuff (I'm honestly so clueless with this as I was told to just focus on Willpower. Why I've been keeping whatever gives the most of it)? And will swap another Crit/Alacrity for another Crit/Surge too then (Or Power/Surge--any recommendations for which?) ...though, I suppose I should swap a few more too as the two implants will give quite a bit of Alacrity (and kill quite a bit of Crit and Surge)

I had skipped the Force Lord implants due to how it seemed to lower my gear over increasing--but I guess it's just the too much willpower thing, right? (Also, just the implants or should I get the ear piece too?)

I'm not sure if I can get a War Hero relic (I think I may have a Battle Master one, but I doubt I have the commendations)--but I shall look into it. I usually have issues remembering to use a relic, though.

Thank you so much for your post. Looks like I have a lot of changes to make Though, out of curiousity (and just personally interested in learning myself so I don't have to bug people every time new gear comes out), why are the non-letters better? I always thought the ones with it had better stats... but obviously, I have no idea what I am doing T__T

Also, I'm guessing all the Augments are okay then? I heard some people saying they mixed it up a bit rather than having straight willpower, so I'm just making sure. Also, should I just change whatever the mod currently is to the one without a letter? (IE: Mettle Mod 25A would be replaced with Mettle Mod 25 and Aptitude Mod 25A would be replaced with Aptitude Mod 25A) or should they all be changed to something specific?

Thank you for your post. At the very least, I'm going to try switching some of my Crit + Alacrity (and my Crit + Surge) to Adept Enhancements (Power + Surge)... I just need to afford them first

FYI, the diminishing returns on Surge are around 75%, which you're very close to as well, so don't add too much more Surge. Power is going to have the biggest impact on your Heals, especially as there is no cap on the effectiveness of Power...

And as far as changing your enhancements, try swapping your crystal first, you will notice the most change there. -41 to a stat you don't need, and +41 to Power will give you a nice starting point. Then work on your Augments, like I stated above, and much easier to get ahold of than the enhancements.

I agree that your willpower may be too high and in the realm of diminishing returns, but I personally wouldn't touch your crit (assuming that this includes the smuggler buff). My crit with the smuggler's lucky shot buff is around 40% and my crit multiplier is about 75% and looking at my combat logs I haven't hit any ceilings yet on diminishing returns. If your crit chance is separate from the smuggler buff (i.e. >44% with the buff) you may want to get rid of 30 points of crit for power. I also agree with one of the other posters and that you should change some of your resolve augments for overkill.

Concerning the Battlemaster Boundless Ages relic, if you have it, keep it. It has just 4 endurance (37 vs 41) and 10 power (103 vs 113) less than the War Hero. Yes, the War Hero is better, but if you need pvp gear, I'd suggest investing in other gear first as the battlemaster relic is not significantly worse.

I've noticed that you don't have a lot of black hole gear - it makes a difference. But before you go on a buying streak, create an account at swtor.askmrrobot.com and use the character builder to create your profile. I have 300 less willpower than you, but my build gives me 815 bonus damage and 625 bonus healing. By playing around with the possible combinations of armour, mods, enhancements and augments, you can target your purchases.

The last thing is your rotation. Your skill tree for the most part looks correct, so I have to ask if you are casting rejuvenate enough to proc conveyance? With my high crit chance and crit multiplier, I proc conveyance almost 60% of the time and conveyance gives me a healing bonus to whatever I cast next, whether it be salvation, healing trance or deliverance. Before you cast any healing actions, your should throw down a rejuvenate first.

The last thing is your rotation. Your skill tree for the most part looks correct, so I have to ask if you are casting rejuvenate enough to proc conveyance? With my high crit chance and crit multiplier, I proc conveyance almost 60% of the time and conveyance gives me a healing bonus to whatever I cast next, whether it be salvation, healing trance or deliverance. Before you cast any healing actions, your should throw down a rejuvenate first.

Definitely need to cast rejuvenate before your regular rotation as mentioned here. Conveyance is a huge boost to your healing.

Ok, some details need to be clarified here.

1. On a 1:1 basis, Willpower > Power. Power contributes slightly higher bonus healing than Willpower (0.17 versus 0.14 before buffs/talents, 0.1554 after self-buff and Will of the Jedi), but the added crit chance from Willpower outweighs this in effect. Diminishing Returns is not relevant, because the crit contribution from Willpower is on a separate curve from Critical Rating, and is much flatter. You'd have to reach a ridiculous amount of Willpower before there's enough DR on the crit contribution for Power to pull ahead.

2. That being said, the unlettered mods are better, because you're not trading the secondary stat 1:1 with Willpower, you're trading some of it for higher Endurance as well. If you look at the Rakata-level aptitude mod, you give up 26 power for 13 willpower, which is a definite loss.

3. Ultimately, the available gearing options force you to trade between Power and Crit, and between Surge and Alacrity. For Surge/Alacrity, you basically have a total budget of 564-570 (depending on your earpiece) at Black Hole level. I tend to keep Surge = Alacrity for healing, but you could bias it one way or the other depending on your preference. I wouldn't swap more than one enhancement, though, because DR kicks in fairly hard.

4. Higher gear tiers (i.e. Columi -> Rakata -> Black Hole) are better overall because of the higher total stat budget. That being said, the vendor Black Hole earpiece is suboptimal because it itemises Endurance over Willpower, so you were on the right track there. Grab the implants but stick with the Rakata Force-Master earpiece.

5. Crit... as someone else as pointed out, you've got too much of it from a mathematical perspective. That being said, I choose to run 35% unbuffed myself, because healing is not DPSing; you're not trying to maximise your HPS. With the smuggler/agent buff I get guaranteed crits on Deliverance with Force Potency, and I prefer this situational benefit over the slightly higher sustained output I would get swapping out some crit for power. YMMV.

6. The new War Hero relics are a passive stat boost (+113 power, to be exact). Honestly it's worth grinding out some boring PVP dailies for a week or two to pick a pair up. I hate PVP, but no pain, no gain, right?

Definitely need to cast rejuvenate before your regular rotation as mentioned here. Conveyance is a huge boost to your healing.

I always hit rejuvenate first.

Anyway, everything I listed is before any buffs.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I have a Battle Master relic so it looks like I'll have to take care of that first

But yes... I'll try and look into it I guess? >< More than a little lost at this point. I've never really understood stating in games so honestly, the more specific you are ("Switch this specific mod for this specific mod") really helps a lot. :/

Edit: Looks like I don't need a BM for a WH--just 200 Warzone and 1,250 Ranked...so I have a ways to go )

FYI, the diminishing returns on Surge are around 75%, which you're very close to as well, so don't add too much more Surge. Power is going to have the biggest impact on your Heals, especially as there is no cap on the effectiveness of Power...

 

And as far as changing your enhancements, try swapping your crystal first, you will notice the most change there. -41 to a stat you don't need, and +41 to Power will give you a nice starting point. Then work on your Augments, like I stated above, and much easier to get ahold of than the enhancements.

Then I guess I'll do some Power & Alacrity? x-x

Shall have to see if my boyfriend has the schematic then :/ Though, I think he'll kill me if he has to go get everything again so maybe I'll just try and buy one ._.

Ok educate a newb. I have a sage, cybercrafter and i make my own mods, and i have some lettered mods. At first glance theylook nice, they add crit or power as well as will power and endurance, why are they inferior to normal mods?

Please help me understand, if i took all my +crit stuff off, my crit rate would drop to base levels, despite me having a high for my lvl (37) will power stat. So i f you could educate me on this, id feel less stupid..

Simply because, for the lettered mods, you give up too much of the secondary (power or crit) for the amount of Willpower you gain. So on balance it's a loss. Look at the Rakata level mods, for our class. Typically:

25:

29 Endurance

48 Willpower

37 Power/Critical Rating

25A:

37 Endurance

61 Willpower

11 Power/Critical Rating

The endurance gain is pointless for healing or DPSing. So while you're gaining 13 Willpower, you're sacrificing 26 Power or Critical rating to get it.

It's more or less irrelevant when levelling though.

So, for now, I guess I'll try switching my Aptitude and Mettle Mods to non-letter versions and changing my Battle Enhancement to Adept (and possibly placing the Battle Enhancement elsewhere depending on how it goes). Also getting that War Hero relic.

Depending on that, I'll look into switching my lightsaber from Crit to Power and also the Black Hole Implants. Is that a good start? Should I look into the Ear Piece too or? Just doing my best to try and get it all down x-x

Depending on that, I'll look into switching my lightsaber from Crit to Power and also the Black Hole Implants. Is that a good start? Should I look into the Ear Piece too or? Just doing my best to try and get it all down x-x

No, avoid the Black Hole vendor earpiece, because it prioritises Endurance over Willpower; on balance it's worse than the Rakata variant from the daily comms vendor.

There's no inherent reason to switch your lightsaber crystal from Crit to Power unless you want to re-align your stats. The crystals give +41, and Black Hole-level mods/enhancements all give +41 Crit/Power, so it's inherently a wash. You can find a discussion of this in my updated Seer Healing guide in this subforum:

Aside from augments, gearing a Seer is a tug of war in two separate categories: Power vs Critical Rating, and Surge vs Alacrity. The ‘ideal’ amounts of each are not as clear cut for healers as they are for DPS Sages. It is important to understand that healing is not DPSing. Your goal is not to maximise your healing output, but rather to effectively meet the healing demands of an encounter, and the burden can vary dramatically at different stages. Surge will make your crits hit harder, while Alacrity lets you respond to spike damage slightly faster. Diminishing returns, of course, limits how much of either you want to stack. Simply put, if you find yourself taking a more rotational approach to healing with sustained casting, favour Alacrity over Surge; if you take a slower and more considered approach, then vice versa. Presently the mathematically optimal quantities seem to be about 342 Alacrity to 228 Surge for maximum sustained HPS; I personally run equal Surge and Alacrity. YMMV.

 

For Power and Crit, there are two primary options (imho). Mathematically speaking, about 205 Critical Rating is optimal, with the rest stacked as Power. Personally, I choose to stack Critical Rating higher until I reach a total unbuffed critical chance of 35%; combined with Lucky Shots and Force Potency, I can guarantee immediate crits on Deliverance in emergencies, which I feel plays to the situational needs of healing.

And don't worry, once you spend a bit of time adjusting your gear it'll all become clearer, so just stick with it

Ok, my cybercrafter is young yet, at which point do the normal mods start having crit/power on them? Right now i can make up to lvl 12 normal mods and lvl 14 lettered mods, i dont have the normals for 13/14 yet. So far none of my normal mods contain crit/power.

You'd probably be best to ask on the Crew Skills forum about that. Unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with Cybertechs to give you much info there.

Is there any way to see the exact numbers? Or is it just adding it all up? @-@ Regardless, thank you so much for helping with this.

Right now, I've done a few changes so far (and made myself poor) with switching one of the Implants and changing some enhancements. I have already noticed some improvement--I actually did a 6.2K heal yesterday several times.

Currently my stats are (Just quoting ones that changed though--so any not listed as still the same):

Endurance: 1,711

Willpower: 2,122

Bonus Damage: 765.1

Bonus Healing: 581.8

Accuracy: 104%

Crit Chance: 36.48%

Crit Multiplier: 74.41%

Activation Speeder: 8.41% (Still doing #.3 though so I'm still .2 seconds faster)

Few gear changes thus far:

Black Hole Force Lord MK-1 System (with a Advanced Resolve Augment 22) to replace a Rakata one

Elegant Gloves - Now have an Advanced Adept Enhancement 26

Elegant Pants - Advanced Battle Enhancement 24

Elegant Slippers - Advanced Adept Enhancement 22

Plan on trying to work more on getting the Relic today and maybe I'll be able to earn some more credits for mod/enhancement switching. I'm...more than a little awful at earning credits in this game.

If you have any suggestions for specific enhancement switches/placements let me know. I think I need to make my crit a tiny bit higher (people are telling me it needs to be pretty much just slightly over 75% so...), my Crit needs to be a tiny bit lower (So it's at 35% instead of 36%), and then the rest is just fixing mods and stuff. Is switching the Aptitude to the letterless and switching the Mettle to the letterless enough (I have 4 of each in my stuff right now, though, it'll take me a while to save that much...) or should I do like all Aptitude or all Mettle or should I just do the 4 of each and see how it is then? Similarly, are Resolve Armorings the best to stay with? They have been what I've been using, but figured I'd check.

Also, do you have any suggestions for PVP? I am, despite being valor level 74, still not very well-versed in it and only have a few Battle Master stuff with a few old Champion stuff. Top, Botton, Boots, and Offhand are Battle Master with Gloves and Hat as Champion....Then everything else is my PVE stuff. Even if you just know the preferred set (since I'm still early in that), would be helpful. I don't plan to PVP much (More to help my guild when they need it and to get to Valor 100 so I won't miss out on Codexes or other PVP stuff... possibly trying ranked because of that one stupid speeder :/) as I prefer PVE by far, but figured I'd ask.

Is there any way to see the exact numbers? Or is it just adding it all up? @-@

If you hover over the figures on your character sheet, the tooltips will tell you the raw amounts for your stats. Check Bonus Healing for Power, Critical Chance for Critical Rating, Critical Multiplier for Surge, and Activation Speed for Alacrity.

If you have any suggestions for specific enhancement switches/placements let me know. I think I need to make my crit a tiny bit higher (people are telling me it needs to be pretty much just slightly over 75% so...), my Crit needs to be a tiny bit lower (So it's at 35% instead of 36%), and then the rest is just fixing mods and stuff. Is switching the Aptitude to the letterless and switching the Mettle to the letterless enough (I have 4 of each in my stuff right now, though, it'll take me a while to save that much...) or should I do like all Aptitude or all Mettle or should I just do the 4 of each and see how it is then? Similarly, are Resolve Armorings the best to stay with? They have been what I've been using, but figured I'd check.

Yep, Resolve armourings are optimal. For mods, you only have two relevant options, which you've already identified: Aptitude and Mettle (unlettered). For Enhancements, the relevant types are Battle, Insight, Quick Savant, and Adept. Which specific combination of mods you use is irrelevant: it's just a matter of getting your stat totals where you want them to be.

Also, pick up the Black Hole Striker's offhand; it's a decent upgrade.

I'm clueless on PVP Besides the fact you have Expertise on your gear, basically the same gearing rules apply though, although you may want to prioritize Alacrity a little more. Ultimately you're probably better replacing any PVE gear with Recruit stuff when you PVP though.

I'm clueless on PVP Besides the fact you have Expertise on your gear, basically the same gearing rules apply though, although you may want to prioritize Alacrity a little more. Ultimately you're probably better replacing any PVE gear with Recruit stuff when you PVP though.

I'll slightly disagree with this. Because healing gets less help from expertise it can be worthwhile to have high level PvE pieces instead of recruit pieces. Also recruit pieces have far lower HP. For example having a solid custom belt/bracers will give you a good amount more HP and allow you to heal for more than the recruit belt/bracers.

Once you get to Battlemasters the stats have started to catch up and it's superior to BH/Campaign stuff, but at the recruit level there's no reason to replace all your gear. Certainly get some of it (obviously relics are a good place to start as you want them for PvE anyway), but don't wear an entire recruit set at the expense of BH/Campaign stuff.

Okay, so I need 85 Black Hole Commendations total for the priority stuff... Will also need to get another Augment kit then.

I have 257 (+43.7) Power ATM, 352 Crit, 246 Surge, and 267 Alacrity.

So I guess once I switch the Mods (and of course, get the relic and Black Hole stuff), just try and modify things so Surge and Crit stay at 75% and 35% respectively with everything else in Power and Alacrity, correct?

And Thank you both for the PVP suggestions. I'll slowly try to work towards BM and WH after getting my relic and...slowly saving up for like 5 million for all these mod and enhancement changes

I'll slightly disagree with this. Because healing gets less help from expertise it can be worthwhile to have high level PvE pieces instead of recruit pieces. Also recruit pieces have far lower HP. For example having a solid custom belt/bracers will give you a good amount more HP and allow you to heal for more than the recruit belt/bracers.

I suppose. My objection to running with PVE gear is that while it might actually improve your output compared to low-tier PVP gear, you're increasing the burden you pose to other healers by forgoing the expertise.

So I guess once I switch the Mods (and of course, get the relic and Black Hole stuff), just try and modify things so Surge and Crit stay at 75% and 35% respectively with everything else in Power and Alacrity, correct?

Pretty much. Imo, just keep Surge roughly equal to Alacrity and you'll be set. Before you know it you'll have three times as much Power as you do now

I suppose. My objection to running with PVE gear is that while it might actually improve your output compared to low-tier PVP gear, you're increasing the burden you pose to other healers by forgoing the expertise.

IMO the increase in damage taken isn't significant when compared to the increased HP. In full recruit gear you're at something stupid like 14k HP. Simply by adding a few BH/Campaign pieces to that you can still be in the 4-500 expertise range while also being at 17k HP. Although other healers need to heal you slightly more, they have a better chance of keeping you up because you have more room for error.

I don't think the 5% decrease (or thereabouts) in damage taken from going full recruit over a split set isn't worth more than the extra HP and healing power. Even at 2k HP, you need to take a total of 40K damage in one chunk before the 5% reduction starts to outweigh it.

*shrug* either way, it's more of a preference thing than a hard and fast rule.

I shall be sure to keep both in mind ^^; For now, I think PVP-wise, I'll just focus on getting the main 6 parts ready to go (Top, Hat, Bottoms, Gloves, Boots, and Offhand). ...it'd include Mainhand, but there's no expertise Magenta crystal yet.

Anyway! I figured I'd update on my progress. I've changed a few more enhancements around which I'm starting to realize is stupid to do before I get the new gear and mods I need. Thankfully, I did save some of my old ones.

I got my new offhand and I managed to change 2 Aptitude 25A's to Aptitude 26 so I still have 6 mods to go. I'm about 31 BH Commendations from the other implant and about 75% of the way to getting the Relic.

Current stat changes (and enhancement changes) follow below:

Endurance: 1707

Willpower: 2104

Health: 19,766

Force Specifics:

Bonus Damage: 807.2

Bonus Healing: 615.0

Accuracy: 104%

Crit Chance: 34.43% <--- need to get back up a little.

Crit Multiplier/Surge: 75% <-- Perfect, but I'm sure it'll get adjusted a bit soon and I'll have to re-fix it.

Force Regen Rate: 8.0

Activation Speed: 8.41%

Gear changes thus far:

Black Hole Striker's MK-1 Generator (with a Advanced Resolve Augment 22) to replace a Rakata one

Elegant Gloves now has Advanced Aptitude Mod 26

Elegant Pants now has Advanced Battle Enhancement 26

Elder Seeker’s Headgear now has Advanced Aptitude Mod 26

I really just need to try and save up the money for the mods :/ But it's not going well.

Edit: Relic switched:

Endurance: 1664

Health: 19,332

Force Specifics:

Bonus Damage: 833.2

Bonus Healing: 635.3

Wanted to add my own two cents and support things others have said.

MY STATS: (xx means I cant remember exact stats)

Willpower: ~1800

Power: ~700

Bonus Healing: 651

Crit chance: 39.XX%

Surge: 73.xx%

Alacrity: 10.xx%

1- Should you get the mods WITHOUT the letter suffix (A's and B's)? YES! As a previous poster pointed out the willpower loss compared to the power gain is a no brainer

2- Should you intentionally try to stack alacrity? NO, But a bit helps in a pinch

3- Should you put Willpower Augments on? NO, Go with power (overkill) the returns on a healing sage are as follows:

Willpower: 0.14 to bonus healing; 0.006 to critical chance

Power: 0.17 to bonus healing

So IF. for all intents and purposes, you are content with your critical chance (@ 40% I am satisfied) you do not gain as much bonus healing from Willpower as you do from Power.

The question is, what is the stat you NEED to raise? Critical chance or Bonus healing? At some point you need to say "Fine, I have enough Crit chance" and start stacking power, if you don't you will never reach the levels you are hoping to obtain.

DISCLAIMER:

Now, don't get me wrong...you may hear people discuss the virtues of a "total willpower" build. One in which there is no stacking of critical chance WHATSOEVER, then you end up with about 25% crit chance (fully buffed) and a BOAT LOAD of Bonus healing. I am not discussing that option nor taking half of that conversation and slapping my own stupid endorsement on it by saying willpower is better than power, because if BONUS HEALING is what you want...power is the ONLY way to go.

Thank you

So IF. for all intents and purposes, you are content with your critical chance (@ 40% I am satisfied) you do not gain as much bonus healing from Willpower as you do from Power.

It has nothing to do with being "satisfied" with your crit chance. Willpower is just flat mathematically superior, period. There's no if, ands, or buts about it, you WILL heal for more with Willpower augments than you will with Power augments. It doesn't matter for squat where you think you have "enough" crit chance (which is honestly a meaningless term, more is always better as long as it doesn't come at the expense of a better stat), Willpower is simply better.

On a side note:

Willpower: 0.14 to bonus healing; 0.006 to critical chance

Power: 0.17 to bonus healing

First off, the crit chance from Willpower is a floating value on a DR curve, not a static value. Second, Willpower gets buffed by 11% due to skills and raid buffs, closing a large portion of that gap. From a mathematical standpoint, Willpower is around 5% better than Power for healing Sages (and 10-15% better for DPS sages).

It has nothing to do with being "satisfied" with your crit chance. Willpower is just flat mathematically superior, period. There's no if, ands, or buts about it, you WILL heal for more with Willpower augments than you will with Power augments. It doesn't matter for squat where you think you have "enough" crit chance (which is honestly a meaningless term, more is always better as long as it doesn't come at the expense of a better stat), Willpower is simply better.

Yes, let's see...

2000 Willpower: (2000 x 1.11 = 2220) (2220 x 0.14 = 310.8 Bonus Damage

2000 Power: 2000 x 0.17 = 340 Bonus Damage

Oh, yes yes yes I concede to your "new math"

On a side note:

 

 

 

First off, the crit chance from Willpower is a floating value on a DR curve, not a static value. Second, Willpower gets buffed by 11% due to skills and raid buffs, closing a large portion of that gap. From a mathematical standpoint, Willpower is around 5% better than Power for healing Sages (and 10-15% better for DPS sages).

Yes, you are quite right. The effects start at about a 0.008 return and DIMINISH the more you try to stack Willpower. So clearly there is no point that you wish to STOP STACKING Willpower and start stacking raw power. My total crit return at 1769 Willpower is 0.00646. This means that I am now getting 0.00566 return to crit for every additional point of Willpower I add to my build. Things just keep getting better and better? No, they are getting worse and worse.

I am not here bashing the benefits of Willpower, I know the benefits. I am simply stating that if you WISH TO INCREASE YOUR BONUS HEALING power is the way to go.

Gratz on cutting and pasting my post apart and adding yourself as one of those I point toward in my "disclaimer"