I did it! I geared exclusively through PvP! It took 6 weeks.

Well, that's sort of a lie, I'm not like "fully min-max, full set bonus, 306" type geared, but I officially ding'd "306 i-level" today. I noticed that doesn't actually require all 306 gear, just mostly 306. (I still have two 304's and a 305.) I made level 75 on March 30th, so it took almost exactly 6 weeks. I play enough games per day, on average, to get the dailies done. Sometimes a few more, sometimes a few less. I get the win boxes quite often, but I'm sure that's because I geared a super overpowered jugger tank, and not because of any regstar skill or anything.

I have picked up 5 set pieces, all of them from being forced to buy because I was about to cap tech frags. I only have 4 of them equipped, because I'm missing the armoring for the 5th. In fact, 306 armorings seem few and far between. That's what I'm missing for most of my pieces that are not 306.

I was also able to get 3 useful tacticals. I got throwing arm and Life Warden from crates (in fact, I've gotten 2 LWs from crates, so I was able to just give one to another toon). I bought Grit Teeth through the GTN (I think that's the only way to get it except for crafting it yourself).

I haven't min-maxed anything, and don't really have a collection of mods/enhancements to do that. I've just taken whatever 306 components I've gotten. I've also notice that once I got to 304 (about a week and a half ago) getting anything higher is even more like pulling teeth than the regular gearing... jeesh. And also bioware LOVES to mark things as improvements that are actually lower iLevel than the thing I already have... ***? (Actually, I wonder if that is part of the reason we get so much under-level gear - if their algorithm is incorrectly calculating what's better - maybe it thinks it IS giving us better stuff?)

I haven't bought any augments (or even kits), and haven't rolled the dice with amplifiers at all. Since I don't do anything separate for credits, I'm way to poor to play those games. (I was able to afford the Grit Teeth tactical by emptying out the bank account on an old main.)

So anyway, there you go. If anyone was wondering what sort of time frame it actually takes to get "useful gear" through PvP alone, there's a data point.

just curious, whats your renown rank?

75

(random extra chars to make it long enough)

75

 

(random extra chars to make it long enough)

* -Bob- Likes this *

* -Bob- Likes this *

I'm always happy to make Bob happy!

I'm always happy to make Bob happy!

LOL

as long as i have a beer i'm good

Ok, next step is to get in BiS via PVP only. Tacticals too.

What am I, a masochist? Oh wait...

Continuing to gear only through PvP! Now 12 days later, I finally have my full (descent of the fearless) set bonus!

So for those keeping count... on the 12th I had 4 pieces of the set bonus equipped, and the 5th in inventory but not equipped because I didn't have a 306 armoring for it. I bought the 6th piece in the mean time. And it took 12 days to manage to get 2 more 306 armorings. Cripes that's ridiculous. (During that time I probably got a dozen 306 hilts... way to go bioware!)

I still don't have that final 7th piece of "Amplified Champion", which is what I'm going for following Valek's guide on vulkk. And I don't have the mods/augs min/maxed at all. I just took whichever 306's came my way, except favoring crit whenever possible. I have some accuracy I need to get rid of (773). And of course, no amplifier or augment min/maxing, since I'm poor.

Since I'm sure Bob will want to know my renown rank is now 87.

Continuing to gear only through PvP! Now 12 days later, I finally have my full (descent of the fearless) set bonus!

 

So for those keeping count... on the 12th I had 4 pieces of the set bonus equipped, and the 5th in inventory but not equipped because I didn't have a 306 armoring for it. I bought the 6th piece in the mean time. And it took 12 days to manage to get 2 more 306 armorings. Cripes that's ridiculous. (During that time I probably got a dozen 306 hilts... way to go bioware!)

 

I still don't have that final 7th piece of "Amplified Champion", which is what I'm going for following Valek's guide on vulkk. And I don't have the mods/augs min/maxed at all. I just took whichever 306's came my way, except favoring crit whenever possible. I have some accuracy I need to get rid of (773). And of course, no amplifier or augment min/maxing, since I'm poor.

 

Since I'm sure Bob will want to know my renown rank is now 87.

That's funny I tend to get decent amount of armorings, it's usually the enhancements I struggle getting the BiS ones. I also get lots of hilts too.

Good job, you almost done now it's time to get BiS amps, and all mods all gained via PVP plus augs. Sadly I don't craft anymore or I would make you augs. Sorry.

That's funny I tend to get decent amount of armorings, it's usually the enhancements I struggle getting the BiS ones. I also get lots of hilts too.

 

Good job, you almost done now it's time to get BiS amps, and all mods all gained via PVP plus augs. Sadly I don't craft anymore or I would make you augs. Sorry.

LoL. I bought the aug kits. Then I bought 1 single cit augment, and I can't afford any more.

I also just realized exactly HOW MANY different armorings, and mods and enhancements there are. I was trying to estimate myself based on what I currently have, and then I found Trixie's spreadsheet. Jimminy H Chris bioware. *** were you thinking? Seriously? HUNDREDS of different mods and enhancements and armorings? If I hadn't seen some of them myself I would have assumed that was a spoof.

I've never really said this too seriously before, but bioware should 100% FIRE whoever came up with that as a good idea.

Continuing to gear only through PvP! Now 12 days later, I finally have my full (descent of the fearless) set bonus!

 

So for those keeping count... on the 12th I had 4 pieces of the set bonus equipped, and the 5th in inventory but not equipped because I didn't have a 306 armoring for it. I bought the 6th piece in the mean time. And it took 12 days to manage to get 2 more 306 armorings. Cripes that's ridiculous. (During that time I probably got a dozen 306 hilts... way to go bioware!)

 

I still don't have that final 7th piece of "Amplified Champion", which is what I'm going for following Valek's guide on vulkk. And I don't have the mods/augs min/maxed at all. I just took whichever 306's came my way, except favoring crit whenever possible. I have some accuracy I need to get rid of (773). And of course, no amplifier or augment min/maxing, since I'm poor.

 

Since I'm sure Bob will want to know my renown rank is now 87.

I was only curious about your renown rank to see how many times you had leveled it in PVP.

The amount of time it takes to gear through pvp is retarded and crafting is another mess. Beee Dubya designed it so we have to maximize our time on their game. From their perspective, i get it, but i don't have that kind of time to give this game. This game is an after thought to me. My sub is up soon and I'll have fun leveling some lowbies through pvp and i start back to work this next week so i'll be even more busy.

I was only curious about your renown rank to see how many times you had leveled it in PVP.

Right, I assumed that. Renown rank is probably a better way to gauge how much "time" was spent than actual days.

Right, I assumed that. Renown rank is probably a better way to gauge how much "time" was spent than actual days.

I have my sniper up to 75 RR i think, i've got some set bonus gear but my armor/mod/enhancements are all blue and green still.

I've had people tell me in WZs that i'm cancer because i'm not 306. I just LOL, it's regs for godsakes.

LoL. I bought the aug kits. Then I bought 1 single cit augment, and I can't afford any more.

 

I also just realized exactly HOW MANY different armorings, and mods and enhancements there are. I was trying to estimate myself based on what I currently have, and then I found Trixie's spreadsheet. Jimminy H Chris bioware. *** were you thinking? Seriously? HUNDREDS of different mods and enhancements and armorings? If I hadn't seen some of them myself I would have assumed that was a spoof.

 

I've never really said this too seriously before, but bioware should 100% FIRE whoever came up with that as a good idea.

IKR, it’s a total joke and we told them it was on the pts before 6.0 was launched.

That's funny I tend to get decent amount of armorings, it's usually the enhancements I struggle getting the BiS ones. I also get lots of hilts too.

 

Good job, you almost done now it's time to get BiS amps, and all mods all gained via PVP plus augs. Sadly I don't craft anymore or I would make you augs. Sorry.

Yeah, I’ve heaps of armoring, it’s the enhancements that I find the hardest to get. I just did a clean out and had more hilts and barrels than I knew what to do with and just deconstructed 114 hilts/barrels taking up storage space.

I’ve just been using 228 augs as they give you the best bolster / credit / stat ratio.

I have my sniper up to 75 RR i think, i've got some set bonus gear but my armor/mod/enhancements are all blue and green still.

I've had people tell me in WZs that i'm cancer because i'm not 306. I just LOL, it's regs for godsakes.

Plus you are bolstered to 306 anyway. I mean, I guess it's not min/maxed 306, but really? Yeah, some people just need any excuse other than "I'm not as good as I thought" for why their team is losing.

Yeah, I’ve heaps of armoring, it’s the enhancements that I find the hardest to get. I just did a clean out and had more hilts and barrels than I knew what to do with and just deconstructed 114 hilts/barrels taking up storage space.

ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN! Good gracious.

I'm sure I don't have the right enhancements and mods. I just have *something* that is 306 in there. I do find it (as has been said many times, by many of us) REALLY annoying that I'm sitting at 306 and still getting 292 gear drops in boxes. Eric flat out stated in one of his yellow posts that that would not happen. (He typed that once you got to a "color" tier, then you would no longer get things from the previous color.) *sigh* But we all know that. I suspect that the next gear change won't be to fix anything. It will be another major overhaul that makes us all start all over again, because that's what bioware always does.

I’ve just been using 228 augs as they give you the best bolster / credit / stat ratio.

Good to know, thanks! I think you said that in your gearing post probably, but I hadn't gotten around to really focusing on augs yet. I just realized that some of the accuracy I mentioned in a previous post is coming from an implant. So I have to hope I get a different (i.e. "correct") one of those at the 306 level soon. I'm trying to get all the slots filled out with correct gear piece first, and then I'll look at augs.

Amps I'm 99.999999999% sure I will never bother with at all.

ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN! Good gracious.

 

I'm sure I don't have the right enhancements and mods. I just have *something* that is 306 in there. I do find it (as has been said many times, by many of us) REALLY annoying that I'm sitting at 306 and still getting 292 gear drops in boxes. Eric flat out stated in one of his yellow posts that that would not happen. (He typed that once you got to a "color" tier, then you would no longer get things from the previous color.) *sigh* But we all know that. I suspect that the next gear change won't be to fix anything. It will be another major overhaul that makes us all start all over again, because that's what bioware always does.

I started a campaign to get this fixed on the pts and also in the gen section after 6.0 launch. I made many threads / post as did many other people. I made a thread in the bug section too.

It literally took 5 weeks, 5 threads on these forums and a reddit campaign till Owen (unofficial tech support) replied to one of our threads. He said it wasn’t even on the Devs bug board or a known issue. That was after at least a 100 posts by people over 5 weeks. At which point it was 100% obvious Musco wasn’t doing his job.

The very next day Musco made a thread in the bug section to ask us about the wrong gear dropping based on our toggle. And the only reason I think he made the thread is because Owen is part of Kieths raid group and told him that Musco had been ignoring us.

And to this day, Musco never went back to that thread to reply to any feed back he asked for. And it took 5 months till they addressed the wrong gear dropping (which still isn’t fixed properly). And not once have that admitted the lower gear lvl dropping in pvp is broken or bothered fixing it.

Good to know, thanks! I think you said that in your gearing post probably, but I hadn't gotten around to really focusing on augs yet. I just realized that some of the accuracy I mentioned in a previous post is coming from an implant. So I have to hope I get a different (i.e. "correct") one of those at the 306 level soon. I'm trying to get all the slots filled out with correct gear piece first, and then I'll look at augs.

 

Amps I'm 99.999999999% sure I will never bother with at all.

As much as I hate playing flash points because I only want to pvp, they really are the fastest and best way to gear up.

When 6.0 was released I pushed back against doing them because I only wanted to pvp. But I changed my approach when the drops were many Lvls below my gear rating.

The best way to do the Amps is to just keep ones with good amps as they drop, even if they aren’t for that class or spec.

Then when you get an item with the right amp you can swap it out.

The more flash point runs you can make, the more Armoring gear you can choose from. You don’t even need to do it for that class. I run my assassin through Red reaper flash points to grind gear for my other Alts because it’s fast. I can solo vet mode in 8 mins and 10-11min on MM (if I don’t die). With the help of my wife we can do veteran in 7 mins and MM in 8-9 mins.

Just one boss fight drops more gear than a pvp match. So if you wanted to, you could just kill the first Boss in 2-3 mins over and over. But the last boss gives the Armor or tactical drops and you get the flash point mission rewards too, so it’s best to just run the whole thing.

And to this day, Musco never went back to that thread to reply to any feed back he asked for. And it took 5 months till they addressed the wrong gear dropping (which still isn’t fixed properly). And not once have that admitted the lower gear lvl dropping in pvp is broken or bothered fixing it.

Yep, the silence in that thread is deafening.

As much as I hate playing flash points because I only want to pvp, they really are the fastest and best way to gear up.

I've posted before... I tried the flashpoint way when 6.0 dropped, and after a week or so I hated the game so much I uninstalled it. Just. Not. Worth. It. (to me)

So this time I just went with... just going to play the game I like and take whatever comes. And even that, I don't play that much anymore. Plus (not to take the thread on a tangent - but it's my thread so who cares ) - so many other cool things in the pipeline. Baldur's Gate 3 is looking AWESOME. Bloodlines 2 looks like it could be cool.

Plus I just got a cool new hollow body electric guitar, which is waiting for me in my covid-quarantine spot for a few days until it's safe. So many other things to do instead of gearing through flashpoints.

I've posted before... I tried the flashpoint way when 6.0 dropped, and after a week or so I hated the game so much I uninstalled it. Just. Not. Worth. It. (to me)

I completely understand. But if you ever want some help with spamming some flash points, just let me know in a PM and we can arrange a time.

I started a campaign to get this fixed on the pts and also in the gen section after 6.0 launch. I made many threads / post as did many other people. I made a thread in the bug section too.

It literally took 5 weeks, 5 threads on these forums and a reddit campaign till Owen (unofficial tech support) replied to one of our threads. He said it wasn’t even on the Devs bug board or a known issue. That was after at least a 100 posts by people over 5 weeks. At which point it was 100% obvious Musco wasn’t doing his job.

The very next day Musco made a thread in the bug section to ask us about the wrong gear dropping based on our toggle. And the only reason I think he made the thread is because Owen is part of Kieths raid group and told him that Musco had been ignoring us.

And to this day, Musco never went back to that thread to reply to any feed back he asked for. And it took 5 months till they addressed the wrong gear dropping (which still isn’t fixed properly). And not once have that admitted the lower gear lvl dropping in pvp is broken or bothered fixing it.

 

 

 

As much as I hate playing flash points because I only want to pvp, they really are the fastest and best way to gear up.

When 6.0 was released I pushed back against doing them because I only wanted to pvp. But I changed my approach when the drops were many Lvls below my gear rating.

 

The best way to do the Amps is to just keep ones with good amps as they drop, even if they aren’t for that class or spec.

Then when you get an item with the right amp you can swap it out.

 

The more flash point runs you can make, the more Armoring gear you can choose from. You don’t even need to do it for that class. I run my assassin through Red reaper flash points to grind gear for my other Alts because it’s fast. I can solo vet mode in 8 mins and 10-11min on MM (if I don’t die). With the help of my wife we can do veteran in 7 mins and MM in 8-9 mins.

Just one boss fight drops more gear than a pvp match. So if you wanted to, you could just kill the first Boss in 2-3 mins over and over. But the last boss gives the Armor or tactical drops and you get the flash point mission rewards too, so it’s best to just run the whole thing.

Took me 4-6 weeks of doing HS over and over before I just couldn’t do it any longer. I stopped FPs and just been logging in to PVP since I got 2 toons totally geared now.

I don’t get many tech frags etc., because I don’t do all the different PVE activities that will give tech frags as rewards. I said it many times but for me SWTOR PVE puts me to sleep.

The Rewards are all cookie cutter, and I just never found the PVE enjoyable. Anyway my point is I still play my way, I get far less rewards I need to gear up playing my way, but that’s fine. I log in on two toons, PVP for a period then log out.

I’ve just been using 228 augs as they give you the best bolster / credit / stat ratio.

You know what... shield/absorb augs don't bolster... at all.

I was playing around with adding back some shield/absorb beyond what you just get from having a shield. I put in some 228 shield, and 228 absorb augs. My stats outside a WZ, standing in the Cartel Bazar...

Absorb=288 (3 augs @ 96 each) for 23.51%

Shield=192 (2 augs @ 96 each) for 25.98%

My stats inside a voidstar... exactly the same. Thanks bioware!

You know what... shield/absorb augs don't bolster... at all.

 

I was playing around with adding back some shield/absorb beyond what you just get from having a shield. I put in some 228 shield, and 228 absorb augs. My stats outside a WZ, standing in the Cartel Bazar...

 

Absorb=288 (3 augs @ 96 each) for 23.51%

Shield=192 (2 augs @ 96 each) for 25.98%

 

My stats inside a voidstar... exactly the same. Thanks bioware!

Ah man, that’s F**k*d.

I had no idea those didn’t bolster

*** disclaimer in case people don’t know from reading other threads, all empty augments slots are bolstered as a default 228 Mastery augment.

Edit: Banderal, if you need any Advanced Critical Augment 74 (rating 286), PM me and I’ll craft them for you. Just need to provide the mats.

You know what... shield/absorb augs don't bolster... at all.

 

I was playing around with adding back some shield/absorb beyond what you just get from having a shield. I put in some 228 shield, and 228 absorb augs. My stats outside a WZ, standing in the Cartel Bazar...

 

Absorb=288 (3 augs @ 96 each) for 23.51%

Shield=192 (2 augs @ 96 each) for 25.98%

 

My stats inside a voidstar... exactly the same. Thanks bioware!

Weird. I wonder if it’s just those augs or all augs?