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*** Class Specialization Path Questions **


Negapao

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i see once one reaches level 10 one can pick a specialization path... cool!

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my question is.. should we be doing all 3 specialization paths and then pick the best for the occasion?.. or just pick one and not do the others at all?

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i think we can only change specializations at an NPC (or in the field with a legacy perk).. so it does seem to me the answer is to do all 3 and then use them as desired (with switching credit costs i think).. or else changing would not be an option!

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so can one build up all three paths.. and when switching the path this then keeps all of their respective ability decisions?.. and does EACH have separate action bars one can setup?... and when one switches paths (since they have different abilities) it automatically brings up the action bars for that path?.. it would be a pain to have to setup the action bars every time.. hehe

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am i close to correct here?.. any hidden things i might not even know about or would be a gotcha?... thanks in advance for answers! :)

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So, part of that would depend on your advanced class. For example, if you picked the advanced class of Scoundrel ... or the advanced class of Sorcerer ... then your 3 discipline paths would be two damage dealing (or "dps") paths and one healing path. Leveling as a healer is very slow, and you won't get most of your key healing abilities that you will use in the advanced content until later in your path. However, it will get you familiar with what your heals do, how they synergize with each other, how much class resource (energy or Force, in my examples) they use, etc. This can be useful if you plan on primarily being a healer.

 

If, instead, you picked the advanced class of Juggernaut, or Vanguard, then your 3 paths would be two dps paths and one tanking path. Again, leveling as a tank is very slow, but combined with setting your companion as a healer, will mean you should easily survive all the core encounters for the story parts of the game. If you are one of the advanced classes that has a tanking discipline, and you find yourself struggling to stay alive in some fights during your story leveling, switching to tank may help.

 

Personally, I have found in my years of playing this game that the healing and tank disciplines are not quite as dependent upon a "rotation" so to speak as much as the damage-dealing disciplines. For that reason, I typically try to learn one of the two or three damage dealing discipline paths and level that way, so that I can get into the habit of the recommended rotation and practice it while leveling.

 

You might want to post under the specific class subforum to ask more details.

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my question is.. should we be doing all 3 specialization paths and then pick the best for the occasion?.. or just pick one and not do the others at all?

.

i think we can only change specializations at an NPC (or in the field with a legacy perk).. so it does seem to me the answer is to do all 3 and then use them as desired (with switching credit costs i think).. or else changing would not be an option!

 

Typically, you level in one spec, and learn the others later. They're tied to your overall level; they don't level separately as you spend time-in-spec. It's a good idea to learn how to play multiple disciplines for your class, but don't worry about it too much while leveling. Just pick one you think you'll like; you can change it later if it's not working for you. I wouldn't recommend discipline-hopping between fights while leveling at all because it's kind of a pain.

 

so can one build up all three paths.. and when switching the path this then keeps all of their respective ability decisions?.. and does EACH have separate action bars one can setup?... and when one switches paths (since they have different abilities) it automatically brings up the action bars for that path?.. it would be a pain to have to setup the action bars every time.. hehe

 

Not really. Your key path (passives, skills for that spec) is pre-baked. There's no decision-making there. Level and you shall receive. Utilities (on the right) have to be reselected every time you change discipline. You can also re-allocate those points without switching discipline if the encounter requires. (Mostly this is PvP vs. PvE loadouts)

 

Your action bars have no memory. You need to set them up every time you change spec/discipline. Your gear also has no memory. At endgame, if you switch from Sawbones Scoundrel (heals) to Ruffian Scoundrel (dps) you'll have to switch your gear as well. And yes, it is annoying.

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I have leveled a number of characters who switched specs while leveling and it's easier to switch than you might think.

 

You only really need about 6 buttons for your key rotation for any spec, so if you keep all the inter-changing abilities on similar numbers then it makes it easier.

 

The only skills which change position between the specs for me are...

Corrosive dart goes from 2 (lethality) to R (medicine)

Lethal Strike/Backstab goes from 3 (lethality) to T (medicine)

Kolto Probe goes from Tilde (lethality) to 4 (medicine)

Overload shot changes from 5 (lethality) to MB 4 (medicine)

 

Everything else I share between specs stays exactly on the bars where it is and doesn't need moving, while the new buttons that get added sadly don't remember where I had them last so appear in places I need to shuffle them around in... still, it's doable for me in under 10 seconds so it's hardly a lot of work.

 

The other thing to remember is which utilities you need... I use the same ones for lethality and medicine, except for a single one (masterful I switch holotraverse cd reduction (lethality) for overload shot regenerating (medicine). So the pattern is easy to remember.

 

For other classes, it can be as simple (deception/darkness, for example) so Swtor have actually done a decent job of making it easy to switch as often as you like (and the 200k respec field cost is low too!)

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...it's easier to switch than you might think. /snip

 

That's a fair perspective. I'll admit changing gear around bothers me more than fixing my quickbars. If I'm just swapping between two dps specs, it's very fast, indeed. Heal <--> DPS is something I probably overcomplicate because I use different UIs for those roles, and my keybinds are frequency-based, so there's a lot of ability shuffling. Not terrible, true, but tedious ^.^;

 

However, it's far from a "one click switch" like certain other MMOs have, and I've seen enough complaints about the respec mechanism over in the suggestions forum that I figure more people find it annoying than not.

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i see once one reaches level 10 one can pick a specialization path... cool!

 

You can choose what tree at lvl 1 not 10. At lvl 10 you get your 1st skill point to put into said tree. Way back in the early days, you had to wait to hit LVL 10 before even choosing your advanced class. but those days are gone now

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Way back in the early days, you had to wait to hit LVL 10 before even choosing your advanced class. but those days are gone now

In the early days, choosing your advanced class was a story-progression thing, since the NPCs that allowed you to do it weren't available until you went to Fleet. In 4.0 they changed it to be "at level 10" with the NPCs still there, and in 5.0 they changed it to be at character creation and removed the NPCs.

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my question is.. should we be doing all 3 specialization paths and then pick the best for the occasion?.. or just pick one and not do the others at all?

You should be doing whatever floats your speeder, and to a lesser extent, what suits your playstyle. Try all 3, or not - your choice.

 

There is no 'need' to learn more than one specialization, but it may depend upon your goals. For me, as a casual player, I just pick the specialization that I like the sound of best and/or like the skills the best. Some other build may be 'better', but, whatever, my main goal is to enjoy myself. 🙂

 

Also, in the long run, I think it's better to - for example - have two separate Sages, one configured as a DPS and the other configured as a healer, rather than continually switching specs. (If you switch spec often enough.)

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