I played SWTOR for about two months three years ago. Got to level 50, then quit when my friend did. Decided I wanted to try it again, but I'm completely lost.

 

I'm super over-leveled and don't know where to go next. I finished up Makeb and between bonus XP and PvP, I'm level 66 already. My only story missions are Crystal Ball on Ilum and the intro to Shadow of Revan. I think I'm supposed to go back and do Ilum and then find somewhere else before the Revan expansion? Currently looking that up.

 

I'm also worried because I read I was going to lose all my companions. I can get them back, but they're not the same character ID or something? Should I spam Esseles to max my first companion for crafting purposes? What's the storyline cutoff for this?

 

Probably subjective, but is there any profession that's better than other for endgame gearing/progression/anything? I'm currently Biochem, but it looks like they took away the re-usable versions of all my stuff so I'm sort of lost here too.

 

How exactly does gearing work? I heard PvP is the fastest way to grab T1 gear and set bonuses, but you need to turn the shells in to get the next set. What's stopping someone from buying 6 belts/bracers and getting bonuses that way? I have some Aug kits stocked up from 3 years ago, but I wanted to put them on my orange armor set so I could just keep that one set for pretty much ever (or until I'm rich and bored of it). Do I need to aug the T1 shells to not be a complete [rude person] in PvP and keep buying aug kits each tier?

 

Other than that, just looking for friends. Or at least people that don't mind running FPs or things with a noob, because I don't want anyone raging at me too hard for not knowing a particular mechanic on any boss fights. Like, I did Hammer Station the other day as a refresher, and I forgot about the last boss' blaster aoe. Thinking it was a cleave, I stayed where I was so it wouldn't hit anyone but me before I eventually figured out he didn't track targets during it and I should run out. Derpy stuff like that.

Edited November 12, 2017 by DecoyThree

I played SWTOR for about two months three years ago. Got to level 50, then quit when my friend did. Decided I wanted to try it again, but I'm completely lost.

 

I'm super over-leveled and don't know where to go next. I finished up Makeb and between bonus XP and PvP, I'm level 66 already. My only story missions are Crystal Ball on Ilum and the intro to Shadow of Revan. I think I'm supposed to go back and do Ilum and then find somewhere else before the Revan expansion? Currently looking that up.

 

I'm also worried because I read I was going to lose all my companions. I can get them back, but they're not the same character ID or something? Should I spam Esseles to max my first companion for crafting purposes? What's the storyline cutoff for this?

 

Probably subjective, but is there any profession that's better than other for endgame gearing/progression/anything? I'm currently Biochem, but it looks like they took away the re-usable versions of all my stuff so I'm sort of lost here too.

 

How exactly does gearing work? I heard PvP is the fastest way to grab T1 gear and set bonuses, but you need to turn the shells in to get the next set. What's stopping someone from buying 6 belts/bracers and getting bonuses that way? I have some Aug kits stocked up from 3 years ago, but I wanted to put them on my orange armor set so I could just keep that one set for pretty much ever (or until I'm rich and bored of it). Do I need to aug the T1 shells to not be a complete [rude person] in PvP and keep buying aug kits each tier?

 

Other than that, just looking for friends. Or at least people that don't mind running FPs or things with a noob, because I don't want anyone raging at me too hard for not knowing a particular mechanic on any boss fights. Like, I did Hammer Station the other day as a refresher, and I forgot about the last boss' blaster aoe. Thinking it was a cleave, I stayed where I was so it wouldn't hit anyone but me before I eventually figured out he didn't track targets during it and I should run out. Derpy stuff like that.

 

The Ilum storyline takes place right after the base game does, so that should be finished before Makeb, Oricon and Shadow of Revan stories (you don’t *have* to do it though, so you could just skip it on this character since you’ve already gone into the Makeb story.

 

You won’t lose your companions until you start the KoTFe storyline. As you go through that story, you will gradually regain various companions, but not all of them have come back yet. Once you do get some of them back though, it is true that they are somewhat different, including dialogue queues and whatnot, but I don’t remember if their crafting levels remain the same as before.

 

Someone else could probably answer your gearing and crafting questions far better than I, so I’ll skip over those parts.

 

If you’re on the Star Forge server, I’d be happy to run through some flashpoints or pvp with you. If you are on the same server, you can add me as a friend or mail me at Toryn Zal. (That character is still fairly low leveled, as I just moved to this server and my main characters are still on a different one.

Thanks for the offer, but it looks like I'm on Satele Shan. Which is weird, I don't know why I'd have been on a West Coast server before the merge.

 

Is there any way to upgrade T1 gear? I'm thinking about buying some trinkets or set bonus pieces just because I have so many more Command Tokens than I do Unassembled Components, and I don't know what else to do with them. I also have no idea what to spend my Light Side Tokens on if I'm not interested in the glowing Legacy armor sets.

 

I know I'm only getting tanking items from crates because of my spec, is there really no such preference for schematics? Or are there just no Biochem recipes that drop from tier 1 crates?

 

I'm feeling more confused than ever.

Thanks for the offer, but it looks like I'm on Satele Shan. Which is weird, I don't know why I'd have been on a West Coast server before the merge.

 

Is there any way to upgrade T1 gear? I'm thinking about buying some trinkets or set bonus pieces just because I have so many more Command Tokens than I do Unassembled Components, and I don't know what else to do with them. I also have no idea what to spend my Light Side Tokens on if I'm not interested in the glowing Legacy armor sets.

 

I know I'm only getting tanking items from crates because of my spec, is there really no such preference for schematics? Or are there just no Biochem recipes that drop from tier 1 crates?

 

I'm feeling more confused than ever.

 

Since the Story part was answered ill just get to the gearing part

 

Regarding Biochem, keep it, there are new Reuseables, but you get them later in the story so I dont wanna spoil it (but its a long way for you).

 

As for gear, you can gear by 3 ways, CXP crates, Unassembled Components and Operation drops. Howewever there is also a combintion of these and there is one bonus way, you can use the Command Tokens to buy your initial 230 set. So for you, the best you can do is use this double CXP week to get up as much ranks as possible. This will give you some 230 gear maybe and also command tokens which you can use to buy the 230 gear (with set bonus). Then you can do PVP/GSF which will give you Unassembled Components. For those you can either directly purchase 236 gear OR you can do operations (Veteran mode) those drop 242 gear and the Unassembled components can be used to upgrade the 242 piece to 248. That is actually the fastest way to gear up, you do Veteran operations for specific gear pieces but also PVP/GSF for components so that you can upgrade your gear from 242 to 248.

Thanks.

 

Is there a recommended gearing order? I'm mostly doing PvP since I'm still bad at flashpoints. I died a couple times just learning the mechanics in Directive 7, and I'd like to either figure all that stuff out either on my own or with a group that doesn't mind a new player.

 

I bought a T2 relic since even if I get into Ops I can fill the other relic slot, and a DPS mainhand after several complaints about my damage output in Warzones, based on the assumption that PvE tanking is going to be less gear dependent than PvP. I'm hoping to push to a 242 mainhand before 5.6, but I don't know which set of gear to buy at each tier to flesh out my character as efficiently as possible. Currently planning 242 tank set with the 248 DPS mods for my PvP set, which should leave me a 242 PvE set (but with 230 set bonus armorings). Gearing a tank for endgame seems like it's going to take at least two sets for my PvP gear and one for PvE.

 

I was looking at buying a 246 armoring for my shield, but they run about half my total savings on the GTN. Maybe I can find a crafter willing to do it for mats, since even if I upgrade my shield I'll have at least one armor slot that I don't need a set bonus armoring for - so it seems like a pretty good upgrade.

 

Are people going to hate me if I don't augment my jewelry slots (relics/ears/implants)? Are PvE players going to hate me for modding and augmenting for PvP? I'm feeling stuck in this awkward place where I'm not getting much of a return from new player guides/videos, but listening to vets talk about the game is still way above me. I'm pretty driven to succeed, but if someone could point me in the general direction I should be going it would be much appreciated.

 

Edit: I've been saving my command crates for the patch coming up on the 28th, but I just started getting tier 2 crates. Is it worth opening the higher tier for upgrades or should I keep saving them?

Edited November 18, 2017 by DecoyThree

I'm on SateleShan too, when I'm able to figure out my troubles logging in I'd be more than willing to answer any questions you have in game.

Sell everything you have and make a new char. Transfer the money to the new char. When you are so green it's better if you start from the beginning.

Hey Decoy welcome back to the game!

 

I'm going to try to answer as much as I can and try to explain as clearly as possible.

 

Story -

Crystal Ball

Eternity Vault (operation)

Karragas Palace (operation)

Explosive Conflict (operation)

Terror From Beyond (operation)

Makeb (planetary story line)

Scum and Villany (operation)

Oricon (planetary daily area, you can pick up the starting quest from the mission terminal on your ship or from one of several droids located across the galaxy, one is on fleet, there are others in Section X, Oricon and I believe a few other places, but they will all lead you to the same place.)

Dread Fortress (operation) (you will receive this mission after completing the Oricon mission)

Dread Palace (operation) (you will receive this mission after completing the Dread Fortress mission)

Shadow of Revan Intro (can pick up this mission from your starship console, includes 4 flashpoints)

Shadow of Revan (will receive when completing Shadow of Revan intro)

Temple of Sacrifice (operation) (this is an alternate way to complete the Shadow of Revan story arc)

Ziost (I believe you recieve this when you complete Shadow of Revan but I'm not 100% sure)

Knights of the Fallen Empire (can pick up this mission from your starship console)

Knights of the Eternal Throne (will receive the first when you finish Fallen Empire)

Iokath (daily area)

Gods of the Machine (operation)(bosses are still being released)

Crisis on Umbara (flashpoint)

A Traitor among the Chiss (5.6 content releasing on 11/28/2107)

 

I believe this completes all stories up to this point and I don't think I missed anything... If I did I'm sure someone will let you know =p

 

Companions - It is true your companions will change once you start Knights of the Fallen Empire, however once you complete the first 9 Chapters (about 1.5 hours if you spacebar or about 8 hours if you watch all the cut scenes) you will be able to get any/all of your original class companions back via a terminal on the planet Odessen. So yes, you should spam Esseles to max your first companion for crafting purposes. When you complete chapter 9 if you do decide to use the terminal to get your original companions back, they will be at the same influence level that they were at when you started chapter 1.

 

Professions

 

Biochem is always my first one, as someone said earlier in this thread, there are reusables that you can learn to craft via the Crisis on Umbara flashpoint. You can start doing this flashpoint after you complete chapter 9 of KOTFE even if you are not there in your story quest, the game will recognize that you are not there yet and will do a decent job of helping avoid spoilers until you reach that point naturally. The schematics can be purchased from a vendor right outside the entrance of the CoU flashpoint.

Armormech for crafting tanking augments and augment kits

Synthweaving for crafting dps/heal augments and augment kits

Armstech for crafting dps/heal augments and augment kits

Cybertech if you want to craft earpieces, grenades, mods or enhancements

Artifice for crafting Relics.

 

Gearing

 

So there are 4 tiers of gear.

Tier 1 - Artifact Item Rating 230

Attainable from Tier 1 command crates (Command levels 1 - 90)

Also purchasable from a vendor in the supplies section of fleet in exchange for command tokens

 

Tier 2 - Legendary Item Rating 236

Attainable from Tier 2 command crates (Command levels 91 - 180)

Also attainable from Story Mode Operations (specific peices drop from specific bosses, see this link http://dulfy.net/2017/03/03/swtor-operation-loot-table-patch-5-2/ for a full list)

Can also be purchased from the tier 2 vendors in the supplies section of fleet in exchange for Un-assembled Components

 

Tier 3 - Legendary Item Rating 242

Attainable from Tier 3 command Crates (Command levels 181 - 299)

Also attainable from Veteran Mode Operations (and Gods of the Machine Story Mode)

Can also be purchased from the tier 3 vendors in the supplies section of fleet in exchange for a Tier 2 Shell AND Un-assembled Components.

 

Tier 4 - Legendary Item Rating 248

Attainable from Tier 4 Command Crates (Command Level 300+)

Also attainable from Veteran Mode Gods of the Machine

Can also be purchased from the Tier 4 vendors in the supplies section of fleet in exchange for a Tier 3 Shell AND Un-assembled Components.

 

As for augmenting your gear, I would recommend that you chose a set of gear that you would like to keep and augment them with Mk-10 kits. You do not have to augment each piece with every tier of kits (MK-1 etc). Just go straight to the Mk-10s and you are done there.

When you earn a piece of gear that is an upgrade for you, take the Armoring (or barrel or hilt) Mod and Enhancement out of that piece, and put it into the set of gear that you have already augmented. This way you do not have to constantly be augmenting Tier pieces that you are going to eventually turn in to trade up for the next set of gear.

 

As to what is stopping someone from buying 6 belts/bracers and getting bonuses that way is that the armorings for a belt for instance, is bound to belts. So you can't take an armoring out of a belt, and put it into a chest piece. Howerever, mods and enhancements do not have those same restrictions, so you can take a mod out of a bracer and put it into a Main hand if you wish.

 

Again, welcome back to the game and I hope this information was helpful!

 

Good luck!

If you want to add me in the game id be happy to help im republic side on Satele Shan too! Just add me in game and whisper me my username is Andukand