PVP Questions and Answers

[pxr]

PvP only

[frmorrison]

The new Recruit set has almost 900 expertise (assuming you filled all the slots). I currently have about 400 expertise with a mix of Columi/Champion/two Rakata for my PvP set.
What do people think about the power of Champion versus Recruit gear? In general, Champion has 48 expertise versus Recruit with 69, so that is about 44% more expertise while having lower other stats and no set bonuses. I think I will keep the Champion armor pieces because of the set bonuses. However, the non-set bonus Champion pieces may need to be swapped.
Here is a comparison of the implant:
Going to Recruit from Champion:
-9 Endurance
-7 Willpower
+21 Expertise
-6 Crit/Alacrity
Recruit seems slightly better here, but it is mostly a wash, however comparing the belt:
-6 Endurance
-7 Willpower
+9 Expertise
-4 Power
-16 Armor
I would keep the Champion.

Going from Rakata Bracer to Recruit:
-22 Endurance
-37 Willpower
+55 Expertise
+8 Critical
-34 Power
-24 Armor
I lean towards Rakata.
I wish I knew a value for 1.2's buffed expertise (to compare to the main stat), I was thinking 1.5x the main stat.

TL,DR: I would swap out any PvE gear lower than Rakata to Recruit in your PvP set and keep Champion. If you had Centurion, swap to Recruit. Certainly you would want to pickup Battlemaster pieces as soon as you can, but note the War Hero implants/ear do not require the BM piece first.

[Sith_Happens]

According to this, Recruit has about ~4.2% more PvP bonus than Champion, but much less of everything else and no set bonus. Most likely, it will be as good or better to stick with Champion if you have it until you can get Battlemaster.

[Gauss]

I just switched mains and am now playing a rage juggernaut who is still using a mixture of champion and centurion(now switched for recruit) gear. My old main can easily produce the orange BM shells. Now: is it possible to use the BM custom pieces from your trustworthy synthweaver to trade in for War Hero? I'm asking because I've accumulated about 2,500 rated WZ comms and the vendor does not allow me to buy the boots or any other affordable piece with trade-in restriction, while I have the BM orange boots in my inventory. Do they need to be bound to me(i.e. I have to equip them) or is it not possible at all to skip Battlemaster?

TL;DR Have custom BM piece, can't buy War Hero. Why?

[frmorrison]

(04-18-2012 07:10 PM)Gauss Wrote:  TL;DR Have custom BM piece, can't buy War Hero. Why?

The idea is to make you get the Battlemaster piece before War Hero piece, so it seems the custom BM piece will not work for that requirement. They want you to progress from one set to the next.

E: You may be able to skip buying BM gear, but you need rank 60 to equip the BM orange.

Note the War Hero implants/ear do not require the BM piece first.

[Aequitas1987]

You can simply put a BM Shell to get a WH piece. It does not need to have anything in it.

1. My question is with regards to the color crystals on weapons. I roll with +41 Power however I want to know if +41 Expertise is better. I have a white +41 Power so I would like to stick with it but it seems in 1.2 41 expertise goes a lot farther than power. Do you think these expertise changes are here to stay or should I risk it with 41 power on my WH Sabre. Currently at three WH pieces (no sabre)

2. My second question is with regards to willpower augments (18 WP 12 END) vs power augments (18 POW 12 END). I came to the conclusion that with my points in will of the sith (6% increase in total willpower) it would be better to stack Resolve Augments over Overkill Augments.

[Gauss]

(04-19-2012 09:33 AM)frmorrison Wrote:  

(04-18-2012 07:10 PM)Gauss Wrote:  TL;DR Have custom BM piece, can't buy War Hero. Why?

The idea is to make you get the Battlemaster piece before War Hero piece, so it seems the custom BM piece will not work for that requirement. They want you to progress from one set to the next.

Note the War Hero implants/ear do not require the BM piece first.

Do you know whether or not the dealer accepts my crafted BM piece as legitimate when I equip it first (make it bound)?

[frmorrison]

(04-19-2012 08:43 PM)Gauss Wrote:  Do you know whether or not the dealer accepts my crafted BM piece as legitimate when I equip it first (make it bound)?

I haven't tried, I was assuming you tried that in your post. Try to bind the BM orange item by equipping, then maybe you can go directly to War Hero. I know the vendor takes away the BM piece, so the item likely needs to be bound for that to work. Note to equip BM orange gear you need Valor 60.

(04-19-2012 05:20 PM)Aequitas1987 Wrote:  1. My question is with regards to the color crystals on weapons. I roll with +41 Power however I want to know if +41 Expertise is better. I have a white +41 Power so I would like to stick with it but it seems in 1.2 41 expertise goes a lot farther than power. Do you think these expertise changes are here to stay or should I risk it with 41 power on my WH Sabre. Currently at three WH pieces (no sabre)

2. My second question is with regards to willpower augments (18 WP 12 END) vs power augments (18 POW 12 END). I came to the conclusion that with my points in will of the sith (6% increase in total willpower) it would be better to stack Resolve Augments over Overkill Augments.

1. 41 expertise is better for PvP than Power, however Power helps in PvE too (assuming you only used one Saber).
2. Correct, use Resolve for a SI.

[Vangalius]

I am trying to decide which War Hero gear to purchase first. I'm a Merc Bounty Hunter, and I'm looking for the best investment for damage. It seems like the weapons are the best bet, but I'm not sure how the formulas for weapon damage work exactly. For example, the WH main and offhand pistols are +30 max damage over the BM ones. Does that translate to a straight +60 max damage per weapon attack to my unloads, rapid shots, etc. if I have both WH pistols?

[Kaedis]

Quote:Does that translate to a straight +60 max damage per weapon attack to my unloads, rapid shots, etc. if I have both WH pistols?

All melee and ranged attacks (but not tech or force, obviously) have a weapon coefficient. You can find this by searching for the ability on Torhead, then clicking the "Effect Details" link under the "Ability Details" table. Let's use Power Shot as an example (it has a nice simple entry):

WeaponDamage: Slots=>[ SecondaryRanged ], FlurryBlowsMax=>1, AmountModifierPercent=>0.15, FlurryBlowsMin=>1, IsSpecialAbility=>1

The weapon coefficient is calculated by adding 1 to the AmountModifierPercent. In this case, Power Shot adds 115% of your weapon's damage to it's damage total. Torhead doesn't list it properly, but there are actually two entries in the game files for Power Shot: the main-hand blow, which is listed above (with an addition of a StandardHealthPercentMin and Max of 0.171 and a Bonus coefficient of 1.71), and the off-hand blow, which is completely zeroed out except for an AmountModifierPercent of 0.15. This means that the final damage of Power Shot is going to be:

1.15*MainHandDamage + 1.15*0.3*OffHandDamage + 1.71*RangedBonusDamage + 0.171*1610

In other words, increasing your main hand and offhand weapons by 30 points would add ~45 points to the total damage done by Power Shot.

Check the SWTOR Formula List thread if you want more details on how these formulae work.