Augmented Reality: 55 PvP Bolster and Gear Revelation

[WarpedAcorn]

The primary PvP complaint seems to always be the difference in gear quality of a fresh 55 vs. an established 55 War Hero. SWTOR has tried several things to compensate for this, most recently the new Bolster system. In the past few weeks I've leveled up both my Assassin and Shadow, gearing them both out in full Partisan (entry-level) PvP gear. The difference between upgrading my old War Hero gear to Partisan was slight, but somewhat noticable. However, it wasn't until this weekend that I began to Augment my gear, and that is where I began to see a HUGE difference.

At this point, in my opinion, every player entering a Warzone who is not Augmenting their gear is at a HUGE disadvantage. The difference between someone who does and does not Augment their gear (every slot) is +280 Endurance and +448 Main Stat (assuming you go for End/Stat Augs). Those numbers are staggering. For reference, the difference between Partisan (entry level PvP gear) vs. Conquerer (top level PvP gear) is approximately: +112 Armor, +126 Endurance, +112 Main Stat, +98 Off Stats.

I augmented 1/2 of my gear over the weekend and the difference was immediately and significantly noticable. In fact, this was so noticable that I would hesitate to bring any of my new characters into a 55 Warzone without sufficient Augments. The cost of doing this, however, is rather steep. MK-9 Aug kits go for ~100K while the Artifact Quality Augs go for 150k-250k. Mulitply that by 14 and you are looking at 3.5 Million Credits, plus 420k in Upgrade-Machine costs. This brings the total to ~4 Million per suit of gear.

With this in mind, one thing I would recommend is getting a full suit of custom gear (including weapon and offhand), then ripping the mods out of your PvP gear. You can trade in empty shells for the upgrade units, and the 8k cost per Mod to remove is a lot cheaper than paying 380k per slot.

So, if you are having an issue in Warzones that you think is gear related and you HAVEN'T Augmented all your gear....do it. =)

[Psychlon]

bigger problem currently is lvl 54 crafted gear which is getting bolstered better than PvP and PvE endgame gear and leaves you with 2k weapon dmg, 1.3k bonus damange and 2018 expertise....

[Forsedar]

bigger problem currently is lvl 54 crafted gear which is getting bolstered better than PvP and PvE endgame gear and leaves you with 2k weapon dmg, 1.3k bonus damange and 2018 expertise....

In my PvE gear, my expertise is a little higher than that when bolstered... and I sit at around 1600 bonus damage in a warzone.

[WarpedAcorn]

bigger problem currently is lvl 54 crafted gear which is getting bolstered better than PvP and PvE endgame gear and leaves you with 2k weapon dmg, 1.3k bonus damange and 2018 expertise....

Hopefully Bioware will fix this soon. That's something that's not working as intended. However, its hard to find a reason to argue against Augmenting all your gear and getting a nearly 25% boost to you primary stat.

[Forsedar]

Hopefully Bioware will fix this soon. That's something that's not working as intended. However, its hard to find a reason to argue against Augmenting all your gear and getting a nearly 25% boost to you primary stat.

People should augment their gear regardless! Yes it can be expensive but the boost outside of bolster is nice... but with bolster... lulz.

[mariamadi]

thx you for the cute post

[Psychlon]

In my PvE gear, my expertise is a little higher than that when bolstered... and I sit at around 1600 bonus damage in a warzone.

Is this without any lvl 54 crafted gear? Could you make a screenshot of it as this seems still much better than full optimized pvp gear set.