How do you level crafting skills? I've RE'd greens to get blues, and blues to get purples, but the rank 2 green/blue/purple schematics stop giving advancement in the skill before I can craft level 3 items. Do I have to RE purples to get oranges (or whatever it is)?

Go to the trainer for your crafting skills, there is one on the Fleet of course, and then most major cities have them. There you can buy higher level schematics. I don't know the exact spread but here's an example, if your skill in armstech is 160 and a schematic requires 100, you might not get a skill point for crafting it, but is the schematic requires 140 then you would. As you rank up your crafting skill you will unlock more and more schematics for purchase from the crafting skill trainer.

Ah. I had thought you'd just unlock schematics automatically as you levelled. I can see this is going to cost a hojillion dollars. My wallet is still stinging from the 210K I just forked out for the tier 2 speeder training at level 40.

Ah. I had thought you'd just unlock schematics automatically as you levelled. I can see this is going to cost a hojillion dollars. My wallet is still stinging from the 210K I just forked out for the tier 2 speeder training at level 40.

Also, your trainer only sells you GREEN schematics.

To unlock BLUE and PURPLE versions of items schematics you have to reverse engeneer items. A lot.

I'm not sure if there are any other factors that make the discovery of Blue and Purple schematics easier, so far it's been very random. A level 7 Red color crystal took me one time to learn the blue schematic. I still don't have the level 7 Blue color crystal schematic and I've dismantled countless crystals.

So basiclly, I go about it like this:

1)Build 2 of Item (green)
2)Reverse Engeneer each and hope I learn the (blue) schematic

If not, repeat steps one and two.
If so, then:

1)Build 2 of Item (blue)
2)Reverse Engeneer each and hope I learn the (purple) schematic

In therory there is a color above that (dark purple) but I haven't had the balls to tear apart my purple items to find out. At best you get about 50% of the materials back but sometimes it's less.

And fetching all the items for one Purple schematic can be very costly and time consuming. I have a purple schematic for a level 31 Enhancement. It took me 4 hours until my companions brought back the right combination of parts before I could build it. (Fracking Krayt Pearls are hard to come by)

Here's a tip for everyone.

If you have Minimech CE or any other pet, make sure to deploy them at all times because they're actually very useful and not just for show. I first discovered that enemies will follow the pet if you stray to close to them and they spot you.

But even better is what happens during combat. In the off chance that both you and your companion have been stunned, all enemies will cease attacking you and simply focus their attention on your pet and will do NOTHING for that few seconds you're out of commission.

They'll just look at your pet for that period of time XD

They'll just look at your pet for that period of time XD

That is handy. Time to get a mouse droid.

Hello all, new guy here...

I have a question about quest. Can you reset a completed quest and if so how long can you reset a quest after you complete it?

I'm not sure, but I think, apart from Flashpoints and Operations, only the Heroic quests can be done again.

I first discovered that enemies will follow the pet if you stray to close to them and they spot you.Not any more. That exploit is fixed in the latest patch:

NPCs no longer attempt to engage vanity pets in combat.

Not any more. That exploit is fixed in the latest patch:

NPCs no longer attempt to engage vanity pets in combat.

Rats.

Crafting is costing me an arm and a leg. But then I'm going through and crafting as I level. You only have to level your Crafting skill. The gathering skills automatically level.

Oh and just as a head's up. IF you don't like your helmet but like the stats(and it's not something you can rip the stats out of) you can hide your helmet. Under Preferences>Social>Show equipped helmet(I think that's what it's called). They have some good looking helmets, but some are.... ugh...

Oh and if you are in a group with someone and you get to the spot they are supposed to be, but they aren't there, chances are you have to switch "Worlds." Open your map and in the lower right hand corner should be the world instance you are in.

Level 25, smuggler, scoundrel (Healer)

Alright, think I’ve gotten this healer stuff down fairly well when it comes to fighting a boss. Can pretty much survive a single boss with no problem at all. Even a strong and an elite isn’t all that difficult (unless one notices me right away). My real problem is when there are three strong or above enemies. The third will always comes after me and by the time I’ve killed him, my companion is either dead or beyond saving.

Any tips for how to survive those encounters or other tips for a healer would be appreciated.

Like in a group, I know I need to heal everyone, but who is top priority? I assume it is the Tank, is that right?

Haven’t decided my feelings on a healer, it gets really frustrating in some battles. I’m pretty sure I’ve never played a game where I never did any damage in a boss battle until this past weekend. I spent the entire battle healing Bowdaar. Battle went fine just kind of annoying that it took forever. It would help if I could see the enemy’s health bar while healing my companion. At least it would let me know when it was safe to join in. Maybe there is, anyone know of a setting?

@ DP: Knew it was too good to last x.x

As a healer, you are experiencing the blow back of the same problems I discussed in my tank topic. Namely that tanks in TOR are currently too squishy and can't hold aggro worth a damn, especially when engaging groups of enemies. This applies to both player and companion tanks. You really don't start to progress to any sort of useful tank functionality until the mid-30s (and even then groups are still problematic). The best I can suggest is to always be at least a level above the rated level for any story quests by doing side quests and any other form of XP harvesting (exploring the map, doing space missions, etc). Hopefully that way your companion's stats will be high enough to survive.

Aggro is still a real problem though. The best you can do is make sure your companion has any taunts they have enabled and employ any stuns or similar abilities you have to try and tie up one strong/elite enemy while you dispatch the swarm of weak/normals. Consular Sages (and I assume their mirror Inquisitor Sorcerers as well) have a very useful ability in this regard - Force Lift - which they get very early on. Do Smugglers have something akin to that?

Once you do gain the useful tanking abilities in your 30s, you do become a pretty unstoppable tanking machine.... at least my Trooper Vanguard is with my experience.

Like in a group, I know I need to heal everyone, but who is top priority? I assume it is the Tank, is that right?



First of all, assess how good and bad your group is. I've noticed some fundamental floors in almost all the people I've encountered in groups, PVP and PVE.

People are attacking multiple elite bosses at the same time, instead of singling out targets. Supposed tanks are trying to kite and line of sight targets, and often times running out of the instance and resetting the battle, DPS'ers are misusing their skills and dragging aggro from the tanks... Its basically a Nightmare lol.

But anyway.
1) Keep yourself alive, if your not healed, no one is healed
2) Support the people who are attempting to follow the plan and complete the task at hand.

PVE is pretty straight forward heal yourself, heal the tank stay out of the fire, and pray the DPS posse stick to the plan. But In PVP, the group should attempt to kill the oppositions Healers first, their death will mean a quick demise for their DPS, the Tanks do less damage and can wait to be picked off last.

I find a lot of people trying to single out their opposite number (ie; Gunslinger vs Operative) for some epic showdown, or the whole group trying to kill the Tank.. who by the way is happy to stand there and get healed by the full health medic as the DPS in his group kill you all uninterrupted.

Once you do gain the useful tanking abilities in your 30s, you do become a pretty unstoppable tanking machine.... at least my Trooper Vanguard is with my experience.At 41 as a Sith Warrior Juggernaut, unstoppable is not the first word that comes to mind. Single targets are fine, but groups (boss/elite with strongs) definitely still pose a problem, both in terms of survivability and holding aggro.

DPS'ers are misusing their skills and dragging aggro from the tanksIn my brief experience with group play as a low level Trooper Commando DPS running a 4 man Heroic and a Flashpoint, pulling aggro away from the tank is certainly an issue for DPS players. Steer clear of using any AOEs when engaging groups of elites. Also if you have it on, turn off the auto-target nearest in the preferences. That got me into trouble a couple of times.

@ DP: Looks like the Vanguard, for now, makes the better tank then. No problem with aggro drawing DPS players either, I've played with both Jeff and Mav and they're rolling DPS (melee and ranged) and I can still take all the aggro with the Vanguard despite their attacks.

There was this one time in a flashpoint where we were taking on a boss who called in for reinforcements every so often. I managed to keep him focused on me as well as have the reinforcements chase me around the area as I kited them... I was pretty proud of the moment XD

<3 Vanguard

Yeah I think ranged classes have the wood over melee classes atm, be it as tank or DPS.

Vanguard isn't as ranged as you think... 10m to 4m is its most effective area unlike the Commando which can stay back at 30m.

Aggro is still a real problem though. I know you can’t do this as a tank, but as a healer…(Warning -most likely a real stupid idea)…What if I downgraded my armor, would that possibly make my Wookiee more of a target than me? He already has (for the most part) way better stuff than me. Think I have one implant better than him).

@adamqd – Thanks

I was having real trouble with three strong enemies at once. Died 8 or more times, went back repaired my gear and came back. Got back killed the respawned bad guys outside of camp and proceeded to complex entrance. A group of two must of saw me heal my Wookiee and invited me to join their group. Had to think about it for a few seconds, but by this point it was personal. The Wookiee and I got past our problem on our own. Not really sure what I did different, more like it was just a matter of luck.

If you are a healer you should have some sort of combat stance that generates less threat, just as tank companions should have a stance that generates more.

I'm not sure if TOR factors in gear to threat, but regardless reducing your armour below optimum is not a strategy I would recommend. You should always be looking to wear the best gear possible, kitted out with whatever mods are appropriate for your class. If you are a Smuggler Scoundrel I guess Cunning is your primary stat?

Cunning is the primary stat for all Smugglers, regardless of Advanced Class.

This i am sure is a dumb: question why does the game cost monthly?

This i am sure is a dumb: question why does the game cost monthly?

MMOs are vast games, it costs money to run the servers, update/add new content, fix bugs, pay developers, and provide you with a an ongoing Multiplayer experience.

besides, it works out at like 30 pence a day lol, I find more than 30 pence on the floor around the coffee machines at work every day.

((Edited for my bad Math lol))

The same reason World of Warcraft does. It's the established business model for running a perpetual online game. Now with the idea of free to play with microtransactions there is an alternative model, but TOR was already too far down the road in development by the time that became a realistic prospect. It's not inconceivable that it may convert at some point, as other MMOs have done in the recent past, especially if their hand is forced by low subscriber numbers/high turnover.

Alright I had to have a non-TOR player show me how to see how long I've played the game.

So for those new to MMOs, what are the chat commands and what do they do?

Ones I have so far: (for the noobs, like me, these are typed into the chat box)

/played - tells you how long you've played (not sure if it is total time or just for that character).

/S -Say (not sure if you have to type a name here or not. Anyone know?)

/Y - Yell (same as above)

/W other players name send a private message to another player.

/General (also /1) - General Chat

/G - Chat with guild member only

/Who other players name look for someone

/PVP (or /2) - Pvp chat

/Trade (or /3) - Trade Chat

Whatelse you got?

Edit: May have found them all. Nice thread for on the bioware forum. (http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=612#anchor13) Answers my own question...:)

/say and /yell are so that only players around you can see when you "say" or "yell something. You just type in "/say" and then a space and type whatever you want, no need to type in names since anyone around you will hear it. Yell is the same but with a larger area around you that people will see the mesage.

Also, /say and /yell are the only forms of cross-faction communication possible.

So I have Heroic Quests that are greyed out in the Quest Log because I'm above their intended level. Since I found out that doesn't necessarily mean that it's easier to finish these quests, I'd like to do them with other people. Will they get the regular experience from these quests or would my character influence the exp gain of all others as well (meaning we'd all get less)?

Also, /say and /yell are the only forms of cross-faction communication possible.I noticed I couldn't even emote to a Sith player today. Pretty lame if you ask me, and I think you used to be able to, either in beta or the previous patch version.

They took it out because of all the cross-faction trash talking and the subsequent whinging by people about it. Of course after they removed it, everyone whinged instead that now they couldn't do that any more.

Will they get the regular experience from these quests or would my character influence the exp gain of all others as well (meaning we'd all get less)?I think XP scales on how much of the damage you do. So if your high level char basically does all the work killing a mob and your friend's low level char is essentially just there gently poking it, they may not get much XP. You could try drawing the aggro but not actually causing any damage. Or just healing your friend's char (directly or with a companion).

I think XP scales on how much of the damage you do.Wait. How can that be right?

Why would a healer or a tank ever go on a Heroic Quests then?

A search confirms the lower level players would get the same amount of exp as the high level player, meaning a disadvantage for doing quests with higher level players.

That leaves the question on how exp scales... Probably per level or something?

Is it typical for non-quest related Elites to only drop credits?

This would make sense to me because just because they are not quest related for me does not mean they are really non-quest related. It may be that either I have not picked up that quest or that I have not qualified for that quest. So it would limit people going after that enemy for strictly swag forcing others that need the kill for the quest to wait for respawn. Still not going to stop me though since I’m more after the XP, but if that is the case; I will be more selective and only do that during non-peak hours so that I’m not being overly rude.

Out of the three, non-quest related Elites I killed yesterday, I only received credit and the most for 524.

The two I killed involving a quest each netted me a nice weapon, quest item and credits. Well to be honest, I didn't kill any of them, my Wookiee did.

You can randomly get loot from non-quest elites, but the big thing about defeating them is that sometimes you get a commendation drop from them which is always nice... especially if there's a really nice commendation item you have your eye on.

The XP thing was a guess, based on what I had seen with a mismatched level player pairing.

As far as loot goes, I find the loot tables fairly crap, especially when solo. Fair enough in a group situation you should get a chance at looting whatever equipment any of the classes present can use, but when my Sith Warrior is by himself and is looting sniper rifles and scatterguns, it really annoys the hell out of me. As for commendations, that's another system I think has issues. A nice idea in principle, but none of the commendation vendors have enough decent gear worth buying. Some might have one decent item, like a belt, gloves or helmet, but that's it. Coupled with that is the fact that you can no longer trade in one type of commendation for another. Subsequently I have hundreds of commendations across all planets that are essentially useless. Probably should just use them to buy credit boxes to turn them to cash.

On Balmorra at least one commendation vendor had a storage case with purple items for 24 badges. I'm still using the boots I got from that case and almost have enough for another one.

Once you get past the mid-30s it seems you stop getting slotted gear as story and side quest rewards, so I often take boxes instead of commendations now if that is the only choice. Still, they use the same random loot tables seemingly, so there's every chance you'll end up with something useless.

On an unrelated note, I got an official email today congratulating me on getting my Sith Inquisitor to level 10 and giving me a link to a progression guide (which was pretty basic). I also levelled up a Bounty Hunter to level 10 (well both to 11 actually) 24 hours later, but haven't received any similar email for him. I wonder if it's just for the dress wearers. Maybe their metrics have indicated players of those classes need some extra hand holding. Here's the link they sent, if anyone is interested - http://www.swtor.com/progressionGuides/SithInquisitor10/)

Edit: One for the Bounty Hunter just turned up in my inbox. Based on that, it was simple enough to suss out the links for all classes:

Empire:
http://www.swtor.com/progressionGuides/SithWarrior10/)
http://www.swtor.com/progressionGuides/SithInquisitor10/)
http://www.swtor.com/progressionGuides/BountyHunter10/)
http://www.swtor.com/progressionGuides/ImperialAgent10/)

Republic:
http://www.swtor.com/progressionGuides/JediKnight10/)
http://www.swtor.com/progressionGuides/JediConsular10/)
http://www.swtor.com/progressionGuides/Trooper10/)
http://www.swtor.com/progressionGuides/Smuggler10/)

A question on PvP gear: is it only useable in PvP or can you wear PvP gear in PvE as well? And is it potentially as good (or better) than PvE gear?

You can wear PvP gear for PvE, makes no difference except that the Expertise stat has no use for PvE battles. Aside from that, everything else works normally.

Just make sure you fit the appropriate mods for your class/AC.

Alright I’m having problems leveling crew skills. Bioanalysis is going great at a little over 300 already, Diplomacy is going slow, but it is going. I just have to remember to send the crew on more missions. My problem is with BioChem. I’m only at around 80 on this one. Almost everything I have a recipe for requires Green Goo. I can’t seem to get this in supply enough to make a real dent in BioChem. Did I just wait too long to start my crew skills? Do I need to go back to some of the earlier planet in order for Bioanalysis to get me an adequate supply of green goo? Guess it isn’t that big a deal if I do have to because I need to find datacrons too.

Yeah you need to go back to Coruscant/Dromund Kaas for a good supply of that.

Hi all! Geez it sucks to be such a noob at TOR and feel like I am out of my league posting here haha, But hey got to start somewhere. Just want to give a shout to all you guys for the pointers given here. Hopefully I can get the hang of SW: The Old Republic and advanced nicely.

cheers

Alright I’m having problems leveling crew skills. Bioanalysis is going great at a little over 300 already, Diplomacy is going slow, but it is going. I just have to remember to send the crew on more missions. My problem is with BioChem. I’m only at around 80 on this one. Almost everything I have a recipe for requires Green Goo. I can’t seem to get this in supply enough to make a real dent in BioChem. Did I just wait too long to start my crew skills? Do I need to go back to some of the earlier planet in order for Bioanalysis to get me an adequate supply of green goo? Guess it isn’t that big a deal if I do have to because I need to find datacrons too.

I don't have BioChem on any of my characters so I'm not sure excatly what type and level Green goo is, but, this is how you find what you need without running around a planet looking for dead critters to harvest:

Find a schematic that requires green goo. It will tell you the general category and level of that component. Like "Grade 2 researched compound" or something. Then look under your Bioanalysis missions. Use the drop down to select the grade level, and then send your companions on the missions that bring back that kind of item.

They may not always bring back Green Goo, depending on how rare it is (Green, Blue, Purple) but they will bring it to you.

If you don't see it under Bioanalysis, it is likely under Diplomacy. (I'm pretty sure it's BioAnalysis though. I guess I need to make a Bio crafting toon...)

Missions are not an efficient (or cost effective) way to acquire gathering resources for grinding the appropriate crafting skill. The only missions you should be doing for gathering skills are the ones that net you the required additional generic components for crafting that you can't gather in the field (and only otherwise obtain from the crew skills vendor).

Green Goo is a level 1 material and should be available from every level 1 node. It's the equivalent of Desh for Scavenging - the most abundant material. As I said, you just need to return to your capital world and do some harvesting. Aside from Slicing, all gathering nodes are on about a 4 minute respawn timer, so if you do a circular sweep of an area (much easier in Coruscant, given the cityscape layout), then by the time you get back to the starting point all the nodes should have respawned. Especially bio nodes, as that isn't a popular skill from what I have seen.

I beg to differ.

Running around gathering from nodes, espically nodes on planets that are well below your level, doesn't put a single credit in your pocket nor does it gain you any XP. In fact it takes time away from gaining XP and credits.

The entire point of having the crew do this for you is so that you could focus on that very aspect of the game.

The crew members not at my side are constantly about gathering, and even with the cost of missions I am still earning more credits than I'm spending since I'm engaged with killing mobs that give me money as opposed to hunting nodes that don't.

If it's level one, missions cost between 95-150 credits per mission. That's less than the cost to fly across the galaxy. They have results in less than 4 minutes, often less than that. More so if you have properly built up your affection with them.

I'm at a loss for how multi-tasking time and effort is less efficient than seeking the materials out, on foot, and thus wasting time that could be spent gaining XP and Money.

I have first-hand experience of this exact scenario. I abandoned Biochem/Bioanalysis in the late 20s in favour of Cybertech/Scavenging, and thus was in the same boat of needing a swathe of level 1 mats to grind up Cybertech from 0. Missions are fine if you need 1 or 2 of a mat, not 50-100 plus.

If you are all about staying out levelling, then just buying a couple of 99 stacks from the GTN would be a much more cost effective and efficient solution. At the time that wasn't an option for me, as it was the first few days of live and the GTN was pretty bare. Now though it is packed with level 1 mats. Just make sure you work out the per unit cost and get the cheapest. Some people are asking crazy sums.

Well I made a bonehead mistake, don't think anyone else around here will be this dense, but will share just in case. I was getting the message 'You must complete missions before you can do that" anytime I tried to get a new mission or talk to my companions. It was driving me crazy. Come to find out my mission log was full with flashpoints, space missions and heroic missions. So be a good house keeper and clean that stuff up or be doomed to failure like me.

Had to go back to Hoth as a missed at least two quests there. :(

Running around gathering from nodes, espically nodes on planets that are well below your level, doesn't put a single credit in your pocket nor does it gain you any XP. In fact it takes time away from gaining XP and credits. I hadn't gotten all the datacrons on the early planets, so it put datacrons in my pocket.
Went back to Ord Mantell, Coruscant, Tatooine and ventured to Tython to retrieve green goo. I also did low level crew skills missions in Bioanalysis. I did not try the GTN, have trouble paying for something that I can get myself (be it real life or in a game).

Thank you both, DarthParametric and Zakhodit for the suggestions.

Yeah, I always clean up my mission log before going to a new planet. Only had trouble once on Balmorra when I took on missions without actually finishing some first, haven't made that mistake since.