Continue reading »]]> Hey everyone, server population and faction balance has always being a hot topic in SWTOR. In response to the surging demands in the early days of SWTOR launch, many servers were opened up to drive down the server queues.  Come March 1st, oceanic servers will be opened up, this will add quite a few servers to the already extensive sever list.

To my knowledge, there has being previously very little, if any, study on the actual SWTOR population for each server. Bioware has not released any actual numbers and 3rd party sites lack the tools to analyze the population effectively (i.e. TORstatus.net offers a longitudinal examination of server load, but offers no insight to actual server population).

I have started a little project that will give some actual numbers to the population status on each of the SWTOR servers. This project is only completed for US PVE and RP-PVE servers. If there is enough interest, I can do the same for US PVP servers and maybe EU servers in the future. All the data are collected by hand, via creating two level 1 characters on each server and using the who list to record population numbers in each planet.

As it is impossible to collect data for all the planets for all the servers at the same time, I have restricted myself to 6 planets + the fleet for each faction and restricted my data collection to “prime-time” for each server (i.e. 6:30 – 10 pm EST for East Coast Servers and 6:30 to 10 pm PST for West Coast servers) over a span of 3 days.

The six planets studied are:

K/T – Korriban/Tython

D/C – Dromund Kaas/ Coruscant

Alderaan

Hoth

Voss

Ilum

These six planets + the fleet represents roughly 45% of the total server population for each faction and allow a very rough estimation of the total server population. 

• PVE/RP servers population ranking
• PVE/RP servers Imperial/Republic Ratio
• PVE/RP servers Ilum population
• PVE/RP servers population distribution
• Estimated total poplation of all PVE/RP servers and other interesting facts
• Raw data

PVE/RP Servers population ranking

Top 10 PVE/RP servers for most population

Top 10 PVE/PVE servers for least population

PVE East Coast servers ranked by population

PVE West Coast servers ranked by population

RP PVE servers ranked by population

PVE/RP servers Imperial/Republic Ratio

Top 10 PVE/RP servers for most Imperial Ratio

Top 10 PVE/RP servers for least Imperial Ratio (most Republic Ratio)

Rank	Server	Type	Ratio
1	Wall of Light	PVE-W	0.72
2	The Shadowlands	PVE-E	0.76
3	The Courageous	PVE-E	0.76
4	Empress Teta	PVE-W	0.78
5	The Ebon Hawk	RP-E	0.78
6	Whitebeam Run	PVE-E	0.83
7	Ki-Ta Kren	PVE-E	0.84
8	Perlemian Trade Route	PVE-W	0.84
9	Sedyn Kyne	PVE-E	0.85
10	Anturi Reach	PVE-E	0.85

Top 10 PVE/RP servers for most faction balance (ratio ~1)

Rank	Server	Type	Ratio
1	Namadii Corridor	PVE-W	1.00
2	Corellian Run	PVE-E	1.01
3	Thana Vesh	PVE-E	1.01
4	Veeboo Lunx	PVE-W	1.01
5	The Defenestrator	PVE-E	1.02
6	The Jekk’Jekk Tarr	PVE-W	1.02
7	Grand Master Zyrm	PVE-E	1.03
8	Begeren Colony	RP-W	1.04
9	Rubut Crystal	RP-E	0.96
10	Fa’athra	PVE-W	0.85

PVE – East coast Imperial/Republic Ratio

PVE – West coast Imperial/Republic Ratio

PVE- RP server Imperial/Republic Ratio

PVE/RP servers Ilum population

Most % of players on Ilum – Both factions combined

Top 10 PVE/RP servers for most % of players on Ilum (both factions combined)

Most players on Ilum – Both factions combined

Top 10 PVE/RP servers for most players on Ilum (both factions combined)

Most players on Ilum – Republic

Top 10 PVE/RP servers for most Republic players on Ilum

Most players on Ilum – Imperial

Top 10 PVE/RP servers for most Imperial players on Ilum

Imperial/Republic Ratio on Ilum*

*Crevasse City had 0 Republic players on Ilum – divide by 0 and hence no value.

PVE/RP servers population distribution (over 6 planets & fleet)

Server population distribution (Imperial)

Server population distribution (Republic)

Estimated total population on all PVE/RP servers + other interesting stats

Estimation is done assuming that the 6 planets + fleet represent ~ 45% of the total population on a server. This 45% is calculated by dividing the sum of population on all 6 planets + fleet over the total population of all the planets + instances (EV, KP, Warzones, and flashpoints) on the Harbinger server.

Korriban +Dromund Kaas + Alderaan + Hoth + Voss + Ilum + Fleet = 600/1336 = 45%

.Using this estimation technique on both factions, this give us 71646 concurrent players on 79 PVE/RP servers – with 35686 concurrent players on 46 PVE East Coast servers, 24817 concurrent players on 24 PVE-West Coast servers and 11142 concurrent players on 9 RP servers.

In terms of overall estimated fraction balance – 39395 concurrent Imperial players and  32250 concurrent Republic players, a Imperial/Republic Ratio of 1.22.

Raw data

The raw excel data file with timestamps can be obtained here as a google doc for personal use only.

Google docs

Youtube video showing you my data gathering method

Continue reading »]]>

Hey everyone, orange bracers and belts are some of the hottest items on the GTN right now – people are buying them up and outfitting them with their own mods/enhancements to get something on par if not better than the Rakata belts & bracers. Today I will share with you some of the information I have gathered on where to obtain these items and for light armoring users – how to customize the rest of your armor pieces!

• List of known orange belts/bracers
• How to outfit your belts/bracers – where to get the mods/armoring and comparison with tiered (i.e. columi/rakata) pieces
• List of compiled tips on where to get these orange belts/bracers to drop

Orange Bracers/Belts – the list

Belts

These orange belts all have 2 slots – armoring and mod. Generally you will want the bracers/belts that matches your armor type – heavy armor users using a light armor belt will suffer a penalty to their armor as each armor type give an unspecified bonus/multiplier to the armor rating on your armoring slot.

Sets: There are generally 3 orange belts at level 42, 34, and 12, making up a set.

• Heavy Armor (Bounty Hunter) TT-17A Hydra Belt, RD-17A Hellfire Belt, TD-17A Imperator Belt,
• Heavy Armor (Trooper):  TD-17A Colossus Belt, RD-17A Phalanx Belt, TD-17A Talon Belt
• Heavy Armor(Sith Warrior): Sith Champion’s Belt, Sith Archon’s Belt, Blade Tyrant’s Belt
• Heavy Armor (Jedi Knight): Jedi Battlelord’s Belt, Jedi Myrmidon’s Belt, Battle Expulsor’s Belt
• Heavy Armor Belts not part of above sets:
• Huttese Hunter’s Belt
• Mantellian Trooper’s Belt
• Arena Champion’s Belt (Bounty Hunter, Light I)
• Butcher’s Belt (Dark I)
• Obliterator’s Belt (Bounty Hunter, Dark I)
• Warlord’s Conquest Belt (Trooper, Dark I)
• Bonecutter’s Belt (Dark III)
• Liberator’s Belt (Light III)
• ShieldWall Belt (Light III)
• Spearhead Belt (Light III) 
• Medium Armor (Sith Warrior): Sith Annihilator’s Belt, Sith Avenger’s belt, Bladestorm’s Belt
• Medium Armor (Jedi Knight): Jedi Stormguard’s Belt, Jedi Avenger’s Belt,  Battleborn Belt
• Medium Armor: (Smuggler): TD-07A Blackguard Belt, RD-07A Viper Belt, RD-07A Spider Belt
• Medium Armor: (Imperial Agent): RD-07A Vendetta Belt, TD-07A Scorpion Belt, TD-07A Panther Belt
• Medium Armor Belts not part of above sets:   
• Mantellian Smuggler’s Belt
• Huttese Agent’s Belt
• Gallant Rogue’s Belt (Smuggler, Light I)
• Reanimator’s Belt (Dark III)
• Augmenter’s Belt (Dark III)
• Executioner’s Belt (Dark III)

• Light Armor(Sith Inquisitor): Grand Inquisitor’s Waistwrap, Supreme Inquisitor’s Waistwrap, Saber Marshal’s Waistwrap
• Light Armor (Jedi Consular): Force Magister’s Waistwrap, Voidmaster’s Waistwrap, Omenbringer’s Waistwrap
• Light Armor Belts not part of above sets:

• Civilian Pilot Belt
• Republic Pilot Belt (Social III)
• Imperial Pilot Belt (Social III)
• Forcedrawn Waistwrap (Light I)
• Typhonian Consular’s Sash
• Korribani Inquisitor’s Sash
• Well of Shadow’s Sash (Dark III)
• Well of Light’s Sash (Light III)
• Rending Blade’s Waistwrap (Dark III)
• Indomitable Force Waistwrap (Light III)
• Dark Siphon Waistwrap (Dark III)

Bracers

Sets: There are generally 3 orange bracers at level 43, 35, and 15, making up a set. Not all classes have all 3.

• Heavy Armor (Bounty Hunter): TT-17A Hydra Bracers, RD-17A Hellfire Bracers, TD-17A Imperator Bracers
• Heavy Armor (Trooper): TD-17A Colossus Bracers, RD-17A Phalanx Bracers, TD-17A Talon bracers
• Heavy Armor(Sith Warrior): Sith Champion’s Armguards, Sith Archon’s Armguards, Blade Tyrant’s Armguards
• Heavy Armor (Jedi Knight): Jedi Battlelord’s Armguards, Jedi Myrmidon’s Armguards, Battle Expulsor’s Armguards
• Heavy Armor Belts not part of above sets:
• Warlord’s Conquest Bracers (Trooper, Dark I)
• Obliterator’s Bracers (Bounty Hunter, Dark I)
• Arena Champion’s Bracers (Bounty Hunter, Light I)
• Battlefield Medic’s Bracers (Light III)
• Bonecutter’s Bracers (Dark III)
• Dark Void Armguards (Dark III)
• Liberator’s Vambraces (Light III)
• Spearhead Armguards (Light III)
• Tyrant’s Armguards (Jedi Knight, Dark III

• Medium Armor (Sith Warrior): Sith Annihilator’s Armguards, Sith Avenger’s Armguards, Bladestorm’s Armguards
• Medium Armor (Jedi Knight): Jedi Stormguard’s Armguards, Jedi Avenger’s Armguards, Battleborn Armguards
• Medium Armor: (Smuggler): TD-07A Blackguard bracers, RD-07A Viper Bracers, RD-07A Spider Bracers
• Medium Armor: (Imperial Agent): RD-07A Vendetta bracers, TD-07A Scorpion Bracers, TD-07A Panther Bracers
• Medium Armor Belts not part of above sets:
• Reanimator’s Bracers ( Dark III)
• Executioner’s Bracers (Dark III)   
• Light Armor(Sith Inquisitor): Grand Inquisitor’s Bracers, Supreme Inquisitor’s Bracers, Saber Marshal’s Bracers
• Light Armor (Jedi Consular): Force Magister’s Bracers, Voidmaster’s Bracers, Omenbringer’s Bracers
• Light Armor Belts not part of above sets:     
• Forcedrawn Bracers (Inquisitor, Light I)
• Dark Siphon Bracers (Dark III)
• Indomitable Force Bracers (Light III)
• Rending Blade’s Bracers (Dark III)
• Well of Light’s Bracers (Light III)
• Well of Shadow Bracers (Dark III)

Orange Bracers/Belts – the popularity     

Why are the orange moddable bracers and belts so popular? This has do with with their customization.

Both the belts and bracers have armoring and mod slots that you can use.

Level 23 armoring can be obtained from the Mission Support Vendor in Ilum/Belsavis for 8 daily commendations each – these are 126 grade, same level as Tionese/Centurion.These are better than the ones that Cybertechs can craft.

• Advanced Skill Armoring 23
• Advanced Resolve Armoring 23
• Advanced Reflex Armoring 23
• Advanced Patron Armoring 23
• Advanced Might Armoring 23
•  Advanced Guardian Armoring 23
• Advanced Force Wielder Armoring 23
• Advanced Commando Armoring 23

Level 25 armoring can be obtained from the last boss of Eternity Vault and Karagga’s Palace – Soa and Karagga the Unyielding – on hardmode or nightmare (they will also drop 1 armoring per killing).

For mods, there is a daily heroic quest in Belsavis that will reward you with Level 22 mods – these are Q124. The heroic quest can be easily soloed – see this guide if you need help.

You can also easily rip the mods off any centurion/tionese (Q126), champion/columi (Q136) or Rakata (Q140) spare pieces you have lying around.

Q140/25 level Mods are obtained from the 2nd and 4th bosses of hardmode/nightmare Karagga’s Palace or Eternity Vault respectively – see this guide to see the drops.

The Q25 armoring and mods can be brought on the GTN as well if you are lucky – my guild sell off all the armoring/mods/enhancement we obtained that no one needs on the GTN for guild funds – other guilds on your server might do the same.

How does customized belts/bracers compare to the Tionese/Columi/Rakata ones obtained as drops? Lets take the Sith sorcerer for example

Custom I – Advanced Resolve Armoring 23 (from daily commendation)+ Advanced Apitude Mod 22 (from Belsavis daily)

Custom II – Advanced Resolve Armoring 23 (from daily commendation)+ Advanced Apitude Mod 24A (ripped from Columi Force-Mystic boots)

Custom III – Advanced Resolve Armoring 25 (drop from HM/Nightmare) + Advanced Mettle Mod 25A (ripped from Rakata Force-Mystic robe)

Orange modded belt/bracers, as you can see, has the potential to be better than most things you can get hands on (except maybe the rakata crafted one with an augment slot and a Q23 augment)  and also has the flexibility of allowing you to customize it with the stats you want.

Orange Bracers/Belts – the where   

Now that you know what orange bracers/belts are and why they are so valued, it is time to look at how to obtain them.

The best location of getting them is probably the GTN – Galactic Trade Network. The prices will depend on your server but ranges anywhere from a few thousand credits if you are lucky to 200-300 k credits for a reasonable price range. The best way to search these is go by armor type (light, medium, heavy) and then arrange by level – make sure to not use the prototype/moddable option as they don’t seem to show up when you have that option turned on.

If you are a light armor user, you are in luck when it comes to belts. The Starship Upgrade Vendor on the Imperial or Republic Fleet will sell you the Civilian Pilot Belt for 60 fleet commendations – those are obtained from doing space missions and their respective dailies and weeklies. This belt will require social I to use.

For those in a server where the GTN isn’t so robust, I will try to list below all the possible locations people have reported their drops.

• Boxes you can purchase with planet commendations that match the level of the bracer (42, 34, 12) and belt (43, 35, 15). Dromund kaas offers a level 12, 14, or 16 box, Taris offer a level 34 or 36 box, and Belsavis offer a 42 or 44 box (source: SWTOR forums). These boxes are a good fit for the bracers especially and the level 16 box from Dromund Kaas has being reported to give bracers – source: SWTOR forums)
• Dromund Kaas – champion level mobs inside the Dark Temple will drop the low level ones of the set – One is outside on the scaffolding to the right of the entrance (Field Commander Tripton) and the other in the heroic section inside the temple (named Valek Korik). Tripton is on 3 minute timer and Valen on a 5 minute timer.  (Source: SWTOR forums). This is probably the best farming spot for these belt/bracers on the Imperial side.
• Dromund Kass heroic quest – Old Friends – last boss the Sith Lord have a chance to drop orange bracers (source: SWTOR forums)
• Dromund Kaas – Dark Sithspawn, the final boss of the Shadow Spawn (Heroic 2+) has being reported to drop level 12 belts (source: Torhead)
• Coruscant for the Republic side –  some have reported getting an orange belt off one of the heroic 2+ quests called Face Merchants (source: SWTOR forums)
• On the Imperial side – Balmora droid factory seem to drop these – pick up the heroic quests and kill al the elites/champions you come across (source: SWTOR forums)
• Treasure Hunting is a good crew skill to pick up these belts/bracers: Jaweled Premium Mission Case from a 41-48 lockbox mission can crit to give you a belt (source: sithwarrior). Level 1 treasure hunting lock box missions is also a good source for level 12 belt and level 15 bracers (source: Reddit)
• For the Republic side, you can farm Esseles for Coruscant commendations to buy blue boxes at the equipment commendations merchant (source: Reddit)
• Farm the 4 man heroics for the appropriate level ranges (10-16, 32-41, 42-49) (source: Reddit)
• Silver elite droids in the Thermal plant in Hoth has being reported to drop orange bracers (source: Reddit)
• Voss heroic area – kill all the elites you come across (source: Reddit)
• Jedi Master Berr Irichmin – level 35 Jedi Sentinel Champion boss in Republic Settlement Zone, Olaris Reclamation base on Taris (-1951, 496) has being reported to have a chance to drop level 35 bracers (source: Torhead)
• Generally when hunting/farming these bracers – go to a planet that matches the level range of the belt/bracers and do all the heroic quests, kill all the champions/elites you can find and use those planet commendations you get to purchase blue boxes from the vendor that matches the level of the bracers/belt – this is what I called the scorched earth method. If you can, also pick up treasure hunting and grind those lock box missions on the side.
• Republic only: Grab the quest called Enemies of the Republic on Coruscant and killing the level 16 champion at the end. You can kill him once, run out of the instance and then reset your local phase, go back in, kill him again, then reset the quest this time and repeat (local phases reset every 3 minutes, quest reset every 2 minutes). (Source: Vantro on Reddit)

Continue reading »]]> Hey everyone, I just got back from my first closed beta for North American edition of TERA and here are some tips and tricks that I wanted to share which I think might be helpful for a lot of new players looking to start out in the world of TERA.

1. Getting your first mount
2. How to locate the quest mob
3. Extraction – how it works
4. Enigmatic items – ? items
5. Enchanting – how it works
6. Remodeling
7. Dyes
8. Support Tokens – where to spend them
9. Weapon/armor crystals
10. Lucky eggs, destiny eggs, fortune eggs
11. Glyphs
12. Campfire/stamine/charms
13. Linking items/location
14. How to quickly mark mobs
15. Quick chat
16. Engines – pandora’s box for your crafting mats
17. Gathering & temp combat buffs
18. Chained skills – how to modify
19. How to switching channels
20. Red glint – avoid!
21. UI customization
22. Chat channel customization

1. You get your first mount at level 11

This is perhaps the most common question a lot of people ask. You pick up this quest at level 11 – it is called Promised Support and can be picked up from a quest giver in Tainted Gorgequest hub.

Once you have that quest and headed to Velika, talk to Dougal at the Valkyon Federation Headquarters and the quest will be updated. Now you need to head out the west gate and go to the ranch.

Once you are out in the ranch, you will be given a quest to gather some flowers – Dynamic Veridian – you need 10 of them but some gathers give you multiples. If you are playing when the game first launches, you most likely will have to compete with quite a lot of people. Since this zone doesn’t really have a channel system where you can swap between different channels of the same zone, it can take quite a while. My best advice is find a spot where the flower spawns and just stay there! The flower respawns about every minute at exactly the same spot and it is a lot faster than running around looking for them.

Anyways, once you have enough flowers, you will be given the skill in your inventory, which you must right click to learn it and you can then pull the horse summon ability from the skillbook onto your hotbars. It doesn’t cost anything to get the mount so there is no need to save your gold!

2. Need to locate a quest mob? Use the hyperlink in your quest log!

I have to admit, this one took me a while to figure out – mostly because I didn’t bother to read the in-game help! Quests have specific mobs to kill and their location can be marked on your minimap (opened by pressing N) via using the hyperlnk in your quest log or via clicking on their name in the quest tracker (doesn’t always work).

This makes finding quest mobs a lot easier – although it does help that the quest mobs are marked with a yellow ! on top of their head!

3. Extraction – getting materials for your crafting!

Extraction is the method to obtain materials for your crafting via breaking down equipment you no longer need. Not everything can be extracted – items must be marked with the text – Extractable for you to break them down.

You can learn the ability to extract items by visiting a local merchant who will sell you extraction lessons for every tier of equipment.

Once you purchased the lessons and learned them, you can open the extraction window by pressing J – you can put anything in those extraction windows – i.e. you can do cloth extraction on a weapon!

4. Enigmatic items – items marked by ?

These items are obscured by a big ? mark and you can’t use them until you have identified them! To identify them, purchase some identification scrolls from the merchant (any general merchant will do), they cost about 5k gold each. Make sure to purchase a few of them so you don’t have to run to the merchant everytime you get an enigmatic item.

The biggest thing about enigmatic items is that they can be enchanted – making more powerful and give you additional bonuses.

5. Enchanting – making your equipment more powerful!

Enchanting is the art of upgrading your armor/weapons to give them stats like +1, +3, +6 etc.

Enchanting window can be activated by pressing the T button. You will see three empty slots once you open the window. The middle slot is for placing the item you want to enchant, the left slot is for placing the item you use to enchant (lets call them filler items)– which will be destroyed in the process, and right slot is for placing materials for enchanting which can be purchased from any merchant (they are called alkahests – costs 262 gold each and enchanting requires quite a few of them)

Only items marked as Enchantable can be enchanted – this includes enigmatic items and some crafted items! The items you want to use to enchant (filler items) has to be the same tier as the item you want to enchant but do not have to be enchantable themselves.

6. Remodeling

Do you like the appearance of one particular item? Well you are in luck! Most items can be remodeled – their appearance can be “removed” to put on another item with better stats.

Remodeling merchant is available in the main city – Velika. Look for the appearance transformer NPC (location marked in the minimap below).

In addition to the appearances from the gear you already own, you can purchase appearance items for remodeling – these are a bit pricy – especially the high level ones but if you have the gold, you can get the sexy look you always wanted!

Remodeling can only use appearance on the armor you can wear – i.e. if you are a cloth user you can’t remodel your gear to look like a heavy armor user for example.

Armor appearences are based on your race and cloth type – this means that high elf priest will have a different cloth look than human priests for example.

Here is a video of the appearance items on my human female mystic.

7. Dyes!

Near the remodeling merchant is the dye vendor, which sells two types of dyes – 1 day lasting dye that costs 5k gold each and 7 day lasting dyes that cost 10.5 k each and comes with a bit more color variations.

Once you have purchased the dye, use it from your inventory and you can preview the different shades of color and select the one you like the best.

One last thing I want to mention is that items have to be dyable for you to apply dyes to them. This shouldn’t be a problem really as I have yet to encounter items that are not dyable.

8. Support tokens – where to spend them

Support tokens, which you earn via various repeatable quests, can be used to purchase green quality gear (nothing gear, not better than the questing rewards you get) from the vendor in Velika.

The vendor is located in Strategic Command section of the city.

9. Weapon/Armor crystals

If you look at your inventory, you are probably wondering what are these slots on the side. They are your crystal slots for your armor (chest piece) and weapon!

These crystals, once applied, goes to the crystal socket on your weapon/chest armor. Most items only have 3 crystal slots while some crafted items have 4 crystal slots!

To purchase crystals, look for a crystal merchant in a town. They sell common crystals – to obtain the uncommon crystals, you can obtain them as drops from monsters or from fortune eggs!

Different crystal tiers are available – I, II, III, IV, and V at level 1, 11, 23, 35, and 48 respectively.

These crystals are attached to the specific weapon/chest piece you are wearing. When you switch to a new weapon/chest piece, simply remove them by right clicking on them in your inventory and put them on your new chest/weapon.

When you die, there is a chance for the crystals to be destroyed so definitely stock up on some of the crystals.

10. Lucky Eggs, Destiny eggs, and Fortune eggs!

Some quests will reward you with Lucky eggs and quests to kill elite mobs (those that require a group) will reward you with destiny eggs. Breaking down (right click them in your inventory) lucky eggs and destiny eggs will give you potions and such  but combining them into a fortune egg and breaking that will grant you uncommon crystals!

To combine lucky and destiny eggs, you need to purchase an item called Ovomeld from a merchant in town. Using this item will consume 4 lucky eggs and 1 destiny egg to give you a fortune egg.

I broke quite a few of these down and received some lucky eggs/destiny eggs in return and some uncommon crystals like this one!

These uncommon crystals have better stats than the common crystals you can purchase at the merchant.

11. Glyphs!

Starting at level 20, you will receive glyph points when you gain a level (level 20 give you 10 points, every additional level past 20 in the 20s level range seems to give you 1 additional glyph points).

Glyphs are sort of like a talent tree in other MMOs. They add additional abilities or enhance the power of some of your spells. These glyphs do cost a bit of gold to purchase but once purchased they are yours forever!

You can reset your glyph point allocation for a small amount of gold at the glyph merchant. In the Velika city, these glyph merchants are right next to your trainers.

To activate these glyphs, use them from inventory and then press K and go to the glyph tab – there you can activate which glyphs you want etc.

A good website to see all the glyphs available is TeraCodex

12. Campfire/Stamina/Charms

Stamina is a system in TERA that you might new to many players. Stamina caps out at 120% but buffs etc can increase the stamina levels beyond that. Stamina decreases with your time spent in combat and especially when you die (you take a very large hit to stamina).

Stamina grant a bonus to your maximum health/mana and when you reach 0 % stamine you actually get a debuff.

To regain stamina, the most common way is to stand near a campfire which is located in almost all quest hubs (towns also regenerate your stamina without need to stand by a campfire). You also have portable campfires in your inventory which you can activate when you are far away from any quest hubs or in the middle of a dungeon.

While using the campfire, you can use charms – there are three types – Onslaught which give you a random attack bonus, Ethereal which give you a random defense bonus and Sanguine charm which give you a random supplementary bonus. Charms of the same type do not stack but you can have all three types of charm active.

It is best to use these charms when you have full stamina – use them especially before boss fights to help everyone replenish their stamina and gain some nice bonuses as well!

There are potions that can replenish your stamina to full – these are called Arunic Panacea but they cannot be used while in combat.  There are priests in town that can also refill your stamina quickly for a price.

13. Linking your location/items in chat

Ctrl + left click an item in your inventory will link it in your chat. Ctrl + left click your cursors’s location in the map (not the overlay map you open via pressing N, this is the map you open via pressing M) will put a point of interest in the chatbox which others can click to give them a dot on their map directing to the location you specified.

14. Marking mobs

When fighting groups of mobs, especially in a group environment, it helps to mark some of the mobs so that they can be CC’ed (Crowd Controlled) or killed first. TERA has a really easy way to mark mobs – you simply target a mob and press Q. This will bring up a menu with four buttons and highlight the mob you have targeted in red.

Use your mouse and simply select an icon to mark that mob with that icon you just selected!

15. Quick Chat

Good communication is the key to success in party based combat. However, not everyone has voice communication and they can be quite difficult to setup in PuG groups without some sort of integrated voice chat program. TERA partly solve the issue by allowing 4 quick chat commands you can access by pressing E and use your mouse to select one of the four.

16. Engines

There are three engines you can obtain from monster drops or purchase via the merchants that can be used on your crafting mats. They have a high fail rate (rumored to be around 80%) but if you like to test your luck, you can get some nice returns on your crafting materials.

Engine of multiplicative mischief – this will increase the amount number of mats you put in. If you fail you lose everything you put in.

Engine of Crystalline mischief – this will raise the level of the mats you put in, if you fail you lose all.

Engine of Transmogrifying mischief – this will transform one material type to another – like others, if you fail you lose everything.

17. Gathering

TERA has done a really good job in combining adventuring and gathering. While gathering various materials – ores, essences, plants etc, you will receive random temporary buffs (~ last 5-10 minutes) that will give you various boosts to your stats/combat abilities. There are also buffs that will grant you increased gathering skills (+10 to gathering, can be stacked 4 times) which will help you gather some of the higher level nodes.

So not only is gathering good for crafters, it is also good for adventurers to take a break from combat and get some nice buffs!

Once you have gathered the mats, head to Velika – Creation workshop and transform the various materials you have gathered into the appropriate materials for crafting!

18. Chained Skills

TERA offers chain skills – skills that you can activate one after the other by pressing the spacebar. By default, some of your abilities are already chained together but you can further tweak it by pressing the chained skills button at the bottom of your skills window – this will open a new window where you can customize it to your liking!

19. Switching channels!

The outdoor zones in TERA have different channels – different “instances” of the same map. If there are too many people in the channel you are in or a monster you are after is not up in your channel, you can quickly switch to a new channel by going up to the top right corner of your screen and click the channel button to switch to another channel.

The starter zones have up to 25 channels in the closed beta so there is no shortage of channels to try out!

20. If the mob’s eye have a red glint – avoid it!

Mobs in TERA will have a red glint in their eye before their special attack which can do a lot of damage if you don’t avoid. Watch for their eyes and avoid that special attack! I like to call it winking!

21. UI customization!

The UI system in TERA is very customizable – you can move almost all the windows anywhere you like and resize it as much as you want. If you want, you can even make the crosshair bigger!

One thing I like to do is taking the hp/mana bars from the top left and move it to the bottom, just on top of my hotbars so I can see exactly how much hp/mana I have without having to look at the top left corner of my screen. Of course I had to resize it as it is quite big!

22. Chat font size – turn off chat channels

TERA default font size for chat channels is quite large and the screen can scroll fairly quickly with such a large font. Luckily, you can adjust the font size and even turn off some of the chat channels that are getting too rowdy.

Simply click the gear button on the top left of your chat box and you can change the font size and remove/add channels as you wish!

This guide is co-owned and first released on

Continue reading »]]> Hey everyone, ranked warzone will be coming in patch 1.2 (scheduled for March) so for many of you this might be a busy time to grind valor/commendations/battlemaster gear. Here is a list of compiled information on Warzone /PVP information that I think many of you will find handy. Most of the information is not from me but rather from other members of the SWTOR community and credits will be given where needed.

• Expertise and PVP Bonus
• Expertise and Gear
• Warzone Medal List
• Amount of valor for next rank
• Valor rank titles
• Resolve system – mechanics
• Ilum valor buff
• Warzone Valor gain

Feb 22 update: made some corrections to the Ilum buff system, added a note to the total expertise levels for battlemaster gear, and added the valor info for rank 72 (thanks Titheon)

Expertise and PVP Bonus (Damage/Healing/Damage Reduction)

Souce: Formula from this thread on sithwarrior.com

Expertise granted PVP bonus caps out at 20%.

To see the diminishing returns, this graph will help you with that!

Expertise and Gear

Warzone Medal List

Source: Reddit post by Zippytiewassabi

Medals Accumulated Earn 50 Valor and 5 Warzone commendations each

Medal Ranking:

• The Gold ranking is awarded for earning 6 or more medals during a match
• The Silver ranking is awarded for 3-5 medals
• The Bronze ranking is awarded for 1-2 medals

Announcements

• Unbeatable announcement is unlocked if you earn 4 medals since last death
• Invincible announcement is unlocked if you earn 7 medals since last death
• Immortal announcement is unlocked if you earn 9 medals since last death

Medals:

1. Medic – 2.5k healing from a single heal
2. Demolisher – 2.5k damage from a single attack
3. Trauma Surgeon – 5k healing from a single heal
4. Anihilator – 5K damage from a single attack
5. Quick Draw – Getting a killing blow on one player
6. Combatant – Dealing 75k damage
7. Destroyer – Dealing 300K damage
8. Healer – Healing 75K
9. Savior – Healing 300K
10. Defender – Earning 1k Defender Points
11. Warden – Earning 3k Defender Points
12. Assassin – Killing a player in a one-on-one fight
13. Shield – 5k Protection
14. Protector – 50K Protection (thanks meatballz/adlarn)
15. Guardian – 2k Protection since last death
16. Paladin – 10k Protection since last death
17. Commando – Killing 10 enemy players
18. Soldier – Killing 25 enemy players

Amount of valor for next level

Source: Valor per rank information is obtained from Bubble_boy on SWTOR forums

Estimated total number of Warzones (Warzones): Calculated assuming 1000 valor per warzone. Numbers are rounded up.

Estimated number of hrs: Calculated assuming 15 minutes per match – numbers are rounded up.

Valor rank and titles

Source: Reddit post by Zippytiewassabi

Valor Titles: Every 10 ranks in valor will give you a new title -

1. Skirmisher – Valor Rank 10
2. Duelist – Valor Rank 20
3. Gladiator – Valor Rank 30
4. Centurion – Valor Rank 40
5. Champion – Valor Rank 50
6. Battlemaster – Valor Rank 60
7. War Hero – Valor Rank 70
8. Conqueror – Valor Rank 80
9. Warlord – Valor Rank 90
10. Elite Warlord – Valor Rank 100

Resolve system – mechanics

Source:

Taugrim’s Understanding Resolve Mechanic

Resolve is the circular bar to the left of your character’s portrait.

It fills to full at 800 but does not provide CC immunity until it reaches 1000 (bar turns white).

• Stun give 200 resolve to affected player per second of the stun
• Mez give 100 resolve to affected player per second of the mez (mez is a longer duration CC that breaks if enemy takes damage – originally an EQ1 term)
• Knockback/Pull (grapple) give 400 resolve
• Snare/Root do not give any resolve and still applicable to targets with CC immunity (>= 1000 resolve)
• Stun/Mez/Knockback abilities applied to an enemy under 1000 resolve that will push the enemy to or over 1000 resolve will generate resolve at 150% (i.e. an 2 second stun applied to someone at 800 resolve will generate 2x 200 *1.5 = 600 resolve, pushing the target to 1400 resolve.
• CC abilities applied to someone at or over the 1000 threshold do not add any additional resolve

Resolve drains at a certain rate

• For players under 1000 resolve, resolve start to drain once the CC effect ends at a rate of 25 resolve per second.
• For players with 1000 or higher resolve, resolve will drain as soon the 1000 mark is reached at a rate of 100 resolve per second.

Ilum Valor system/buffs

• War effort – this buff can be stacked upto 5 times depending on how many objectives your team control. It give you 200% valor bonus per player kill on Ilum for the first stack, each of the subsequent stacks give you 50%, totaling at 400% valor bonus per player kill with 5 stacks. Also, controlling all 5 objectives  give you an additional 300% valor buff per player kill on Ilum, bringing the total to 700%. The defender buff below give you an additional 200% valor bonus, bringing the total to 900% or 20 + 180 valor per player killed on Ilum. This buff also grant you 100 additional valor  per warzone competition at the first stack, each of the subsequent stacks give you 25 additional valor, totaling at 200 additional valor per warzone completion. This buff last 60 minutes. (source: sithwarrior.com thread)
• Defender – Defender buff is granted to players on Ilum who fight near an objective that their faction control. It give valor bonus per player kill (about 200 bonus)
• 20 base valor is granted per player kill on Ilum – this is  modified by the war effort and defender buff. If the enemy player was recently killed, you get 0 valor.

Warzone valor gain

Valor gain in Warzones is affected by

• Win/Lose of the match
• How long the match lasts
• Number of medals obtained – 50 valor per medal + 5 commendations
• Number of MVP received – 50 valor per MVP vote + 1 commendation
• War Effort buff – 200 valor bonus if you have 5 stacks.

Continue reading »]]>

Hey everyone, there has being some requests for schematics/mods (armoring, mods, enhancements) drops from operations – especially now that there is a big movement to use orange moddable gear and crafted stuff that that crits (give augment slot).

Over the span of 2-3 weeks, I have cataloged the following drops – everything that I have recorded will say (verified) and will list the exact drops I have obtained below. Drops predicted based on the loot pattern will say (predicted).

If you are looking for tionese/columi/rakata drops from operations, please consult this guide here.

Normal mode drops schematics that produce items with  126 ratings – Tionese quality (also called Dalarian or Energized)

Hardmode/Nightmare drops schematics that produce items with 136 ratings – Columi quality (also called Exo or Exo-tech). In addition, Hardmode/Nightmare will drop Q25 (Rakata quality) armoring, mods, and enhancements.

Update – Feb 23 – Added new drops from this week’s raid – Infernal Council and Jarg & Sorno has being confirmed to drop both enhancements and mods. This means in theory that both 2nd and 4th bosses of each raid instance can drop either enhancement or mod but atm G4-B3 only dropped enhancement for us.

Eternity Vault

Karagga’s Palace

Continue reading »]]> This guide is co-owned and first released on

(The above MMOsite link has the images broken down into smaller images if you are having issues loading the large images here)

You go to great lengths to make yourself look good, but are you doing the same for your companions? Fear not! This companion vendor guide will hopefully make you look a bit different from the other players running around the fleet – least companion wise!

This guide includes images for all Sith Inquisitor companions currently available and 3/5 of the Republic Trooper Companions. Rest of the companions do not have images yet (feel free to contribute in the comment section below if you have images!!)

Contributors:

Big thank you, without you this would not be complete!

• G-ZeuZ @ Reddit (Shine – Bloodworthy) for Imperial agent companion
• LiamJoseph @ Reddit (Aidan Nezban- Rwookrrorro) for Jedi Consular
• Sandpigeon @ Reddit for last 2 companions of Republic trooper

Beware that there are quite a bit of misinformation on the internet – I personally verified all of the findings here, including the CE and Security Key Vendor.

Table of Contents (click on a link to fast travel):

• Customizations preview – Sith Inquisitor
• Customizations Preview – Imperial Agent
• Customizations preview – Jedi Consular
• Customizations preview – Republic Trooper
• Customizations sorted by Kit # – Empire
• Customizations sorted by Kit # – Republic
• Customizations sorted by Vendor – Empire
• Customizations sorted by Vendor – Republic

COMPANIONS CUSTOMIZATION PREVIEW (SITH INQUISITIOR)

Talos

Khem (very large image)

Khem (Split into 3)

Andronikus Revel

Ashara and Xalek

COMPANIONS CUSTOMIZATION PREVIEW (IMPERIAL AGENT)

All credits to G-ZeuZ @ Reddit (Shine-Bloodworthy)

Doctor Lokin

Ensign Temple

Kaliyo

Vector

COMPANIONS CUSTOMIZATION PREVIEW (JEDI CONSULAR)

All credits to LiamJoseph @ Reddit (Aidan Nezban- Rwookrrorro)

Lieutenant Iresso

Nadia

Tharan

Zenith & Qyzen

COMPANIONS CUSTOMIZATION PREVIEW (REPUBLIC TROOPER)

Elara

M1-4X & Aric Jorgan

Tanno & Yuun (courtesy of sandpigeon @ Reddit)

EMPIRE

Locations:

• Ilum: Security key vendor in Ilum Orbital Station – Lieutenant Oarr (-980, 1)
• Belsavis: Vendor in Imperial Lodgment (the place where you land) – R-N05 (1629, 1378)
• Balmora – Cantina – Wel-Nolan (-185, 1297)
• Taris – Right where you land – Keth (8, 676)
• CE – Collectors Edition Vendor – at top of the cantina in the Fleet (need to take elevator)
• Fleet – Security Key Vendor – in the big circle around the cantina.
• N/A – not available in game – possibility on the Ilum customization vendor (not the one on the orbital station) who has an empty inventory atm.

Sith Inquisitor

Sith Warrior

Bounty Hunter (Skadge has no customizations!)

Imperial Agent (Scorpio has no customizations!)

REPUBLIC

Locations:

• Belsavis: Near where you land: M-5Q5 (1267, 259)
• Balmora : Inside one of the buildings near where you land: Gunnta (277, –232)
• Taris: Inside the Cantina (-1902, 366)
• Fleet: Security Key Vendor – near the Cantina in the middle
• CE; Collector’s Edition Vendor – on top of the Cantina
• IlumOrb: Ilum Orbital Station Security Key Vendor
• Ilum: Sergeant Koam at the Ilum base (513, 635)
• N/A: Currently not in game. Its in the database and maybe added in a future patch.

Trooper (worst class for companion customization)

Jedi Consular

Jedi Knight (Sergeant Rusk has no customization)

Smuggler

EMPIRE Vendors

Belsavis

• Blizz: 1-3
• Broonmark: 1-3
• Doctor Lokin: 1-4, 5, 7
• Ensign Temple: 2-7
• Lieutenant Pierce 1-6
• Talos: 1, 2, 4-7
• Torian: 1-6

Balmora

• Kaliyo: 1-4, 6-7
• Khem: 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13
• Mako: 1-6
• Vette: 1, 3-5, 7, 8

Taris

• Andronikos: 1-6
• Gault: 4-6
• Jaesa Dark: 2-4
• Jaesa Light: 1-3
• Kaliyo: 1-4, 6-7
• Khem: 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13
• Mako: 1-6
• Malavai: 1-6
• Vector: 1, 3-5, 7, 8
• Vette: 1, 3-5, 7-8

Collectors Edition Vendor

• Kaliyo: 5
• Khem: 2, 7, 12
• Mako: 7
• Vette: 6

Security Key Vendor (Fleet)

• Kaliyo: 8
• Khem: 4, 9, 14
• Mako: 8
• Vette: 2

Security Key Vendor (Ilum Orbital Station)

• Andronikos: 8
• Ashara: 1-2
• Blizz: 5
• Broonmark: 5
• Doctor Lokin: 8
• Ensign Temple: 8
• Gault: 1
• Jaesa Dark: 1
• Jaesa Light: 5
• Lieutenant Pierce: 8
• Malavai: 8
• Talos: 3
• Torian: 8
• Vector: 2
• Xalek: 1-2

REPUBLIC Vendors

Security Key Vendor (Fleet)

• Arc Jorgan: 1
• Corso: 8
• Qyzen: 1
• T7: 6

Collectors Edition Vendor

• Corso: 7
• T7: 5

Ilum Orbital Station Security Key Vendor

• Akaavi: 8
• Bowdaar: 5-6
• Doc: 1
• Elara: 8
• Guss: 1-2
• Kira: 8
• Lieutenant Iresso: 8
• Lord Scourge: 8
• M1-4X: 1-2
• Nadia: 7
• Risha: 8
• Tanno: 1
• Tharan: 8
• Yuun: 1
• Zenith: 8

Balmora

• Bowdaar: 1-4
• Corso Riggs: 1-6
• Elara: 1-6
• Kira: 1-4, 6
• Risha: 1-6
• T7: 1-4
• Tharan: 1-4, 7-8

Belsavis

• Akaavi: 1-6
• Doc: 2-7
• Iresso: 1-2, 4-7
• Lord Scourge: 1-5
• Zenith: 1-3, 5-7

Taris

• Corso: 1-6
• Kira: 1-4, 6
• T7: 1-4

Ilum Base

• Nadia: 1-6

Continue reading »]]> Hello everyone, the Empire/Republic classes are exactly mirrored, although with different names for abilities/talents. Wouldn’t be a nice if there is a nice chart you can reference when you are talking with your peers on the other side who plays the same class as you? Or how about when you are doing a warzone, wouldn’t it be nice when you encounter an enemy player on the other side who is the same class as you so you know exactly what abilities they are using?

What about when you are leveling and you want to know precisely at which level you are getting new abilities?

Well, I compiled some information from various databases and created this handy chart that I hope you will find useful

Couple of formats are offered for ease of browsing – the regular text format which you can use ctrl + f to search for an ability, the picture format you can save to your computer, the PDF format and the Excel format.

Click on the individual links to go to the appropriate section

• Sorc/Sage
• Assassin/Shadow
• Operative/Scoundrel
• Sniper/Gunslinger
• Marauder/Sentinel
• Juggernaut/Guardian
• Powertech/Vanguard
• Mercenary/Commando

PDF formula: LINK (google docs)

Excel spreadsheet:(Google docs)

Sorcerer/Sage

Assassin/Shadow