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Hi everyone, I will be starting the swtor mmo soon, (finally), after having my desktop get fried from the outlet that got overloaded with the amount of power my computer kept drawing out of it, so I will be playing it on a laptop that I will be purchasing soon also. Anyways, the real reason for this thread is to ask for some advice on what might be the best option(s) for classes to use for new players, tips on how to make money, deal more damage, etc, so basically, just new player tips and advice.. Also, I was wondering, which class would be the best to start out with, I was thinking of-

1. Sith Inquisitor

2. Trooper

3. Smuggler

Any of those 3 would be my main choices, but I am open to suggestions. Also, if somebody would be so kind to share any websites that might also help with new player type of stuff, that would be awesome! thanks!

Sorry, that red font is a bit bigger than I thought it would look.......woops......

Although I have no personal experience playing the Inquisitor, I think all the classes are fun. Though the Smuggler has the most entertaining storyline, filled to the brim with funny quips and entertaining personalities (my favourite sidekick was the uber-anxious MonCal, who proved to be a nice contrast).

As far as damage and credits are concerned, I don't think there is much you could do wrong. When playing alone rather than with a group, try to find synergy with the companion you chose (one of you should be capable of healing), but primarily your effectiveness depends mostly on various mechanics unique to your class/specialisation, so it's hard to give general advice. Obviously, you should collect anything you can find in order to sell it to vendors.

Are you planning to invest some cash into a subscription or various passes/unlocks, or go full F2P? Personally, I would recommend against the latter, as I'd find the experience too limiting, but you can easily try a "middle way" by spending cash only on the stuff you really need, so that you still come out cheaper than buying a sub.

One of the easiest ways of making credits, though, is selling the contents of Cartel Crates on the auction house. Some of the mounts go for way over a million.

I've played every class but Smuggler. I've enjoyed them all, from a mechanics standpoint, and all of the storylines have good points (and bad points as well). Smuggler, I hear, is the best if you like playing a smartass, because they get the best dialogue.

Every class has several "advanced" versions which change up what the class specializes in.

Inquisitor can become dps, heals, or a tank.
Trooper can become dps, heals, or tank
Smuggler can be dps or heals (no tank option).

Everybody gets a bunch of sidekicks, and one of those sidekicks is always a healer, but you may not get your healer sidekick until mid-way through the game (Inquisitor doesnt get theirs until Hoth--- two planets from the end of the story). Bounty Hunter gets their healer first, in comparison.

Playing solo without a healer (you or npc) can be tricky, but there are ways to make it work. My Sith Warrior is a tank and I run with a dps npc (ditto for my Jedi Guardian). I gave both of them the biochem crafting skill, because you can make re-usable medkit items, so you can heal yourself during a battle. Very useful.

Do as many side quests as you can find, because side quests drop planetary commendations (type of currency) which can be traded in for armor and weapon mods. Those mods get slotted into modifiable gear (most of the gear available through the Cartel Market is modifiable) and can help you keep your gear up to date, without requiring you to spend actual credits on new gear every few levels. Plus, the modifiable stuff looks good (well, some of it).

If you are a subscriber, you get 500 free Cartel Coins every month, to buy stuff with. Spend it on cartel packs, because they have a random assortment of stuff in them, most of which can be sold on the in-game trade thingy and some of which can be sold for a lot of credits. You can get some good-looking gear that way, then kit yourself out with mods bought with planetary commendations. Any credits you have can go to cover crafting expenses (crafting is for helping your character, not for making money with... you won't make money till endgame through crafting, and most times not even then).

There's way much more I could tell you. If you have specific questions about specific classes, ask me and I'll tell you what I know.

With the inquisitor, it depends on sorcerer or assassin.


Not sure about the others.

While none are really hard I would say for starting Sorc, healing Smuggler, and Commando are probably the easiest. DPS Smuggler and Assassin require a bit more mechanically and take a lot more time before they come into their own. Vanguard is middle of the road difficulty wise.

If you want to XP and Cash-Up, Galactic Starfighter is your fastest option.

Regardless of which faction you play for, /cjoin GSF. This is a faction-wide channel, present on both sides on all servers afaik, where you can find GSF groups, get advice on ship-builds, piloting tactics and similar assistance.

GSF funds most of my alts (even though my main is a multi-millionaire). Even without XP boosts, the matches are quick, and reward thousands in XP and credits. Of course, starting out, you're going to die a lot and, depending on the specifics of your server, probably going to lose a lot, too, which can be discouraging... but stick it out, you're just there for the XP and the money. As your play-time in GSF increases, so should your skill as a pilot (as in, your RL skill, not a stat in the game) and you'll be able to upgrade your ships.

Alrighty....... So Sith Inquisitor (sorcerer route) would probably be my best option? Thats what i was also thinking, since I'd like a class that lets me deal damage, both melee and ranged, and have the ability to heal also. Otherwise, if i really need to, i'll start a 2nd character or something like that. And yes, I will probably buy a subscription card, once in a while, depending on what funds i might have at the moment. Also, I will probably buy the cartel coins cards, to also use in the game, since, I'll probably play it for a long time, and would like to have some sort of way of getting cool stuff, and getting a bonus /exclusive in-game pet/item, that some of the cartel coin cards have at my local stores, which would be pretty cool to start with. Any other ideas? My 2nd option, would probably have to be a trooper, or a jedi knight, any ideas for them?

 orkkiller21 wrote:
Alrighty....... So Sith Inquisitor...a class that lets me deal damage, both melee and ranged

Once you unlock sorcerer as your advanced class you should never be anywhere near melee, and your 'melee' attacks will be utter garbage. I don't even have the melee attacks on my interface for my sorc. You should just be firing lightning from a distance. It is a bit confusing as you share some abilities that will be good for the Assassin when you start out and have limited options, but sorc is a 100% ranged class, whether healer or dps.

Figure out what your class' primary attribute is, and use gear with that stat. The number of Vanguards I've seen running around with Strength gear stacked is enough to make me weep.

Of the three you mentioned, Smuggler has the best storyline, though it's not great.

Money's kind of irrelevant on your first toon. Unless you're using a ton of XP boosts so that you only hit your main questline and nothing else on every planet, you're going to get plenty of gear handed to you as quest rewards on your way up, and when you cap out, you have access to lucrative dailies to fund all the alts you'll inevitably make.

 orkkiller21 wrote:
Alrighty....... So Sith Inquisitor (sorcerer route) would probably be my best option? Thats what i was also thinking, since I'd like a class that lets me deal damage, both melee and ranged, and have the ability to heal also.

There is no class in the game that lets you do damage in melee and range, and heal. There is no class that lets you do damage in melee and ranged. There are classes that let you do ranged damage and heal, but there are no classes that let you do melee damage and heal.

Assassin: Melee damage or melee tank. No heals except through items.

Sorceror: Ranged damage or ranged heals. Your melee abilities are a joke and are only there to mock you.

Also, pick what you are going to specialize in: dps, tank, or heals. Do not try to mix and match, as the game doesn't allow or reward attempts to multi-class. You will have 3 skill trees to pick abilities from as you level up, and some of the abilities on other tress may be useful, but you should pick most of your skill from your chosen tree, or playing the game will be like pounding your face against a brick wall. I speak from experience.

Know what your primary stat is (Willpower for Inquisitors, Cunning for Smugglers, etc) and take only gear with that stat on it. Bounty Hunters with Strength+ gear are idiots. Also know your secondary stat (accuracy, alacrity, surge, crit, etc) and find gear that has that in abundance. Melee dps use accuracy+ and crit+, healers use alacrity+ and surge+, and tanks use defense+ shield+ and absorb+.

If you have questions about what is best for a class, feel free to ask. I didn't ask when I was playing because I didn't want to come across as a noob, and I wound up having a very hard time on my Assassin. Once one of my guildmates explained the mechanics to me, I swapped my gear and re-did my skills (I didn't pick an optimum build for 'Sin, I just picked a less schizophrenic one) and suddenly I was tearing through fights that were agonizing chores before. Knowledge is power, and never be afraid to ask.

Just don't ask in SWTOR General Chat. They will savagely mock you, or will give you deliberately wrong information. Ask your guild. Or ask us here on Dakka. We won't judge you.

squidhills wrote:
Bounty Hunters with Strength+ gear are idiots.

That hurts just to read. Kuat Drive Yards has also created a group of people that have no idea how to play their role or class. Had two gunslingers that wouldn't use the cover mechanic the other day. They just ran around doing basic attack, fragmentation grenade, and dirty kick. It was painful and their dps was atrocious. One was level 40 and the other was 31.

Ok, so no melee AND ranged combat classes that can heal.....hmmmm... ok.... just curious. Maybe I should just start with a trooper, so then i can get a feel for the game, etc, THEN go and make another character like an inquisitor or jedi knight/consular and make them all hardcore, and decked out with fancy gear?? If the first idea didnt work out, i'll just roll with a trooper 1st to get a feel for the game, and its mechanics, etc

 orkkiller21 wrote:
Ok, so no melee AND ranged combat classes that can heal.....hmmmm... ok....

There is no uber class that excels at multiple things. Either you will be good at ranged dps, melee dps, or healing, but not all three, or even two of the three. That doesn't mean you can't do those things at all, just that being able to heal is nowhere near the same as being spec'd as a healer. In the first few levels you can heal without being specialized in it, but by mid you won't be able to keep your party alive as your heals will be to slow and weak. Same with tanks really. Early on you can just put on a shield and tank stance and be ok but by mid if you don't have all the defensive boosts and tricks of the tank tree you will be hurting. By end game everyone needs to be focused on their role to succeed. A tank needs to be able to take monstrous hits and hold hate, a healer needs to be able to heal quickly with strong heals, and dps need to be able to deal out a lot of damage quickly. If bosses don't die fast enough they can go into "rampage" and get large boosts to damage and speed, and if the dps aren't geared well and don't know how and when to apply damage right they won't be able to kill it before this happens, so it isn't just healers and tanks that have to be good at what they do.

As for trooper it really depends on what type of trooper you want to play as, as Vanguard and Commando are very different.

Smugglers can sort of do melee and ranged, in that they've got a lot of useful abilities that are limited to close distance. The [s]nutcracker[/i] stun kick is quite useful and the scattergun does decent damage, though depending on your companion (tank or not) you may need to combine the two, as the scattergun only works if you are behind an enemy.

At least I can say that I'm able to fight enemies both from afar as well as close-up, and I make it depend on the enemies and environment which I prefer.

Ranged: roll into cover, open up with blaster shots, throw thermal detonators, have your companion keep the enemies busy.
"Melee": sneak up in cloak, scattergun in the back, stun-kick, point-blank blaster pistol, fisticuffs, rinse repeat.

It may depend a lot on your companion on whether or not this is viable, though. The wookiee Bowdaar is an .. okay'ish tank (if equipped right), at least good enough to keep everyone else busy whilst my Twi'lek can do her stuff. It's easier to heal from ranged position, but as long as your companion is around you rarely get interrupted even when casting in close proximity.

The Imperial-side Agent Operative may be similarly capable of this, as it's the Smuggler's mirror class. Instead of a blaster pistol, fists and kicks they just use a carbine and electro-daggers - same effect, different visuals.

 Lynata wrote:


It may depend a lot on your companion on whether or not this is viable, though. The wookiee Bowdaar is an .. okay'ish tank (if equipped right),

This brings up another issue; not all companions are created the same. Qyzen is a great tank. Khem Val is horrible (or, at least he used to be... I stopped using him long ago so they may have made him better). Elara seems okay on heals, but Mako and Talos seem so much better at it. What experiences have you guys had with NPC companions? Which ones work for you and which ones don't? And by that I mean, "which ones do well at their intended job and which ones fail".

Oh,and @orkkiller21: Trooper is a very versatile class. It is the mirror class to Bounty Hunter and can choose to go tank/dps or dps/heals on the advanced class tree. Of course, you will want to specialize in full tank or full dps or full heals, but the class can do any of those well, once you settle on what you want to be. One of the benefits of being a subscriber is free re-spec of skills. If you pick the dps/heals class and your group needs a dedicated healer, you can re-spec all of your skills into the healing tree and switch to heals from dps for free. Then switch back when you are done. Of course, this means carrying around a spare set of gear (healer or dps) but its a perfectly viable option. I have a set of tank gear for my Assassin just in case...

 Ahtman wrote:

squidhills wrote:
Bounty Hunters with Strength+ gear are idiots.

That hurts just to read. Kuat Drive Yards has also created a group of people that have no idea how to play their role or class. Had two gunslingers that wouldn't use the cover mechanic the other day. They just ran around doing basic attack, fragmentation grenade, and dirty kick. It was painful and their dps was atrocious. One was level 40 and the other was 31.

Coming off the week long double XP event, it is going to be so much worse for a while.

At this point I have at least one of each advanced class at max level (and more than 1 of some because I like playing through their story/leveling them so much), and I can't say any class is a bad starting choice. It all depends on the play style you are comfortable with. The Scoundrel/Operative (advanced classes for Smuggler/Agent) is probably the hardest to become accustomed to, but that is only because they have positioning requirements in order to maximize your DPS, and sadly, the companion tanks are pretty janky in the later stages of the game even if you keep them well geared. It also doesn't help that they bloom so late, and there is a pretty strong argument that Dirty Fighting/Lethality is downright gimped until 35, and doesn't get good until 45+. I leveled both my Scoundrel and Operative as heals to get around this, which is a decent option if you want to do flashpoints as you level as your queue times will be quicker.


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squidhills wrote:

 Lynata wrote:


It may depend a lot on your companion on whether or not this is viable, though. The wookiee Bowdaar is an .. okay'ish tank (if equipped right),

This brings up another issue; not all companions are created the same. Qyzen is a great tank. Khem Val is horrible (or, at least he used to be... I stopped using him long ago so they may have made him better). Elara seems okay on heals, but Mako and Talos seem so much better at it. What experiences have you guys had with NPC companions? Which ones work for you and which ones don't? And by that I mean, "which ones do well at their intended job and which ones fail".

Mako, Talos, and Elara seem to be at the top on storyline companion heals, with Quinn being outright terrible. The Doc from Nar (whose name I forget, mostly because I just like his hologirl Holiday so much) is also pretty decent. I was so happy when Treek was introduced because it meant I would never have to use Quinn again, and Treek is also probably the best companion healer in the game, but she is an expensive option for someone starting out if they don't want to pump money into the Cartel Coin system.

I don't like any of the companion tanks, I've been playing since before F2P and in all that time, even when making the effort to keep them as well geared as my character (instead of just their named stuff), it has never seemed to make all that big a difference.

I must say, I've picked my companions largely for personality synergy with the character I'm playing. It enhances my experience to see stuff like Mako acting as the surrogate conscience for my Bounty Hunter, or Lokin nodding his professional approval as my Agent coldheartedly decides to leave no witnesses. I'm sure everyone here would have their own ideal pairings, all depending on how they envision/roleplay their character's personality.

Mine are:
Agent (Sniper DPS) --- Dr. Lokin (Healer)
Bounty Hunter (Merc DPS) --- Mako (Healer)
Jedi Knight (Sentinel DPS) --- T7 (Tank)
Sith Warrior (Marauder DPS) --- Dark Side Jaesa (DPS)
Smuggler (Scoundrel DPS/Heal) --- Bowdaar (Tank)

Some of these combos thus may be sub-optimal, but I've found that the game is fortunately balanced in a way that you can win the encounter anyways. It may just get a bit trickier sometimes, or require different tactics. You don't really need a healer if you can kill your opposition quick enough. Things are admittedly more chilled if you don't have to worry about it, though.

I guess what I'm trying to say is ... don't go for the obvious mechanical choices. Just look at what companions you think are fun to have around.

Scoundrel cannot really do ranged dps. I have 55 Scrapper and the difference in damage between my ranged attacks and my close up ones is vast. I do more damage with a punch than with Charged Burst, and it is instant instead of a channel. That doesn't mean I never do it, as sometimes you can't get close, but your damage will be extremely hindered.

I pretty much only use Treek at endgame but I didn't always have him. My first was a Sorc and I used Kham Val, and still do, as he has always been amazing for me.

My 55's and main non-Treek comp:

Vanguard: Elara Dorne
Commando: Elara Dorne
Shadow: Qyzen Fess
Scoundrel: Corso Riggs
Gunslinger: Corso Rigs
Guardian: T7-01

Powertech: Mako
Warrior: Vette
Sniper: Kaliyo
Sorcerer: Khem Val

omg.................I wasn't saying there was a class that excels at 'uber' things, I was saying that after i get a feel for the game with my first character, then i will probably start another character, that i will really make advanced in some area, and max him out on stuff like abilities, and get him fancy gear with cartel coins, etc, since i'll probably buy some of the cartel coin cards i can redeem from wal-mart, gamestop or target, thats all i was saying. And now im not sure if i wanna go with a sith inquisitor, trooper, or jedi knight as my firs class...... most likely a sith inquisitor, so then i can be more of a ranged attacker, and blast my opponents with lightning, etc. That reminds me......... If i have a sith inquisitor (sorcerer) on a PvE server, could i switch him over to a PvP server to fight other players? ( i would switch him over once i level him up to a good high level, maybe 50-ish), I have many questions, but cannot recall many at the moment, but i was also curious on how long it might take for a sith inquisitor to get the sets of armor in the bottom pics....... just curious!

These are the pics......

Except for the top right one, they can be gotten off the GTN so it just matters when you can get the credits to afford them.

Charged/Overloaded Interrogator Set on top, Ceremonial Mystic Set on the bottom.

If I want to get Treek, do I have to unlock her for EACH character I have or is there some global one that unlocks her for all of my characters?

I'm finding that I don't really care how my character looks (or I'm happy with how they look now; I love having my agent running around in Imperial Trooper gear) so should I just buy any cartel pack, open it up and then throw all of the stuff in the auction house?

Redeemer31 wrote:
If I want to get Treek, do I have to unlock her for EACH character I have or is there some global one that unlocks her for all of my characters?

After you get her the first time go into Collections > Cartel Market (even if you didn't get here through Cartel Market) > Special and you it is 600CC to unlock her for all your characters.

Redeemer31 wrote:
I'm finding that I don't really care how my character looks (or I'm happy with how they look now; I love having my agent running around in Imperial Trooper gear) so should I just buy any cartel pack, open it up and then throw all of the stuff in the auction house?

Odds are you are better off selling the unopened pack on the GTN then hoping you get something worth a lot.

 Ahtman wrote:


Odds are you are better off selling the unopened pack on the GTN then hoping you get something worth a lot.

This. Exactly this. I have gotten something worth more than an unopened case is worth once. Every other time I get a bunch of things that may be worth as much as an unopened case when their value is added together, but I've only ever gotten the super valuable item once.

And I wanted to use it and not sell it, so I still didn't make any money off it.

The safest bet for profit in SWTOR is to sell the whole unopened case.

I made heaps of credits selling chairs, buy low sell high. The credits almost earned themselves.

I would really hold off on spending real money for cartel coins. If I was starting new on SWTOR I would pay for a month so that you unlock all of the features of the game and you only lose out on a few things if you drop your sub.

I found buying packs to be a huge waste of cash, cartel coin items are cosmetic only. there is nothing different from the items you can normally get in the game vs cartel items other than appearance. plus you can buy majority of the cartel items on the market which makes it even more moot if you save up cash and don't buy stuff when the pack is first released.

Bounty hunter was a blast.

squidhills wrote:

 Ahtman wrote:


Odds are you are better off selling the unopened pack on the GTN then hoping you get something worth a lot.

This. Exactly this. I have gotten something worth more than an unopened case is worth once. Every other time I get a bunch of things that may be worth as much as an unopened case when their value is added together, but I've only ever gotten the super valuable item once.

And I wanted to use it and not sell it, so I still didn't make any money off it.

The safest bet for profit in SWTOR is to sell the whole unopened case.

I know this will differ from server to server, but approximately how much do you find the packs going for?

I made heaps of credits selling chairs, buy low sell high. The credits almost earned themselves.

Chairs?

I personally don't spend money on cartel coins, just using the cartel coins that built up. I bought the Collector's Edition when it first came out and it came with one of those keypasses, which gives me 100 coins/month. So when I finally started playing again, I had a whole bunch of cartel coins sitting in my bank.

Redeemer31 wrote:

squidhills wrote:

 Ahtman wrote:


Odds are you are better off selling the unopened pack on the GTN then hoping you get something worth a lot.

This. Exactly this. I have gotten something worth more than an unopened case is worth once. Every other time I get a bunch of things that may be worth as much as an unopened case when their value is added together, but I've only ever gotten the super valuable item once.

And I wanted to use it and not sell it, so I still didn't make any money off it.

The safest bet for profit in SWTOR is to sell the whole unopened case.

I know this will differ from server to server, but approximately how much do you find the packs going for?

I made heaps of credits selling chairs, buy low sell high. The credits almost earned themselves.

Chairs?

I personally don't spend money on cartel coins, just using the cartel coins that built up. I bought the Collector's Edition when it first came out and it came with one of those keypasses, which gives me 100 coins/month. So when I finally started playing again, I had a whole bunch of cartel coins sitting in my bank.

Depending on the pack, between 180k for the small ones and 350k+ for the larger ones. Sometimes people buy packs and then sit on them until they are no longer available through the Cartel Market. Then they sell them for a bigger markup (particularly if the pack is known to have some very deirable items). Note: if you are free to play, you are capped at 300k in your wallet at any one time (you can have more money in your account, but can only access it in lumps no bigger than 300k... which means you can't buy anything on the auction house that costs more than 300k).

And yes, CHAIRS. Chairs are emotes, really. They allow your character to create a chair and sit in it. There are different styles of chair. It's something for people to do while standing around waiting for a raid to start, or for RPers to use to show their character sitting down (since Bioware didn't let us sit in the chairs that were already in the game).

Redeemer31 wrote:



Chairs?

I personally don't spend money on cartel coins, just using the cartel coins that built up. I bought the Collector's Edition when it first came out and it came with one of those keypasses, which gives me 100 coins/month. So when I finally started playing again, I had a whole bunch of cartel coins sitting in my bank.

its been a while since I played but I should have said "thrones"



all the rage when they came out, every cool kid had to have one. I know I eventually had them on all of my sith characters lol.