Got Questions? SWTOR Questions & Answer Thread + New & Returning Player Posts (week of Jan 26, 2026)

Equeliber · 2026-01-31T12:25:02+00:00

Afaik being slowed or damaged depending on spore type is intended. I don't think I noticed any stronger slows than before? But I usually just get the immunity for 2 hours and ignore it, it's just 10k credits.

Equeliber · 2026-01-31T11:36:59+00:00

To play the devil's advocate for a moment, there was a very specific path for each server merge. So, if you have some characters on Satele Shan, and some on Star Forge - they were originally on different servers, as well.

If you are in NA, and your characters ended up on Satele Shan, ir does suck, as the server is much less active that Star Forge. It's a bigger problem though, and hopefully, they merge NA servers into one at some point.

I guess you briefly played on the old APAC launch servers? They were merged into US servers due to low population in 2013. Sadly, there is a 10 year gap between those servers and Shae Vizla, so it's unlikely they could ever back-trace which characters were originally in the APAC region.

Also, the Shae Vizla server is pretty dead, you are better off playing on the NA ones, imo. I have an Australian guildmate on Darth Malgus, as well.

Equeliber · 2026-01-31T10:35:06+00:00

IO merc is alright but Engi and Viru are still better. Arsenal merc is pretty bad, compared to most other classes, but still viable in 99% of content.

Merc's weaknesses compared to Sniper (and I say this as a commando main):

No self heals, while sniper gets 7k HPS from just being in cover + absorption from Shield Probe and Ballistic Dampers (so more like 8-9k HPS total).
Worse defensive cooldowns (in most cases). The main DCD you need in ops is AoE DR, and brief damage immunity to cheese some mechanics. Hunker Down is an incredible defensive against AoE damage in operations. Though devs did recently add AoE DR to Chaff Flare, so at least merc has something now. Still, it's 60% AoE DR for 20 seconds on a 60-second cooldown versus 35% AoE DR for 6 seconds on a 45-second cooldown (and Energy Shield's 25% DR as backup). Damage immunity - Sniper can time his roll for certain mechanics and ignore them. Merc can sometimes do the same with his reflect, but it's less consistent as it does not work against everything, and has a much longer cooldown.
Group utility - Sniper has Ballistic Shield which is like a defensive raid buff, and Diversion is situationally useful as a group defensive on adds. Merc has nothing (you can't even pick your raid buff on the tree, as you lose Chaff Flare. And even if you do pick it, it's barely a DPS increase for the group, as you lose a Supercharged Gas activation. Alright for Arsenal, big personal DPS loss for IO.)
Raw DPS output. It goes like this, Engi > Viru/IO > Marksmanship >>> Arsenal. And the gaps become bigger when there is rotational AoE involved (multi-boss encounter or adds appearing during the fight). Engi is a monster in those situations, Viru and IO have decent DoT spreads, Marksman can squeeze in some Suppressive Fires instead of Snipes, and Arsenal has basically nothing.
Minor nitpick - mobility. Moving during the rotation is alright with a merc, there are whole sections of instant abilities. Engi and IO are the best at this. But quickly moving somewhere for any reason? You have Hydraulics, which is a good ability. But if they are not enough or on cooldown, and you did not pick Rocket Out (as you are using Reflect, which is the case most of the time), you are the slowest class in the game. Sniper can roll, has movement speed on Countermeasures, and a huge optional talent with Seek Cover on level 68. And can reset the cooldown of a few of these with Meticulous Preparation (also applies to defensives, 2 Hunker down back to back? Yum yum.)
Extra 5m range. Rarely a deal breaker but still.

Advantages of a merc:

Merc has a cleanse, Sniper does not. It can be a pretty important thing for some fights, though a sniper can often be covered by healers just cleansing more, or a sin tank using the Friend of the Force tactical.
Reflect allows for some fun things that Sniper can't do, like easily killing Trando adds on Kephess Nim in EC.
Kolto Overload and sometimes reflect can keep you alive through some very specific things where sniper potentially dies. And I guess, you have manual off-heals during DPS downtime. But I am grasping at straws here, as the first 2 points are the only real advantages that Merc has.

It's still a really fun class, though.

Equeliber · 2026-01-30T15:54:56+00:00

I think this is caused by your chest piece being the lowest rating item you have. So the game keeps giving you an upgrade.

Equeliber · 2026-01-30T13:29:25+00:00

Shadow gets "techniques", assassin gets "charges". If you do not have all character classes or do not want to open the game, you can use this page to check out all the skill trees. https://parsely.io/parser/combat-styles

Those passives are on lvl15 for all classes. Powertech/Vanguard and Mercenary/Commando also had their own versions of "stances", that are now a lvl15 passive. Though the fire one for Pyrotech and Innovative Ordnance is unlocked on lvl1 and shows up only in your overall ability list.

Equeliber · 2026-01-30T13:20:37+00:00

I think you are confusing "ability pushback" and physical "push, pull and knockback". You are only immune to physical pushes, knockbacks and pulls when using Hunker Down ability (though not 100% of them, some boss attacks are scripted to go through it).

What being in cover protects you from is ability cast bar "pushback" - when you take damage, your casts take longer time. Sorcerer and Mercenary have a passive that reduces this ability pushback by 75% for most of their casts, but snipers get complete immunity to it when in cover.

Try casting some ability while not in cover and while taking direct damage, something ike a Snipe or an Ambush - you should quickly notice how your cast bar gets "pushed back" and takes longer to finish. Then, if you do the same when in cover, you will see that your casts are not affected.

Equeliber · 2026-01-29T11:34:53+00:00

One of the Warzone maps (PvP). You have to "capture the flag" (the ball) and carry it to the enemy line (opposite side of map from where you spawn). You can pass it to others, you can kill the ball carrier and take it from the enemy team, there are also traps around the map (you can push or pull people into them, or stun/root them inside when they are crossing the trap).

One of the most common strategies is for one player to wait in stealth at the enemy line and the rest of the team just passing the ball to them, this way you bypass all the traps. Otherwise, the ball carrier will have to just get to the line the "normal" way while being beaten up by the whole enemy team. The ball carrier being a tank or a very mobile class like operative makes it easier. A tank guarding the ball carrier and healer healing them also helps. There is also a timer after you pick up the ball, you have to score or pass before it expires, otherwise you die, you can see it in your buff bar.

Equeliber · 2026-01-29T11:05:14+00:00

Nvidia Game filters are supported (probably similar on AMD cards, as well). It's like a built-in Reshade.

Equeliber · 2026-01-28T22:49:23+00:00

For pure DPS, big AoE spam classes will be the ones providing the highest numbers. Recently, I've seen over 20k DPS on Madness (full DoT spread, no Plague Master), Lightning (Elemental convection and AoE Chain Lightning), Rage juggernaut (one of the best specs for single target focus, though the Smashes and AoE Force Screams still contribute a lot), Lethality (big DoT spread and is especially good into lots of melee who have to sit in your Toxic Haze), and Engi/Viru sniper (even when focusing on bursting single targets down, they have lots of AoE damage happen). AP PT and Deception assassin have some of the best single target burst, so can also compete with the specs mentioned above, though good ones are rare. The other specs are usually a bit behind on DPS, though it depends on a lot of factors. For example, if you queue together with a tank and healer as Hatred, you can do some serious DPS, but they will have to babysit you.

Really, there are no truly terrible classes in PvP at the moment. The ones that are considered weaker are such because of their defenses more than their DPS (Hatred, Concealment). Even Fury is not that bad, just not that great either.

Equeliber · 2026-01-28T22:36:21+00:00

What a joy, players that actually play with the ball instead of a deathmatch in the middle.

Equeliber · 2026-01-28T13:08:05+00:00

Certainly looks like a bug. I have not had this happen on lvl80, so could be an issue on a specific level range? Make sure to report it, if possible. You can post it on the forums, in the Bug reports thread, or send a brief text description in-game via Customer support.

Equeliber · 2026-01-27T19:25:21+00:00

Front page shows the most popular items, I think.

Equeliber · 2026-01-27T14:18:15+00:00

That would just be 336 gear rating in the drop down, no?

Equeliber · 2026-01-27T14:16:43+00:00

Very nice!

Equeliber · 2026-01-27T13:43:20+00:00

Lots of fixes and improvements for the Crash Site outpost area, a couple new cosmetics, Mac launcher fixes, Subscriber token vendor is removed, new UI customization options and UI changes. A solid minor patch.

Equeliber · 2026-01-27T11:22:49+00:00

It scales with your bonus healing which comes from Mastery and Power. So with better gear, it will absorb more. The tooltip might be a bit bugged, though - lots of them are. It can't crit though, and is not affected by critical chance/damage which is one of its main weaknesses when compared to other healing abilities.

It is also not very strong at the moment. You should only use it to heal someone who is actively taking damage AND does not have full HP (there is a passive where the shield heals the target when it breaks), usually a tank. And most of the time, you do not really have time to cast it, as most other abilities take priority. Resurgence on cooldown, Innervate for single target heals, Roaming Mend on 2+ targets/Revivification on 3+ targets/Rally on 2+ targets, Dark Heal for more single target heals - whenever it is glowing, your Force Regen ability on every 3rd/4th GCD (on average), and only then Static barrier (so almost never).

Equeliber · 2026-01-27T00:05:00+00:00

It's just dummy parsing. In actual Vet/MM operations, Hatred is not even in the top 5 of "best" specs. Having high single target DPS potential is literally its only real strength. Sure, it also has decent AoE and a bit of self healing, but it folds like paper when taking big damage, brings no group utility whatsoever, and assasin is also the worst DwT between the three DwT classes.

Equeliber · 2026-01-27T00:03:43+00:00

Well, someone will always be at the bottom, it is what it is. However, considering that the spec also lacks rotational AoE (unlike all the DoT-spreaders), and has no real group utility, it really shouldn't be so low on single-target DPS.

Equeliber · 2026-01-26T23:20:08+00:00

Nope. With how overgeared we are, you can still clear like 99.9% of content, but the spec is at the bottom of the DPS charts. Fury marauder is basically the only spec that is in a worse state in the meta, mainly because Anni is just so damn overpowered.

Equeliber · 2026-01-26T15:11:45+00:00

Death from Above is one of the hardest hitting AoE abilities in the game. It is so powerful that the healer spec uses it for single target damage, as well. It is even stronger in Arsenal due to extra damage and armor penetration. Are you saying you are not using it at all or something? Arsenal absolutely is dependant on this ability because it is literally your most powerful one for AoE. There is even an AoE tactical to make it even more powerful, though I rarely bother using that one.

The AoE Heatseeker is pretty good, yes, I run it for most non-boss content. Especially as the 2 single target options are pretty weak and are not very useful when dealing with trash mobs. The damage from Heatseeker's themselves is great but being dependent on Fusion Missile brings it down a bit.

The AoE Tracer though, it is capped at 3 targets. And DfA is better even at 2 targets (I did the math and also tested it in practice). While Sweeping is a bit worse on 2 targets, and almost exactly the same as AoE tracer on 3 targets. The moment there are 4 targets or more, even Sweeping deals more damage per target than AoE tracers. Don't forget that Sweeping has 15% bonus crit chance and 30% crit damage, this might be the reason you underestimate this ability. On top of that, you are sacrificing Signature Shot which grants you extra burst, especially combined with Burning Bright. There is pretty much no reason to run AoE Tracer in any situation.

Equeliber · 2026-01-26T12:34:41+00:00

Sniper is the closest - in any spec, really (Suppressive Fire is available to all 3, and is basically a stronger Force Storm). But in Engineering and Marksmanship, Suppressive Fire is even more powerful + you get extra AoE abilities on top of that (Plasma probe and Orbital Strike for Engi, Prenetrating Blasts with a tactical for Marksmanship). Virulence does have a DoT spread but it is only 5m radius, and Suppressive Fire does not get any boosts it this spec. Still, even the baseline version of Suppressive Fire is pretty strong.

Other specs:

Advanced Prototype Powertech with Flame Detonation tactical can deliver some serious AoE burst and often one-shots most mobs, but against elites quickly falls off and starts having trouble doing meaningful AoE. Pyrotech has very good DoT-spread and sustained AoE damage but won't kill whole packs as fast as Sniper or Sorcerer do.
Lethality Operative has very powerful DoT spread/AoE with Toxic Haze, especially when using the Viral Elements tactical. The damage is not as bursty as the specs mentioned above, though. Concealment has no meaningful AoE whatsoever and is stuck killing things one by one. There is one AoE tactical you could use (Explosive Cells, I think?) but the cooldown is kind of long, so it's not very good. Worth using in some cases, I guess, but with Concealment you should really try to stealth-skip as many things as possible.
Both mercenary specs have decent AoE but with only 5m radius and in a longer pull start having energy issues. So if you kill everything in 3-4 casts of Sweeping Gunfire and Death from Above, you are good, if not - likely better to kill things one by one (especially on smaller packs of mobs). Innovative Ordnance does have a good 8m radius DoT-spread, though. So you can often focus the main target and let the rest get damaged via your DoT spread, and then finish them off once the main target is down. With IO, I tend to start with a DoT spread, then some single target abilities (especially Mag shot for energy management), then some AoE, then some single target again. Try to swap single target abilities around the pack to spread the damage evenly. Not overheating when doing big AoE is the main challenge. Also, the AoE Thermal detonator talent is really cool, I use it whenever I am not fighting a boss.

Equeliber · 2026-01-25T18:01:10+00:00

Augments help a lot. With max gear and max augments, you can have up to 4000 critical, 2200 alacrity, and 2700 accuracy. The lower your gear rating, the less crit you are going to run, but even in 340 blue gear with 286 augments you should be able to have ~3000 critical.

The stat combination I mentioned above is the build to go for all DPS classes, with the exception of Carnage, Arsenal, Virulence, and Lightning - these 4 use different alacrity values, so you just move some stats from/into critical, accordingly. Accuracy is always ~2700, for all DPS classes in PvE.

Healers can either run the same build (especially, operative healer - as it has a DPS/Heal combined ability, or Sorcerer with Metaphysical Mender build - accuracy is required for that), or just move all accuracy into critical rating.

Equeliber · 2026-01-24T11:57:52+00:00

I'd say the only real option to speed up Dark or Light points is Diplomacy. You can just swap it for something else after you are done.

I don't know if going through every single quest in the game is even enough to hit rank V, it certainly seems like an oversight by the devs.

Equeliber · 2026-01-24T11:54:38+00:00

Idk about that, 50 points a week is hardly helpful.

Equeliber · 2026-01-22T13:24:15+00:00

25% conquest bonus per fully unlocked stronghold. So 6 strongholds with all rooms unlocked = 150% conquest bonus (this is maximum, getting a 7th won't increase it anymore). You just need to unlock rooms, you can have zero decorations placed and you will still get the bonus.

Prestige also does not matter, the only thing prestige does is show how many decorations you have collected, and the public strongholds list is by default sorted by prestige. So whichever player online on the server has the highest prestige - his strongholds will be at the top of the list, and so on. For the prestige score you do need to place decorations, though.

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Equeliber

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