Sadly, Star Wars, The Old Republic SWTOR PVP Armor gear progression is based on time and luck.  I think most of us would rather toss the luck element out the window.  It is simply not fair that some people will receive gear faster than others.  This holds especially true for Champion Armor and Battlemaster commendations.  At least Battlemaster bags give commendations as rewards which removes the possibility for duplicate pieces.

After staring at my gear in between warzone pops, I noticed most of my newly acquired Centurion and Champion PVP Force-Master armor contains Alacrity, which reduces the time needed to activate or channel abilities, so they can be executed more quickly.  At first, I thought a 10% reduction to cast times was an ideal stat to stack until further examination and consideration.

• Reduction to activation times from Alacrity come after any other ability that reduces activation times.  Let’s assume we are at a 10% reduction to activation times from Alacrity.  Now, take a look at Dark Infusion and Dark Mending.  2 Ranks of Dark Mending reduces activation time of Dark Infusion by 0.5 seconds.  I was curious to know whether the 10% came off the original 3 second cast or the new cast time of 2.5 seconds from Dark Mending.  According to my tests, the 10% reduction came after Dark Mending’s 2.5 second cast time resulting in a 2.25 second cast opposed to the 2.2 second castime I was hoping for.  The difference was just 0.05 seconds, which was really negligible, but could be higher with more Alacrity.
• The main reason Alacrity does absolutely nothing for me is the fact that almost all of my spells are instant or proc’d to become instant.  I see no reason or advantage to having any Alacrity for my particular build, 23 Lightning / 18 Madness.  Other builds may reap the benefits from Alacrity, but one should carefully examine their spell rotation and calculate just how much they really would benefit.

I have been pulling out the enhancements out of certain Champion Force-Master Armor, and replacing them with  Advanced Battle Enhancement 22.  I am aiming for higher critical chance and surge.

• Champion Force-Master’s Boots
• Champion Force-Master’s Lower Robe
• Champion Force-Master’s Vestments
• Centurion Force-Master’s Gloves (still dont have Champion Force-Master’s Gloves)

Ideally, you would want to get duplicate pieces of Champion Force-Master’s Gloves or Champion Force-Master’s Headgear and use those enhancements to put in the above Champion pieces.  This is what I am doing this until I start receiving Battlemaster Armor.

I have been playing Star Wars, The Old Republic SWTOR since release and after 2 dozen or so respecs post level 50, I have finally found a build I am completely happy with.  As many of you know, I like to play a highly mobile mage utilizing techniques such as kiting, baiting, positioning and overall awareness.  It was difficult to find the right balance based on my gear for all 3 Warzones currently implemented.  I also had to retest several earlier builds as I was acquiring Champion Force-Master Armor which alters a Sorceror’s ability tremendously.

23 Lightning / 18 Madness

• No Force Issues
• Highly Mobile
• Procs - Wrath, Lightning Barrage and Lightning Storm
• Excellent AOE - Force Storm, Death Field and Instant Chain Lightning (Proc from Wrath)
• Excellent Single Target From Range - Shock and Lightning Strike (Extra 5 Meters from 4 Piece PVP Armor Bonus and Lightning Spire)
• Superb Crowd Control – Instant Whirlwind (Suppresion), Backlash, Overload

Finally hit Valor Rank 60 the other night.  For those of you that didn’t know, acquiring Battlemaster Armor is different than Champion Armor.  Battlemaster Bags have a chance to drop a Battlemaster Commendation which is used to purchase Battlemaster Armor.

Tips as you approach Valor Rank 60:

• Save 600 Mercenary Commedations and 600 Warzone Commedations to purchase your Battlemaster Force-Master’s Relay and 2 Battlemaster Force-Master’s Implants.
• Do not turn in your PVP Dailys on the day you are going to hit 60. 
• If you are few days away from hitting 60, I would suggest holding on to your weekly PVP quests.

Currently at Valor Rank 58, I still only have 2 pieces of Champion Force-Master’s Armor, chest and feet.  I have opened in excess of 40 bags and have been quite unlucky with armor.  I have almost everything else as far as accessories and weapon.  My original plan was to save my Centurion Tokens, acquire a couple more Champion Force-Master Armor and buy the last pieces of armor.  That was until I found out you can mix and match all PVP Force-Master Armor and still receive the 2 and 4 piece bonuses, whether it be Centurion/Champion/Battlemaster.

If you are unlucky like me, you will end up getting a Champion Armor piece which you just bought with your Centurion Tokens.  Think about your future and ask yourself, “How important is that 4 piece bonus to you?”

One of the key components to becoming an efficient Sith Inquisitor in Star Wars, The Old Republic (SWTOR) is the proper management of force.  Currently, there are only of handful of abilities in the Lightning and Madness tree that affect your force.  Some I consider must haves, others I consider a waste of trainings.

• Electric Induction - Reduces the Force cost of Force attacks and healing abilities by [3/6/9]%.

Must Have.

• Reserves – Increases your total Force by [50/100]. 

Must Have.

• Subversion – Reduces the pushback suffered while activating Lightning Strike, Chain Lightning and Thundering Blast by [35 / 70]%.  In addition, Lightning Strike has a [50 / 100]% chance to increase your Force regeneration rate by 10% for 10 seconds.  Stacks up to 3 times.  

Let’s assume we have 3 stacks of Subversion to give us 30% for 10 seconds.  That equates to an increase in Force Regen by 2.4 (Force Regen 8  X  30%  =  2.4 Force)  This ability does refresh itself if you cast Lightning Strike before the time elapses.  However, in my opinion this ability is not as good as it sounds.  With the GCD at 1.5 seconds, as soon as you cast your last Lightning Strike you are left with 8.5 seconds.  Lightning Strike has a 1.5 second activation time, so you are really left with 7 seconds.  It is very difficult to keep 3 stacks of this, you basically need this spell in your rotation every 3rd or 4th spell otherwise you lose all 3 stacks and need to start over.

• Lightning Effusion - Force attacks that critically hit have a [50 / 100]% chance to grant Lightning Effusion, reducing the Force cost of your next two Force abilities by 50%.  Additionally reduces the cooldown of Force Speed by [5 / 10] seconds. 

This passive ability really starts shining as your critical rate goes up.  This is ability can single-handedly eliminate all force issues and you should easily be able to go an entire Warzone without running out of force.

• Sith Efficacy – Reduces the pushback suffered while activating Crushing Darkness and Force Lightning by [25 / 50 / 75]%.  In addition, each time your Force Lightning deals damage, you have a [33.33 / 66.67 / 100]% chance to recover 1% of your total Force. 

Assuming you have Reserves, this ability basically gives you 6 Force every time you cast Force Lightning.  It is so much better than Subversion since we cast Force Lightning quite often to try and proc Wrath.

In conclusion, of all the force reducing abilities Lightning Effusion is hands down the best ability.  However, it is fairly deep into the Lightning Tree requiring 17 trainings at a minimum.  This leave the sorceror with 24 trainings left, which prohibits having access to the last 2 tiers in the Corruption or Madness tree.  Without Lightning Effusion, sooner or later you will have force issues and in some warzones it is very difficult to get out of combat to Seethe.