Released my 2nd Narrative PVP Video for Star Wars, The Old Republic SWTOR.

18 Lightning / 23 Madness

This video talks about my current build, specific abilities, overall awareness and positioning.

During the last couple days, I have been grabbing datacrons scattered throughout the different planets for Star Wars, The Old Republic SWTOR.  Datacrons are permanent stat boosts and a must have for any serious PVP’er.  Although the stats may seem minimal, every little bit helps.  I only grabbed the datacrons with Endurance and Intelligence as well as the +10 datacron to all stats on the Imperial ship.  It should only take a day or two and the final results should be +38 Willpower and +43 Endurance.

I used http://www.swtor-spy.com/datacrons/ to see all the available datacrons and searched YouTube for help on specific ones.

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.