It’s a Trap! Avoiding 20 Common Newcomer Pitfalls in SWGoH

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Qeltar
4326 posts Member
edited February 2016
I’ve been playing this game since hard launch at the end of November, and I’ve been very active on the forums since around the same time. Probably too active. :) But my presence here has given me a unique opportunity to read a lot of comments from other players, especially new ones. I’ve observed some common trends in the complaints and laments that are frequently posted, so I put this together in the hope that it will help some of you avoid common mistakes.
Note that, of necessity, nearly all of this is my opinion, and I’m sure there are folks who will disagree with some or all of what is below. Also, this guide assumes you know the basics. If you don’t, here are two great sites to help:
http://www.swgohcantina.com/
https://swgohdb.com/heroes/
The items below are not listed in any particular order except for the first one, which is at the top for a reason: it is the single biggest and most costly mistake made by new players.

1. Going “half-in” on chromium cards
Basically, there are two ways to get and power up characters in the game: buying chromium card packs, or farming shards in various ways (missions, shipments, etc.) Of course, you can do both. Chromium cards offer the lure of instant gratification: you can open a pack and instantly receive an entire character. You can also get shards to level them up very quickly. There are also characters that are only available in chromium packs (Old Ben, Leia, Aayla Secura, Lando and others) and some that are so slow to farm that they are only practicel to get from these packs (Ewok Elder, etc.)
But there are two serious issues with chromium cards.
First, they are random. People who have good luck with these packs race to the forums with excitement and tell everyone what great stuff they got. But you are just as likely to get shards for Royal Guard and Ugnaught as you are for Old Ben or Count Dooku. Probably more likely, in fact, because there are fewer great characters than mediocre or bad ones. It is entirely possible that you spend $20 and get junk. It is entirely possible that you spend another $20 and AGAIN get junk.
You must remember this and be prepared for it. Chromium packs are gambling. They are designed to appeal to those who like to gamble, and even to those who do so impulsively.
Second, the chromium-only characters can be unlocked quickly and easily, but can only be leveled up by getting more shards from chromium packs. So you might get lucky on your first pack and unlock, say, Princess Leia. But she starts at 2*. If you want her any higher, you need to keep buying packs. Some characters, like Vader or Barriss Offee, are viable at 4*. But most are not when competing against farmed characters that are 6* or 7*.
The really big spenders (“whales”) get around this problem easily: they just buy TONS of packs. There are people who have bought so many packs they not only have gotten all (or nearly all) of the characters to 7*, they have over 1,000 extra shards on top for some of them! But doing this requires spending literally thousands of dollars.
If you are willing to do that, great. But if you only spend, say, $100 or $200 on packs, what is most likely to happen is that you will end up with a bunch of shards for characters you don’t want, a couple of characters you like but can’t farm, and shards for characters you could have gotten in a few days by farming. And then you will feel frustrated.
The bottom line is this: if you are going to go the chromium route, be prepared to go “all in” by spending at least $1,000, and possibly double that. If you aren’t willing to spend this much, do not buy chromium packs. You don’t need them -- I have never purchased one and I do fine. You’re better off using any small amounts of spending on bundles or crystals for energy recharges.
The forums are filled with people lamenting that they spent $100, $200 or more and ended up with nothing useful. In the days before writing this guide I’ve seen more than one person say they spent $500 or more and didn’t end up with what they considered a viable team. Don’t become a statistic.

2. Spending money on the game before you are sure you like it
Wait at least 3 days, preferably a week, before you buy anything in the game. For some people the excitement wears off quickly. There are people I know who spent north of $1,000 on this game in the first week and I haven’t seen them since.
Quit 7/14/16. Best of luck to all of you.
Post edited by Qeltar on

Replies

  • Qeltar
    4326 posts Member
    edited January 2016
    3. Deciding to spend money but skipping character bundles
    As you level up you will be offered a variety of character bundles. If you’ve decided not to spend on the game, then ignore them. If you do want to spend on the game, many of these are an excellent value and should be considered. They are also time-limited and so far, CG has not said they plan to rotate them back for established players. Besides, they are most useful when you are new.
    Brief reviews of each:
    - Dark side pack: Practically free and a no-brainer, even if you don’t get Dooku.
    - Heroine pack: IMO this is worth it for Barriss alone, who is an immense help in the early levels and even at end game in Galactic War. Asajj is also a fun character, though currently bugged. The other two are currently a bit underpowered, but this may change.
    - Droid pack: An excellent value for a team that is very viable for low-spenders even at end game. I wish I had bought this one.
    - Jedi pack: This is a weak value right now because Mace Windu is severely underpowered. That could change, and should because he is an iconic character. But it might not. It’s a gamble if you try this one. The Jedi Knight Guardian is humdrum; the Consular is very good, but easily farmed, though 70 shards gives you a nice head start.
    - Force Awakens pack: This one I would skip unless you plan to spend a lot. Everything in there can be farmed, some of it quite quickly, and it is expensive. Others will disagree with this, but if you apply those crystals to Cantina refreshes you can get Kylo very quickly. If you want Kylo and Poe immediately, then buy this pack.

    4. Not logging in every day
    Game makers want you to log in every day, to keep you involved and active. It pads their stats and makes it more likely you will recommend the game and spend money on it. They therefore provide incentives: in SWGoH these include a daily freebie based on the day of month, several free bronzium cards, and “daily activities” that provide nice rewards for minimal effort. It generally takes less than an hour to do most of these dailies if you are in a hurry. If you don’t even have that, at least log in for the freebies and to use up your accumulated energy.

    5. Not completing daily tasks
    This is linked to the previous item. Again, these are quick and provide decent rewards. They are also the only way to get XP for level advancement that doesn’t use energy. Do as many as possible every day.
    Remember that to get the reward for PvP arena you only need do 3 fights, not win them.

    6. Making impulse crystal pack purchases instead of planning them out
    The best deals on crystals are the larger packs. If you plan to stay for the long haul, and you want to buy crystals to accelerate gameplay, you’re better off spending $99 once and using the crystals over time than buying lots of smaller packs. Of course some people don’t have the discipline to do this and will just spend them faster. Do what makes sense for you.
    If you only want to spend a small amount, get the 21-day crystal subscription. It is the best value, and because things increase in price when you do them too often the same day, having them spread out isn’t a bad thing. It will also prevent you from overspending.

    7. Leaving energy at the end of the day.
    There are two types of energy, regular and Cantina, and they are required to run missions to get shards, gear, and importantly, XP. This game is not one where your energy completely refills at a particular time, it just slowly accumulates: 10 regular energy and 5 Cantina energy per hour. Make sure your regular energy is empty before you go to bed, because if it fills up to your maximum, you won’t get any more. At lower levels it will max out, don’t lose sleep over this, as the maximum increases by 1 every time you level. Be sure to spend bonus energy from level-ups quickly, so you are always accumulating more.

    8. Not doing free hard missions each day
    Hard missions drop character shards; normal ones don’t. This is gated by you only being allowed to do 3 of any hard mission per day without having to spend crystals. Make sure that you do these for whichever characters you are working on.

    9. Not buying shipment gear
    There are various “shipments” in the game: Cantina, Squad Arena and Galactic War shipments for character shards, and “regular” ones accessed through the “Shipments” icon on the main menu. Every 6 hours a selection of gear will appear here. Buy everything. This will help you towards achievements, and help you gear up characters. It does cost credits, but a tiny amount in the grand scheme of things (it costs 1,000,000 credits to promote a character from 6* to 7*, after a couple of weeks you aren’t going to care that you spent 2,300 on a shipment). The only exception would be for low-level items you already know you have a lot of. Always buy higher-level ones, you will be glad later on.

    10. Not doing challenges
    Every day you have two challenges you can do, except Sunday when all six are available. Do all of them: they give valuable rewards and are quick and relatively easy, except at the start. Ask on the forums for help if you need it.
    Quit 7/14/16. Best of luck to all of you.
  • Qeltar
    4326 posts Member
    edited January 2016
    11. Investing too much in starter characters
    You will get a few starter characters free, some of which you will only end up using for a few levels. Invest resources into them slowly over time, as you find them necessary to complete content. I don’t remember what characters everyone starts with. I do know that Jedi Consular and Chewbacca see use for a long time, and I think IG-86 is a starter also, and is very good (but easy to farm). Characters such as Royal Guard, Clone Sergeant and Ewok Scout are, at least for now, underpowered, and rarely seen above level 40.

    12. Investing in characters before researching them and trying to level too many characters at once
    Strengthening characters requires raising their level (which requires training droids and credits), gearing them up (which requires equipment and a few credits) and increasing their star rating (which requires shards and credits). You also have to increase their abilities, though this is independent of level and star rating. Maxing out a new character is a major investment, even for an established player. Make sure not to work on too many at once, or you will perpetually be behind the power curve, and frustrated as you are always low on credits and droids.
    Use the sites I linked above and thoroughly research characters before investing in them. I wasted hundreds of shards on characters early on because 1 or 2 people told me they were great, and it turned out either they were wrong, or the characters only were great because of other characters I didn’t have.

    13. Upgrading all character abilities as soon as possible
    Upgrading abilities requires “ability materials”, of which there are three types: Tier I (green triangle), Tier II (blue square) and Tier III (purple pentagon). Geez, it’s like a box of Lucky Charms in here! The first two upgrades (to level 3) require only triangles and squares, which are relatively easy to get (and at high levels you will have hundreds of spares of). Anything above level 3 on an ability, though, requires those purple guys, and they are much harder to get. You have to save them and use them wisely.
    Note that you often have to scroll down to see the requirement for the purple hexagons but it is there for everything above level 3.
    Only do upgrades on characters you are sure you are going to keep, and save the materials for upgrades that have a big impact. For example, Count Dooku’s lightning attack: level 4 gives +5% damage, which is nice, but isn’t going to turn a battle. But at level 5 his chance of a secondary stun on this attack increases by 15%. That’s even better than it sounds because it is an increase in the base rate, which goes from 25% to 40%, so it’s actually 60% more likely (40/25 = 1.6). That is a worthwhile upgrade, even if you have to take a relatively useless +5% at level 4 to get it. Just watch your material counts.

    14. Not spending crystals on refreshes wisely
    If you are a big spender, buy whatever suits your fancy. If you are on a budget, your best uses for crystals are generally going to be for two regular energy refreshes (50 crystals each) and one Cantina energy refresh (100 crystals). After that things get increasingly expensive. You get a certain number of crystals for free even if you don’t buy any, so use them on refreshes. If you get the crystal subscription you can do this even if your PvP rank is very low.
    If you are buying lots of crystals, feel free to go up the next rank to 100 crystal regular refreshes and 200 crystal Cantina refreshes. After that it gets very expensive very fast.
    Remember that in Cantina you can get shards both from the missions and shipments, so while twice as expensive you get more for your crystal. (Some of the best chars are also in Cantina shipments.) But you get more XP by doing a larger number of regular refreshes, so you level faster. Tradeoff.

    15. Spending crystals on credits and droids, or spending Cantina shipment tokens on ability materials
    I will catch flak for this, but I think this is a waste unless you are a big spender. I have never purchased credit packs or droids, ever. Get good at Galactic War, do challenges and missions, and pace yourself, and you shouldn’t run out of credits except temporarily as you get to the upper levels. Droids I never come close to running out of. Be patient and save the crystals for more worthwhile uses, again, unless you are a big spender and just want to level things up fast.
    Cantina shipments let you spend “orange balls” on Tier I and Tier II ability materials. Never do this! They are easy to get and useless without the Tier III materials very quickly, as mentioned above. To give you an idea, I currently have 652 Tier I and 324 Tier II materials, most of which are useless because I only have 35 Tier III. There are many great characters in Cantina shipments, use your tokens on those.
    Quit 7/14/16. Best of luck to all of you.
  • Qeltar
    4326 posts Member
    edited January 2016
    16. Worrying too much about Squad Arena (PvP)
    There’s something about competition with other people that seems to get everyone’s juices flowing, and so a lot of people get obsessed with this game mode. For newcomers, though, this is usually a mistake. By the way, remember that this isn’t “real” PvP – you are fighting other player teams but the computer is controlling them.
    One very smart thing about this game is that PvP is segmented into leaderboards based on when you start, so new players have a chance to be competitive. That said, very quickly the top ranks will become dominated by the players who spend the most money. That’s just how it goes with freemium: you can buy your way to the top.
    The rewards from PvP are threefold: Arena tokens, crystals and credits. You get one reward per day, always at 6 pm local time for your PvP area (which is based on the time zone when you registered to play). Now here’s the thing: the rewards scale like this:
    - Arena tokens: Quickly go up until you hit rank 200, then slow down a lot. For example, finishing at #200 gives you 700 tokens, finishing at #11 gives you 775. Not much difference.
    - Credits: Basically the same. #1 gets 50k, #50 gets 25k. It’s a small amount regardless, though a nice bonus.
    - Crystals: The reverse of arena tokens: slow progression until the very top echelons. The difference between #51 and #200 is only 25 crystals. The difference between #6 and #1 is 250 crystals.
    Everyone gets all worked up over the crystals, and sure, if you can finish in the #1 spot and get 500 crystals, that will certainly help you advance in the game. But the most important reward here is the arena tokens: 400 tokens equals 5 character shards from Arena shipments. Sure, the #1 guy gets 1000 tokens and you only get 700 tokens at #200. But you also get 100 for free from dailies, so even at #200 you are getting 10 character shards per day. This is what matters most, and it’s not hard to get. Even if you are only rank 500, that’s still 700 tokens per day, which is almost 10 shards per day.
    Bottom line: you don’t need to be very high rank in PvP to get good rewards. Don’t sweat it if you can’t get very far up the leaderboard, especially at the start. Also bear in mind that at the very top the competition gets fierce and you have to be prepared to “snipe” right before 6 pm to keep your rank. Many people find this impossible to do because of real life obligations, or just don’t think it’s worth it. I usually try to get into the top 20, but don’t much care beyond that, it’s just not worth worrying about to me. Sometimes I just sit in the top 50. It’s not worth losing sleep over.
    17. Not doing Galactic War
    This mode opens up at level 40 and is an excellent source of important rewards. There are several good characters you can get in shipments there, and you can also get ability materials, training droids and bonus character shards. GW is also the best source of credits in the game.
    This mode matches you up against 12 opponent teams in a row. It can be very frustrating, especially for a new player. Remember that you can retreat and try different teams if one of your characters dies. Expect that you will not be able to complete it every day, or even at all, when you start. Don’t be deterred, just keep doing as much as you can. You’ll get better, and every reward helps.
    18. Jumping on the bandwagon
    The nature of this sort of game is that certain team build ideas get popular and then very popular and everyone starts chasing the “meta”, only to find two weeks later that it has changed. Avoid this if possible. Make a plan for a team you find fun and interesting and stick with it as much as possible. Try to hold some resources in reserve for when things change, but don’t alter your plan every week or you will drive yourself insane.
    19. Being impatient.. in general
    Freemium games like this one are deliberately designed with “time gates” for two reasons. First, to slow you down so you don’t progress too quickly, get bored and leave. Second, to tempt you to spend money to bypass the time gates. They are psychologically designed to prey on your impatience. That’s why everything is limited in some way, but with the option of bypassing the limits by spending crystals.
    Some spending of crystals makes sense, like I mentioned before. But giving in to impatience too much can quickly cause you to rack up a big bill in this game. Even though it might seem like it takes “forever” to unlock new characters or gain levels, things actually move pretty quickly in this game. The more patient you are, the better value you will get for what you spend.
    20. Getting frustrated and giving up
    We’ve all been there… it’s exciting at the start, you play a lot, you are constantly leveling, you get new goodies, and then the high wears off, the honeymoon ends, and it’s just not as fun any more. And some aspects of the game get frustrating, such as bad luck with farming shards or getting stuck in GW. Try not to let it get to you, take a break if you need to, and maybe come back to it later. The game is still young and there’s a lot more yet to be added to it.
    Quit 7/14/16. Best of luck to all of you.
  • Randall
    1001 posts Member
    its_a_trap_star_wars.gif

    Good guide.
  • Good job, much of this rings very true. :)
  • Awesome job as always my friend. Now I'm P2P not a whale at about 1.5-2k spent, but not a modest spender either. If I may impose I'll add a bit to your awesome guide from my POV/experience.


    PVP:
    I for one don't care about my rank, however when I want to truck it and level faster I go up to the high levels. You can max very fast doing this. I can build a team to finish 1 on my very hard shard, however top 5 is very helpful. At 5 you get enough for 10 shards and 4 reg mission refills or 3 and 1 cantina. It is incredibly helpful, especially if like me you can't decide. I maxed Sid and Ventress for my NS build now I want Droid. I bought the pack, so doing 88 and HK together. Top 5 ensures I can level together, token wise top 10 really would, which is my goal daily.

    Have fun with it. I spent good money, yet I let myself fall to 80, 100, 120 at times testing out crazy builds. Plus it is fun to fight back up, see other builds. My top 20 rarely changes. I have many 28k power and many whales in it with Chron exclusive teams, so basically the top 20 beats each other up daily for rank.


    Patience/ Don't give up:
    Great advice my friend. So above I mentioned that I'm on a shard with many whales with the Chron exclusive toons and the Chron to speed 7* power toons with 26-28k many 28 power and I can take first and am top 10 daily, typically top 5. I DID NOT SAY THIS TO BRAG. I said it to lead into this. I run a 100% F2P team. I am the only team under 25k on my top 20, only 2 of us under 26k. Yet I can get 1st, I can top 5. So as my friend Qeltar stated, do not give up. Synergy and strategy are the best weapon. These Chron only toons are powerful, however not the best synergy wise, yes they can fit awesome, but often you see them used as cannons hidden behind a human sheild with TM manipulation. Be patient, do not get frustrated a F2P team can be top 10 and sustain it. Oh and it need not be all 7* I have a 4* and 2, 5* with 2, 7* on mine and I face all 7* teams all the time. You build it right you can contend.


    Farming and Leveling:
    Gear is gold. I mentioned my team. Every single member of my team has the max gear it can have. Gear adds so much. Drop rates can really frustrate you. Be patient, stick with it. I farm only a few shards to be honest. Ones I can't get in GW, Arena, or Cantina Shipments. The rest is gear, gear, and more gear.

    If you are willing to spend on the crystals great. Set yourself a crystal budget and HOLD TO IT. I will not do the 400 for refills UNLESS I'm a shard or two from upping the * OR a piece or two from filling the slot. Even then it depends on the toon and their position in my army. If they are a C or D team or fill in for GW I will not. If they are A or B or a floater(goes on multiple GW teams as needed for certain abilities) I will.

    Leveling up toons is expensive. It is over 2.25 million creds to go from 60-70 it is 750kish to go 65-70, yes I know math is not there, however I'm 70 so I can say what it costs I've checked. Typically over 100k per level, some near mid 100k. So who do I level? I brought my arena team up as I did. My arena team is my GW main team with one difference. I brought that difference up some too, as well as a couple key helpers. Phasma for her team b lead, and Ventress for my NS team lead, Luke for my C team lead. I hit 70 and Pulled my arena team and my GW different toon up to 70 immediately. I will work back now with the same logic. I did have to buy the cred packs. I bought 2 and did the tier 5 cred missions plus the little I had saved. I had the unfortunate timing of hitting 70 the day after I took 2 to 7* and 1 to 5*.

    Packs:

    I agree the packs have value. I bought every pack. The Jedi was disappointing since Mace is not viable presently.

    The lovely ladies pack(Heroine) was awesome. Barriss took a nerf, frustrating, but she is still very viable in GW. Her leader ability is great, she is farmable at higher levels. Mine is Max gear 5* nearly 6 and she is my GW leader. She hits terribly, but I use her for her heal around heal immunity and the health gain every turn, her heal on basic is a bonus when it hits. I LOVE Ventress. She is a love her or hate her toon. She is highly complex. If you learn to use her right she is a Goddess. My NS team has destroyed higher powered Sid, Lumi, and Phasma teams. I tested it on a QGJ team and it is 50/50 depending on the build. She is Buggy. Tano honestly I use as fodder, many love her though.

    The Droid pack I bought, regretted because they need to be high level high gear to live. That build though is really a gift from EA/CG to the F2P and that pack is cheap and gives you a great start. I have not leveled my droid build. Poe is ready, Poggle I only took to 60 not really geared or * yet. I plan now to build them. I have Poggle and all droids 4* gear 6 half way to 5 or more. To give you how they fair. Poe 5* Gear 8 Lvl 68 at the time I did this 2 days ago Poggle,HK(Lead),86,88 all 4* gear 6 Lvl 53-55 Poggle lvl 60 I used in GW in a late fight to try to damage a potent team of 7* Lumi lead, 7* Sid, 6* Fett, 6* FOTP, 7* JC all Lvl 67-69, all purple gear so 7+. I thought ok I'll ice FOTP I'm happy. That under leveled and under geared droid team took out not just FOTP, but Lumi, JC, and had both Fett and Sid with a little damage, not much. Now 3 of them were outleveled by 15 levels, another was by 8 and they were effective as heck. Great option for F2P and limited spenders if willing to grind. The HP in 86 and 88 especially is very low.


    Bandwagon: Amen to this. I like to find ways to beat the bandwagon. The game is about fun. Have fun testing and experimenting. Don't build a cookie cutter just to compete. Newsflash Poe vs Poe most times the Poe who goes 1st wins.




    Qeltar my friend AWESOME post as your guides always are. I hope I was not out of line adding, but I thought maybe I could add my POV on a few points to your detailed guide.
  • This is all very helpful. Been playing a month. Installed the game after the family and I came back from 'Force Awakens.' I'm glad I have been patient. Time is a serious factor with a wife and five Daughters. Been doing the 'slow grind' and hope to this point have made very little errors. What I don't want, is to spend hours, days, and weeks and get to a point where I'm stuck because of an improper team build. Have never spent money on games of this sort, and don't plan to. Oldest Daughter gifted me a Google play card for Christmas, that's the only chrome cards I have purchased. Ended up being a double edged sword. I unlocked a 4* Greedo, who is almost to 7 and the power of my squad. Also unlocked Leia, which I was initially excited about. Since I won't be spending any more money, she's basically useless. I've seen all the fuss about Po, mine is 5* and with cantina shipments, he will be 7 soon as well. You have to use his taunt properly. So, DS power is greedo, LS Po. Now I have all these other characters from bronzium cards. LS Squad is Po, Chewie, Luke, Consular and res. Pilot. DS is greed, Talia, NS initiate, royal guard and mob enforcer to play off greedos scoundrel skills. Have all three Ewoks, snow trooper, jawa, clone sarge, cor. police, 86, Biggs and Jedi guardian on the bench. Lots of characters are to be had in the shipments. Could actually add NS init shards and ventress and even daka making all NS and Greedo. Or go scoundrel and add fett. Anybody try all three Ewoks together with maybe Po and pilot? Don't know how big of a fan I am of this. It seems EVERYBODY and their brother has sidious on my server, great toon but I'm looking for something different. Keycard battles are pricey for me, I try to stay away from those. Two tries and I'm out of energy. Just hit level 50 and I've only been stuck for a day or two a handful of times. Still cant beat harder oppress on the gear challenge, think thats due to not having the right toon/leader. Since the change to GW, lucky if I get past the 4th battle. Gonna keep grinding it out, and really enjoying the game. Any advice you all have moving forward would be greatly appreciated. I'll keep watching the forums for more info. Thanks.
    *Ninth* time. That business on Cato Neimodia doesn't- doesn't count.
  • OmarFPG
    458 posts Member
    edited February 2016
    Awesome job, @Queltar. I'm fairly new on this game as well, been playing for over a month. Though playing a lot in that month. A lot. So that "fairly new" is a bit relative now. I must say, this is an awesome guide, I can vouch for all that's written and recommended here, and I have to give you kudos for doing such an awesome job. You pretty much summarized everything newcomers will need to know in the early stages.

    I'd add maybe if you're going to buy packs, maybe one or two 8 packs, it's better doing it sooner than later in the game. I did this in the early stages for me, bought an 8x, after lots of research and lots of youtube video pulls, just to get an idea. I figured if I was going to get $20 worth of gamble, the beginning was the best time for it, since it could provide a nice push, when you're low on characters. Still a gamble, that I wouldn't recommend, unless spending thousands. But if you're going to try it, at least do it in the early stages where you'll get the most out of it rather than down the road when you most likely have anything you'd pull, and you wouldn't need any more of that or wouldn't have use for low star toons.... BTW: Doesn't Leia start at 2*? Or I was ripped off on my only 8x pull! Lol...

    Packs are nice, but some way too overpriced. I got the Heroine Bundle and I don't regret it. Barriss is my leader in GW and Asajj is part of my A-Squad, for arena, GW, DS, Cantina and some challenges where I can use her. Barriss is hard to farm. I actually haven't had any single shards for her afterwards, she's still sitting at 4*, yet she's still that good, since she's tanky enough, and her main purpose is healing. Kylo in the other hand, way too expensive for something you can farm on your own. I started on him on my birthday (Jan 27). So far I have 52 shards, in 5 days worth of farming. If things keep up this way I'll unlock him by next Wednesday. :) worth mentioning I've been doing only one refresh for Cantina. Granted, that bundle came with other perks, but still, $100 IAP is something to consider by many.
    548-145-651 | Playing since Dec 28th (:
  • Awesome post @Qeltar !

    I love reading your comment, @DarthMasterShawn .. I am a FTP player, since well, the exchange rate MYR to USD is too high Icant afford the crystal cost.

    I really appreciate a P2P player that is more keen to have fun, experimenting, and sharing with others.

    @OmarFPG Yeah i got lucky in the earlier phase and pulled leia and she is only 2 starred.
    Actually pulling leia is a bad start for me, since it tempt me to use crystal more on the pack rather than refilling! Welp....

    Posts and replies like these keep my faith in the SWGoH community, keep it up guys! :)
  • Varlie
    1286 posts Member
    A
    Gear is gold. I mentioned my team. Every single member of my team has the max gear it can have. Gear adds so much. Drop rates can really frustrate you. Be patient, stick with it. I farm only a few shards to be honest. Ones I can't get in GW, Arena, or Cantina Shipments. The rest is gear, gear, and more gear.

    Just to expand on this as I had made a mistake on it until very recently.
    First, Gear is probably more important than stars early on.
    Second, I was working mainly on getting all gear on one character at a time but I had Lumi at Gear 7 and I put her on hold to work on others. I just happened to get a unique item for one of the 6 gear pieces and locked it in and her stats when up drastically.

    The character's stats go up per piece of gear. Not just when upgrading from one level to the next. So get those white 'halos' on the gear whenever possible.
  • Varlie wrote: »
    A
    Gear is gold. I mentioned my team. Every single member of my team has the max gear it can have. Gear adds so much. Drop rates can really frustrate you. Be patient, stick with it. I farm only a few shards to be honest. Ones I can't get in GW, Arena, or Cantina Shipments. The rest is gear, gear, and more gear.

    Just to expand on this as I had made a mistake on it until very recently.
    First, Gear is probably more important than stars early on.
    Second, I was working mainly on getting all gear on one character at a time but I had Lumi at Gear 7 and I put her on hold to work on others. I just happened to get a unique item for one of the 6 gear pieces and locked it in and her stats when up drastically.

    The character's stats go up per piece of gear. Not just when upgrading from one level to the next. So get those white 'halos' on the gear whenever possible.

    Yes exactly. I brought everyone to 6, then my priority toons to 7, then 1 by 1 8, then Geo to 9. I'll take a fully geared 5* over a gear 6 7* personally. Which is why gear is such a pain to get at higher levels,lol.
  • MaskedHuzzah
    1 posts Member
    edited February 2016
    Thanks for the info!
    Of all of the signatures I've ever had, this is among them.
  • Good post and very true. I would add mistakes I made.

    1. Night sister team no matter how badly you want to build it, does not work.
    2. Ahsoka Tano is not good.
    3. Rebels does not work.
    4. Sid and Lumi are essential just like everyone says. These characters will not disappoint you.
    5. Do not invest in Talia, no matter how bad you think you need her for dark side missions, you do not.
  • Good post and very true. I would add mistakes I made.

    1. Night sister team no matter how badly you want to build it, does not work.
    2. Ahsoka Tano is not good.
    3. Rebels does not work.
    4. Sid and Lumi are essential just like everyone says. These characters will not disappoint you.
    5. Do not invest in Talia, no matter how bad you think you need her for dark side missions, you do not.

    My NS team works quite well I've taken out the Poe DPS teams, the QGJ jedi teams with it in GW. Not an arena team really but they are very good in GW.
  • Qudos, all great info, if no one has already said it I would add don't spend to 100/150 crystals on 2/3 shards from shipments, unless of course it completes a high star for a non farmable character
    Roger roger
  • Amazing guide and nicely written! I'm enjoying the game very much, and this guide gave me some good hints.
    My favorite characters Empire - Sith
  • Varlie
    1286 posts Member
    @Dilligaf , for the most part I agree with you but every once in a while a character shows up in shipments that you are collecting and 150 crystals for guaranteed 3 shards can beat 100 shards to refresh energy and get only 1 from the hard mission attempts.
  • Varlie wrote: »
    @Dilligaf , for the most part I agree with you but every once in a while a character shows up in shipments that you are collecting and 150 crystals for guaranteed 3 shards can beat 100 shards to refresh energy and get only 1 from the hard mission attempts.

    I buy them in shipments if I'm collecting that toon.
  • This thread should be pinned. This is a great guide. I'll try and use up my normal energy before midnight
    and if the droid or heroine pack comes back, I'll consider investing in them.
    The daily crystal rewards might not be such a bad idea either.

    Thank you for this,
  • Thanks for another very useful and insightful post! Your Guides have been very useful to help set me (and others, I'm sure) on the right path.
  • Take heed, new players! This is a great post to start you off.

    Also, let go of Talia. She's needed somewhere thru lv40 or so, but please don't try and farm up her stars too much. She has undeniable utility in early game, but I wish I hadn't even taken her to 4 stars, and done GeoSoldier instead in the early cantina.

    You'll still be stuck using her as a healer for a while in Dark Side missions, but she just generally sucks for any other purpose. Daka and every LS healer is better.
  • I'm an experienced player and I've learned a lot of these points the hard way. This guide was great to read and will bookmark it for the future. Thanks, Q!
  • nokoryous wrote: »

    Also, let go of Talia. She's needed somewhere thru lv40 or so, but please don't try and farm up her stars too much. She has undeniable utility in early game, but I wish I hadn't even taken her to 4 stars, and done GeoSoldier instead in the early cantina.

    You'll still be stuck using her as a healer for a while in Dark Side missions, but she just generally sucks for any other purpose.

    I'm 56 and beating GW most of the time. I don't totally understand the disparagement of Talia. I have a pretty shallow bench and at lvl5 4*, gl5 I find her to be a decent sub, particularly after a tough battle with a 62 in purple gear when my lumi and JC are low. And for dark side missions I find her a requirement even with Daka. That old ben node with all the Jawas...FML. I don't know how you could do it w/o 2 healers or being several levels ahead and GL7 on main team.

    In addition, I found it necessary to level her early on as probably the only actually (potentially) viable DS toon I had. I had her 4* before I got my first lumi shards.

  • Yudoka
    1274 posts Member
    Great guide and very well written. Thanks!

    I started playing just a few days ago and I'm glad I came across this. Helped me a great deal so far. I haven't yet opened all the play options (only level 34) but have already accumulated a fair amount of resource as F2P player.

    Bought one shard pack before I read this so no big lose. Bought a few Ally Point packs and got lucky with Ima-Gun Di pull and an Ewok Elder. So now I have my first goal of creating a Jedi team. So far my leveling had been very smooth and painful and have climbed to rank 500'sh very easily. I'd be higher but you only get so many plays and I'm not yet willing to spend crystals to refresh here when they could be better spent elsewhere, at the moment.
    They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose, Nor spoke, nor moved their eyes; It had been strange, even in a dream, To have seen those dead men rise.
  • I think synergy and leader abilities are the most underrated strategy. An Empire squad or Jedi squad, with Synergistic leader ability is much more powerful than your Rag-tag squad of Lumi, Sids, et al. Every Squad I see like that has to have Sids at least 7* to be effective, whereas, my 4*-5* Jedi squad can generally destroy them with much less invested.
  • Yudoka
    1274 posts Member
    I think synergy and leader abilities are the most underrated strategy. An Empire squad or Jedi squad, with Synergistic leader ability is much more powerful than your Rag-tag squad of Lumi, Sids, et al. Every Squad I see like that has to have Sids at least 7* to be effective, whereas, my 4*-5* Jedi squad can generally destroy them with much less invested.

    That's what it seems like so far. For me, Chewie fairly quickly went form a good character to one I'm looking to replace fast. This generic buff is okay at the lower levels but doesn't really do much at the top. Where as my Ima-Gun Di has been pretty great as a leader despite me only having 1-2 other Jedi at a time. One time an enemy AOE'd and all three of my Jedi proc'd on the counterattack. It was pretty funny seeing this ant-like swarm engulf the character and have him drop right after.

    They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose, Nor spoke, nor moved their eyes; It had been strange, even in a dream, To have seen those dead men rise.
  • Having trouble on squads , not clear who should be with who? Any suggestions on a sound approach .
  • Altoon33 wrote: »
    Having trouble on squads , not clear who should be with who? Any suggestions on a sound approach .

  • Yudoka wrote: »
    I think synergy and leader abilities are the most underrated strategy. An Empire squad or Jedi squad, with Synergistic leader ability is much more powerful than your Rag-tag squad of Lumi, Sids, et al. Every Squad I see like that has to have Sids at least 7* to be effective, whereas, my 4*-5* Jedi squad can generally destroy them with much less invested.

    That's what it seems like so far. For me, Chewie fairly quickly went form a good character to one I'm looking to replace fast. This generic buff is okay at the lower levels but doesn't really do much at the top. Where as my Ima-Gun Di has been pretty great as a leader despite me only having 1-2 other Jedi at a time. One time an enemy AOE'd and all three of my Jedi proc'd on the counterattack. It was pretty funny seeing this ant-like swarm engulf the character and have him drop right after.

    I'm using 4 Jedi right now with Barriss as leader, but by weeks end, I should have Eeth and jin starred and geared up for battle. I'm looking forward to my empire and scoundrel squads getting rounded out, but still leery of leveling up Tarkin, as he can't be farmed yet
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