F2P player needing in-depth early game advice on roster development

Play another game. If you want a long term FTP game then to choose swgoh you would have to be severely challenged, especially when 4 years behind. Play something else.

"MasterSeedy;c-2073775" wrote:


Don't worry about it. The amount of time needed to gain each level increases for each level. I don't remember for sure, but you're probably still at a point where leveling up happens every day or every other day. I doubt you've been playing for more than a month. Compared with people playing the game for 4 years - and considering that in that month you've never done a single heroic raid, where I do 6-8 heroic raids per week, you've put yourself behind by a few days at most. Really. Don't worry about it.

Next, remember that it's a game, it's supposed to be fun. Take seriously everyone's suggestions for the most efficient path to glory and riches, but it's still a game. If a particular path isn't fun for you, be willing to drop it. Otherwise the SWGOH grind really does become work instead of play.

Great observation. I'm beginning to realize that myself. But as the amount of credits required to properly train and gear a character increases at an alarming rate as one levels up, I just regret a little about not having utilized my resources more prudently, such as not spending on "useless" characters like Gar Saxon and the Imperial Super Commando. For the Phoenix Squad, at least Ezra and Kanan are useful for the GMY event.

Boba, IG-88, Bossk, Cad Bane are all necessary for the Millennium Falcon.

Dengar is necessary for Chewbacca.

Jango isn't necessary til you're doing Dark Side Geonosis TB (you're a LONG way off), but comes free when you farm the ship "Hound's Tooth".

I see, I've already begun working on getting Boba. I see that Jango's farmable node is at 8-D (Hard) Light Side, which I'm still quite some levels away from. Is that the only location where I can farm him?

Also, what sort of starting bounty hunter/scoundrel team, in terms of star and equipment level, would enable me to complete the credit heist event at a reasonable tier?

You really, really want to complete the final node, but any credits at all help, and I don't think it even lets you attempt the final tier until you reach a certain level (75, maybe? It's been so long I don't remember).

IIRC correctly, the final node requires 5 BH with at least 5* each. If you have a single BH at g11, that toon can solo it and the others are just there to help you qualify. Credit Heist is an old event and wasn't meant for all the power-creep. If you go the solo route, though, you have to go all-in on Tenacity mods, because several of the enemies can stun.

If you can get a g9-g10 Bossk and one other g10-g11 bounty hunter, then Bossk can take lead, boost Tenacity, and then load up on health mods and Bossk can get stunned over and over while the other toon takes everyone out.

Remember, though, all scoundrels are eligible for Credit Heist. BH are great because they are scoundrels but also qualify for BH only events, but since you asked about the Credit Heist specifically, I have to tell you that Raid Han is eligible and does a bang-up job on offense. Bossk Lead (5*/g9) plus Boba (g*/g9) plus Raid Han (5*/g9) is probably overkill, though you'll still need two more scoundrels at 5*/g1/level 1 to qualify.

To get RH shards, all you need is a single 7* toon, doesn't matter what it is, and then join a guild that's doing heroic Rancor. There are lots of low-level guilds who need your 600 energy a day and don't care that you don't personally contribute any damage to the Rancor raid. It's actually best if you can get in a guild that sims Rancor. If you do, you'll have Raid Han at 7* in 5-6 weeks. RH is a wonderful toon that's useful all the way to endgame content, so don't be afraid that any gear you put on him will ever be wasted.

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As for Jango and Hound's Tooth, yeah, you can finish Level 8 missions with a borrowed toon even if you're level 56, but they don't actually let you attempt them until you're much higher level. I know you can't go for him now (I might have even said that earlier) but it's definitely a node you want to start farming as soon as it becomes available. It takes a long time, so the earlier you start the better.

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As a general note, succeeding in Fleet Arena is easier than succeeding in Squad Arena. My character growth improved a lot and my squad arena performance improved faster than it had been (still slow, though) once I went all in on ships. If you can take top5 in fleet, that's 300+ crystals every day that you weren't getting before. To get the same number of crystals in Squad, you have to be top10 and it's MUCH harder in quad to do that.

Whether you're playing for fun or with specific achievement goals in mind or whether you're playing competitively, it's good to get a decent squad Arena team together, but it's even better to get a strong Fleet Arena squad together. The meta in Fleet changes much more slowly, and often (though not always) the characters you need are more accessible (Chewbacca's not easy, but also not as difficult as Malak or GAS). It seems like a big investment, but once you're at the top of fleet it becomes not only easier to stay there, but you have all these extra crystals that make it easier to farm your Squad Arena team or your fun characters or the characters you want for that specific goal you have your eye on.

As I've said before, it's a game, so if you think fleet just s**ks (some people do) then skip it. But you should at least try it out, because if you don't hate it, it can make you much more successful in all your other in-game goals. Some of my favorite parts of the game are in the Dark Side Geonosis Territory Battle (I love the Acklay fight - I'd won like 6 in a row, but then I lost yesterday b/c that's a fight that can still surprise you without ever seeming overwhelmingly difficult or unfair). But I honestly wouldn't have had the time and resources to gear up my geonosians with all my other priorities (like getting GAS) if I hadn't had the 400 crystals I get every day from taking #1 in fleet. So it's a bit of a chore on some days, but it's also fun to know that I have the best fleet on my shard (I really do), and it enables me to do fun things that I wouldn't have been able to do without my success there.

Seriously, quit the game and go live your friggin life. We all suck. Don't be like us.

"MasterSeedy;c-2074291" wrote:
As a general note, succeeding in Fleet Arena is easier than succeeding in Squad Arena. My character growth improved a lot and my squad arena performance improved faster than it had been (still slow, though) once I went all in on ships. If you can take top5 in fleet, that's 300+ crystals every day that you weren't getting before. To get the same number of crystals in Squad, you have to be top10 and it's MUCH harder in quad to do that.

Indeed the extra crystals from fleet arena would help a lot. I just reached level 60 yesterday. What sort of fleet composition would you recommend for me to get started? The better ships such as Hound's Tooth are obviously not farmable for me at the present stage of the game.

My current line-up consists of Executrix, Jedi Consular's Starfighter, Imperial TIE fighter and Clone Sergeant's ARC-170, with Geonosian Soldier's Starfighter as reinforcement. As for their respective crew, I think only the TIE fighter pilot and Geonosian soldier are worth training. The former is used in my Empire team which I run in Galactic Wars, while the latter will eventually be part of a Separatist group. Since my strongest characters are all part of the Phoenix squad, should I grab Ghost from the fleet arena store as my next ship? The IG-2000 piloted by IG-88 also seems like a reasonable choice since the droid is also a bounty hunter.

Sorry for not seeing this earlier, @bastille77

TIE Silencer and Kylo Ren Unmasked are on the same node and in Cantina, they're a good early ship farm.

Getting all 3 geos together is a bit of distraction from where you want to go in terms of toons - but you want them all, you just wouldn't go for them first if Fleet wasn't present. On the plus side, however, there simply isn't any fleet that you can get together quickly that has the synergy of the Geonosians.

If you want to get the best start on fleet as early as possible, then Geonosians + Executrix + TIE Silencer + Vader + TFP's TIE are the first six, with the Geos as your starting lineup, the others coming in as reinforcements.

Chimera will replace Executrix when you have Thrawn & his cap ship, then Malevolence will replace Chimera after that (You get Malevolence by purchasing shards with Guild Event Tokens, Type 2, which you don't have yet.) This is subject to change, however. The new FO cap ship is the Finalizer, and is more accessible than Malevolence. By the time you get there, you might have a better FO fleet and simply switch over to FO from Geos. We'll have to see how the game develops and what new ships get released. In the meantime, adding FO ships like FOSpecial Forces TIE, FO TIE, and Kylo's Command Shuttle are good mid-range farms. Don't worry about them right away, but definitely collect as the opportunity presents itself because they're SOOOOOO easy to collect. They're also pretty mediocre to even bad ships normally, but Finalizer can triple their damage and make them incredible. It's something to watch as the game grows.

Now let's address prioritizing Reinforcement Abilities, TIE Silencer comes first. PERIOD. In later fleets, you'll want him out in the first group, but - and these two things are important - first, you're using him as a reinforcement right now, Second, eventually going to get the FO command ship Finalizer, and it activates the reinforcement abilities of all FO ships in the starting lineup. This is a massive bonus. And third, most ship reinforcement abilities aren't worth it - or at least they aren't worth the super-expensive final tier. This is because either they always are part of the starting lineup (like Hound's Tooth) or the ability just kinda s**ks. Be extremely careful in allocating these in the early game. Which you choose really does make a difference. (Much later in the game you end up with more of these than you need, but only if you continue to skip the reinforcement abilities of your ships with ungeared pilots or just bad reinforcement abilities. What makes it more than you need is that all the ships you actually use in Fleet Arena as reinforcements are fully upgraded + several others for GAC fleet matches. The rest you have are waiting for new ships & meta changes.)

Plo Koon on Light Side, TIE Silencer on Dark Side are your very best early-stage reinforcement abilities. In fact, Plo is so great you can put him in DS fleets because even though Plo isn't that good, his reinforcement is that awesome. It completely dispels all debuffs on any of your ships + it heals them at the same time. Usually you bring in a reinforcement as a lesser ship to replace the better ships in your starting lineup. But Plo you bring in even if Plo is terrible because he'll save one or two of your better ships and then makes himself a target to destroy with his taunt. So instead of replacing one of your good ships, he saves your good ships. As back benchers go, he's perfect.

But because you only want him for his reinforcement ability and ability to grant taunt to anyone in your fleet (usually himself at your level, but not always and the ability to grant it to others becomes more useful at higher levels as more ship options come online for you), don't actually worry about him. Collect his shards and blueprints, sure, but not as a priority. Even a terrible Plo can save your front line fighters, and his ability doesn't really start to get great until level 75 min and really level 85, so you've got time.

Well, that's more than enough to get you started. Geos first. Keep working on Phoenix and their ships (Ghost II is the next great reinforcement ability) so you can upgrade from Executrix to Chimera. Develop TIE Silencer, Vader, & Imperial TIE. This has the added benefit of being what you need to do to get your Zeta farm going as early as possible.

Good luck. Never be afraid to ask more questions. I hope you get up into the top 50 of fleet quickly.

Since my strongest characters are all part of the Phoenix squad, should I grab Ghost from the fleet arena store as my next ship? The IG-2000 piloted by IG-88 also seems like a reasonable choice since the droid is also a bounty hunter.

About these questions specifically: Ghost is very important for any early light-side team. IG-2000 is a lousy ship for a long time, but it's absolutely necessary for the Millennium Falcon and it's never too soon to work on it. Don't upgrade IG-88 past gear 10 unless you decide you've got a really good reason to do so (but you'll be level 80+ before that even becomes possible).

Remember that in the very, very earliest days of fleet, no one has good synergies yet, but some people will get them, soon, and they'll be the people you'll be competing with for the top 5 in fleet. Grabbing random ships just because you already have gear on the pilots can get you into the top 200 and maybe even 100, but it won't get you a crystal income. Only good synergy can do that, and the Geonosians are the easiest high-synergy team to farm.

So Phoenix because you need them long term, IG-2000 for shot term needs if you have no better option, but also because around level 80 or so you'll want a mid-grade IG-2000 for the MilFalc event. This means it's never too early to start grabbing available blueprints, but it IS probably too early to use your precious upgrade materials on that ship.

This may sound confusing, but IG-2000 is best farmed for blueprints, because that takes a long time, but left at level 1 until higher priority ships are finished and/or you're getting really close to being ready for the MilFalc event.

Always remember that leveling, upgrading, and even gearing is easier and quicker than farming shards or blueprints, so farming a lot of things to 7*/level 1 isn't a bad strategy. It allows those toons or ships to be available for your credits and gear and ability mats the moment you have them to spare, instead of realizing you're getting close to ready for an event but then discovering that farming the shards/blueprints is going to take 3 or 4 months.

I've been there. It's terrible. Don't sacrifice Geos or Vader or Phoenix progress for IG-2000, but grab whatever shards & blueprints you can for IG-2000 and other ships that aren't your top priorities (Anakin, the Bounty Hunters, Ahsoka, the Clones, etc.) whenever you can. It makes preparing for events or switching to a new meta much more painless later when you have the ships fully unlocked and are just waiting on pilot gear or cash.

"MasterSeedy;c-2077911" wrote:

Well, that's more than enough to get you started. Geos first. Keep working on Phoenix and their ships (Ghost II is the next great reinforcement ability) so you can upgrade from Executrix to Chimera. Develop TIE Silencer, Vader, & Imperial TIE. This has the added benefit of being what you need to do to get your Zeta farm going as early as possible.

That's a lot of useful information in there, thanks for taking the time to write it.

I've already started working on getting some of those ships you mentioned up to speed, with the current emphasis being on the Imperial TIE Fighter, TIE Silencer, Biggs Darklighter's X-wing and the two Phoenix ships. The principal challenge right now is the lack of ship building materials for enhancement purposes. I guess I'll just have to take my time on accumulating that.

"MasterSeedy;c-2077917" wrote:

Always remember that leveling, upgrading, and even gearing is easier and quicker than farming shards or blueprints, so farming a lot of things to 7*/level 1 isn't a bad strategy. It allows those toons or ships to be available for your credits and gear and ability mats the moment you have them to spare, instead of realizing you're getting close to ready for an event but then discovering that farming the shards/blueprints is going to take 3 or 4 months.

Very true. Just yesterday the Training Droid Smuggling event came up which offers a substantial amount of training droids as a reward. And unfortunately I can't participate because I've thus far neglected unlocking bounty hunters.

Regardless, I've since decided to still focus my main farming effort on the Phoenix Squadron instead of switching over to Separatists at this stage. I realized that they presently do an excellent job of helping me finish Galactic War consistently. Moreover, I've finally pushed past #1000 in Squad Arena just a couple days ago, peaking at #772. For the big boys I guess that's probably not a big deal, but it's a milestone in my f2p journey. Anyways, after I get Thrawn and Palpatine who'll join my Empire team, I'll probably work on Grandmaster Yoda next. In preparation for that, I've already begun farming Bastila, Jolee Bindo and Jedi Knight Anakin on the side.

Moreover, I've finally pushed past #1000 in Squad Arena just a couple days ago, peaking at #772. For the big boys I guess that's probably not a big deal, but it's a milestone in my f2p journey.

It's absolutely a milestone. I remember it took me more than a year to get to the point where I was finishing top #500 regularly (although that was partly because I took a break from the game after my first 4-5 months of playing and didn't come back until 6 months later ... I was way behind). I only started finishing top 100 every day in the past 6 months and only reliably top 50 about 3-4 weeks ago. Now, I hurt myself with taking a break while everyone else in my shard got better, and I don't think it's going to have to take you that long, but I'm just saying. These milestones are really important and deserve to be celebrated. They're not as easy to break though as it seems because most of th people who post on the forums are pretty dedicated to the game... so it seems normal to have 4M+ gp because almost everyone on the forum has 4M+ gp, but the forums are not the same as the game.

Anyway, congrats.

I've already begun farming Bastila, Jolee Bindo and Jedi Knight Anakin on the side.

Great choices!

The principal challenge right now is the lack of ship building materials for enhancement purposes. I guess I'll just have to take my time on accumulating that.

GW is your best source for those until you get to level 76 or something when the top tier SBM challenge happens. Until then, the 120k you get every day from GW adds up to WAY more than the 20k or 60k 3x/week you get from challenges.

Don't forget that it's better to have 2x level 60 ships and 1x level 30 than it is to have 3x level 50. Maybe commit to keeping two ships maxed and another 5-10 levels behind (because those levels are cheaper to purchase). I can't remember the exact ratio I used, but I did something like that when I was playing though levels 60-85. One of your ships isn't going to be a great ship, and if you choose one ship as your sacrifice then the ships that are closest to their potential are the ships with the most potential to begin with. It would be nice if you could keep up with everything, but you can't, so ... choose wisely? Can't help you more than that b/c you're your own person with your own priorities and sense of fun.