augments swtor. Hey Folks! I came back after a years break. augments swtor

 
Hey Folks! I came back after a years breakaugments swtor  If you're in a spec that has a surge bonus for some abilities, but no auto-crit, then you might be better off with main stat

It requires me to play both ranked pvp and hard mode pve, just for the chance at getting a couple of the mats I need to get 1 of 14 augments. The system of adding augment slots to gear in SWTOR underwent a radical transformation in patch 1. Posted January 27, 2016. After years of playing I'm sitting on 50 something million and the augments for one of my characters will cost 200 million, maybe half of that in a month. Were these just phased out with the 4. I suppose some of that at low levels is because SWTOR does absolutely nothing to explain about augments, and most new players are confused about it or simply unaware that it exists. 4. And you will also need to make higher "Grade" kits to put them in. 96 damage. Find out which mods to purchase from Hyde and Zeek in SWTOR on the Fleet to minimize your spending and optimize your build. Augments are definitely necessary. It’s really hard to justify using the purple 286 augments unless you or your group really needs that small stat increase to slightly boost your numbers. Edited December 14, 2019 by JediQuaker. Posted January 29, 2016. if you have BiS gear for a lowbie, it means nothing because it. -. It’s really hard to justify using the purple 286 augments unless you or your group really needs that small stat increase to slightly boost your numbers. Advanced Accuracy Augment 40. Between power and willpower, willpower is still the better augment, for now. 1. If you can, at least get the Purple Level 75 Augments (that extra Power is too. 3 Mercenary Bodyguard Combat Style (Class) Guide. It’s really hard to justify using the purple 286 augments unless you or your group really needs that small stat increase to slightly boost your numbers. - Kits are made by Synthweavers, Armstech or Armormech. It gives you a simple 1 to 1 ratio. I listed these off the top of my head so I may have one or. This article is not a strict. Posted April 26, 2013. - Kits are made by Synthweavers, Armstech or Armormech. The dedicated guide contains tips for all roles in both PvE and PvP. do more than 15. Individual Pieces. However, adding an augment slot to an item is expensive. With augments, you could equip just one alacrity augment, and then place a crit enhancement that you can take full advantage of in that spot you would have had to waste on the alacrity enhancement. I listed these off the top of my head so I may have. Posted January 29, 2016. It says it has a 20% success chance, so statistically I should have the recipe by now. This Guide is for Beginner players and, perhaps, some returning veterans who want to catch up with what has changed and how. (5. Legacy of the Sith 7. If they upgrade to MK-12 or new augments in the future, you'll have to create or buy a new MK-12 augment kit, remove the old augment from its slot manually, then overwrite the MK-12 kit on the MK-11 kit slot on the item, then put the old augment or a new one back in. In this video, we’ll be going over how to start Armstech crafting, how to level up your Armstech crew skill and unlock more crafting schematics, and lastly, we’ll. Armormech crafts Skill (cunning), Reflex (aim), Shield and Absorb augments. Individual Pieces. Players without Augmented Operations gear will not be viable. . Introduction to SWTOR 7. Pretty cool they're bringing some of the generics back, maybe we can do interesting combinations with some of the class specific set implants. Yeah sry, it is pvp dmg, preferred deception, since I have expirience with it since vanilla. (that is RE one grade 10 assembly component (from any crafting skill), and you will get mats plus one assembly slot component MK-10) If you have multiple crafters, then the cheapest way to get the slot components will depend on your mat. Top gold critical augments are worth around 2bil to craft. Support. SWTOR Synthweaving Crafting Guide. There’s no penalty to starting late though, so if you want to save crafting for later, carry on. 0 from the dedicated guide. That's 5,544 raw total stats. Cybertechs can craft mods and armorings, and Armstechs can create barrels. Check Details. 199k. 1k dps with new augments, bc it's not the gear. It’s really hard to justify using the purple 286 augments unless you or your group really needs that small stat increase to slightly boost your numbers. e. Open your crafting window and change the sort order to 'Rating' or 'Difficulty'; the default sort order is alphabetical, so 'Prototype Absorb Augment 40' will sort way down the list from 'Absorb Augment 40'. Suggestion Box. 2500 2418 7426 0. See moreby Vulkk. 1. 1 and there will be several people that will take on the lead roles in the dev team: Eric Musco, Lead Producer. The days of 80-100k for the top tier augments are long gone (thanks BW for the unecessary extra augment tier with overly convoluted crafting system and materials to craft those augments. They're not for adding the augments into the gear. 5. Main hands will have critical. Individual Pieces. 0 release, but they are a part of our 10-year celebration plans. 1 Enhancements (+431 each – Unlettered and Unnumbered Version but, perhaps, the R. Relics – Serendipitous Assault & Focused Retribution (I use Sha’tek); Stim – Advanced Kyrprax Versatile Stim; Augments include 4 Advanced Critical Augment 74’s and 10 Advanced Versatile Augment. The best way to make money off of this crew skill is by selling things that people want at max level. Star Wars The Old Republic Menu Toggle. In 5. April 6, 2022. However, they have created serious issues with gear balancing. 2. It took me maybe6-8 weeks to get them all for my crafters. 1. Augment schematics come from a variety of places,. by Endonae. Anyway if you want get golden augments here some tips: - Get 5/6 chars lvl 80. Using gear slots for it is probably not worthwhile unless you're doing it for teh lulz, since you would be gimping your own stats. Something like crystal system from black desert, like have a screen where you activate your augment build, and have multiple builds in that screen and have that screen be accessible from all the characters in your account. 1, players can expect the launch of Galactic Season 5, UI/UX updates for our HUD and world maps, and special weapons and armor sets coming to the Cartel Market. In doing the math on my Shadow, I needed 14 Absorption Augments to reach the numbers recommended in there. 0+ in order to streamline the process. Adding the possibilty for the armormech, synthweaving and armstech to make augments adds a bit of extra flavor. Posted January 27, 2016. Some people have 30 + Brontes wings. Augmentation Kits are for adding a fourth slot (augment slot) to the weapon (i. e. 3. 3. Get the mk-10 augment kits. Find out which mods to purchase from Hyde and Zeek in SWTOR on the Fleet to minimize your spending and optimize your build. Augments Basics of Armormech Crafting You can start crafting after you’ve completed your first planet, at around level 10 or higher. For example, if you were to encode each (natural) number as a unique sequence of 1’s and 0’s. 8k. . The materials to craft them, depend on what recpie they are but all need the materials from. Augments and augment kits are a little more difficult. Tanking for pve. But, if rather, as is more typical, you have proper levels of Accuracy and Alacrity, you would mostly use augments to add some Critical or Power/Mastery. Augments: Blue 276 augments ([Type] Augment 73 + Augmentation Kit Mk-11) Crystals: Advanced Eviscerating (+41 Critical)Star Wars™: The Old Republic, a story-driven MMORPG from BioWare and LucasArts. EDIT: Removed a part that made people think this was a rant thread If 5. It would be miles better if we could have our augments be accessible from all other characters from our account seemlessly. It gives you a simple 1 to 1 ratio. As the Republic scrambles to defend this key territory at the edge of. The vertical progression has always been the. The easier path to credits is gathering and selling mats. Yamunun. 3 this slot will be of the same level/craft rank (1-6) as the item. SorinMarkov_ Posted June 26, 2012. In the new system, you can add an augment slot to any piece of equippable gear, from earpieces to implants to generators. Posted April 17, 2013. Augments: Blue 276 augments ([Type] Augment 73 + Augmentation Kit Mk-11) Crystals: Advanced Eviscerating (+41 Critical) After 7. Artiface- Makes the enchancments. In this guide I intend to cover the. Though the progression breaks down at the highest (and lowest) ranks/levels. If a piece of gear does not have an augment slot, then you have to install one using a. The same goes for armour except that hilt/barrel is replaced with an armouring piece. For the most part, each "Mark" level is good for 4 "Ranks" of augments, and each "Rank" of augment has a level requirement 2 levels higher than the previous rank. You will definitely get a benefit from those. Honestly even if you’re pretty casual the blue augments which don’t cost much to make are way better than none. 1a. Synthweaving also creates Strength, Willpower, Defense, Alacrity, and Presence Augments. If you really want to min-max, I would start with 3 pieces of alacrity gear and 4 purple augs, this will put you at 2094-2140. Plus the Level 77 (item rating 300) augs will be obsolete when 7. Go to topic listing. Right now you can try the new Feast of Prosperity event,. Use the augments to fill in holes created by your gear. In the ones with no crafter tag, no % tag or No Research. Then you'll craft the augments, which can also crit and give you doubles. These are overall best-in-slot (BiS) and will provide a noticeable DPS increase, but they are obscenely expensive. 2. The dedicated guide contains tips for all roles in both PvE and PvP. Almost everyone should get this tier of. 0 and 6. To make higher "Grade" Augments, you will have to level up your crafting skill. Shabir Dhillon, one of BioWare’s SWTOR gameplay designers, announced some excellent combat style balance chances coming along with Game Update 7. I've hear speculation that they will be. You can always put the slots in your gear and fill them with cheap augments if you feel it makes much of a difference. Augment slot kits are also crafted by all the crew skills above. 1. Anything other than a Augment 22 schematic will sell for 8-10k on my server. SWTOR Armstech Crafting Guide. However, I probably wont rely on them and I certainly wont be mass producing them. Augments can be crafted by the Armormech, Armstech, and Synthweaving Crew Skills. Followers 0. If you’re a level 80 players in Star Wars: The Old republic, you’ll want to look in to gearing up your character. Use these 14 augments to get the rest of the way there, and you should have 3 or 4 augments left that you can use for crit augments. I know others have mixed it up a bit more than that, but it depends on the stats you already have. Absorb augments - Absorption Rating/Power Shield augments - Shield Rating/Power Versatile augments - Mastery/Endurance Accuracy augments. Armormech at level 600 after you purchase the unlock to get to 700 allows you to instantly craft item-rating 268 non-modifiable armor, an item-rating 274 tank armoring, and at 680 allows you to craft augment kits, and the blue Alacrity and Absorb item-rating 276 augments. This article will cover all of the announced changes along with my analysis of the impact they’ll have on game balance. 2% alacrity, 15. Right-click on the modification station and drop the piece of gear on the window that appears. So if it gives Absorption and Power, you get 32 Absorb and 20 Power. We are not raising Crew Skills,. It’s really hard to justify using the purple 286 augments unless you or your group really needs that small stat increase to slightly boost your numbers. Ahhh thanks that seems to be the general consensus. The most notable changes are the removal of Utilities, the ability pruning. Any of those can craft the augment kits needed to add a slot. These are overall best-in-slot (BiS) and will provide a noticeable DPS increase, but they are obscenely expensive. Your Starship is home base for you and your crew. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than here. lordkhouri said: Removing and re-adding augments to your gear in a war zone completely screws with bolster and gives you ridiculously high stats. SWTOR 7. I believe you could correct this by allowing users a discounted price on an augment slot if an item already has a slot. So the game is trying to do 2 new things with these augments : 1 - Make the end game PvE'rs participate in Team Ranked. I use stim + 1 286 Augment + 3 Initiative Enhancements. Augments only go in slots of a certain tier (for example, MK-9 Augment kits are used to open a tier 9 slot, meaning grade 9 (level 55) or below augments can be placed there. For example if you have 109,8% accuracy but you don't want to change one of your power/critical or powe/alacrity enhancements to power/accuracy then just add one accuracy augment to get over accuracy cap. Augments still make great money and are pretty easily craftable up to 286, and deconstructing up to the 286 recipes isn't that hard expensive. The kits add augment *slots* to gear. Blue 276 augments ([Type] Augment 73 + Augmentation Kit Mk-11) provide about 88% of the benefit for about 6% of the cost of the purple 286 augments. Healers will have 2-3 gear pieces with alacrity (Med-Tech has 2, Force-Healer and Mender has 3). This. The dedicated guide contains tips for all roles in both PvE and PvP. Ran some numbers with a lvl 50 companion, all the materials required to start crafting 1 augment average about 6,2600,000 credits with current prices. And the rarity of schematics most likely means "up and coming" slicers won't even find any low level schematics as they raise their skill. 2 bil. The current augments were already cost-prohibitive for a lot of players,. Star Wars: The Old Republic is moving from Bioware to Broadsword! 7. Crafting Endgame Gear. BioWare has announced additional EndGame Gearing changes for SWTOR 7. An augment is an item modification and can be applied to an augment slot. 353. In this video, we’ll be going over how to start artifice crafting, how to level up your Artifice crew skill and unlock more crafting schematics, and lastly, we’ll. This was supposed to be part of 7. 1. Continuing Bant's good work, I have taken on updating his spreadsheet. Blue 276 augments ([Type] Augment 73 + Augmentation Kit Mk-11) provide about 88% of the benefit for about 6% of the cost of the purple 286 augments. 4% alacrity (healers), 60% Absorption (tanks). 1 PTS. is the overkill (power/endurance) no longer around?Augments are desirable because they are anotber source of stat boosts, and the higher your stats, the more damage you can deal and take. less than 8 ppl again. Be sure to pull out your augments before upgrading to avoid losing them. Your enhancements, augments, earpieces and implants will be mixed to hit the stat target goals, but a rule of thumb is always use Adept, Initiative or Quick Savant enhancements, implants and earpieces depending on if you need Crit, Accuracy or. You can get to maximum pvp gear and be fully competitive in a short time without spending any money. So you would just be throwing your money away buying any now. They are available to low level players, but aren’t really worth. Plasma Flare is pretty low-tech as far as Star Wars is concerned, you’re just spraying your target with fuel and then igniting them, but sometimes the simplest attacks are most effective. Augments and Augmentation Kits are still craftable, and able to be used on all 7. SWTOR design director Chris Schmidt dropped a very controversial bomb on the forums announcing a brand new tier of Augments coming with Update 6. ) Yes, I remembered those days lolol, came back to. e. Bonus Damage = Presence * 0. Tacticals. One thing I'm still generally questioning is to what degree it'll even really be worth upgrading gear anyway. 0. 1. Star Wars: The Old Republic has 6 different crafting skills you can choose from: Armormech, Synthweaving, Armstech, Artifice, Cybertech and Biochem. In previous expansions, you would collect a Set Bonus, a special type of gear that was specific to your Combat Style, and that bonus was attached to your armor pieces and you had to. Find out which mods to purchase from Hyde and Zeek in SWTOR on the Fleet to minimize your spending and optimize your build. Stats & Min-Maxing. ago. Now that you are at the EndGame, it is time to expand your knowledge about the many approaches and methods at your disposal while you gear up your first (and any others) character at level 75. 4. This guide is an extension to the Ultimate SWTOR Beginners Guide for new players. 0 PTS New UI and Sniper and Operative Changes; Changes to Gearing in 7. Now they add more to the list of improvements and rebalancing of how you can get your. Blue 276 augments ([Type] Augment 73 + Augmentation Kit Mk-11) provide about 88% of the benefit for about 6% of the cost of the purple 286 augments. 2 live numbers. less than 8 ppl again. And you will also need to make higher "Grade" kits to put them in. Synthweaving is the crafting skill for strength and willpower armor. • 6 yr. Edited November 5, 2015 by Jinre_the_Jedi. 15% Alacrity — 1213 stat points; The rest of your tertiary stats can go into Critical; RELATED Complete SWTOR EndGame Gearing Guide for Level 75More sharing options. Dark Matter Catalyst Still don't appear on the GTN, I've put them for sale myself, they're on my sell list, but they're not the GTN list. You will find everything you need in the new guide. Star Wars: The Old Republic Wiki is a FANDOM Games Community. He is a dps sin and plans to stay that way, alth. Put the augments into the augment slots. The MK8 Augment Kit is now the highest. x200+ Tech Fragments. G2G. Either directly, or via the GTN. I can't find any authoritative info on it. 3, it was only possible to create an Augmented item through a critical crafting success. Break even prices for Advanced Critical Augment 74. The use of breast implants to address these concerns is one of the most commonly-performed cosmetic surgical procedures in the world. While leveling in STAR WARS: The Old Republic, we want to ensure that Crew Skills are a way to help supplement your experience. The dedicated guide contains tips for all roles in both PvE and PvP. Now, I would MAYBE be alright with dishing out 5-10 million for a whole new set of shiny yellow augments, but even that means a large chunk of my bank for just one character. So i was wondering which would be the b. Find out which mods to purchase from Hyde and Zeek in SWTOR on the Fleet to minimize your spending and optimize your build. Individual Pieces. In short, the augmentation kit has nothing to do with the normal modification process. Blue 276 augments ([Type] Augment 73 + Augmentation Kit Mk-11) provide about 88% of the benefit for about 6% of the cost of the purple 286 augments. This alone means that the gaps between the two are miniscule at worst, and the crit is substantial in high amounts of mainstat. There are 84 Armormech, 105 Armstech and 105 Synthweaving Base (green) schematics, for a total of 294. Not wanting to just do the same this time, I was thinking of using + presence augments in the slots instead of the usual +power or + willpo. SWTOR 6. The current highest level augments are 236. Find out which mods to purchase from Hyde and Zeek in SWTOR on the Fleet to minimize your spending and optimize your build. Augments: Blue 276 augments ([Type] Augment 73 + Augmentation Kit Mk-11) Crystals: Advanced Eviscerating (+41 Critical)I´m trying to RE a blue Critical Augment 73 to get the purple Advanced Critical Augment 74, but when I select the deconstruction button and look for my blue augments I have 2 options: 1. Craft trainers. It will allow you to plan ahead your gearing process, calculate what mods to go for and check how each piece of gear. Prior to Game Update 1. Alacrity augments on Ebon Hawk, at last check, were going for about 30k credits more than any other augment. Pricing of augments. Rank 6 augments require level 17 and a MK-2 slot. You can pretty much one size it for standard builds these days for PVE although high Alacrity builds are working very well for a bunch of specs. If you’re looking for a cheap modifiable set of armor. 139 votes, 131 comments. - That way the crits should bless you with an additional augment. Absorb. The new Augments will require materials from Master Mode Operations, Ranked PvP Missions and Boxes, and the Cybertech Crew Skill to assemble the new materials. . Let Us Remove MK-11 Augment Kits from Gear. Conquest. In order to add the slot you would buy or craft the kit then go to the station put the. They sell in Trade Chat because they're more expensive than the GTN allows. Ok dumb question and I cant find the search feature in this forum. The only reason it is, is due to speccing into will of the sith, which provides an extra 6% - and the buff on willpower, an additional 5% (total of 11%). I am not wrong about this because I have done this before. I'm a huge MMO fan, played WoW for about four years, Rift for a year, and I've been playing TOR for about six months. The rather prohibitive cost is for using the kit, not the slot. Mats for one Synthweaving augment (crit or. I am talking about buying a Augment for which I do not have a schematic for. Gold Augments and a Brush with Pay-to-win Last year I wrote a post about how I'd been making a lot of money in SWTOR by simply selling stuff on the GTN that I'd earned through normal gameplay. 9 added Ossus and 252/258 main gear, but no new augments. Shield Tech Powertech is one of the three Tanking Disciplines in SWTOR, available to Powertechs level 10 and over. I don't think augments have ever gone as high as main gear, or at least not recently. Powertech/Vanguard: Adjusted timing of some ability grants to smooth out the leveling experience. Unforuntely they are also ridiculously expensive and difficult to craft. Any crafts grade 11 component can be RE's to a MK11 aug slot component. 4. 13-15% Alacrity is fine for all Dps classes in PvE. Accuracy to 110. 0 launches this 'holiday season'. Weekly Time: more or less 12 hours with bad luck. . Updated September 9, 2023 BioWare has made loads of gearing changes over the course of SWTOR 7. 85 then we see that 15% Alacrity leads to 17. Suggestion Box. Augments: Blue 276 augments ([Type] Augment 73 + Augmentation Kit Mk-11) Crystals: Advanced Eviscerating (+41 Critical) If/ whenever you plan to upgrade, craft what you need with a rank 50 companion. What are they used for?????Should only take 1-3 tries as there is a 60% chance. Armormech is simply the crafting of cunning and aim armor. 8k. That's 14 augments. Where surge is the surge bonus to an ability. Swtor how to get augmentation slot component mk-11I like these new augmentation kits you can craft :) : swtor Vindir dark side vendor republic fleetSwtor gearing. OK, finally having gotten my crew skills all maxed, I am ready to start crafting Augment Kits. com - Buy SWTOR items, Buy Star Wars The Old Republic items Securely. 0 Legacy of the Sith expansion. Data updates every 5 minutes. Blue 276 augments ([Type] Augment 73 + Augmentation Kit Mk-11) provide about 88% of the benefit for about 6% of the cost of the purple 286 augments. Make sure the augment slot mk-6 is in your inventory as well as your augment. Defense is the tanking discipline for Jedi Guardian and one of the three tanking disciplines in the SWTOR. 0 Powertech Changes Preview and Analysis (PTS) SWTOR 7. The dedicated guide contains tips for all roles in both PvE and PvP. Note: Although the first segment of this guide is more tailored towards the Endgame players who are just. Augments: Blue 276 augments ([Type] Augment 73 + Augmentation Kit Mk-11) Crystals: Advanced Eviscerating (+41 Critical) If we have 15% Alacrity then our ability activations should take around 85% of the time they would normally take (i. SWTOR design director Chris Schmidt dropped a very controversial bomb on the forums announcing a brand new tier of Augments coming with Update 6. Grophets Guides recommends using Superior Accuracy Augment 77 (Gold Augs) or Advanced Accuracy Augment 74 (Purple Augs). If we divide 1 by 0. Augments. All mats are in need and sell well, but I would prefer slicing over the other 3 on my first char, because you literally. 0 launches!Updated November 19, 2023. 1a. Blue 276 augments ([Type] Augment 73 + Augmentation Kit Mk-11) provide about 88% of the benefit for about 6% of the cost of the purple 286 augments. 3. UPDATE March 2, 2021: The game will no longer freeze when changing the. Sort by:As others said the cheapest is to craft cell grafts/assembly components (depending on your crew skills) of the appropriate level and deconstruct them to get 1 slot component mk-X depending on the green materials used (11th level assembly comp. Stats on the best Augments to play in the current meta. Craft trainers. 3. Bant used 3 targets for his calculations so I. . I do however now have a volunteer and new toolset to help add guides from the past year and to help as more come out with the Legacy of the Sith expansion. From this point on you begin the grind through the EndGame. Almost everyone should get this tier of. Augments: Blue 276 augments ([Type] Augment 73 + Augmentation Kit Mk-11) Crystals: Advanced Eviscerating (+41 Critical)A while back I wrote a comprehensive Gearing Guide to help players understand how gearing works in SWTOR at endgame to optimize their. Ashley Ruhl, Narrative Director. Crafter will need to create the purple augments. 3: Old. Your goal is to obtain the best possible gear for your needs. The vertical progression has always been the same and the. Posted December 5, 2015. In this video, we’ll be going over how to start Synthweaving crafting, how to level up your Synthweaving crew skill and unlock more crafting schematics, and. Tanking for pve. I have been told to DE gear in order to obtain schematics for augments, as we are now capable of crafting augments, however I have had no luck, I have run multiple runs of underworld missions for all levels, still found none. The required OEM-37 and RPM-13 to create a CM-1337 has been reduced to 5 OEM-37 and 5 RPM-13 (down from 7 OEM-37 and 14 RPM-13). 1, including a detailed breakdown of the new tiers of gear, and how and where to get them! Please visit the new Complete Guide to Endgame Gearing in SWTOR. But secondary stat augments are still good. base is the base damage of the attack (typically a range). Bearing those things in mind: 1) +power or +willpower aug. This guide below is no longer being updated. I was using single target calculations to determine the Optimal Stats. Synthweaving, Armormech and Armstech are the crew skill sources for these. This is now not really great unless it's a level 49-50 item. You need 14 level 8 (soon to be level 9) augment kits to augment all of your gear. While Underworld Trading materials are necessary for making level 50 gear, you also need to. Ive tried bringing the prices down low, but people really only want the purple ones. Like other slots, Players with low level (or no) Augments will be given some stat compensation to bring them up to a more competitive level. SWTOR Update 6. e. Affected combat styles include: Powertech and Vanguard. Step 2 – Complete a Conquest at Level 80 to earn the Conquest Commendations currency. Game Update 7. This equates up to an additional 252 points of any stat you choose and 168 points of Endurance or Power (depends on which stat you choose, offensive stats are paired with endurance, defensive are paired with power). 26. Bant used 3 targets for his calculations so I. 0 gear. Spurred on in secret by covert Imperial forces, the Nova Blade pirates have staged an all-out attack on the pastoral Republic world. So i was just wondering which of the three crew skills to take in order to make augments. If you want to make augments you really need some slicing alts to get the tech components. I finished the JC storyline as a shadow. do more than 15. SWTOR 6. 1 and there will be several people that will take on the lead roles in the dev team: Eric Musco, Lead Producer. There was never a safety measure for this so you have to be extra careful when upgrading gear.