SWTOR Gearing Changes and Tips in Update 7.4

Update 7.4 is bringing us a whole new round of gearing changes!

Currency Conversions

New Conversions

• Trade 400 Conquest Commendations for  100 FP-1 Stabilizers
• Trade 2,000 Conquest Commendations for  175 OP-1 Catalysts
• Trade  500 FP-1 Stabilizers for  175 OP-1 Catalysts

Old Conversions

• At the Conquest Gear Vendor: Trade 500 Conquest Commendations for  200 FP-1 Stabilizers (I think this one is being removed.)
• At the PvP Vendor: Trade  200 WZ-1 Accelerants for  200 Tech Fragments
• At the Conquest Gear Vendor: Trade 200 Conquest Commendations for  200 Tech Fragments
• At the Flashpoint Gear Vendor: Trade  200 FP-1 Stabilizers for  200 Tech Fragments
• At the Operation gear Vendor: Trade  200 OP-1 Catalysts for  200 Tech Fragments

There used to be no way to trade for OP-1 Catalysts but there will be now in 7.4,  there is still no way to get   WZ-1 Accelerants, you need to earn them through PvP.

Gear Chart 7.4

344 Rakata

Rakata Gear can now be upgraded all the way up to item-rating 344, the newest highest item-rating in the game.

Upgrading a piece of Rakata gear costs these mounts, though it varies slightly per piece:

• Purchase 324 = 25 Op-1 Catalysts
• 324 -> 326 = 50 Op-1 Catalysts
• 326-> 328 = 60 Op-1 Catalysts
• 328-> 330 = 60 Op-1 Catalysts
• 330 -> 332 = 60 Op-1 Catalysts
• 332 -> 334 = 60 Op-1 Catalysts
• 336 -> 338 = 60 Op-1 Catalysts
• 338 -> 340 = 60 Op-1 Catalysts
• 340 -> 342 = 80 Op-1 Catalysts
• 342 -> 344 = 80 Op-1 Catalysts

If you are buying a brand new piece and upgrading it from 324 all the way to 344, it would cost about 600 Op-1 Catalysts per piece.

If you already have a 336 piece from the previous update, and are just upgrading to 344, it will cost you 280 Op-1 Catalysts per piece.

If you happen to have purple Veteran Mode R4 gear (item-rating 340), you can pay tokens and OP-1 Catalysts to upgrade it and exchange it for Rakata 342 gear which you can then upgrade like normal Rakata pieces to 344.

OP-1 Catalysts

OP-1 Catalysts are used to upgrade your Rakata purple-bordered gear up to item-rating 344, the best gear score in the game as of Update 7.4.

Master Mode Chapters

Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne chapters will reward 10 OP-Catalysts for completion.

You can complete these chapters in a group, but the rewards are currently only awarded to the player whose instance you are in, so only one player will get the reward. The developers are “looking into options to make them available to the entire group in a future update.”

Operation Weeklies

Each Operation weekly quest from the operations terminal rewards a certain number of OP-1 Catalysts. These weeklies are a random selection of Operations that rotates each week.

• Single-boss operations like Toborro give no OP-1 Catalysts
• Story Mode Operations = 20  OP-1 Catalysts (plus a box with a Tionese gear piece)
• Veteran Mode Operations = 65  OP-1 Catalysts (plus a box with a Columi gear piece)
• Master Mode Operations = 175  OP-1 Catalysts (plus a box with a Rakata gear piece)

Operation Bosses

I didn’t keep good track but I think I got one from each story mode operation boss I fought as well including Toborro.

• Story Mode Boss Drop = 1-2 OP-1 Catalysts per boss
• Veteran Mode Boss Drop = 3-4 OP-1 Catalysts per boss
• Master Mode Boss Drop = ??? OP-1 Catalysts per boss

Deconstructing Tionese/Columi/Rakata Gear

• Deconstructing green Tionese gear yields 3-9  OP-1 Catalysts
• Deconstructing blue Columi gear yields 8  OP-1 Catalysts
• Deconstructing purple Rakata gear yields 15  OP-1 Catalysts

Random Drops

While you are playing out in the open world, stronger enemies have a small chance of dropping a small bag of OP-1 Catalysts.

You can only hold 1,200 OP-1 Catalysts at a time or earn 2,000 per week.

Legendary Implants

Legendary Implants are now increasing to 340, up from 334.

Equip two Legendary Implants at item rating 340 to make your implant upgrades cheaper with the achievement discount.

Legendary Implants

PvP Gear

If you play PvP regularly, it sounds like the new gear ceiling for PvP is going to be 336, so you may want to upgrade your gear. You don’t need to use the Thyrsian gear that you earn by pvping, that’s just one track to get gear, which will now go up to 336 (up from 332.) Don’t forget if you are gearing for PvP, you can use less accuracy, which means you can put more numbers into other stats if you are creating a pvp-perfect set. PvP Gear Guide

SWTOR PvP Gear

Hyde & Zeek 340 Mods

Speak to Hyde on the fleet to begin a new mission to acquire and deconstruct gear at item rating 340 to unlock these new mods.

However, players focusing on 344 Rakata may choose to ignore this upgrade. It may still be useful for quickly gearing alternate characters, if you don’t need to min-max them.

Players who have 336 blues and don’t want to work on Rakata may enjoy upgrading their blues from 336 to 340.

Other Gear

Noble Decurion, and Supreme Decurion, Tionese, and Columi will all be increasing to 340 (up from 336). However, depending on how easy it is to get Rakata gear, players may choose to ignore these other tiers and focus on getting the new purple-bordered item-rating 344 Rakata gear. even if playing solo.