I usually try to PVP in the late morning/early afternoon as I find them most doable then. There aren’t as many of the hardcore PVPers on and I’m just…not a PVP person. I have a hard time with PVP for many reasons–not only because it makes me nervous so I tend to mess up a bit when it comes to actually killing people, but earning medals for a healer is pretty hard. They have made it easier–I’d be lying if I didn’t say that. However, that doesn’t mean it’s completely easy either.

To explain, Bill is fighting some guy and has medium-ish health. You heal him up and he’s either full or close to and then you switch over to maybe, Anna who’s health is kind of dwindling. Bill then finishes the guy off and despite you essentially keeping him alive as he fought, you do not get credit. (I won’t even go into kill-stealing.)

While I don’t care much for my kill count, getting medals (Gotten for various achievements during PVP) isn’t that easy, especially for a healer. Quick list thanks to Old Republic.net

Demolisher – 2.5k Damage Single hit
Annihilator – 5K damage from a single attack
Combatant – 75k Damage Dealt
Destroyer – 300k Damage Dealt
Commando – 10 Kills
Soldier – 25 Kills
Quick Draw – 1 Killing Blow
Assassin – 1 Solo Kill
Shield – 5k Defense
Protector – 50k Defense
Guardian – 2k Defense in 1 Life
Paladin – 10k Defense in 1 Life
Defender – 1k Defender Points
Warden – 3k Defender Points
Healer – 75k Healed
Savior – 300k Healed
Medic – 2.5k Single Heal
Trauma Surgeon – 5k Single Heal

Now, it shouldn’t be impossible to see why it’s not super super easy. Thankfully, there are heal medals too. The main thing is healers are always targetted. I often read people essentially cursing out the healers. I have had 5-6 guys on me at once trying to kill me. And if there’s one thing you’ll notice, especially on a PVE server–a lot of the same names. So, eventually, they’ll see you and they know you’re a healer.

The other issue you’ll come across is those beautiful 5K+ heals you were doing? Not existing. You do have to lower your willpower with your PVP stuff and get expertise for your heals to be more effective. I actually can’t always guarantee I’ll hit 5K which sucks, despite usually hitting it with every Deliverance. And that is where the middle part comes in too–if you are currently trying to slowly get some PVP gear, you will notice that a lot (not all–who knows, maybe some of the Champion gear will be better than what you have) of your old damage/healing output will lessen while you get geared. It’s frustrating as you go in and it’s already dropped and then you feel useless.

It’s hard to have confidence to heal if you know people are doing better than you and your heals barely do anything. It’s almost just a waste of force because they’re not going to live from it. And when you’re heal spec, your DPS isn’t exactly award-worthy either. Similarly, as mentioned, people will start to remember your name and mark you on sight and then you will be killed repeatedly before you can do much of anything. Not so easy getting a medal count when dead.

But, through seeing many names constantly, you’ll know who are the most helpful team mates, who to watch out for, who’s probably an alt of someone else… etc. However, it isn’t completely impossible. I have managed to get 8 medals before in a very crazy turret/Civil War match. That doesn’t mean it’s always easy–I do struggle sometimes justto get 4. You need at least 4 to fully max out. Also, each MVP vote gives you an extra 200 valor as well. Part of my main issue is I think strategy over killing and healing. Due to how the gear lessens it right now with the few articles I have, I tend to focus more on what I can do to help our team win over the silly kill count and rankings…unfortunately, the game doesn’t properly calculate objectives so I’m often low on the list and often do not get acknowledged.

You may even run into Republic vs Republic games (which make me feel even more awkward killing people as I may be against someone I was teamed with in the past–nobody else has this problem though 😐 ).

Despite PVP’s frustrations, you do get a good amount of money from them. And valor is pretty easy to get until about the 50’s where it starts to make you need much much more. I’m currently at 54 Valor. There were points before where I could level after 1-2 matches–or at least once or twice by the time I finished PVP dailies. Now? That isn’t guaranteed. Which of course means we need to work harder and is also why medals are so important–they contribute a lot to that valor count.

At the moment, I need about 10,000 valor to hit valor level 55. I don’t even want to think of how much I’ll need for the next 10 levels. And of course, they are going much slower which means we do need to pick up the pace.

But yes, I’m definitely determined (and I don’t know what else would get me through PVP honestly), but I have been asked a lot why I am working so hard to get so many things done before 1.2…and it’s pretty simple. I do not like adding to my “To-do List”, especially when it’s something big that deserves it’s own. I like clearing it out and then preparing for that next list. Not having an even crazier list. It’s very stressful and it sucks because then you’re saving for so much at once and it’s like “what do I do first” and it is just insane. It really is.

Anyway, while I wait for my boyfriend to get up so we can start, it is time for space dailies…and dear god, am I terrible at them. 🙁