Schematics still drop from Investigation/Underworld Trading/Treasure Hunting/Slicing missions, but only seem to have a chance to drop from Bountiful/Rich/Wealthy yield materials missions - I haven't seen a single one from a companion gift mission since the changes (they also have a - fairly small - chance to drop from Treasure Hunting lockboxes, but from the box itself, not as an extra result from the mission). To further complicate things, the changes to the material tiers seem to have changed which tier of missions has a chance to drop which schematics (I pulled a level 10 schematic from a tier 4 mission the other day). Deprecated/Archived schematics (a lot of the old fixed-stat blue schematics, and at least some of the deprecated orange weapon/armour shells) can still drop from missions, but you need to run a lot more missions to get schematics than you used to.

Not sure why the Force Power is dropping on the 216 (might just be a display bug, but can't check since I never bothered to buy the 212 saber schematics and RE them.) Yes, if you craft one you'll be able to RE it (with the same 100% chance) to learn a 220 version of the schematic. Is it worth it? Depends how badly you want a 220 saber and how easily you can get your hands on Strategic Resource Matrices (you'll probably need 3 or 4 for crafting the 220, plus a bunch of EIS, which aren't that hard to get if you run a lot of heroics).

Don't forget the 650+325 from Star Fortress bonus missions (the 625 goes to your active companion, the 325 to the follower from the appropriate planet). You still get it in solo mode, and if you're just farming influence you can exit/re-set after completing the bonus.

At least some of them require slicing mats (the 216s and up, from memory). Biochem (and to a lesser extent Artifice) are the least affected by this change, since they can at least craft some useful stuff with the "correct" mission materials. Armstech, Synth, and Armormech are pretty much hosed, though. Edit: Just checked my schematic list, and I had it backwards. The 208s and up are fine, it's the lower-level implants that need slicing mats, up through the 186 range - the purples need blue Slicing mats along with the expected Diplo stuff.

...unless you want to craft implants.

So does Artifice (has the same attachment bug). The other crafting skills are better off, since they only need 4 skills to be effective. The frightening part is that this was by design.

Actually you can get unaligned levelling relics from Heroic gear lockboxes (I've gotten a few as quest rewards, too). The crafted ones are generally slightly better in terms of stats (especially the purples, since the lockbox ones are usually blue, and quest reward ones green), and there's also the "RNG hates me today" element, where you run a bunch of Heroics hoping to get some gear upgrades and end up with seven belts and an implant when you really needed new relics and a helmet, but while crafting is arguably the best source it isn't the only source. Between that and the speed you outlevel gear at these days, I haven't had a lot of luck crafting levelling relics for sale (this may well be a case where Your Server May Vary, of course).

The change seems to have happened in 4.1 - I also REed a couple of crystals in 4.0. Tried another one yesterday, and "No Research Available."

Things have gotten even more perverse with the addition of companion gifts to the tier 7/8/9 mission discoveries - I levelled my Investigator and Underworld Trader from 500 to 550 almost entirely on dropped missions. Netted me a nice pile of blue and purple gifts, a healthy stockpile of tier 9 blues for future crafting, and vendoring most of the purples (after upgrading the 8s to 9s) netted me a small profit after mission deployment costs (I kept some around on the off chance of Mk 4 prefabs or some other eventual use for high-grade purple mats).

The trainer barrel/hilt/etc. schematics only go to 208. If you have some credits to spend, you can buy a 216/220 off-hand saber (or pistol) and pull the hilt (or barrel) and RE it for a 60% chance to get the schematic; you'll still have to buy the Dark Matter Catalysts (1 for a 216 hilt, 2 for a 220) on the GTN (they've been going for ~1 million per on my server) to craft the schematic.

Schematics drop on a crit from any type of UT mission, gift, metal, or fabric (at least for the next couple of days).

Craft the prototype (blue) version, and reverse engineer it (60% chance to learn the purple schematic). Since there are no trainer schematics for rating 216/220 modifications you'll need to start with a mod from a drop (or purchased from the crystal vendors) and RE that instead (doesn't work on armorings with a set bonus.)

The old 186 schematics should still be in your list in the "Archived Schematics" section - mine are. I just crafted a couple the other day (the old schematics are superior to the new ones, since they're cheaper to craft).

Grab a legacy-bound [thing that takes a barrel - pistol, off-hand, whatever] - lots of sources for these, easiest/most available is finish Chapter 9 of KotFE on a pistol/rifle/cannon-user and get the BtL Odessen weapon - do ops on a character you enjoy playing, pull the barrel and put it in your BtL weapon/off-hand, stick it in legacy storage/mail to Armstech alt, cry when it fails to RE, rinse, lather, repeat

Yes, schematics drop from UT missions, and yes, the schematics that (have a chance to) drop vary by tier of mission - tier 1 missions will drop 10-16ish schematics, and so forth. I don't think there are any currently accurate lists of what schematics drop at each tier - a lot got changed in 4.0.

Yup - crits give you more (and usually better) mats, plus a chance of things like schematics. Higher influence with your companions a) increases their combat effectiveness and b) massively improves their crafting, both reducing the amount of time they take to craft/do missions and increasing their odds of a crit.

You get schematics on a crit, any type of mission (if you're just farming for schematics I find I get more useful results from gift missions than metal or fabric, depending on the current resale values of metal and fabric at the tier I'm looking at.)

There were a few custom pieces on the trainer pre-4.0, but most of them have always come from UT or mob drops. At some point they even added schematics for moddable belts and bracers to a bunch of the lower-level crafted sets (although some of them seem to have moved into the "Archived Schematics" tab, despite which I've had a few drop from UT missions since 4.0).

Pull it out and put it in a piece of Legacy-bound armour (easy to get if you have one of the pilot suits, or get a Legacy-bound piece from handing in Alliance crates. You could also use a Legacy-bound off-hand focus/generator/shield from the Gree rep vendor if you have the components and rep.), stick it in your Legacy bank (or mail it, if you don't have a Legacy storage), and remove it again on your Synth. Same trick works for mods, enhancements, barrels, and hilts.

Both do - Armormech makes Resistive (high End), Synthweaving makes Versatile (high Mastery). Patch notes on crafting changes.

Armormechs can't make them, just Synthweavers.

It's still possible (and sometimes even profitable). You'll need to get the schematics from the GTN or from UT missions, though, not the trainer.

At a guess you're trying to RE a Versatile armoring.

Generally true, but there are a few weird exceptions (I just REed a green Command Augment 5 from my Synthweaver's archives to purple, just for gits and shiggles. The green took Fibrous Nylite, Rubat crystals, and Lost Artifact Fragments, the blue took Carbo-Plas (!) and Desh Arms Assembly Components (?!), and the purple requires the expected Sliced Tech Parts. Very odd.)

186 may be "obsolete", but since the only way to get a >186 proc relic is to get lucky an an ops drop/RE an ops drop, they're still popular.