Thanks for the answer! I am sorry I did not find your detailed post on my previous searches. Seems my mod crafters won't be making any higher-level mods anytime soon.

Is the only way to get the schematics, specifically for mods, to run Hard-mode flashpoints? And is the only way to get ingredients for them also in the same Flash Points? Can a casual craft mods for her post-sixty characters?

Huh, in many games crafting is more casual oriented than combat... I have all my crew skills maxxed and I am far from the hard-core arena.

A lot of crafters would disagree.

Resurrecting an old thread here because it's nice to see I am not alone in wanting an actual crafting system. I enjoy EQ2's crafting a lot. It's great to log in and do some crafting or gathering or quests that entail either or both. I think it's great that I can ask companions to craft while i do other things too. But wouldn't it be nice to save some time, especially with the new components to just be able to craftor gather stuff myself? And with all the daily missions, wouldn't it be nice if some of them were crafting or gathering related?

It is definitely frustrating. I have not spent a lot of time on it, but the stat distribution among the mods has changed drastically. And some set ups are no longer available. And in some cases, it is not a simplification. I've always been a fan of hybrid builds, and now that seems more complicated. But a lot of games punish hybrids, so i am used to it. I find it disconcerting that you're having trouble with a DPS set up.

So it's an all or nothing trade? Is leveling faster really an improvement? Is changing a static value on the research die-roll? I think many of the changes they made they needed to make: straightening out the different materials on the different tiers, labeling those tiers and materials properly, opening up crew-mission availabilities and reducing timers... I see those changes as correcting mistakes. As a click-and-wait system, it was crappy. Thing was, I could click and log out so all those timers and RNGs were meaningless. Now I have to make components, all those timers suck, even if they are shorter. I am smart enough to stockpile components, really, I am. But that's another inventory space and it's still another click-and-wait in a click-and-wait system. I don't see why people keep debating me on that point... Some of the other "improvements" I could debate. I kinda shrug at them myself. Bioware basically nerfed my max-affection companions, threw away half my researched blue and purple schematics, asked me to buy over a hundred-thousand-credits worth of new schematics, made all the droid and companion gear I crafted junk, confused mod stats even further. As icing on the cake, they add an additional step to their crafting system so the one thing that made it tolerable: click and log out, is now gone. yeah, keep selling these improvements.

Huh? No, it still doesn't make sense to me... Should I pretend I am in Literature class again, so we can discuss meaning? What's easier? Components are faster to make, sure. So, instead of grinding out wrist armor, grind out components... Me, I want to make something I can equip and use and improve my gameplay. I think it's harder for lower levels with one companion. Instead of telling them to make something arguably useful and logging, I have to make the components first, then tell them to make something arguably useful and log.

Yep, completely agree. I just got one of my characters to her sixties and was trying to find schematics... Was I dissappointed. I've spent all this time maxxing crew skills and researching schematics to basically have it all thrown away. Yep, it was a bland crafting system before, now it's progressively painful.

Never played SWG, but I see your point about "elitest" crafters. They're almost as bad as the "elitest" endgamers! ~laughs~ In EQ2, crafting is almost as dynamic as combat, and as easy to level. I have found it pretty easy to have crafters leveled enough to gear my characters, maybe even easier. In Vanguard, I found crafting to be more challenging than combat. I had a hard time trying to make good gear for my characters. And it involved a lot of grinding... But, I still enjoyed it and spent a great deal of time crafting. This is why the "improvement" of 4.0 frustrates me. Bioware decided to make crafting more involved. No longer am just tracking amounts of materials, but now I have to track amounts and types of components every time I want to gear up a character. They added a step that doesn't add any meaning to the process.

The only difference I see between those two actions is how long the progress bar takes to fill. Sure, I could be something else in game while my companion is crafting, but then that's not crafting.... And, if I am trying to make thirty components... ~sighs~

~laughs~ The action of feeding gifts to companions IS mindless clicking, though it IS more quickly rewarding than the mindless clicking of making components...

It's Bioware's fault for changing the crafting system to be that way and calling it an improvement. I've been pretty good at loading up on components that one of my characters may need in a level or two. My point is that this is an extra step, that it's an unnecessary step in an already mindless crafting system. Crafting can be a fun part of an MMO. Bioware has designed it to be bothersome background noise to be managed while doing other things.

THAT is my overall complaint about SWtOR's crafting system! It should not feel like another one of the Sergeant Major's mindless detail assignments: the rocks need to be painted on both sides! I hate crafting systems that encourage doing something else, watching TV, surfing the net, etc, while crafting. When I log into the game I want to play it, not click, wait fifteen minutes for a bar to fill, then repeat. If I am crafting, I want to craft. If I want to earn affection with a companion, I should be doing stuff with the companion. At least pre 4.0 I could click and log out, or switch to another character. Now I should stay and wait. Now i have to spend a lot more time shuffling inventory spaces.

amen!