commendation vendors ruin economy/crafting

[Velisael]

I am going to echo this again. Tell one game during a launch period (less than 3 months) has crafting that outshines world drops (either through token exchange or actual drops). Please just one. I myself cannot think of any. Especially games that have been tweaked from World of Warcraft's MMO model. I'll even trump that again. I cannot think of any game that is based off of WoW's basic model that has any crafted items better than drops. Crafting in WoW provided augments to gear that made it better but that came way after vanilla (i think BC xpac basically added a lot of the cool stuff).

 

Also again. Tell me one game during launch period that had a bustling economy (given that they had no beta carry-forward). One game! I again cannot think of any. The economy will pick up as soon as everybody gets 50 and buys all their one-time cash sinks that they need to buy.

 

Why is everybody so impatient? Do you all have another game to go to and expect this game to be able to provide you a full experience in such a short period of time? Seriously? It feels like some of you are asking for things that are in mature MMOs. This is a launch MMO. ALL LAUNCHES are like this.

 

If you guys wanted a mature economy, vibrant auction houses and balanced everything, you should have waited to pick up this game. Play whatever you were playing before, and let the PIONEERS build it from the ground up. That is what WE pioneers are supposed to do. Not ask BioWare to make it easier for us because we bought the game first.

[sskinzz]

all im advocating is bumping slicing back up so the non-crafters can still enjoy the game, and thus they will be a big boost to the economy. get rid of commendations vendors so that crafters can enjoy that part of the game and actually make a profit from it.

 

the fact that npc's are now the main vendor and provider for gear is what bothers me so much.

[Thanatosx]

is this what weve really come to at this day and age? mmo role playing game, where crafting is dumbed down and not needed anymore? you can get great gear for the entire leveling process cheapily from a vendor?

 

if so, im very disappointed, and not sure how much longevity this game will have for me down the road... the next few months, absolutely...next year? not so much.

 

if this is the case, this doesnt really feel like an mmo...but more like a single player game that you can play co-op multiplayer style missions.

 

In my experience crafting really rarely becomes useful until end game and then it shines brightly. Now that wasn't the case with SWG if I remember correctly, but didn't the economy eventually blow up in that game?

 

There are some longevity concerns for this game, I agree...but crafting isn't the only source for thsoe ocncerns. It definitely doesn't quite FEEL like any MMO I've played before, but I am having fun and I do enjoy it for the most part.

 

And unlike in WoW I have not ran into NEARLY as many as...er...jerks in this game. Even the forum community seems overall, better quality.

 

Here I post and get (usually) constructive comments back, or supportive or even respectful disagreeance....there, I'd get 'L2P' 'N00b!' and worse lol.

 

I am going to echo this again. Tell one game during a launch period (less than 3 months) has crafting that outshines world drops (either through token exchange or actual drops). Please just one. I myself cannot think of any. Especially games that have been tweaked from World of Warcraft's MMO model. I'll even trump that again. I cannot think of any game that is based off of WoW's basic model that has any crafted items better than drops. Crafting in WoW provided augments to gear that made it better but that came way after vanilla (i think BC xpac basically added a lot of the cool stuff).

 

If I remember correctly SW:G crafting outshined world drops at almost every level. I don't know about end game or later, but in the beginning I think it did. In WoW there are some crafted items (now anyway) that are considered BiS.

 

Why is everybody so impatient? Do you all have another game to go to and expect this game to be able to provide you a full experience in such a short period of time? Seriously? It feels like some of you are asking for things that are in mature MMOs. This is a launch MMO. ALL LAUNCHES are like this.

 

If you guys wanted a mature economy, vibrant auction houses and balanced everything, you should have waited to pick up this game. Play whatever you were playing before, and let the PIONEERS build it from the ground up. That is what WE pioneers are supposed to do. Not ask BioWare to make it easier for us because we bought the game first.

 

I'm not being impatient by any means. I have played MMO's since beta testing UO and I know economies take time to mature and become vibrant. I don't think there is anything wrong with commenting in threads to support or disagree with various statements though. Or even wish a little lol. I just wish BW would communicate with the community better with regards to everyone's crewskill concerns -- and I'm not talking just slicing.

 

Also I don't feel like some of the things people have been asking for are just for mature MMO's. There are plenty of features that really should have been here from the getgo and are still perfectly appropriate for a newly launched MMO.

 

all im advocating is bumping slicing back up so the non-crafters can still enjoy the game, and thus they will be a big boost to the economy. get rid of commendations vendors so that crafters can enjoy that part of the game and actually make a profit from it.

 

the fact that npc's are now the main vendor and provider for gear is what bothers me so much.

 

I could totally stand behind this. I'd be first in line again to get my friggen gear updated to my current level instead of having it lag behind.

Edited January 6, 2012 by Thanatosx

[sskinzz]

I am going to echo this again. Tell one game during a launch period (less than 3 months) has crafting that outshines world drops (either through token exchange or actual drops). Please just one. I myself cannot think of any. Especially games that have been tweaked from World of Warcraft's MMO model. I'll even trump that again. I cannot think of any game that is based off of WoW's basic model that has any crafted items better than drops. Crafting in WoW provided augments to gear that made it better but that came way after vanilla (i think BC xpac basically added a lot of the cool stuff).

 

Also again. Tell me one game during launch period that had a bustling economy (given that they had no beta carry-forward). One game! I again cannot think of any. The economy will pick up as soon as everybody gets 50 and buys all their one-time cash sinks that they need to buy.

 

Why is everybody so impatient? Do you all have another game to go to and expect this game to be able to provide you a full experience in such a short period of time? Seriously? It feels like some of you are asking for things that are in mature MMOs. This is a launch MMO. ALL LAUNCHES are like this.

 

If you guys wanted a mature economy, vibrant auction houses and balanced everything, you should have waited to pick up this game. Play whatever you were playing before, and let the PIONEERS build it from the ground up. That is what WE pioneers are supposed to do. Not ask BioWare to make it easier for us because we bought the game first.

 

 

im curious because i genuinely dont know, if you take for example, a level 50 orange chest piece and have purple mod, armoring and enhancement in their respective stats, will this chest piece be as good as a level 50 purple crafted chest piece? or will it be inferior?

[Velisael]

all im advocating is bumping slicing back up so the non-crafters can still enjoy the game, and thus they will be a big boost to the economy. get rid of commendations vendors so that crafters can enjoy that part of the game and actually make a profit from it.

 

the fact that npc's are now the main vendor and provider for gear is what bothers me so much.

 

I kindly ask, why? I don't mean this to be impolite either. And it leads me to ask have you played other MMOs? And if you did, did you tell the dev, "well I hate crafting, so give me something that allows me to make money without having to craft"? I am interested to see if they listened. I also ask, if you have played MMOs prior, what did you do to spur/boost the economy? Because I have played many, many MMOs and none have any profession as you claim that will directly be a big boost to the economy RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING. Most games START their economies with gold farmers and regular players grinding out their wealth. Then once there is a mature population, market setting takes precedence.

 

Also if you played WoW (maybe you didn't and I respect that), did you tell Blizzard to dump the whole badge system from doing heroics for Tier X gear, so crafters will prosper and have an ordained reason to craft?

 

I dunno. I ask myself these questions and find peace with SWTOR. Enjoy the game, if you really feel that you are being cheated, then kindly cancel your sub and let them know why. And then go back to your mature MMO and realize wait, I am still getting the same deal. And then wonder why did I ever complain so much

 

LOL I just kidding about the finding peace... but guys, give it time. BioWare thought they needed to do something about Slicing. BioWare thought the crafting was acceptable when they released the game. Their actions with their patches currently reflect their position on the issues. Over time, BioWare may change their minds. Only question should be if you have the patience to see.

[Rattius]

Maybe if crafters started putting items up at REALISTIC prices it would change. But as long as people are putting up sub-par items at 10,000 credits when I can go get a better piece for commendations, why would I spend credits?

 

I put my crated items up for anywhere from 30K -50K

 

...and people pay it, so that must not be too expensive.

[sskinzz]

I kindly ask, why? I don't mean this to be impolite either. And it leads me to ask have you played other MMOs? And if you did, did you tell the dev, "well I hate crafting, so give me something that allows me to make money without having to craft"? I am interested to see if they listened. I also ask, if you have played MMOs prior, what did you do to spur/boost the economy? Because I have played many, many MMOs and none have any profession as you claim that will directly be a big boost to the economy RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING. Most games START their economies with gold farmers and regular players grinding out their wealth. Then once there is a mature population, market setting takes precedence.

 

Also if you played WoW (maybe you didn't and I respect that), did you tell Blizzard to dump the whole badge system from doing heroics for Tier X gear, so crafters will prosper and have an ordained reason to craft?

 

I dunno. I ask myself these questions and find peace with SWTOR. Enjoy the game, if you really feel that you are being cheated, then kindly cancel your sub and let them know why. And then go back to your mature MMO and realize wait, I am still getting the same deal. And then wonder why did I ever complain so much

 

LOL I just kidding about the finding peace... but guys, give it time. BioWare thought they needed to do something about Slicing. BioWare thought the crafting was acceptable when they released the game. Their actions with their patches currently reflect their position on the issues. Over time, BioWare may change their minds. Only question should be if you have the patience to see.

 

i did not play wow, and yes, im a very inexperienced mmo player.

 

im not taking your post in an impolite way at all. i think there is some confusion in what you think im advocating, and the reasons why im taking the stance that i am. i am not advocating un-nerfing slicing so that i can profit from having it...because i DO NOT have it as a crew skill.

 

the 2 changes i would like to see go "hand in hand". one of these changes without the other does not help. the 2 changes are un-nerf slicing and make commendation vendors as bop companion gear. this way there is still a reason, and a meaningful one to still have the commendation verdors in the game.

 

slicing - all though i DONT have it on either of my characters (i love crafting), i am against it being nerfed for a couple of reasons.

 

1. non crafters need a viable means to progress through the game without having to worry about money for training, repairs, gear, etc.

 

2. as a crafter (which i enjoy very much), i want non-crafters to have to rely on my skills for the gear they need, and so i can make a profit and fund "my" progression through the game. i think crafters (not npc vendors) should be the main source of gear for pc's.

 

on a side note:

 

im curious because i genuinely dont know, if you take for example, a level 50 orange chest piece and have purple mod, armoring and enhancement in their respective stats, will this chest piece be as good as a level 50 purple crafted chest piece? or will it be inferior?

Edited January 6, 2012 by sskinzz

[MorgonKara]

All I can say is that while leveling up the crafted gear that I can make in Synthweaving is better than anything I have been able to buy from Commendation vendors or find as loot. At lvl 39 my character had almost all of my armor slots filled with purple, Artifact quality gear that I crafted myself or bought from the GTN. I had a PvP lightsaber from the PvP vendor with a Artifact hilt made by an Artificer.

 

I usually use comms to buy gear for my companion.

[Darcmoon]

ummm... not its not. its not expensive doing repairs, new crew skill, crew skills etc...

 

and if you shop around just a bit, you wont need to spend 10,000 on a piece of gear...unless you want epic gear.

 

and yes, your right, in that commendations make it easy (easy mode) to keep your gear current and save your credits.... which makes crafting essentially almost worthless other than just a little side game. what happened to crafting being an essesntial part of having a successful journey through an mmo game?

 

im actually advocating them un-nerfing slicing, so that people like yourself that dont like crafting, dont have to take it to have the money/credits to be able to progress through the game.

 

un-nerf slicing, get rid of commendation vendors, and both sides (crafters/non-crafters) will be happy. as it is now, non-crafters get what they want, and crafters are screwed.

 

I'll admit you have some points. There are a couple things I would like to counter with. Repairs, training and crew skills can and do get expensive. When I hit 40 I had one ability to train and it cost me around 31k. That isn't counting the next level of riding that costs 210k. I didn't have the money for riding in part due to sending my crew out on missions to get materials so I could keep my crafting at a point just ahead of my level. I try to keep it there so that I can make the items and have them ready when I can use them. Because I didn't mention it before, I am an Artificer.

 

Prices on the GTN are a bit all over the place however. People have no clue what things should be up for. The base sell price is what they seem to go with. However, the GTN has issues that make it more trouble than it's worth usually. The interface for it is terrible. I was putting up some extra crafting mats and wasn't sure if there really weren't any for sale or if maybe I had messed up on the drop down menus. And trying to find the item you are looking for to buy takes more time then I'm willing to give it, especially if I want multiple items for different slots. Also, getting to a GTN terminal takes work plus I didn't realize this till just recently that the GTN on Nar Shada is a neutral one and doesn't look at the ones on Dromand Kass/Imperial Fleet.

 

None of the MMO's I've played have ever had crafting as a mandatory thing. Now, I'm not saying that there aren't any just none that I've played. As for the commendations, I've noticed that I'm usually over the general required level for the mods. That may just be me however.

 

I cannot support them un-nerfing slicing back to what it was when the game went live. If they did that, what is the point of any crafting skill. It's easier to buy than make at that point, and those who do craft probably won't be able to make enough to buy the items they need due to inflation.

 

I would like to have more options for things to make but since this is a gear based game, drops are going to be better than crafted when it comes to hard modes and operations. That is part of the draw to get people to do them.

 

So, I have to disagree with you on un-nerfing slicing and getting rid of comendation vendors. I do agree that it would be nice to be able to make some gear that is only available from crafters.

[Angof]

I made it to 400 synthweaving and got myself a bunch of artifact level schematics. Then I realized I was better off/just as well off DPSing in PvP gear and tanking in orange gear that I can mod for doing dailies (artifact 22 mods and enhancements for finishing dailies and artifact 23 armoring for 8 commendations). At least until I get enough commendations/crystals for the PvE vendor gear.

 

Goodbye Synthweaving! Biochem you're looking pretty good with reusable medpacks/stims/adrenals for my tanking and PvP needs.

[Natarii]

I agree; I'm not asking to be able to craft items that will negate the need to participate in end game flashpoints and operations. What I'm asking for is the ablity to craft items that are at least equal or even *slightly* superior to what can be purchased from vendors. If the artifice trainer let me learn to craft Rank 23/24 hilts/enhancements, that I could then reverse engineer into purple quality, I'd be on par with what the vendors are selling. Right now, no one will want my rank 22 (even if it's purple!) stuff because 8 commendations gets them a purple quality rank 23 which is superior to anything I could make.

[livnthedream]

i disagree with this statement. as synthweaving not only do i make a decent profit, but i can make a whole slew of orange skins not available from vendors. being able to craft the other couple of pieces from fp sets means i often sell base orange pieces, without mods, for the 5-15k range, and it costs maybe 1/3 the price to craft them.

[Vodrin]

i am not proclaiming to be an expert of any sorts on economy/mmo economy, but in my opinion, the BIGGEST problem in swtor right now is the commedation vendors making crafting skills insignificant. player characters should not be able to keep their gear up to date (especially acquiring orange gear!!!) using commendations vendors, but instead should be done through spending credits for peoples crafts at the GTN. the trickle down effect that commendation vendors have on weakening the economy is really effecting the gameplay for alot of people in a very negative way.

 

i am not saying to get rid of commendation vendors, but imho, commendation vendors should offer bop companion gear only, which will greatly increase the need for crafted gear and strengthen the economy.

 

it seems almost EVERY crafting skill, sans biochem, is completely DE-VALUED because of what the commendation vendors offer for so cheap.

 

when someone can get orange gear at level 15 through commendation vendors, and keep that gear up to date for the ENTIRE leveling process, through commendation vendors, you are going to have a fubared econcomy.

 

for the people that dont like crafting, i think bw should un-nerf slicing to some degree the way it was before so that these people can still make a nice income. this income will also help feed the economy as the "slicers" will spend alot of that income in the GTN.

 

these are just my opinions, and by my own admission, i am a very inexperienced mmo player. so far, i love the game, but it just feels like these commendation vendors really "cheapen" and undermind the entire economy/crafting skills that swtor has to offer.

 

please discuss, and keep the bashing to a minimum. this is NOT a thread that is meant to bash bioware.... i just wish that getting great gear didnt have such an "easy mode" feel to it.

 

Someone obtaining gear only through commendations and flashpoints will be inferior to crafters with purple gear. Will they be good enough for ok leveling, sure, but they will still be inferior in PvP, and they will have a tougher time with boss encounters. I suspect this will matter more to folks when they don't have to face level 50's in warzones anymore, and the most powerful people in the sub 50 warzones will be those running level appropriate crafted armor and weapons.

[MorgonKara]

I haven't gotten to endgame yet but while leveling up crafting is very useful. If anything I haven't had much use for mod-able armor yet because I can craft better. I guess if I could craft mods I might use the orange armor more. Edited January 6, 2012 by MorgonKara

[Velisael]

I'm not being impatient by any means. I have played MMO's since beta testing UO and I know economies take time to mature and become vibrant. I don't think there is anything wrong with commenting in threads to support or disagree with various statements though. Or even wish a little lol. I just wish BW would communicate with the community better with regards to everyone's crewskill concerns -- and I'm not talking just slicing.

 

Also I don't feel like some of the things people have been asking for are just for mature MMO's. There are plenty of features that really should have been here from the getgo and are still perfectly appropriate for a newly launched MMO.

 

Great comment I guess I should have pointed my finger more direcly LOL.... I still think this slicing issue is being discussed out of hand. You see I don't mind wishing and comments. But there are many who are saying "BioWare is fail" and "this game is the worst launch" but funny thing is that, this game really is NOT the worst launch.

 

I actually think SWTOR had a fair launch, and some things could have been done better. Blizzard went through the same thing when they launched WoW. But they got better with each x-pac. BioWare has never done an MMO before, so expect technical bugs to be ironed out.

 

Also, there are those saying BioWare's decision ruined the economy. What they should be saying is they "hindered their personal growth of wealth". Funny thing is I don't think any of those cries are coming from gold farmers - though they should be complaining the most since it killed their ability to mass print money, faster than us normal players can.. IMHO Gold farmers are the only ones who can pump tons and tons of currency into an economy (and most games.. set the large magnitude of an economy). We hate them, but realistically we need them. If I were a gold farmer, the nerf slowed me down. Which from a player's perspective is technically a good thing.

 

Also speaking of gold farmers, BioWare's official comments have indirectly set their stance on gold farming - from the whole Ilum fiasco which to me is actually kind of funny. BioWare does not like them. I may be wrong, and I apologize if I am, but I think one BioWare comment (I think from Stephen community manager or something) stated that gold farming can upset an economy. This makes sense.

 

Slicers claim they pump much needed credits into the economy and support the capitalist buy/sell market. This is because they were "creating" credits at a faster rate than most of the non-slicers. They are doing us a favor! They are buying our goods! They make the SWTOR economy go round! Don't worry I am not going into hyper-inflation or any RL economic theory (I could if you like).

 

But lo and behold, gold farmers do the same thing! I know, I know. Only those who have real money can afford gold farmers services... but that is moot.

 

The point is BioWare does not like gold farmers because they upset the economy. Slicers claim they do the same thing as gold farmers by pumping much needed credits into an economy - only without discriminating against those who have no RL money. I agree with this point.

 

But then why would BioWare like the pre-nerf slicers if they already don't like farmers (who with or without the slicing nerf will flood our economy with credits to anybody who can afford them)? LOL

 

(farmers actually pay for multiple subscriptions and don't complain about the nerfs! They seem like a much better customer base LOL)

Edited January 6, 2012 by Velisael

[sskinzz]

I'll admit you have some points. There are a couple things I would like to counter with. Repairs, training and crew skills can and do get expensive. When I hit 40 I had one ability to train and it cost me around 31k. That isn't counting the next level of riding that costs 210k. I didn't have the money for riding in part due to sending my crew out on missions to get materials so I could keep my crafting at a point just ahead of my level. I try to keep it there so that I can make the items and have them ready when I can use them. Because I didn't mention it before, I am an Artificer.

 

Prices on the GTN are a bit all over the place however. People have no clue what things should be up for. The base sell price is what they seem to go with. However, the GTN has issues that make it more trouble than it's worth usually. The interface for it is terrible. I was putting up some extra crafting mats and wasn't sure if there really weren't any for sale or if maybe I had messed up on the drop down menus. And trying to find the item you are looking for to buy takes more time then I'm willing to give it, especially if I want multiple items for different slots. Also, getting to a GTN terminal takes work plus I didn't realize this till just recently that the GTN on Nar Shada is a neutral one and doesn't look at the ones on Dromand Kass/Imperial Fleet.

 

None of the MMO's I've played have ever had crafting as a mandatory thing. Now, I'm not saying that there aren't any just none that I've played. As for the commendations, I've noticed that I'm usually over the general required level for the mods. That may just be me however.

 

I cannot support them un-nerfing slicing back to what it was when the game went live. If they did that, what is the point of any crafting skill. It's easier to buy than make at that point, and those who do craft probably won't be able to make enough to buy the items they need due to inflation.

 

I would like to have more options for things to make but since this is a gear based game, drops are going to be better than crafted when it comes to hard modes and operations. That is part of the draw to get people to do them.

 

So, I have to disagree with you on un-nerfing slicing and getting rid of comendation vendors. I do agree that it would be nice to be able to make some gear that is only available from crafters.

 

when you say that gear, repairs, training is expensive .... that leads me to believe that the reason its expensive to you is because your arent making enough credits from your crafting skill. people not making enough off of their crafting skill is the reason for this whole thread and the point im trying to make. people arent making enough off of their crafting skill BECAUSE everything is devalued because of the commendation vendors.

[TrevNYC]

the 2 changes i would like to see go "hand in hand". one of these changes without the other does not help. the 2 changes are un-nerf slicing and make commendation vendors as bop companion gear. this way there is still a reason, and a meaningful one to still have the commendation verdors in the game.

 

slicing - all though i DONT have it on either of my characters (i love crafting), i am against it being nerfed for a couple of reasons.

 

1. non crafters need a viable means to progress through the game without having to worry about money for training, repairs, gear, etc.

 

2. as a crafter (which i enjoy very much), i want non-crafters to have to rely on my skills for the gear they need, and so i can make a profit and fund "my" progression through the game. i think crafters (not npc vendors) should be the main source of gear for pc's.

 

Those two changes swing the pendulum from not enough people wanting slicing (allegedly) to everyone feeling that they needed to take slicing to be able to pay for whatever it is that crafters decide to charge.

 

The commendation vendors just put a cap on what you can expect to charge for things. They are competition, no more, no less. There is a lot of room between what it takes to make a reasonable profit on a per item basis and what the vendors charge.

 

If something costs 20 commendations from a vendor, then I would be willing to pay whatever 20 commendations are "worth" in credits for the same thing. The issue is that too many crafters seem to be swinging for home runs on every sale. Sure, I might not pay 50k credits for something that costs 3 commendations. Would I pay 50K credits for something that cost 50 commendations? Probably. I'm not saying these are the right numbers to charge -- they are just examples.

 

Also, there is a market for crafted goods even with vendors because there are other things to spend commendations on. The vendors have speeders that cost 200 commendations. If I want the speeder, I have no problems buying mods and equipment from crafters and saving my commendations for the speeder. That process only works when the crafters aren't trying to recoup the cost of every single item they've ever made in a single sale to me, though.

[MorgonKara]

when you say that gear, repairs, training is expensive .... that leads me to believe that the reason its expensive to you is because your arent making enough credits from your crafting skill. people not making enough off of their crafting skill is the reason for this whole thread and the point im trying to make. people arent making enough off of their crafting skill BECAUSE everything is devalued because of the commendation vendors.

 

I'm not sure if I believe that. The credit sinks in SWTOR are pretty steep and that may have something to do with why the GTN isn't more active. Speaking for myself I would buy more crafted items from the GTN but I'm usually strapped. So which came first, the chicken or the egg? In order to make money selling crafted items people would have to have surplus money to buy them.

[Darcmoon]

when you say that gear, repairs, training is expensive .... that leads me to believe that the reason its expensive to you is because your arent making enough credits from your crafting skill. people not making enough off of their crafting skill is the reason for this whole thread and the point im trying to make. people arent making enough off of their crafting skill BECAUSE everything is devalued because of the commendation vendors.

 

I may not be making enough from my crafting but I also mentioned part of why that is when I talked about the problems with the GTN. When I have to go all the way back to Kass City or the fleet just to put items up, it almost isn't worth it sometimes. Add in the GTN UI which won't let you just search then unless I am in that area anyway, why make the trip.

 

However, lets say they cleared up those issues and made it so you had to buy from crafters for all upgrades (reason being if you leave upgrades as quest rewards then people don't have much reason to buy from crafters). I end up competing with god knows how many others who have the same crafting skill I do. Then the bidding wars start. I need to sell this to make my money back. Ok, he is selling his for X amount. I'll undercut him. Oh wait, now someone undercut me, then someone undercuts him and so on and so forth. It will get to a point where you are making at most a minimal profit and sometimes taking a loss due to others putting there stuff up for stupid low prices.

[sskinzz]

I'm not sure if I believe that. The credit sinks in SWTOR are pretty steep and that may have something to do with why the GTN isn't more active. Speaking for myself I would buy more crafted items from the GTN but I'm usually strapped. So which came first, the chicken or the egg? In order to make money selling crafted items people would have to have surplus money to buy them.

 

what spurred me to start this thread was what i have been reading from other posters and talkin to people in game, is that many people dont have a surplus of credits to spend because of how big a credit sink their respective crafting skill is and that they cant sell their crafted gear for profit because people simply are not buying their gear. the biggest reason their gear isnt being sold for a decent profit is because people can get equivelant gear/mods from commendation vendors.

[dark_]

I think a simpler solution would be to turn all the orange gear into a blue or purple w/ fixed states. This would allow for crafters to become a bit more valuable especially if crafted gear was buffed to be ahead of the commendation gear by 10%-20%

[Skaarrj]

I never thought about this.

 

I'm a a cybertech, and i can make my own mods and armoring. I got the epic versions of mine. I tried to sell them in the AH, but couldn't. So I'm like w/e, this game doesnt have a strong economy. I tried browsing for weapon barrels and enhancements, but there werent any for my trooper.

 

So i went to ilum, did the dailys, and bought my own.

 

Was pretty happy, but in the big picture, it hurts players professions far more than you raelize. Because you don't need the other players.

 

It defeats the purpose of this being a MMO.

[Angof]

I agree; I'm not asking to be able to craft items that will negate the need to participate in end game flashpoints and operations. What I'm asking for is the ablity to craft items that are at least equal or even *slightly* superior to what can be purchased from vendors. If the artifice trainer let me learn to craft Rank 23/24 hilts/enhancements, that I could then reverse engineer into purple quality, I'd be on par with what the vendors are selling. Right now, no one will want my rank 22 (even if it's purple!) stuff because 8 commendations gets them a purple quality rank 23 which is superior to anything I could make.

 

Honestly, I would like it more if all the good gear/modifications save PvP and endgame PvE was made by crafters. And then mods in those pieces of gear would be "[slot] mod" and be specific to chest piece/leg piece/whatever for if you wanted to move them to a piece of orange gear.

 

 

 

The real problem with the economy is there is no leftover money for anyone to spend pre-50 after you factor in skills, traveling, repairing, and speeders. Mainly because there is no way to effectively make money. What are you going to do farm imperial NPCs for 50 credits every 2-5 kills until you have 5,000-10,000 credits to buy something?

 

Now that there are more 50s things will eventually even out, but it may take some time.

[sskinzz]

I never thought about this.

 

I'm a a cybertech, and i can make my own mods and armoring. I got the epic versions of mine. I tried to sell them in the AH, but couldn't. So I'm like w/e, this game doesnt have a strong economy. I tried browsing for weapon barrels and enhancements, but there werent any for my trooper.

 

So i went to ilum, did the dailys, and bought my own.

 

Was pretty happy, but in the big picture, it hurts players professions far more than you raelize. Because you don't need the other players.

 

It defeats the purpose of this being a MMO.

 

exactly my point - players should have to rely on each other for a healthy economy - supply and demand - like in the real world.

 

coud you imagine if in real life, if there was a car manufacturer that gave away free cars and trucks that are comparable to the current vehicle manufacturers what this would do to ford, chevy, nissan, imports etc.... they would go out of business.

 

npc vendors (commendation vendors) can essentially produce infinite quantities of needed products and basically give them away for free which completely robs our own in game economy. if people had to buy from crafters, those credits would be pumped back into the economy because those crafters that sold their products would then take them credits and spend them on someone elses crafted gear. its tough to stay in business as a crafter when there is a competitor on the same block GIVING away the same product your trying to sell.

 

people wonder why the economy in swtor is ****** right now:rolleyes:

Edited January 6, 2012 by sskinzz

[Natarii]

The problem really isnt the amount of credits people have available - i routinely make several thousand creds a night (and I mean upwards of 50-100K) from just my routine questing and selling of grey/green items.

 

If the Illum vendors were selling rank 22 mods at blue quality, this would leave room for crafters to come in with their purple rank 22 stuff. Alternatively, let us crafters learn to make rank 23 mods for gear, and drop the vendor items to blue quality - again leaving room for the intrepid crafter to obtain a stock of purple quality mods that are superior to the purchased ones, while not completely trivializing the commendations from dailies.