How to make Armortech, Artificer, Synthweaving & Weapontech worth it 1-50 and beyond

[BraxKedren]

Best bet would be something like and Underlay for Synthweavers and an Armor reinforcment for Armor guys. Also make it so its a slot that only can be filled on gear by those crafts.

[GnatB]

I think every single crew skill should give something to the player. I hate to compare it with Wow but in WoW every profesion give u something. i think it should be like this:

 

And I think that was a massive mistake on WoW's part. The point of a tradeskill (or crewskill) should be to make money selling stuff, and/or to save money making your own stuff. It should NOT be something that every character feels they need one of in order to compete "end game".

 

If everybody feels (and actually does) need to actually have their OWN tradeskill to be competitive end game, you've dramatically reduced your potentional sales market for stuff. A significant percentage now can, and will, make their own. Furthermore, you've also drastically increased the competition trying to sell to that smaller market. a large percentage of people who otherwise wouldn't bother with tradeskills will, since they have the skill already, go ahead and put stuff up for sale... at the very least the stuff they've worked on to get their own skill up.

 

There should be NOTHING a tradeskiller can get that shouldn't be obtainably by a non-tradeskiller, though the non-tradeskiller may have to go THROUGH a tradeskiller to get it.

 

You want to take the actual point out of crafting? Make them useful to those who don't want to do them.

[Aethyrprime]

Updated the OP.

[Ryotknife]

ugh, with the armor mods removed from cybertech i wouldnt be able to make a single credit off of the skill.

 

level 50 purple mods sell for 1.5k on my server.

[Almagnus]

ugh, with the armor mods removed from cybertech i wouldnt be able to make a single credit off of the skill.

 

level 50 purple mods sell for 1.5k on my server.

 

What if there was a way for you to make earpieces competitive with the raiders, or had ingredients that **EVERY** other profession needed?

 

Sometimes a little interdependency can go a long way towards making everything valuable =)

[Vlacke]

I support this thread also.

[tufy]

I think most people are missing the point here. Biochem isn't good because it offers stuff that sells - if that were the case, most people could still get it on their alts. Biochem is popular because it's incredibly handy to have - you get permanent stim, adrenal and medpac that you never, ever have to buy or make again.

 

Every crew skill gets something for the crafter himself, but those three are always useful, be it pvp, raid or even just questing. You can't fix this by giving others items that are going to sell well, because at he end of the day, you'll get 2 crafters for the entire server selling stuff on GTN, while the rest will still be Biochem for sheer simplicity of the skill.

 

So how DO you solve this? Simle, really - by giving every profession something really cool that only they can use. +28 willpower isn't it, but a temporary shield for armortech or a rocket launcher for armstech might just do it.

Edited January 14, 2012 by tufy

[Shaddris]

For armor mech, give them a consumable item, with a bop re-useable:

 

Trauma plate

Consumable, may only be used out of combat

30 min cooldown

Places a 30 min buff on the player. On any hit that reduces a player's health below 1, consumes this effect and negates the damage. The trauma plate may fail to protect against hits from 'x' level aggressors or higher.

[aritha]

If we're looking at things from a purely mod point of view, right now we have:

Cybertech:

Mod, Armor

 

Slicing:

Augment (I think)

 

Artifice:

Enhancement

Color Crystal

Hilt

 

Armstech:

Barrel

 

This leaves Biotech, Synthweaving, and Armortech out in the cold.

 

Here's an idea... what if Armstech got a cycle of color crystals that were difference from the artifice ones (different colors/stats?), and a cycle of enhancements too.

 

Perhaps something more like:

 

Cybertech:

Mod

 

Slicing:

Augment

 

Artifice:

Color Crystal Pool A

Enhancement Pool A

Hilt

 

Armstech:

Barrel

Color Crystal Pool B

Enhancement Pool B

 

Armortech:

Armor (non-force user)

 

Synthweaving:

Armor (force-user)

 

This would help to strengthen armstech by letting it better mirror artfice, so one is really good for non-force users, while the other is really good for force users, similar to how armor works.

 

Taking a queue from SWG, what about an BoE artifact quality item that must be assembled from mods the crafter can find/make before it can be sold. Depending on what those mods are, hidden bonuses can be gained from various combinations of the mods, allowing someone that has done the research and gathered the components to make something really powerful. However, this would need to be a two step process, one to assemble, and one to seal. Once the item is sealed, it can no longer be modified.

 

You cannot bring half of the artifice pool while also crafting all kind of weapons. Crafting weapon+barrel+enhancment+crystal seems op to me against other crew skills. You only need to buy the mod then. Or they should give saber recipes for artifice.

[nix_crash]

add crystals to armstech as proposed

 

add armor mods to armortech and synthweave but -dont- remove it from cyber (first of all people has already invested in RE blue and purple recipes and secondly armor mod will be a lot less usefull at endgame per another change below)

 

add repairing kits to armorthech and synthweave that reduce the cost of repairing stuff by a lot (thus making those usefull at endgame) - maybe add the option to "sell" the discounted repairing service to other players but this could be a problem from a possibilities of scamming viewpoint.

 

move augments from slicing (that need to be redone from scratch and its a gathering skill, why does it build stuff?) to artificing/armstech and make them into a temporary buff (120mins) for the item, permanent for the 400 BoP version - raise a lot the chances to get an item with augment slot, this will give armstech and arteficing their consumable/bop permanent for endgame.

 

maybe move implants from biotech to cybertech - balance check needed here.

cybertech and biochem already got their endgame stuff so no problem here.

 

change endgame gear so the set bonus is linked to the armoring mod, each item in the set has an armoring mod with unique ID and the system check those IDs for granting set bonus:

for eg the endor moon's op Rise of the Critters, where you have to slaughter ewoks wholesale, drops the set "minikinni" - the first ewok boss drop the feets, the second the gloves, the third the pants and so on.

inside the feets there will be the mod "minikinni armoring 55 -01", inside the gloves "minikinni armoring 55 -02" and so on.

you'll get the set bonus only if you have 2, 3 or 4 _different_ pieces in your armor, not caring if you put the armoring mod you found in the feet pieces in your headgear (other than for the ewok feet's smell).

this way orange crafted stuff got his place and endgame but armoring mods becomes a bit worthless as they cant compete with the set-bonus giving ones.

[Moolah]

Idea #3 - Move the "Armor/Hilt/Barrel" type modifications out of cybertech and put them in to their respective crewskill.

 

Only read the first post, sorry if this has already been posted.

 

Cybertech does not make the Barrel (armstech) nor Hilt (artifice) modification.

[Almagnus]

You cannot bring half of the artifice pool while also crafting all kind of weapons. Crafting weapon+barrel+enhancment+crystal seems op to me against other crew skills. You only need to buy the mod then. Or they should give saber recipes for artifice.

 

Yet, artifice, as it is in the game now, will let you make saber + hilt + color crystal + enhancement.

 

Where's the parity between the significantly stronger artifice and the weaker armstech?

 

All I'm asking is that a second line of color crystals and enhancements be ADDED to armstech to give them the additional recipes, and nothing moved out of artifice.

 

More choices is always a good thing, no?

Edited January 14, 2012 by Almagnus

[Streamline]

 

Idea #1 - Reverse Engineering everything to a pattern.

It would be a boon to all users of these professions to be capable of Reverse Engineering all items of a matching type found in the game to a modifiable (gold) pattern. Even the white items found in shops that have no stats.

 

I'm all for this! I like the look of my level 6 Inquisitor more than my 50 Assassin in Champion gear.

[Aethyrprime]

Only read the first post, sorry if this has already been posted.

 

Cybertech does not make the Barrel (armstech) nor Hilt (artifice) modification.

 

Fixed. Sorry I missed that.

[Danakar]

Instead of making my own thread, I guess I could put them here

 

These were just some suggestions I thought up while at work.

 

Artifice: Personal Lightsaber Crystal. Lvl50 BoP, comparable to endgame raid quality and unique, with a unique color variation of the existing colors (Blue-Green-Yellow-Purple-Red).

 

Cybertech: Grenades as they have them now, but on a 90s cooldown.

 

Armstech: Personal Gun Barrel. Lvl50 BoP, comparable to endgame raid quality and unique.

 

Synthweaving: BoP unique headgear (with unique textures/model) comparable to endgame raid quality.

 

Armormech: BoP unique headgear (with unique textures/model) comparable to endgame raig quality.

 

I know the Synth and Armor seem a bit below-average; but I only had so much free time to think about it during work; sorry...

 

EDIT: I like the rocket-launcher suggestion for Armstech though

Edited January 14, 2012 by Danakar

[Aethyrprime]

I think most people are missing the point here. Biochem isn't good because it offers stuff that sells - if that were the case, most people could still get it on their alts. Biochem is popular because it's incredibly handy to have - you get permanent stim, adrenal and medpac that you never, ever have to buy or make again.

 

Every crew skill gets something for the crafter himself, but those three are always useful, be it pvp, raid or even just questing. You can't fix this by giving others items that are going to sell well, because at he end of the day, you'll get 2 crafters for the entire server selling stuff on GTN, while the rest will still be Biochem for sheer simplicity of the skill.

 

So how DO you solve this? Simle, really - by giving every profession something really cool that only they can use. +28 willpower isn't it, but a temporary shield for armortech or a rocket launcher for armstech might just do it.

 

Yeah, that's what I thought and the main basis of my idea. Giving every crewskill something cool like clickables that do useful stuff would make it not a direct copy of biochem but still every bit as useful.

[Aethyrprime]

Updated OP with examples.

[Federnder]

I find myself at odds here, if only because I'm still not quite sure where I stand on the long term (read: current endgame and beyond) viability of crafting.

 

But I think I like the idea of BoP enhancement/skill to armor/weapons the most. I haven't played WoW, but my friend regaled me with stories about the weird and useful, but mostly just interesting, things Engineering could do. Depending on what these skills would be, it might add a bit of fun/chaos to the mix.

 

It might also solve some complaints about certain specs/class in a role. Don't have enough interrupts? Bam! Armortech can craft a mod that grants it.

 

I also see it as a nice way to shake things up a bit, if only in superficial ways. Might be interesting to have skills that, while they don't wreck the system people have now, shake it up just enough to send people scrambling. Something like summon a mook that mess up the opponents strategy for taking you out. Something to help you beat a hasty retreat from an unfavorable situation. Things to make it potentially possible to completely turn the tables, but not guaranteed to do so.

 

Of course, the basic idea of this is what MMO developers always try to do: make a balanced (for whatever the definition of that is) game. The real key here would be making these bonuses not so overpowering to any one skill set.

[Aethyrprime]

I find myself at odds here, if only because I'm still not quite sure where I stand on the long term (read: current endgame and beyond) viability of crafting.

 

But I think I like the idea of BoP enhancement/skill to armor/weapons the most. I haven't played WoW, but my friend regaled me with stories about the weird and useful, but mostly just interesting, things Engineering could do. Depending on what these skills would be, it might add a bit of fun/chaos to the mix.

 

It might also solve some complaints about certain specs/class in a role. Don't have enough interrupts? Bam! Armortech can craft a mod that grants it.

 

I also see it as a nice way to shake things up a bit, if only in superficial ways. Might be interesting to have skills that, while they don't wreck the system people have now, shake it up just enough to send people scrambling. Something like summon a mook that mess up the opponents strategy for taking you out. Something to help you beat a hasty retreat from an unfavorable situation. Things to make it potentially possible to completely turn the tables, but not guaranteed to do so.

 

Of course, the basic idea of this is what MMO developers always try to do: make a balanced (for whatever the definition of that is) game. The real key here would be making these bonuses not so overpowering to any one skill set.

Exactly! It would give each of the crewskills a variety of choices for the player to round themselves out and no one crewskill be overpowered or unfair to another.

[Danakar]

Some more suggestions:

 

Augmentation Device: Works as a consumable and can be crafted through Synthweaving (?). Can be traded/sold to others and when applied to a piece of armor, it creates an Augment Slot on said piece of armor (not earpieces/implants; only armor).

 

Augments: Instead of finding them randomly through trading missions, make them craftable through Armstech (?).

 

This way people won't need to twist themselves through loops just to get a critical when crafting dozens of armor (but it's still nice if you get it as a free bonus when getting lucky) and Augment Slots that are non-existent on Custom and Purple vendor/drops can be given an Augment slot as well.

 

A more steady supply of Augments through Armormech would also provide players with a better assortment of Augments to put in their gear (and the mission skill that normally provided Augments as a bonus will still function as providing missioneers with said bonus item)

 

[flem]

Artifice: Personal Lightsaber Crystal. Lvl50 BoP, comparable to endgame raid quality and unique, with a unique color variation of the existing colors (Blue-Green-Yellow-Purple-Red).

Exotic BoP crystal color options would definitely be nice.

[Leilei]

I like your idea. Since the belts and bracers dont come with an enhancement slot, just allow stuff to be put on there.

 

If people are complaining too much about things too limited to the crafter of their tree, how about make it work like a durability thing where non crafters can get it but they will have to purchase repair kits from the one who made their wrist launcher to repair it so you can use it more?

 

That wasy whoever makes the wrist launcher gets infinite use and the biochem who has his reusables will have to pay for repair kits to be able to keep using the wrist launcher

[Danakar]

That wasy whoever makes the wrist launcher gets infinite use and the biochem who has his reusables will have to pay for repair kits to be able to keep using the wrist launcher

 

Hmmm, Armstech being able to make a wrist-mounted rocket launcher for themselves!! I still recall the fond memories of my WoW Engineer with one of those babies attached to my wrist. Even put it into my rotation during Raids

[Leilei]

Hmmm, Armstech being able to make a wrist-mounted rocket launcher for themselves!! I still recall the fond memories of my WoW Engineer with one of those babies attached to my wrist. Even put it into my rotation during Raids

 

Ah sadly I quit WoW before they had teh wrist mounted rocket launcher. I loved the sploding sheep and the tonks though.

 

"Baaaa~" BOOOMMM

[Aethyrprime]

I like your idea. Since the belts and bracers dont come with an enhancement slot, just allow stuff to be put on there.

 

If people are complaining too much about things too limited to the crafter of their tree, how about make it work like a durability thing where non crafters can get it but they will have to purchase repair kits from the one who made their wrist launcher to repair it so you can use it more?

 

That wasy whoever makes the wrist launcher gets infinite use and the biochem who has his reusables will have to pay for repair kits to be able to keep using the wrist launcher

 

Actually that's not a bad idea.. But in that case then you'd have to have biochems stims and kits undergo the same type of treatment also grenades from Cybertech. We can get lesser reusable ones but they break after so many uses and require an item from a biochem to fix them..

Edited January 16, 2012 by Aethyrprime