Biochemistry is the only skill worth having

[Blutelf]

And Bioware certainly does not seem to understand why.

 

Let me give you, Bioware guys, some tips:

 

- Red Goo is the ingredient you need to craft the blue stims/adrenals. It is quite hard to farm. This makes blue stims/adrenals expensive.

 

- The Rakata biochem stuff is reusable and better than the blue.

 

- Good raiders do not care about the gear from Synth/Armourtech. They know that they can farm HMs and OPs really easily. Given the same gear, the char with Biochem has an edge.

[fest]

Plus the rakata stims and adrenals are leagues better than the normal stims/adrenals. If you want to succeed in raiding at a decent pace, you'll want all of your raiders to have this edge.

[Blutelf]

It's due to a difference in mentality.

 

Bioware guys are not hardcore raiders. They look at the professions and go "hmmm but you can make hilts??? and armouring??? and some awesome gear!!! why would you want to stick to boring biochem????? ;_;"

 

Because I want a long-term benefit, not a piece of gear I will replace after one OP.

Edited January 17, 2012 by Blutelf

[EntrepeNinja]

We're still really early in crew skill, development wise. I know the "wait and see" is a tired excuse, but I think it would be remiss of them not to realize this, and implement Armortech and arms tech etc only gear. Pieces that are the same equivalent better. Scematics that drop in heroics and raids that have armortech or armstech level requirements.

 

This is completely unfounded of course, and I have no sources to back me up, but it's seems like common sense, and I have faith that this will not be a problem forever.

 

E-N

[Sarmea]

Not everyone is a raider. Others will want to have other skills just to get the raiding schematics.

 

Just to prove the other skills can make money, I've parked a level 9 trooper next to the GTN. She's made it to level 100 so far and has more cash than she started with. She buys everything needed to craft off the GTN. I didn't start her off with any seed money either- just the cash she made before getting Aric.

 

Desh- 5credits each. Silica- 10credits. (cost)

 

lvl 2 armor sells for 45credits to the vendor.

 

lvl 3 sells for 60 credits.

 

etc (mods sell for a loss, armor for profit to a vendor).

 

She made enough from this to buy all the schematics up to this point. Now to log back in and send Aric out on another underworld mission, and set my Sith Inquisitor up as a synthweaver.

 

It'll be real interesting to see if any of them ever have to leave the station and level to get some cash.

[Tenetke]

And Bioware certainly does not seem to understand why.

 

Let me give you, Bioware guys, some tips:

 

- Red Goo is the ingredient you need to craft the blue stims/adrenals. It is quite hard to farm. This makes blue stims/adrenals expensive.

 

- The Rakata biochem stuff is reusable and better than the blue.

 

- Good raiders do not care about the gear from Synth/Armourtech. They know that they can farm HMs and OPs really easily. Given the same gear, the char with Biochem has an edge.

 

It's cool man, they are nefing it for you no skill players. No worries though, if this nerf isn't enough they will do it again. You guys keep at it though. You are showing everyone just how easily a company will cave to forum qq.

[Tenacity]

The problem here isnt with biochem, it's with the other skills not matching up.

 

Level 50 daily missions and heroics provide better mods, enhancements, armorings, barrels, and hilts than armstech, cybertech, and artifice are able to make. Flashpoint and Operation gear drops are better than anything armormech or synthweaving can make. The only exception to these is earpieces, belts, bracers, and implants with augmentation slots, which are hardly worth levelling up an entire crafting skill for.

 

Crafting skills need additional items or perks added which make up for the lack of usefulness at 50. Biochem is useful because it's consumables are seperate from gear-based progression and provide benefits that are worth levelling it for. Why not add something similar to the other professions?

 

[Niconogood]

THEY NEED TO REMOVE THE BIOCHEM PREREQUISITE ON THE REUSABLES!!

 

Seriously, this is totally gamebreaking. Why should some players get a free skill, healing them for 5k every 90sec, while other classes have to pay 3-4k every time they use it.

 

As long as there is no superepic armor with prereq. 350 armormech, or some epic guns better than anything else in game with prereq. 350 armstech. This biochem prereq. has to go. If not there is no reason for anyone to go anything else than biochem, which I assume isnt your intention BW?

[pyradius]

And Bioware certainly does not seem to understand why.

 

Let me give you, Bioware guys, some tips:

 

- Red Goo is the ingredient you need to craft the blue stims/adrenals. It is quite hard to farm. This makes blue stims/adrenals expensive.

 

- The Rakata biochem stuff is reusable and better than the blue.

 

- Good raiders do not care about the gear from Synth/Armourtech. They know that they can farm HMs and OPs really easily. Given the same gear, the char with Biochem has an edge.

 

Hard to farm? Hardly. It's called Companions. You send them all out on missions to gather. Good raiders should have plenty of cash. I have 1 million credits and I've hardly done any dailies. 10k credits per daily and you can easily get an ample supply of any biochem items you need for the week of raiding.

 

I'm constantly spending cash sending my companions out on missions. I don't bother selling anything yet because my focus is exclusively on unlocking purple schematics, but if I actually cared I could quite easily flood the market with blue stims, adrenals, and medpacks.

 

That said, if you actually need Biochem to beat the current content, you're doing it wrong.

 

As to your original point, worth is determined by the person, so while you may feel it is the only profession of worth, it's quite clear that large numbers of players disagree.

Edited January 17, 2012 by pyradius

[Blutelf]

Another glorius morning under the iron fist rule of Biochemistry. Feels good man.

 

Please do not even try defending the comparatively useless skills. All schematic drops are not producing anything that is not BOP, meaning it can be crafted by someone else or bought in the worst case.

 

Gear is never a replacement for having infinitely reusable buffs which are better than the commercial alternative.

Edited January 17, 2012 by Blutelf

[Drebble]

Biotech 400: your character now regenerates 100 hit points every second.

 

The above statement is not exactly true. However, Rakata medpacks currently give 5k instant heal and 4k over time on a 90 second cooldown. That is 9000 hp per 90 seconds. Thats effectively 100 hp per second. As long as you have taken damage, why not push the button? It's free.

 

As an Armormech Vanguard, they would have to nerf bio / buff armormech pretty hard before I lose the haunting feeling that I have the "wrong" crew skill.

 

My prediction is that no crew skill will ever give as much combat usefulness as Bio. Everyone takes damage. Everyone can benefit from stims and adrenals. Every class and every situation in the game benefits.

 

What could they possibly add to armormech that equals 100hp/s heal and unlimited stims/adrenals?

[JamieKirby]

Well, considering raiders just think about level 50, they do not think about 1-49, which is where ALL crafting skills are useful, but like all idiotic hardcore raiders, they ruin their own experiences for JUST level 50.

 

Such an idiotic mistake to be honest.

[Blutelf]

The +15% health increase is an additional bonus cherry on top of the icing on a huge and delicious Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte which is biochemistry.

 

Reroll biochemistry today, as a matter of fact, do it right now. You too can enjoy the benefit of a good skill in just 3-4 hours.

[livnthedream]

The +15% health increase is an additional bonus cherry on top of the icing on a huge and delicious Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte which is biochemistry.

 

Reroll biochemistry today, as a matter of fact, do it right now. You too can enjoy the benefit of a good skill in just 3-4 hours.

 

no thanks, ill take my aug slots over your biochem bonuses. especially since as a "good raider" it allows me to further tailor my stats to the best breakdown.

[TheRealBoz]

Well, considering raiders just think about level 50, they do not think about 1-49, which is where ALL crafting skills are useful, but like all idiotic hardcore raiders, they ruin their own experiences for JUST level 50.

 

Such an idiotic mistake to be honest.

 

The 1-49 period in this game is something like ten hours of gameplay, tops.

Ten hours.

This model could, theoretically (with some tweaking as bio still comes out on top), make sense in a game in which it took you 200+ hours to reach max level, but not here.

[Dakazane]

Thought Bio was being nerfed in 1.1? People still complaining?

[livnthedream]

The 1-49 period in this game is something like ten hours of gameplay, tops.

Ten hours.

This model could, theoretically (with some tweaking as bio still comes out on top), make sense in a game in which it took you 200+ hours to reach max level, but not here.

 

i would love to see your screenshot of 1-50 with 10 hours played. thats also with keeping in mind that you are skipping the vast majority of the reason to pick this mmo verse the others on the market.

[TheRealBoz]

Crap, I wrote hours... Crap.

I meant days. Mine was 8 days 22 hours to ding 50.

[RocNessMonster]

THEY NEED TO REMOVE THE BIOCHEM PREREQUISITE ON THE REUSABLES!!

 

Seriously, this is totally gamebreaking. Why should some players get a free skill, healing them for 5k every 90sec, while other classes have to pay 3-4k every time they use it.

 

So you're saying I just clicked on a button and it gave me 400 biochem/bioanalysis/diplomacy without any effort or cost involved at all. Sure I might be lucky enough to get a hit on RE within 5 tries, but most of the time I have to RE 20 greens to get a blue recipe, then RE 20 blues (which take 15-30mins to produce a single product) to get a purple. I spent the time and money (sure I get more money but I will never get the time lost back) to level these skills up, I deserve a perk for it. FYI 6k hps to a level 50 is a measly 2 more seconds of life in a warzone.

[TheRealBoz]

So you're saying I just clicked on a button and it gave me 400 biochem/bioanalysis/diplomacy without any effort or cost involved at all. Sure I might be lucky enough to get a hit on RE within 5 tries, but most of the time I have to RE 20 greens to get a blue recipe, then RE 20 blues (which take 15-30mins to produce a single product) to get a purple. I spent the time and money (sure I get more money but I will never get the time lost back) to level these skills up, I deserve a perk for it. FYI 6k hps to a level 50 is a measly 2 more seconds of life in a warzone.

 

Comparing a player with a specific crafting skill to a player without any crafting skill is a strawman argument.

[Vesperr]

So you're saying I just clicked on a button and it gave me 400 biochem/bioanalysis/diplomacy without any effort or cost involved at all. Sure I might be lucky enough to get a hit on RE within 5 tries, but most of the time I have to RE 20 greens to get a blue recipe, then RE 20 blues (which take 15-30mins to produce a single product) to get a purple. I spent the time and money (sure I get more money but I will never get the time lost back) to level these skills up, I deserve a perk for it. FYI 6k hps to a level 50 is a measly 2 more seconds of life in a warzone.

 

You spend as much time with any other crafting crew skills and all you get are BoE items you'll replace after several HM FPs and Ops. BTW the chances are you get crit+defense on your blue or presense on your epic which means you have to waste even more resourses (3 blue patterns and 5 epic patters for each = 15 times more resources if you are unlucky).

 

 

p.s. I've spent tons (about 400 I think) of ciridium to make epic earpieces (2 useful epic recipes for all that ****...). Now I have a choice: to drop cybertech with its useless 5min CD nades and pick imbachem OR feel like a useless piece of **** on WZs because I dont have free heals, adrenals and flasks but be useful for a guild by being The Cybertech (the only one coz everyone is rerolling bio...)

FYI 6k hp on WZ is like having 40% extra base hp. ~600 power trinket is like having free uberepic relic. 200 stats from flask/stim is like having a free blue item that doesnt require a slot.

Edited January 17, 2012 by Vesperr

[xlDARKSIDElx]

Well, considering raiders just think about level 50, they do not think about 1-49, which is where ALL crafting skills are useful, but like all idiotic hardcore raiders, they ruin their own experiences for JUST level 50.

 

Such an idiotic mistake to be honest.

 

I am a raider but not a HC one. I enjoyed my way all the way up to lvl 50 and didnt rush past all the quests. But I got Syth/Arch/UT all to 400 and it was pretty useless 1-50. The story with Synth is that you can get better gear elsewhere and easier. The level 20/40 pvp sets are modifiable and super easy to get. ~150 WZ commendations to get each piece, that's like 2 hours for warzones for your next 10 levels of gear.

 

I kept holding onto the fact that synth would give me something useful other then bracers and wait pieces that are good, but hardly worth keeping over Biochem. So switched all my professions to level Biochem yesterday, even after the nerf bat is hitting biochem its still better than synth by a mile. Unless you are an RP'er and want to be able to craft different sets for looks which is great, there is really no driving reason to keep synth.

[IncomT]

This is true. And it is a saddening fact.

 

Personally I am a synthweaver of skill 400 with several recipes from eternity vault. None of the items I can craft through my profession are giving the feeling that biochem oozes. I can make rakata bracers and belt. Theoretically these can be reverse engineered to better items. So far I have not managed to successfully RE either because I am constricted by materials in the form of alloys.

 

Hopefully at some point I can RE something more powerful but looking at the effort and cost of materials to just being able to craft of of these items compared to how easy it is for a player with biochem to just "get" a similar item from raiding or a hard flashpoint it feels silly.

 

The biochem medpacks are re-usable which means there is a one time cost to research and get the highest medpacs and stims and then just reap the rewards. Synthweaving demands constantly a new set of RE per new item that you find that is better than the last - and to lower benefit than biochem medpacks/stims.

 

I on a daily basis hover over the button which will remove my synthweaving so I can pick up biochem instead. Every day I say to myself "synthweaving might actually not be useless tomorrow". Every day I am wrong. Granted, it is not useless per say, merely by comparison to biochem.

 

 

In my eyes there are two big and different aspects to SWTOR;

 

PvP Biochem: Rules supreme. Everyone who doesn't have it is a disadvantage.

PvP Synthweaving: Has nothing to offer. Gear without expertise is inferior performance-wise.

 

PvE Biochem: The medpacks and stims make raids easier and make you perform better - easily without any cost.

PvE Synthweaving: If you have spent fortunes getting one good item you have a marginal improvement that can not be compared to biochem. Also, huge amounts of money will go into purchasing and using normal stimpacks and medpacks at lesser performance.

 

The biochem "nerf" made my whole guild laugh. Some of the biochemists even preferred the "nerf" because the HP increase will be golden in both PvE and PvP. Two of our crafters dropped their professions and picked up Biochem shortly after.

 

If this is the level of impact you (Bioware) intend for Biochem to have, then put some effort into the other professions to be as viable and as powerful in both PvE and PvP at similar costs and circumstances. That means either hugely nerfing the complexity of RE for crafting (Which is a pity since I like complexity and effort put in to get something worthwhile for it) or make it immensly harder for biochems to reach their top of the line items (as well as increase their costs).

 

The solution should not be that we all roll Biochem because it is the only viable crew skills but that all of them should be as viable in different forms.

Edited January 17, 2012 by IncomT