Why craft at all?

[Celticprince]

Greetings, everybody.

I`ve been playing SWTOR for a couple of weeks and so far I`ve been enjoying my crafting experience quite a lot. The main reason is because for me the crafting (cybertech) was well... fun. Based on the opinions I`ve read in this and some other threads, I can assume that the first thing people who criticize crafting would say to this is that I clearly haven`t reached level 50 yet and when I do, crafting will instantly turn into a useless junk. Well, before I explain why this perspective doesn`t frighten me and answer OP question, I must address an issue which keeps bothering me as I read through different threads. People constantly keep saying that all the great (or not-so-great hence the argument) things that can be crafted are easily acquired through doing quests, FPs and buying from the commendation vendors. The thing is, after doing all the FPs up to Colicoid`s War Games and carefully browsing through the commendation vendors` stocks on all the planets I haven`t seen a single purple (artifact) item of any kind only the blue ones (prototype). At the same time my crafting tab is full of schematics for these purple items. So before I continue, could somebody please tell me whether I'm seriously retarded and all that juicy purple pieces can be acquired without crafting or not, in which case crafting may, at least in theory, have some uses?

Thanks in advance.

 

The orange (modafiable) gear is better then those juicy purples. you can slot the stats you want in them with commendations at the mod vendors. artifice armstech and cybertech if you sink the money into them can craft some very nice mods, enhancements, armoring, barrels,crystals,and hilts, of purple quality you can not find on low level vendors. At lvl 50 though you can get the same mods and such through dailey comendations from illum vendors all of which are purple quality and are exactly the same thing you can craft, and they are dirt cheap too..

[Battilea]

120 daily tokens gets you a rakata earpiece if I'm not mistaken, I guess the reason they sell is because people either don't realize it or don't have the patience to get those 120 tokens (which is only about a week's worth of dailies really)

 

Yeah, 120 gets you that. But there's also the implants competing for those daily commendations. And with the lackluster LFG tools, sort of hard to look for an HM and do the dailies at the same time.

 

Also worth noting that the Rakata earpiece isn't necessarily better. The total stat/bonus point gap on a Rakata earring versus a purple player made one with a purple augment is 12 points in favor of the Rakata gear. But with the player made one, you'll have a bit more choice in what you go for. And this is most relevant for tanks, as the Rakata gear will offer more of the stats (str/end, will/end, aim/end), but offers less that actually helps you take less damage (shielding, defense, absorption). To maximize mitigation/avoidance, you want a player made earing with augment slot.

[rocdogg]

I don't think your question goes far enough. Why play video games at all?

[dadamowsky]

How, just how are they as good as the commendation ones?! They are all purple while those you get from commendations and FPs are all blue! What the hell am I missing?! For all that`s sacred please, please somebody explain that to me...

 

Well... let's say I want to craft & profit from purple skill armoring 11. It needs grade 3 scavenging mats (compound, flux and metal) and purple underworld metal. 4 pieces of each.

Cost for scavenging missions would be around 400-500 for each. Let's say we are lucky, every mission succed and provide us with enough mat to craft 1 armoring.

 

The trick begins in purple UT metal. It can be obtained by luck with missions, or GTN. How many missions would you have to run to get it? If it's a "rich" or even "bountiful" it relatively small problem, you probably get it fast and for 500-700 creds per 1 piece (depends how rich yield would it turn back). But if you have no "rich/bountiful" missions, and that is most common situation...

 

You're given an option - to buy one-use mission which, let's say again we're lucky again, in single run provides you with 4 pieces of UT purple. Or to buy mat on GTN. Single use mission costs around 5-7k at this level. A piece of UT on GTN costs at this very moment 3k per 1 piece. And there are only two of them in the entire GTN.

 

Nice costs? Purple must have some awesome stat to cover them? EEEEE, wrong answer. Blue 11 has +11 end and +17 cunning, while purple has +13 end and +19 cunning. Cool huh? For all this effort and cash sink you have +4 total stat improvement.

 

Would you really like to purchase this armoring, covering crafter's expenses and fair profit (no one will spend all this time for 100 credits), if you can have them almost for free in comm vendors? Especially that this armoring will be outdated pretty fast since leveling is pretty fast too? You won't, you'd grab your commendations, or at very least you'd go to flashpoint where drop is very generous.

 

So summing it up (again) - if you want to get rich, don't bother with crafting. Do quests.

[Ravaran]

-Money

-Augmentable gear for you and your guild-members

-Reusables (biochem)

[oredith]

-Money

-Augmentable gear for you and your guild-members

-Reusables (biochem)

 

you must be a biochem.. -_-

[Ravaran]

you must be a biochem.. -_-

 

Absolutely, it was the smart choice at launch, and still is. I highly recommend Biochem for your main, and cybertech for your alt. Cybertech makes excellent earpieces when crit crafted, and the grenades are nice to have.

 

Critted Rakata armor pieces are also nice, but in the end reusable medpacs and adrenals are borderline priceless... because of the time it takes to make just one blue one, and the rarity of materials.

[oredith]

Absolutely, it was the smart choice at launch, and still is. I highly recommend Biochem for your main, and cybertech for your alt. Cybertech makes excellent earpieces when crit crafted, and the grenades are nice to have.

 

Critted Rakata armor pieces are also nice, but in the end reusable medpacs and adrenals are borderline priceless... because of the time it takes to make just one blue one, and the rarity of materials.

i think you missed the whole point of this thread.

 

this thread is basically "why be any craft at all, if you're not biochem".

 

we're talking about all the OTHER broken crafting profs. Biochem does not apply.

[Ravaran]

i think you missed the whole point of this thread.

 

this thread is basically "why be any craft at all, if you're not biochem".

 

we're talking about all the OTHER broken crafting profs. Biochem does not apply.

 

Perhaps that is what the post turned into. But I am addressing the OP, whose question was "why be any craft at all" and whether he should just take three gathering professions or not.

 

*You CAN make money with any craft. Other than Biochem/Cyber, your best best is for gear lvl 45 and below. Artifice and even Both Armtech have excellent profit-margins here.

 

*Likewise you can craft gear for your guild-members, similiarly lvl 45 and below, with any craft.

Edited January 26, 2012 by Ravaran

[GellonSW]

maybe so, but you would be hard pressed to find another person who shares your same experience.

 

 

Not really. This has been my experience as well. Crafting is super easy and no comm/quest gear comes close to matching what I can craft with orange + mods at level.

[Burtlebe]

Not so hard. That has been my experience. Quests/Comms NEVER give gear better than I can craft, and I've beelined content with minimal sidequests. I do occasionally do heroics, but never to the point where I repeat daily quests because unless it gives me a weapon, earpiece or implant it's not giving me something I can use.

 

I think the community needs to realize that some people just aren't crafters, and for these people the answer to the OP is that you shouldn't craft. But I will not agree that crafting is worthless because I know it's not. Crafted gear can be very powerful and if you keep up with it then you'll have it ready for you levels in advance.

 

I agree, until 50 I used nothing but crafted blue armor, with exception of some dropped orange gear I never found anything better that what i could craft. I think crafting is pretty good in this game till you hit 50 then it dies off. I am also a alt-o-holic craft-o-holic, currently have a commando and scoundrel to 50 and have tend to make the crafters in order of importance for my alts, so first two crafters were armormech and cybertech.

 

I am currently leveling up a synthweaver and artificer for my force users. I do think that crafting is still too much of a money sink especially mission skills but I am still enjoying the system albiet fustrated at times do to credit issues.

 

To the OP, if you dont enjoy crafting the for sure I would just make money off gathering skills and buy what you need.

[snwkill]

I am not sure what server you all play on but at the GTM on mine I can get purple crafting materials for 300-500 credits. I need 2 so that is 1000 cred I can get the rest of my power crystals and artifacts needed for 1500 for the entire recipe, that puts me at 2500 credits needed to buy the materials for purple lvl 35 gear. I can turn around and sell that gear for 5000 credits easy on GTM; that is even low ball most level 35 purple gear goes for 10,000 credits.

 

This is for synthweaving and I can assure you that my level 35 purple will beat out anything dropped following the storyline from level 35 - 40 and sometimes higher. So buying the raw materials and turning around and selling it for 100% profit isn't worth it?

 

Not to mention I never unlearn those so even when I am level 50 I can still make that level 35 gear for someone who is leveling trying to find some good gear on GTM... Granted 5000 credits isn't much at that point but still 100% profit is good no matter what you do.

[Ravaran]

Honestly 5k is a little low for lvl 35 crafted purple gear. Especially with constant inflation, those leveling alts will spend more than that for great gear that will last them 4-6 levels. Might want to try 9500 credits each, 14500 for crits at least. Blue implants for that level sell for that much, and people need two at a time.

[oredith]

I am not sure what server you all play on but at the GTM on mine I can get purple crafting materials for 300-500 credits. I need 2 so that is 1000 cred I can get the rest of my power crystals and artifacts needed for 1500 for the entire recipe, that puts me at 2500 credits needed to buy the materials for purple lvl 35 gear. I can turn around and sell that gear for 5000 credits easy on GTM; that is even low ball most level 35 purple gear goes for 10,000 credits.

 

This is for synthweaving and I can assure you that my level 35 purple will beat out anything dropped following the storyline from level 35 - 40 and sometimes higher. So buying the raw materials and turning around and selling it for 100% profit isn't worth it?

 

Not to mention I never unlearn those so even when I am level 50 I can still make that level 35 gear for someone who is leveling trying to find some good gear on GTM... Granted 5000 credits isn't much at that point but still 100% profit is good no matter what you do.

i applaud you, as you apparent are a true crafter, like one in SWG, and really just enjoy crafting for the sake of crafting, or turning a profit.

 

for me, and I think for many others, the game STARTS at lvl 50. yes, the story of the class quest was great, and i enjoyed all of that, but that was a single player console game, with opportunity for some multiplayer FPs thrown in, but essentially, nothing that you wouldn't get from PS3.

 

no, for me, a real MMO STARTS at max level. I expect the crafting to add value at the start of the game, not during the journey to the beginning.

[JohnSixteen]

I got my first toon to level 10. I didn't want to mess up my first toon so I have been researching for my consular/healer. As far as I can tell there is no long term benefit to crafting. Why not just do 3 gathering skills and be done with it?

 

The only crafting skill worthwhile on a main is bio engineering. I'd recommend getting that, and 2 gathering skills.

 

You can easily get another level 10 alt up for each crafting skill you may want to do later.

[Amatiste]

i applaud you, as you apparent are a true crafter, like one in SWG, and really just enjoy crafting for the sake of crafting, or turning a profit.

 

for me, and I think for many others, the game STARTS at lvl 50. yes, the story of the class quest was great, and i enjoyed all of that, but that was a single player console game, with opportunity for some multiplayer FPs thrown in, but essentially, nothing that you wouldn't get from PS3.

 

no, for me, a real MMO STARTS at max level. I expect the crafting to add value at the start of the game, not during the journey to the beginning.

 

I hink what you said is lieing at the heart of the issue. People have different expectations and playstyles. I like the leveling process. I currently have a sage on taris, I am working the bonus storyline, knowing I have outleveled the content, and am past min level for Nar Shadaa. Doesn't matter tome. I just crafted my new resolve 7 purple hilt and purple yello crit crystal, last nevel i crafted my purple crit enhancement. My synthweave alt mademe a set of armour at 11ish that was better than mission drops into taris. I have 1 orange peice i got from some heroic on Coruscant. Only reason I havent crafted more on weaver is lack of mats, im leveling a bit fast, and well i will prolly reroll my synthweaver, didnt like some choices i made with her. My other main, (I know i know, sounds odd, but im an altiholic) is a trooper, save for orange chests that i goit from heroics, both aric and I are in fully crafted gear thanks to armourcraft. So i think crafting is very useful. Yes it is a credit sink, big time, but credits at 23 seem to come fast. One of the things I like about mmos is crafting, and while I think TOR needs tweeking, its fine right now unless you are a raider/pvper. I am neither, tho I do think I may raid when i have more time. PVP is silly to me, I hate it, never liked it, and tend to leave a game if they start balancing to much to pvp. This game is all about the story, if ya don't like the story, why are ya here? (not meant as a critisism, just a question?

[leihn]

I RE'd most of the good level 50 armstech weapons with relevant stats, I can sell the Mastercrafts with Augment slots for 75-120k over a few days but I have no chance moving the normal versions.

 

I have a cargo hold bay full of them that I just hand out to people I run into who are fresh 50s, they're the only ones who want a 124 rating weapon without an augment slot.

 

Pre-50 stuff sells pretty well though, and it's been invaluable for gearing out my friends and their alts.

 

Otherwise, it's a cash sink and effort cost that's probably not more profitable than just rolling 3 gathering crew skills and selling the materials.

 

But you do feel like you have some sense of value/accomplishment for breaking even.

[BrutalDeluxe]

But why waste my time crafting at all? With 3 gathering skills or maybe treasure hunting as a mission skill since one of my consular crew gets a + 15 to eff to it. Wouldn't I just get more money and just buy the equip I want as I go? Not trying to act smart, just wondering

 

Sounds like you've made up your mind already, so why bother posting?

[oredith]

This game is all about the story, if ya don't like the story, why are ya here? (not meant as a critisism, just a question?

I loved the story, i just didn't like the irrelevant side quests.

 

I went through my class quest like I was on a super exciting part of a book and couldn't put it down. I was basically chasing my class story the whole way, I wasn't focused on power leveling, but that's just what happened. I finished corellia at 46.

 

all that's irrelevant though, because that's all just a single player game. I get just as involved in other console games. that's not a MMO. MMO depends on life after the story, thus why I say a MMO starts at max level.

[Kyrmius]

The problem with crafting isn't that it's bad, it's that items are available that are better, or just as good as items you can create, unless you invest lots of money, time and effort in unlocking superior quality items or get a critical.

 

For instance, a Weapon/Armor crafter will likely just do Flash points for gear as they are generally faster, and you will get the drops you need for much less money.

 

In addition to the above, you have commendations you can earn from doing Flash Points and dailies that will let you buy mods that are just as good, if not better than anything you can craft, negating any benefit from making mods unless.. You guessed it.. You Reverse Engineer enough to unlock purple mods..

 

Crafting just isn't worth bothering with until you reach 400. There's no incentive to anyone to reverse engineer anything (Unless you are a Biochemist), except items they are creating to level their stuff, and even then the materials to create said items are too expensive or a pain in the butt to get. The result is a Galactic Trade Market with a bunch of items people are craving, but can't get because nobody can make them, or is willing to make and sell, because the profit in doing so is too low.

 

Say for instance you have to do 25 Underworld missions to get that epic item you need to finally craft that piece of Armor. Let's assume you're around level 20, so those missions would be about 400-600 credits each. That's almost 4x the amount of money spent making the item as you would earn placing the item on the GTM. It just doesn't make sense..

 

The way the current system is set up, Biochemists benefit the most from putting effort into reverse engineering and actually MAKING items.

 

Good comments, good. However I wanted to point out something MANY of you are missing...

 

There are some Players that NEVER do Flashpoints, or Ops, just quests and crafting solo. They NEVER group. NO Raids and NO PvP, ever. They PvE and generally do so Solo. I know because I am one of them and I have talked with a few other Players like me on at least two servers. These Players don't post on forums and generally don't even have general chat open ingame. You are generally not going to hear them complain here because no one cares about us except us (not even Bioware Staff because they are generally Raiders and PvPers it seems).

 

For Players like us, there is Crafted gear, loot drops, general PvE commendation gear and quest rewards. Since we solo alot and since we spend so much time gathering for crafting we tend to do our quests over level so the rewards from quests are less than we can craft most of the time. In this situation good Crafted gear is as good as we can get many times. For Players like us we hope very much that Bioware puts into the game the missing schematics into the game soon. We generally are the fanatics that will make 100 of the same item just to get the artifact schematic. We have 4 characters all with Underworld Trading just to get the Oranges, and we check the GTN daily in several locations.

 

So since we PAY as much money in real life to play this game as does everyone else we sincerely hope Bioware at least considers us worthy of some consideration from time to time and keeps the Crafting system working well. To us the Crafting/Crew Skills System in SWTOR is a VERY Important set of features. Thank You for reading this.

Edited January 26, 2012 by Kyrmius

[oredith]

There are some Players that NEVER do Flashpoints, or Ops, just quests and crafting solo. They NEVER group. NO Raids and NO PvP, ever. They PvE and generally do so Solo. I know because I am one of them and I have talked with a few other Players like me on at least two servers. These Players don't post on forums and generally don't even have general chat open ingame. You are generally not going to hear them complain here because no one cares about us except us (not even Bioware Staff because they are generally Raiders and PvPers it seems).

 

those players should probably just stick to playing KOTOR, instead of SWTOR.

[dadamowsky]

I am not sure what server you all play on but at the GTM on mine I can get purple crafting materials for 300-500 credits.

If we're talking about grade 1 mats then it is possible. Otherwise someone is selling far below the obtain cost. Or have increadible luck with the avalaible missions and their yields.

 

I need 2 so that is 1000 cred I can get the rest of my power crystals and artifacts needed for 1500 for the entire recipe, that puts me at 2500 credits needed to buy the materials for purple lvl 35 gear. I can turn around and sell that gear for 5000 credits easy on GTM; that is even low ball most level 35 purple gear goes for 10,000 credits.

 

This is for synthweaving and I can assure you that my level 35 purple will beat out anything dropped following the storyline from level 35 - 40 and sometimes higher. So buying the raw materials and turning around and selling it for 100% profit isn't worth it?

Cybertech is more mat-expensive then. 4 of each in the purple tier. Which would, more less, double it's prices even on your very cheap GTN material stock. And stats are different by 4 points overall. I'm not really surprised no one buys mods anymore, I don't even craft them for my own alt.

 

Not to mention I never unlearn those so even when I am level 50 I can still make that level 35 gear for someone who is leveling trying to find some good gear on GTM... Granted 5000 credits isn't much at that point but still 100% profit is good no matter what you do.

Then in cybertech case it's all the way different. No matter how high are you with your skills, profitability of mods is still non-existant. No matter if you're maxed crafting for lowbies, or max crafting for tops (having mod comm vendors with lvl 50 - not even possible to craft).

Edited January 26, 2012 by dadamowsky

[OriginalPollo]

I couldn't disagree more with the sentiment that crafting is useless. As a 400 Synthweaver I make items that are better than HM FP drops. I make gear that will allow you to raid without having to farm FPs.

 

Everyone seems to think that ALL players are going to do endgame content. If WoW is any sort of indicator, only like 5% of the games population has competed Dragon Soul. That's a whole lot of people that haven't/won't/don't do end game content.

 

Does crafting need some love? Absolutely.

 

Is it useless at 50 or below. Hell no.

[archifikoss]

those players should probably just stick to playing KOTOR, instead of SWTOR.

 

Yeah, sorry we don't all conform to your playstyle.

[oredith]

Yeah, sorry we don't all conform to your playstyle.

 

it's not a play style.

 

if you are going to play a MMO like it's a single player game, and not interact with anyone, then you're better off playing a single player game - like KOTOR.