why can I never find item modifications on the market ???

[admriker]

I've played every day since the first day of early access. Its always been a nightmare trying to buy the item modifications I need for my class.

 

right now on both faction markets on my server (ajunta pall) there is literally NOTHING for me to buy. In fact there is nothing to buy until lvl 41.

 

I cant get what I want from the commendation vendors. for some reason there arent the correct stat items I need for my assassin dps and shadow dps.

 

I need willpower first over endurance yet the commendation mods are always endurance higher

 

I need crit yet the enhancement mods on commendation vendors always have power.

 

I'm the type of player that wants the best possible gear for every level. It makes me sick to have lvl 24 blue mods as a lvl 28. I would prefer for all blues with the proper stats but epics would be better.

 

Its incredibly frustrating to have all these credits, spam trade channel, check market on both sides, and come up empty day after day.

 

are there just no crafters in the game ? or is the demand so high they sell out ? I suspect no crafters because I ask all the time in trade and maybe get one response and its someone who wants me to /tell them if I do find someone

[MilkPudding]

Frankly speaking, I think the economy in this game is pretty messed up right now. No one is really selling things below 50 because no one is buying.

 

The lack of demand is due to the fact that the cost to make any decently crafted things is way higher than the price that can be afforded by players at that level. Not to mention that most people just get by with quest rewards and commendations so there isn't a huge demand to begin with.

 

PS. It can also be lack of materials. I'm a cybertech but personally, I have never sold any mods because I can't even get enough metals from crew missions to make everything for myself while leveling.

Edited February 7, 2012 by MilkPudding

[Fonitrus]

if you have8 characters thats 40 crew members working hard for 1 master. if you synergize your crafting yuo will not ever need to by stuff from th GTN. however this early in the game the real problem is why craft and sell an item that uses say 4 samples and 4 compounds rank 3 and a processor and maybe 2 or 4 blue medical supplies to make a implant that sells for 20-25K when you can sell the samples and compounds at 2000-3000 each and the medical supplies at 5K each. you are effectively losing by making anything for sale.

 

at present bioanalysis->feeds level 50s power leveling so they can gain a raid spot by havng biochem reusables. until upcoming patch changes things are not likely to change.

so the market is to rip off the power levelers and let the rest just level and get to 50 so they can then be ripped off by lower levels suppliers :)

[Crunchyblack]

Ive had the same issue. Here is my conclusion:

 

1.Everyone just buys what they need at the commendation vendors.

 

2.The few that do take cybertech as a profession (and it really is a crappy craft) dont spend the time to be able to make better than what the commendation vendor sells..when they do they are either insanely overpriced and dont sell or get bought right away.

 

3.Once these mod crafters reach 50 they realize how useless the mods they make are and end up selling the mats or rerolling craft.

 

4. often its cheaper and less effort to just buy blues and purples than to deal with moddable gear

 

Its really strange however...plenty of armoring no mods and no enhancements. Was brutal on my marauder trying to mod up 2 sabers and a full orange set. OP is inquisitor too which seems to be the only stats on most mods and upgrade parts.

 

I took up cybertech to fill this void (seems like good money since nothing is for sale right?) problem is that the blues i can make are worse than the vendors and pumping out enough to RE into purple plans...well by then i can make several levels better and start going for blues on those...

 

Oh and i can trick out my starship droid i never have once used in combat with cyber tech....really a phenominal craft skill.

Edited February 7, 2012 by Crunchyblack

[pokota]

My first question is, why do you need the best gear for each level? This is a very easy game, unless you're trying to skip content and just jump ahead. I used commendation mods, and my gear was usually five levels behind, and I did perfectly fine. If it's just a personal thing, then I guess I can understand that, but it certainly isn't a necessity to have good gear at low levels.

 

From a crafting standpoint, though, I have to say that it simply wasn't worth my time to get blues or purples at low levels. Those take time and resources, with very little real return. I had Cybertech at 400 before level 30, and I almost never made my own mods or armoring while leveling.

 

I don't even make armoring or mods NOW, at level 50. The prices are insane compared to how easy and cheap they are to acquire with dailies. The only thing I use Cybertech for is earpieces and ship upgrades.

[admriker]

if you have8 characters thats 40 crew members working hard for 1 master. if you synergize your crafting yuo will not ever need to by stuff from th GTN. however this early in the game the real problem is why craft and sell an item that uses say 4 samples and 4 compounds rank 3 and a processor and maybe 2 or 4 blue medical supplies to make a implant that sells for 20-25K when you can sell the samples and compounds at 2000-3000 each and the medical supplies at 5K each. you are effectively losing by making anything for sale.

 

at present bioanalysis->feeds level 50s power leveling so they can gain a raid spot by havng biochem reusables. until upcoming patch changes things are not likely to change.

so the market is to rip off the power levelers and let the rest just level and get to 50 so they can then be ripped off by lower levels suppliers :)

 

changes to biochem reusables ? oh please tell me its nothing horrible ??? right now biochem is the only worthwhile crafting profession

[Raani]

Ive had the same issue. Here is my conclusion:

 

2.The few that do take cybertech as a profession (and it really is a crappy craft) dont spend the time to be able to make better than what the commendation vendor sells..when they do they are either insanely overpriced and dont sell or get bought right away.

 

Cybertech is by no means a "crappy craft." There is more to it than purple armorings/mods. Mastercraft earpieces are not only superior to the Rakata ones, but they offer a greater deal of flexibility, which is very nice considering that stat priorities evolve with gear. If no one bothered with Cybertech, no one would have access to BiS earpieces.

 

I can't argue with you that the easily distracted don't bother with RE-ing or take it at face value that anything except Biochem is "worthless." Leveling armorings and mods do sell very fast, along with ship parts, droid parts, and earpieces. Considering that you can only craft so much in one day, and that there are so many different modifications, it's hard to keep up with demand.

 

problem is that the blues i can make are worse than the vendors and pumping out enough to RE into purple plans...well by then i can make several levels better and start going for blues on those...

 

Let's look at hard data rather than impressions, shall we?

 

Aptitude Mod 14A (crafted) - level 33 - 12 Endurance/23 Willpower/3 Power

 

Aptitude Mod 14B(vendor) - level 33 - 18 Endurance/16 Willpower/3 Power

 

Or

 

Aptitude Mod 20A (crafted) - level 45 - 20 Endurance/ 35 Willpower/ 6 Power

 

Aptitude Mod 21B (vendor) - level 47 - 29 Endurance/ 22 Willpower/ 17 Power

 

In the second example, I used the level 45 mod because there isn't a level 47 mod. 13 WP > 9 Power, and you can equip it two levels earlier.

 

However, your post illustrates exactly why the OP can't find the things he wants on the GTN. It's a good situation for crafters, who face relatively little competition, but a bad situation for potential buyers.

[Mephane]

I am a Cybertech myself, able to make armoring and modifications, and have stopped bothering at around level 20. Ever since then I've only buying mods and pieces for commendations, and made green mods just for levelling the profession. I've not even tried to discover a single blue level 50 schematic through RE, as there's literally no point. On Ilum a run through all dailies gives me an artifact-quality grade-23 armament, the best I could ever achieve as a crafter is 22.

In a week you can have pieces from Ilum in all your gear, while at the same time you could waste piles of money, recources and much time just trying to learn any (and possibly not even the desired one) schematic for something that is still worse.

I wouldn't even expect a viable market for crafted mods and armoring to be there to begin with, considering the availability of easier ways to acquire them.

 

Now I am just hoping in the future Cybertech will be expanded more into the gadget department (think WoW engineering) that armoring/mod production. *shrug*

Edited February 7, 2012 by Mephane

[Battilea]

are there just no crafters in the game ? or is the demand so high they sell out ? I suspect no crafters because I ask all the time in trade and maybe get one response and its someone who wants me to /tell them if I do find someone

 

There's a few reasons for it. Amongst them:

 

1. 50 item limit on number of items up.

 

This is a huge limitation. If I want to stock mods, for example, I want to put up 10 of each one. The number 10 comes from that I want to be able to sell to 2 customers, and in this case, I'm assuming 5 gear slots. And that number should probably be 12, for non-armor mods, to allow for 1 weapon slot as well. Then there's 4 stats. And if I want to cover a variety of levels, so I do every 4 levels, though I could make armor mods for every 2. So, 10 x 4 x...oh, wait, we're out of room. Now, say I only stock enough for one person to purchase and focus on a single stat and only armor mods. I can cover only a 32 level range. Oh, and that's ignoring that armor mods split in the 30s with more end focused ones for each stat and regular ones for crit and power. And there really should be other ones still, like defense, absorb, and ones that focus on that 3rd stat, rather than end or aim/will/str/cunning.

 

2. 2 day sales limit.

 

Say the 50 item limit didn't exist and I could stock 300 items. And because I want to cater to various people, I want to cover a variety of things. Various ones will sell at various times, but I will get things back. A lot of things. Just a major hassle.

 

3. The hassle of making the items.

 

Let's say that now, in addition to being able to have 300+ items for sale, they can stay up for a week. I've got 5 companion slots. Low level components are not available in mass quantity, so if I want them, I either need to run around gathering them myself or send my crew on missions to get them. The quantity returned by those missions is subpar, unless I use the special missions. And they take time. An hour for T6 metals (giving me 2-4 metals), for example, 2 hours for the 340 purple slicing ones, which give me 8 blue metals.

 

I can queue up 5 items to be made per character. So to make enough stuff, I've got to log on, queue up new things, etc, frequently. It just doesn't cater to volume goods.

 

4. Inventory space.

 

You've got guys returning components, stock ready to be sold, special missions waiting to be used. It adds up fast. On my main, where I play with earrings, I routinely have 3 to 5 rows of my inventory filled. A bit of that is just general purpose things (stims, medkits), but most of it is tradeskill related. And that's just to support my purple earring making, for which I sell about 6-7 different ones, that all use the same components.

 

Overall, the entire system encourages you to make less items that sell for more profit per item while still having a decent sales volume, rather than a more leisurely, provide a variety of goods to cater to customer needs type of situation.

 

Bioware is a bit too focused on making Crafting a subsidiary of raiding, they don't really seem interested in making crafting for Crafters.

Edited February 7, 2012 by Battilea

[Cleet_Xia]

There are several things contributing to the current problems on the GTN with the availability of itmes.

 

1. A lot of people power leveled to 50 and then decided to simply buy the mats they need to grind their crafting skill to 400.

 

2. A lot of people are crafting, but not nearly enough. Even fewer are actually selling their crafted goods on the GTN. So many people took biochem that there is a shortage of everything else on the GTN. Most lvl 49 crafted items (and mats for those items) are unreasonably high priced on the GTN- But they are still selling at those prices. If you have to choose as a vender to sell 50 level 10 items or 50 level 49 items every day- you're going to sell the stuff with the greatest profit.

 

3. not being able to Qeue up crew missions to run will logged off.

 

I have had between 25~30 item sold emails when I log, and have sold between 25~30 items while I was logged in, for 3 weeks solid. Put another way- I've made over 1000 sales on the GTN in the last 3 weeks. As an artifice crafter my enhancement mods usually sell out within hours. I could stand around crafting enhancement mods, never leave fleet, and not keep my inventory at the 50 item cap. I'm not bragging- this is just what is going on. I don't make enough mods though because I'd like to continue leveling, and the crew mission results tab is insanely irritating during PvP.

 

 

TL;DR- if you're not seeing something on the GTN- maybe you should pick that crew skill and make some credits.......

Edited February 7, 2012 by Cleet_Xia

[Carico]

There might also be crafters like me who are actually trying to get many of the good patterns instead of just one or two and flooding the GTN with those. So in trying to get these patterns, we all know insanely long it can take to get procs for new schematics, which means tons of mats. The few good patterns I do have, I don't have enough mats to mass produce these and continue RE for new schematics. And with the amount of patterns available I'd imagine it will be quite a long while before serious crafters have a lot of patters to start mass production. I mean come on, cyber tech probably has the least branching in RE schematics, with only ear pieces, but there are 10 green ear pieces. so multiply that out by the possible purples that can come out of it, that's 140 possible purples just for cybertech ear pieces at lvl 49.

[Fubbik]

Not a cybertech myself, but I am guessing that there is no profit to be made from mods as I think they require the same amount of UT mats as earpieces for instance. A mod only fills a third of the slots in an orange item, hence pretty darn moot to make them.

Mod vendors of course take away a ton of potential buyers too, so even less incentive.

 

For instance, if you can get a purple blaster pistol in your 30s for around 15k, the price for a single blue mod can't be more than 3k tops. Personally I'd rather sell earpieces at 12-15k a pop instead

 

As an Armstech I stopped making barrels as I realized it was much more profitable to craft purple weapons straight up instead.

[Carico]

it really depends on your class and spec. Each of the different mods grades (22, 22A, 22B), all have the same stats on them, just the points are distributed differently. So its possible that a mod the cybertechs can make (only mod 22) could be bis for you. But from what I've seen its highly unlikely. Especially considering cybertechs can only make 1 of 3 possible mod types.

[LongGui]

Bioware is a bit too focused on making Crafting a subsidiary of raiding, they don't really seem interested in making crafting for Crafters.

 

Some truth to that statement

[_Flin_]

Cybertechs usually do not bother with modifications.

 

- they are cheap to get for 2 commendations from the vendors.

- new schematics are only learned every 4 levels, so you always miss one.

 

Furthermore they are rather expensive, do not sell (small improvement vs. green ones), and are thus not worth the effort and the materials wasted.

 

EDIT:

Plus... I think with "best item" you meant purples.

Noone in their right mind will sell low level purple modifications.

- They don't sell.

- Creating them lets you go broke while leveling.

- You don't have enough materials to make up the lost credits while RE'ing

Edited February 7, 2012 by _Flin_

[Ras_Thavas]

I sell item modifications on the GTN. There are couple of hilts and enhancements that sell quickly and at a good profit. I can't keep the GTN consistently stocked due to the availability of raw materials.

 

For instance, I sell a lot of purple might and resolve hilt 9's. I price them at 6k and they never stay on the network long. I only put them up there when I have extra chrysopaz though. Each hilt takes 2 chrysopaz, and I don't want my personal supply to get lower than 20 chrysopaz. This is the case with most purple item mods I sell, if I can spare the materials without gutting my supply I will craft something to sell.

 

The other problem is the time it takes. My artificer is only level 31, even though I have 400 artifice. If there were more GTN networks on the planets it would be easier for me to stock items, but most times I don't want to leave the planet I am doing missions on to go back to the fleet and stock the GTN.

[SalvorHardin]

Frankly speaking, I think the economy in this game is pretty messed up right now. No one is really selling things below 50 because no one is buying.

 

The lack of demand is due to the fact that the cost to make any decently crafted things is way higher than the price that can be afforded by players at that level. Not to mention that most people just get by with quest rewards and commendations so there isn't a huge demand to begin with.

 

You're looking at the problem the wrong way... There IS demand. Ther just isn't any offer because people have been let to believe crafting is useless.

 

I spent a week gathering materials to craft LVL 19 to 33 light armors (synthweaving). I spent around 100k to get all the mats and find all purple schematics I could find. Then I crafted about 45 purples. I sold it all. Making 300k in the process.

 

I charge x3 for tier 1 purples, x7 for tier 2 purples and +10% for augment slots. And worst case scenario, I have to put the item on GTN a second time...

 

Crafters need to wake up and actually contribute to the economy...

[Mathrafal]

A serious crafter will craft stuff usable by level 50 players. Why? Because level 50 players have money to spend. People still leveling up are cash poor due to skills, and skills, and more skills, plus speeder skills. Also, why waste cash on crafted gear when quested stuff is good enough for the most part?

 

I've made many purple items and mods for lower levels, and put them on the broker at reasonable prices (5-10k range). They never sell.

 

I suspect this may change once there are more people twinking their alts.

 

The only people right now who are likely to bother supertwinking alts with purples are crafters themselves. Even that is limited by materials- harvesting in this game is just too slow and unreliable (how many times do I have to click for it to cycle?) to be worth doing.

[Murah]

no one can make your mods because everyone took biochem

[pokota]

You're looking at the problem the wrong way... There IS demand. Ther just isn't any offer because people have been let to believe crafting is useless.

 

I spent a week gathering materials to craft LVL 19 to 33 light armors (synthweaving). I spent around 100k to get all the mats and find all purple schematics I could find. Then I crafted about 45 purples. I sold it all. Making 300k in the process.

 

I charge x3 for tier 1 purples, x7 for tier 2 purples and +10% for augment slots. And worst case scenario, I have to put the item on GTN a second time...

 

Crafters need to wake up and actually contribute to the economy...

 

The thing is, you just illustrated part of why a crafter would NOT want to make low level gear.

 

Time and/or credits spent to acquire materials, time spent to acquire schematics, time spent on crafting, and you only made 300k on 45 items? That will entice very few people.

 

I spend my time and materials acquiring patterns and crafting level 49 purple Earpieces. 35k for an unslotted, 80-150k for a slotted. If not that, then purple ship upgrades, usually 40-50k each. Now, if I had more inventory space and the ability to list more items on the GTN, as someone else pointed out above, I would probably diversify my crafting, but I'm not going to drop high priced items for low priced items, and I'm not going to bend over backwards to get the mats if they're on the GTN at a reasonable price. Low level mats for blues and purples often have ridiculous prices because people will no longer run those missions after they've passed that level.

 

I also do not make level 49 armoring and mods. Like, at all. Not even for myself. Complete waste of time when you can get better easily and cheaply. Crafting a level 49 Earpiece, for example, only requires HALF the cost of crafting a level 49 mod. Four pieces of Mandalorian Iron? Seriously? For something that will be replaced in a span of days? I guess that a different complaint, however.

[DervimNorth]

A serious crafter will craft stuff usable by level 50 players. Why? Because level 50 players have money to spend. People still leveling up are cash poor due to skills, and skills, and more skills, plus speeder skills. Also, why waste cash on crafted gear when quested stuff is good enough for the most part?

 

I've made many purple items and mods for lower levels, and put them on the broker at reasonable prices (5-10k range). They never sell.

 

I suspect this may change once there are more people twinking their alts.

 

The only people right now who are likely to bother supertwinking alts with purples are crafters themselves. Even that is limited by materials- harvesting in this game is just too slow and unreliable (how many times do I have to click for it to cycle?) to be worth doing.

 

What this guy says. Trying to sell anything for low lvls is pretty pointless and honestly, there's little need in that stuff unless you're pvping mid lvls.

 

Not only that, but you can't even sell those masterpiece earplugs on some servers.

 

So ultimately, at lvl50 Cybertech boils down to:

 

1)Droid parts being useless.

 

2)Spaceship parts irrelevant.

 

3)Moddifications outmatched by vendors/daily rewards.

 

4)Grenades on a ridiculously long cooldown, making them extremely unatractive due to mat requirements vs actual effectiveness.

 

5)Vehicles being BoP reskins requiring too much mats to build.

 

6)Earpieces being the only useful product with no guarantee of being bought due to server economy.

[Saurakk]

what this guy says. Trying to sell anything for low lvls is pretty pointless and honestly, there's little need in that stuff unless you're pvping mid lvls.

 

Not only that, but you can't even sell those masterpiece earplugs on some servers.

 

So ultimately, at lvl50 cybertech boils down to:

 

1)droid parts being useless.

 

2)spaceship parts irrelevant.

 

3)moddifications outmatched by vendors/daily rewards.

 

4)grenades on a ridiculously long cooldown, making them extremely unatractive due to mat requirements vs actual effectiveness.

 

5)vehicles being bop reskins requiring too much mats to build.

 

6)earpieces being the only useful product with no guarantee of being bought due to server economy.

 

bingo!

[MilkPudding]

I spent a week gathering materials to craft LVL 19 to 33 light armors (synthweaving). I spent around 100k to get all the mats and find all purple schematics I could find. Then I crafted about 45 purples. I sold it all. Making 300k in the process.

 

 

Crafters need to wake up and actually contribute to the economy...

 

Not to be rude but a week spent on gathering materials and all that work only give you 300k?

 

People could earn millions by just running dailies within the week. This is really not worth the effort. Then we see why there's no demand/supply.

 

Again, not flaming. Just pointing it out.

[DervimNorth]

Not to be rude but a week spent on gathering materials and all that work only give you 300k?

 

People could earn millions by just running dailies within the week. This is really not worth the effort. Then we see why there's no demand/supply.

 

Again, not flaming. Just pointing it out.

 

Yeah, spending a week for gathering mats+crafting is rather silly, considering the income at lvl50.

 

Heck, hunting for slicing nodes on Voss can rack you up to 100k creds in a day.

Edited February 7, 2012 by DervimNorth

[GnatB]

From what I've seen as a crafter.

 

Stuff sells. Well. At pretty much any level.

 

Stuff takes time to make. A lot.

 

There is a MASSIVE variety of stuff you can sell.

 

People making lower level stuff tend to be lower level, thus have fewer companions they can send out to craft.

 

 

 

Add it all together, and the odds of actually being able to find the particular item *you* want to buy up for sale are quite small. (the 50 item limit also puts a damper on things). Also, it's quite possible there simply isn't a lvl 28 wis/end mod that gives crit. Just because there's a lvl 24 version that does doesn't mean there will be a lvl 29 version that does. Stats seem to jump around. (though I suspect not in this case, I think it's more the tertiary stats that jump around the most)

 

I have a hardish time keeping the selection of earpieces I want to sell in stock, and I only sell about 1 of each a day. I don't even *bother* trying to put up mods or armoring. (Let's face it, most people are getting their mods/armoring from commendations, whereas earpieces don't have any such vendor competition)