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

[Blackardin]

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.

 

Very simply put, it cost more to make the items then one can achieve from selling them.

 

In short, this is an aspect of the RNG and the entire "crafting should be challenging" problem. It is also why level 1 mats are going for thousands of credits on the GTN.

[Damon_Mott]

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 underlined your main issue.

Edited February 8, 2012 by Damon_Mott

[Grayseven]

I have an Artificer, a Synthweaver, and a Cybertech all of mid-level of skill and I routinely sell out any level 15 to 30 items I place up on the auction house.

 

The limiting factor is materials. AH prices for most materials are excessive for some reason, so the only way to turn a profit is to gather the items yourself. Other items aren't obtainable outside of sending companions on missions, so time becomes a large factor as well.

 

I might be able to put up a handful of saber crystals, a couple of pieces of armor and a few mods every day and they disappear pretty fast. If the prices people were willing to pay for these items was higher than the cost of the materials from the AH, I could make more but until then the supply will be restricted to the materials I can personally gather.

 

I'm on a PvP server so players leveling up routinely look for the best items they can get so they can have that little edge in PvP and this becomes more apparent for items around level 27 or so when you start running into real World PvP. Selling items of level 27+ can net a nice chunk of change under these circumstances.

[thewatcheruatu]

What you should do is ask in the trade channel if somebody will craft something for you. The problem is that there are a ton of items a crafter could make, and the GTN isn't really a good place to sell them. For all your work and materials, you'll put something up on there at what you consider to be a fair price, and it just comes back to you in the mail two days later either because nobody ever even saw it, or it wasn't exactly what they wanted, or people are just being cheapskates.

 

I'm usually happy to craft mods and armoring on my Cybertech for anybody who asks, if we can agree upon appropriate remuneration up front.

[pokota]

Most of the Purple level 22 upgrades currently on the GTN were not crafted by Cybertechs. They were obtained from the repeatable daily quests on Ilum/Belsavis and then put up on the GTN because those quest rewards are BOE. On my server these Armorings are selling between 25K and 30K when Mandolorian Iron is selling for 8K to 10K each. Crafting the purple upgrades at 4x Iron each is a loss under these conditions.

 

While there is a market for the quested level 22 purple upgrades, there is NOT a market for the corresponding crafted upgrades until conditions change significantly.

 

QFT.

 

I have schematics for level 22 purple Armoring and Mods. And I've never used them, not even for my own gear.

 

I acquired them when I was in my lower 40s, and I thought I would be all set to craft my own gear modifications when I hit level 49.

 

Then I visited Belsavis.

 

And that was that. I'm not going to drop 50k on something I can get basically for free, which is usually superior, AND has a better selection.

 

Kind of funny that, with max Cybertech, the only high level Armoring or Mods I sell are surplus quest rewards.

[gnolt]

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.

 

this is very true I tried to keep my alt twinked while leveling up and there IS NO WAY you can get enough metal to do it - i ended up buying mods from the commendations vendor and the GTN - maybe if you could queue missions it would be better but UT missions just dont give enough metal to allow it

[pokota]

I haven't seen any posts from people who say, "I made mid-level item modifications and I haven't been able to sell them, so I quit doing it." That would be evidence of a lack of demand, or an inability to make a profit. In fact, the only post from anyone who apparently has put these items up for sale said that he did make money on them.

 

I sold blue Armoring for player levels between 20 and 40. They sold pretty well. Not great, but I could probably sell a couple of each on most days. However, I stopped when I realized it was an inefficient way to use my time, inventory space, and GTN slots.

 

Despite selling well, I made very little profit. It would only take a few people undercutting before the going rate was at or below cost, and people who sold BoE quest rewards and drops, or people who just wanted to get rid surplus from power leveling, didn't really care about keeping the market healthy.

 

The Mod market I abandoned completely. People, for whatever reason, were selling Mods below cost, at least on my server.

 

In my experience, unless you're low level, there is very little profit in crafting Armoring and Mods. It's not a market with very much upside.

Edited February 8, 2012 by pokota

[Kainos]

With my Artie Sorceror the only thing I have ever made with hilts for my juggy alt. Other wise it was not worth my time or money. I have been saving mats for Rakata Relics only to find I need to do Ops to get the mats. I have to laugh at this because most of the time people want you to be some what geared to run the Ops to get then mats to get gear. Sounds way to cyclical.

[Mavnas]

I was making decent money selling stuff, but the real problem is all the money you make it pocket change compared to what you could make at 50, all for a lot more effort than it's really worth. Then at 50 the items might sell for as much as just selling the purple components.

 

The market also doesn't help with its sizable upfront deposit, 2 day limit, and lack of buy orders. The search functionality is pretty terrible and it takes many clicks even if you know the name of the item you want to sell. I regret not having played with it more in Beta then unloading an appropriate rant about the horribleness of the GTN as currently structured. Then again, I've also been playing EVE lately so every other MMOs market/AH seems so... primitive.

[LaVolpex]

dont expect to sell many droid parts low to mid level UNLESS you are republic

for a two reasons:

 

 

1 - only droid companions on empire side are ship bots and the agent companion wich is pretty much teh last one you get

 

2 - republic not only gets more droid companions ( r2 units for jedis, m1-4x for troopers) but you also get them before level 30 and , at least in the troopers case, severley undergeared, m14x specifically pretty much sucks until you gear him up very well

 

so yeah, there isnt much market for droid parts on empire side, but there is some potential market on republic side for some good droid parts (moddable sensor units , cores , etc)

[Jjix]

I'm 400 cybertech, and have most of the patterns in the game. The mod schematics call for underworld metals, like the armorings we make. It's hard enough to sell the armorings, but pretty impossible to sell the mods. Why? Because I can't sell them for what I can sell the raw metals for.

 

The way the game is now, at below level 50, it's all about money for skills. If I can make more money selling the underworld metals that I get from my underworld trading missions (when a frickin METAL mission is available) than I can from selling the mod that take 4 promethium to make....why would I even MAKE the mod???

 

THIS. This is the reason! All the other explanations, like its the commendations vendors or its the perception that you can't make money from it or whatever are just not getting at the core issue.

 

The core issue is that the materials to make mods sell for more on their own than the items made out of those materials.

 

Another poster asked, "but has anyone here actually tried to sell mid level mods?" To him I answer, I did. I did so precisely because I noticed there was a hole in the market and an opportunity to make money, and what I discovered was just what the above quoted poster says.

 

Once you understand that this is the problem you can begin to consider why the situation is thus. Who is buying these materials is the first question to ask, because obviously it isn't people trying to sell crafted mods.

Edited February 9, 2012 by Jjix

[DarthBloodloss]

Once you hit 50, do the ilum and belsavis dailies.

 

You get:

 

Armoring - 124 rating

 

Mod - 41main stat, 21end, 7crit or 7power

 

Enhancement - 29crit 39surge, or 29power 39accuracy, or 29power 39alacrity, or a tank version

 

Gear up all your companions or sell them on the galactic terminal for 20-40k each

[SilentKitty]

I was lvl:ing my JK together with hubby and a friend, we flew through the lvl:s. For quite some time I had serious trouble finding any gear for T7 on GTN, it got to the point that my poor little droid had such bad gear that he was impossible to play with.

 

My solution, took time of from my main and created a cyber-tech alt that could provide me and the rest of my group with the mods and droidparts that were needed. On my server I could only find stuff for lvl 41 and up. Have also made a biochem-alt since we could never find implants for lvl's below 40.

 

Just because I was so irritated at not being able to buy the things I needed, I now make a point of going by the GTN and putting up stuff for the lower lvl:s if I see a gap of items. I love crafting for myself and friends, with 3 mains and 15 comps I really don't have that much to spare as far as mats go. But just before I logged on here I sold 2 green implants for cunning lower lvl.

[Bootsnboards]

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.

 

Its all different depending on what server youre on. On Jekk Jekk, you have 30 pages of mods, enhancements, armor mods.... each, mostly purples.

 

Gets better every week. Economies take time to grow. In game and IRL. Its a new game, the percentage of the pop that has even 1 char to level 50 is still pretty low relative to actual server pop. My god its only been live for just over a month now.

 

Give it some time. If you're on a lower pop server, the above statements are true X10...

[Bootsnboards]

THIS. This is the reason! All the other explanations, like its the commendations vendors or its the perception that you can't make money from it or whatever are just not getting at the core issue.

 

The core issue is that the materials to make mods sell for more on their own than the items made out of those materials.

 

Another poster asked, "but has anyone here actually tried to sell mid level mods?" To him I answer, I did. I did so precisely because I noticed there was a hole in the market and an opportunity to make money, and what I discovered was just what the above quoted poster says.

 

Once you understand that this is the problem you can begin to consider why the situation is thus. Who is buying these materials is the first question to ask, because obviously it isn't people trying to sell crafted mods.

 

Sigh.. that is apparently because the people who know how ungodly easy it is to get the purple and blue mats for crafting are charging ungodly amounts. Id assume because they are just as amazed as me that A people are willing to pay the prices and B people havent themselves figured out how ungodly simple it is to have more than enough of both the blue and purple mats to keep yourself and all your alts geared and still have enough to spare to make as large a profit off what crafted purples you have availabe as schematics.

 

 

Ive got a biochem who had every available stim and adrenal RE'd up to purple. I dont make them much because i dont need most of the stats and have only 1 biochem. So i make crap tons of the purple implants i have all the schematics for.

 

Its is really simple. If you don't know how to have far more than enough mats to craft for yourself than i don't know what to tell you. And im certainly not going to shout it out here because its making me money atm.....

 

But i can tell you if it were any more simple it'd be removed from game for lack of imagination. You have all the skills in front of you to connect the dots and provide all the mats you could possibly need.

[Ofeogeous]

Another thing people dont realise is there are 3 Global Trade Networks. One for republic with several kiosks one on the Fleet, one for Empire with several kiosks one on there fleet, and Hutt space which is on Nar Shaddaa wich both factions can use and cross trade. On my server there is nearly nothing on the Nar Shaddaa kiosk.

[Grayseven]

There is a flaw in the crafting system and that flaw is the overuse of prototype and artifact quality materials in most crafting recipes.

 

People see blue or pink and automatically see credit signs and so sell those crafting materials for a premium price even if they aren't used crafting premium items.

 

Raising the price of the mats makes selling the mats more attractive than crafting items with those mats...so much so that the only time you will see items crafted with those mats is when someone is forced to do so in order to level their crafting skill.

 

It looks like Bioware is aware of their mistake on the reliance of crafting on these "rare" crafting materials and so we may see an adjustment to crafting recipes that will reduce the use or the amount used of prototype and artifact level materials. Hopefully this pulls down the price of the materials as well as the price of the items made with those materials.

[pokota]

There is a flaw in the crafting system and that flaw is the overuse of prototype and artifact quality materials in most crafting recipes.

 

People see blue or pink and automatically see credit signs and so sell those crafting materials for a premium price even if they aren't used crafting premium items.

 

Raising the price of the mats makes selling the mats more attractive than crafting items with those mats...so much so that the only time you will see items crafted with those mats is when someone is forced to do so in order to level their crafting skill.

 

It looks like Bioware is aware of their mistake on the reliance of crafting on these "rare" crafting materials and so we may see an adjustment to crafting recipes that will reduce the use or the amount used of prototype and artifact level materials. Hopefully this pulls down the price of the materials as well as the price of the items made with those materials.

 

This is true. As crafters adjust their prices upwards, the people who sell materials raise their own prices, to get as much of the pie as they can. It's a tug of war for profit. A lot of people blame crafters for "overcharging" compared to commendation vendors, but they often have no choice.

 

It's like those people who attempt to sell mission unlocks for the same price as the profit people would make from using them. They want the entire pie. It's pure greed, and it makes no sense. No one is going to buy a mission unlock for 40k (I hope) when the average return is 40k--especially when there is also a chance of failure. I see it all the time, though. Slicing mission unlocks listed for 150k, for example, which is about the highest you could make, and well below what you would probably make.

[rigormortua]

This is true. As crafters adjust their prices upwards, the people who sell materials raise their own prices, to get as much of the pie as they can. It's a tug of war for profit. A lot of people blame crafters for "overcharging" compared to commendation vendors, but they often have no choice.

 

It's like those people who attempt to sell mission unlocks for the same price as the profit people would make from using them. They want the entire pie. It's pure greed, and it makes no sense. No one is going to buy a mission unlock for 40k (I hope) when the average return is 40k--especially when there is also a chance of failure. I see it all the time, though. Slicing mission unlocks listed for 150k, for example, which is about the highest you could make, and well below what you would probably make.

 

I have to agree. Greed for no other reason is that who can get to 1 million credits first who can reach 10 million and so on. some sort of cap limit needs to be instated. may be something as simple as amaking a weapon upgrade or any other fabricated worth a certain amount as to the level that the part is. on raw materials some rate equal to the max level gain in exp. ie like you stop getting exp for scrap at 70. then prorate the price sellab le by this amount.

 

Everyone must understand several things. do we want more players in the game? do we want expanded content? do we want the chance to expand our characters above and beyond of waht they currently on? this list goes on. just think of it aa domino effect the higher prices go the more you will turn new players away. and so on. If you were a new player in this game wouldn't you get frustrated in the ability to get upgrades because they are just too expensive....

[HanzBlix]

Everyone switched to biochem and now the stuff we need to level with is hard to find. Make a toon that can craft item modifications and sell the. I guess that's what I need to do with alt #3.

[Laokoon]

I have pretty much stopped listing item mods until the market corrects itself. I was making good money and selling level 22 Armoring on a regular basis until two crafters, Equus and Greyhound, came in a not only massively dropped the prices in the market, but in some instances sold items at a loss and at other times sold items for WAY less then what the materials themselves were worth. I wrote letters to both of them, with no response. The trouble is they can keep doing this until they quit the game because they can earn money from missions and constantly lose money on crafting and never be the wiser since they aren't paying attention to what they are charging versus the cost.

 

When I came into the market, I looked at the average market price and priced my items to match, which netted my income and I was happy. My time and effort have value, so I am not going to sell items at cost. The materials have value, I am not going to sell items for less then the cost of the materials. Unfortunately, I just have to leave the market to people who have chosen to craft at a loss. If they ever get wise and decide to raise their prices to make money, I will step back in. Till them, I am using my mats to RE and learn new schematics.

 

I'm not saying they have to do this or do that, I can't tell any other player how to play the game. But my opinion is that they are no thinking through their pricing structure, and I hope they either change it or stop crafting. I have still made money by sticking with my same pricing structure, which is more than twice what they are charging. But I have stopped selling in the hopes they they realize what impact they have on the market.

Edited February 9, 2012 by Laokoon

[scootle]

I should point out something else that people may have overlooked... at L50 Cybertech, the Mk 22 purple mods/armoring use a whopping 4x Mandalorian Iron each, which is basically 40k worth of mats. I cannot sell these mods for more than 35k on our server, so they are basically a loss. In addition, the L50 daily heroic quests on Ilum/Belsavis reward Mk 22 purple mods/enh as rewards... oops. Nevermind the 8 daily commendations to buy Mk 23 armorings, which is superior to anything I can craft.

 

Purple earpieces, however, with good prefixes will sell for upwards of 60k each and only utilize 2x Mandalorian Iron, which is a significant profit. i.e for under 25k in mats, if I flat out purchased them all, I can turn it around into 60-65k easily. The caveat here is that you must RE blue earpieces to proc the *desirable* prefix combinations for purples that will sell.

 

Now, the market for L49 purple earpieces isn't exactly booming either... for 120 Daily commendations you can purchase the Rakata earpiece, which is superior to the L49 basic crafted purples. The only way L49 crafted earpieces are superior is if, and only if, you proc the Mastercraft/Augment slot... and we know how few and far between THAT happens...

 

So yes, the system is a little broken. One thing that is desperately needed is general access to L50 level crafted mods and such at a minimum, else it's just ridiculous to think this system is sustainable at all given the structure of the freebie PvE rewards.

 

As for what the OP desires... "filling a niche" at low levels... the time spent manufacturing mods and armorings just doesn't pay out when that same time on missions/crafting can be spent on L49+ items that have a slightly higher chance at profit margin. I'd happily make low level stuff until my supply of banked mats runs out, sure, but I'm sure as heck not going to task my 5 companions to gather low level materials on the off chance there is someone who is min-maxing while leveling... that market is just not feasible. The OP's best bet if he really wants to min-max is to make friends with a Cybetech to contract the items he desires on-demand, imho.

Edited February 9, 2012 by scootle

[Bootsnboards]

This is true. As crafters adjust their prices upwards, the people who sell materials raise their own prices, to get as much of the pie as they can. It's a tug of war for profit. A lot of people blame crafters for "overcharging" compared to commendation vendors, but they often have no choice.

 

It's like those people who attempt to sell mission unlocks for the same price as the profit people would make from using them. They want the entire pie. It's pure greed, and it makes no sense. No one is going to buy a mission unlock for 40k (I hope) when the average return is 40k--especially when there is also a chance of failure. I see it all the time, though. Slicing mission unlocks listed for 150k, for example, which is about the highest you could make, and well below what you would probably make.

 

But then, for the smart shopper who invests enough time watching the GTN to gain a reward, there are the ppl like me who seem to have no trouble generating the purples mats i need to RE the items I want, and have enough to spare to sell on the GTN at low prices.

 

I make a killing, because i sell the item for around the value i think its worth, not for a price i calculate based on what i see other ppl selling said item and or its required mats for.

 

First, i do think the highest obtainable gear SHOULD be fairly difficult to attain. Blues, while "rare" are a pretty fair, decent way to go through the game. Purples are difficult and time consuming to RE, and require rare mats to make. And rightly so.

 

Thank god purple mats arent dropping every 3rd crafting mission. When EVERYONE is running around in purple gear for little to no effort, the actual gameplay value of having something the game considers "extra rare" is gone.

 

Think about it... the next step up from your purple artifacts is legendary. How many of them do you see people running around with?

 

A system where you are given the "ability" to gain a purple schematic that you plan or would like to use by a given level does not mean you should be guaranteed the RIGHT to automatically attain that schematic by said level. I've played that game, had my share of frustration watching level 19... 39, 45 etc pass by as im still REing the blues from said levels and many more, from several different crafting profs on several different characters.

 

All i see is yet more, "make it easier, hand it to me on a silver platter"...

 

You run a flashpoint because it drops a specific piece of gear youre looking for. You might run it several times, maybe more. The gear piece might even drop for you, and someone else might roll on it and win it. Thats the system. No guarantees you will get the item within the time-frame you want it. You WILL get the item eventually.

 

It seems to me that a system where you fairly regularly WILL and do get the blue schematic by said level if you think ahead and start crafting 5-8 levels early (but not always) but often WON'T get the purple schematic by said levels if you are currently progressing at the regular rate of the storyline seems to be working pretty well. Still, indeed, many if not MOST people are not running around in a lot of purple gear. Its rarer than rare for heck's sake!

 

I see a well thought out design in the SWTOR reward system. Multiple channels through which a person can gear themself with higher/more powerful gear than the average character needs to blow through the content. I'm guessing about most of the people complaining on here about this. My guess is that when you get a quest reward of a bunch of greens for yourself or your comps you sneer and quickly sell them on the vendor because they are so weak compared to the gear you already have.

 

Think through the stupidity of what youre asking for in demanding that the rares in the game be made less rare.

 

At the same time, be aware that there are countless people who have invested the time and who ARE selling the items at a deep discount and making plenty of money doing it.

[Bootsnboards]

Another thing that it seems many ppl just havent' caught sight of... For the most part across all the servers you're looking at a lot of freshly levelled first generation 50s, a few alts in the process of levelling.

 

If you think there is no profit (at discounted rates compared to the going GTN nonsense) in making a wide range of items aside from solely level 50 mods and gear) then i can see the type of lack of creativity and market sense that makes you believe the system is such a problem in the first place.

 

Get your first gen char to 50 in some decent blues greens and the odd purple here and there, levelling a crafting prof as you go. Plan out your characters synergy with their profs so they can provide for each other. Sell the excess. If that is too much work for you then unfortunately you aren't willing to pay the dues necessary to be running around in full purples.

[JaggedOne]

I will not flame the OP for saying that he is ashamed (or w/e word he used) to be level 28 and wearing level 24 blues...he was honest about how he feels. However, the fact of the matter is that you can level to 40 in this game in your undies (not sure about the last 10 levels, since I am going the alt-a-holic route to delay hitting 50 in order to give BW more time to come up with *some* type of decent end game), so there just isn't a huge need for quality gear while leveling. I use quest items and drops, I buy mods on every planet with my commendations, and every few levels I check the AH for upgrades. The AH isn't really necessary, but I just do it for fun. Also, I never buy oranges - they are *always* overpriced on the AH, and there are often blues and purps on there that are better, and that save me the hassle of continually upgrading the mods in oranges. The only oranges I use are drops I get in instances, and I often just sell those unless they are a lot better than what I am wearing.