So about them crew skills...

[JoyProtocol]

I recently started a Sith Juggernaught, with the goal of becoming a Main Tank for end-game content.

 

I started off with Artifice, but looking around tells me that Synthweaving may be a much better way to go. It doesn't provide any mods, but it would eventually provide me with really, really nice armor with augment slots. Armor augments > weapon augment.

 

Could you guys share your wisdom with the crew skills, and how they apply to the daily life of a Juggernaught?

[IronSoldier]

Speaking from an end-game content perspective, both artificer and synthweaving are useless. I had them both and I dropped them both, now on my third set of crafting skills I've finally come to the realization that (at least for right now) it's pointless to bother with anything other than biochem.

 

Why? Well as a Jugg I can't heal, so I spend plenty of money on healthpacks... oh wait biochem gets a reusable healthpack? Sign me up! -- Wait, they also get a reusable stim that will boost your strength/power??

 

So when it comes right down to it, do you want to make *******r gear than what you can get from dailies, or would you like reusable buffs/stimpacks that essentially cost you nothing after initial investment?

 

Doesn't take rocket science... now this may change in the future, but as of right now I want something USEFUL... and if you don't have biochem you are at a disadvantage over those that do.

[JoyProtocol]

Speaking from an end-game content perspective, both artificer and synthweaving are useless. I had them both and I dropped them both, now on my third set of crafting skills I've finally come to the realization that (at least for right now) it's pointless to bother with anything other than biochem.

 

Why? Well as a Jugg I can't heal, so I spend plenty of money on healthpacks... oh wait biochem gets a reusable healthpack? Sign me up! -- Wait, they also get a reusable stim that will boost your strength/power??

 

So when it comes right down to it, do you want to make *******r gear than what you can get from dailies, or would you like reusable buffs/stimpacks that essentially cost you nothing after initial investment?

 

Doesn't take rocket science... now this may change in the future, but as of right now I want something USEFUL... and if you don't have biochem you are at a disadvantage over those that do.

 

A few notes on that:

- I really enjoy wearing crafted gear

 

- You may notice from today's patch notes (is 1.1.2 live yet?) that reusable level 50 stims/andrenals are no longer BoP. Furthermore, the top-tier medpaks had their usefulness adjusted

LINK: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=260731

 

- I already have a Biochem alt, which I made for implants. I found it underwhelming, due to point 1

 

 

So if the choice was between the two, which one would be more useful?

[thorizdin]

The correct answer is still neither. The implants you get from doing dailies are better than anything that can be crafted and the armor from Operations and HM FPs is better than anything that can be crafted. Hopefully this will change in the future as all of the dropped end game armor looks like baked dog ****, but for right now I'll keep Biochem. Even after the nerf its the only one worth having and will stay that way till they significantly buff the other crafting skills or let us remove armor mods from the end game drops.

[Nyaralath]

Thanks for the tips....I was suspicious that these crew skills were practically useless!

[IronSoldier]

A few notes on that:

- I really enjoy wearing crafted gear

 

- You may notice from today's patch notes (is 1.1.2 live yet?) that reusable level 50 stims/andrenals are no longer BoP. Furthermore, the top-tier medpaks had their usefulness adjusted

LINK: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=260731

 

- I already have a Biochem alt, which I made for implants. I found it underwhelming, due to point 1

 

 

So if the choice was between the two, which one would be more useful?

 

Right but it will still require biochem, and even with the debuff it doesn't matter... still better than anything else.

 

If you like wearing crafted gear -- great! so did I... but not enough to be at a disadvantage stats-wise in both PvE and PvP.

[JoyProtocol]

Right but it will still require biochem, and even with the debuff it doesn't matter... still better than anything else.

 

If you like wearing crafted gear -- great! so did I... but not enough to be at a disadvantage stats-wise in both PvE and PvP.

 

I don't think you understand the implications of the change. Everyone can now use level 50 reusable Stims and Adrenals; you just need to buy it from the Market. You only need Biochem to use the reusable medkits.

[IronSoldier]

Oh I do, but at lvl 50 what would I rather have, a free version of something I use, or useless weaker versions of stuff I already have?

 

I am not saying it's incredibly useful!!!1111.... I'm saying it just happens to be more useful than any of the other useless crafting professions.

[JoyProtocol]

Oh I do, but at lvl 50 what would I rather have, a free version of something I use, or useless weaker versions of stuff I already have?

 

I am not saying it's incredibly useful!!!1111.... I'm saying it just happens to be more useful than any of the other useless crafting professions.

 

I'm sorry, I actually don't follow. If others can use exactly the same (Rakata and Energized) reusable stims and adrenals, what's the concern?

 

The current benefit appears to be a completely reusable, but equal in power, medkit.

[Zaganna]

I think that you forgot something.

 

With artifice you build Rakata relic, with Synth you can craft the Rakata Belt or bracelet .

 

I'm not sayng that those skills are better than bio, because i agree with you that reusable item are great, but obtainin those Rakata item will take much more time.

So you need to choose.

Best item now, or wait?

I'm sorry, I actually don't follow. If others can use exactly the same (Rakata and Energized) reusable stims and adrenals, what's the concern?

 

The current benefit appears to be a completely reusable, but equal in power, medkit.

 

Actually, if i remember right, the reusable item are only for bio 400, on the one-shot version are able for all.

Edited February 7, 2012 by Zaganna

[JoyProtocol]

I think that you forgot something.

 

With artifice you build Rakata relic, with Synth you can craft the Rakata Belt or bracelet .

 

I'm not sayng that those skills are better than bio, because i agree with you that reusable item are great, but obtainin those Rakata item will take much more time.

So you need to choose.

Best item now, or wait?

 

Hm, how much of a wait is there for the Belt and Bracelet?

 

http://sithwarrior.com/forums/Thread-Immortal-Defense-Compendium-A-Tank-s-Guide-To-The-Galaxy

 

The above link also points out Exotech BoP gear, which looks really good. It's the combination of Rakata belt/bracer and Exotech everything else that caught my eye.

 

 

Actually, if i remember right, the reusable item are only for bio 400, on the one-shot version are able for all.

 

Changed in the current patch; all Exotech and Rakata reusable adrenals/stims are no longer BOP, and do not require Biochem.

Edited February 7, 2012 by JoyProtocol

[Qber]

Changed in the current patch; all Exotech and Rakata reusable adrenals/stims are no longer BOP, and do not require Biochem.

Will need someone to really confirm this, when i check my Rakata stim/medpack it still says "Requires Biochem (400)". Either they just forgot to remove it, or simply made the items possible to sell, so people without access to mats needed to make them can obtain and use them if they have required biochem.

 

Generally for me the stims and adrenals are nice, but what makes biochem useful are the medpacks Saved my *** couple of times in FP/OP when healers went bit lazy, not to mention in WZ's. Also helps alot while grinding, lowers the downtime only to the times when HP is low and medpack on CD, so that happens rarely.

 

 

If you really like to wear some of the crafted gear, go to fleet spam abit and you will find somone willing to make it for you for some money, while you can keep biochem to not make your character gimped. At least for now.

Edited February 7, 2012 by Qber

[JoyProtocol]

Will need someone to really confirm this, when i check my Rakata stim/medpack it still says "Requires Biochem (400)". Either they just forgot to remove it, or simply made the items possible to sell, so people without access to mats needed to make them can obtain and use them if they have required biochem.

 

Generally for me the stims and adrenals are nice, but what makes biochem useful are the medpacks Saved my *** couple of times in FP/OP when healers went bit lazy, not to mention in WZ's. Also helps alot while grinding, lowers the downtime only to the times when HP is low and medpack on CD, so that happens rarely.

 

 

If you really like to wear some of the crafted gear, go to fleet spam abit and you will find somone willing to make it for you for some money, while you can keep biochem to not make your character gimped. At least for now.

 

The display is a bug. Link:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=5533 first entry

 

I hear you. I just don't like Biochem that much... I never liked the Potion style crafting in any MMO I've played, I prefer to friend somebody who will craft consumables for me.

 

But my server has fairly poor player-driven economy, outside of level 50. I can never find purple weapon mods of my level (10-35), and almost never any blues even. There are also no mods whatsoever, or augments (makes me want to start a slicer alt)

[jasta_]

I'm a 400 Synthweaving Jug.

 

It's not super amazing, but I think it was worthwhile - at least as much as any other skill is.

 

Throughout levelling up I was wearing some pretty nice gear - probably better armor than anyone else of a similar level who wasn't a Synthweaver or Armortech.

 

Now that I'm lvl 50 and have a smattering of PvP/PvE gear I'm still wearing two epic, modded bits of armor I made that haven't required any Hardmode boss drops that give pretty great stats - at least for PvE so I think it's still been a good choice.

 

I can also make a reasonable amount of cash selling lvl 5/6 underworld metals.

 

The main issues I have are:

 

• I can't make anything that will compare with Champion or Tion/Columi set gear. Now this stuff is reasonably hard to get so while I don't have the full set my gear fills in the gaps quite nicely... but sooner or later I will have all I need and then I won't have anything else to make.
   
  
• I can't make stuff for visual appearance. None of the craftable gear, orange or otherwise looks interesting, cool or unique. It just looks like reskins of lvl 40ish gear. Very dull.
  

 

Personally I think these two things will change and there will be some viable and interesting things to do with Synthweaving sooner or later. Not sure Biochem will be so lucky.

[dorkvid]

The display is a bug. Link:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=5533 first entry

 

I hear you. I just don't like Biochem that much... I never liked the Potion style crafting in any MMO I've played, I prefer to friend somebody who will craft consumables for me.

 

But my server has fairly poor player-driven economy, outside of level 50. I can never find purple weapon mods of my level (10-35), and almost never any blues even. There are also no mods whatsoever, or augments (makes me want to start a slicer alt)

 

The values are wrong, but it is still biochem only for rakata stuff. Only Exotech is BoE, and those recipies are pretty damn hard to get. Until someone has all of them and is crafting them, biochem is still the way to go

 

Edit: and also, the exotech schematic for stims/adrenals is still not currently usable. Until that's fixed, biochem maintains it's top crew skill status

Edited February 7, 2012 by dorkvid

[JoyProtocol]

I'm a 400 Synthweaving Jug.

 

It's not super amazing, but I think it was worthwhile - at least as much as any other skill is.

 

Throughout levelling up I was wearing some pretty nice gear - probably better armor than anyone else of a similar level who wasn't a Synthweaver or Armortech.

 

Now that I'm lvl 50 and have a smattering of PvP/PvE gear I'm still wearing two epic, modded bits of armor I made that haven't required any Hardmode boss drops that give pretty great stats - at least for PvE so I think it's still been a good choice.

 

I can also make a reasonable amount of cash selling lvl 5/6 underworld metals.

 

The main issues I have are:

 

• I can't make anything that will compare with Champion or Tion/Columi set gear. Now this stuff is reasonably hard to get so while I don't have the full set my gear fills in the gaps quite nicely... but sooner or later I will have all I need and then I won't have anything else to make.
   
  
• I can't make stuff for visual appearance. None of the craftable gear, orange or otherwise looks interesting, cool or unique. It just looks like reskins of lvl 40ish gear. Very dull.
  

 

Personally I think these two things will change and there will be some viable and interesting things to do with Synthweaving sooner or later. Not sure Biochem will be so lucky.

 

Thanks! That's the kind of information I was looking for.

...still makes it hard to decide

[Tharenisis]

Hi,

 

I wanted to drop some notes on the changes made to the BioChem profession in the patch (1.1.2) that just went onto the Public Test Server, how they fit in the big picture and how we are proceeding forward with crafting professions in endgame in general.

 

First off, we removed the requirement to have the BioChem profession to use Energized and Exotech stims and adrenals. This was done to (a) remove pressure of players to pick up BioChem for optimal combat performance and (b) to open up the sale of BioChem products to a larger audience on the Galactic Trade Network.

 

Additionally, we've reduced the effectiveness of the BioChem exclusive Rakata Stimpacks to be equal to Energized stimpacks. Their intended benefit is the cost savings they provide over time, not an increase in power. We are also in progress of reviewing the creation costs of many consumables in the game against the economic realities (acquisition cost of purple mission materials on our live servers) and will likely make adjustments to these in the future.

 

It is our intention to gradually, over multiple patches, reduce the impact of situational consumables on endgame combat resolution and shift the factors which determine the outcome of combat more towards personal skill. As part of this effort, specifically for PvP, we are also working on changes that will reduce the gear related power difference between new characters at level 50 and players in full PvP gear. We feel that at the current time, this difference is too high.

 

On a more general note about crafting, our changes to make BioChem consumables freely tradeable are just a small first step as part of a larger scale effort to extend our crafting gameplay, for all professions, into the endgame.

 

Major changes are currently on schedule for the next major content patch, such as extractable basemods (armoring, barrel, etc.) from purple items, critical crafting successes on orange outfits, more bind-on-equip schematic drops for artifice and other professions, increased relevance of augments, better reverse engineering chance, and other improvements. We want to create significant incentive for players to engage in the crafting economy – as provider of goods or supplier - without requiring players to take up a specific profession as a ticket into endgame.

 

Long term, our plan is to evolve Star Wars: The Old Republic’s game economy to a more player driven model, strengthen and improve the GTN and embrace the game’s extensive appearance customization throughout the game. We have a long list of improvements planned for that but we’re also anxious to hear from you. Feel free to use this thread to give us your feedback on the topic!

 

Regards

Georg

 

I wouldn't all jump to biochem at once. All these people swearing up and down about Biochem for some reason get it in there heads that it will ALWAYS be this way.

Edited February 8, 2012 by Tharenisis

[Randytravis]

The other thing people are forgetting is that in 1.2 epic items will be fully moddable. This means you can use any cool looking orange gear making it completely viable at any lvl taking out mods from your epics and putting into something that looks respectable, which was the original plan from BW. So not only are they going to pimp the other crafting proffesions but you would be a fool to think that they aren't going to add cool looking orange gear recipes to synthweaving in the future.

[Drayzen]

Speaking from an end-game content perspective, both artificer and synthweaving are useless. I had them both and I dropped them both, now on my third set of crafting skills I've finally come to the realization that (at least for right now) it's pointless to bother with anything other than biochem.

 

Why? Well as a Jugg I can't heal, so I spend plenty of money on healthpacks... oh wait biochem gets a reusable healthpack? Sign me up! -- Wait, they also get a reusable stim that will boost your strength/power??

 

So when it comes right down to it, do you want to make *******r gear than what you can get from dailies, or would you like reusable buffs/stimpacks that essentially cost you nothing after initial investment?

 

Doesn't take rocket science... now this may change in the future, but as of right now I want something USEFUL... and if you don't have biochem you are at a disadvantage over those that do.

 

You haven't read patch notes. Biochem is usless when they implement the nerf to the Re-usable stims, lolz.

[thorizdin]

Biochem is (right now) still much much much better than any of the other crew skills. The other crew skills MAY become useful, but I'm not changing until BW makes their adjustments so I can see exactly what is and isn't good. The only nice thing is that it only takes 2-3 days to max out any of the crafting skills, though it can take another few days to get all of the purple recipes and much longer if we have to get recipes via drops.

[JoyProtocol]

I have decided to stick with Artifice. Synthweaving is really, really appealing... but I like making my own weapons. Guess I'll be ponying up for the nice toys from their side of the fence come future patches Thanks for your help folks.

[IronSoldier]

Yes its "lulz" when people use biochem and don't have to pay for stims they would be buying anyway... they must really be dumb -- wait what?? I still don't get how people miss this fact.

 

There can be speculation as to how other professions will be made useful but the fact of the matter is, what is useful now is useful NOW, and right now that's biochem. Even if Rakata stims give the same buff as saleable ones, you AREN'T spending money on them, so there's a very tangible benefit to that.

 

Beyond level 50 the most I can hope for with the other professions is to sell some mats for cash.

[dorkvid]

Yes its "lulz" when people use biochem and don't have to pay for stims they would be buying anyway... they must really be dumb -- wait what?? I still don't get how people miss this fact.

 

There can be speculation as to how other professions will be made useful but the fact of the matter is, what is useful now is useful NOW, and right now that's biochem. Even if Rakata stims give the same buff as saleable ones, you AREN'T spending money on them, so there's a very tangible benefit to that.

 

Beyond level 50 the most I can hope for with the other professions is to sell some mats for cash.

 

Not only that, currently the exotech ones AREN'T CRAFTABLE because the schematics are invalid when you click them (except for the medpack). Dropping biochem this instant is not worth it

[Dayshadow]

I recently started a Sith Juggernaught, with the goal of becoming a Main Tank for end-game content.

 

I started off with Artifice, but looking around tells me that Synthweaving may be a much better way to go. It doesn't provide any mods, but it would eventually provide me with really, really nice armor with augment slots. Armor augments > weapon augment.

 

Could you guys share your wisdom with the crew skills, and how they apply to the daily life of a Juggernaught?

 

Bioware is going to have to buff it for end game. I'm only lvl 28, but looking at the level 50 schematics... there is nothing. I think there are a couple variations of Rakata belts and armguards. That's it. I'm not saying crafted should be better than top tier raid items, but there should be SOMETHING at lvl 50 that is better than questing/drops, but below high end Raid/PvP gear.

 

Now as far as leveling from 1-28 It's allowed me to have superior armor than quest gear (as I only wear blues, not the default green). But one fatal flaw in crafting design is how you get blue items. Because I reverse engineer everything in order to get blues and conserve resources I don't sell anything. That is probably why the market is nigh non-existent. Crafting is something you do within a guild by requests for people who provide the materials. Furthermore, if not for the fact that I PvP fairly often I would not have the credits to afford it. Certain materials REQUIRE companion missions (underworld trading) which grow in time and cost as your skill increases. But you pretty much HAVE to do it as planets seem to be behind the leveling curve in terms of harvestable resources. And then sometimes you can't get the mission you want or the exact items you need. I go for power crystals in archeology and need bondar, but I might get a different type of crystal altogether because there are 2 types per level range.

 

The only all around good skill for end-game is biochem I hear. Making armor will be good for leveling charactders though. All future sith will be twinked out at least.

Edited February 8, 2012 by Dayshadow

[Jujopo]

I have a biochem alt, which is very useful as I'm taking up Jugg and finding the baseline medpacs and stims better than ones you can buy from a vendor. I feel like the crafting skills are more to benefit characters that are still in the leveling process, not 50. At 50, your able to do endgame stuff which has always been the source for top tier gear. It would be nice to have something to look forward to, though, instead of just being able to make gear for lower leveled alts.