I am completely broke.

[Zorpen]

If you focus on orange gear on you and your companion, lets say you have 5 pieces of gear on each of you, and you replace nothing but the armoring since it is he main piece (not to mention the other slots). That would be 7 x 10 which is 70 commendations. If you just replace the mods sure it would be only 20, if you replace everything it would take 110.

 

 

Sure, but you can get mods, armorings and enhancements from quests rewards as well, and commendations are something you get for FREE just for playing.

[DarthTHC]

If your crew skills don't produce profit, stop using them right now.

 

Then go about your normal adventuring for a few days... but do not spend credits on ANYTHING from a vendor or the GTN.

 

Then see how much cash you have.

[wainot-keel]

Hoth Heroics are giving good money below 50lvl. Especially when you solo it. If you are 46-47 you can do them solo. Eventually try Tatooine Heroics, they are good too.

All daily repeatable.

 

 

Yeah, Hoth is sweet on money. I did all those heroics yesterday. Not solo, I'm 42.

LOL, we were exactly 4 ppl in that server at that hour and we were questing.

 

Anyway, I was in a similar situation when I hit 40. I barely had enough money to train my new skill and all I got left was like 25k or so. I stopped spending money on crafting and missions, not even grade 3 companions gift stuff and now I have almost 350k (though i haven't spent the 200k for the new speeder level)

 

I got all that money just questing on Hoth.

And don't get dead. Repairs are costly at these levels

[Saldrex]

Sure, but you can get mods, armorings and enhancements from quests rewards as well, and commendations are something you get for FREE just for playing.

 

They are not free if you look at them from the standpoint of an economist and use the term opportunity cost. By sacrificing all the greens and gear for your companions you actually received less value from quests. You will never be able to sell the commendations for as much as you could all the other items to vendor.

 

I know you can get some from quest rewards and those are fine. Trying to manage nothing but orange gear will leave quite a few pieces behind. Especially if trying to do it on both you and your companion. If you are a cybertech and can just outfit green mods then it does not matter. A lot of quests give older mods / armoring / enhancements than the ones you can currently buy on the planet, granted they are much more cost effective to get from quest rewards. Managing it across companions as well while leveling does not work very well either. You cannot keep them all up to date.

[Zorpen]

They are not free if you look at them from the standpoint of an economist and use the term opportunity cost. By sacrificing all the greens and gear for your companions you actually received less value from quests. You will never be able to sell the commendations for as much as you could all the other items to vendor.

 

I know you can get some from quest rewards and those are fine. Trying to manage nothing but orange gear will leave quite a few pieces behind. Especially if trying to do it on both you and your companion. If you are a cybertech and can just outfit green mods then it does not matter. A lot of quests give older mods / armoring / enhancements than the ones you can currently buy on the planet, granted they are much more cost effective to get from quest rewards. Managing it across companions as well while leveling does not work very well either. You cannot keep them all up to date.

 

 

You are seriously selling green items on GTN? Or you are saying about vendoring stuff?

[kalimarr]

I too was spending a lot on Crew Skills (jedi sage with artifice). By level 15 I realised it was costing me any where from 5 - 15k for new class abilities when I leveled up.

 

What I did was: start saving when I'm about half way or two thirds away from a level up purely to buy new abilities.

 

Also realised that I was advancing my crew skills way too fast (ie spending too much money) as I was seeing schematics on the npc vendor for 2 or 3 lvls above me. This was a sign to slow down. You dont need to RE everything to blue or purple you will only out level it anyways (very handy to mail to alts tho I dont have any yet) .... (and trade em on the GTN... blue and purples only myself)

 

Plus (with Artifice at least) the game kind of indicates what crafting level you should be at by the gathering nodes that are present on each planet. This will help with costs of those gathering crew missions.

 

It is tricky tho. I did stall on getting my speeder usage skill at lvl 25 and it took saving up all the way to 26 to finally purchase it. But I did the daily space missions, pvp, flashpoints and used up some low level mats to sell hilts, mods, crystals on the GTN to other lowbies. Plus doing class story missions and side quests ofc.

 

Now I'm level 28 with two inventory slot upgrades, speeder, ship upgrades current, all orange gear current mods for me and my companion (just got a 2nd companion tho).

 

As a further measure, I never let my cash fall below 15k ish. And the future is looking good for me and any alts I decide to roll as they will benefit greatly from my blue/purple crafted mods/crystals etc etc

[Saldrex]

You are seriously selling green items on GTN? Or you are saying about vendoring stuff?

 

I am talking about vendoring more so. Greens vendor pretty well especially compared to not being able to vendor mods when you are done with them. It does not really matter though, if you really want to mess with orange gear you can, I just think it can have some consequences. Undergeared companions can really hamper you soloing ability. I say quite a bit of this from the experience of me and my friend now dont bother with commendations from quest rewards, you get some from killing as well and those are nice. Not taking companion gear and letting your companion get way be hind is a great way to make them useless as well. A lot of times with orange gear I find there to be a big focus on commendations over other rewards. I do not think it is the best idea to focus on nothing but commendation rewards.

 

Also those blue mods you get from quest rewards can be sold on the GTN if you don't use them.

Edited February 9, 2012 by Saldrex

[wainot-keel]

If you focus on orange gear on you and your companion, lets say you have 5 pieces of gear on each of you, and you replace nothing but the armoring since it is he main piece (not to mention the other slots). That would be 7 x 10 which is 70 commendations. If you just replace the mods sure it would be only 20, if you replace everything it would take 110.

 

Granted you can get some from quests themselves but I find much more value in the items that are not commendations more often, especially if you are looking at it in terms of money and having gear while leveling.

 

 

i used to take commendations over items before, because you can choose what you get for upgrades, but now with 5 companions, i tend to take whatever piece is an improvement for any of them. i still get commendations ofc, but those are primarly for my char.

[wainot-keel]

Also those blue mods you get from quest rewards can be sold on the GTN if you don't use them.

 

Aren't those mods from quest rewards BoP ? I thought they were.

[Griezz]

> I am a level 46 Vanguard and outright broke, I need some serious help on making

> money. The money that I make from missions gets spent too quickly, I haven't been

> able to buy the skills from the last few levels,

 

Without knowing specifically what you are spending your credits on, it's a little hard to say how you could save credits.

 

> most of my companions are in their starting gear because I can't afford anything else.

 

Easy enough to handle: Leave most of them IN their starter gear.

 

Look, by level 46, you should have had experience with all of your companions, and so you should have a good idea about which ONE companion you work best with. For example, my lvl 44 Sith Warrior has all five main companions, but (through testing all of them) I find myself always returning to Quinn, as I find him a fantastic healer (he has helped me solo a lot of fights I otherwise have trouble with.) Therefore, my strategy is simple - do what I can to keep Quinn's gear updating, then ignore all the others.

 

Given that I'd be sticking with one (Quinn), that leaves all the others free to do crew skill missions, in which gear plays no part whatsoever. I could even send the ship droid off on a mission and keep one other crew member free for affectoin-boosting conversations, and I'd STILL not need them in more than basic gear.

 

Personsl method:

- pull Quinn out

- do missions until close to conversation area

- switch Quinn out for other companion

- talk & get companion affection

- switch Quinn back in and continue onward

 

The only time I would keep Quinn for the conversation is when I know I will be fighting immediately after.

 

> Crafting seems to be a big drain of money for me. I have armstech, salvaging, and

> investigation right now and it costs more to get the materials for the armstech

> weapons then they will sell for. I always try to sell them on the market but they won't

> sell so I end up having to sell them for dirt cheap prices to the npcs.

 

Simple question: are you using reverse engineering properly? While leveling your skill, unless you really need a specific piece or mod, then you should be using RE on every single piece you create. That gives you some "free" mats which should save you a little time and money. If you make 5 pieces and then RE all 5, you should have mats for making an extra 2 or 3.

 

Also, until you get to the highest levels, I don't think that you NEED to make blue items for skill points, so make sure that you're leveling by making greens (and then RE-ing them.)

 

> I just finished grinding all my crew skills to 400 and I still am not making a profit.

> Granted, I do have a lot of crafting materials in my inventory but I never seem to

> have the right amount to make anything profitable. I also have spent a good

> amount of credits on companion gifts, probably too much but I wanted to get my

> standing up. I see people complaining how they have so many credits that there is

> nothing left to buy, I don't know what I am doing wrong. Anybody have any tips?

 

Again, without knowing what specifically you are trying to sell, then it's hard to say what you may be doing wrong. Are you selling green items? Greens would simply not be in demand; make sure that it's blues or higher before you try to use the market for them. Also, remember who you are trying to sell to and what their options would be. Gear for level 50? They've probably got their eye on gear from operations or hard mode flaahpoints, which may be better.

 

What I personally would do is try focussing on a few aspects. If you've gotten the schematics for them, try making some moddable gear and auctioning them. Also, with Armstech, try selling some lower-level barrels for the leveling Trooper or Smuggler. Plus, with Slicing, you may get bonus schematics; they tend to sell nice. But what you also need to work on is the price: try and get a feel of what the prices are for your local market and try selling just a %age or two below the average. Keep track also of the going market rate for the materials. If the item's market price is below the cose of making the item, then don't make the item.

 

And, if nothing else, your Vanguard can be put into storage and kept to make barrels, customizable weapons and other mods for when you level another trooper or smuggler (not to mention their companions).

 

I hope this helps.

[Saldrex]

Aren't those mods from quest rewards BoP ? I thought they were.

 

They shouldn't be. I know purple ones from quests are not BoP. In truth I never tried with the blue ones but I do not see why those would be BoP and not the purples ones that I know I have sold.

[Splaktar]

Crafting isn't really a money maker. More of a huuuge money sink. Dump your crafting skill and get another gathering skill. Sell mats. Profit.

 

Yep, crafting really doesn't make you any money from 1-49. It just costs you a ton and there is really not enough return on investment. If the GTN was improved to be easier to use, perhaps it would be possible to sell more of your crafted greens and greens+augment slots. But I've found that putting greens on the GTN is just a complete waste of time. Even blues barely ever sell for default price, let alone for something higher.

 

People just aren't using the GTN as much as they could be based upon its availability and the horrific UI.

[Saldrex]

Yep, crafting really doesn't make you any money from 1-49. It just costs you a ton and there is really not enough return on investment. If the GTN was improved to be easier to use, perhaps it would be possible to sell more of your crafted greens and greens+augment slots. But I've found that putting greens on the GTN is just a complete waste of time. Even blues barely ever sell for default price, let alone for something higher.

 

People just aren't using the GTN as much as they could be based upon its availability and the horrific UI.

 

For some reason I do not think it is really the GTN's fault. There are plenty of greens from quests alone to keep your gear up to date. The greens from quest rewards even provide variance for spec as well. I do not see a reason to ever need to buy greens.

[omearaee]

I think part of the problem with the GNT is access. Few planets have a GNT terminal, I think most people look at it when on the Fleet but don't really focus on the GNT as a method of getting gear. But I am new to MMO so my impression could be wrong. I just think the set up is inconvenient.

[GellonSW]

It is a bit inconvenient. Most MMOs will have some auction house access in every city you visit. The same should be applied to planets.

[Craxxus]

I dont want to seem to be ignorant but I am one of the worst when it comes to saving money in games, however this one I am not having a problem. Here is what i do and what may help you out if you are broke. A little background first I have two 50's a 41, 34 and 36 so far. I have all the crafting professions between them (make my own everything for companions) pretty much and use the commendations for my actual toon's gear or mods. just by questing on my powertech for example vendoring all loot and putting blue, purple or custom loots on GTN I was able to have all mount training, mounts and still have about 400k in pocket at 50. Marauder was different story he died a lot leveling so spent most on repairs..lol. This is what I do when I need cash or want to increase amount, I run 2 flashpoints Mandalorian raiders and foundry solo it doesnt take too long and you will clear about 25-30K per run, also hit the mid level daily heroics 34-40ish area, these can easily be solo'd by anyone and you make decent return with loot/turn in cash, I hope these ideas help some of you that are having money issues because i know how frustrating it can be. Edited February 9, 2012 by Craxxus

[Lexster]

Ways to increase your cash:

1) Space missions, or at least space dailies. These are basicly free credits for about 5-6 minutes worth of work. They also give nice exp.

 

2) Warfields give a decent amount of credits upon completion. You can even make people rage if you desire and afk this for free valor, xp, credits.

 

3) Find packs of grey mobs and aoe grind them into submission. Have companion sell grey loot. Repeat until insane or have bag full of nongrey loot.

 

4) Sell crafting mats, especially blue/purple mats. This is more of a crapshoot though, as it is server dependent.

 

5) Run flashpoints/heroic dailies, you can probably solo and spacebar through lower level ones if you are antisocial.

 

6) Depending on your server, you may be able to strip down and dance in cantinas. Tears will help profits.

[Vodrin]

I am a level 46 Vanguard and outright broke, I need some serious help on making money. The money that I make from missions gets spent too quickly, I haven't been able to buy the skills from the last few levels, most of my companions are in their starting gear because I can't afford anything else. Crafting seems to be a big drain of money for me. I have armstech, salvaging, and investigation right now and it costs more to get the materials for the armstech weapons then they will sell for. I always try to sell them on the market but they won't sell so I end up having to sell them for dirt cheap prices to the npcs. I just finished grinding all my crew skills to 400 and I still am not making a profit. Granted, I do have a lot of crafting materials in my inventory but I never seem to have the right amount to make anything profitable. I also have spent a good amount of credits on companion gifts, probably too much but I wanted to get my standing up. I see people complaining how they have so many credits that there is nothing left to buy, I don't know what I am doing wrong. Anybody have any tips?

 

Only make equipment that you can produce with what you scavenge from leveling areas. You should only be paying for investigation missions, and only there those that get you mats you need to make a specific blue/purple item. Also, do not try to RE multiple things to purple. That alone can be a major money sink. You can pick out a specific barrel or weapon that is a bit ahead of you, but otherwise just stick to making enough to level your profession.

 

You can make money at it after level 50. Also if you do some space missions and PvP that can help.

[logankeepes]

last night i had to go from the fleet to nar shadaa, it costs 71 credits, and i couldn't afford it. lol. i only had 39 credits because i'd just spent 22k on training. i feel your pain OP

[Lexster]

Also, if there are skills that are trainable but you dont really use due to your spec setup, you can probably avoid paying for them until you have more money. Some of those skills you dont use are costly.

[X-Funk]

I have more credits than i know what to do with. I'm artifice, and i make purple enhancements and sell them for ridiculous amounts of credits on the pvp server i play on. Why do they go for so much? because people think biochem is the only skill they should take, therefore there are 0 enhancements on the market, which means i can charge whatever i like.

[uniz]

first off harvest your own mats never send companions out for those.

 

only send companions out for blue/purple mats and for FUELS. you can save a ton for fuels. for example for a 2k 41-48 bounty or rich fuel mission i got back 32 fuels that cost 400 each if i were to buy them out right. do the math here.

 

outfit only one companion and keep him up to date. this is the one you use to solo with.

 

forget about affection after 2000. you will never get your return on investment until MAYBE tier 6 mats.

 

look at what you can make in crafting. you are a armstech. well bud i cant never find barrels with cunning on them and seldom can get ones with aim. i use cunning and my companion uses aim. look and see what barrels are on the gtn. EVERY companion that can shoot gets a modable gun. not everyone gets a modable melee weapon however. i cant for the life of me find a techstaff for one of my companions. no idea if you can make one either.

 

dont waste mats and time getting purples they are not needed until endgame anyways. unless you want one for yourself. dont waste blue mats to get a purple to sell. you will always lose credits to the rng.

 

when you do sell price your wares reasonably and not for people playing alts that have a rich 50. not everyone has a rich 50 nor do they all want to waste credits on alts.

 

credits can be made from crafting in these games. it isnt easy and requires some thought, a process that many people havnt learned yet. if it was easy people wouldnt be whinning on these forums about crewskills not making credits.

 

you however want to learn. hopefully something i wrote will help you or someone else.

[rocdogg]

Armstech is currently the worst profession for making money. That may change, but it won't be in the next few weeks. I won't recommend that you drop it after getting it to 400, but I wouldn't spend more money on it, either.

 

If you don't have enough money to buy skills stop crafting stuff that you can't make money with.

[Bow-Wow-Wow]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I guess for now I'm just going to stop crafting untill I hit level 50. I started grinding up crafting in hopes that I could make more money in the long run but I guess it just wasted all my credits. Guess the best way to get credits is grind heroics/space missions/flashpoints/etc.

[Chunkie]

Crafting isn't really a money maker. More of a huuuge money sink. Dump your crafting skill and get another gathering skill. Sell mats. Profit.

 

LOL i love people that say this. Every char i've played have crafted - biochem, cybertech, artifice, and each of them has made me at least 5M in credits each (well my cybertech is a lvl 25 trooper sitting with over 3M in credits, all from selling what he made).

 

If you crafted something, what are you doing with what you've made? Are you just dumping it on the vendor or something? You obviously are selling it for a profit. Not everything sells out within 2 days, but i would say well over half of what i put up will sell within those 2 days.