Orange killing the crewskills?

[Scoober]

I have seen people saying that orange items kept up are supposed to be compareable to the items of that level. So far from what I have seen my orange gear even if not kept totally up to date is still superior to anything that is say up to 4 or 5 levels more.

 

So was it just that I have not seen anything that was done well or is it really just better to orange your character out and not look back?

 

If the oranges are that nice then what is the point of the synthweaving, amormech, and armstech crew skills. I would as I have done on my jugg just take cybertech for the armoring, mods, earpieces, and other items. Or bio for the med packs and stims that I could make and not be spending say 3000 credits an hour to play. Even artifice for the enhancements and crystals.

 

Only real use of the others seems to be to gear up companions but who will pay top credit to keep them up to date? I have seen people at level 50 with geared companions still in the 25 range.

 

But then I see them saying that they are going to make it so people can crit on making items in 1.2 and make the item orange instead. Well what good is that since all oranges are the same just the look is different. Right now half the crewskills in my eyes are worthless and they need to really look at how orange items impact the game. But then making it so even more orange items will be out there..... not the answer I was hoping for. Makes for one shot sales and not repeat sales at various levels.

 

What is your take on orange items and the impact to crewskills now and in the future?

[Wurmkrank]

Orange items aren't any better than other crafted items. An orange item with tier 1 armoring, mod, enhancement is just as good as a tier 1 crafted item. At this moment Crafted items are actually better than orange items because they can crit the augment slot.

[Wallach]

On my Armormech, I never found much use for custom armor. Blue versions of crafted gear were generally slightly superior armor wise and had the same amount of stats; when they crit with an augment slot, it was easily in favor of the crafted item. I generally spent commendations gearing companions. That said, it's certainly not much of a difference either way, and is definitely stifling the lower-end market of crafted armor since there isn't a lot of effort required to get custom gear and some commendations to fill them. Not entirely sure why commendation vendors are stuffed with on-level blue modifications on every single planet.

 

In 1.2 it'll be kind of a moot point, though, since custom gear is moving entirely into the hands of crafters.

[sirwyst]

I was under the same impression , i.e. orange not as good as crit item until I discussed with other players realized the following.

 

1) Orange items have a dedicated Rating level

- Sets have higher rating than others, BUT it does not show on the stat of the item...:=( . For example, the Anointed Demicot Headgear shows a 7 armor (rating 6) while if you check it in the Craft Synthweaving list, it shows up at Rating 88 !

 

In parallel, The Channeler's Headgear (same stats) is only a rating 70.

 

I am not 100% sure but to me, this would mean that the higher rating it is , the higher the stat would be when you add the mod. I have not done the test, and actually, this is a good idea, I will try later and let you know. However, I was told otherwise (ie, rating has no impact so I will check later)

 

2) Only some item modification have an impact on the stats

Orange weapons and armor scale with the Hilt, Barrel or Armoring you put in them. Mods, Enhancements and Augments do not affect this. (answer from SadisticPixie from a post similar on the same topic, check here : http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=308467

 

3) Orange are mainly for customization look

I think that is a given and seems to be the main driver for people getting orange stuff

 

4) Orange with purple mod = purple item

Difficult to prove but yes, it would make sense. In case you RE an item to a T1 or T2 purple item, it would be higher than the basic orange unless you add some Purple mods....

 

In my personal case, I found it easier to change armors while leveling instead of trying to get the mods on GTN that are way too rare...:=)

[Wurmkrank]

I was under the same impression , i.e. orange not as good as crit item until I discussed with other players realized the following.

 

1) Orange items have a dedicated Rating level

- Sets have higher rating than others, BUT it does not show on the stat of the item...:=( . For example, the Anointed Demicot Headgear shows a 7 armor (rating 6) while if you check it in the Craft Synthweaving list, it shows up at Rating 88 !

 

In parallel, The Channeler's Headgear (same stats) is only a rating 70.

 

I am not 100% sure but to me, this would mean that the higher rating it is , the higher the stat would be when you add the mod. I have not done the test, and actually, this is a good idea, I will try later and let you know. However, I was told otherwise (ie, rating has no impact so I will check later)

 

2) Only some item modification have an impact on the stats

Orange weapons and armor scale with the Hilt, Barrel or Armoring you put in them. Mods, Enhancements and Augments do not affect this. (answer from SadisticPixie from a post similar on the same topic, check here : http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=308467

 

3) Orange are mainly for customization look

I think that is a given and seems to be the main driver for people getting orange stuff

 

4) Orange with purple mod = purple item

Difficult to prove but yes, it would make sense. In case you RE an item to a T1 or T2 purple item, it would be higher than the basic orange unless you add some Purple mods....

 

In my personal case, I found it easier to change armors while leveling instead of trying to get the mods on GTN that are way too rare...:=)

 

the rating level in your crafting menu is just how hard/how much skill improvement you get when crafting it. All empty orange items are the same, mods and enhancements improve them all equally. However armorings will improve the armor rating based on the type of orange armor it's going into, ie heavy armor will have a higher armor than a light.

[Scoober]

Orange items aren't any better than other crafted items. An orange item with tier 1 armoring, mod, enhancement is just as good as a tier 1 crafted item. At this moment Crafted items are actually better than orange items because they can crit the augment slot.

 

This is not always the case though many people would like to believe it. I have had an orange armor back when I did syntweaving. I had all green same level modifications on it. To make a compareable chest piece it had to be at least a purple of the same level. I have had a lightsaber that was an orange and could not find anything that even came close at the same level.

 

Orange is actually superior when moded at the same level as a crafted item exception being purple. Now think about how many crew missions you need to run just to get the components to make said purple compared to just running some missions and finding the commendations to get the blue mods for orange items for well essentially doing nothing but normal leveling. Not to mention that you have to wait a while between items like say a chest piece. You make a chest piece then have to wait how many levels before you can wear the next one? (loot drops and mission rewards not included here) versus an orange that you can level up as you level. Even loot drops and mission rewards pailed in comparison to my armor I always took the comendations.

 

Orange items make crafted items essentially obsolete. I have to spend no money to make a better orange item. If I take cybertech like I did on my 50 jugg I could make my armor mods to go into them myself just from collecting the nodes and killing droids. Again free upgrades about every two levels. I could also make modifications. Only thing I needed were enhancements and at two commendations I could keep armor totally up to date and better than crafted at that level.

 

Edit follows:

 

In game made an orange and modded it and compared to a green of the same level. Orange all green mods level 15

 

Orange- Hardweave jacket +21 end, +15 cunning

 

Green- Stealth jacket +18 end, +14 cunning (other green level 15 were 16 and 16 for stats)

Edited March 12, 2012 by Scoober

[GnatB]

This is not always the case though many people would like to believe it. I have had an orange armor back when I did syntweaving. I had all green same level modifications on it. To make a compareable chest piece it had to be at least a purple of the same level. I have had a lightsaber that was an orange and could not find anything that even came close at the same level.

 

Orange is actually superior when moded at the same level as a crafted item exception being purple. Now think about how many crew missions you need to run just to get the components to make said purple compared to just running some missions and finding the commendations to get the blue mods for orange items for well essentially doing nothing but normal leveling. Not to mention that you have to wait a while between items like say a chest piece. You make a chest piece then have to wait how many levels before you can wear the next one? (loot drops and mission rewards not included here) versus an orange that you can level up as you level. Even loot drops and mission rewards pailed in comparison to my armor I always took the comendations.

 

Orange items make crafted items essentially obsolete. I have to spend no money to make a better orange item. If I take cybertech like I did on my 50 jugg I could make my armor mods to go into them myself just from collecting the nodes and killing droids. Again free upgrades about every two levels. I could also make modifications. Only thing I needed were enhancements and at two commendations I could keep armor totally up to date and better than crafted at that level.

 

Edit follows:

 

In game made an orange and modded it and compared to a green of the same level. Orange all green mods level 15

 

Orange- Hardweave jacket +21 end, +15 cunning

 

Green- Stealth jacket +18 end, +14 cunning (other green level 15 were 16 and 16 for stats)

 

Nobody uses greens. Now do the same comparison with blue modded, and that green RE'd to blue.. Tiering is where crafted items excell. Especially for tanks. ('course, I'd argue for tanks, the secondary stats of defense, shield, absorb are more important than primaries of end and whatever.)

 

That being said, I'll agree that crit oranges will do a number on armor sales. There will be virtually no point to crafting armor other than low level oranges hoping for a crit. (maybe doing high level on commision)

 

The only saving grace for synthweaving, armormech, and armstech is that they will be the ones making the augments to put in those critted oranges.

[KrelosDarksky]

I have seen people saying that orange items kept up are supposed to be compareable to the items of that level. So far from what I have seen my orange gear even if not kept totally up to date is still superior to anything that is say up to 4 or 5 levels more.

 

So was it just that I have not seen anything that was done well or is it really just better to orange your character out and not look back?

 

If the oranges are that nice then what is the point of the synthweaving, amormech, and armstech crew skills. I would as I have done on my jugg just take cybertech for the armoring, mods, earpieces, and other items. Or bio for the med packs and stims that I could make and not be spending say 3000 credits an hour to play. Even artifice for the enhancements and crystals.

 

Only real use of the others seems to be to gear up companions but who will pay top credit to keep them up to date? I have seen people at level 50 with geared companions still in the 25 range.

 

But then I see them saying that they are going to make it so people can crit on making items in 1.2 and make the item orange instead. Well what good is that since all oranges are the same just the look is different. Right now half the crewskills in my eyes are worthless and they need to really look at how orange items impact the game. But then making it so even more orange items will be out there..... not the answer I was hoping for. Makes for one shot sales and not repeat sales at various levels.

 

What is your take on orange items and the impact to crewskills now and in the future?

 

 

I craft orange armors ... not sure what your point is. And I sell orange, purple, green and blue armors everyday.

 

But for the sake of argument, would you prefer a Purple [superior] or [Mastercraft] item or an orange item of the same level?

Edited March 12, 2012 by KrelosDarksky

[Spero-Mcgee]

I craft orange armors ... not sure what your point is. And I sell orange, purple, green and blue armors everyday.

 

But for the sake of argument, would you prefer a Purple [superior] or [Mastercraft] item or an orange item of the same level?

 

I'd take the Mastercraft item any day, especially if its a certain version, aka redoubt criticial or overkill. I have 2 purple lvl 49 strength impants with presence on it, not the stat I wanted but granted I'm actually thinking of making a full set tailored towards presence on every item slot. Imagine if all possible slots had augments as well? I'd be able to score hundreds of extra stat points towards presence a stat normally not able to buff aside from the presence drink, stim and presence datacrons. I hope, I don't have to explain the usefullness of presence in certain pve situations.

 

Instead of my idea of presence, think what you could do with other stats, it is possible to fill augment slots with main stats as well. Atm 10 augment slots are possible for artificers and 8 max for non artificers. The only thing that orange stuff has going for it now is purely it's cosmetic value, because if you can crit a lower lvl orange item which is alot easier and cheaper to do considering 'the mats needed. Not only that lower lvl crafts cost your companions significantly less time to craft then the higher lvl items.

 

If you're swimming in mats/credits this time component can be the most tedious.

This however as far as I can tell is only the case with the armor crafts, artifice does have it lightsabers but that requires farming those alloys.

Armstech, I don't think I've seen orange shemantics for any lvl but the purple mastercrafted do the job I suppose untill you get something better.

 

We all allready know the problem with the mods unfortunately even if you could make purple armoring, mods its just meh. Not sure about the enhancements from artifice, those did seem to be rather diverse in it's stat placement, though I remember there being duplicates that sucks.

Edited March 12, 2012 by Spero-Mcgee

[sirwyst]

For me purple RE are higher than orange, especially the T2 ones.

 

The main issue about the orange items is the availability of the mods. I found it extremelly difficult to find enough purple mods for your own level while i see more purple gears. So, it seems easier to swap to purple items.

 

Would be different if i can keep up with purple mods regularly. Maybe this is only an issue on my server.

[Spero-Mcgee]

For me purple RE are higher than orange, especially the T2 ones.

 

The main issue about the orange items is the availability of the mods. I found it extremelly difficult to find enough purple mods for your own level while i see more purple gears. So, it seems easier to swap to purple items.

 

Would be different if i can keep up with purple mods regularly. Maybe this is only an issue on my server.

 

Keep doing the belsavis dailies m8. Youll rack up daily commendations fast.

Theres 3 quests that give 1 commendation= 3 1 heroic + 2 that gives 3 commendations and a purple mod and another heroic +4 that gives another 3 daily commendations + an orange weapon for each of your companions. I'm not able to do the heroic +4 one unless there happens to be other people in the zone, but in my case doing the others solo, it's 6 commendations each day + a purple mod which is BOE that you could share with the other adv.class/friends or guildies. You need 8 daily commendations to buy a purple mod from the mission support vendor also there.

In fact you can even buy rakata implants but those cost a whopping 120 commendations, before you reach that chances are you might have bought or made a purple implant yourself. In fact these very mods are the bane of the crafters so to speak.

You might have problems like I do with the heroic + 4 quests but everything else can be soloed, being decently geared and your companion as well.

[sirwyst]

Yes but you are level 50 correct ? For us (little learning padawans level 30), the route is long and becomes even harder to get those purples and maintain orange items. GTN is very poor on that...

[ZorakMalor]

Ok.. at lvl 30.. why would you need purple? I've gone from 1 to 49.. and used blue's from commendations from the planets as I progress through them.. and not suffering any.

 

Really you only NEED the purples at 50 to be up there and competative.

[Spero-Mcgee]

Yes but you are level 50 correct ? For us (little learning padawans level 30), the route is long and becomes even harder to get those purples and maintain orange items. GTN is very poor on that...

 

What Zorak mentioned. Getting purple mods on the earlier lvls is only avaible to those that either craft said mods of every possible main stat for their main and alts.

Which you can do with artifice (hilts> melee weapons and enhancements) and cybertech for armoring and mods and barrels. ( > ranged weapons)

Or if you have friends/guildies that have the above mentioned crew skills + discovered purple mods in the lvl ranges you require. Otherwise you might check the GTN but that isn't all that viable depending on your server.

Getting any kind of mod besides armoring from the planet commendations is incredibily cheap only 2 planet commendations ( armoring ones are 7 ) .

What you can also do is buy a new higher lvl orange item from planet commendations, that way you'll get a new piece of gear with that lvl range mods already in them.

Sticking with lower lvl orange items either gained from quests, drops or bought from the GTN is purely for cosmetic value if you care about that, because the lvl and the worth of an orange item is merely linked to what kinds of mods you have placed into them.

 

The only real advantage in having purple mods is that it allows having higher stats at an earlier lvl compared to its blue counterpart. A simple example a purple Might Armoring 13 has exactly the same stats like a blue Might Armoring 15. But the 13 one requires say lvl 30 and the 15 one requires say lvl 36.

Considering that you can have like about 5 orange items equiped that you can mod, with them all filled with purple mods you'd definitely have greater stats, but thats merely a luxury something you don't really need. People like me who do that sort of thing allready lvled more than likely more than 1 char and lvl very easily even if we were using green mods.

[Scoober]

What Zorak mentioned. Getting purple mods on the earlier lvls is only avaible to those that either craft said mods of every possible main stat for their main and alts.

Which you can do with artifice (hilts> melee weapons and enhancements) and cybertech for armoring and mods and barrels. ( > ranged weapons)

QUOTE]

 

Slight correction to this. Cybertech does not make barrels. Just the armoring and the mods. Other than that it is earpieces, grenades, droid parts (useless for sith), gadets such as speeders and then startship components. There is a lot to cybertech but barrels are armstech.

[Scoober]

Nobody uses greens. Now do the same comparison with blue modded, and that green RE'd to blue.. Tiering is where crafted items excell. Especially for tanks. ('course, I'd argue for tanks, the secondary stats of defense, shield, absorb are more important than primaries of end and whatever.)

 

That being said, I'll agree that crit oranges will do a number on armor sales. There will be virtually no point to crafting armor other than low level oranges hoping for a crit. (maybe doing high level on commision)

 

The only saving grace for synthweaving, armormech, and armstech is that they will be the ones making the augments to put in those critted oranges.

 

As you asked for a level 15 medium armor with blue re comparison

 

Orange- +26 end, +13 cunning

 

Blue- +16 end, +16 cunning, +9 crit

 

So straight out points yes orange has only 39 compared to the 41 in blue. But at level 15 you are giving up 10 points in endurance to gain 9 critical. This armor is going on a sniper but at level 15 the endurance can come in more handy than 9 in crit.

[sirwyst]

Ok.. at lvl 30.. why would you need purple? I've gone from 1 to 49.. and used blue's from commendations from the planets as I progress through them.. and not suffering any.

 

Really you only NEED the purples at 50 to be up there and competative.

 

For two reasons actually : Grid and pleasure....:=) True blue should be enough (depending on your class), but I confess, tanking Jugg needs good gear.

 

My Lvl 31 sith Jugg is 100% purple now, I RE every items for me ahead and sell them on GTN.

 

Agree with next post, going to the planet get orange, remove the mods and put in your orange set is working but from a stat point of view, not sure still..guess depends on the set and the item.

 

As a consequence of my "purplization" I reach decent stats for Level 31 :

- ST : 529

- EN : 603

- Health : 7155

- Armor Rating : 4622

- Defense Red : 45.77%

- Defense Chance : 16.11%

- Shield Chance : 27.53%

- Shild absorb : 25.31%

 

what you think ?

[Ironcleaver]

Orange killing the crewskills?

 

From the sounds of it, All pruple items are going to function like Orange items since they are becoming completely unlocked in Patch 1.2...

 

Over a month ago I outfitted my Level 50 Vanguard in 100% level 49 Purple Player Crafted critted gear (every slot has an aug slot but for Relics).

 

What happens once 1.2 hits is that I can take the Armor Shard out of PvP or Raid gear and trully make great armor. Currently PvP and Raid gear have high Primary Stat and Endurance but aweful secondary Stats -but- player crafted 49 gear has Poor Primary and Endurancy but awesome Secondary. After 1.2 you can finally marry the two.

 

The key to pulling that off is being able to craft the gear as crafted gear currently has access to different/better mods then whats currently advalable for current orange gear.

 

People want Orange belts and Wrists with Aug slots; well, Critted purple gear of those slots will be that after 1.2.

 

Edit:

 

This also means I can craft player crafted armor sets that look different but still "mod" them the way i want. There are several sets of armor for vanguards with different colorings - it will be nice to work with those finally.

Edited March 15, 2012 by Ironcleaver

[Telemachos]

Orange equal the modifications you put into them. If you put greens it will be inline with a green armor at the same time you will be able to dictate which stats and ratings you want to focus on (aim, cunning, surge, power, alacrity).

 

Oranges are superior on many levels even without the crit crafting that they will have in 1.2 because you can make inbetween green, blue, purple level. For example, if my orange piece of gear has all blue level 40 modifications in it- and I switch and add a level 40 purple modification to it- then my end result is a piece of gear that sits between blue and purple. It is better than a blue item but not as good as a purple.

 

Additionally, 1.2 will bring crit crafting oranges for the augment slot and medium/heavy vendor bought social armor.

 

The only advantage to some of the blues and purples directly crafted at this moment is the fact that they are cheaper to make since they are already slotted with enhancements.

[Yusmell]

If I can just throw my 2 cents into this discussion. My trooper has been carrying the same assault cannon that I bought on Tat (an orange), and it's all modded with purples now. It is far superior to any cannon that I can craft, and I know all the purple patterns. And yes, I do HM's and ops with it yet, until I can replace it with a Rakata cannon.

[Spero-Mcgee]

What Zorak mentioned. Getting purple mods on the earlier lvls is only avaible to those that either craft said mods of every possible main stat for their main and alts.

Which you can do with artifice (hilts> melee weapons and enhancements) and cybertech for armoring and mods and barrels. ( > ranged weapons)

QUOTE]

 

Slight correction to this. Cybertech does not make barrels. Just the armoring and the mods. Other than that it is earpieces, grenades, droid parts (useless for sith), gadets such as speeders and then startship components. There is a lot to cybertech but barrels are armstech.

 

Indeed my bad, barrels are armstech. I got all the crafts and gathering myself personally so I might ramble on a bit.

[Tarka]

Unfortunately, the crafting and itemisation systems in this game renders the majority of crafting schematics useless due to the ease of obtaining moddable gear and the ability for all players to swap out mods at will.

 

Which, whilst being good for non-crafters, sucks for those trying to earn credits from making non-moddable gear. It also means that there is no variety in goods that are sold, because the every player can create their own variety.

 

 

The way how I see it, with 1.2, the market for armour and weapons will shift focus even further to be centred around the sale of modifications, not the sale of "finished" goods.

Edited March 16, 2012 by Tarka

[Goutboy]

In the early game you get more secondary stats from crafted gear, and in general the crafted blue/purple gear will be better in a 1 to 1 comparison. The real advantage of orange gear pre 1.2 is that you get a whole new set of gear every two levels with a few exceptions.

 

So at say level 31 my 5 piece orange set will be filled with blue Mod 32's, and while your crafted level 31 heavy blue chest and pants are better than mine your level 30 gloves, and level 29 boots and helm may not be.

 

Of course if you throw augs into the mix then pre 1.2 crafted gear = better than orange. Post 1.2 the best purple crafted at your level with purple modded, auged orange gear filling out the rest will be the way to go.

 

So I would say no to the original question.