crew skills for a newbie?

[Anizev]

I'm just coming back to SWTOR after a loooong absence, and since at this point I no longer remember how to play any of my characters or where they're at in their storylines (my alts are all a mix of level 10-30 characters), I'm thinking the best course of action is to just start fresh.

 

I'm wondering what the best course for crew skills would be, though... is there typically enough of a market to make a profit on gathering skills, or would I be better off going crafting to be self-sufficient and not have to rely on the GTN as much?

[psandak]

Honestly there is no "right answer"

 

My standing advice for new players (or returning players who don't remember the game; like you) is take two of the three gathering skills (archeology, bioanalysis, scavenging) and slicing while leveling. Doing so, you have options to either sell what you gather and buy what you want, or save the materials for an eventual crafting skill.

 

If you want to take a crafting skill see my guide as to what's best for each class and a Crew skills chart to see what gathering and mission skills feed each crafting skill

 

You might also check out the money making strategies guide too

[Missandei]

If you are making a fresh new toon and you dont have any other toons to help you with leveling (by sending crafted items etc..) i would suggest you to take Cybertech, Scavenging, Slicing combo.

Scavenging will give you a lot of mats not only from gathering nodes but from defeated droids too.

Slicing will provide you with additional 450K credits for leveling it 1..450 (assuming that you will level it by slicing the nodes and not using your companions on sending them on Slicing missions.

 

and Cybertech byitself will provide you with Earpieces, Armorings and Mods so you will always be geared up to your level without being starved of planetary commendations.. (Armorings are the main expenditure items as they cost 7 comms each and you need 7 or 8 of them to gear up your toon.. not to mention your companion)

So you can buy the Orange shells on Coruscant/DromundKaas social vendor (cheapest orange gear in the game - 100 credits per item) and just update Armorings/Mods from time to time as you craft them leveling your Cybertech.

 

The main drawback of Cybertech is that it cant craft Augments. (relatively easy/good profit in endgame) Though Cybertech is the best craftskill to get MK-9 components...

But you can always switch it for ArmorMech or ArmsTech if you will want to craft Augments/AugKits in the endgame

(This two craftskills are based on Scavenging as a gathering skill so you will already have the mats to level this craftskills.)

 

For all who searching the easy guide for OPTIMAL crewskill for a class here is easy graphics: http://i.imgur.com/3Fj9uSj.jpg

Though «OPTIMAL» is merely a definition for getting +2-5% of crit rate on selected craftskill and basically for a casual crafter it doesnt mean much.

Edited April 1, 2014 by Missandei