Uh Oh, the world as we know it may come to an end

[Beltane]

I love crafting the way it is now. When I try (because admittedly I don't always feel like going hardcore and running missions on 10 toons several times a day) I can easily net 1-2 mill a day off crafting.

 

The main changes I would like to see have to do with more variety in things we can raft. It would be nice to see more vanity items, unique adaptive armor shells, etc, to give the armor professions something that sets them apart other than augments.

 

As far as efficiency and making money though, it's fine.

 

My rule is to run crew skills the entire time I'm playing the game. Sometimes that involves alt swapping to run the most efficient missions I need to make credits, sometimes it means staying on one character for hours and just keeping their skills going, but it always means I make credits in the end.

[psandak]

BIG NEWS: Main stats are going away...strength, willpower, cunning, and aim are being replaced by a single stat known as "mastery" http://dulfy.net/2015/08/06/swtor-gamescom-cantina-tour-qa/ (second bullet point).

 

This implies two things (off the top of my head):

 

#1 Armormech and Synthweaving are effectively redundant. Without a main stat to differentiate the two ALL the crafted gear is homogenized and two of the four augments in each crafting skill become redundant. The only differentiation is that Armormech make Shield and Absorb Augments and Synthweaving makes Redoubt and Alacrity Augments.

 

#2 fewer schematics to learn and RE for. Things like implants and earpieces, and armorings and mods, will be consolidated because you no longer need four distinct types - one for each main stat.

 

Also no more NiM Ops. This implies that the current top end crafting model is sticking around. Whether they alter the exotic material drop rates is unknown (IMO the latter is the bigger issue)

Edited August 10, 2015 by psandak

[Joefjr]

BIG NEWS: Main stats are going away...strength, willpower, cunning, and aim are being replaced by a single stat known as "mastery" http://dulfy.net/2015/08/06/swtor-gamescom-cantina-tour-qa/ (second bullet point).

 

This implies two things (off the top of my head):

 

#1 Armormech and Synthweaving are effectively redundant. Without a main stat to differentiate the two ALL the crafted gear is homogenized and two of the four augments in each crafting skill become redundant. The only differentiation is that Armormech make Shield and Absorb Augments and Synthweaving makes Redoubt and Alacrity Augments.

 

#2 fewer schematics to learn and RE for. Things like implants and earpieces, and armorings and mods, will be consolidated because you no longer need four distinct types - one for each main stat.

 

Also no more NiM Ops. This implies that the current top end crafting model is sticking around. Whether they alter the exotic material drop rates is unknown (IMO the latter is the bigger issue)

 

Wonder what that means for the Datacrons, make all the Str Will AIm Cun into all mastery, or replace one of them with mastery and the other with secondary stats like power, crit, etc.

 

The all in one stat is real stupid imo.

[Leklor]

BIG NEWS: Main stats are going away...strength, willpower, cunning, and aim are being replaced by a single stat known as "mastery" http://dulfy.net/2015/08/06/swtor-gamescom-cantina-tour-qa/ (second bullet point).

 

This implies two things (off the top of my head):

 

#1 Armormech and Synthweaving are effectively redundant. Without a main stat to differentiate the two ALL the crafted gear is homogenized and two of the four augments in each crafting skill become redundant. The only differentiation is that Armormech make Shield and Absorb Augments and Synthweaving makes Redoubt and Alacrity Augments.

 

#2 fewer schematics to learn and RE for. Things like implants and earpieces, and armorings and mods, will be consolidated because you no longer need four distinct types - one for each main stat.

 

Also no more NiM Ops. This implies that the current top end crafting model is sticking around. Whether they alter the exotic material drop rates is unknown (IMO the latter is the bigger issue)

 

Has yet to be confirmed by Bioware. So far, the source is someone who claims they spoke to a Bioware dev at Gamescom. Same guy also announced a lot of pretty unlikely things. Wait & see.

 

And if I may add, most of these reports are dubious because they contradict each other.

This guy says there will be no change at all on former planets, the other says many will become contested zones by the Zakuul Empire.

That guy says they claim no new GSF content for at least a year, that other claims a dev told him (With a wink no less) "We've got something planned for GSF with KOTFE".

Wait for official confirmation.

Edited August 10, 2015 by Leklor

[asbalana]

Has yet to be confirmed by Bioware. So far, the source is someone who claims they spoke to a Bioware dev at Gamescom. Same guy also announced a lot of pretty unlikely things. Wait & see.

 

And if I may add, most of these reports are dubious because they contradict each other.

This guy says there will be no change at all on former planets, the other says many will become contested zones by the Zakuul Empire.

That guy says they claim no new GSF content for at least a year, that other claims a dev told him (With a wink no less) "We've got something planned for GSF with KOTFE".

Wait for official confirmation.

 

Things are getting stranger and stranger and we all seem to be at sea. EA/BW looks to be causing the maximum confusion. Rumors abound.

 

The relic purported to be a level 65 in the new crafting system in the Crafting Teaser thread I started shows a Power stat. Power would be meaningless if there was only one main stat "mastery".

 

It is probably time for EA/BW to say something or the expansion is going to cause a lot of pissed off frustrated people and big drop in interest pre launch. When expectations are allowed to run rampant fueled only by rumor, there is no way that they can be met. I think people are tired of the tease marketing paradigm.

Edited August 10, 2015 by asbalana

[DawnAskham]

Things are getting stranger and stranger and we all seem to be at sea. EA/BW looks to be causing the maximum confusion. Rumors abound.

 

The relic purported to be a level 65 in the new crafting system in the Crafting Teaser thread I started shows a Power stat. Power would be meaningless if there was only one main stat "mastery".

 

It is probably time for EA/BW to say something or the expansion is going to cause a lot of pissed off frustrated people and big drop in interest pre launch. When expectations are allowed to run rampant fueled only by rumor, there is no way that they can be met. I think people are tired of the tease marketing paradigm.

 

I wish they would take a page out of the playbook used by other major MMOs to communicate their changes and vision ahead of time, as well as to have more public betas and open testing for changes.

 

At this point, I know more about WoW's next expansion than I do about KotFE, and I'm sure like always, WoW's next expansion will have a lengthy beta period that won't be cloaked in secrecy.

 

I'm also sure they will have an open test phase for changes a month or so ahead of release, as well as patch the changes in ahead of the new content to allow for time to correct any bugs.

 

We instead get treated like mushrooms - kept in the dark and fed bullsh*t all day, and have to 'pay' extra so to speak for the privilege of being beta testers during early access.

Edited August 10, 2015 by DawnAskham

[psandak]

The relic purported to be a level 65 in the new crafting system in the Crafting Teaser thread I started shows a Power stat. Power would be meaningless if there was only one main stat "mastery".

 

Not entirely accurate. Currently the main stat grants power and critical, so if "mastery" does the same thing, then the power stat is not meaningless (remember with 3.x the power augments pulled even with main stat augments due to critical diminishing returns).

[RAVM]

https://torcommunity.com/database/update-previews/840-kotfe-item-crafting-changes

[psandak]

https://torcommunity.com/database/update-previews/840-kotfe-item-crafting-changes

 

Wow, a lot to take in. I am of mixed emotions. But I will adapt as always

[DawnAskham]

Wow, a lot to take in. I am of mixed emotions. But I will adapt as always

 

And the big problem I have is we are just over two months away from the expansion and are getting information such as crafting and stat changes from data mining and not the developers.

 

Not to mention I still see no mention of any sort of public test - and given all the changes I see from data mining - that scares the hell out of me.

[FerkWork]

Craftable baseline stuff is taking exotics and conquest? Wow. I wonder what the base raid gear will be or min for HM. Cause I don't really want to min max again with SM before doing HM of the gap is too big

[psandak]

Craftable baseline stuff is taking exotics and conquest? Wow. I wonder what the base raid gear will be or min for HM. Cause I don't really want to min max again with SM before doing HM of the gap is too big

 

Probably like all content before, crafting is only one possible option to gearing up.

 

Also remember that: Everything you see here is subject to change and will infact probably go through several iterations before live.

[Lecaja]

If this is true then they have to be getting rid of the crafting system as we know it and starting fresh with something like other mmos where you got to explore for mats. I'm only guessing because all my hardwon purple recipes are useless now. It took me a long time to level up enough characters so I can always have the best of everything but not have to hit up GTN. In order to create balance I think we are going to wake up with nothing in the game, no credits, nothing otherwise players like us who hundreds of millions in credits are going to be at a sever advantage against new players. Again all this is guessing based on information that might be false.

 

All that said I'm not going to quit without trying 4.0 first. I know the above post reads like a kid crying because his candy was taken away so I'm going to act like an adult throughout all the changes because and if I leave leave with a whiper out of respect for everyone here least of all Bioware who made a wonderful game that I've sunk counless hours into.

[eartharioch]

TBH, the only thing that scares me about this (although it surprises me not at all) is that it can already be datamined. I've been disturbed by several things that have been datamined before (slot machine odds, for example), but the fact that they are shipping 4.x code in 3.x builds says a lot about their version control and QA capabilities (unfortunately nothing that hasn't already been said, just not said so explicitly).

[Fraah]

I could very will be wrong, but I think this is going to be the end of my crafting career. I craft purple levelling augments, barrels, mods, armorings, enhancements. Stuff where there isn't much business, but good margins due to low competition.

 

I provide a service (many of the things I craft are not regularly available otherwise) for an cost benefit margin which is (just about) worth my while.

 

This market will be dead if I understand the changes correctly (or rather it will be higher volume, but much lower margin, sort of like the end game crafting now). With relatively few objects, which take (relatively) little effort to learn, the sole competition is via price and constant checking and relisting on the GTN.

 

Basically, I don't want to feel like a factory. Not to mention the natural annoyance, that all that effort learning and re-ing is now worthless. Maybe it will finally be worthwhile knowing all those other crafting recipes, but I doubt it.

 

On the other, less selfish, hand, gameplay wise this change makes some sense and might actually improve some things. We'll see.

Edited August 11, 2015 by Fraah

[Grayseven]

I could very will be wrong, but I think this is going to be the end of my crafting career. I craft purple levelling augments, barrels, mods, armorings, enhancements. Stuff where there isn't much business, but good margins due to low competition.

 

I provide a service (many of the things I craft are not regularly available otherwise) for an cost benefit margin which is (just about) worth my while.

 

This market will be dead if I understand the changes correctly (or rather it will be higher volume, but much lower margin, sort of like the end game crafting now). With relatively few objects, which take (relatively) little effort to learn, the sole competition is via price and constant checking and relisting on the GTN.

 

Basically, I don't want to feel like a factory. Not to mention the natural annoyance, that all that effort learning and re-ing is now worthless. Maybe it will finally be worthwhile knowing all those other crafting recipes, but I doubt it.

 

On the other, less selfish, hand, gameplay wise this change makes some sense and might actually improve some things. We'll see.

 

Basically, crafting will be so simple that anyone will be able to do it themselves. Right now, with the myriad of stats and RE iterations available, a lot of people don't want to put in the time to gather mats and RE over and over to get the "desirable" iterations.

 

With one stat and simplified mats, it will be easier for people to do it themselves. Crafting and GTN PvP will cease to exist as a mini-game, leaving the CC Market as the last bastion for making big credits.

 

I find it amazing that an already simple system is being dumbed down further. I'm seeing more and more that makes me regret re-subbing for six months. I really don't want to go back to WoW but my MMO future rests on how well EQ Next is implemented.

[psandak]

Basically, crafting will be so simple that anyone will be able to do it themselves. Right now, with the myriad of stats and RE iterations available, a lot of people don't want to put in the time to gather mats and RE over and over to get the "desirable" iterations.

 

With one stat and simplified mats, it will be easier for people to do it themselves. Crafting and GTN PvP will cease to exist as a mini-game, leaving the CC Market as the last bastion for making big credits.

 

I find it amazing that an already simple system is being dumbed down further. I'm seeing more and more that makes me regret re-subbing for six months. I really don't want to go back to WoW but my MMO future rests on how well EQ Next is implemented.

 

How wrong you are.

 

Will more players get involved in crafting? Probably (but not nearly as many as you think)

Will EVERY player want to craft for themselves? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

 

No matter how "easy" a crafting system is, it will ALWAYS be "too hard" (more specifically too time consuming) for an overwhelming majority of players.

[asbalana]

Wow, a lot to take in. I am of mixed emotions. But I will adapt as always

 

Much good for you, adapt away.

 

If the link is true, game over for crafting.

 

LOL, level 64 armor needs 12 Exotic Isotope Stabilizers which drop from hard mode flashpoints. Guess belionging to a raiding guild will help one adapt.

 

I don't know about anyone else, but since I have many many hundreds of millions of credits, my wife and I will have no problem.

 

I can't tell the future, but my best guess is that wife and I (continuous subs since launch) will go through the new content once or twice and then we are gone. As bad as the crafting is, we are crafters. Crafting is a big part of our game.

 

This is a raft of garbage and although some will eat it, I will not.

Edited August 11, 2015 by asbalana

[Draqsko]

Craftable baseline stuff is taking exotics and conquest? Wow. I wonder what the base raid gear will be or min for HM. Cause I don't really want to min max again with SM before doing HM of the gap is too big

 

Well that was a level 64 blue in the screenshot and it was 208 rating, the equivalent 3.0 piece was 178 rating. So it looks like it'll have the same jump in tier as every other expansion, +30 rating. Tionese was 126, the stuff you got after Makeb, or when Oricon first released was 156, and well 3.0 is 186, no reason to see that pattern changing now based on the datamine. So basic tier purples will be 216 rating I'd guess.

[Draqsko]

How wrong you are.

 

Will more players get involved in crafting? Probably (but not nearly as many as you think)

Will EVERY player want to craft for themselves? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

 

No matter how "easy" a crafting system is, it will ALWAYS be "too hard" (more specifically too time consuming) for an overwhelming majority of players.

 

I think there will be less players crafting because from the looks of it, it will be more like crafting augment kits with components going to actual useable product. While more people may be capable of crafting, less will participate in a system with intermediate steps because there is no instant gratification. You see it with augment kits today, not everyone makes kits from raw mats to finished product. They'll either buy the components or buy the kits outright depending on price, but very few will craft them from raw mats.

 

I think the same will apply here since the system is directly analogous from the looks of it, minus the having to RE green stuff to get components and instead crafting them directly. Since the system is being dumbed down slightly it'll probably appeal to less pure crafters as well, and that may mean less participation overall since they seem to be implementing more of a time sink behind crafting with multiple stages. If components are needed from multiple crafting skills to produce finished gear, then the amount of micromanagement goes up substantially and almost guarantees less participation.

[Lecaja]

We can't talk about the changes data mined but I changed my mind and am embracing it provided they keep the crew based crafting intact.

[Grayseven]

How wrong you are.

 

Will more players get involved in crafting? Probably (but not nearly as many as you think)

Will EVERY player want to craft for themselves? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

 

No matter how "easy" a crafting system is, it will ALWAYS be "too hard" (more specifically too time consuming) for an overwhelming majority of players.

 

Meanwhile, the people who currently craft for profit find themselves squeezed because fewer items to craft plus more people to craft them means the market bottoms out. Supply will be greater than demand when the time and effort to craft is reduced or simplified.

 

I'm not wrong in this. It is already getting more difficult to find market niches that aren't over-exploited. They are there, but there are fewer now than there were just last year. Thankfully, F2P restrictions keep it from getting worse.

 

Yeah, there will still be people unwilling to craft but it will be a buyers market.

[Lecaja]

Meanwhile, the people who currently craft for profit find themselves squeezed because fewer items to craft plus more people to craft them means the market bottoms out. Supply will be greater than demand when the time and effort to craft is reduced or simplified.

 

I'm not wrong in this. It is already getting more difficult to find market niches that aren't over-exploited. They are there, but there are fewer now than there were just last year. Thankfully, F2P restrictions keep it from getting worse.

 

Yeah, there will still be people unwilling to craft but it will be a buyers market.

 

It's hard to talk about this and not reference the data mined information but I think crafting is going to be more profitable than ever because the consumer base is going to expand meaning there will be a shortage for everything. Now something I craft only appeals to a small part of the bases but if certain changes take place than perhaps everyone can use it increasing demand many times over. Add that to the fact there will be fewer crafters, as perhaps steps might be added to the process means even more power to sellers.

Edited August 12, 2015 by Lecaja

[Grayseven]

It's hard to talk about this and not reference the data mined information but I think crafting is going to be more profitable than ever because the consumer base is going to expand meaning there will be a shortage for everything. Now something I craft only appeals to a small part of the bases but if certain changes take place than perhaps everyone can use it increasing demand many times over. Add that to the fact there will be fewer crafters, as perhaps steps might be added to the process means even more power to sellers.

 

If, it is simplified...if...crafting will be less profitable because fewer items will exist to be crafted and more people will be crafting them.

 

For example, if you've taken the time to RE implants so that you have all of the artifact level 186's you have a myriad of choices at the artifact level. Some are worthless, others are very much in demand. Simplifying that system takes what is currently somewhere around 24 different options which not all crafters have gotten because of the time and effort involved and narrows it down to a quarter of that or less. That will require less time and effort to reach the top iterations and while some people still won't be bothered to craft, those who do craft will find more people trying to sell fewer items.

 

We can't possibly know for sure until there is an official announcement of what is actually taking place. It could be those reduced iterations will be compensated for through sub component iterations and the actual time and effort will remain the same...but we will still see fewer items at the top for the crafting for profit crowd to fight over.

[Lecaja]

If, it is simplified...if...crafting will be less profitable because fewer items will exist to be crafted and more people will be crafting them.

 

For example, if you've taken the time to RE implants so that you have all of the artifact level 186's you have a myriad of choices at the artifact level. Some are worthless, others are very much in demand. Simplifying that system takes what is currently somewhere around 24 different options which not all crafters have gotten because of the time and effort involved and narrows it down to a quarter of that or less. That will require less time and effort to reach the top iterations and while some people still won't be bothered to craft, those who do craft will find more people trying to sell fewer items.

 

We can't possibly know for sure until there is an official announcement of what is actually taking place. It could be those reduced iterations will be compensated for through sub component iterations and the actual time and effort will remain the same...but we will still see fewer items at the top for the crafting for profit crowd to fight over.

 

I want to cling to my explanation but clearly your expertise in this area is exponentially greater than mine by the order of several magnitudes so I think I’m seeing what I want to see because I really am enjoying myself right now crafting, selling and playing everything and don’t want it to end.

Edited August 12, 2015 by Lecaja