Which mission to focus on while leveling?

[psandak]

Khevar, while my numbers roughly agree with yours (my TH would only yield 16.667% more credits, but more is more), this thread does specifically focus on TH leveling, not "end game". The question is when you add the green/premium fragments into the mix (a third fragment type) and the fact that non-grade 5 gifts do not generally sell for nearly as much as grade 5, is it still better to focus on gift missions while leveling TH? Yes, all fragments get translated into grade 5 gifts but TH gift missions do not always generate fragments. That math is a lot harder to test, without leveling a new TH

[Khevar]

@psandak, that's a good point about leveling.

 

I actually did recently grind a couple of toons to 500 treasure hunting. Too bad I didn't keep track of the return.

 

I suspect that leveling TH running gems missions would be more profitable than the gifts -- but I'm not totally sure. I'm mainly basing that on how mid-level UT metals sell rapidly and for a decent profit -- but it's possible that doesn't happen as well with the gems.

[MSchuyler]

I am not answering Khevar's message on this thread. The best thing to do in these circumstances is just stop. Otherwise it's never-ending. We need to deal with the issue.

 

Now, I have a request to anyone who wishes to respond. I have asked Khevar for this information as well, but would be surprised if he answered. edit to add: Okay. Got it. My bad. It's very simple. If you had prototype (purple) and artifact (blue) gift fragments from Treasure Hunting in sufficient quantity, what gifts would you choose to buy from the curator? Which are the most valuable? Khevar maintains that being able to do this makes up for the fact that Treasure Hunting yields gift fragments rather than whole gifts. Whole gifts are random, and you get a lot of low-level gifts during random missions, so being able to choose which gifts you get is an advantage. This makes Treasure Hunting as or more valuable than other mission skills, all of which return companion gifts.

 

That is Khevar's hypothesis and the crux of this whole issue. I believe he is wrong. I believe Treasure Hunting, largely (but not solely) because of gift fragments, is demonstrably the worst mission skill for companion gifts, but we haven't tested this out, so let us do that. If I am the one who is wrong I am willing to come back on this forum and state so publicly. I don't expect that, but these sorts of conclusions ought to be driven by data rather than emotion and supposition.

 

So here's an opportunity for you to shine and show what an expert you are in this business. If you had to choose, today, what's the best gift?

 

I eagerly await your well-considered responses.

 

Edit: OK. He has done a test in which he claims TH is better. I must say that was awfully fast. I'm scrambling to get 100 missions completed. It'll take me a couple more days. Let's see if it can be duplicated!

Edited October 1, 2015 by MSchuyler

[Khevar]

Edit: OK. He has done a test in which he claims TH is better. I must say that was awfully fast. I'm scrambling to get 100 missions completed. It'll take me a couple more days. Let's see if it can be duplicated!

It helps having too many alts

 

I am definitely interested in seeing the results of your test.

 

I will say that any benefits of getting artifact fragments are solely at the mercy of certain gifts selling for more than others. The 150 TH missions I ran resulted in only 125 gifts. Any other crew mission will get you 20% more gifts than the TH ones.

 

So, for example, if Unique Rakata Grenades weren't so valuable, my test wouldn't have been as weighted towards TH.

 

Which also means that on some servers (with a different market than Shadowlands), the test may end up with different numbers.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Khevar

[NostalGeek]

this thread does specifically focus on TH leveling, not "end game".

 

I did start the thread asking which missions to focus on while leveling TH but I'm thoroughly enjoying where the thread went with Companion Gifts efficiency.

Maybe we could rename the thread or move these post to a new one but please carry on

 

It'll be nice when 4.0 removes the need to relog.

 

Can I ask what you mean here?

I'm not very up to date about the 4.0 news.

[RavenSkysong]

I have my companions almost constantly running companion gifts. When there isn't one at my max available rank, I do gemstones. I also run a ton of tier 3 gemstones to get the dragon pearls you need for dyes. Generally the companions that like me most go on whichever mission is most expensive. The dyes usually pay for themselves and then some, although every few months some igit floods the market.

 

I tend to put all my companion gifts and dyes in legacy storage. With multiple characters with treasure hunting chances are you will wind up with some for every companion. I've been working on ashara, my inq sorc is female and without the romance option it takes foreeeveeeerrrrrr to win her over.

 

fragments would be less annoying if I could sort the curator by which fragment type I had and/or if people could/would sell them on the GTN

Edited October 2, 2015 by RavenSkysong

[Khevar]

Can I ask what you mean here?

I'm not very up to date about the 4.0 news.

Currently, you only see 5 missions (out of 10-15) per "tier" when choosing which crew skill mission to run.

 

So if you're trying to run a specific mission (e.g. there are only 2 missions in Treasure Hunting that have a chance of returning Midlithe) you have to do this thing called the "relog dance" where you bounce back and forth between strongholds to refresh the randomized list, just to get the ones you want.

 

However, this is changing in 4.0. Here's a link to dulfy's coverage of the recent livestream:

http://dulfy.net/2015/09/30/swtor-knights-of-fallen-empire-livestream-coverage/#New_features_coming_with_the_expansion

 

In the Crafting Changes section, it says this:

Mission changes: All the mission per grade are available to you. Which one you want will be available. No more RNG of getting which missions

Edited October 2, 2015 by Khevar

[ElZaguero]

Tell you what. Seeing as how I'm running a bunch of gift missions already across multiple toons, I'll do the following:

 

1. Run gift missions for TH, UT, Diplomacy and Investigation.

2. Log the number of missions run on each.

3. Track the return.

4. Once I have enough, I'll check the GTN for prices on each gift type.

5. I'll use whatever the lowest price of each gift type is, times the number of items I have on hand.

6. For the fragments, I'll use the lowest price of the highest selling item (divided by the number of fragments required to obtain said item from the curator, rounded down of course)

7. Divide resale price by number of missions run.

 

My bet is that TH gift missions ends up being 1.2x-1.5x that of the others.

 

How many missions do you think would be a fair comparison?

 

LORD that sounds like a lot of work just to prove a point. I mean, there is that old axiom about arguments on the internet and the Special Olympics...

[ElZaguero]

 

So if you're trying to run a specific mission (e.g. there are only 2 missions in Treasure Hunting that have a chance of returning Midlithe) you have to do this thing called the "relog dance" where you bounce back and forth between strongholds to refresh the randomized list, just to get the ones you want.

 

Would you perhaps be so kind as to identify those two missions? I've had TH 500 for a month now and not yet seen a single Midlithe Crystal

[Khevar]

Would you perhaps be so kind as to identify those two missions? I've had TH 500 for a month now and not yet seen a single Midlithe Crystal

The Long Way There

Dust to Diamond

 

Those are the Rich and Bountiful gems missions for TH. It's the same for the other crew skills. Abundant and Moderate missions will not return purple materials.

 

For Adaptive Circuitry it's Disassembly Required and Forsaken Handshake

For Doonium, it's An Unusual Bloom and Gold = Good.

etc.

LORD that sounds like a lot of work just to prove a point. I mean, there is that old axiom about arguments on the internet and the Special Olympics...

Heh. This is relatively minor for me. I once tracked 1000 crew missions to see what the chance of critical success was.

[psandak]

Heh. This is relatively minor for me. I once tracked 1000 crew missions to see what the chance of critical success was.

 

Same here. I have tracked crafting crit rates, mission crit rates, and RE chance rates all multiple times in the 1000-1500 range each time. It is not that difficult when you have a method

[NostalGeek]

Currently, you only see 5 missions (out of 10-15) per "tier" when choosing which crew skill mission to run.

 

So if you're trying to run a specific mission (e.g. there are only 2 missions in Treasure Hunting that have a chance of returning Midlithe) you have to do this thing called the "relog dance" where you bounce back and forth between strongholds to refresh the randomized list, just to get the ones you want.

 

However, this is changing in 4.0. Here's a link to dulfy's coverage of the recent livestream:

http://dulfy.net/2015/09/30/swtor-knights-of-fallen-empire-livestream-coverage/#New_features_coming_with_the_expansion

 

In the Crafting Changes section, it says this:

 

Thanks for the clarification.

[MSchuyler]

A STUDY OF MISSION SKILLS AS RELATED TO COMPANION GIFTS

 

Executive Summary

Treasure Hunting is the least valuable Mission Skill when accumulating Companion Gifts, though not by as much as I had thought. Nevertheless, given the extra time it takes to utilize Treasure Hunting for Companion Gift missions and the fact that it has a lower Return on Investment (ROI), it should be the last one you use compared to the other three skills. I quite realize a couple of other studies have suggested Treasure Hunting is measurably better than the other three skills, but I suggest that these studies are flawed. A complete explanation and all the raw data is provided below.

 

Statement of the Issues

The idea has been expressed that Treasure Hunting provides a measurably better return on Companion Gifts due to the fact that returning Gift Fragments, as opposed to whole gifts, allow the player to choose more valuable gifts from the Curator on Fleet. My contention is that not only is this is not true, but that Treasure Hunting has the worst Return on Investment of any of the skills that return Companion Gifts. This study is to test that theory.

 

All four Mission Skills return Companion Gifts. They are Treasure Hunting, Investigation, Diplomacy, and Underworld Trading. Two of these have unique characteristics. Treasure Hunting sometimes returns Gift Fragments rather than whole Gifts. These fragments must be combined and turned into the Gift Curator on Fleet to obtain a complete gift. Diplomacy has missions that are either Light or Dark which return a certain number of equivalent Light/Dark points in addition to the gifts. Investigation and Diplomacy always return whole gifts.

 

Gift Fragments themselves come in three varieties. "Premium" Gift Fragments (Green) require 12 fragments to assemble into a single gift. "Prototype" Gift Fragments (Blue) take 6 fragments to assemble into a single gift. "Artifact" Gift Fragments (Purple) take 8 fragments to assemble into a single gift. As you might imagine, you cannot choose a purple Unique Rakata Grenade using Premium green gift fragments.

 

Already an astute observer can see some issues. It's going to take more than one Treasure Hunting mission to obtain sufficient fragments to assemble into a single gift. How many? We don't know, and that's one of the things measured. More missions equals a greater cost to run them. The claim is that this greater cost is offset by the fact that you get to choose which gifts to get with your assembled fragments. I don't believe that is the case, and this is another factor to be measured. Third is a time factor. You must travel to Fleet and make these fragment transactions, plus you must research just what gifts are more valuable at a given point in time. This is a measure of efficiency. If you used this time sending out missions instead of exchanging fragments, wouldn't you be ahead? This shall also be measured.

 

Experiment Design

100 missions were run in each of all four categories. This was done in 20 sets of five missions each for each mission skill. Though provisions were originally made to deal with mission failures, the fact is that in 400 total missions, no failures resulted. There was a 100% success rate for all the missions. With each mission taking approximately half an hour, the 400 missions represent 200 hours of mission time. With 20 missions running concurrently (4 characters with 5 companions each) it took about ten Real Life hours to run the missions over two days.

 

In this case running 100 missions approaches statistical validity. 1,000 missions would be better, 10,000 missions would be ideal, but this is a compromise. There is no need to haul out equations to show this. There are tables available on the Internet which allow you to do this. After all, with a population of 300 million you only need a sample size of 384 to have a 5% margin of error or a "95% confidence level." The question involved here is whether these 100 mission are representative of what people generally experience when they do companion gift missions. We don't want the results here to be an aberration or an accident. The claim here is that there is a 95% chance that it reflects reality. If that's not good enough for you, then go do 1,000 missions and report back your results. They won't be any different. No, your mileage will NOT vary.

 

Missions were sent out at the 49-50 "Rich" level, the highest level that companion gift missions can be found. No "Wealthy" grade missions were be used. At this level no Premium "green" level fragments are returned. All toons used are Level 60. All companions used have an affection level of 10,000. No attempt was made to match potential "crits" in the missions. Indeed, only one, Kaliyo, has a relevant crit anyway. Neither Treek nor HK were used. "Efficiency" was not tabulated as it is nothing but a mission time variable. 20 different companions were used equally on 20 missions each.

 

As you know, all missions don't show up at once when you attempt to activate them. Sometimes one does; sometimes five do. It varies. If five missions did NOT show up (which is normal) the procedure was to log out and back in until five per session was achieved. This procedure will ALWAYS work if you are patient. The number of total missions available per skill ranges from 5 to 8. Every attempt was made to spread the missions among those that show up so that a single mission is not overly used, but given the distribution it was impossible to assure a precisely even balance except in the instance of Treasure Hunting where all five available missions were run 20 times.

 

Note that this issue does affect time and insofar as time is valuable, it will take you a lot longer doing the login logout shuffle with Treasure Hunting than with the others. That's because there are only five Companion Gift missions available and all of them need to show up for each mission set. But the login shuffle frequently returns only lockbox or gemstone missions. This will be a moot point in 4.0, but it still exists today.

 

Note that it is very important to run equivalent missions here. It is INVALID to simply sell 100 gifts from each mission skill and divide to get an ROI. You need to sell as many gifts as you can from 100 missions and ONLY 100 missions. See the difference? This will become apparent when we do the summary information. Given the results of the other studies, I suspect this is the area where they go askew. The math is about right to suggest this is the issue.

 

Crits

All missions will return one gift each or several gift fragments. They NEVER return two whole gifts. Some missions (except for Diplomacy) will return "Critical" results once in awhile. This is tabulated in the summary information. This will happen whether or not a companion has an overt + Crit in a given skill, though theoretically it will happen most often when such a skill is present (We see no evidence of this.) Affection levels grant "crit skills," but they are hidden. Only one of the 20 companions used in the 400 overall missions has a specific relevant Crit; Kaliyo has a +2 in Underworld Trading. But as you can see from the results, it does not appear to matter. Investigation returned 19 crits and Underworld half that, therefore the presence of Kaliyo is not reflected in the statistics. It's too small to measure.

 

But crits ARE a "result" just as much as gifts are, so what do we do with them? All the "crits" are in schematics for items that each relevant toon already has, i.e.: The schematics are of value only insofar as they can be sold. The fact is these items do not sell well on the GTN. It's not worth the trouble, therefore all crits in this experiment were sold to a vendor in a Stronghold and the credits added to the total for that toon. No one toon gets an advantage here. This represents a very small part of the totals.

 

General Summary of Results

The Total Cost of 100 missions ranged from 214,200 credits for Diplomacy to 216,300 for Investigation. The difference is explained by some missions in each category costing 2,225 credits while most cost 2,125 credits, a minor issue, but used in the specific results. Remember we're trying to figure out what 100 missions of effort will get you. That's the only fair (and valid) way to do this.

 

As we know, Treasure Hunting is "different" in that it returns artifact fragments for some missions. The percentage of "Fragment Missions" is large at 41%, therefore 100 missions returned 59 gifts where the other three mission skills returned 100 gifts. However, those 41 Fragment Missions returned 119 fragments which were converted into 11 Artifact Level Gifts (Purple) and 4 Prototype Level Gifts (Blue) to raise the total number of gifts available to 74.

 

We can begin to get a sense of what is afoot by comparing the number of Blue and Purple level gifts put up by each mission skill. At Levels 49-50 there are no green or white level gifts, so they are out of the equation for this study. Here are the generalized figures:

 

Treasure Hunting: Blue Quality Gifts = 50; Purple Quality Gifts = 24

Underworld Trading: Blue Quality Gifts = 85; Purple Quality Gifts = 15

Investigation: Blue Quality Gifts = 79; Purple Quality Gifts = 21

Diplomacy: Blue Quality Gifts = 80; Purple Quality Gifts = 20

 

Now all gifts are not created equally. A Rakata Grenade just might be worth more than every other purple quality gift on the market. And those Galactic Encyclopedias sell better than Britannica and are CERTAINLY more valuable than Zeltron Perfume Sets, so it MAY be that being able to convert purple fragments into 11 of these will carry the day. So let's take a peek and see how it's shaping up. How many of these high-value blue and purple gifts do our contestants already possess after the 400 missions have been completed?

 

Treasure Hunting already has: 0 Rakata Grenades and 4 Galactic Encyclopedias

Underworld Trading already has: 3 Rakata Grenades and 10 Galactic Encyclopedias

Investigation already has: 0 Rakata Grenades and 6 Galactic Encyclopedias

Diplomacy already has: 2 Rakata Grenades and 8 Galactic Encyclopedias

 

So it looks like Treasure Hunting is pretty smart to convert to those Rakata Grenades, but won't gain much of an advantage over the encyclopedias. Looks like Underworld Trading might be in trouble here, but then there are the vagaries of the GTN, so let's see what happens next!

 

Notes on Sales Strategy

Once all missions were complete we looked up all prices and determined the sales price for each item with a view to both maximizing credits and selling all products within a single 24-hour session. That is, neither are we sitting on extremely high prices nor do we price extremely low. We work off the lowest prices as long as they are reasonable, but we do not always try to undercut the lowest price.

 

Once in awhile we come across a "White Knight" sale. This is when someone undercuts an item by a wide margin. For example, we found one item for sale for 2500 credits when the next highest of that same item was 16,000 credits. Was this a mistake or on purpose? Doesn't matter. The proper response is to grab it at this low price and resell it. We did this several times with low ball items, but we did NOT resell and add to this experiment. We treated those items as separate issues.

 

Several times we asked for (and received) higher prices than those listed. On the "Account of the Discovery of Korriban," for example, the lowest price was 30,000 credits. We listed for 35,000. On the other hand, when there are several pages of items selling very close to one another, you can dip a bit lower to secure the sale. For example, with the "Signet Ring of Ancient Tion" there were several pages running from 17,000 to 18,500. We listed 12 at 16,500 and they all sold.

 

The "Unique Rakata Grenade" is valuable. The lowest prices were 50,000 credits. We listed them all at 52,000. Only the Vials of Gree Nanite Paste were higher. We sold them at 66,000, slightly higher than the lowest price.

 

Setting prices is subjective, of course, and could potentially skew results. However, we sold ALL products from ALL missions at the same exact price, so if by chance we did make a mistake, all four mission skills were affected. After all, though this is an experiment, these are our credits and we want to the very best we can to return as many credits as we can.

 

Cost of Sales: Determining Profit

Basically this: Sales Price minus GTN Commission minus Mission Cost plus Vendor "Crit" sales equals Profit. You'll be able to see the precise figures for every item further below in the details sections. Here is a summary. Since columns don't work here we are forced to do a text-based version.

 

RESULTS

 

Treasure Hunting

Gross Return on Sales: 1,533,440 +

Sales of "Crits" to vendors: 5,940 +

Cost of Missions: 214,500 -

GTN Commissions: 91,650 -

Profit: 1,227,290 = Base of 100

 

Underworld Trading

Gross Return on Sales: 1,560,020 +

Sales of "Crits" to vendors: 4,320 +

Cost of Missions: 214,700 -

GTN Commissions: 93,342 -

Profit: 1,251,878 = 102% of Treasure Hunting

 

Investigation

Gross Return on Sales: 1,759,600 +

Sales of "Crits" to vendors: 10,740 +

Cost of Missions: 216,300 -

GTN Commissions: 105,576 -

Profit: 1,448,464 = 118% of Treasure Hunting

 

Diplomacy

Gross Return on Sales: 1,841,600 +

Sales of "Crits" to vendors: 0 +

Cost of Missions: 214,200 -

GTN Commissions: 110,496 -

Profit: 1,516,904 = 124% of Treasure Hunting

 

Discussion

That's all you really need to know. All the rest is detail, lots and lots of detail!

 

Now, of course we know what you're going to do next. First will be disbelief. You "know" this can't be right! The only explanation is that I must have some huge flaw in this experiment. So you will try to find it, and the first Big Thing you will discover is that where all missions save Treasure Hunting had 100 gifts to see on the GTN, Treasure Hunting had only 74, therefore this "is not fair."

 

Wrong. It's not only necessary, it is completely fair and allows us to compare apples and apples. What do you get from 100 missions? The answer is above. If you wanted Treasure Hunting to have 100 gifts to sell and so be on a par with the other three skills, given the percentage of fragments (59:41 is the exact ratio) you would have to run about 130 some odd missions to accumulate sufficient fragments and additional gifts to get to 100--about a third more. Does that number, one-third or maybe 1.3, ring any bells with you? Maybe that's where you should look for flaws.

 

Now, the fact is the results are not as lopsided as I expected them to be either. Although both Investigation and Diplomacy yielded clearly superior results, Underworld Trading was only marginally better and I suspect within the margin for error. In other words, were we to perform this exact experiment again, it could very well be that Underworld Trading would be last on the list. The rest of them wouldn't be, though. There's a five percent chance these results are due to chance. Unlikely. In any case, was I correct in my initial claims? Yes, but barely. Not that a 24% difference is not noticeable, but the overall figures were much closer than I expected. But there is validity in the idea that choosing gifts you get for fragments ALMOST makes up the difference between Treasure Hunting and Underworld Trading.

 

Details:

 

TREASURE HUNTING

 

 

 

Character Nickname: Sydney (not the real name so passes muster with T&C)

Class: Sith Inquisitor - Sorcerer

Mission Failure Tally: 0

Total Mission Crits = 11

5 available missions. Total Missions = 100

Total Gifts: 59%

Total Missions Returning Fragments: 41%

Artifact (Purple) Fragments = 91/8 = 11 gifts + 3 frags remainder

Prototype (Blue) Fragments = 28/6 = 4 gifts + 4 frags remainder

Total Gifts With Converted Fragments = 74

Blue Quality Gifts = 46 with fragments = 50

Purple Quality Gifts = 13 with fragments = 24

Cost of missions = 214,500

 

Consolidated Raw Data

 

Account of the Discovery of Korriban: 3

Aratech Reconstruction Kit: 2

Assassin Droid Target History: 5

Banned Imperial History Document: 9

Drayen Hyperspace Smuggling Routes: 2

Energy Blade Bayonet: 2

First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia: 4 + 4 conversions

Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card: 5

Gourmet Ration Pack: 6

Holorecord of the Republic Founding: 5

Intricate Corellian Speeder Model: 2

Memoir of the Unification Wars: 1

Republic Senatorial Oath: 4

Signet Ring of Ancient Tion: 4

Zeltron Personal Aroma Set: 5

Total: 59 gifts from Missions

Crits: 11

Artifact fragments: 91

Converted to Rakata Grenade: 11

Prototype Fragments: 28

Converted to First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia: 4

Total All Gifts: 74

 

Specific Raw Data for 100 Missions

 

+ Moving Up in the World: Cost = 2,125

+++ 4 artifact frags

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Memoir of the Unification Wars

+++ 3 prototype frags

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ 3 artifact frags

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ 4 artifact frags

+++ 3 prototype frags

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ 2 artifact frags

+++ Account of the Discovery of Korriban

+++ Drayen Hyperspace smuggling routes + schematic

+++ 2 artifact frags

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Banned Imperial History Document + schematic

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card

+++ Holorecord of the Republic's Founding

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

 

+ What's Rightfully Theirs: Cost = 2,125

+++ 3 prototype frags

+++ Holorecord of Republic Founding

+++ 2 artifact frags

+++ Intricate Corellian Speeder Model

+++ 3 prototype frags

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ 3 prototype frags

+++ 3 prototype frags

+++ Holorecord of Republic Founding

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia + schematic

+++ Banned Imperial History Document + schematic

+++ 4 artifact frags + schematic

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ 4 artifact frags

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion + schematic

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

 

+ An All-Way Draw: Cost = 2,125

+++ 4 artifact frags

+++ 3 artifact frags

+++ 2 artifact frags

+++ 3 artifact frags + a schematic

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ 4 artifact frags

+++ 3 artifact frags + schematic

+++ Banned Imperial History Document + schematic

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ 2 artifact fragments + schematic

+++ 3 artifact fragments

+++ 2 artifact frags

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Holorecord of the Republic's Founding

+++ 4 artifact frags

 

+ A Very Serious Game: Cost = 2,125

+++ 3 artifact frags

+++ Intricate Corellian Speeder Model

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ 4 artifact frags

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Account of the Discovery of Korriban

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ 2 artifact fragments

+++ 3 prototype fragments

+++ Drayen Hyperspace Smuggling Routes

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ 2 artifact frags

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card

+++ 4 artifact frags

 

+ Tread Softly: Cost = 2,225

+++ 2 prototype frags

+++ 2 artifact frags

+++ 3 artifact frags

+++ Account of the Discovery of Korriban

+++ 2 artifact frags

+++ 2 prototype frags

+++ 3 prototype frags

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ 2 artifact frags

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ 3 artifact frags

+++ Holorecord of the Republic Founding

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ 4 artifact frags

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ 3 artifact frags

+++ 2 artifact frags

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath + schematic

 

 

 

UNDERWORLD TRADING

 

 

 

Character Nickname: Jackson

Class: Imperial Agent - Sniper

Mission Failure Tally: 0

Companion Crits - Kaliyo +2, Total Mission Crits: 10

8 available missions, Missions = 100

Blue Quality Gifts = 85

Purple Quality Gifts = 15

Total Mission Cost = 214,700

 

Consolidated Raw Data

 

Account of the Discovery of Korriban: 1

Aratech Reconstruction Kit: 12

Assassin Droid Target History: 9

Banned Imperial History Document: 12

Drayen Hyperspace Smuggling Routes: 2

Energy Blade Bayonet: 10

First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia: 10

Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card: 5

Gourmet Ration Pack: 6

Gree Temporary Mind-Link Device: 2

Holorecord of the Republic Founding: 2

Intricate Corellian Speeder Model: 2

Memoir of the Unification Wars: 2

Republic Senatorial Oath: 7

Signet Ring of Ancient Tion: 5

Splinter of a Rakata Stronghold: 1

Unique Rakata Grenade: 3

Zeltron Personal Aroma Set: 9

Total: 100 gifts from 100 Missions

Crits: 10

 

Specific Raw Data for 100 Missions

 

+ Fair Play: Cost = 2,125

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Gree Temporary Mind-Link Device

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

 

+ Match Fixing: Cost = 2,125

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Drayen Hyperspace Smuggling Routes

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath + schematic

+++ Unique Rakata Grenade

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Intricate Corellian Speeder Model

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

 

+ Planting the Seeds: Cost = 2,125

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma set

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Account of the Discovery of Korriban

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet + schematic

+++ Banned Imperial History Document + schematic

+++ Holorecord of the Republic's Founding

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Unique Rakata Grenade

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

 

+ Table Talk: Cost = 2,125

+++ Unique Rakata Grenade

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Memoir of the Unification Wars

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma set

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Toolkit

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

 

+ Irreplaceable Parts: Cost = 2,125

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit and a schematic

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set + schematic

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Splinter of a Rakata Stronghold

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Holorecord of the Republic's Founding

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card + schematic

+++ Gree Temporary Mind-Link Device

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

 

+ Gaining Favor: Cost = 2,125

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia + schematic

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet+ schematic

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Intricate Corellian Speeder Model

 

+ Discreet Exit: Cost = 2,225

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Memoir of the Unification Wars

+++ Drayen Hyperspace Smuggling Routes

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack + schematic

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card

 

+ No Competition: Cost = 2,225

+++ Assassin Droid Target and a schematic

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

 

 

 

INVESTIGATION

 

 

 

Character Nickname: Benjamin

Class: Jedi Knight - Sentinel

Mission Failure Tally: 0

Mission Crits = 19

6 available missions, Mission Total = 100

Blue Quality Gifts = 79

Purple Quality Gifts = 21

Total Mission Cost = 216,300

 

Consolidated Raw Data

 

Account of the Discovery of Korriban: 5

Aratech Reconstruction Kit: 10

Assassin Droid Target History: 13

Banned Imperial History Document: 11

Drayen Hyperspace Smuggling Routes:

Energy Blade Bayonet: 7

First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia: 6

Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card: 4

Gourmet Ration Pack: 9

Gree Temporary Mind-Link Device:

Holorecord of the Republic Founding: 4

Intricate Corellian Speeder Model: 2

Memoir of the Unification Wars: 3

Omni-Vision Battlefield Relay: 3

Republic Senatorial Oath: 8

Signet Ring of Ancient Tion: 6

Splinter of a Rakata Stronghold: 2

Unique Rakata Grenade:

Vial of Gree Nanite Paste: 2

Zeltron Personal Aroma Set: 5

Total: 100 gifts from 100 Missions

Crits: 19

 

Specific Raw Data for 100 Missions

 

+ Political Restoration: Cost = 2,225

+++ Energy Blade bayonet

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Banned Imperial History Document + schematic

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Memoir of the Unification Wars

+++ Vial of Gree Nanite Paste

+++ Intricate Corellian Speeder Model + schematic

+++ Account of the Discovery of Korriban

 

+ Transportation Troubles: Cost - 2,225

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Memoir of the Unification Wars

+++ Intricate Corellian Speeder Model + schematic

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Toolkit

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Omnivision Battlefield Relay

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

 

+ Specter in Space: Cost = 2,125

+++ Account of the Discovery of Korriban

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ First edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath + schematic

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Splinter of a Rakata Stronghold + schematic

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Holorecord of the Republic's Founding

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

 

+ Nonstandard Behavior Routines: Cost = 2,125

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia + schematic

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Account of the Discovery of Korriban

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Holorecord of the Republic's Founding + schematic

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Omni-Vision Battlefield Relay + schematic

+++ Holorecord of the Republic's Founding + schematic

+++ Omnivision Battlefield Relay + schematic

 

+ Tactical Analyses: Cost = 2,125

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Account of the Discovery of Korriban + a schematic

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Splinter of a Rakata Stronghold + schematic

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Vial of Gree Nanite Paste + 2 schematics

+++ Memoir of the Unification Wars

+++ Account of the Discovery of Korriban + schematic

+++ Banned Imperial History Document + schematic

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

 

+ The Silent Type: Cost = 2,125

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet and a schematic

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Toolkit and a schematic

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Toolkit

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Toolkit + schematic

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Holorecord of the Republic's Founding + schematic

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

 

 

 

DIPLOMACY

 

 

 

Character Nickname: Joshua

Class: Smuggler - Gunslinger

Mission Failure Tally: 0

Total Mission Crits = 0

8 available missions, Mission Total = 100

Blue Quality Gifts = 80

Purple Quality Gifts = 20

Total Mission Cost = 214,200

 

Consolidated Raw Data

 

Account of the Discovery of Korriban: 5

Aratech Reconstruction Kit: 9

Assassin Droid Target History: 5

Banned Imperial History Document: 8

Drayen Hyperspace Smuggling Routes: 3

Energy Blade Bayonet: 12

First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia:8

Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card: 6

Gourmet Ration Pack: 9

Gree Temporary Mind-Link Device:

Holorecord of the Republic Founding: 1

Intricate Corellian Speeder Model: 1

Memoir of the Unification Wars: 1

Omni-Vision Battlefield Relay:

Republic Senatorial Oath: 9

Signet Ring of Ancient Tion: 10

Splinter of a Rakata Stronghold: 4

Unique Rakata Grenade: 2

Vial of Gree Nanite Paste: 3

Zeltron Personal Aroma Set: 4

Total: 100 gifts from 100 Missions

Crits: 0

 

Specific Raw Data for 100 Missions

 

+ Cover Story: Cost = 2,125, Light

+++ Splinter of a Rakata Stronghold

+++ Account of the Discovery of Korriban

+++ Unique Rakata Grenade

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Account of the Discovery of Korriban

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

 

+ A Better Use of Time: Cost = 2,125, Dark

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Splinter of a Rakata Stronghold

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Toolkit

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

 

+ Rules of Engagement: Cost = 2,125, Light

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Vial of Gree Nanite Paste

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Drayen Hyperspace Smuggling Routes

+++ Vial of Gree Nanite Paste

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Intricate Corellian Speeder Model

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

 

+ Knife's Edge Politics: Cost = 2,125, Dark

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Drayen Hyperspace Smuggling Routes

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Account of the Discovery of Korriban

+++ Arataech Reconstruction Toolkit

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Memoir of the Unification Wars

+++ Vial of Gree Nanite Paste

 

+ Neutrality is Relative: Cost = 2,125, Dark

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Unique Rakata Grenade

+++ Account of the Discovery of Korriban

 

+ Fight the Propaganda: Cost = 2,125, Light

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Toolkit

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Toolkit

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Splinter of a Rakata Stronghold

+++ Holorecord of the Republic's Founding

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

 

+ Immunity: Cost = 2,225, Dark

+++ Zeltron Personal Aroma Set

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Toolkit

+++ Gourmet Ration Pack

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card

+++ Assassin Droid Target History

+++ Account of the Discovery of Korriban

+++ Aratech Reconstruction Kit

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Tion

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card

 

+ The Cost of Doing Business: Cost = 2,125, Light

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Republic Senatorial Oath

+++ Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

+++ Signet Ring of Ancient Zion

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet and a schematic

+++ Drayen Hyperspace Smuggling Routes

+++ Splinter of a Rakata Stronghold

+++ Banned Imperial History Document

+++ Energy Blade Bayonet

 

 

 

Selling Prices:

 

This is from a spreadsheet and may "consolidate" when transferred to a forum post and become jumbled. The order is: Name of Gift, Low Price Found, Selling Price.

 

 

 

Consolidated Raw Data low price sell @

 

Account of the Discovery of Korriban: 30000 35000

Aratech Reconstruction Kit: 17995 17500

Assassin Droid Target History: 16900 16500

Banned Imperial History Document: 2400 3500

Drayen Hyperspace Smuggling Routes: 35999 45000

Energy Blade Bayonet: 20000 19000

First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia: 12998 12500

Galactic Crime Lord's ID Card: 7425 7400

Gourmet Ration Pack: 12000 11000

Gree Temporary Mind-Link Device: 8500 16000

Holorecord of the Republic Founding: 25000 27000

Intricate Corellian Speeder Model: 34990 34500

Memoir of the Unification Wars: 50000 51000

Omni-Vision Battlefield Relay: 36599 37500

Republic Senatorial Oath: 9999 9500

Signet Ring of Ancient Tion: 17000 16500

Splinter of a Rakata Stronghold: 24000 29500

Unique Rakata Grenade: 50000 52000

Vial of Gree Nanite Paste: 64999 66000

Zeltron Personal Aroma Set: 2000 2300

 

 

 

[psandak]

Very well done MSchuyler. I read the WHOLE thing.

[Khevar]

@MSchuyler, thanks for the writeup, I appreciate the effort that went into this and I think you did an excellent job in collecting and analyzing data.

 

I noticed that in your list of sale prices, Vial of Gree Nanite Paste was selling for 64999cr, as compared to the Unique Rakata Grenades for 50000cr, and Energy Blade Bayonettes were selling for 20000cr as compared to First Edition Galactic Encyclopedia for 12998.

 

If you spend the fragments on the higher priced gifts, that would increase your total potential sale price of the your TH gifts by 192,997cr, which would put it on par with your results for Investigation, and a bit below Diplomacy.

 

I think it would be fair to say that market prices are going to determine if TH is better or worse than other crew skills. Like you, I got 20% fewer total gifts with my TH missions, but 20% of the gifts I DID get could be sold as the highest selling item. On Shadowlands (at least, at the time I did my test) this more than made up for the fewer gifts.

Edited October 3, 2015 by Khevar

[NostalGeek]

A STUDY OF MISSION SKILLS AS RELATED TO COMPANION GIFTS

 

Third is a time factor. You must travel to Fleet and make these fragment transactions, plus you must research just what gifts are more valuable at a given point in time. This is a measure of efficiency. If you used this time sending out missions instead of exchanging fragments, wouldn't you be ahead? This shall also be measured.

 

 

This is the only premise that you stated that I feel is a wrong vision. There's is nothing stopping you from either travelling to the Fleet, doing research or really anything WHILE a mission is running. Doing these things doesn't mean you can't be running a mission in the background.

 

But aside from that, great job of research, analysis and report!

[ElZaguero]

Man oh man, you forum warriors take your rivalries seriously. That was a huge amount of work just to prove a point.

[Khevar]

Man oh man, you forum warriors take your rivalries seriously. That was a huge amount of work just to prove a point.

Naw, man. Forum warriors are the people in gen chat arguing back and forth like it's the end of the world or something.

 

In Crew Skills we have the benefit of actually being able to test hypotheses and provide data.

[eartharioch]

A STUDY OF MISSION SKILLS AS RELATED TO COMPANION GIFTS

 

Snip wall of text. Your study fails on so many levels it's not funny -- and I'm not trying to be rude. Since you spent a lot of time on it, I'll explain some of the more obvious issues (and just because the basis for your conclusion is flawed, it doesn't mean that the data themselves are useless).

 

1) There is no rational basis for assuming 100 trials is sufficient for "95% accuracy". Yes, there are plenty of places on the 'Net that discuss random sampling, you should at least provide a link to one place that shows the numbers you are quoting. OFC it won't matter, because this isn't a poll, so there is no reason to think the mathematical model will be the same.

 

You'll note that when we discuss determining the accuracy of RNG probabilities we routinely discount small sample sizes (and 100 is small). And that leads to:

 

2) You are not taking crits into account, even though they definitely play a part. You ran the missions with unoptimzed characters in a study attempting to determine the optimal companion missions to run. You said that of the chars you used, only Kaliyo had a +2 (Underworld). Well, everybody should have a ship droid, and they can have +2 to TH, Dip, and UWT, so you should have been running with them. SWs can have +5 to both Inv and TH, and the Agent (who gives Kaliyo) should have been running Vector at +5 Dip; +2 is the highest for UWT. So an optimized test would use TH and Dip with +5 and +2 crit comps, Inv at +5, and UWT at +2/+2 (in addition to the other max affection comps needed to fill out a run).

 

3) You assume there is no difference between the 2225 and 2150 CR missions -- on what basis? My experience is that the 2225 ones are better (although I haven't formally tested, and since things are changing in a few weeks, there's no compelling reason to do so).

 

4) Given the number of different gifts that can be returned, you didn't run anywhere near enough missions to determine (or verify) the drop rates. Not that the drop rates alone are sufficient, you need to come up with a list values for each gift...

 

5) And a single snap shot of a single server's prices is not a valid basis for giving a general (i.e., applicable to all servers) answer.

 

6) Your sale strategy may not be what everybody uses.

 

In short, the only thing you can conclude from your study is that for your specific sale strategy at that specific time your other missions made you more money than TH. It provides no basis for advising others.

 

That said, I only run companion gift missions when I don't have anything better to run, and I don't have a lot of chars with two mission skills, and I don't log in just to run gift missions (unless I'm screwing with a char's alignment), so there usually isn't any decision making to do -- I run what I have. I certainly wouldn't pick one mission skill over another without some sort of clear superiority in the gift department (and it would almost have to be an observable mechanic, like TH Lockbox crits mainly returning crap schematics and Slicing Lockbox crits returning mission discoveries.

[Khevar]

I was amused to read this in the patch notes:

Gift Fragments can now be used to purchase Gifts at the Companion Gift Vendor on either Fleet. These Fragments are no longer available from Missions.

At least there will be no further argument as to the relative value of running TH gift missions. :p

[usycia]

Gift Fragments can now be used to purchase Gifts at the Companion Gift Vendor on either Fleet. These Fragments are no longer available from Missions. ----Somebody tell me where you can now will get a Gift Fragments?

[psandak]

Gift Fragments can now be used to purchase Gifts at the Companion Gift Vendor on either Fleet. These Fragments are no longer available from Missions. ----Somebody tell me where you can now will get a Gift Fragments?

 

There may be some on the GTN.

[Khevar]

There may be some on the GTN.

I've never been able to list them on the GTN (haven't tried in a while though).

[Sheebla]

I personally don't mind the fragments, probably because I use the gifts on my own companions, not for sale, I expect that will change once I have their I guess "Influence" now capped. I load the fragments into my inventory and go to the fleet vendor, have the companion I'm targeting out and sort by "show affordable". the great part is the preview shows the gain with that companion only so I aim for the highest gain possible and then purchase. after I know I've used all of a particular type of fragment I sort by show all and then back to show affordable to reset the list. rinse and repeat until all 3 fragment types are below the affordable threshold. give them, then talk to my companion to see if they want a private chat.

 

It has the advantage over the other gathering skills of I can almost always choose a large gain with the companion I need. The disadvantage of course is that it costs more credits to run sufficient missions for a gift and yes, you are stuck with the odd leftover fragment until you spam missions again as stated ad nauseum elsewhere in the thread. however, if you have your income running smoothly it IS the most efficient method for raising Influence via gifts. The other skills and I frequently get gifts that are only worth small gains on a companion I don't even care about-of course I'm running 8 active toons so I transfer in my legacy and someone will have a use for them...