Crafting Changes in Fallen Empire

[Glower]

thank you bw for screwing all the people who spent the time and effort to learn all these schematics, I can't wait for you guys to screw up again. So the best thing you guys decide is to make people learn new schematics and move them to other crafting professions. 4.0 is looking like is going to be a big bug fest, thanks again for screwing over the players that stayed with the game for so long.

 

^ This this this...

[Tallwyn]

How are stims going to be after fallen Empire if 4 stats are being changed to 1? (mastery)?

I only have strength, willpower and cunning purple stims, not aim. will my biochem be able to craft mastery stims?

 

Those old stats wont exist any longer, all your current Aim, Cunning, Strenght and Willpower stims will likely be converted into a Mastery stim...

 

This is the goal?

So you add sub-components? And that's makes things easier how?

 

I see them as "increasing max stack size". I dont know how many mats it will take for crafting each of those sub-components, im reckoning 4-6 for each, which for me means 4-6 times less inventory space from crafting mats. Win!

[Haxxsaw]

In Knights of the Fallen Empire, we are making quite a few adjustments to how Crafting will work.

 

Read more

 

Yeah, those are not ADJUSTMENTS.

 

I have every profession learned and about 98% of the purple recipes that I have spent hours upon hours and literally tens of millions in credit buying materials off the GTN, off of the crafting vendor, not to mention the millions I have spent on missions.

 

The entire game of SWTOR is changing. Almost every single thing that I have read is about some change that BW FEELS is good. Well. it is not.

 

Yep, I am cancelling my sub. And no, I am not giving any of my stuff to anyone.

[Heretic_LV]

It is now official - SWTOR will be suitable for 8 year old kids with Downs syndrome. Gods forbid you are actually using your brain - after 4.0 this game is not for you anymore.

This **** and sync - well, thanks, I will find use for additional free time I will have now.

[KyaniteD]

Welps, pretty much what I feared it would be. Sadly, it should not even be disappointing at this point because it was expected.

 

None of these changes will address the problem of all the other changes in 4.0 drastically reducing the demand for crafted items. It's in line with those changes focusing on single-player aspects and addressing the needs of the potential wave of new players, making it easy for them. But it happens at the cost of quite a number of old players who have put a lot of effort into this aspect of the game. I don't think it's wise how it's handled.

 

Also, given their record with crafting changes, particularly after private-only testing, I'm expecting the changes/conversions to be buggy, especially the augment/slot conversion. Early Access is going to be interesting.

 

--

 

I agree so now Artifice is useless unless you like crafting dyes.

Well, it emphasizes the ART in artifice...

 

Guess you're out, then. The archived schematics are for cosmetic items.

Wow, just wow. I was hoping that wouldn't be the case. It was the one thing I was counting on. But yeah, I'm actually looking at my sub options, too. I think I may go and let it lapse after playing through KotFE. There's a lot of disappointment to be dealt with right now and I don't want to spend the money in my "fun fund" on something that makes me feel sad and disappointed.

 

So let me get this straight.

 

Your original statement about KotFE was that you do NOT want to take away what players have worked for.

 

Crafting has never really been a part of this game when it comes to such promises. It's always just an afterthought along the lines of Oh, we'll have to do something about crafting, too. Anybody got a quick, low-cost solution? And whoever comes up with that solutions rarely seems to have an understanding of or particular care for crafting, crafters and their playstyle/mindset.

 

3.5 years of mismatched, never fixed armor sets and a variety of unfixed bugs are my personal proof that it's an afterthought both for the testers and the devs.

 

People have learned little if they believe what the devs say. It's not that they don't mean it, it's just that there's a track record of them having a different view on things than the players and what they say is based on that different view. They do mean it, they just mean it in a different way than some ("niche-")players understand it.

 

But for crafting, you are taking away EVERYTHING players have worked 4 years to achieve. From this post, a person that has been playing and crafting for the last 4 years, will be EXACTLY equal in skill AND patterns available to the fresh bought level 60 characters.

 

Not only that, but you are DELETING Armorings from Cybertechs, Droid Armor from Cybertech, and Enhancements from Artifice, but I see NOTHING stating what sort of compensation those players, like myself, will receive for having ALL (Armorings), or almost all (Droid Armorings, and Enhancements) of these recipes re-engineered to purple+ quality. Literally MILLIONS of credits worth of time and materials will be thrown away... and that is just on MY characters.

 

Yeah. My army of crafters and their vast variety of purple schematics were my pride all these years. To have that taken away is going to hurt, very, very much. More than the millions of credits spent on their schematics.

Developing my crafters was what kept me sane and let me survive the empty servers in 2012. To have that (at a time where you could only play when you're subbed) nullified feels more like a shaft than any handing out old sub rewards to new players could ever do, because my army of crafters was my sub reward for that time.

 

And in order to make crafting "Simpler" you are now introducing SUB-COMPONENTS?!?!?! In what universe is an additional step needed to craft an item simpler than simply crafting the item directly?

The simplification lies in the reduction of overall usable/equippable items to be crafted. The subcomponents were the easy way to keep the number of schematics/crafting steps/time consumed up at the same time.

 

Wow. Words can barely express how much I disapprove of this.

 

Not to mention taking out reusables. Encourage the market? I'd rather French kiss a Hutt.

 

I wonder if they even noticed that their new easy mode reduced the demand for anything crafted and anything performance-enhancing. The reusables were a convenience since the blue ones were better anyway. Wherever actual performance-enhancing was necessary, people used blue ones. If purple ones now are not reusable and again the best to have in terms of stats, people will still continue to buy the blue ones, because the purples are simply too expensive and there is no content or reward good enough to warrant burning credits. (Maybe when new ops will be released, but that's gonna be a while.)

.

[Brayla_Sana]

The stat consolidation doesn't bother me. I like some of the changes, others need a bit of tweaking. This is the type of information that should have been released months ago. Then you can see what the players think and tweak. These crafting changes have NOTHING to do with spoiling any story. It's a little too little, a little too late.

[JamieKirby]

I am personally just selling all my materials, just don't see the point in any crafting now, in my opinion, unless you can make a full set of gear from the start, no crafting skill is worth leveling up unless you are just thinking of endgame stuff, which you will likely overprice like crazy.

[Faelandaea]

which you will likely overprice like crazy.

 

No such thing in SWTOR. Credits in this game come in such droves that it is literally impossible to not be able to afford something.

[jedikranma]

so does that mean battlemaster and war hero schematics are adaptive gear now, what level do they require.

[Jedi_riches]

I guess even with this announcement we still cant talk about data mined information, I have seen some of the "potential" changes to artifice that partly make up for the change of loosing enhancements.

 

Overall, it sucks that we are essentially back at 0 in terms of crafting I mean what a waste in RE'ing all the reusable medpacks, stims and adrenals. I understand that old schematics are moved to archive and still are craftable but what happens to sucessful armouring or enhancement RE'd items are they just deleted as they are no longer with their respective crew skill as I guess there is no way to transfer them to another character as you might not have a character in your legacy with that skill.

[PoliteAssasin]

thank you bw for screwing all the people who spent the time and effort to learn all these schematics, I can't wait for you guys to screw up again. So the best thing you guys decide is to make people learn new schematics and move them to other crafting professions. 4.0 is looking like is going to be a big bug fest, thanks again for screwing over the players that stayed with the game for so long.

 

Why are you so surprised? Bioware has ALWAYS screwed over loyal consumers in order to appeal to newer players. They're resetting the game with 4.0. It's no different from how they reset at 0 for each subsequent entry in the mass effect trilogy so that new players could jump into part 2 and 3 of a 3 part story without feeling the need to experience all of them. Welcome to bioware development.

[KyaniteD]

I understand that old schematics are moved to archive and still are craftable but what happens to sucessful armouring or enhancement RE'd items are they just deleted as they are no longer with their respective crew skill as I guess there is no way to transfer them to another character as you might not have a character in your legacy with that skill.

 

The thought of having an option to transfer the already learned schematics to the proper crafter has crossed my mind, too. No idea how it could be done, but it would have been a really nice thing if we can't keep them where they are now.

[Karkais]

What are "personal Conquest goals?"

 

This. I have no idea what conquest even is. Its something I have completely ignored until now. Lets not forget that they are going to disable the whole conquest system for at least a month after release.... I wonder how many devs remembered that its needed for these mats.

 

Also, these aren't so much 'changes' as they are nuking crafting from orbit and replacing it with something I have no idea how its going to work, or IF its going to work, while removing nearly all need for crafting from the game. Seriously, I am at a loss for words.

 

The contradiction someone pointed out is also an apt one. BIoware first saying they don't want to remove stuff players have worked for, then introducing THIS. This.... thing.

 

- All previously reusable Biochem Consumables are no longer reusable, and all previously reusable Cybertech grenades are no longer reusable: once again, very time consuming. So, basically, everytime your stock run dry, you'll have to go farming on older planets... wait, there's level sync, nevermind that. You'll have to put companions on gathering missions or pay for them in the market. I'd rather just stop using them, thanks.

Yes. I cannot fathom how someone could have thought it a good idea to have crafting nodes level alongside player. Now cannot collect those mats in order to craft stuff FOR YOUR ALTS WHICH ARE LOWER LEVEL THAN YOU. Seriously, what kind of brain donator thought this up.

 

- This new gear requires a new Crafting material that can only be acquired by completing your personal Conquest goals: personal conquest in only winnable by doing GSF, PVP, PUG content now. Nothing can seem more unfriendly than these to me. First conquests are off limits, now crafting elder content is off limit. Great...

 

And lets not forget the whole of conquest is going to be disabled for a month after release due to some unforseen 'issue' with it. One positive thing though, I approve the concept of being able to craft endgame-level gear WITHOUT doing the actual endgame. Thats about the only good thing I can think of. Except that apparently it won't be possible for currently unknown amount of time due to disabling conquest system.

 

I have a feeling that crafting will be completely

post-kotfe. Even more than it already was. Edited October 7, 2015 by Karkais

[deserttfoxx]

I think not leaving the resuables as legacy items(meaning if you have them you can keep them) is sort of a slap in the face to the players who have been playing long enough to have them.

Now suddenly the item is moot, im all for not being able to make new ones, but why remove the ones that are already there.. with no compensation to speak of.

[dani_qwertz]

The key word is - you CAN - but, I have some GREAT news for you. You don't HAVE to. No one is forcing you to go the casual route. All they did here was make the game more friendly for their casual gamer base. The elitist hardcore base has NOTHING taken away and you still have a lot of challenging routes to go in this game.

 

There. your issues are solved XD

 

Just one question If you play as a casual player why do you need high end raiding gear ?

[GoldenHornet]

Crafters can now make gear equivalent to Story and Hard Mode Operations gear

 

Yay!

 

This new gear requires a new Crafting material that can only be acquired by completing your personal Conquest goals.

 

**** that, no-one's interested in your stupid conquest mini-game except a handful of large guilds. Stop trying to ram it down out throats. It was bad enough tying it to strongholds.

 

Edited October 7, 2015 by GoldenHornet

[JattaGin]

Generally, I like this detailed blog post. I wished it would have come earlier. So much new information within a few days while there was months time for all of that. But I digress.

 

It looks like most of the changes look quite good.

 

But in one thing I - so far - disagree:

 

This does not sound easier and more starter-friendly.

 

I read the part about the components a couple of times, and I still don't understand how it works. I think there is some information missing in that part. But it sounds a bit like the crafting system for stronghold decos to me. Which I think is more difficult than the old crafting system.

 

I like that we get an archived section with old schematics so that we can continue crafting them. That's nice for, e. g. all the adaptive armor schematics. But can we still craft them if the needed mats are removed from the game?

 

Final question: How do I know what an "equivalent counterpart" is? How do I know that Plasteel's counterpart is Plastoid? Is there a list available somewhere?

 

Edit: I checked my legacy storage, cleaned it up and my final question is answered now. I think deleting these mentioned mats is a great idea! It's only the ones which were "double" plus some exotic stuff. Now my storage is so much tidier. Great decision!

Edited October 7, 2015 by JattaGin

[Kulyok]

I've been crafting for years, in all professions, and in many fields. Made and spent billions this way, and I still barely understand what was written in that post. Components from where? Conquest? The same conquest that will be turned off? Um. Really, newbies will be confused - heck, I'm confused. Why would I need conquest materials to craft a pair of implants? Why should we lose harmless level 32 reusables for our alts? What's the point in shifting augments and armorings between professions? Sigh. Really, I thought they were making crafting simpler.

 

(But thanks for letting us craft HM! No more operations, yay!)

[Faelandaea]

Just one question If you play as a casual player why do you need high end raiding gear ?

 

Because high end gear also makes farming easier. Just because we do not raid doesn't mean we don't like having an easier time in other content. And, hey, with Sync now coming to play, better gear will make things easier there as well. I always love it when people think you have to be into raiding to have any use for gear with stats. Stats are stats. I like bigger numbers while killing a heroic just as much as the next guy.

 

And then there is always the elitist crowd that thinks that only folks who raid need stats for anything.

[Vasdrakken]

not sure how this got missed in five pages of comments but it should be interesting to see how it works out since you are not required to take the skill that matches your class grin. I had a leather work warrior so I could wear scale mail that was bind on acquire.

 

Due to the Primary Stats being converted to the Mastery Stat, the following changes have been made to Augments:

 

Armormechs can now craft Shield, Absorb, and Mastery Augments.

Synthweavers can now craft Alacrity, Defense, and Critical Augments.

Armstechs can now craft Accuracy, Endurance, and Power Augments.

 

Armormech -

mostly trooper and smuglers tech based armor

shield generators, standing in place

shield makes sense, absorb makes sense, mastery makes sense

 

defense makes sense standing in place,

crit makes sense auto tracking aim

accuracy makes sense needed to hit bosses

power makes sense modifies mastery ability

 

endurance is now seperate at higher levels do we need two augs at end game?

 

Synthweave -

speed tanking and resistance tanking

alacrity makes sense

defense modifes armor waiting to see in action

crit means when the boss moves on a melee char that crit misses

 

accuracy makes sense needed to hit bosses

power makes sense modifies mastery ability

 

shield is tech ability

assorb is standing tank ability maybe on guardians

 

endurance is now seperate at higher levels do we need two augs at end game?

 

Armstechs -

makes weapons grin

accuracy on the weapons everyone needs

endurance - waiting to see how this setup in 4.0

power on weapons everyone needs

 

so these are the only weapon makers this should be interesting change.

 

 

New Resistive Armorings (Endurance) are now exclusive to Armormech.

New Versatile Armorings (Mastery) are now exclusive to Synthweaving.

 

ummm are there typos?

[Clarian]

The following Materials are being removed from the game:

Exquisite Yellow Crystal

Flawless Yellow Crystal

Immaculate Yellow Crystal

Impeccable Orange Crystal

Impeccable Yellow Crystal

 

Obsolete Crafting Material

Perfect Orange Crystal

Perfect Yellow Crystal

 

So with yellow and orange crystal materials being removed or obsolete...does that mean we can no longer craft yellow or orange crystal mods?

[GrellanMor]

The key word is - you CAN - but, I have some GREAT news for you. You don't HAVE to. No one is forcing you to go the casual route. All they did here was make the game more friendly for their casual gamer base. The elitist hardcore base has NOTHING taken away and you still have a lot of challenging routes to go in this game.

 

There. your issues are solved XD

 

The problem you run into has nothing to do with "elitist hardcore". The "Casual player" in their new gear running TFB who has no clue how to do a fight is going to waste a lot of people's time if they know nothing about the fights. I am very friendly to new players, especially learning new fights. But let's say there are 6 new people in a queue for TFB and that group gets to Operator XIV, unless they make those fights easier the only thing being accomplished is a lot of people upset... including the new player(s). I can think of several fights like this, Kephess, The Terror, Gate Keeper Draxus (A lot of healers will be upset at that one if interrupts are not done). I could go on.

 

Maybe I am thinking too much into this. Maybe I am not giving us enough credit... but they do keep making the game easier and easier. It is a theme park now, not an MMO. I will never be elitist, I will work with anyone and explain a fight until everyone wants to pack it in and go home. I just think giving someone a Ferrari when they are just starting to drive might be a mistake.

 

When I got into MMOs, it has always been as a healer. It has never been friendly to learn one's role. I can remember being utterly devastated that something was my own fault raiding in WoW and we had to do our run of shame back to a body or dungeon. How does it help a player learn their role if you are just going to be given the gear, allowed into the queue and the doors flung open wide? Besides the other players time wasted, their own confidence will be crushed. How does this build any unity?

[Lalainnia]

Please re make set bonuses.

[Luinthoron]

Anything else aside, I for one will not miss the yellow crystals you couldn't even give away right now.

 

So with yellow and orange crystal materials being removed or obsolete...does that mean we can no longer craft yellow or orange crystal mods?

I'm sure we can, similarly how we can still craft anything else that previously used the other removed materials. They just won't be needing this exclusive and otherwise pretty useless resource.

Edited October 7, 2015 by Luinthoron

[IanArgent]

Just one question If you play as a casual player why do you need high end raiding gear ?

 

They're not going to start with the high end raiding gear schematics. They're going to start with the basic blue schematics that will allow them to make level appropriate gear with their class appropriate crafting skill.