Galactic Command is going to break Guilds.

[Kheld]

The Galactic Command system is going to break up Guilds.

 

Those who grind grind grind & have lots of time available are starting to reach Tier 2. Those who do not grind are nowhere near it. Those who like to play story or alts are nowhere near Tier 2 at all.

 

We already have players refusing to do SM Ops anymore because doing other activities nets more CXP.

 

I can see a future where those more hardcore minded players are either going to pug Ops (making them unavailable for Guild runs), or leave the Guild entirely. Its depressing me & ruining my enjoyment of the game.

 

Well done Bioware. If you had an am objective to kill this game, you are well on the way to succeeding.

[Eli_Porter]

SM Ops are gonna be more popular come 5.1.

 

Alts aren't dead, it's advantageous to have multiple chars at T3 for daily/weekly rewards and it's easy to gear both your alts and your friend's mains once you've obtained schematics and assembly tokens on your main.

 

Why would people quit the game because they can't reach T2 as fast as their friends who play the game a lot more, when T2 isn't required for operations as long as you have set armorings, as the rest can be crafted for you?

[AllisonLightning]

I don't do Story Mode Ops because they were long and grinding 4.0 and still are, and usually give me migraines. My main guild has fortunately started to come back to life thanks to our fearless leader returning, mass recruitment and so on... not everybody in a guild likes to run Operations. Come the new system, I'll be gearing via PvP because I play PvP- if it gave zero CXP after five matches in a day, I'd still play it because I love PvP.

 

Maybe people in your guild didn't like Story Mode Ops and 5.0 gave them the excuse to stop doing them.

[RagnarAugustus]

The Galactic Command system is going to break up Guilds.

 

Those who grind grind grind & have lots of time available are starting to reach Tier 2. Those who do not grind are nowhere near it. Those who like to play story or alts are nowhere near Tier 2 at all.

.

 

The problem isn't as much the grind (although the toon specific CXP grind is excessive) as the RNG nature of gearing in 5.0. I've seen guys who have grinded like crazy since 5.0 launch have no set bonus drops from GC packs and then I saw a guy who left right before 5.0 to go back to WOW fill in for a guild raid and get a set bonus item on his first GC pack. It is crazy because reward has nothing to do with effort now in 5.0 - it's all up to the whims of the RNG Gods. The reason people are not raiding is that there's no real reward for rerunning the same ops that they made us grind so many times before now that we can't gear from raiding and 5.1 is only a broken half measure taken by BW to try to patch the hole in the dam and preserve their precious RNG at the same time.

[TUXs]

The problem isn't as much the grind (although the toon specific CXP grind is excessive) as the RNG nature of gearing in 5.0. I've seen guys who have grinded like crazy since 5.0 launch have no set bonus drops from GC packs and then I saw a guy who left right before 5.0 to go back to WOW fill in for a guild raid and get a set bonus item on his first GC pack. It is crazy because reward has nothing to do with effort now in 5.0 - it's all up to the whims of the RNG Gods. The reason people are not raiding is that there's no real reward for rerunning the same ops that they made us grind so many times before now that we can't gear from raiding and 5.1 is only a broken half measure taken by BW to try to patch the hole in the dam and preserve their precious RNG at the same time.

The grind is ridiculous. The RNG gearing is ridiculous...and this is all PER character. It's simply not fun...it's far too much with far too little reward.

[Galahard]

The Galactic Command system is going to break up Guilds.

 

Those who grind grind grind & have lots of time available are starting to reach Tier 2. Those who do not grind are nowhere near it. Those who like to play story or alts are nowhere near Tier 2 at all.

 

You're assuming guilds only do ops.

While I agree that GC is not healthy for ops groups, other group activities, at least in my guild have been bolstered: FPs, heroics, world boss runs, and even the hated uprisings.

 

So your thread title should really be: GC system is going to break up Ops Teams.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Galahard

[Andryah]

The Galactic Command system is going to break up Guilds.

 

Those who grind grind grind & have lots of time available are starting to reach Tier 2. Those who do not grind are nowhere near it. Those who like to play story or alts are nowhere near Tier 2 at all.

 

We already have players refusing to do SM Ops anymore because doing other activities nets more CXP.

 

I can see a future where those more hardcore minded players are either going to pug Ops (making them unavailable for Guild runs), or leave the Guild entirely. Its depressing me & ruining my enjoyment of the game.

Well done Bioware. If you had an am objective to kill this game, you are well on the way to succeeding.

 

Actually the reverse is true, unless it's just a bad disorganized guild. Why? Because guilds can effectively ignore GC completely.. and let it just unfold as they continue on doing what they do. Why? Crafted gear..... starting with 228s and then from recipe drops collectively in a guild.... higher level gear as you go on. Not that anything beyond 228s with full augments is really needed..... other then to make encounters easier. It's not like we are getting any new OPs in this game.

 

Smart, well organized guilds are largely ignoring GC completely. It's not needed for gearing for an organized guild with a good crafting team... and that includes guilds that run OPs. You act like we got fresh hard core OPs that can only be done with the best of the best gear.

 

These are selfish and self involved players, not actual guild members working for the collective benefit of the guild.

 

Again.. the reverse is true. Why? Because in the past players played PuG style because they wanted fast gearing, particularly for alts and PuGs gave them wide ranging access to OPs runs. Now, there is little incentive for these same players to PuG OPs.

 

You know what your complaints sound like to me? Sounds like you are part of a guild that is a guild in name only. It's really a collection of individuals only interested in their own progress.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Andryah

[Sargrith]

The grind is ridiculous. The RNG gearing is ridiculous...and this is all PER character. It's simply not fun...it's far too much with far too little reward.

 

 

It will break causal raiding guilds. Mostly because of the nature of them. Many in my guild hop on twice a week for the ops and not much else. They are stuck in the teens in galactic command rank and maybe someday will see more but not likely much. They are never likely to see 91 or 181 for the next level of gear. So running ops being a terrible way to get gxp means slow progress for them. Worse some arent super skilled its a social event for them so they need gear to do things more then other more hard core groups. So the idea of running HM which we used to do is very likely off the table. Running the same ops with no increase in challenge just is already starting to wear some of them out. They are frustrated that ops they have run for the past 2 or three years are now beyond them. Its not like new content it beyond them but stuff they have been doing for years is. That is breaking the spirit of many. And its all because of this just broken new gearing method.

 

5.1 wont help. Its too little and too late. To make a real difference they need to remove any connection to galactic command and every boss needs to drop pieces. I don't think that change will happen, even if it does the devs are reacting so slowly to this mess it will happen too late for many. I've seen calls for them to fire Ben and I don't know who they need to move out of the way of removing rng but whomever it is they need to move them out of the way and get rid of rng sooner rather then later.

[TUXs]

It will break causal raiding guilds. Mostly because of the nature of them. Many in my guild hop on twice a week for the ops and not much else. They are stuck in the teens in galactic command rank and maybe someday will see more but not likely much. They are never likely to see 91 or 181 for the next level of gear. So running ops being a terrible way to get gxp means slow progress for them. Worse some arent super skilled its a social event for them so they need gear to do things more then other more hard core groups. So the idea of running HM which we used to do is very likely off the table. Running the same ops with no increase in challenge just is already starting to wear some of them out. They are frustrated that ops they have run for the past 2 or three years are now beyond them. Its not like new content it beyond them but stuff they have been doing for years is. That is breaking the spirit of many. And its all because of this just broken new gearing method.

 

5.1 wont help. Its too little and too late. To make a real difference they need to remove any connection to galactic command and every boss needs to drop pieces. I don't think that change will happen, even if it does the devs are reacting so slowly to this mess it will happen too late for many. I've seen calls for them to fire Ben and I don't know who they need to move out of the way of removing rng but whomever it is they need to move them out of the way and get rid of rng sooner rather then later.

I could not agree more with everything you've said. I agree 100%!!!!

[Kawiki]

The grind is horrendous. I have frankly just stopped and I'm primarily a PvPer. I feel for those of you that run OPs on a regular basis. Those that say, "you don't need it' or "craft it" are so out of touch they might as well be living in a galaxy far far far away. It's reached the moronic stage and I don't think the changes on the 24th will be enough. Edited January 10, 2017 by Kawiki

[Andryah]

It will break causal raiding guilds. Mostly because of the nature of them. Many in my guild hop on twice a week for the ops and not much else. They are stuck in the teens in galactic command rank and maybe someday will see more but not likely much. They are never likely to see 91 or 181 for the next level of gear. So running ops being a terrible way to get gxp means slow progress for them. Worse some arent super skilled its a social event for them so they need gear to do things more then other more hard core groups. So the idea of running HM which we used to do is very likely off the table. Running the same ops with no increase in challenge just is already starting to wear some of them out. They are frustrated that ops they have run for the past 2 or three years are now beyond them. Its not like new content it beyond them but stuff they have been doing for years is. That is breaking the spirit of many. And its all because of this just broken new gearing method.

 

IF a guild insists that the only way to progress their gear is through GC leveling... then yeah.. said guilds are going to go belly up. But that approach is a fallacy, self-inflicted by years of habit ingrained into rigid thinking. If anything, the crafting capabilities in 5.0 will save casual raiding guilds from grinding gear via GC. But a guild need to look at their challenges objectively rather then following obvious carrot tactics.

 

Play smarter, not harder. Besides.. there is no actual progression raiding in any serious manner in this game anymore.... which largely undercuts old thinking about how to go about gear.

 

5.1 wont help. Its too little and too late. To make a real difference they need to remove any connection to galactic command and every boss needs to drop pieces. I don't think that change will happen, even if it does the devs are reacting so slowly to this mess it will happen too late for many. I've seen calls for them to fire Ben and I don't know who they need to move out of the way of removing rng but whomever it is they need to move them out of the way and get rid of rng sooner rather then later.

 

 

I agree that 5.1 as presented will not help fix GC. It is simply a red herring tossed out by the studio.. and some people are gobbling it up and fueling their hopes with it. Which will result in a second round of mass raging in the forum... this time over 5.1 changes.

 

GC needs to be fixed, not removed. They rolled it out broken .. now they have to fix it. It's not a bad concept at all, it was simply badly deployed with no safeguards for bad luck, no fairness in how Cxp is earned across content types, a leveling slope that is much much steeper then they said it would be, and no legacy mechanics. All of this can be fixed.... they just have to go do it. The question is.. will they? Or will they keep putting band aids on it and hope players will fall for it? meanwhile.... smart raid teams have found other ways then following an endless random carrot.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Andryah

[Kawiki]

If anything, the crafting capabilities in 5.0 will save casual raiding guilds from grinding gear via GC.

.

 

This is simply not fun. I don't know why you keep bringing it up. It sucks all the fun right out of the game.

[Andryah]

This is simply not fun. I don't know why you keep bringing it up. It sucks all the fun right out of the game.

 

Why is it not fun?

 

The fun in an MMO in my view is playing the actual content you want to play. Gear is simply a hurdle to get to the actual content you want to play. If getting gear is your fun.... and it must be dropped BiS gear... then why play MMOs? What do you do after your finished chasing your gear?

 

A smart guild looks at what it wants to do, what is needed to do it, and what is the most efficient way to get what is needed and start doing what the guild wants to do.

 

Heck, even individuals are capable of gearing themselves from crafted items, either directly or from purchases on the GTN. Interestingly... 240 crafted items are already becoming common in the GTNs.... and so the only thing GC actually gates a player on is Set Bonus pieces. And even for this.. there is a fair work around by simply holding on to your 4.0 BiS bonus armor mods and reusing them until something better comes along.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Andryah

[Toraak]

Actually the reverse is true, unless it's just a bad disorganized guild. Why? Because guilds can effectively ignore GC completely.. and let it just unfold as they continue on doing what they do. Why? Crafted gear..... starting with 228s and then from recipe drops collectively in a guild.... higher level gear as you go on. Not that anything beyond 228s with full augments is really needed..... other then to make encounters easier. It's not like we are getting any new OPs in this game.

 

Smart, well organized guilds are largely ignoring GC completely. It's not needed for gearing for an organized guild with a good crafting team... and that includes guilds that run OPs. You act like we got fresh hard core OPs that can only be done with the best of the best gear.

 

These are selfish and self involved players, not actual guild members working for the collective benefit of the guild.

 

Again.. the reverse is true. Why? Because in the past players played PuG style because they wanted fast gearing, particularly for alts and PuGs gave them wide ranging access to OPs runs. Now, there is little incentive for these same players to PuG OPs.

 

You know what your complaints sound like to me? Sounds like you are part of a guild that is a guild in name only. It's really a collection of individuals only interested in their own progress.

 

 

I'll make this quick. CRAFTED GEAR IS GARBAGE. It's so bad it's not worth using. Wearing your 220 token pieces, (Or 224) is better then using crafted 228's. CRAFTED GEAR HAS NO SET BONUS. Crafted gear has worse stats. So if your using Crafted garbage, then your simply doing it wrong.

 

The only possible way crafted gear could work is if your making 240 mods, and enhancements for your raid team, but that's assuming you have access to those schematics. The reason for this is it allows you to tweak Tertiary stats as you need to. Otherwise Crafted gear isn't worth it, it's simply trash gear.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Toraak

[Sargrith]

IF a guild insists that the only way to progress their gear is through GC leveling... then yeah.. said guilds are going to go belly up. But that approach is a fallacy, self-inflicted by years of habit ingrained into rigid thinking. If anything, the crafting capabilities in 5.0 will save casual raiding guilds from grinding gear via GC. But a guild need to look at their challenges objectively rather then following obvious carrot tactics.

 

Play smarter, not harder. Besides.. there is no actual progression raiding in any serious manner in this game anymore.... which largely undercuts old thinking about how to go about gear.

 

Here's the thing. Casual guilds only craft when its not crazy to do so. How does one get grade ten materials? There ar only two places and they give a mix of grade 10 and grade 9. Thats terrible. These casual players are not going to spend hours gathering to have the mats to make the new craftable gear, they just wont. Also the game has for years now taught them not to rely on crafting this change doesn't seem logical or fun to them, so they wont do it. A few of the more active players have tried to craft for the other more causal ones but you can't have 2 or 3 people crafting for 16 or more, that becomes a full time job. It isn't working and wont. Also crafting doesn't feel like they are getting rewarded for beating an op. Think about it, the reason you take down Terror from Beyond is to walk away with a prize you can show off. Well walking about with a recipe that someone will use to craft a hilt from...lacks something. It just does.

 

 

I agree that 5.1 as presented will not help fix GC. It is simply a red herring tossed out by the studio.. and some people are gobbling it up and fueling their hopes with it. Which will result in a second round of mass raging in the forum... this time over 5.1 changes.

 

GC needs to be fixed, not removed. They rolled it out broken .. now they have to fix it. It's not a bad concept at all, it was simply badly deployed with no safeguards for bad luck, no fairness in how Cxp is earned across content types, a leveling slope that is much much steeper then they said it would be, and no legacy mechanics. All of this can be fixed.... they just have to go do it.

 

If it were rolled out as a workable system sure keep it. Rolling it our broken turns and has turned it into a poison that pollutes the rest of the game. Its so bad people want nothing to do with it. Reminds me of windows vista, came out very poorly tested and way to bloated. Was it a better os then XP, yes by a country mile, but the overhead and they roll out was terrible so bad it became a hated os. They basically fixed it, and trimmed it down to make windows 7 and blam a great os. Microsoft did the same with 8 then 8.1 and now finally 10. All at their core very much the same os but some serious mistakes in marketing and listening to their customers made 8 a failure, while listening turned 10 into a success.

 

Rng is a failure. Tweeking it and fixing it wont fix that nor its reputation. The only way to deal with it is removal for now. They might be able to fix all its flaws in testing and on the test server but it will require time, and a real willingness to listen to some hard criticisms of it. Then after that they can bring it back under a new name in a new way. For now though its best to pull it go back to something the player base is more accustomed to.

[Andryah]

I'll make this quick. CRAFTED GEAR IS GARBAGE. It's so bad it's not worth using. Wearing your 220 token pieces, (Or 224) is better then using crafted 228's. CRAFTED GEAR HAS NO SET BONUS. Crafted gear has worse stats. So if your using Crafted garbage, then your simply doing it wrong.

 

Exaggeration, for effect I guess.

 

It's not BiS for sure.. but that does not make it "garbage". And players who look into it seriously realize crafted mods for armor + old Bis set bonus armor mods from 4.0 + crafted non-armor items + all augmented with Mk-10s gets you about 95% of the way to Tier 3 "perfection" and plenty good enough to play and be competitive in the content.

 

Sounds to me like you are on the PvP "gotta have BiS nao!" train so you have a gear advantage over other players. {I guess that is a good way to make up for lack of skillz}

Edited January 10, 2017 by Andryah

[Kawiki]

Why is it not fun?

 

Because it is not. There needs to be a reason to play the same content over and over again. That has been to get gear. I am starting to think you are a crafter that just wants to make a buck. Because your idea of fun is like watching grass grow.

[Kawiki]

Exaggeration, for effect I guess.

 

It's not BiS for sure.. but that does not make it "garbage". And players who look into it seriously realize crafted mods for armor + old Bis set bonus armor mods from 4.0 + crafted non-armor items + all augmented with Mk-10s gets you about 95% of the way to Tier 3 "perfection" and plenty good enough to play and be competitive in the content.

 

Sounds to me like you are on the PvP "gotta have BiS nao!" train so you have a gear advantage over other players. {I guess that is a good way to make up for lack of skillz}

 

And who wins when there are two equally skilled player?. Oh yeah the one with a set bonus/better gear.

 

You really really really don't understand the game or the people who play it. That is clear to me now.

[TUXs]

Because it is not. There needs to be a reason to play the same content over and over again. That has been to get gear. I am starting to think you are a crafter that just wants to make a buck. Because your idea of fun is like watching grass grow.

I suggest avoiding an argument with some people here. There are those who don't have open minds, they aren't here to debate a topic, only defend it and mock you - they tell you you're wrong, when in fact, you're not. You're exactly right.

[Quraswren]

Exaggeration, for effect I guess.

 

No, stated because its true. It's not even close to BIS with I doubt anyone ever expected crafted gear to be but it cannot even be modded should you have the millions to do so.

 

It's not BiS for sure.. but that does not make it "garbage". And players who look into it seriously realize crafted mods for armor + old Bis set bonus armor mods from 4.0 + crafted non-armor items + all augmented with Mk-10s gets you about 95% of the way to Tier 3 "perfection" and plenty good enough to play and be competitive in the content.

 

Crafted gear is simply not good gear. Bad itemization as well as you cannot mod it out. Any plyear who looks at those crafted pieces should be able to see that vs what comes out of crates and were not even talking BIS from RNG crates or set pieces yet.

 

Combine those negatives with the amount of credits it takes to buy mods and many our out of that option. Combine that with completing OPS and conquest to get mats and it gets worse if they can complete them. It all compounds the fact it's not a great way to go. Even for a guilds and thats all after you see how bad that craftes (no mod) gear is.

 

Sounds to me like you are on the PvP "gotta have BiS nao!" train so you have a gear advantage over other players. {I guess that is a good way to make up for lack of skillz}

 

Sounds to me like you want to sugar coat things to make the appear better than they actually are.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Quraswren

[Toraak]

Exaggeration, for effect I guess.

 

It's not BiS for sure.. but that does not make it "garbage". And players who look into it seriously realize crafted mods for armor + old Bis set bonus armor mods from 4.0 + crafted non-armor items + all augmented with Mk-10s gets you about 95% of the way to Tier 3 "perfection" and plenty good enough to play and be competitive in the content.

 

Sounds to me like you are on the PvP "gotta have BiS nao!" train so you have a gear advantage over other players. {I guess that is a good way to make up for lack of skillz}

 

Evidently you didn't quote my last paragraph which does meantion tweaking tertiary stats with enhancements and, mods. And as I said Not every guild will have access to 240 mod/enhancement Schems.

[Andryah]

There ar only two places and they give a mix of grade 10 and grade 9. Thats terrible. These casual players are not going to spend hours gathering to have the mats to make the new craftable gear, they just wont.

 

Not true. In fact in 5.0.... crew gathering missions are the most efficient path to a large supply of grade 10 materials. Seriously..... crew missions with level 20 influence companions (which is cheap and easy now) will crank out tons of materials. Our guild set up a plan for 5.0 release and the first step in that plan was funding 16 members to all quickly leveling up their crew skills and then running gathering missions. They dropped the materials into the guild cargo, and the guild funded a dozen other members to crank out 228s like candy. [We even added another dozen players to the ramp and began selling mats to recover investment costs of the guild too, making the whole effort credit neutral for the guild]. A guild officer acted as the coordinator and collected and managed a gear needs list and worked with the crafting team to make sure there was efficient rollout of gear to all guild members. All main characters were fully outfitted in days.. and we continued on with gearing for members alts as well.

 

It worked great in that we all had a baseline of gear within the first week, and then began running content with a focus on OPs runs for recipes and mats needed for higher tier mods. Concurrent with this... of course all members began getting early GC levels just from just playing the game and low and behold... started getting additional recipe drops as well.. while disintegrating anything that was not a set bonus piece.

 

Also the game has for years now taught them not to rely on crafting this change doesn't seem logical or fun to them, so they wont do it.

 

This part I agree with. But MMOs change over time... so getting locked in to rigid thinking or habit is counter productive. As a guild.. we believed this as well.. but a few members did an excellent job at analyzing the gear challenge even before 5.0 dropped and convinced leadership to take a fresh approach for 5.0 and go with crafting.

 

A few of the more active players have tried to craft for the other more causal ones but you can't have 2 or 3 people crafting for 16 or more, that becomes a full time job.

 

It won't work ad-hoc, or by putting the burden on a few. It's a guild wide endeavor if you want to make it work for a guild. We had leaders coordinating, some players committed to gathering missions, some players committed to crafting, and all members chipped in to fund the entire project. It was a win for everyone and was very efficient for creating a baseline of gear for every member, even their alts.

 

Also crafting doesn't feel like they are getting rewarded for beating an op. Think about it, the reason you take down Terror from Beyond is to walk away with a prize you can show off. Well walking about with a recipe that someone will use to craft a hilt from...lacks something. It just does.

 

Again.. this goes back to conditioned thinking rather then taking as fresh look at what a new expac offers.

 

Your example of a recipe for a hilt you are thumbing your nose at is valuable and desired in my guild. Such a drop meant we could now move up the gear itemization for the entire guild.. and continue to ignore the broken GC mechanics until such time as they get it properly fixed.

 

People need to think outside the box a bit more on ways to mitigate GC for now. Or.. don't.. that is every players choice. You can make lemonade from lemons or you can be stubborn and just suck on the lemon.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Andryah

[PlasmaJohn]

Why is it not fun?

For a variety of reasons I hate watching professional sports. Except golf, but I don't go out of my way to watch that. In other words: Different strokes for different folks.

 

My small guild just put in a huge amount of effort (time and credits) to get most of our members' mains up to 230 (ish). The primary crafters are burning out. I know there are folks out there that really love crafting but that ain't us. It's a chore.

 

It would have been far more fun and a lot more satisfying to have earned that gear doing the content. But apparently Austin has a twisted idea of "fun".

 

The worst (best?) part about it is that it seriously diminishes the chance of getting anything useful until Tier 2. If "hopping mad" counts as "Exciting" then I'm really excited. (GG Ben)

 

And even for this.. there is a fair work around by simply holding on to your 4.0 BiS bonus armor mods and reusing them until something better comes along.

If you had them to begin with. I didn't come back until really late in 4.x, then I main-switched for 5.0 (oops). If only I could tell my October self to grind out the PvP 6-piece... alas no. In the pre-5.x spend-the-comms panic haze I did manage to remember to fill in the missing pieces for my old main and buy a full 204 set for one of my alts.

 

And that's hardly possible for the flood of new players that Ben suggested would repopulate the dead servers. Guess he dodged a bullet there.

[_Shaddai_]

No, stated because its true. It's not even close to BIS with I doubt anyone ever expected crafted gear to be but it cannot even be modded should you have the millions to do so.

 

 

 

Crafted gear is simply not good gear. Bad itemization as well as you cannot mod it out. Any plyear who looks at those crafted pieces should be able to see that vs what comes out of crates and were not even talking BIS from RNG crates or set pieces yet.

 

Combine those negatives with the amount of credits it takes to but mods and many our out of that option. Combine that with completing OPS to get mats and it gets worse. It all compounds the fact it's not a great way to go. Even for a guilds and thats all after you see how bad that craftes (no mod) gear is.

 

 

 

Sounds to me like you want to sugar coat things to make the appear better than they actually are.

 

I think you're mistaking the crafted purple non mod-able gear with the fact you can craft Mods/Enhancements/Hilts/Barrels all with the same stats as 240 purples. You can also craft implants and ear pieces with "almost" the same stats as the 240 blues. (These are good enough for the time being.)

 

This is what most people are talking about when talking about crafted gear. For us raiders, this is what we've had to suffice with doing with the current situation. The armorings will still be from 4.0 until upgraded (minus one that you can substitute for a 240 armoring since you only need 6 pieces) but the rest of the gear can put you really close to what is needed for some of the harder content depending on skill level.

 

In other words a set of 6x 224 armorings with 240 mods/enhancements/barrels in each slot is still better than keeping all 224 equipment. The downside of this is that it's still expensive right now. This is because how highly it is currently sought after. Being that actually getting to tier 3 is such a grind, many players don't feel the need to do that especially with a new patch closing in.

 

If you watch on the fleet or on the GTN, you will see people sometimes selling crafted items for either straight credits, or materials + a fee for their time depending on what server you are on. This is sometimes a way to get things a little cheaper.

 

I just want to correct the misunderstanding it seems some of the people are having.

[PlasmaJohn]

Not true. In fact in 5.0.... crew gathering missions are the most efficient path to a large supply of grade 10 materials. Seriously..... crew missions with level 20 influence companions (which is cheap and easy now) will crank out tons of materials.

Yep. On my own, my two 600 scavengers can keep my 600 cybertech supplied with the bulk material he needs to crank out stuff. I need to spin up a second 600 archaeologist. Sadly there's no Directive 7 equivalent for that.

 

Our guild set up a plan for 5.0 release and the first step in that plan was funding 16 members to all quickly leveling up their crew skills and then running gathering missions.

If you have the resources (read: people) to accomplish it, that's the way to go. Doesn't work so hot for smaller teams.

 

It won't work ad-hoc, or by putting the burden on a few.

Now that the initial crush is done spinning up new mains/alts shouldn't be so bad.