Questions about professions

[papajohn4]

I have some questions regarding professions and their benefits. Of course the game is not out yet but lot of people have gone 30+ level in beta and others maybe heard some things in official forums/interviews that I didn't took the time to watch them :P

1) How is the crafting items for leveling? Do you craft gear during leveling that is really worth or the quest rewards are equal and often better? For example in wow (don't want to start a debate, I just bring an example from a game I currently play), the crafting professions are useless in leveling..when you can gather the mats to craft an item, the item is already outdated...for example you skin thick leather from 40+ mobs to make a level 34 leather piece of gear...while in Aion for example the crafting items in your level are way better than the quest rewards or in in a rare occasion are equal. So how this is working in swtor?

2) Do you make any Bop gear during leveling or especially at high end crafting?or everything is boe and you can trade any craft? Is this gonna end like wow, chose whatever you want and you will eventually gain a +80 of x stat? Or is it going to be like TBC, where every professions had some BOP really worthy items for your character?

I am not interested to make money, I just want my character to be self efficient and always have him a good gear level through leveling and some nice pieces at the cap level :P I will play a Jedi Guardian and if crafting skills are really matter I think I ll go with Artifice, Archaeology and treasure Hunting..but everything is boe and quest rewards during leveling are outweight crafting gear, then I will probably chose 2 gathering profs and Biochem maybe :P

EDIT : Just found a very nice guide for professions :P http://www.starwarsmmolevelingguide.com/crafting-guide/

[Thornstar]

I can not answer specifically but from what I know they changed professions a bit towards the end. They wanted it to be a bigger impact and such. Blue recipes for things and up are more rare, and take a bit of time to achieve.

[Rufcat]

During one of the beta weekends, I started to out-level the quest rewards and found that crafting was a good way to get my gear on par with my level. On the other hand, I was able to upgrade other areas of my gear with commendations. Never spent a single credit on gear upgrades.

[papajohn4]

I can not answer specifically but from what I know they changed professions a bit towards the end. They wanted it to be a bigger impact and such. Blue recipes for things and up are more rare, and take a bit of time to achieve.

thats good news :P I like the professions to be an important part of the game :P

During one of the beta weekends, I started to out-level the quest rewards and found that crafting was a good way to get my gear on par with my level. On the other hand, I was able to upgrade other areas of my gear with commendations. Never spent a single credit on gear upgrades.

thats also very good news :P craft what you can for upgrade and buy gear with commendations in slots you cannot craft for :P

[Idoru]

From my limited beta experience I would say that crafting is more useful than in WoW, but just how useful depends on how you play the game, and luck with drops.
I managed to discover a few Artifact (purple) level 20ish weapons while leveling Armstech, and they were quite good, compared to equal level rewards.

It was also fairly easy to stay ahead of my level. By the time the beta ended I was level 27 and had access to level 29 items, without spending too much time.

[papajohn4]

It was also fairly easy to stay ahead of my level. By the time the beta ended I was level 27 and had access to level 29 items, without spending too much time.

thats what really bothers me!So far so good, crafting is usefull in leveling :P but how it is on max level?any bop crafting items for your toon? Did they said anything about this?

[Jexnell]

So I spent some time looking at Torheads crewskills schematics section. Looks like they have been busy data-mining the new release stuff. Here is a general breakdown.

Like its been said before you can make a green item and RE it enough to get a blue and RE those enough to get a purple. They can also RE crit and get a bonus stat like crit,def,power etc. Its not know atm if you can RE crit a bonus stat on an open slot item.

Armormech- Non force users med and heavy armor,chest,legs,waist,feet,wrist,hand and head. Some chest,helm and legs having all 4 slots open while waist,wrist,hands,feet only having an augment slot open.

Synthweaving- Force users Heavy, Med and Light armor. Head chest and legs with 4 open slots and waist,wrist,gloves,and feet with only augment slot open.

Both of these can make blues and greens with just a augment slot open and also Head Chest and Legs with 4 open slots starting at lvl 11 and new open slot ones about every 5 lvls, if you want to change up your looks. Also the can make a purple quality lvl 50 sets that are BOP and have 3 of 4 slots filled but look like they are removable....dont know if these are raid schematics or trainer learned

Armstech- Makes barrels,guns,vibrostaffs,vibroswords,and vibroknifs.I couldnt find any that had 4 open slot, just the augment slot, tho there were some that were lvl 48 that were 4 slot with 3 mods in them already. This is the only crafter I didnt find a special BOP item for...dont know if there aint one or if they just didnt datamine theirs up.

Artifice- Color crystals,hilts,enhancement slot mods,and shield generators/foci( held in off-hand with an augment slot open). These all can be made in green,blue,purple quality. Also they make bop relics. And some lvl 48 lightsabers with 4 slots 3 being filled and it looks like they can be taken out.

Cybertech- Armoring mods, the other mod slot(didnt seem to have it own name)Droid parts, ship parts, a speeder bike,ear pieces hand genades and get this portable transport devises (basicaly a summoning stone). They get BOP earpieces and BOP unlimited use grenades.

Biochem- Stims, adrenals, med-packs, med units(heals you and your companion)and implants. They get at lvl 50 Bop versions stims and adrenals that dont get consumed on use and Bop implants.

[iggie]

I just don't see blues being so worth it since I'll be hitting 50 pretty darn toonin quick. Going Cybertech/Scav/Slicing, then dropping slicing around L40ish for UWT.

[papajohn4]

hm..just found in another sie , someone said something interesting about leveling/crafting

Crafting versus quest rewards : This is a very good point I spent a lot of time thinking about this weekend. My conclusion in the end was that there were a handfull of amazing upgrades I got in my 30s that lasted me nearly the entire weekend of hardcore grinding and were only set to be upgraded by the4 next tier of crafted items. Things that I found no suitable replacement for were hilts for my lightsaber and color crystals. Also, some of the enchancements were very good, but I found the itemization on them odd. The epic hilt I REd the plans for lasted at least 20 levels. I think if you never RE the greens you will not use the gear a ton. If you RE some blues and get epics, you'll be set a long while.

it seems that it will be good to pause leveling around 30 and get some time with your professions and try to discover better recipes as this will not only increase the fun of your leveling cause you will get good gearedm but also the speed (actually I don't care so much about the speed, but I really want my character to be well geared in every level so I can try more difficult mobs/pulls :P )

The one thing that concerns me with 3x gathering here, is that the amount of materials you get leveling through a zone will be more than enough to level your crafting profession. The vast majority of casual players will probably take 1 crafting, the mission skill for it, and the gathering skill for it, making the obvious need for the gathering stuff less than in wow where you may need to farm extra ore to level past a certain spot in blacksmithing.