Page 1 of 2
1
2
LastLast
  1. #1
    High Overlord
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Glasgow
    Posts
    184

    Alternate characters and crafting.

    Hey guys or girls,

    I don't know if it has been spoken about or asked in any Q&A, but can alts craft? I expect you to be able to have crafting professions on your alts so I could have Slicing, Biochem and Bioanalysis on my main and Scavenging, Armormech and Armstech on my alt. The problem I see is you being able to get your companions to do the work on 5 alts while you play on your main or are logged out.

    I know I could just level up 5 alts and do the same but the value of credits will be greatly diminished if I have 5 characters bringing in income. This would put strain on newer players or people who don't play as much as others.

    I was wondering if companions working (3 max I believe it is), is currently account-based or character-based?
    REPUBLIC
    <Insomnia> @ EU
    16-man Nightmare Raiding
    Ranged DPS and Healers needed

  2. #2
    It is character based. I don't think there is anything from stopping you from having the companions of 5 alts running crafting missions at the same time.

    It is going to take you a while to get this setup and effective though. It takes a while to level a character.

    I plan on using alts like I did in WoW so that I am 100% self sufficient and everything I need crafted can be crafted by one of my toons. I plan to make money with those that make sense as well.
    #TeamTinkers

  3. #3
    High Overlord
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Glasgow
    Posts
    184
    I don't mind having my alt out gathering mats but having 5 out and just totally diminishing the value of materials won't be great for the economy.

    I feel like some sort of cap on the amount of characters that are allowed to be out crafting/gathering should be in place.
    REPUBLIC
    <Insomnia> @ EU
    16-man Nightmare Raiding
    Ranged DPS and Healers needed

  4. #4
    What they can do is limit each crew skill to one per server. As in you can have alts with crew skills but they cant have the same skills as your other characters on that server. And then not having stuff that is BoP with crafting so you can send everything between your characters so you dont have a need for having a specific crew skill on your main etc.

  5. #5
    I think i can say this without breaking my NDA, no u cant have 2 craftings on 1 toon u can more gatherings but only 1 crafting

  6. #6
    High Overlord
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Glasgow
    Posts
    184
    Quote Originally Posted by Lillpapps View Post
    What they can do is limit each crew skill to one per server. As in you can have alts with crew skills but they cant have the same skills as your other characters on that server. And then not having stuff that is BoP with crafting so you can send everything between your characters so you dont have a need for having a specific crew skill on your main etc.
    That's a good point to make, that way you couldn't have /10char all out doing slicing or some sort of other gathering. I think the problem with still having a lot of characters and therefore a lot of companions out doing gathering/crafting/missions would still exist with 1 character having 3 professions and then another character doing 3 professions and another etc etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by Saintphoenix View Post
    I think i can say this without breaking my NDA, no u cant have 2 craftings on 1 toon u can more gatherings but only 1 crafting
    I know that you can only have 1 crafting per character but that isn't really the question. It is more of a question that being able to have multiple characters on the same account have multiple companions out doing gathering/crafting/missions and creating a problem with the economy being over-saturated with credits or materials. It also causes problems for new players or players with limited playtime due to the inflation of credits and / or devaluation of materials.
    REPUBLIC
    <Insomnia> @ EU
    16-man Nightmare Raiding
    Ranged DPS and Healers needed

  7. #7
    I dont think i can comment about what ur asking without breaking my NDA sorry

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Traces View Post
    That's a good point to make, that way you couldn't have /10char all out doing slicing or some sort of other gathering. I think the problem with still having a lot of characters and therefore a lot of companions out doing gathering/crafting/missions would still exist with 1 character having 3 professions and then another character doing 3 professions and another etc etc.
    Well as it takes alot of time to level a character and then crew skills I dont see why a player who have spent that time should not be able to profit from that.

  9. #9
    I was curious about this as well, while I love the idea of leveling alts to send out companions to hoard mats and credits... I dont wanna see the economy in game tank and be worthless.

    Seems to me smartest move would be to only allow companions for currently logged in toon to be gathering and doing missions.

  10. #10
    1. You can only have 1 crafting skill per character, so you would need 6 characters to get all the crafting skills. The example you gave had your alt with both armstech and armormech so wanted to clarify that.

    2. There are only 2 real gathering skills. Slicing makes credits and mission skills are mostly for missions. So I dunno who you would sell your raw gathering materials to.

    3. There is a dev quote (I would link it if the forums were up atm), but gathering missions as well as mission missions cost credits. They said that it is more expensive to constantly send alt companions on gathering missions than going out and just farming yourself.

    So there really isn't much to worry about. Everyone who has a crafting skill will more than likely have it's gathering skill on their characters, and having a ton of companions out farming mats will probably be more expensive than what you can sell mats for on the AH.

  11. #11
    What I like is you can trade or sell your old gear after upgrading. Nothing will be soulbound and no repair bills . Woot!

  12. #12
    High Overlord
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Glasgow
    Posts
    184
    Quote Originally Posted by torftw View Post
    1. You can only have 1 crafting skill per character, so you would need 6 characters to get all the crafting skills. The example you gave had your alt with both armstech and armormech so wanted to clarify that.
    Yeah that was my bad, I understand that you have only 1 crafting, I was just giving an example. The problem though wasn't the crafting having /10char with slicing would horribly bring down the value of credits.

    Quote Originally Posted by torftw View Post
    2. There are only 2 real gathering skills. Slicing makes credits and mission skills are mostly for missions. So I dunno who you would sell your raw gathering materials to.
    Archaeology - materials for artifice and synthweaving
    Bioanalysis - materials for biochem
    Scavenging - materials for armormech, armstech, and cybertech
    Slicing - credits, tech materials, unlockable missions

    I can see there being quite a lot of mats for you to gather and credits to be gained. The cost for this isn't more expensive than the cost of sending your characters out which in turn would bring down the worth of credits (kinda like Greece is doing to the Euro hahah, I'm jesting).

    Quote Originally Posted by torftw View Post
    3. There is a dev quote (I would link it if the forums were up atm), but gathering missions as well as mission missions cost credits. They said that it is more expensive to constantly send alt companions on gathering missions than going out and just farming yourself.
    The mission skills cost a lot of credits like you said but it is the gathering skills that will hurt the economy the most (mainly slicing).
    REPUBLIC
    <Insomnia> @ EU
    16-man Nightmare Raiding
    Ranged DPS and Healers needed

  13. #13
    Field Marshal ViolentSin's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    San Diego CA, USA
    Posts
    72
    Quote Originally Posted by Traces View Post
    Hey guys or girls,

    I don't know if it has been spoken about or asked in any Q&A, but can alts craft? I expect you to be able to have crafting professions on your alts so I could have Slicing, Biochem and Bioanalysis on my main and Scavenging, Armormech and Armstech on my alt. The problem I see is you being able to get your companions to do the work on 5 alts while you play on your main or are logged out.

    I know I could just level up 5 alts and do the same but the value of credits will be greatly diminished if I have 5 characters bringing in income. This would put strain on newer players or people who don't play as much as others.

    I was wondering if companions working (3 max I believe it is), is currently account-based or character-based?
    Hello there. The 3 professions you choose your companions can craft / gather from. Each char can preform 1 task at a time but you can queue tasks. Understand? Even while your out in the world gathering also. Or in an Operation / WZ. Same applies.

  14. #14
    High Overlord
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Glasgow
    Posts
    184
    Quote Originally Posted by ViolentSin View Post
    Hello there. The 3 professions you choose your companions can craft / gather from. Each char can preform 1 task at a time but you can queue tasks. Understand? Even while your out in the world gathering also. Or in an Operation / WZ. Same applies.
    I don't really understand your point here?

    We know you can get each companion to do 1 task at a time (up to 3 if you use 3 companions) but the point is that you can do this across multiple characters on your account and then credits or materials start to lose their value.
    REPUBLIC
    <Insomnia> @ EU
    16-man Nightmare Raiding
    Ranged DPS and Healers needed

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by tripleh View Post
    What I like is you can trade or sell your old gear after upgrading. Nothing will be soulbound and no repair bills . Woot!
    Items most certainly become soulbound in a way similar to WoW. Some when acquired, others when equiped. And yes, there are repair bills as well. The main difference regarding the latter is that gear takes a fairly long while to break and typically while leveling you'll simply end up replacing each piece of gear before its durability is used up. The fact that death does not incur durability damage (or any penalty whatsoever for all that matters) contributes to making this system fairly transparent, only taking away a small portion of your income every couple days.

  16. #16
    Field Marshal ViolentSin's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    San Diego CA, USA
    Posts
    72
    Traces. Your companions craft for you. You can gather also while you send them on a mission that costed credits to gather.

    In the beginning of crafting. It's not cheap. But end game it makes sense with it.

    You get 5 companions total. I'm completely sure if all can craft at the same time like from the same profession.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Traces View Post
    Yeah that was my bad, I understand that you have only 1 crafting, I was just giving an example. The problem though wasn't the crafting having /10char with slicing would horribly bring down the value of credits.



    Archaeology - materials for artifice and synthweaving
    Bioanalysis - materials for biochem
    Scavenging - materials for armormech, armstech, and cybertech
    Slicing - credits, tech materials, unlockable missions

    I can see there being quite a lot of mats for you to gather and credits to be gained. The cost for this isn't more expensive than the cost of sending your characters out which in turn would bring down the worth of credits (kinda like Greece is doing to the Euro hahah, I'm jesting).



    The mission skills cost a lot of credits like you said but it is the gathering skills that will hurt the economy the most (mainly slicing).
    Yeah sorry, I meant 3 gathering skills. Slicing and the missions skills do provide other useful things sure, but it mostly just gathers credits.

    I really wish the official forums would come back up, the dev explained it so much better than me. But the point was that it won't make you a lot of money because it will cost quite a bit. So as a crafter you have a few options for getting materials:
    1. Farm them yourself, which works just like other games except you physically don't have to walk over to it.
    2. Pay other people for them. Buy it on the GTN (AH), just like other games.
    3. Pay your companions to go farm them. This is the new option and I can see why you are worried, but since it costs money, chances are you won't make more than it costs.

    Remember that because you have only 1 crafting skill and 3 total crew skills means you won't run into people like in wow who have all crafting and no gathering who buy mats. The only people who buy mats off the gtn are going to do so because they can get it cheaper than from sending companions out themselves and they don't want to go out and farm themselves. Which means that anyone who sends their companions out on gathering missions all the time won't make money from just selling raw materials on the gtn. So the economy is balanced, and the companions farming won't be OP or cause problems.

  18. #18
    High Overlord
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Glasgow
    Posts
    184
    Quote Originally Posted by torftw View Post
    Yeah sorry, I meant 3 gathering skills. Slicing and the missions skills do provide other useful things sure, but it mostly just gathers credits.

    I really wish the official forums would come back up, the dev explained it so much better than me. But the point was that it won't make you a lot of money because it will cost quite a bit. So as a crafter you have a few options for getting materials:
    1. Farm them yourself, which works just like other games except you physically don't have to walk over to it.
    2. Pay other people for them. Buy it on the GTN (AH), just like other games.
    3. Pay your companions to go farm them. This is the new option and I can see why you are worried, but since it costs money, chances are you won't make more than it costs.

    Remember that because you have only 1 crafting skill and 3 total crew skills means you won't run into people like in wow who have all crafting and no gathering who buy mats. The only people who buy mats off the gtn are going to do so because they can get it cheaper than from sending companions out themselves and they don't want to go out and farm themselves. Which means that anyone who sends their companions out on gathering missions all the time won't make money from just selling raw materials on the gtn. So the economy is balanced, and the companions farming won't be OP or cause problems.
    Yeah dude, I understand your point completely. The credit cost of sending your characters out to gather could off-set the materials they gain. That's why I was asking the question if anyone knew the limitations of companions or if it had been mentioned. Also if they don't nerf slicing then that would be a major problem.

    Quote Originally Posted by ViolentSin View Post
    Traces. Your companions craft for you. You can gather also while you send them on a mission that costed credits to gather.

    In the beginning of crafting. It's not cheap. But end game it makes sense with it.

    You get 5 companions total. I'm completely sure if all can craft at the same time like from the same profession.
    You're just not understanding the point. I know my companions craft for me. I know I can send them on missions. I know I can send them gathering. I also know that these services all cost credits to do. My problem is there is currently nothing to stop me having 5 x 50 characters who all have 3 companions out gathering or crafting for them while I'm logged into another character or while I'm logged out. This would cause inflation of materials and if they used slicing, it would cause a devaluation of credits due to there being so many of them floating around.
    REPUBLIC
    <Insomnia> @ EU
    16-man Nightmare Raiding
    Ranged DPS and Healers needed

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by torftw View Post
    3. There is a dev quote (I would link it if the forums were up atm), but gathering missions as well as mission missions cost credits. They said that it is more expensive to constantly send alt companions on gathering missions than going out and just farming yourself.
    I read this on the official swtor forums.

    While what you propose is very possible, you need to have the resources to be able to do this. In the long run it would likely pay off, but having your companions do tasks for you costs money (credits).

    So it may very well not be practical for people to just flood the markets with collected goods from all their alts. If the market is saturated, then the cost of having your companions do stuff will be more than the return.

    It will likely have a bigger payoff with high end companion crew-skills missions, shelling out money for rare stuff, or simply hoping to get that ultra-rare item (RNG). This was from an official interview, noting that mission rewards could "crit" to give higher than expected rewards.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Traces View Post
    Yeah dude, I understand your point completely. The credit cost of sending your characters out to gather could off-set the materials they gain. That's why I was asking the question if anyone knew the limitations of companions or if it had been mentioned. Also if they don't nerf slicing then that would be a major problem.
    Ah okay, yeah slicing is kinda the oddball. But all they need to do is make sure the rewards are on average less than what you put in and then it just becomes a nice bonus for you if you are running around in the world. There doesn't need to be more limitations to companions simply because if you really want to pay for a bunch of alt's companions running out and finding mats then you can. But since they are taking money out of the system by doing that it helps keep it balanced.

    As for the inflation of raw materials I think that is probably true. With almost everyone having the ability to get the raw materials they need, they won't be the money makers they are in other mmos. But this is probably a good thing, finished products should be worth more than the mats they take, but in most mmos they aren't.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •