No roll back? Fail. You just inflated the value of valor points by an insane margin today, making achievements made in the system prior to this much less meaningful. This is not right BioWare. And this still doesn't fix the problem that there is a massive faction imbalance. What incentive do I have, as a Republic player, to go to Illum? How are we supposed to compete when we're outnumbered 4-1? We can't take the bases and earn as many valor points as Imps can. You're punishing Republic players for being the minority faction here. So what exactly do you have to say about this?? I'm not resubbing at this moment. World PvP is screwed to hell right now and the Warzone system isn't much better off. This game wasn't ready for release. I'll be back in a couple months and maybe things will be better off.

The game is all fine and dandy til you hit 50 and you realize the crew skills, markets, and end-game is completely botched.

I completely agree 110%. It completely demolishes the market for gathering materials. And removes the necessary money and material sink for end-game. Once you have made it, there is no other need for mats.

There is when there is no demand for any products due to the self-sufficiency and end-game irrelevancy of Crew Skills at level 50. The only active end-game market that I can observe across the spectrum is companion gifts. And these are being sold at a consistent net loss, so it hardly qualifies.

You forgot to mention that the 110% mount in Cybertech is the exact same design as the 100% speeder. It's just a different color. Completely underwhelming. Also, the reusable grenades in Cybertech, as of right now I believe, do not require Cybertech. So you can make them and then drop the skill. I used to make a profit off selling the ship parts, but now that everyone and their mother has hit 50, the market has become so saturated, that the parts are now selling for cheaper than you can make it... Biochem is the only true end-game profession at the moment. But at least Cybertech doesn't have it quite as bad as others, like Artifice and Armstech.

Thanks for that link. Might've been easier to find if there was a search function on these forums. But the point remains, and I think the issues are directly related. Until Crew Skills are actually relevant, there will continue to be no server economy. And without a server economy, there is no way that a viable 'end-game' can take place. This problem is literally holding the entire game back.

Let me preface this post by stating that I have been following SWTOR for many years and have remained an ardent fan of Bioware. I've also been a longtime fan of MMOs, particularly (you guessed it) WoW. I think SWTOR has the foundation of a great game. However, there is no doubt that there are many, many issues that need to be dealt with by Bioware...and quickly. Some of these issues simply are not defensible. There is perhaps nothing more integral to a healthy MMO population than a server economy. Right now, there is not one. This is due to several reasons. First: Crew Skills need a complete overhaul. Almost all of the crafting skills are useless at end-game, being far outpaced by commendation vendors and endgame PvP rewards. Only Biochem, and to a lesser extent Cybertech offer any redeeming values whatsoever. Because there is no constant use to craft consumables and other craftable items from professions, the demand for raw materials from gathering professions is at a near-standstill. Second: Everyone is self sufficient. I am a Cybertech. My gathering professions are Scavenging and Underworld Trading. As a result, I can gather all the materials I need by myself. I have absolutely no use for any other gathering profession. This is the same for every other Crew Skill. Bioware has made a huge mistake of boxing the professions into neat little categories. Instead of a crafting profession needing a wide assortment of raw materials from multiple gathering professions, it only needs materials from two, allowing everyone to become self-sufficient. The only profession that doesn't neatly fit into a nice little 3-way category with others is Slicing. And we all saw what happened to that skill. Third: Bioware has only allowed people to take one crafting skill. Consequently, this forces people to take two gathering skills. Therefore, even if I wanted to take two crafting professions, thereby forcing me to buy gathering mats to supplement them off of the GTN, I am not even allowed to do so. So where does this leave us? The economy is at a near stand-still. There is very little demand for raw gathering mats on the GTN. I literally have a bank full of metals and cloths from Scavenging and UWT. There is simply no market for them. There is no money sink or exchange of money other than repairing your armor and doing dailies. To fix this, Bioware needs to rethink their philosophy on Crew skills and the end-game economy: Self sufficiency in an MMO is bad for the server economy. There needs to be some level of dependency. All Crew Skills, not just Biochem, need to offer craftable items that make the skill worthwhile at end-game. Crew Skills need to offer a money and item-sink. Simply allowing players to craft a reusable flask or grenade does not work because there is no constant need for materials. The Biochem alternative in WoW is Alchemy. Instead of giving players a flask that never goes away, they simply double the timer on it. That is still a great bonus for alchemists, but it doesn't allow them to completely stop using their profession. They still have to keep making more flasks for themselves.

Agreed. The economy for mats is completely nonexistent. There is no need to buy anything from anyone because everyone is self-sufficient.

Sorry, OP, but you're in the vast minority on this one. People will do what the quest tells them to do. And the fastest way to achieve the desired goal is by avoiding PvP. Especially on servers where Imps vastly outnumbered Republic on mine. The Empire desperately needs more republic players to go to Ilum and change the nodes. If player killing came about, I daresay hardly anyone would ever fulfill the objective then due to the massive faction imbalance.

I've done this. A Smuggler or Imperial Operative simply uses Smuggle/Infiltrate, which is a temporary group stealth ability, near the person that has already begun capping the node. It will put them in stealth without breaking their cast time on the cap. They cannot, however, walk up to the node completely stealthed. They have to begin capping it out of stealth. And, of course, the smuggler/IO needs a partner to do this. It cannot be solo'd. Solutions for now is to use an AoE ability if you know someone is stealthed there. As I stated, you will have to have seen them first arrive at the node and out of combat before capping it.

I don't know what the correct solution to fixing slicing is at the moment, but slicing in its current state is NOT sustainable.

I really gotta agree with your point that right now the economy is almost nonexistent. There is NO NEED to buy and sell crafting materials AT ALL since everyone is self-sufficient. You can't sell gathering items on the AH and make some quick credits money like you can in other MMO's. This is the main problem that I've seeing. The issue of crew skills being useful at end-game can be easily alleviated by adding new useful patterns and schematics. For the issue of there being NO ECONOMY, it is going to require an overhaul of material requirements. One of the things that only further aggravates this problem is that you can only choose one crafting profession. Even if I wanted to choose two crafting professions, thereby having to buy mats on the GTN to level it, I am not even allowed to do so. Seriously, what was Bioware thinking when they developed this system?

Title says it. Can you level a crew skill, specifically slicing, to 400 on a low level alt? Or is there like a higher failure rate when you start doing much higher level missions? My alt is level 25 currently so I was wondering if I really needed to continue leveling him while I level slicing to 400.

Thank you for taking this issue seriously.

Well, at least you spelled 'ridiculous' correctly. I'll give you a +1 for that.