This quote does not specifically state that you will be able to craft world dropped custom items, which is what the previous poster said he had read.

I would like to see that "specific" quote if you have it handy because, says we will not be able to research custom items, because they are often quest rewards, not that we can research customs so long as they are not quest rewards.

That isn't what I got out of the Q&A thread. This says we can research end game items for orange equivalents, and that they will be BoE. This says we can research enhancements, mods, and armor layerings. This says we will be able to research ears, implants, shields, generators, ie equipped items that do not allow us to swap out mods. This says they do not want us to research orange items. Instead patterns for these items will be available via mission discovery.

I hope they keep the skins very limited, and that the lower the level of the pattern and required materials the more basic and boring the saber is.

Crafting is already required for many BiS items at end game. Crit crafted ear pieces, bracers, belts, relics, light sabers, ranged weapons, and implants have been available for months. Now with the addition of the last few slots being open to the same treatment a number of people have all of the sudden taken offense. I don't recall any of these threads asking for augment slots on the above listed items when they dropped in a raid or were bought with tokens for pvp, so why all the fuss now? If the content is not tuned on the basis of the extra stats then you are not expected to have them. If you do not need them to complete the next tier of raiding then you should not expect it handed to you from a drop in the previous tier of content. If you feel you want items with augment slots to improve your edge then the means will be there for you. It will require crafting, just like it always has.

I think you could go with both. Basic robes such as those that Darth Maul or Obi Wan wore, but use accents such as lanyards off of the hoods, colored piping on the leggings or lower robes, sashes, or even just cool embossed designs on the backs or chest areas that denote the higher levels of achievement. And yes please, I want a serious dark side assassin outfit like Darth Maul wore. : )

I hope this helps.

Reverse engineer and research are used independently. Research and reverse engineering are listed as available options for T2 items. Posting this one sentence below the statement" research is now available for T2 end game items" is redundant and would hardly provide a wide variety of new outfits. I doubt he was only referring to T2 items being able to be reverse engineered and researched. The big question I have had since I read these comments is other than T2 what constitutes "modifiable weapons and armor". We know he said we will not be able to research quest or vendor oranges. The other items we know we can place mods in are looted oranges, crafted oranges, prototype purples, operations and FP gear. If there is no "research available percentage display" to learn a schematic on any of the above then it is clear the system is not yet fully implemented.

Since we know he specifically stated T2 gear could be RE'd for schematics, and that the chance to learn a new schematic would display a percentage as you moused over the item, and neither of those functions currently exist on PTS I am going to go with the belief that they have not enabled that part of 1.2 on the PTS yet.

At least the world drops would give us access to boots and hands unlike the schematic sets.

The Dev said in a later post that we would not be able to RE social/Vendor and Quest reward items. What about the random dropped oranges? That seems to be the only possible group of oranges left.

Have you seen or heard of any orange patterns being discovered for hand, foot, wrist, or waist slots?

They have never stated any gear will automatically come with augment slots. They have specifically stated that BiS will be player crit crafted shells with the mods stripped from whatever the current top tier is. This makes the BiS for the five main armor slots and weapons the same as it already is for many Relics, Implants, Belts, Bracers, and Ear items currently in the game, ie raid drops plus crafting = BiS.

Have you tried to reverse engineer any non social item oranges yet? What were the results and how many attempts did you have? Thanks

What about artifact/purple crafted items currently in game? Will we be able to move armor/mod/enhancement items between them and other crafted custom, artifact, and Flashpoint/Operations dropped gear?