I completely see the (possible) economy issue. But, I do not believe the answer is to remove the potential to earn a reward just because you outlevel content. A person who does a lot of flashpoints, PvP, or all quests will eventually outlevel a lot of the content in the game. Now you're penalizing the player for not following a strict system of "level this fast for this reward or else" and I don't think that's the right direction. I'm sorry I don't have a solution to the (possible) economy issue, but two wrongs don't make a right to me.

Only thing I'm seeing with this change is I'm going to spend twice as much time gaining affection with my last companion (and similar on my other companions). Before, on level 49 quests, I was gaining 133 affection each conversation item. Now? 56 or so. Add to that that there aren't that many conversations for him to gain darn affection, I'm working longer and harder to max out this item on all companions now. It doesn't look like I'll ever see a gain of 133 again and instead have a gain that is less than one-half what it used to be (and it was high for good reason, you get him very late in the game and it didn't force you to grind a ton just to raise his affection). My only question is: Why change something like this at all if you've done nothing to expand on affection in the expansion beyond 10,000 when all you're doing is making us work longer and harder to do something others in the past did more easily? No.

I don't know what's happening with crafting, I don't know if you ever plan on fixing so many of the problems out there. But, for the love that is all holy, at least update the recipes so that there is a way to see which recipes actually will result in a blue or purple recipe when reverse engineered. There's nothing like wasting time making 50 vibroknives, reverse engineering with no luck, and then having to come to the forums here to find out that there are no blue recipes from greens on said items. I shouldn't have to come here to find the answers, they should be made available to me in the game. And even further, working to save us time instead of us spending our time doing pointless tasks should be a priority for you, BioWare.

I never said they can't benefit from anything at max level. There are purple recipes that can be critically crafted, but the percentage chance of them criting is very low. People will not want to pay through the nose on gear like that unless it's at max level. I say that level 10-45 gear is unnecessary since you will focus on modding whatever orange gear you have. At the end game, you will focus on getting the rarer crafted or raid/instance drop from non-mod creating crafters. I never said that crafting is pointless at the end game, I said that up to that point, there is no actual need for certain craft skills. Any skill that can craft mods (Artifice and Cybertech), is currently in demand across all levels. Instead of going cyberweave, I could have gone cybertech and just crafted myself the best mods and made a lot of money on selling them as well. I would be better off up until the end game where I would then look for either crit crafted gear or raid/instance drops. I have never said that crafting is unnecessary at all levels, and especially painted a picture that all crafting is pointless in general.

You do know you just proved my point about orange gear, right?

And those will really only be useful at end game, which I mention in my original post but not directly, since there is a % chance of getting that type of gear. So, when min-maxing, it'll be useful at end gear. But, from levels 10-45? No one will care since there's a low chance of getting such gear in the first place and you have to have reverse engineered all armor pieces and the such to get it on a purple piece.

You guys keep saying I'm asking appearance to take a backseat without reading the multiple posts that I've said this isn't so and supplied options to maintain one's appearance based on the options available in other MMOs.

As I said, this is an MMO. It's not real life, it's not a book. The concept of replacing gear for better stats is as old as time. You will, honestly, need to let that concept go or get left behind. It's also the way that MMO makers get you coming back for new expansions. They need you to want to hunt for new gear, to get higher levels, to outlevel the old content and gear. They need you to come back and keep subscribing. But, they also need to maintain an appearance option for those who want it. Such as you and using your first lightsaber. But, the stat system? Last time I checked, Luke's lightsaber didn't have any and all of them in SWtOR do.

This isn't real life, this is an MMO where itemization and stat management is one of the key elements to the game. Having said that, there are many options to maintain one's appearance while allowing for item upgrades available to BioWare. They just have decided to ignore them. Examples are: DC Universe Online - every item you wear allows you to then change your appearance to match that item at any time. Champions Online - You can buy new appearance slots and switch between them. EverQuest 2 - You have an appearance tab and can put items there while your standard equipment tab holds the stat-important items.

Okay, I already said people will buy the 50 stuff for the best looks. Now, why will anyone buy the level 10-45 stuff if they can just buy the best looking gear at 50? This isn't about crafts not having some use at level 50, but about them having some desired use inbetween. Mods on my server are in extremely hot demand, as is orange gear. Green and blue armor and weapons? Not even close. Purple items? So rare because of how hard they are to make up until you get to the max level and have the time and investment to make. Orange gear has a purpose in its appearance, but the method in which they have decided to implement this appearance has made an issue for certain crafters as it concerns the need (or lack thereof) to upgrade and therefore the ability for a crafter to actually sell their goods. The only way I've been able to sell my blue gear is to undercut it by such a margin that I'd do almost just as well selling it to a merchant for credits.

There is no power gain from using crafted armor and weapons that isn't greater than a modded orange of any type until the end game. Furthermore, if you want to keep a look, many MMOs have already implemented appearance slots that could serve this point. I would support this as well, but I feel it is vitally important to look at the importance of creating a need for all types of gear and not just certain types.

Because commendation vendors usually give you blue mods, not purple. Big difference in those. In comparison to the necessity of crafting skills, mod crafts are right at the top because of this. On a strictly PvE server where you can just use whatever drops and level to max, it still is the craft that is seen as the most needed. On PvP servers or PvP events, people will see an even bigger need for them. But, they won't see a need for a level 40 orange chest piece over a level 10 orange chest piece as it pertains to improving their character's skills and abilities.

As it is, most people look to get a single orange piece for each of their slots and work to keep them upgraded with mods. Perhaps once someone hits the max level they will worry about looks or upgrade if they happen to find an orange drop. The problem is that this type of play is ruining the purpose of many crafting crew skills up until they are able to craft the end-game materials. If a level 10 orange piece of armor can hold the same mods as a level 50 orange piece of armor, why would anyone waste the money early on to invest in any other armor except for looks? They wouldn't, and the majority won't. The same for orange lightsabers. This forces a view that certain crafting skills are pretty much just moneysinks with only a purpose of making high level, better looking items that can also be slotted with mods. IMHO, they need to either: A) Change it so that lower level orange gear and higher level orange gear vary in their ability to accept mods. Meaning, that a level 10 lightsaber might have an option to change the crystal's color, but a level 50 will offer all of the mod options, perhaps more than are currently implemented now. B) Change it so that orange gear can only accept a max level of mod into them, meaning that people will eventually need to buy or loot a higher version of the item. As it is, I believe the crafting system is broken for all but mod and biochem crafts in that the need for the majority of their gear is overshadowed by the fact that you only need to find a single item and keep upgrading it with mods. There is no need, though some may want, to continue to invest in upgrades of these items until the end game. There is always a need to invest in new mods and better aids, though. Every craft deserves to be needed. Edit: This is not an attack against those who want to find and maintain an appearance. Many MMOs out there use appearance slots for such things (EQ2 even has a whole panel that allows you to put gear for appearance) while maintaining the stats of the higher level gear.