Okay, so we've all seen a billion threads wondering why on earth they would implement a crafting system that would basically make us NEVER wear the high end PvP and PvE armor pieces because everyone would just be ripping the mods out and putting in oranges. I myself question the point of all of these dramatic gear models (most of them terrible but that is another discussion) when basically no one will use them. Most people are still going to keep biochem and level things like armormech, synth on their alts. I personally refuse to level synth on my main just to have the high level gear "look".

 

Anyways back to the point....

 

High rated warzone PvP gear should automatically have an augment slot.

NOW before you make your argument AGAINST this let me go ahead and preemptively refute these arguments.

 

1. "This would give an unfair advantage to the high rated people in pvp!?!?!?" - Um no... you can get any piece of orange gear and have the exact same stats.

 

2. "High rated people are the only ones who get to wear the unique looking gear" - I believe in essence... this should be the actual drive to get a high rating. This is what keeps you into it, and when people see you they will have a higher respect with the "ooo ahhh" factor.

 

3. "This will ruin all of the buffs to the crafting system" - Alas this could potentially be the biggest argument, but I will argue why it is not true. Only a select group of people will actually GET this gear, so what will 80-90% of the rest of the population have to do?? That's right, buy orange crit crafted pieces. Also, everyone still needs AUGMENTS, a nice little money maker for every crew skill out there.

 

On to PvE!!!

 

There needs to be a significant quest line or chain of repeatables that must be completed that will specifically ADD augment slots to the highest tier of PvE gear and ONLY PvE gear.

1. The MAIN problem I see with this is how difficult and time consuming this quest chain or repeatable should be. It should not be so easy as to ruin the crafting market, but it should be doable enough to where top end raiding guilds can have augmented top tier PvE gear in a month or 2 without gouging their eyes out.

 

 

I honestly can't see any reason why this shouldn't happen and I am perfectly open to discussion. I just hope someone from the DEV team reads this .

You can RE the unique gear just the same and get your Augment slot. The whole change will be better for the economy and adds a new layer to high end gear that is dependent on the community.

"We have also heard at the Guild Summit and through community feedback on the Forums that many players have built up a significant stack of custom appearances for future use in their cargo holds and would really like to upgrade these with an augment slot to make them fully competitive as end game gear. We absolutely support this and will be introducing the ability to do so in a future Game Update."

 

http://www.swtor.com/blog/community-qa-friday-march-30th-2012-game-update-1.2-special

 

Do we think this is adding augments or adding schematics for the stored armour, otherwise it may not help

Edited April 2, 2012 by spoonguy

The whole point of this is end game gear should not require you to be synthweaving or armormech to RE it to get an augment slot. The economy would still greatly improve even with my changes, and you could get the augment slots EASIER by being synthweaving or armormech. If you put work in another way by doing operations or being a high rated pvper, you should have an alternative option.

I think to get the best possible gear, a crafter should HAVE to be involved. Just making it easier by having a crafter is irrelevant. If crafters aren't REQUIRED to have the best stuff...they aren't needed and crafting is pointless. I would rather see us not get ANY actual gear from pvp or pve, only rare ingredients needed for crafting. If crafters could make every kind of gear, with the more awesome looking pieces harder to obtain schematics for, I think that'd be ideal.

 

And if the argument against this is that you could then just BUY all the equipment, you could have a ranking system just like valor. You would still have to get ranked up a certain level before being able to wear a certain gear piece. Or you could make the ingredient drops unique for your character. So If I get some rare leather needed for a chest piece, it could be bound to my character for equipping. I could hire a synthweaver to create the gear with it, but only I could wear it.

 

I suppose I could have explained this better, but it comes down to this: I support a system where crafters are required. I'm not a hard core crafter, I often even skip it in games. But some of the best and most fun economies in games are the ones in which crafters make everything. I'd like to see a modern MMO in which we only have vendors for basic items and we need crafters to make everything else.

What this could potentially look like is you having to be a lvl 400 biochem to get the reusables benefit regularly and cheaply and then getting the pvp war hero armor sets (assuming it binds), and then switching to armormech and training that to lvl400, getting the augment slot, and then switching back to biochem so that you can keep your advantage.

 

Do many people forsee this? I'd like to see what the crafting professions of the top rated people will be.

The whole point of this is end game gear should not require you to be synthweaving or armormech to RE it to get an augment slot. The economy would still greatly improve even with my changes, and you could get the augment slots EASIER by being synthweaving or armormech. If you put work in another way by doing operations or being a high rated pvper, you should have an alternative option.

 

Your changes don't help. It's your opinion that crafters shouldn't be involved, it's others opinions that they should be involved. Nothing more to say. It's gonna happen, live with it.

I would rather see us not get ANY actual gear from pvp or pve, only rare ingredients needed for crafting. If crafters could make every kind of gear, with the more awesome looking pieces harder to obtain schematics for, I think that'd be ideal.

 

Interesting point, one I've often thought of myself. There's a downside though. People like to find phat loots when they kill bosses, not crafting components. It would be tough to retain the pve/raid population if they only find components.

 

I've come to the hypothesis that the best crafting solution is leaving gear alone (ala raid tiers even though I hate them), and having crafters create gear enhancements. You could have multiple enhancement types on one item so its not like you'd be stuck with just a belt buckle ala wow. I won't get into the details here, but it's a system that would really benefit crafters and make raiders rely on crafters for min/maxing while still finding their phat lootz while raiding.

Edited April 2, 2012 by Marlaine

If you put work in another way by doing operations or being a high rated pvper, you should have an alternative option.

 

Funny how that argument never seems to work when it comes to crafting without raiding.

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.

That's a great point. My Rakata implants and earpieces have been sitting in cargo for 2 months because I shelled out for the *gasp* crafted exceptional Columi versions and slapped a *gasp* crafted Adv 22 aug in them.

What this could potentially look like is you having to be a lvl 400 biochem to get the reusables benefit regularly and cheaply and then getting the pvp war hero armor sets (assuming it binds), and then switching to armormech and training that to lvl400, getting the augment slot, and then switching back to biochem so that you can keep your advantage.

 

Do many people forsee this? I'd like to see what the crafting professions of the top rated people will be.

 

Or, you could just BUY the orange item with the augment slot. This is supposed to be a multiplayer game and all that. Other players playing, some of them almost certainly armormechs...

 

edit:

The whole point of this is end game gear should not require you to be synthweaving or armormech to RE it to get an augment slot.

 

You're absolutely correct. It shouldn't. It should, however, need to be TOUCHED by a synthweaver or armormech (or armstech, or artifice, etc.). YOU don't need to be the armor crafter though. Just that there has to be one involved.

 

And that's what this, from what I can tell, does.

Edited April 2, 2012 by GnatB