I'm currently working on my 3rd character after maxing out two.

 

I've found that the most effective way for me to level is to take the following skills:

 

1) Crafting

2) Gathering

3) Slicing

 

 

I gather every resource and keep my crafting leveled up. I slice nodes in the wild and send companions to run slicing missions when my gathering is high enough to hit every available node on the planet I'm currently leveling through.

 

By the time I'm 50, I have more than enough money coming in to buy my speeder training and all of my level 50 skills. Each toon is completely self-sufficient this way. I drop slicing and now have 5 companions to send out at a time to level my corresponding mission skill.

 

 

--Crafting still provides bonuses, as it's easy to keep current with green gear. You level so fast that it's not worth the time/money investing in blues/purples. Mission skills are not needed to craft greens.

 

--Slicing makes a ton of money. Seriously. I'm usually sitting around 500k credits AFTER speeder/skills, which is a nice amount to gear up for normal ops. Individual slicing missions might net you -200 to 1000 credits, but nodes in the wild quickly make up the difference.

 

 

TL;DR- Take Crafting, corresponding gathering, and slicing. At 50 drop slicing and power-level corresponding mission skill.

I prefer to take gathering/mission/slicing while leveling and then when I hit 50, I drop slicing for the crafting skill and level it up in a few hours. All crafting skills require a supporting gathering and mission skill.

All crafting skills require a supporting gathering and mission skill.

 

No, they don't.

 

All crafting skills POSSESS a supporting gathering and mission skill, and you can't take more than one crafting skill, but there the restrictions end.