- The addition of tanking mods to Cybertech.

- A hard look at RE overall. Being unable to RE gear between two of my Legacy Cybertechs, or from crafted peices purchased off the GTN, is silly and pointless. Add the ability to RE schematics from mod drops. Going through 46 stacks of 5 mods, and never getting a RE to a higher quality is ridiculous.

- Change all companions to +5 Mission Efficiency/+1 Crit. As it stands Treek and HK are far superior crafters for that reason alone.

- Reiterating the removal of Scavanging components for Synthweaving recipes.

- Increase effectiveness of companion mission Efficiency, or dramatically reduce higher-end crafting times. Suggestion: double or more the effectiveness of Affection on crafting times.

- Reiteration of the Legacy crafting cargo hold (although a Legacy cargo hold, full stop, would be the optimal solution).

So how they was supposed to refresh, on hard time or else?

By running the missions presented. Run a mission and upon return the list refreshes. One is supposed to take what they are given. I know I do. I may not always like what I am given, but since I am always in the need for a lot of different things, I have no problem running the one bountiful UT metals mission and the one rich Arch artifact fragments mission and then running two companion gift missions and crafting some augments; or sending all five companions on scavenging missions because that list has the two rich, two bountiful and the moderate tricopper flux mission, while slicing only has the one bountiful lockbox mission; or crafting lots of CT mods because neither UWT nor Scav has anything worth running.; the list goes on.

Such fix would only make part of game even more annoying - buy slots from CM, raise to 11 - go to fleet and train skill ... if not work with 2 or 5 chars - let do it with 15.

Hence why they chose not to fix it. For many players it would be annoying, but only because they are used to being able to swap areas to refresh the list.

That being said, imagine if the system had been implemented as intended (static until a mission returns). Just looking at grade 9 mission skill missions:

- chances are that all missions would crit purple results rather than just bountiful and rich

- chances are there would have been companion gift missions

The randomness of the mission list was supposed to be a supply limiting agent.

All that being said, last year I proposed a change to the mission system where all missions were available but once one was run it went on a cooldown, the better the mission the longer the CD, and the more often one ran a mission the longer the CD got. Check: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=542599

It got no traction last year (only a handful of reads and no comments).

By running the missions presented. Run a mission and upon return the list refreshes. One is supposed to take what they are given.

Not all of us do.

For what it's worth, you can actually refresh the missions without running missions. I routinely refresh my mission log by re-entering my ship. I believe you can do the same by logging off and then back on. On one occasion, I also canceled a crafting mission (the op I was supposed to go on was canceled) three minutes after I started, and that refreshed the list as well. Can't recall if I got a refund, and I haven't tried it since.

Personally, though, I would find it highly annoying if this method didn't work and I actually had to run missions on all seven of my alts in order to refresh the crafting missions they had available. If that were the case, I highly doubt I'd bother with crafting at all. While I completely understand (and even sympathize with) the concept of limiting supplies and this would seem like a good idea from the macroeconomic level, this would kill any enjoyment that was derived from crafting except for either the most casual or most OCD of crafters.

Not all of us do.

 

For what it's worth, you can actually refresh the missions without running missions. I routinely refresh my mission log by re-entering my ship. I believe you can do the same by logging off and then back on. On one occasion, I also canceled a crafting mission (the op I was supposed to go on was canceled) three minutes after I started, and that refreshed the list as well. Can't recall if I got a refund, and I haven't tried it since.

 

Personally, though, I would find it highly annoying if this method didn't work and I actually had to run missions on all seven of my alts in order to refresh the crafting missions they had available. If that were the case, I highly doubt I'd bother with crafting at all. While I completely understand (and even sympathize with) the concept of limiting supplies and this would seem like a good idea from the macroeconomic level, this would kill any enjoyment that was derived from crafting except for either the most casual or most OCD of crafters.

Any less enjoyable than changing areas/relogging ten times over to get the mission that simply refuses to show up in the list?

My point is that if more players were (like me) less worried about getting that perfect set of missions or that one mission that they always run , this would not be as big an issue as it is.

And... read your other post (and Mithros'). Would have replied when I first saw it, but I left SWTOR about a year and a half ago and only recently came back. Just started reading the forums about two weeks ago.

[snip]

I would rather just be able to pick from every available mission. If they wanted to limit how much material someone could get, they need a better system than what they have now (cooldowns on missions, for example, so even though a mission may only take an hour to run, you wouldn't be able to run it more than once every four hours or whatever).

 

First, mission cooldown time would have to be based on the quality of the mission. Moderate return missions would have the shortest cooldown and rich return missions would have the longest cooldown.

 

Moderate - 1.5 hour

Abundant - 2 hours

Bountiful - 3 hours

Rich - 5 hours

 

The above durations are based on the cooldown starting as soon as you start the mission assuming a one hour mission time. The reason for this is that there are those of us who are not online all day and would hate to start a mission in the morning, before going to work/school only to have the cooldown start 7-10 hours later when you log back on and actually get the returns.

 

Second, I think that the more times you do a mission in succession the longer the cooldown should be. Each successive time to do a specific mission its cooldown should be increased by 10%. The cooldown increases can be reset either by not doing a particular mission for double its initial cooldown (so for a rich mission you would have to wait 10 hours), or they simply reset each week (like everything else on a weekly cycle).

 

With the numbers above after doing a rich return mission approximately ten times in a row it behooves you to wait out the 10 hours to reset. But if you are like me and kick off missions in the morning before work and then want to do more over night you will almost always be waiting ten hours anyway.

 

Thoughts, questions?

So... to answer your request for feedback, I like the idea but I'm not crazy about the execution. The times involved are, at least IMO, too long. Of course, I do have to provide the caveat that I'm not a traditional crafter in that I have very nearly zero interest in selling on the GTN, so what would be good for me would not necessarily be good for the community as a whole (as you've alluded to in the past).

As an aside (feel free to ignored this part), my interest in crafting has always been solely about gearing up my main, whatever that main might be. Making money is a distant 2nd in priority. Heck, in SWG, I played a 2nd account just so I could make the best 2-h curved swords on my server, and I did. Had no interest in selling them, either (only sold two to friends), and flat out refused multiple offers. And yes, I know the powersword had better stats, but I wanted a katana, dammit! So Karballo the Wookie Master Swordsman/Master Brawler had the best damn katana you could find on my server, and one of the best swords, period, but both Karballo and Yakimitsu were routinely poor as church mice.

Anyway, though.... if I had my way, I would like to have seen a dedicated crafting class (or classes, even), where all the limitations you suggest would be applied to non-crafting classes. In such a scenario, you might have had a dedicated "Cybertech" class, or a "Synthweaver" class, etc., and those classes might have had access to multiple companions (or "assistants") right from the start. Or perhaps it would have made more sense to just have a generic "Crafter" class who would have had access to several different crafting skills. Of course, if this were the case, I think they would have to have had some sort of end game incentive for the crafter. Either the crafter gets to make items that are better than end-game content (which kills a lot of the motivation to raid) or perhaps crafting materials needed for the end game gear drops during those raids (which effectively gimps the crafter).

Of course, I say, "would like to have seen" because I can't imagine any way to implement a dedicated crafter class now. They would have had to do that at launch.

Any less enjoyable than changing areas/relogging ten times over to get the mission that simply refuses to show up in the list?

 

My point is that if more players were (like me) less worried about getting that perfect set of missions or that one mission that they always run , this would not be as big an issue as it is.

You bet. Right now, leaving my ship and re-entering it takes about 30 seconds. Granted, sometimes the mission log takes multiple tries to refresh with missions I actually want (sometimes it just goes from 4 gift missions to 5), but I tend to have pretty good luck with this, and usually within 5-10 minutes I can queue 17 different companions across seven separate toons with every mission I want. Of course, the limiting factor always seems to be money, so I don't do that very often any more.

Oh, and I would wonder if I'm a bit different from some in that I also don't sweat getting a rich mission every time, but am perfectly happy settling for the lower levels as well and will also occasionally send out five companion gift missions too if things aren't refreshing right away.

[edit] Forgot to mention; I have never had to refresh 10 times. Most I've ever done is four, once. Usually I'll get the gathering mission(s) I'm looking for on the first refresh. Perhaps a fourth of the time I get nothing. The most common scenario is: get 1-2 missions I'm looking for right off the bat. Refresh. Get 1-2 more. Refresh (if needed). Get remaining missions.

TOP FOUR ITEMS:

1) RE-BUFF: When you RE an item you get a buff that lasts 30 seconds and stacks up to 10 times with refresh of 30 seconds each attempt. Each RE'd item / stack adds a +1% chance to RE something for a MAX improvement to RE an item by +10% chance to RE an item.

2) Generic +5 CRIT Sensor for droid. Right now Cybertech and Sythweavers have a serious advantage and all the other sensors are a waste of the $100k to purchase them. Biochems and Artificers are getting the shaft here with items.

3) LEGENDARY Craftables? Why do we have on GTN if nobody can make them and no schematics can be found. If you RE attempt something you KNOW already then provide a 1% chance to RE a "LEGENDARY" Schematic.

4) Remove AUG SLOT CRIT and provide TWO items instead. Nothing more annoying than the ability to NOT get two items from a CRIT of an end game piece of gear. Relics, Implants, Gear and Earpieces all fall into this category.

@Georgemattson,

The numbers I chose were relatively arbitrary...a starting point. They also assumed an average one hour mission when in fact most missions are 30-45 minutes. The point of the cooldown was to prevent players from stacking rich mission after rich mission after rich mission. Those, like me, who login in the morning and in the evening would not be affected, but those who login and run missions all day long would be.

On the topic of a dedicated crafter class: in my experience dedicated crafting classes are the express domain of sandbox RPGs; implementing one in a theme park RPG does not make a lot of sense. Themepark RPGs are about playing heroes; one really has to be a hero (or villain) to play through a themepark RPG. Sandbox RPGs can be heroic but they are more about an alternate life; Yes, you can be a hero or villain but that is not the only path available. So the question that has to be answered is: how is being a crafter heroic/villainous?

The closest analogy I can think of are the Ferengi in ST:TNG. The Ferengi were supposed to be the new "arch-nemesis" of the Federation and Starfleet. They were greedy in the extreme, they only cared for profit. And the creators, realized very quickly how un-villain-like the Ferengi were. Sure, in the eyes of the Federation, their ideals were less than honorable, but they were more like low level gangsters than mob bosses. And they fell by the wayside; by the end of season one the Romulans were back in the picture and the Cardassians were not far behind.

Getting back to SWTOR: what would the crafter class story be - Going from planet to planet as a "handy man"? And then what would a crafter do (role) in group content? What would the two advanced classes be? Lastly, obviously a crafter class would have to have an advantage in crew skills. What would that advantage be? Remember it cannot be overly advantageous or else it is unbalanced.

On changing areas/relogging: There have been players who have posted on these forums that they have changed areas 20 times and not gotten the mission(s) they wanted. Granted those are probably quite rare in the grand scheme. And I know that changing ten times on one character is also rare. But spending 10-20 minutes getting the missions one wants across six characters and 20+ companions, IMO, is a less than ideal use of one's game time.

Pete - a few responses:

The numbers I chose were relatively arbitrary...a starting point. They also assumed an average one hour mission when in fact most missions are 30-45 minutes. The point of the cooldown was to prevent players from stacking rich mission after rich mission after rich mission. Those, like me, who login in the morning and in the evening would not be affected, but those who login and run missions all day long would be.

Definitely agree about the stacking rich missions repeatedly; that just seems silly. As things currently stand, you can stack missions of varying difficulties without a significant time investment and without doing the ship refresh thing too often. I also double-checked on the abandoning mission thing, and no, you don't get a refund, so that's at least a check on that potential abuse.

From a purely selfish standpoint, I view the refresh thing as perfectly acceptable. It's somewhat of a pain, so I won't do it unless I'm specifically looking to craft that day, but it's something I can also work around relatively quickly if I am looking to craft. Insofar as how it works in the broader scheme of the game or my specific server as a whole, I can't say I'm qualified to comment as I'm just a casual crafter and don't pay much attention to the GTN.

On the topic of a dedicated crafter class: in my experience dedicated crafting classes are the express domain of sandbox RPGs; implementing one in a theme park RPG does not make a lot of sense. Themepark RPGs are about playing heroes; one really has to be a hero (or villain) to play through a themepark RPG. Sandbox RPGs can be heroic but they are more about an alternate life; Yes, you can be a hero or villain but that is not the only path available. So the question that has to be answered is: how is being a crafter heroic/villainous?

Who says they need to be? Are all of your alts heroic/villanous? I would be willing to bet there are a fairly large number of players (especially within the crafting community) who have multiple mules who do nothing more than gather materials. How would a crafting class be any different, other than formalizing a function that's already in place?

Of course, that being said, I did say there is no way I could see implementing a crafting class now, after launch. You'd either have to add uber crafting abilities to the new class which would devalue every other class' crafting abilities or remove some crafting abilities from everyone else, both of which would completely disrupt the game economy and likely cause a player revolt. Had they done this at launch, it might have been a viable class, but it definitely would have been a paradigm shift on class mechanics. Could a crafting class work in a themepark MMO? I know I've never seen it done, but I don't think that's necessarily proof positive that it couldn't be done well and meet some level of success.

The closest analogy I can think of are the Ferengi in ST:TNG. The Ferengi were supposed to be the new "arch-nemesis" of the Federation and Starfleet. They were greedy in the extreme, they only cared for profit. And the creators, realized very quickly how un-villain-like the Ferengi were. Sure, in the eyes of the Federation, their ideals were less than honorable, but they were more like low level gangsters than mob bosses. And they fell by the wayside; by the end of season one the Romulans were back in the picture and the Cardassians were not far behind.

So, if I follow your analogy correctly, are you saying that just because you thinking crafters would be unpopular, they shouldn't be included? If that's the case (and I might be reading this wrong/putting words in your mouth), I would have to disagree. If we based class availability purely on popularity, we'd all be swinging lightsabers and the Scoundrel & Vanguard classes would go by the wayside:

http://dulfy.net/2012/03/15/swtor-overall-advanced-class-distribution/

(old data, granted, but I'm guessing you get my point)

Getting back to SWTOR: what would the crafter class story be - Going from planet to planet as a "handy man"? And then what would a crafter do (role) in group content? What would the two advanced classes be? Lastly, obviously a crafter class would have to have an advantage in crew skills. What would that advantage be? Remember it cannot be overly advantageous or else it is unbalanced.

Who says there would have to have been any class story, advanced classes, or group content role? I think you're looking at this as being someone's primary class, as a substitute for the existing classes. In no way whatsoever am I saying that would have been a good idea. Rather, this would have been a supplemental class that would have been completely outside the traditional class mechanics. You'd have your four "base" classes (mirrored on the Republic & Imperial sides) with 16 advanced classes and one separate "supplemental" class. If you wanted to do an advanced class for the crafter, it might have made sense to allow each of the individual crafting skills as an advanced class and perhaps allow that specific crafting skill to rise to 450 and all the others to limit at some arbitrary lower level.

All theorizing aside, though, I get the impression you're missing the point I made where I can't imagine any way possible in which this could be implemented now. Had this been part of the original design, I think it might have worked.

On changing areas/relogging: There have been players who have posted on these forums that they have changed areas 20 times and not gotten the mission(s) they wanted. Granted those are probably quite rare in the grand scheme. And I know that changing ten times on one character is also rare. But spending 10-20 minutes getting the missions one wants across six characters and 20+ companions, IMO, is a less than ideal use of one's game time.

In your opinion, certainly. Not everyone has the same priorities, though.

By the way - you do realize this is George, from William's old gaming group back in Denver, right?

From a purely selfish standpoint, I view the refresh thing as perfectly acceptable....

This is my biggest problem with most of the suggestions made on these forums; too many players make suggestions from a pure selfish POV - they do not think about the greater ramifications. What's good for the individual may not be so good for the population as a whole. In this case, changing areas/relogging is a sufficient deterrent for many players to either take what they are given and/or not bother with crafting at all. Introduce a "refresh button" and the more materials and more crafters WILL enter the crafting part of this game.

Who says they need to be? Are all of your alts heroic/villanous? I would be willing to bet there are a fairly large number of players (especially within the crafting community) who have multiple mules who do nothing more than gather materials. How would a crafting class be any different, other than formalizing a function that's already in place?

Just because a specific player chooses to turn a character he/she has into a mule does not mean that is the designed intent. In this game every class has a story. Just because I choose not to play my SI beyond level 31 and have made him my artifice mule, does not mean the class is not intended to be played as a hero of the Empire.

Could a crafting class work in a themepark MMO? I know I've never seen it done, but I don't think that's necessarily proof positive that it couldn't be done well and meet some level of success.

Unless this theoretical crafter class throws all the standard progression processes out the window:

- there is a level 10 requirement to get access to crew skills. How does a crafter get to level 10, or do we throw out that requirement.

- the character itself does not do anything in crew skills, only companions craft and go on missions. How does a crafter get it companions without a story?

- and only a certain number of companions can be sent out at certain levels. If a crafter class does not gain class levels and has no story do we simply allow the class to send out five companions at level 10?

...I just do not see how it can work and not be completely imbalanced. Everyone who wants to craft in this game would create one crafter for each crafting crew skill, and VERY few would bother with crew skills on any "heroic" character.

Who says there would have to have been any class story, advanced classes, or group content role? I think you're looking at this as being someone's primary class, as a substitute for the existing classes. In no way whatsoever am I saying that would have been a good idea. Rather, this would have been a supplemental class that would have been completely outside the traditional class mechanics. You'd have your four "base" classes (mirrored on the Republic & Imperial sides) with 16 advanced classes and one separate "supplemental" class. If you wanted to do an advanced class for the crafter, it might have made sense to allow each of the individual crafting skills as an advanced class and perhaps allow that specific crafting skill to rise to 450 and all the others to limit at some arbitrary lower level.

So, basically you would mix systems: level based progression for all the primary classes and a skill based system for this one supplemental class? That is unnecessarily complicated.

All theorizing aside, though, I get the impression you're missing the point I made where I can't imagine any way possible in which this could be implemented now. Had this been part of the original design, I think it might have worked.

I did not miss that point, but you know me, I enjoy theorizing and playing devil's advocate .

In your opinion, certainly. Not everyone has the same priorities, though.

By the way - you do realize this is George, from William's old gaming group back in Denver, right?

When i saw the your username, I had a feeling .

This is my biggest problem with most of the suggestions made on these forums; too many players make suggestions from a pure selfish POV - they do not think about the greater ramifications. What's good for the individual may not be so good for the population as a whole. In this case, changing areas/relogging is a sufficient deterrent for many players to either take what they are given and/or not bother with crafting at all. Introduce a "refresh button" and the more materials and more crafters WILL enter the crafting part of this game.

Yep. No argument there.

Just because a specific player chooses to turn a character he/she has into a mule does not mean that is the designed intent. In this game every class has a story. Just because I choose not to play my SI beyond level 31 and have made him my artifice mule, does not mean the class is not intended to be played as a hero of the Empire.

Yep. No argument here either. However, I have to believe that a large number of people do this, and therefore the desire for a dedicated crafting class is there. You and I have discussed SWG before, and while I understand the sandbox vs theme park argument, I would suggest that a lot of the same people who enjoyed the crafting classes in SWG are here in World of Star Wars Craft. If there ever happened to be a World of Star Wars Craft II, I wouldn't mind seeing a dedicated crafting class (or multiple such classes). It might not be overly popular (heck, it might bomb completely), but the fact that people were willing to take Master Dancer as a class (yes, I met several back in the day who weren't just doing it for the holo-grind) proves there are other demographics that play these games beyond the shoot/stab/blow up/explore crowd.

Unless this theoretical crafter class throws all the standard progression processes out the window:

- there is a level 10 requirement to get access to crew skills. How does a crafter get to level 10, or do we throw out that requirement.

Sure. Why not? Again, not in this game (it's way too late for it here), and maybe it's just a tad bit disingenuous for me to be responding to this idea in a thread about what we'd like to see in a patch, but maybe in a future sequel or the next Star Wars-themed MMO..

Okay, screw this; I fully admit I just want SWG 2, dammit! Pre-CU, of course.

- the character itself does not do anything in crew skills, only companions craft and go on missions. How does a crafter get it companions without a story?

Use your imagination on this one. Just off the top of my head, I could see a situation where there isn't really any story, per se, but companions are either granted immediately upon character creation, gained as certain skill levels are reached, or perhaps contracted out. Heck, who's to say the crafting class would even have to have a traditional level progression? Maybe they stay at "level one" forever or eventually go to level ten at a top level, but their effectiveness is purely measured by their crafting skills.

Of course, all of that neglects the impact on the rest of the server and the global economy, but I have to think there's some kind of option where a dedicated crafting class could positively impact and influence an SWTOR 2. Not sure how much point it would be to continue this discussion, though as it'll never happen here.

- and only a certain number of companions can be sent out at certain levels. If a crafter class does not gain class levels and has no story do we simply allow the class to send out five companions at level 10?

 

...I just do not see how it can work and not be completely imbalanced. Everyone who wants to craft in this game would create one crafter for each crafting crew skill, and VERY few would bother with crew skills on any "heroic" character.

Not sure I'd see a problem with that. Again, if we're just being completely hypothetical and re-designing SWTOR according to what we'd like to see, why not dispense with crew skills on heroic characters completely?

Having said that, though, I see your point. Having crew skills on heroic characters or having a dedicated crafting class... six of one, half dozen of the other.

So, basically you would mix systems: level based progression for all the primary classes and a skill based system for this one supplemental class? That is unnecessarily complicated.

Yeah, now that I think about it, it certainly would be. But then again, you ought to see the post apocalyptic RPG I originally designed (and, if you recall, that I tried to get you, Will, and the others to play). Horrifically complex. You would think after a while I would learn my lesson.

When i saw the your username, I had a feeling .

Yeah, I figured there couldn't be too many people with a user name of "psandak" from Denver.

Oh, and by the way... wish you were playing on POT5. We could do some PvP together.

Next time you're looking for a really good laugh, come on over. And if that's not enough, I can guarantee I'll make you feel better about your own PvP skills.

This is my biggest problem with most of the suggestions made on these forums; too many players make suggestions from a pure selfish POV - they do not think about the greater ramifications. What's good for the individual may not be so good for the population as a whole. In this case, changing areas/relogging is a sufficient deterrent for many players to either take what they are given and/or not bother with crafting at all. Introduce a "refresh button" and the more materials and more crafters WILL enter the crafting part of this game.

 

Are you serious? You don't want more crafters or materials in the game because it will give you more competitors and cheaper items on the GTN and you call other people selfish? If more people can enjoy all aspects of the game, the better!

The system as it is now is bad. Either send companions on missions that are not needed or relogg/switch area. A reload button would make this system work properly as it should be.

Are you serious? You don't want more crafters or materials in the game because it will give you more competitors and cheaper items on the GTN and you call other people selfish?

OK point taken.

The system as it is now is bad. Either send companions on missions that are not needed or relogg/switch area. A reload button would make this system work properly as it should be.

Why not just go all the way and have the system list all available missions all the time? Just get rid of the RNG factor entirely. That way everyone can run all the Rich missions whenever they login. That is what a reload button would do anyway. Hell, let's take this to its logical conclusion: there is only one mission per material type per material grade. The only variables are the difficulty and the result. The difficulty is determined by the character's crew skill level and influences the results. The results are further influenced by companion affection and skill bonus.

Are you serious? You don't want more crafters or materials in the game because it will give you more competitors and cheaper items on the GTN and you call other people selfish? If more people can enjoy all aspects of the game, the better!

 

OK point taken.

He's not being selfish, and I'm a bit disappointed in Pete for giving that point up so quickly. For what it's worth, I can see how that impression might come across, but there is a fallacy in your reasoning. Everyone can enjoy all aspects of the game right now, as is. What you're arguing for isn't allowing more people to enjoy crafting but rather to make crafting easier and lowering the barriers for entry, and that isn't the same thing.

As things stand, there is a certain amount of time and effort required to become a good crafter, just as there is in getting raid level gear or becoming a top PvP player. The effort involved is what separates a casual player from the one who wants to be exceptional, and that challenge is what gives the game meaning. Anyone who wants to can become a great crafter; they simply have to put in the time and effort. If they don't want to do that, why should the game be made easier to accommodate them? Do that and you kill the challenge, which in turn kills that aspect of the game.

But yeah, I do agree that crafting as it stands is rather lacking.

As things stand, there is a certain amount of time and effort required to become a good crafter, just as there is in getting raid level gear or becoming a top PvP player. The effort involved is what separates a casual player from the one who wants to be exceptional, and that challenge is what gives the game meaning. Anyone who wants to can become a great crafter; they simply have to put in the time and effort. If they don't want to do that, why should the game be made easier to accommodate them? Do that and you kill the challenge, which in turn kills that aspect of the game.

 

But yeah, I do agree that crafting as it stands is rather lacking.

The way the game is now I think it is far easier to get purple endgame gear through commendations then through crafting. Not only do I not get the missions I need when I log in, when I do them I dont always get a critical to get the materials I need. Currently I can make that easier by relogging and getting new missions. I would have prefered a reload button, maybe with a price on it then logging in and out all the time.

But I think we all agree that the system is not the best as it is and I think crafting cannot compete with raiding. And I think there is where the challenge you mentioned should be. Right now we are competing with normal commandations that are far easier to get then criticals on missions and raiding material is even harder to get then those commendations.

The way the game is now I think it is far easier to get purple endgame gear through commendations then through crafting. Not only do I not get the missions I need when I log in, when I do them I dont always get a critical to get the materials I need. Currently I can make that easier by relogging and getting new missions. I would have prefered a reload button, maybe with a price on it then logging in and out all the time.

 

But I think we all agree that the system is not the best as it is and I think crafting cannot compete with raiding. And I think there is where the challenge you mentioned should be. Right now we are competing with normal commandations that are far easier to get then criticals on missions and raiding material is even harder to get then those commendations.

And that is the way the game is intended to be played. Crafting is a 100% optional aspect of the game that provides a good (albeit time and credit consuming) alternative method to obtain entry level "eldergame" gear. If one puts in the time and effort a lot of what one can craft is in greater demand than that commendation gear (because the comm gear stat distribution SUCKS ***!!!!!: accuracy and alacrity on tank gear, WAY too much crit on heal and DPS gear).

Further, MMO crafting is not intended to be 100% self-sufficient. The idea being that a lot of the time one has to acquire stuff from others; every aspect of an MMO can and should require some player interaction. Crafting is no different. That being said, I have said it many times on many MMO forums: time and game money are 100% interchangeable resources: spend time and save money, spend money and save time. If you are unwilling/unable to go to the GTM to buy the materials you want/need right away, that is not the system's fault. It is YOUR choice: relog a number of times to get the mission you want and then hope at the end you get a crit; or walk over to the GTM and spend credits to get exactly what you need when you need it (because someone has already done the former).

By running the missions presented. Run a mission and upon return the list refreshes. One is supposed to take what they are given. I know I do. I may not always like what I am given, but since I am always in the need for a lot of different things, I have no problem running the one bountiful UT metals mission and the one rich Arch artifact fragments mission and then running two companion gift missions and crafting some augments; or sending all five companions on scavenging missions because that list has the two rich, two bountiful and the moderate tricopper flux mission, while slicing only has the one bountiful lockbox mission; or crafting lots of CT mods because neither UWT nor Scav has anything worth running.; the list goes on.

 

 

Hence why they chose not to fix it. For many players it would be annoying, but only because they are used to being able to swap areas to refresh the list.

 

That being said, imagine if the system had been implemented as intended (static until a mission returns). Just looking at grade 9 mission skill missions:

 

- chances are that all missions would crit purple results rather than just bountiful and rich

- chances are there would have been companion gift missions

 

The randomness of the mission list was supposed to be a supply limiting agent.

 

All that being said, last year I proposed a change to the mission system where all missions were available but once one was run it went on a cooldown, the better the mission the longer the CD, and the more often one ran a mission the longer the CD got. Check: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=542599

 

It got no traction last year (only a handful of reads and no comments).

How long cool down you think will be good on top of those less than 20% chance to get rare materials?

How long cool down you think will be good on top of those less than 20% chance to get rare materials?

I am assuming sarcasm here so I re-post (my own sarcasm) from a few posts ago:

Hell, let's take this to its logical conclusion: there is only one mission per material type per material grade. The only variables are the difficulty and the result. The difficulty is determined by the character's crew skill level and influences the results. The results are further influenced by companion affection and skill bonus.

If sarcasm was not your intent, if you read the linked thread you will see that I proposed cooldowns of 3 and 5 hours for bountiful and rich missions respectively (but that was assuming a 1 hour mission duration, when in fact they are more like 40 minutes), with a cumulative 10% increase with each running, and double base cooldown time reset. So recalculating for reduced mission duration at the same ratio: a Rich mission would have a 3 hour cooldown (starting from when the mission starts). So running rich missions:

Starting from scratch running missions as soon as possible...

1st

3 hours later: 2nd

3.3 hours later: 3rd

3.63 hours later: 4th

3.993 hours later 5th

4.39 hours later 6th

4.83 hours later 7th

5.31 hours later 8th

5.84 hours later 9th

6.43 hours later 10th

This means one player can run Unsliceable on one character 7 times in a 24 hour period. And it would take nine passes before it made sense to wait for the double base time reset.

BUT if one sleeps at all or go to work/school, the double base reset timer of 6 hours always kicks in and that player would never have to worry about the cooldown.

Quality of life improvements:

Being able to hide forever non useful schematics in the list easily.

More 'fluff' items such as Speeders / Ship decorations

Ability to have more than 5 on a task at any one time. Probably Cartel Market.

A few more cyber tech gadgets, maybe GSI scanning consumables etc.

Just minor things:

• Artifice crit bonus (i.e. ship droid sensor)
  
• Full list of missions to choose from (i.e. no random rotation)
  
• Fix for miscolored / mismatched armormech schematics.
  
• Fix the loss of materials when RE'ing into a full inventory.
  

I am assuming sarcasm here so I re-post (my own sarcasm) from a few posts ago:

 

 

 

If sarcasm was not your intent, if you read the linked thread you will see that I proposed cooldowns of 3 and 5 hours for bountiful and rich missions respectively (but that was assuming a 1 hour mission duration, when in fact they are more like 40 minutes), with a cumulative 10% increase with each running, and double base cooldown time reset. So recalculating for reduced mission duration at the same ratio: a Rich mission would have a 3 hour cooldown (starting from when the mission starts). So running rich missions:

Starting from scratch running missions as soon as possible...

1st

3 hours later: 2nd

3.3 hours later: 3rd

3.63 hours later: 4th

3.993 hours later 5th

4.39 hours later 6th

4.83 hours later 7th

5.31 hours later 8th

5.84 hours later 9th

6.43 hours later 10th

 

 

This means one player can run Unsliceable on one character 7 times in a 24 hour period. And it would take nine passes before it made sense to wait for the double base time reset.

BUT if one sleeps at all or go to work/school, the double base reset timer of 6 hours always kicks in and that player would never have to worry about the cooldown.

Sorry wasn't red it, this system looks overly better than existing one (with or without bug).

No sarcasm just got the feeling that your idea is to limit supply up to the level of end game crafting... it would kill it instantly because of the price.

It could still be twisted with 15 alts but I just don't see any way to remove this option than return to character based gathering only.

Being able to craft REUSABLE DYE MODULES.

Being able to RE Cartel Market Speeders and learn their schematics so we could craft them.

Heck, we could make the Tauntauns, Varactyls, and Zeldrates a biochem item.