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Why take anything but gathering skills while leveling?


Kurugi

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Seriously. You don't have to worry about money at all for anything. Not only can you easily afford all speeder training but you also have enough credits to keep yourself up to date in terms of all mods/gear, and not just the parts you can craft (e.g. as Artifice I can keep myself updated with hilts/enhancements/focuses, but anything else I have to buy myself or scrape together commendations for), and you don't have to deal with waiting for companions to come back from crafting/missions only to RE and not learn the schematic you want, you can just buy it instantly and not care because you have more money than you know what to do with anyway.

 

The only possible downside is not being able to find what you need on the GTN (say you need a resolve hilt 8 but nobody is selling any), but that's minor since you can just wait a couple levels and look for the next tier.

 

And if at 50 you do want to get into crafting you can just make sure you take the gathering profession associated with the skill you want to use and drop the other 2 for it.

 

Really, why level as anything but pure profit crew skills?

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Because we can? It's not that hard. Nor affording speeders and training with only two gathering profs. Seriously.

 

I didn't say it was hard, I said it didn't make any sense.

 

Option 1: Level using a production profession - be able to keep whatever that skill crafts up to date (most useful if you go with synthweaving/armormech/cybertech since they affect the most amount of gear slots), have less overall money due to using up most of your materials instead of selling them.

 

Option 2: Level using all gathering professions - be able to keep EVERY PIECE OF EQUIPMENT up to date due to having loads of cash, and not just what you can craft for yourself, and still have way more cash left over.

 

I've leveled characters both ways, through actual crafting and through pure gathering. My gatherer was able to keep himself MUCH more updated gear wise (myself and companion) with MUCH less of a hassle overall.

 

If you like actually crafting while leveling because you find it fun, that's great. I'm not talking about this from a FUN perspective though, I'm talking about it in terms of pure EFFECTIVENESS.

Edited by Kurugi
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You realize I wasn't originally being sarcastic, I was legitimately asking for a serious reason why it would be better to take a crafting skill while leveling instead of just gathering everything and selling it all. I guess my tone was taken the wrong way and people decided to take offense and get snobby.
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I was more referring to the people earlier who responded.

 

Rereading my OP I came off a bit more of a ******** than I intended. I really just wanted someone to give me a reason or two why leveling a crafting profession has more benefit than just focusing on making money.

 

The only reason I can think of to take a crafting profession is to craft things for yourself, but how is that better than just buying the very same thing off the GTN, especially if you still end up with more money anyway by just focusing on selling mats?

Edited by Kurugi
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Because you make a lot more money in endgame than you do while leveling. Having crafting skills leveled allows you to RE campaign, black hole, war hero, etc. Then you can sell BoE versions of the items.

 

Nothing stops you from dropping 2 of your skills and picking up a crafting skill at 50.

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Biochem works during levelling. Love the endless supply of medpacks and buffs. Slicing is definitely a must for a levelling character in my book.

 

Didn't mean for this to be a "what type of skill should I choose" type of thread but what about slicing with synthweaving and archaeology? I can use slicing at 50 for augments and just use it for extra money while leveling, and with archaeology I don't think synthweaving uses color crystals at all so I can sell those for credits too. I'm liking the sound of that.

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Didn't mean for this to be a "what type of skill should I choose" type of thread but what about slicing with synthweaving and archaeology? I can use slicing at 50 for augments and just use it for extra money while leveling, and with archaeology I don't think synthweaving uses color crystals at all so I can sell those for credits too. I'm liking the sound of that.

 

Colour crystals don't sell very well, I'm afraid. It's the gemstones that are sought-after, and they're acquired through Treasure Hunting.

 

But synthweaving can work, too. Some of the nicer-looking orange gear is Lower-level, and is very cheap to make. You can easily sell them 9-19k apiece, depending on demand\supply ratio. Just make sure you find the schematics.

Edited by Helig
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Colour crystals don't sell very well, I'm afraid. It's the gemstones that are sought-after, and they're acquired through Treasure Hunting.

 

But synthweaving can work, too. Some of the nicer-looking orange gear is Lower-level, and is very cheap to make. You can easily sell them 9-19k apiece, depending on demand\supply ratio. Just make sure you find the schematics.

 

Low-level colour crystals sell extremely well, as do enhancements. PVPers love twinking out their characters. You can make money on lv50 crystals, but not by crafting. (Hint: there are idiots out there who list crystals on GTN for far less than it costs to make them...) You can RE hilts at end-game. Artifice is not a bad choice at all for a force-using class. Oh, and Treasure Hunting can definitely be a money-maker.

 

The markup on low-level synthweaving stuff is good. Belts and bracers also sell well. I'd never take synthweaving or armormech as a moneymaker though, getting the schematics is time-consuming and expensive. I like to collect them, but the money I make simply subsidises my desire to play dress-up.

 

My advice to anyone rolling a new character though? Take 3 gathering skills, at least until you get to lv35 or so. You can easily and quickly level up mission and crafting skills when you have 3 or 4 companions, and I've never had difficulty equipping a character with the money and comms I make from questing. My personal choice as a money-maker? Archaeology, slicing and scavenging. If you're going Biochem at end-game you may want to switch slicing or scavenging out for Bioanalysis. Don't switch out archaeology unless and until you're taking your crafting skill, it's your real money-maker as far as gathering skills go.

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Because some people enjoy crafting and have fun with it while leveling. I do.

Whether that makes sense in your book or not, doesn't matter. I'm not rich. But the crafts I make at this point, learnt while leveling with different characters, allow me to not be bothered with dailies to get money. That's good enough for me.

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Your main char could (and, IMHO, should) be with all three gathering skills if you have alts (even low levell) with crafting skills.

 

BUT

you must consider two points:

1. beside of your char you should gear up through all the game your companion. it's good, when your companion has the same main stat as your char and you can put you old mods in comps gear when you get a new one, but healing companions (mainly used while levelling) usually have cunning as only agents and smugglers. all other classes are to gear companions other ways, paying additional attention and money to it. Having Cybertech or Armomech as crafting skill you can gear your comps with green stuff up to date any time.

2. for crafting green stuff you need only crafting and gathering skills, but for crafting blues and purples (the real one valuable) you will need also a mission skill. and it will take time to get to 400 not one but two skills later to start crafting real stuff!

Edited by pan_sObak
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Theres quite a few reasons to craft as you level:

 

Do you want to ignore it then have to grind to 400 when you get to 50, thats very boring.

Crafting for companions, they often need a bit of a gear boost which makes levelling easier.

Alt crafting - your next alt can benefit from what you've learnt from this one, not everyone waits to 50 before starting a new alt

Guildees - people tend to look after themselves when they get to 50 but they appreciate levelling gear boosts.

You can easily outstrip your levelling with your crafting e.g. I was making the purple ship parts in my level 30s when i started the game and selling them. On my synthweaver, I'd sent him some bio alloy and he had rakata belt and bracers waiting for him when he hit it.

 

It remains about the effort you put into it, ignore and you'll get little out of crafting, but then it's optional anyway.

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Easy. Crafted materials sell for more than the materials used to make them. I can turn 3000 in materials (damn xonolite) into an item I can sell for 16000.

If I watch the GTN for deals I can get materials prices down to 1500 and get over a 1000% markup.

Plus I only play a few hours a night in PvP then set all my alts to crafting while I sleep. So no farming for me; it's just something I setup while waiting for warzones to pop.

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Seriously. You don't have to worry about money at all for anything. Not only can you easily afford all speeder training but you also have enough credits to keep yourself up to date in terms of all mods/gear, and not just the parts you can craft (e.g. as Artifice I can keep myself updated with hilts/enhancements/focuses, but anything else I have to buy myself or scrape together commendations for), and you don't have to deal with waiting for companions to come back from crafting/missions only to RE and not learn the schematic you want, you can just buy it instantly and not care because you have more money than you know what to do with anyway.

 

The only possible downside is not being able to find what you need on the GTN (say you need a resolve hilt 8 but nobody is selling any), but that's minor since you can just wait a couple levels and look for the next tier.

 

And if at 50 you do want to get into crafting you can just make sure you take the gathering profession associated with the skill you want to use and drop the other 2 for it.

 

Really, why level as anything but pure profit crew skills?

 

Or any crew skills at all?

 

I have 6 level 50's and took different mixes of crew skills on all of them (some crafting, some gathering). I spent a lot of time leveling each profession while leveling but for mostly minimal benefits, biochem probably being the most beneficial. I recently started a smuggler that's up to level 25 and haven't picked up any crew skills.

 

How liberating that has been. No time spent at gathering nodes. No time spent at crew skill trainers or suppliers. Leveling has been so much faster and frankly more pleasant with not having to worry about whether my crew skills are keeping pace with my level.

 

And the fact is sans the BoP items that crafting skills can provide at level 50 I'm none the worse for wear because money is easily had with dailies and HM flashpoints that I can buy anything I need. For the most part, the BoP items that one can craft are quickly eclipsed by gear obtained through those same HM flashpoints (except biochem once again which is why so many players refer to that as the 'best' crew skill).

Edited by uziforyou
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Because some people enjoy crafting and have fun with it while leveling. I do.

Whether that makes sense in your book or not, doesn't matter. I'm not rich. But the crafts I make at this point, learnt while leveling with different characters, allow me to not be bothered with dailies to get money. That's good enough for me.

 

Since this is my first MMO, one of the biggest draws of the game for me was to craft my own gear and weapons. After my main got level 50, I had custom gear in every slot for both my toon and his companion. My main is a level 50 SJ with synthweaving at 400. I have a level 24 IA sniper with cybertech at 400, a level 23 SA with artifice at 400 and I just recently started a sorcerer who has armstech at 100 at level 19. I enjoy crafting a lot. I am able to make mods, crystals, hilts, enhancements, armorings and augments for every single slot, but that's not all, i was able to craft artifact level mods for all the slots, which took some time and money, but it set my main character up quite nicely for end-game activities until I was able to get my hands on Columi, BH, or even Tionese gear. Personally, I like the fact that I have made all my own weapons, armor, and mods for my toons.

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I've done it both ways with every single profession and in every case I've always had more than enough credits to buy whatever I needed.

 

Selling mats or selling crafted items or slicing every single lockbox and safe I come across, I've been more than able to pay for my advancements. Easily, without every needing to wait on skills I need.

 

Of course, if you are buying artifact level gear every few levels in order to completely outmatch your foes you are going to be broke. Don't do it, you can win easily with just the quest rewards and loot you get.

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