I'm getting really sick and tired of the "Credits are so easy to get exaggerations".

I do understand your point.

But if there is a potential for drama after 50 million credits are spent by the guild to unlock the ship, can you imagine the epic levels of drama that would occur after spending a year expanding (and decorating) one's flagship and something goes wrong?

I have been playing the game for 6 months now and I found exactly 0 things in the game that come naturally or easily. It's a game of skill development, and knowledge, and that's why it is so good.

So, I want to emphasize again, and again, and again, just how valuable every skill is and how well one has to play the game to say it’s elementary.

I have no stake in the Guildships topic. It's far, far, far beyond my tiny horizons.

Let’s look at obtaining revenue. The cornerstone is first, you have to understand the game techniques. Crafting, dailies, equipping and fighting. Which means if you lack proficiency in one or other you cut of one or multiple streams of revenue off.

1. Knowing how to fight. A) gives you confidence to group with other people and do high reward content on the level, such as Flash Points, Events, Heroics. B) Simply not dying in the normal content. Duh.

So, imagine you do not know how to fight, and can marginally improve, but never to a point of being totally comfortable with the Group Finder. Or you prefer to solo, and not someone who could solo H4+ by Alderaan… in green gear. Whatever. What are your options?

2. Gathering – if you sell everything you gather you can’t craft. Gathered and mission materials drop off sharply in price right after level 1. Terenthium can be sold for 500-1000 credits a sheet, but mullinine goes for 300 credits tops (while the cost of getting it increases and the mission length lengthens). So, the incentive is to run level 1 missions, but then you stop growing the skill (a bad thing strategically). So, you rotate. Hence accumulate the sell-able materials very slowly.

3. Moreover, to craft and gather successfully, you need more than one companion. And those companions should ideally be maxed out on affection to run crits. Otherwise, their mission failures erase the revenues for many mission skills. Which means, that you need to either run gift missions or invest into 48 L1 gifts (if you unlock perks) off the bat, and continue investing into gifts.

4. Until you have all 6 crafts raised they will continually suck your resources dry for you will always outpace your gathering as you level + your other alts need gear. You can trade the resources forward for a few levels, luckily, but that comes to an end as you hit L5-9 tier materials.

5. Your other alts will need a lot of support from a Cybertech… and for a while they will unable to support her much as they need to max out their 2+ important mission companions

6. You will be tempted to sell purple mats. Which will leave you with the need to buy them back later. Usually prices will soar when you need to buy. Anyone has Beryllium, btw, for <10,000 a sheet? No? I thought so.

7. If you do not have an alt capable of running content that gives the paying schematics, your market research has to be stellar to find those low-level items that you can craft and sell for a profit margin worth the investment (and buy out the competition, fingers crossed they don’t take it as an incentive to put another dozen of “it” on the market for the same price).

8. At about L30 the green and blue drop offs from quests will stop selling on GTN for a price significantly exceeding their vendor value (it’s a relief, in a way). Blue drops will essentially become worthless after L40, and good only for mailing to the low alts

9. Once you hit L50 you hit a credit sink as a new player with no experience. The end game content is too hard for your alt, particularly of nobody advised you to save every comm after L47 to invest into Purple Makeb gear. You will inevitably have to farm. Depending on your ability, it is either FP, PvP or, for a bottom feeder like I, it’s overlevelled heroics and Bonus series. Then, once you have a touch more equipment, you can start farming the aptly named Blackhole…

10. And you watch everything you earn day after day melt for the cost of training, level 9 mats to get craft to 450, MK9 and the level-appropriate gear you cannot craft yet (and RE’ing your L53-54s)

11. Finally, after a few weeks, you are still solvent, and you have a character in an eclectic mix of 140 purples and 148 blues, one or two leftover 112 9you are planning to replace any day you actually have plan comms to add up to 10), some pride and joy purples, most of the MK-9 augments (but you still have to pay 36 thou each for installing them… oh, gosh!) and L28 blue augments (because 1 day at BH = 1 purple augment and you need 14), and you are ready to try Ilum –makeb –oricon gauntlet. At this point, you feel like a kid who was held back a few grades, ‘cause all the other L55 have been doing it for years….

12. Every time someone mentions next expansion that raises the level cap with joyful anticipation, you want to weep, because that will immediately render your blood, sweat and tears won gear obsolete… your only hope now is those credits only rewards they say exist in the elder game. Well, maybe a fairy comes by and your character does not look back at you with a scorn after every battle.

Oh, my! Did that second alt just pinged Level 55, and still wears L44 green implants? And not a single Augment? And 10 Treeks have ~ 4500 affection? And only 7 of your 14 crew skills are maxed out?

Good morning, Black Hole!

You're totally doing it wrong.

Were I to start today:

1) Take Slicing, Archaeology, and Underworld Trade.
2) Grab every node you encounter.
3) Once you have 2 companions constantly run missions on all but the one you're using currently. Use Grade 2-9 Slicing Tech Parts, Underworld Metals & Fabrics, and Color Crystals. Sell the results on GTN.
4) Never never never buy anything from GTN.
5) Use the quest rewards you get wisely to equip your character and adventuring companion. Forget about equipping companions you don't use.
6) Enjoy the game.

Do those things and you will never want for money. You'll finish Chapter 3 with 2-3 million credits. You'll be level 55 with way more than that.

yeah my guildies have united to grind credits but its a slow process, we got 14 mill so far, still working on getting the rest as time goes on. We are mainly doing it from gtn sales and from dailies. The Rakghoul event gave me a chance to farm basic comms from quests in order to buy isotope 5 at least to sell it on the gtn but it will be a while before I even make it halfway there.

I like the way I am doing it as a Legacy - playing chars in sequence would be too boring and I will always feel like I am missing out on something I do have plenty of gatherers/mission chars, and I do gather every nod I see; and I absolutely not equipping companions I am not using. It is getting far better now, with all lower alts able to support themselves and provide the 6 crafters with mats.

Never buy from GTN? Pfft, flipping items is currently is one of the most profitable ( and easiest if you don't mind a little trawling through GTN pages ) ways of making a profit out there especially since all these recent CM packs they've been putting up ( thanks grand acquisitions packs! ).

ummmm I dont want to bash SW:TOR because I do pay to play it and do enjoy my time in it

But its FAR FAR FAR from a game of skill and things most certainly do come naturally and easily in game.

The PVP (warzones) is as watered down as you can get
The PVE is simplistic and easy mode from start of level 1 to finish of level 55 (and everything inbetween)
The heroics (both 2 and 4s) are very often soloably
The crafting is simplistic and unchallenging
And even the Opts are simply gear score + linear path

Again I have fun in TOR.
when you can get PVP outside of Warzones and into the open world between consenting parties, great fun is to be had.
Ops are a great social experience more then anything else
The game has its appeal

But its NOT challenging or difficult.
In the grand scheme of things SW:TOR is a very easy mode MMORPG

I WISH they would put more challenge into it
Bring back the Teir 2 Flashpoints like the original Lost Island was
Slow down leveling speed so you can actually utilize some crafted gear for more then a day or two
Stop dumbing content down like the announced changes to Makeb which will take Makeb from Easy mode to Mindlessly Simplistic mode game play.

I applaud the 50 million gild ship because for a rare change in SW:TOR its not a instant gimme like all the other content in this game has become.

SW:TOR is DEFIANTLY NOT a difficult game and things MOST DEFINATELY DO "come naturally or easily"

And thats not personal opinion
Thats just the god honest truth of matter

I would have thought it was obvious but Darth's probition on 'never buying from the GTN,' wouldn't exclude the flipping of items as you posted.

I am sure that would fall into Darth's more advanced Making Credits 301 course.

TL;DR: 'never buying from the GTN' means 'don't spend 45k buying some new earpiece when a quest reward will do just as well.'

There are multiple people in my guild with more than or just around 100 million credits. 100 million. 100 MILLION. One of the guildies with that rough amount of credits? Played the game for five months total.

Yeah, credits are easy to obtain and exponentially grow. Period. In fact, it should be noted, that while I think 100 Million credits is a huge amount for one player to have, there will be people on multiple servers laughing to themselves, thinking it's actually not that much. In fact, at least two of the uber-wealthy guildies of mine don't think twice about how many credits they have. It's just another part of their inventory.

If that's the honest truh, then I am really happy it is. Because I wouldn't have been able to tackle anything more difficult. Yeah, I can solo H2+, and thanks goodness for it, as I love playing with companions, but I can never on my life imagine soloing H4+ unless 15 levels over, and I do get killed plenty in reg content starting at Hoth-Belsavis. A thought of any FP after the Hammer station makes me break into a cold sweat.

Look, I have never discovered that you can move AND shoot till about L50 when I tried a warzone and saw people doing it, and a week ago, reading yet another guide (a lot of which I find that I can't understand well when they go into the rotation discussions), I was presented with a revelation that one can set off two abilities at once by pressing buttons simultaneously; I was always under the impression, you pressed it, waited for the ability to do its thing, press the nest one.

And, even after 6 months, I still from time to time forget that there is no pause button, and it is not turn-based. I had to look up every abbreviation and for a while I thought kiting was lifting a char up into the air.

In regards to gearing and crafting, it took me about 4 weeks to discover the RE and how it converts greens into blues, and the concept of green, blue and purple (and oranges, lol) was entirely new to me to start with. Heck, when I relogged in my first character that was sitting there for a while, I discovered that I played all the way through most of Dromund Kass while in dropped goods of a L7 - L11 greens.

I had no idea a game could be so involved. Again, my deepest respect to all those who finds it easy.