Which craft is best? Biochem

Which is second best? Biochem

Third? Biochem

Why? reusable stuffs, and can craft the best in game blue stims usable across all classes

 

After that...

Cybertech, for armor and mods (usable by all classes)

Artifice, for hilts and enhancements (at least enhancements are cross-class)

Armstech, for barrels

 

And the utterly useless...

Synthweave

Armormech

...both completely gutted by Legacy armor and augment kits.

 

Gathering skills:

best is: Slicing for the extra lockbox money

 

After that, I dunno pick something you like that helps in a HMFP or something... Archeology?

 

Did I mention the whole crafting thing needs an overhaul before it will be of any real significance?

 

For a first round, I'd try to stick with the complimentary gathering skills related to the craft, but once you have em all... seems like I pick Bio, Slice, and something else that doesn't require I send alts on missions to advance.

 

Why even try to have em all? I still hold out the dimmest of hope that someday SOMEDAY, they may actually become useful.

Edited July 10, 2014 by XL-Jedi

It may be worth mentioning your concept is based on what YOU would use YOURSELF and not what may be the best crew skill to take overall as many people prefer crew skills that generate profit via the GTN over crew skills they may use themselves ( and then use said profits to by what they want for themselves from other crew skills ).

 

It's a "this is how much I would spend if I didn't have this crew skill yet if I did have it this is how much profit it would make vs this other crew skill". Quite a tough decision really unless you want to study market trends of all the items each crew skill can make and how much profit they generate etc.

It all depends on the server, environment, and what your personal goals are. If you want to make money and possibly support Alts, the best crafts to learn (in order) are:

 

1) Cybertech -- if I could have either Cybertech or *every other craft at the same time*, I would take Cybertech. Characters have 14 equipment slots, but two are relics, which are almost never crafted. Out of the 12 remaining slots, 7.75 use Armorings, and 9 use Mods. One of the 12 is an ear piece. Cybertechs make the cheapest MK-9 components. Any class can get +5 crits with the Ship Droid. Cybertech has [reusable] grenades, but due to a nerf last summer, they aren't that big of a deal anymore.

 

2) Artifice -- A distant second to Cybertech # of craftable slots -- .625 of 12 slots use hilts and 9 of 12 slots use enhancements. Artificers can make dyes and crystals, which do sell well, but the vast majority of these sales are for ones exclusive to the CM, so the Artificer doesn't corner these markets the same way as with hilts or enhancements, which are generally unavailable from the CM. Only HK-51 and Treek have crit bonuses (only +1), but all characters can get this.

 

3) Synthweaving -- All 14 items slots can have an aug kit, and Synthweaving makes aug kits and 50% of the main-stat augments (the most popular with DPS and Heals) and 50% of the Tank augments. On the plus side, all character can use the ship droid to get a +5 crit.

 

4) Armormech -- Armormech makes augment kits and the other 50% of the main-stat (DPS/Heals) and tank augments that Synth weaving doesn't make. Unlike Synthweaving, to get a +5 crit, you have to play a Trooper; an Agent will get you +2, and everybody else gets +1 (if they have HK-51 or Treek). Since the money in Synthweaving and Armortech is in the crits, Synthweaving gets the nod objectively, but it's not by a huge margin.

 

5) Biochem -- Two of 12 slots take Implants. Biochem does get reusable consumables (stims/adrenals/medpacks), but they are like Next-Best-In-Slot compared to the non-reusable ones. The consumables can sell well, but the four previous skills make so much more money that they can buy the consumables from the biochems and still come out ahead. As a lot of profit from all skills comes from crits, it hurts that (like Armortech), only one class can get a +5, and only one can get a +2 -- the others need HK-51 or Treek to get a +1.

 

6) Armstech -- Arms tech makes the Barrels used in .625 of 12 slots, and can make augment kits and the +Power mods many people give their companions. Like Armormech, only one class can get a +5 crit, but at least everybody can get a +2 from the ship droid (instead of just the +1 from HK-51 or Treek).

 

That said, I am a Master Crafter (one of every skill -- craft, mission, and gathering), and the best sources of income are (in order): playing the GTN, selling mats, and actually selling stuff I craft. The best thing about crafting (imo) is the freedom from relying on random drops or GTN/market availability for the gear I want.

Whilst I see your point on cybertech I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as the best for making money, it may very well be but the logic you've used doesn't necessarily dictate that it will be.

What you are showing is how popular and well things may sell but not necessarily how large of a profit one may make compared to the amount they invested to begin with ( i.e. crafting said items, time/cost running gathering missions or buying materials etc. ) not to mention the more popular things tend to be the more people that use and run them flooding the market with even more of those materials thus increasing supply. So whilst demand may stay relatively static, supply can boost and really hit prices hard.

 

As such I'm finding theb est advice to give people would be a general guideline on what makes what and how it works and then tell them to research the GTN for themselves to see what sort of profit margins they may be able to make.

 

After all it would be better to sell 5 items of X at 20K profit each than 20 items of Y at 2K profit each.

 

I know for a few items I'm crafting at the moment my return is about 4 times what I've spent on mats/what have you. These aren't super popular common selling items but they do sell through each day, no doubt the margin won't last long but then I've other items to change to. I find enough variety basically in my chosen professions on one toon to never really find myself with no market to make good money from. What will be interesting is the new strongholds - I see a lot of money to be made with these since ideally it's going to become a popularity contest to deck out your stronghold to make top of the list.

Whilst I see your point on cybertech I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as the best for making money, it may very well be but the logic you've used doesn't necessarily dictate that it will be.

What you are showing is how popular and well things may sell but not necessarily how large of a profit one may make compared to the amount they invested to begin with ( i.e. crafting said items, time/cost running gathering missions or buying materials etc. ) not to mention the more popular things tend to be the more people that use and run them flooding the market with even more of those materials thus increasing supply. So whilst demand may stay relatively static, supply can boost and really hit prices hard.

 

As such I'm finding theb est advice to give people would be a general guideline on what makes what and how it works and then tell them to research the GTN for themselves to see what sort of profit margins they may be able to make.

 

My logic is fine, thank you. Markets move, so choosing a craft based on what was selling for how much when you reached fleet and chose your skills sounds like a particularly bad idea. Every craft *can* make money, it's just *easier* with Cybertech because it makes more than half of a player's equipment. The vast majority of schematics can be easily learned by anybody in a given craft skill, and there are only six crafting skills (all equally selectable), so very few things are actually rare; most prices are driven by how close to mat price (coupled with crit chance) one is willing to sell, and nothing related to craft skill used to make the item.

I find that Cybertech is a great skill. Whenever a character lacks something, save for implant and relic, it's Cybertech to the rescue.

 

I don't find Artifice that useful, because purple Hilts are normally cheap, there is not a great Artificer combo on any default team imo (I use Sage with a support from SW TH' Vette and Zenith), and one doesn't need that many, and enhancements are easy to obtain.

 

I find Armstech better than Artifice for me, as the barrels sell easier and higher and it is easier to get purple mats because Investigation is far more generous with it than TH (and I have both Vette and Zenith running it). Plus, Malavai Quinn rolls crits a lot.

 

I haven't gotten much into BioChem yet, but I am about to. Regret not understanding its greatness.

 

Finally, Synth and Armormech are useful supporting skills to take pressure of the Cybertech, but schematics are so unevenly distributed and non-universal that I find the skills a bit of a waste.

 

So, yeah, my 2 cents.

Edited July 14, 2014 by DomiSotto

I definitely agree with slicing being good for credits.

I have all the crafting and for me they all do fairly well.

 

My best sellers are normally my augments that I sell which tend to be 3 different skills, synthweaving, armormech and armstech.

 

My artiface makes the enhancements and the dyes, which the dyes sell as fast as I can make them especially the black and red, red and black and the blue and black. (Note these dyes require you to have reputation points with various areas, one I know is the Oricon, CZ is another and I believe Section X is the other one and even GCI reputation you can get a dye schematic from as well)

 

My cybertech sells the armor and mods and I working on getting the droid schematics from CZ to sell those. biochem sells the implants so all in all they all do fairly well for me.

Edited July 14, 2014 by ScarletBlaze

I don't find Artifice that useful, because purple Hilts are normally cheap, there is not a great Artificer combo on any default team imo (I use Sage with a support from SW TH' Vette and Zenith), and one doesn't need that many, and enhancements are easy to obtain.

 

I find Armstech better than Artifice for me, as the barrels sell easier and higher and it is easier to get purple mats because Investigation is far more generous with it than TH (and I have both Vette and Zenith running it). Plus, Malavai Quinn rolls crits a lot.

 

Hilts don't compete with barrels, so if barrels sell easier, it's probably because more people already have their own artificers Prices are usually related to the costs of the mats used, and the mats are different, so you want to compare net profits, not highest sales prices. Also, if it's easier to get the mats to make barrels than hilts, that means hilts should sell better (less supply), unless, as I mentioned, more people take artifice before armstech, and lower demand.

 

Anyway, the fact that no companions have artifice crit bonuses is a plus for artifice because it means that you aren't locked into a specific class to get optimal crits (and thus a market advantage). Not sure why you'd use Quinn to craft barrels, since HK and Treek both have bonuses to crit and Quinn doesn't (and even the Ship Droid with +2 is better than Quinn until you raise his affection).

 

But it sounds like you have both (as well as CT and probably others) -- the point of ranking the skills was to advise people just getting into crafting as to what to expect market-wise. I'd recommend one of each crafter before doubling on an anything, even Cybertech (as the title of the thread suggests) and then not worry about which is best

Edited July 14, 2014 by eartharioch

I don't know why Quinn rolls crits, but he seems to crit much more than the artificer droid. He does have affection hovering by 10,000. I tried to ask him, and he seems to be skeptical it's the best use of him, but I think he's dissembling.

 

I have a Byzantine crafting system involving different toons supplying each other based on the crits and efficiency ratings (highest crits for missions, highest efficiency for gathering). It involves phases, pairing and gods know what else.

 

The skill I did find most useful was Cybertech - that's what I put on a single character I run without a legacy on another server.

Edited July 14, 2014 by DomiSotto

I do all of the crafting myself as well. I want to be able to make whatever I need and not rely on the GTN for upgrades.

 

That being said, it *is* a real pita to skill up everything, but over time it's worth it. Being patient helps too.

I don't know why Quinn rolls crits, but he seems to crit much more than the artificer droid. He does have affection hovering by 10,000. I tried to ask him, and he seems to be skeptical it's the best use of him, but I think he's dissembling.

 

I have a Byzantine crafting system involving different toons supplying each other based on the crits and efficiency ratings (highest crits for missions, highest efficiency for gathering). It involves phases, pairing and gods know what else.

 

You get +5 crit for having a companion maxed out, like Quinn. While the Ship Droid doesn't have conversations, you can raise its affection with companion gifts, so a maxed out Ship Droid with Armstech sensor would have a +7 crit. If you didn't max out its affection, it would only be +2 (explaining why Quinn would out-crit it).

 

And my chars do a bit of mat shuffling based on crits as well ... I'm really looking forward to Legacy Storage. I hope BW doesn't raise the in-game mail postage fee to compensate for the sudden lack of revenue due to crafters no longer needing to mail stuff around.

When GSH comes out they will all come crawling to me synthweaver for rugs, flags, banners, bathtowels, shaggy 70s-carpets ........

 

At least I hope so <waves fist at BioWare>

Markets move, so choosing a craft based on what was selling for how much when you reached fleet and chose your skills sounds like a particularly bad idea.

 

Kinda like "hey everyone should take this crew skill because it won't totally flood the market if we all do it!". End result is less of a profit margin. It DOESN'T matter how much you sell something for, what matters is how much profit margin you make selling it. The augment market doesn't look overly profitable right now looking at sell price vs material cost ( though of course they "sell fast" but so do many other things if you are happy to wait 24 hours for them to sell and make larger margins ) and most mods ( on all craft skills ) on gear aren't seeming to make much money now with the advent of how easy it is to get gear already stuck with 28 purples on it or better ( and forget crafting higher tier items thanks to ult comms, again nice huge sell prices but very little margin due to mat costs/rarity. ) Infact many people are seemingly selling mods at a loss vs material price *shrug* maybe they justify it by the odd crit or 2 they get, again not overly profitable concept. I used to make lovely profits on the 28 accuracy enhancements for example but now people are selling those for less than it would cost me to craft them so a waste of time and recently leveling biochem I notice top end biochem stim/medpacs/adrenals are just as bad - no profit unless you get the mats yourself and if you get the mats yourself you would need weigh just selling those anyway once you've crafted what you need use yourself.

 

I mean statements such as:

but the vast majority of these sales are for ones exclusive to the CM,

aren't true at all if you think the vast majority of say saber crystals that are selling are the 200K+ ones. This isn't the case at all, there is a fairly highly profitable market going on in crystals, especially with how dirt cheap some are costing to make ( granted the schems are harder to learn as drops being RE drops from classic ops iirc - not sure if you can just RE the one you buy anymore or not? ). Others more expensive but they sell higher too.

 

so very few things are actually rare; most prices are driven by how close to mat price (coupled with crit chance) one is willing to sell, and nothing related to craft skill used to make the item.

Which again is why people are better off doing their own research rather than following someone's guide or advice. The rarity comes from supply vs demand and if everyone were to use cybertech there would be a much higher demand as there is now thus less profit margin because the gathering skills used by cybertech are closely following the sales price for the crafted items leaving little room for margin.

 

I find that Cybertech is a great skill. Whenever a character lacks something, save for implant and relic, it's Cybertech to the rescue.

Probably quite true but this is more of a what is more profitable than what is more useful discussion as I understand it. Profitable being how much money you make vs the investment you put into it to begin with. If you're not buying the mats and gathering them yourself then often the profit margin on something like cybertech is going to be in selling the mats rather than using them yourself though criting can throw an unknown factor into that but then the same is true for all crafting skills.

 

I haven't gotten much into BioChem yet, but I am about to. Regret not understanding its greatness.

 

I just maxed it on an alt for the first time. I didn't think many skills had such a small margin ( negative in some cases ) as this one does so if you do take it I would say you kinda must take Bio-analysis with it otherwise you're better off taking something else for profit or if you are going to use it for yourself it's actually cheaper to buy all the stims/pacs/adrenals. In saying that some of the mid tier blue/purple implants make some nice profit, I think one tier I made 4-5x the material cost. Maybe I got lucky with my first crafting choice I've been using for about 18 months now, many items that are making nice profit margins.

 

When GSH comes out they will all come crawling to me synthweaver for rugs, flags, banners, bathtowels, shaggy 70s-carpets ........

 

^^This ideally may very well turn the whole GTN on it's head. We have no idea what will/won't be craftable, what gathering skills will use what etc. I didn't think it would be much more than a gimmick kind of like the stupid starship colours etc. you get form the CM packs but once they said they would be visitable and there would be a ranking list and I now hear of people putting away millions waiting for the launch I am will be watching the PTS launch very closely to see where I should be looking to take those millions off those people.