I hear a lot of blame being placed on commendation vendors for people not wanting to buy crafted items. The weird thing is, my crafted items sell just fine. I'm an Armormech, and I can have my three crewmen churning out armor most of the day, put it up for sale on the GTN and it's usually gone by the end of the day. Also, everyone says commendation vendor gear is better than crafted, that's not true, I compared, what I can make has higher Armor and while it may have -1 Aim or -2 Endurance, it then has a third stat like +10 defense or crit that the commendation armor doesn't have. I think the blue recipes are right where they should be. From what I hear about the 50 purples, they need to be fixed. But I've heard a lot in these threads that once I look at the actual numbers in game, I find to be wholly untrue.

Unlike most MMOs, this game requires you to fill 20-30 slots instead of 10 per character, because you have to outfit your pets. And also instead of every 10 levels, gear becomes obsolete in like 5 levels tops. If I look for blue Heavy Armor on my GTN, I see 12 pages, with like 10 pieces a page, that's not enough to outfit every Sentinel, Trooper, Qyzen, Corso, Bowdaar from 9-45. Crafters simply can't churn out that much armor. And since people seem to be buying armor as fast as they can get it. I don't see a problem with the commendation equipment.

What I am having problems with is outfitting anything that can't be found on a commendation vendor. I needed a Techblade for my pet, I begged in fleet general for hours for someone to make me one. Then they charged me 4 times what I charge for a piece of armor because they knew they were my only option. There are no techblades on commendation vendors. It was a horrible experience that I'll need to repeat in a few levels.

What I do find an issue though is the commendation mods vendor. 7-4 commendation for pieces that are THE EXACT SAME as what a Cybertech can make. AND TRADABLE!!!! If my Cybertech wasn't price gouging the hell out of people with ship parts, and droid parts, I'd be QQ all over this forum about the mods vendor which pretty much makes having Armoring and every other mod in their recipe book to cost money and take up space. Because we have other very valuable things, I'm not too worried about what mod vendors do to Cybertechs, but poor Armstechs and Artificers! If they aren't making purples, they aren't making anything someone wants. Other than overpriced Techblades...

I am not sure about the masses here but I only care about lvl 50 gear. Anything lower lvl is just fine for grinding. You had mentioned in your post that lvl 50 crafted items need to be fixed and thats all i care about.

I mean, who buys vendor gear just to replace it five lvls later, nubs.

I hear a lot of blame being placed on commendation vendors for people not wanting to buy crafted items. The weird thing is, my crafted items sell just fine.

You are selling items Level 1-49. It takes some searching and knowing the market, but you can make money with the stuff.

As a Cybertech, my level 50 / 400 stuff is just useless. Well, I can sell lower level droid stuff, that is true. But RE'ing for purples, to become a well known and respected crafter? Offering great purple equipment, mods for all ACs, Def, DD, Heal, you name it, I can make it? Nope. You name it, I tell you, you laugh and go for some daily quests in Ilum.

Do implants sell ok at higher levels? Or stims / adrenals?

I went bio since it made the most sense as a mostly solo player... and if I ever joined a guild, it was be useful endgame. It'd be nice if I could make some cash with it as well... does anyone have tips / suggestions / success stories re: biochem?

I will admit, I just farmed PvP for a few hours to get my level 20 gear, since it outclassed anything I had or could afford.

PRICE GOUGING!!!!

I take offense to that. I placed items on the GTN and they sold out. I raised my prices and they sold out. I raised my prices again and they didn't sell. I then dropped down a bit and they sold out.... Sounds like I now got just the correct price that the market will pay. It is not my fault people are paying 75k per item. When I started I was charging 30k per item.

 

I mean, who buys vendor gear just to replace it five lvls later, nubs.

^what this guy said

I am not sure about the masses here but I only care about lvl 50 gear. Anything lower lvl is just fine for grinding. You had mentioned in your post that lvl 50 crafted items need to be fixed and thats all i care about.

 

I mean, who buys vendor gear just to replace it five lvls later, nubs.

Pretty much all of us with nothing else to spend the commendations on. It's cheaper than buying from a crafter and they are better.

You do understand that if they make crafting worthwhile, anc remove commedation vendors..........more people would craft, would cause competition amongst crafted, thus dropping prices. Right now you have few people that sell goods regularly and thus increase prices. Supply/demand

You cant find anything because people dont want to invest wasted money and resources when someone can just run to a commedation vendor.

Thats the issue.There is no room for the market to grow because the market has a crutch. The crutch needs to go so we can balance the economy and start making money, selling goods, selling resources, etc.

More crafters = more goods = more resources they need = more money in your pocket as well. Many people just think about buying crafted goods "its my money why do i have to spend it". But dont realise that with a growing market those crafters you give money to, will also give a majority of it back by buying resources. You will probably make more from them than they will from you.

Eventually they will fix crafting. That might be a year from now, but eventually it will get fixed. Biochem doesn't need a nerf (though they may go this route), but instead other crafting professions need a boost.

Specifically with Artifice, we need to be able to make mods at end-game that are on par with some raid gear and pvp items.

We also need to have at least a few color crystal options that ONLY come from crafters.

The Magenta crystal is fantastic. But there also needs to be ways for crafters to solo or small group to come up with different schems as well. Not all crafters have the support of a guild.

And IMO, relying on guild members to do something that won't always benefit them is tough.

They don't need to delete the vendors, just increase the cost of the items and reduce the drop rate of commendations.

Right now it is very easy to get 50 plus commendations on a planet while just questing and leveling. With the low cost of items on the vendors there is no point to putting all the effort into crafting.

I don't even bother making gear as an Armormech. It's a waste of time considering the vendors hand out gear basically for free.

What I am having problems with is outfitting anything that can't be found on a commendation vendor. I needed a Techblade for my pet, I begged in fleet general for hours for someone to make me one. Then they charged me 4 times what I charge for a piece of armor because they knew they were my only option. There are no techblades on commendation vendors. It was a horrible experience that I'll need to repeat in a few levels.

In my experience there is a Weapons Vendor at the first port on every planet. Go buy one from him. Cheap and effective.

If crafters can beat that quality and price level-for-level, I'd buy from them. But I never see any on my GTN.

As an artificer, that mods commendation vendor cannot die quickly enough. I thought I'd be gearing up my friends with enhancements, but they have enough commendations (costs 2 each) to not ever need me.

Why should anyone need you? Some people dont want to craft or pay out the nose to a crafter.

But I've heard a lot in these threads that once I look at the actual numbers in game, I find to be wholly untrue.

Thats the real meat of this post imo.

Lies and BS. This place of full of it. I agree, commendation vendors are not killing crafting, the crafting system may need some improvement, but it's certainly not worthless like some (mostly on the forums) are saying.

Why should anyone need you? Some people dont want to craft or pay out the nose to a crafter.

why should i need 15 people to raid with when i wanna do it alone? some people dont want to play with others and put up with their attitudes.

Oh yea because its a fraking MMO and not a single player game. Go play KOTOR.

Why should anyone need you? Some people dont want to craft or pay out the nose to a crafter.

This is an MMO. Getting into an MMO implies that you're in it to require the help of others and to help others. I know this game has it's solo elements for story purposes, and I don't see any other way to go about it right now, but I never understood why people want to solo in an MMO.

I am not against buying crafted items, if crafters were reasonable on the prices, i mean, i have tried dozens of times to do a gathering character that gathers materials and sells them on the GTN and all i get is complaints that i am over-pricing my items or get whispers telling me to sell my items for 200cr for a full stack.

Sorry, but that puts me off, i mean a crafter paying only 200cr for 99 rubat crystals can make over 5k profit from the items crafted from those rubat crystals, so i am expecting 1-2k per stack.

That is the only way gatherers will find it worthwhile, because right now, it just isn't worth it, crafters are not crafting, they just do enough to make loads of profit, they don't care if other players are geared or not, as long as they make credits, they don't give a toss.

That is why players go with vendors, the items are always there, crafted items are unreliable, they are not always there.

You do understand that if they make crafting worthwhile, anc remove commedation vendors..........more people would craft, would cause competition amongst crafted, thus dropping prices. Right now you have few people that sell goods regularly and thus increase prices. Supply/demand

 

You cant find anything because people dont want to invest wasted money and resources when someone can just run to a commedation vendor.

 

Thats the issue.There is no room for the market to grow because the market has a crutch. The crutch needs to go so we can balance the economy and start making money, selling goods, selling resources, etc.

 

More crafters = more goods = more resources they need = more money in your pocket as well. Many people just think about buying crafted goods "its my money why do i have to spend it". But dont realise that with a growing market those crafters you give money to, will also give a majority of it back by buying resources. You will probably make more from them than they will from you.

You dont need to remove the commendation vendors. All that needs to be done is to quadruple the price on the comemndation vendors. Then players have a choice, grind commendations [for hours] for free or pay for an item on the GTN and get it instantly.

No, don't quadruple the price, the mods will then require effort. The mods are there to support you through the questing and leveling period, and are often replaced. The only mods that should have their prices checked are Corellia and Ilum, and that's a maybe.

The real problem here is that there is no base line. The commendation mods are blue. The vendor mods are green. Also, on a per-planet basis. vendor mods are entry level, commendation mods are end level. It's actually hard for a character to get basic, green, run-off-the-mill gear for questing. Once you're done with your first planet, you have enough for some blue commendation gear. Even if you're 100% decked out in full orange, you'll have enough to buy the armorings/barrels/hilts with commendations, and grab the rest as green from the next planet's vendor on arrival.

So, if you set both vendor and commendation gear to green, but with the same level difference that is in the game right now, you'd a) ensure basic equipment for all characters across all levels is accessible, b) ensure that there is an actual market for blue crafted gear and c) make the crafting effort actually rewarding, both in terms of profit as well as 11-45 questing gear.

I think the only thing crafters need to do better in sales is a better broker. If the system wasn't complicated and hard to figure out then more people would use it. AND it should be availble on every planet. Why fly to fleet to get a mod if I can buy one right here where I'm questing, etc.

Btw, yes I've figured it out. I spent some time to do so because the broker game is part of what I enjoy about MMOs. But I think we are losing tons of potential customers who just can't be bothered with the silly hoops they have to go through to find what they need.

From normal questing you can pretty easily have oranges in your key slots. All you need to make those better than anything crafted is mods. With the commendations from normal questing through a planet you'll get enough to fully replace those mods on your gear meaning you have no reason to go to Cybertechs or Artificers for them and little reason to go to armormechs for anything. Armstech is completely screwed as weapons are moddable as soon as you finish your starter world.

Modable gear is a good idea. But when those mods are SO CHEAP from commendation vendors there is no market for them.

Make the commendation vendors sell the same mods/gear that the credit vendors on that planet sell just for commendations and people who don't want to spend creds can get second rate gear there for free. Right now there is pretty much no point to crafting. Lower levels can gear up on commendations and higher levels on dailies and always have better than a crafter that paupers themselves to get mats and RE ad nauseum to get the blue/purple schematics.

I think the only thing crafters need to do better in sales is a better broker. If the system wasn't complicated and hard to figure out then more people would use it. AND it should be availble on every planet. Why fly to fleet to get a mod if I can buy one right here where I'm questing, etc.

 

Btw, yes I've figured it out. I spent some time to do so because the broker game is part of what I enjoy about MMOs. But I think we are losing tons of potential customers who just can't be bothered with the silly hoops they have to go through to find what they need.

Yes, a GTN on every planet and a easier interface (workable name search) would be a boost for everyone. The fleet just takes too much effort to get to for most players focused on playing.

But it the problems of commendations being to easy to get, and the commendation gear too cheap, would still be there. The amount of effort required for commendation gear vs crafted is way out of whack.