My main character is a Cybertech (410) with Scavenging (450) and Underworld Trading (410). I have a lot of alts so CT has been a nice skill for providing mods and ship parts to all my alts and their companions but when it comes to actually making money, especially at end game I am at a loss.

I have read several guides to CT and I know a lot of people feel it is a huge money maker but from what I understand to make anything worth selling you have to be a raider, get the best raid loot and RE them to get schematics for anything that might be worth selling. The thing is my guild does not raid much so anything that requires mats from ops will be extremely hard for me.

So my question is, is CT worth keeping for someone who does not have much access to raid loot? Nobody wants crafted mods at end game when you can get better gear from basic/elite/ultimate coms. Crafted ship parts don't seem to sell anymore because they now have grade 7 parts that are better. Are droid parts or grenades worth making?

I'm not looking to make tons of credits or be super rich from crafting. I know that's not realistic without doing any raiding but at the same time, all my companions are just sitting on my ship doing nothing all the time.

I'm debating dropping something for Slicing. At least my companions could be going out for lockboxes and maybe sell any mission discoveries I happen to get. I keep hearing that Slicing can also provide Thermal Regulators which also sell well but I have no idea what those are for. I have also seen rumors that CT will be able to craft parts for the new starfighters, which would make it worth holding on to.

Am I foolish to dump crafting skill I have worked up to almost 450? I know I could develop slicing on one of my many alts but I spend the most time on my main and want something for his crew to be doing.

Any advice??

There are 2 ways to make money.

1- Rarely sell a single piece of RE raid loot for half a million credits.

2 - Sell 10 pieces of 1-55 armoring per night per level at 15k a piece.

Yes you can make money casually with CT without going on raids, you just need to find the lucrative corners of the market for your server.

No need to be a raider with cybertech.

I sell lvl 53 armorings and mods(recipes from trainer), artifact lvl 53 earpieces (you can buy recipes with basic comms, need hero standing with Makeb), ship parts, grenades and some lowbie stuff. Look at planetary commendation vendors, you'll see gaps between some mods and armorings there. Craft those! And there's few earpieces available when leveling as well, so it is worth selling them too. Especially when double xp weekends are about and people burn through story without stopping for flashpoint/commendation grinds. In my experience blue stuff sells better since it can be used by f2p players, and purples are only for subs and people with unlocks. There's still market for purples, but I usually make them only when I get spare purple metals.

And it makes me 4-5 millions a week if I'm not lazy to go and hunt for metals instead of buying them on GTN. Not crazy profits, but it adds up nicely.

Also, having slicer alts is a great help since then you can use your own wealthy missions for purple materials and not waste money for blue material missions hoping for crits. And you can run only lockboxes missions, so you are pretty much even on money all the time.

Hope it helps.

I would not worry your not a raider. That end of the market is very expensive to get into with large costs just to try and learn the schematics. Then you have the materials needed to craft that if your buying off the GTN will set you back over 400k. The regular money is almost never in the cutting edge of the market but in the mass market, that is regular players with lots of alts.

With the a long double XP weekend coming up I would be crafting blue items in the 20's, 30's and early 40's. Those always give the best return for your materials if you gather them yourself. If you have not done it already roll a couple of alts to level 16 and get there companions to learn and go on missions you need the materials from. Makes life a lot easier if you have lots of characters out gathering at the same time and I can't imagine it takes more than a day with XP boosts to get a character to 16 anymore.