Saw this on Stephen Reids twitter feed earlier and found it pretty interesting. I personally dont have a problem with slicing, but maybe Bioware does. Probably too soon to tell.

 

"Galen Sturgess

@Rockjaw Is anything being done about the massive profit disparity between everything else and slicing?

 

Stephen Reid

@Berym Yes."

 

Im not sure what to make of this. Feel free to speculate.

Edited December 21, 2011 by Bandel

I don't see the issue with slicing other than the jealousy shown toward it from people without it.

I don't see the issue with slicing other than the jealousy shown toward it from people without it.

 

I think most people just assume that you make millions of credits with it. There is a monetary gain leveling up but at max level it slows down quite a bit.

Or, they can put in some 'junk' items in the reward of other crew skills for vendor.

 

Or, they can lower the cost of other crew skill missions.

 

Or, they can increase the vendor value of the other crew skills craft items.

 

To be honest, so far most of my credit comes from useless junks, not slicing (due to failed mission).

 

Having slicing as a crew skill is like not having another credits-sinking crew skill - it saves your credits, not necessarily earn them.

I think most people just assume that you make millions of credits with it. There is a monetary gain leveling up but at max level it slows down quite a bit.

 

Indeed. This is what I've found out from guildies and the forums so far. We'll see what happens with it.

X % decrease in mission payout with X % increase in blues

X % decrease in mission payout with X % increase in vendor loot

X % decrease in mission payout with X % increase in slicing resource nodes

X % decrease in mission payout alone (bad)

X % increase in failure rate on missions across the board (bad)

 

Bottom line is an X % decrease is coming and everyone knew it.

 

Lets just hope they don't nerf slicing into the ground.

I've been keeping close track of my slicing rewards and I'm not sure a nerf is needed. Granted I'm only level 15 with slicing at 207/400, but here's what I've got so far:

 

117 missions run

~40K cost

~59K return

~19K profit

642 minutes

 

That's somewhere around 4 credits per minute and a ROI of around 150%. Not too terribly OP if you ask me, especially since it's a static thing. Knowing how crafting goes in other games like WoW, I wouldn't be surprised if a "real" gathering skill generates much much higher per minute credits than slicing does in the long run.

 

For me, I'm just trying to make sure I have enough cash to buy mounts and such. I'll likely drop slicing at 50 once I've bought all the stuff I want from NPC vendors.

Well if it gets nerfed to the point where there is zero credit gain, all i need to say is good luck getting those augments. It was nerfed hard several times in beta.

 

Nobody is taking a skill with no return.

Well if it gets nerfed to the point where there is zero credit gain, all i need to say is good luck getting those augments. It was nerfed hard several times in beta.

 

Nobody is taking a skill with no return.

 

I think the idea endgame was to bank on selling the augments. If slicing is nerfed into the ground then the augment prices end game will skyrocket. BW is on a slippery slope with slicing.

I never thought I would be perma-rich with Slickng. I took it for what it is at the time. Fast money. When it gets nerfed ill sit on what I have made to help level either Armormech or Cybertech. I have seen a good decline on the payout of missions and with a nerf to Slicing I just wouldn't understand the purpose of having it at all.

 

Who knows. I won't cry either way.

I think the idea endgame was to bank on selling the augments. If slicing is nerfed into the ground then the augment prices end game will skyrocket. BW is on a slippery slope with slicing.

 

Ya, but as with these things, only endgame augments will be worth anything. Those with slicing need something 1-399 skill, not just 400.

 

Another thought is to increase the credit yield and make it a "crafting" skill instead of a gathering skill.

I do wonder what he means. There are a couple ways they could go about this, as I see it.

 

1. Reduce the yield of all slicing missions. The most common return from a slicing mission is a white box which generally yields a small amount +/- the mission cost. By reducing it so far that running the missions are no longer profitable, you have to wonder what the point of taking slicing at all would be. Also, I don't think it would curb the complaints. As long as slicers are still making profits on missions while others actively pay for missions, they will complain. I think this would be the worst option.

 

2. Reduce the yield of green quality and up credit boxes. The only time you make large profits off a slicing mission are when you get particular exceptional results and your companion brings back a green or higher credit box. These can yield profits in the thousands. When your guildmate says "wow I just got 4k out of a credit box from a 1k mission" this is what happened. By reducing just these, you eliminate some of that exceptionally large profit but still keep it viable. A bit better than #1 I think but it shares the same drawback and people will probably still complain. And reducing it too much makes slicing again not worth taking.

 

3. Make Slicing a crafting skill. Or what I really mean is to radically rework how slicing works, entirely. Either by making it some weird crafting/gathering hybrid skill or by simply classifying it as a craft so you can't take other crafts at the same time, I don't know. Not too sure how this one would play out as far as reactions from the community though since it would largely depend on what exactly they choose to do.

 

4. Reduce the costs associated with other mission skills. Perhaps the best option, in my opinion. I think what really bothers people is the large gap between people who are using any mission skill that isn't slicing compared to slicing. As I said, individual missions usually don't yield very many credits in profit but at the same time you're usually not spending any money to level it. On the other hand, the other mission skills will absolutely devastate your wallet and do it a lot faster than you may realize. I think if you compared a slicer with someone who only did gathering skills you would see the gap in credits is much smaller (though the slicer would still be ahead). By reducing the cost of these other mission skills, you can shrink this gap and perhaps alleviate the problem.

 

A big problem with #4 is 3 months down the line when materials are way more valuable than slicing returns the mission costs may actually end up being too low.

Another thought is to increase the credit yield and make it a "crafting" skill instead of a gathering skill.

 

NO. All that will do is cause massive inflation. Inflation is bad, mkay.

It has already been nerfed with last nights patch, couple hours worth of missions today net me about 700 credit profit... running the same missions yesteryday over the same time period netted me about 4000 credit profit, so I went from 2000 cr/hour to 350 cr/hour....

It has already been nerfed with last nights patch, couple hours worth of missions today net me about 700 credit profit... running the same missions yesteryday over the same time period netted me about 4000 credit profit, so I went from 2000 cr/hour to 350 cr/hour....

 

Still won't stop the QQ sadly.

Honestly, given there are already points in the leveling process (most notably right around when you hit the second class) that result in a slight net loss rather than profit I'm banking on slicing being a skill not worth taking if they nerf it any more.

 

However, as someone else mentioned - it doesn't matter that much to me either way at this point, I already capped it and I'm sitting on enough credits to be comfortably certain I'll be able to buy my final speeder.

 

I will say that nerfing it is a foolish idea, given that the relative buying power of the credits acquired by slicing will rapidly drop in the next few months resulting in it being only useful for people leveling a character for the first time shortly anyways.

I gave it a try after all the hooplaa I've been hearing and I don't think it's that great.

 

I've also been tracking my return on it pretty closely as well and it averages about 3-5 credits per minute after expenses and depending on when a fail gets computed in.

 

Quite frankly I think I will do better having my companion help with killing mobs faster.

 

If they nerf it any further they might as well just remove it.

 

I also thought balance changes were going to be determined by metrics and not forum whining...is this still true?

I also thought balance changes were going to be determined by metrics and not forum whining...is this still true?

 

I hope so. We're not even two days in and people are QQing all over the forums.

I hope so. We're not even two days in and people are QQing all over the forums.

 

Yea and it worries me as I've seen many a game go bad in a hurry because devs seemed to think forum posts reflect the entire community when in reality the forum whiners are usually the vocal minority.

 

The silent majority usually just click the cancel button when the game goes bad due to knee jerk changes.

 

If they want to use community feedback instead of or in tandem with metrics then they should conduct in game polls about proposed changes.

Edited December 21, 2011 by Hellapain

Still won't stop the QQ sadly.

 

Well, that's because mission returns (besides it being the only mission skill you can effectively level "for free") were not the main issue -- it was the extra credits you can amass from slicing boxes in the world while questing.

 

What I think *should* be done is completely take away the credit yield from missions (so you can't level for free now) and either a) up the return of augments, or b) make random resources from the other professions the reward for slicing (scavenging, archaeology, bioanalysis mats). Then reduce the credit return for normal boxes in the field, but increase the average crit box yield so there is about a 15% nerf overall.

what people forget, is that by taking slicing, you get a small but steady stream of credits, but you also forgo taking second mission/gathering profession which means that if you pick up crafting, you must buy either the basic or rare mats in order to do anything else than the basic items, which costs credits.

what people forget, is that by taking slicing, you get a small but steady stream of credits, but you also forgo taking second mission/gathering profession which means that if you pick up crafting, you must buy either the basic or rare mats in order to do anything else than the basic items, which costs credits.

 

That's not entirely true, because I think most people who intend to craft take slicing while leveling to amass more money than they would by getting the required crew skill for their craft, then drop slicing and use that money to burn through missions with 4 companions to powerlevel their desired crew skill.

Saw this on Stephen Reids twitter feed earlier and found it pretty interesting. I personally dont have a problem with slicing, but maybe Bioware does. Probably too soon to tell.

 

"Galen Sturgess

@Rockjaw Is anything being done about the massive profit disparity between everything else and slicing?

 

Stephen Reid

@Berym Yes."

 

Im not sure what to make of this. Feel free to speculate.

 

Well sadly. It has been nerfed badly.

This thred bring me to another gripe I have about BW dev staff, why have forums if you only read and respond to twitter feeds?

 

Oh well....

That's not entirely true, because I think most people who intend to craft take slicing while leveling to amass more money than they would by getting the required crew skill for their craft, then drop slicing and use that money to burn through missions with 4 companions to powerlevel their desired crew skill.

 

You pretty much just proved his point I think.

 

The idea is that crafters who do not slice have a steady monetary loss, and the only way to replace it is to sell items to other players. Factor in mats you never use and items that never sell, or sell for a pittance, and suddenly slicing becomes extremely efficient at every level.

 

Example: As a biochem, I may collect 4 or 5 nodes out in the world which may or may not apply to my skill level or desired item I want to make, and even if it does, that item may not turn a profit, or sell at all except to a vendor. A slicer however collects cold hard cash immediately from most of his nodes, and can place the schematics (already in tact and ready to sell) on the market for no risk.

 

The fact that slicing may or may not "slow down" at level 50 does not tell me anything; there's still a huge disparity between slicing and all the other avenues.