I have 13 alts and I used them to experiment in the different crew skills. From my experience, biochem seems to be the best for a lvling player. I want to emphasize I'm talking only about the lvling and not endgame gear. From my perspective at endgame all skills have different advantages and their usefulness realy depends on your AC. I know some people say: just use three gathering skills for earning cash on the AH, and pick a crafting skill when u reach max lvl. But I'm the kind of player who like crafting as I play along (especially with the system of swtor, where ur comps do all the boring parts), but more importantly I like crafting things I can actualy use... The problem with most of the other crafting skills, is that the gear ur crafting quickly becomes obsolete by quest rewards and loot drops (especialy artifice and armstech, where ur weapons and mods get outclassed by commendation vendor oranges). With biochem u craft medpacks that are vastly superior to loot drops, and can be upgraded to be reusable with alot less hassle than u get in other skills (the ability to RE stacks vastly increase your chance of critting for schematic, it appear the chances are cumulative when RE stacks). And u always have stim active (again reusable), meaning no matter what gear u get on your way u always have that edge: persistent and growing as u lvl and get access to better stims.

P.s.

I saw there a thread about biochem not being OP, but this is not what I'm saying. Just saying its good choice for lvling charecters. Max lvl players will probably be better off with a crew skill that complement there AC.

Biochem is the best skill period. Anyone telling you any different hasn't been playing these kind of games for very long. Pve or PVP. Pretty simple.

Perma consumables are invaluable. BW really knows how to make us alchemists shine~

And if you manage to catch you some hawkeyes, goodness gracious.

I find that during leveling I hardly ever use stims/medpacks at all, the few times I do need to heal myself a simple dropped medpack is good enough. I simply don't need healing (playing an Assassin and Sniper atm), unless doing Heroics and then we have a healer in the group anyway. The 1-hour / 15 secs buffs I never ever use during leveling.

So for me Biochem would be a wasted skill during leveling. I imagine it might be useful at endgame though, but not while leveling.

I find that during leveling I hardly ever use stims/medpacks at all, the few times I do need to heal myself a simple dropped medpack is good enough. I simply don't need healing (playing an Assassin and Sniper atm), unless doing Heroics and then we have a healer in the group anyway. The 1-hour / 15 secs buffs I never ever use during leveling.

 

So for me Biochem would be a wasted skill during leveling. I imagine it might be useful at endgame though, but not while leveling.

Funny you say that, I find that a Juggernaut with all the grade 2 purple consumables and the lvl 21 augmented tactile implants with endurance augments in them pretty rigged, and far more capable you would think. Absurdly powerful, you can really trick yourself out, and if you're a melee class, its pretty useful.

Biochem is the best skill period. Anyone telling you any different hasn't been playing these kind of games for very long. Pve or PVP. Pretty simple.

 

Perma consumables are invaluable. BW really knows how to make us alchemists shine~

 

And if you manage to catch you some hawkeyes, goodness gracious.

Pretty much this. Reusable stims basically means you get an extra piece of gear worth of stats early, and an extra two pieces of gear worth of stats later on. It's honestly incredible, and the materials are even easier to come by than scavenging mats. Biochem has the strongest returns for the least work, and it will never be obsoleted by raid gear, unlike Armstech, Armormech, Synthweaving, or Artificing.

Pretty much this. Reusable stims basically means you get an extra piece of gear worth of stats early, and an extra two pieces of gear worth of stats later on. It's honestly incredible, and the materials are even easier to come by than scavenging mats. Biochem has the strongest returns for the least work, and it will never be obsoleted by raid gear, unlike Armstech, Armormech, Synthweaving, or Artificing.

Crystal Alloys for the Rakata Pacs arent exactly easy to come by since everyone needs on them because they are used in all high-end schematics.

I was lucky enough to get 3 from Eternity Vault last week but still ... been doing hardmodes before that and never got lucky on the roll.

I find that during leveling I hardly ever use stims/medpacks at all, the few times I do need to heal myself a simple dropped medpack is good enough. I simply don't need healing (playing an Assassin and Sniper atm), unless doing Heroics and then we have a healer in the group anyway. The 1-hour / 15 secs buffs I never ever use during leveling.

 

So for me Biochem would be a wasted skill during leveling. I imagine it might be useful at endgame though, but not while leveling.

By your own admission, you don't find it usefull because u don't use it. For someone without biochem medpacks and stims are so rare, you think twice before using them. With biochem you always have a stim on, and like I said the medpacks are vastly superior to drop. As lvl23 JG who suppose to tank, having medpacks that can barely heal for 250-500 is just a blip on my health bar. Even as a starting bio the medpacks I maid we're much more powerfull.

Biochem is indeed useful, I'm using it as an assassin (tank spec), and in my early 30s I don't have a healing companion yet (except the annoying droid that cannot be used without a nervous breakdown....).

The only problem is that I'm at about 120 biochem, and hit a "wall" in the progression: I never have materials enough to build medpacs suitable to my level....

Do you have any suggestions on how to level biochem efficiently without spending a fortune to buy mats?

thanks in advance

Biochem is amazing. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

I currently have reuseable medpacks, stims and adrenals, which give me.

4000health instantly, every 90seconds (plus another 1.5k over time if I use the prototype one)

84 wisdom and force power (lasts 2 hours)

150 to either my crit chance/power/armour for 15 seconds every 3 minutes.

If I combine the crit stim with my crit abilities and 2 crit/power relics, I can easily outheal massive amounts of damage, even if 2-3 players are pounding on me in PvP. 5k crits on a single 1.5 second charged heal...yes, easily.

We also get implants, and I can make better than the reward or PvP ones.

Not to mention how much money I'm making selling medpacks on the GTN.

Biochem is Uber.

ive pick treasure hunting, slicing and investigation

im always 2-3 lvls above my quests and i lvl up fast and smooth

im in all 400 and im lvl 37 now, i have inventory slots 80 and 2 bank slots

all skills are fine, dont listen the kids

Biochem is indeed useful, I'm using it as an assassin (tank spec), and in my early 30s I don't have a healing companion yet (except the annoying droid that cannot be used without a nervous breakdown....).

 

The only problem is that I'm at about 120 biochem, and hit a "wall" in the progression: I never have materials enough to build medpacs suitable to my level....

 

Do you have any suggestions on how to level biochem efficiently without spending a fortune to buy mats?

 

thanks in advance

300 Biochem. I've done it all without having to go buy Diplo. mats because I've skipped REing my stuff. I figured I will just get it to 400 and then go back and get what I want. You can level all the way to 400 just doing the regular recipes that don't need extra mats.

I have 13 alts and I used them to experiment in the different crew skills. From my experience, biochem seems to be the best for a lvling player. I want to emphasize I'm talking only about the lvling and not endgame gear. From my perspective at endgame all skills have different advantages and their usefulness realy depends on your AC. I know some people say: just use three gathering skills for earning cash on the AH, and pick a crafting skill when u reach max lvl. But I'm the kind of player who like crafting as I play along (especially with the system of swtor, where ur comps do all the boring parts), but more importantly I like crafting things I can actualy use... The problem with most of the other crafting skills, is that the gear ur crafting quickly becomes obsolete by quest rewards and loot drops (especialy artifice and armstech, where ur weapons and mods get outclassed by commendation vendor oranges). With biochem u craft medpacks that are vastly superior to loot drops, and can be upgraded to be reusable with alot less hassle than u get in other skills (the ability to RE stacks vastly increase your chance of critting for schematic, it appear the chances are cumulative when RE stacks). And u always have stim active (again reusable), meaning no matter what gear u get on your way u always have that edge: persistent and growing as u lvl and get access to better stims.

 

P.s.

I saw there a thread about biochem not being OP, but this is not what I'm saying. Just saying its good choice for lvling charecters. Max lvl players will probably be better off with a crew skill that complement there AC.

this is true but i don't have this problem my armor is always better then quest and the orange gear. Heck i make my own orange gear O_O. bio is good weapons mods weapons tec is not useless because you can make purple barrels for guns. It all crafts have there usefulness >>. Same with cyber tec you can make awesome mods purple at 50. >.>

Like I said: I'm not claiming any skill is useless, and I've said that when u reach max lvl all skills have their advantages which are very subjective and depending on your AC and play style. My point was that biochem is good for a lvling player. You can get alot of

Mileage out of the reusables. Weapon crafting is not effective because ur weapons/mods are quickly get outclassed by commendation vendors (for 2 commendations on coruscant u can get a blue mod that is roughly as good as anything u craft and wouldn't take 30min of gathering/mission to get it). With armour crafting (sinth and armor tech) you have to fill a lot of slots and before you're half way to upgrading your gear, u allready outlvl it and it became obsolete. And cyber? Unless u have a droid comp u spent alot of time grinding to the good stuff (earpieces etc).

Like I said: I'm not claiming any skill is useless, and I've said that when u reach max lvl all skills have their advantages which are very subjective and depending on your AC and play style. My point was that biochem is good for a lvling player. You can get alot of

Mileage out of the reusables. Weapon crafting is not effective because ur weapons/mods are quickly get outclassed by commendation vendors (for 2 commendations on coruscant u can get a blue mod that is roughly as good as anything u craft and wouldn't take 30min of gathering/mission to get it). With armour crafting (sinth and armor tech) you have to fill a lot of slots and before you're half way to upgrading your gear, u allready outlvl it and it became obsolete. And cyber? Unless u have a droid comp u spent alot of time grinding to the good stuff (earpieces etc).

but now that the bio will be nerfed all others will have a big advantage

(especially the cybertech)

I found Biochem to be invaluable especially for a melee chractor that gets the tank companion late. However, all other crafting skills are just as good for leveling imo. The reusable medpacs are amazing but so are artifact light sabres enhanced with artifact crystal.

For example, Coruscant commendation Sabre's equipped with a rating 44 hilt. At artifice level 100 you get a rating 42 green hilt that requires level 17. If you reverse engineer some of them you get a blue hilt that has 50 rating, which will last you through the whole Taris and most of Nar Shadaa. The artifact version, which isn't too hard to get with some effort, has a 54 rating which is almost as good as Nar Shadaa commendation Sabre that requires lvl 22. So at lvl 17, you can wield a sabre that has almost as much weapon damage as the best Sabre you can get at lvl 22(and it also requires 14 badges). Due to how the PvP system works, this is an invaluable edge for people looking to lvl through PvP.

You can buy the artifact versions through GTN while reusable medpacs are exclusive to Biochem users. But it's very hard to find the one you're looking for with the right lvl and stats and it usually costs a lot.