Hi,

I am new to MMOs but not RPGs. Interesting stuff seeing other people run around...

Anyway, a few questions if I may...

Out of interest I am lvl 14 trooper, thought Jedi/Sith would have been a too common a start point..

[1] The need/greed loot choice, how can you tell whether it is an upgrade, especially with the timer?!

[2] For Heroic quests/Flashpoints I am just running up to people and asking them? Is this the way to do it? Seems a bit random..

[3] In regards to Weapons/Armour, I am just replacing better stuff with the old when I get it, should I be buying it? As you can mod your stuff, should I ONLY be buying stuff that CAN be modded?

[4] The advice in companion skills seem to be to group them together, why is this? are they not completely independent?

[5] What is the rationale behind missions for companions? I have been sending my companion on gathering missions and he brings back stuff but so what? I have loads of it. Should I stop? The only thing I can craft are belts and boots or sthg and I have crafted both items for both my companion and myself... so is there any point on sending him on mission after mission?????? What am I doing it for?!

Thanks for any help!

Alex

In order:

1. I wasn't aware of a time limit on your selection of Need/Greed. If you don't have it turned on already, there's an option in "Preferences" that will automatically show the stats on the item you're wearing when you place the mouse cursor over the item you're rolling Need/Greed on. The comparison will instantly show the difference in red (if the stats on the new item are lower) or in green (if the new stats are higher.)

2. I just ask around in channel one if I'm looking for a partner for a Heroic or Flashpoint mission. If you're on the trial account and have restrictions on chat (restrictions that will go away when the game goes fully to Fee-to-Play), a whispered response to someone else who is posting in channel one (right-click on their name in the chat window and select "Whisper") will help the other person avoid missing you in all the chat traffic.

Unsolicited whispers to form a group aren't considered rude, per se, but I can see how it would at least be time-consuming to /whisper every person you see until you find one who's going your way.

3. Decking yourself out entirely in customizable gear early on can mean committing yourself to gathering a ton of planetary commendations for all the little doodads that plug into it. Unless you absolutely have to wear that one special outfit early on, it's perfectly viable to wear green and blue quality quest reward gear. There's more than enough, just from mission rewards, to enable you to do game content at the intended level.

In the interest of disclosure, I do deck myself and my companions out in customizable gear. I am conscious of what it says about me that I still play dress-up with my dolls at my age. As a Trooper, you'll find that your companions wear Heavy armor with +Aim, just as you do. This makes it easy to keep your companions' gear up to date by simply dressing them in your old hand-me-downs.

4 and 5. The crew mission skills that gather raw materials are intended to support crafting crew skills that turn those materials into items with stats. If you're not crafting statted gear, you can auction off the materials you've gathered to other players at the Galactic Trade Network (GTN) consoles. You can also sell the gear created by your crafting skills this way.

Currently, free trial accounts do not have access to the GTN. If this is the type of account you're on, I would suggest perhaps storing any excess goods you've acquired through crew skills in the storage terminals at your faction capital world or in the center of your faction's Fleet station. When the game goes free to play, you'll be an auctioning machine.

Note that a lot of the gathering skills allow you to retrieve materials found on the ground over the course of your adventures; you don't necessarily need to invest in missions to go get that stuff at all.

[4] The advice in companion skills seem to be to group them together, why is this? are they not completely independent?

[5] What is the rationale behind missions for companions? I have been sending my companion on gathering missions and he brings back stuff but so what? I have loads of it. Should I stop? The only thing I can craft are belts and boots or sthg and I have crafted both items for both my companion and myself... so is there any point on sending him on mission after mission?????? What am I doing it for?!

I would strongly recommend checking out a good crafting guide, like this thread here.

Basically, your crafting skills are NOT independent. There are three categories of skills: Gathering skills, Mission skills, and Crafting skills. Generally, Gathering and Mission skills enable you to get the materials to make stuff with your Crafting skills. So, most people choose one Crafting skill, and then choose the Gathering & Mission skills that go with that craft.

I could say a lot more, but crafting is rather complicated, and I highly suggest you read a thorough guide to it (like that link). While it can be confusing at first, once you get the hang of it it's quite helpful.

Thanks for the replies, I read the guide...useful, but some of my queries are still unanswered. maybe I have asked them badly!

BTW, I am a paid up member if that helps to answer..

To go through my points..

[1] There may not be a timer I guess, but I feel rushed, surely when playing with others, there must be a time limit?!

[2] What does Channel 1 mean? I just type in the top left box when a player is near... amateuresque I know...

[3] So... Are mod-able armour/weapons infinitely MORE valuable than non-mod-able?

[4] Still confused, let me give a hypothetical example.. say I have two companions A & B, and A has skills 1, 2 & 3 and B has skills 4, 5 & 6. Is there any advantage in a companion grouping those skills together? Why can't A have 4, 2 & 6 for example?

[5] Ok I have one companion who collects the same raw materials and can craft the same two items, all of which I have plenty of, why should I keep going?!!??! send him off every two minutes..

p.s. The GTN seems a little strange, can I not collect and craft EVERYTHING eventually?? why do I need to trade? except to advance more quickly!?

Sorry all this MMO stuff seems strange to me...!! Apologies..Alex

Thanks for the replies, I read the guide...useful, but some of my queries are still unanswered. maybe I have asked them badly!

 

BTW, I am a paid up member if that helps to answer..

It's a sub game, everyone pays. Bioware employees are fairly distinctive, all your current answers are from other players.

 

To go through my points..

[1] There may not be a timer I guess, but I feel rushed, surely when playing with others, there must be a time limit?!

There is a time limit on Need/Greed, but it's fairly long. It is mostly to prevent people from being held up while someone goes afk.

 

[2] What does Channel 1 mean? I just type in the top left box when a player is near... amateuresque I know...

Channel 1 is General chat - this can be seen by everyone on your planet. There is also Party Chat /p; Guild Chat /g; Say /say etc.

 

[3] So... Are mod-able armour/weapons infinitely MORE valuable than non-mod-able?

Infinitely? No, but they are more valuable than items without modification slots. For the most part value is based on appearance and rarity for items you can find on the GTN.

 

[4] Still confused, let me give a hypothetical example.. say I have two companions A & B, and A has skills 1, 2 & 3 and B has skills 4, 5 & 6. Is there any advantage in a companion grouping those skills together? Why can't A have 4, 2 & 6 for example?

Bioware apparently had companions skill kits (or something) in Beta, but this was scrapped for whatever reason. Companions are very what you see is what you get. Unless you're referring to Crew Skills? I can't really tell if you've talking about combat abilities or not.

 

[5] Ok I have one companion who collects the same raw materials and can craft the same two items, all of which I have plenty of, why should I keep going?! send him off every two minutes..

As you level your Gathering/Missions skills you can also level your Crafting skills, meaning that you can craft better items for you, your companions or other players. If you wanted though, you could shove all your crafting materials on the GTN to try to sell them.

 

p.s. The GTN seems a little strange, can I not collect and craft EVERYTHING eventually? why do I need to trade? except to advance more quickly!?

You cannot craft everything. That simply isn't possible. The GTN is to sell things to other players or buy things for yourself which you otherwise would not get for whatever reason.

 

Sorry all this MMO stuff seems strange to me...!! Apologies..Alex

My answers in the... I think that's purple.

Thanks for the replies, I read the guide...useful, but some of my queries are still unanswered. maybe I have asked them badly!

BTW, I am a paid up member if that helps to answer..

It's a sub game, everyone pays. Bioware employees are fairly distinctive, all your current answers are from other players.

I meant that I am not on a trial account and therefore can access GTN etc

To go through my points..

[1] There may not be a timer I guess, but I feel rushed, surely when playing with others, there must be a time limit?!

There is a time limit on Need/Greed, but it's fairly long. It is mostly to prevent people from being held up while someone goes afk.

OK I am good here.

[2] What does Channel 1 mean? I just type in the top left box when a player is near... amateuresque I know...

Channel 1 is General chat - this can be seen by everyone on your planet. There is also Party Chat /p; Guild Chat /g; Say /say etc.

Thanks good here too.

[3] So... Are mod-able armour/weapons infinitely MORE valuable than non-mod-able?

Infinitely? No, but they are more valuable than items without modification slots. For the most part value is based on appearance and rarity for items you can find on the GTN.

Ok clear here too, just take it case by case I guess.

[4] Still confused, let me give a hypothetical example.. say I have two companions A & B, and A has skills 1, 2 & 3 and B has skills 4, 5 & 6. Is there any advantage in a companion grouping those skills together? Why can't A have 4, 2 & 6 for example?

Bioware apparently had companions skill kits (or something) in Beta, but this was scrapped for whatever reason. Companions are very what you see is what you get. Unless you're referring to Crew Skills? I can't really tell if you've talking about combat abilities or not.

I meant Companion skills. e.g. scavanging, armotech, underworld trrading etc. I have seen suggestion that these should be grouped together, my question is why? Why cannot I have another companion who has some of these skills?

[5] Ok I have one companion who collects the same raw materials and can craft the same two items, all of which I have plenty of, why should I keep going?! send him off every two minutes..

As you level your Gathering/Missions skills you can also level your Crafting skills, meaning that you can craft better items for you, your companions or other players. If you wanted though, you could shove all your crafting materials on the GTN to try to sell them.

"This doesn't really answer my question...I can make belts, loads of belts but I have belts equipped, my companion has a belt equipped,. all my friends have belts! Apart from making money, what is the point of making belts?!!

p.s. The GTN seems a little strange, can I not collect and craft EVERYTHING eventually? why do I need to trade? except to advance more quickly!?

You cannot craft everything. That simply isn't possible. The GTN is to sell things to other players or buy things for yourself which you otherwise would not get for whatever reason.

Ok I get this, I can only make SOME items regardless how levelled my character this I will always need to trade?

Sorry all this MMO stuff seems strange to me...!! Apologies..Alex

I meant Companion skills. e.g. scavanging, armotech, underworld trrading etc. I have seen suggestion that these should be grouped together, my question is why? Why cannot I have another companion who has some of these skills?

You (and your companions) can have a total of 3 crew skills, period. Only one of those 3 can be a crafting skill. If you want to get a new skill, you will need to drop one of the existing ones first. (And you'll lose any progress you've made in that skill.)

"This doesn't really answer my question...I can make belts, loads of belts but I have belts equipped, my companion has a belt equipped,. all my friends have belts! Apart from making money, what is the point of making belts?!!

Return to your craft skill trainer as you increase your levels. New recipes will become available for purchase every 10-20 points or so.

Getting new craft recipes is required for craft skill progression, since the easier recipes will no longer provide any skill improvement after you've "mastered" them. The Stickies in the Crew Skills forum should point you at a number of useful guides.

Let's use green.

[4] Still confused, let me give a hypothetical example.. say I have two companions A & B, and A has skills 1, 2 & 3 and B has skills 4, 5 & 6. Is there any advantage in a companion grouping those skills together? Why can't A have 4, 2 & 6 for example?

Bioware apparently had companions skill kits (or something) in Beta, but this was scrapped for whatever reason. Companions are very what you see is what you get. Unless you're referring to Crew Skills? I can't really tell if you've talking about combat abilities or not.

I meant Companion skills. e.g. scavanging, armotech, underworld trrading etc. I have seen suggestion that these should be grouped together, my question is why? Why cannot I have another companion who has some of these skills?

 

You're getting confused by this. Each companion has a bonus to certain Crew Skills, but you as a player can only learn one Crafting/Gathering/Mission skills and send those companions out.

 

For example, my Sorcerer has Artifice (crafting), Archaeology (gathering) and Treasure Hunting (mission). I can send all of my companions out on any of those crew skills, but I cannot also have Synthweaving or Slicing on that character. Khem Val is better for Artifice has he can reduce the time taken and Talos Drellik is better for Archeology and Treasure Hunting as he has a greater chance to bring back rare materials.

 

[5] Ok I have one companion who collects the same raw materials and can craft the same two items, all of which I have plenty of, why should I keep going?! send him off every two minutes..

As you level your Gathering/Missions skills you can also level your Crafting skills, meaning that you can craft better items for you, your companions or other players. If you wanted though, you could shove all your crafting materials on the GTN to try to sell them.

"This doesn't really answer my question...I can make belts, loads of belts but I have belts equipped, my companion has a belt equipped,. all my friends have belts! Apart from making money, what is the point of making belts?!

 

You can make more than just belts. You either have Synthweaving or Armourmech by the sounds of it; both can make augments, slottable armour and non-slottable armour. You merely need to visit the Crew Skill trainer to learn more schematics or find other schematics in the open world.

 

p.s. The GTN seems a little strange, can I not collect and craft EVERYTHING eventually? why do I need to trade? except to advance more quickly!?

You cannot craft everything. That simply isn't possible. The GTN is to sell things to other players or buy things for yourself which you otherwise would not get for whatever reason.

Ok I get this, I can only make SOME items regardless how levelled my character this I will always need to trade?

 

Yes and no. You will only "need" to trade if you find something on the GTN that you want or have things that you think other people might want.

[5] Ok I have one companion who collects the same raw materials and can craft the same two items, all of which I have plenty of, why should I keep going?! send him off every two minutes..

As you level your Gathering/Missions skills you can also level your Crafting skills, meaning that you can craft better items for you, your companions or other players. If you wanted though, you could shove all your crafting materials on the GTN to try to sell them.

"This doesn't really answer my question...I can make belts, loads of belts but I have belts equipped, my companion has a belt equipped,. all my friends have belts! Apart from making money, what is the point of making belts?!!

Ah, I think I see your problem. Your companions have NO crew skills. YOU have the crew skills. What shows for your companions is just a bonus, if you happen to be using that companion to use that skill.

Say, for example, that you have chosen Armortech, Scavenging, and Underworld Trading as your three skills (which it sounds like you have). You may have a companion with "+10 Slicing Critical" or something like that. This does NOT mean that your companion has Slicing skills. It just means that if you have Slicing as your skill, and you choose to send that particular companion on a Slicing mission, you'll get a +10 chance to get a critical result. If you don't have Slicing as one of your skill, then that particular bonus means absolutely nothing to you.

I like having my character keep some orange modded gear to look cool and unique, that's really the only concern I had with orange leveling.

You can only have the 3 crew skills for for you and all your companions so Ideally you want two of the missions skills to produce the materials needed for your crafting skill. For example synthweaving uses the materials you get from Archeology and Underworld Trading. So you get all three and you're mostly self sufficient; same goes with all crafting skills, they usually use materials found on 2 other gathering/mission skills. This isn't a rule you HAVE to follow, if you don't want to craft you can get all gathering skills and sell what you gather on the GTN. It's just a recomendation so you won't constantly be buying materials from the GTN if you're crafting gear.

OK thanks folks! some things have become very clear in those posts... they are MY skills and the companions bonus simply helps the mission. Thus I have only one character (and three skills) and therefore NEED to trade to get the stuff I cannot manufacture.. and therefore people will want to trade for my items...etc

It also makes sense why some skills go better together..as you said, it makes the character somewhat self sufficient...

I totally did not know that you could go BACK to the crew skills trainer to upgrade skills...!! One question, how do you know when you can go back and upgrade, is it per level you advance?!

Thanks ALL

Alex

OK thanks folks! some things have become very clear in those posts... they are MY skills and the companions bonus simply helps the mission. Thus I have only one character (and three skills) and therefore NEED to trade to get the stuff I cannot manufacture.. and therefore people will want to trade for my items...etc

 

It also makes sense why some skills go better together..as you said, it makes the character somewhat self sufficient...

 

I totally did not know that you could go BACK to the crew skills trainer to upgrade skills...!! One question, how do you know when you can go back and upgrade, is it per level you advance?!

 

Thanks ALL

Alex

You'll eventually see a pattern with the level of gear you can make - every 2 levels, or 4 levels, even levels, odd levels. For example, if you can make level 12 belts and level 14 belts, the next level of belt will be 16. Or, if you can make level 11 boots and level 15 boots, you probably won't get new schematics until level 19.

Once you go to the class trainer you'll see the schematics that are available to you, even the ones above your level. Please note that the schematics you can buy & items you make are limited by your crafting level, not your character's level.

Orange means it gives you points up in your crew skills. (I think three)

Yellow gives you slightly less than orange. (I think two)

Green gives you one point.

Grey gives you nothing.

The colours essentially refer to how much training you've done on them. Grey stuff means you've learnt everything you need to know about them and you could do it with your eyes closed. Orange means you actually have to concentrate.

OK the one thing I don't get is the colour coded thing...and that last post has confused me more! Could someone go through this, specifically what has this got to do with the crew trainer!?

You'll need to learn all about the different colors of equipment before you learn how it affects crew skills.

For a guide to the basic stats of items and their colors, read this page.

For how those colors of items affect crew skills, read this thread.

Just to clear up a couple minor errors by previous posters.... (none were a big deal, but I feel that a slight correction is needed)

You can only have *1* CRAFTING skill per toon. So, Armstech, Armormech, Cybertech, Artifice, Biochem or Synthweaving.

You can have more than 1 mission skill and more than 1 gathering skill. But, a toon is limited to 3 skills. So you could have Slicing, Scavening and Bioanalysis all on the same toon. You could also have Underworld trading, Investigation and Diplomacy on one toon. BUT (and this is a BIG "but") each crafting skill is designed to work best with one particular gathering skill and one mission skill.

Armstech works best with Scavenging and Investigation. Armormech with Scavenging and Underworld Trading, and so on.

Slicing is a special case. Slicing was originally the "credit gathering skill" and the missions your companions ran would return lockboxes (with credits in them) or "Mission Discoveries" which are special 1 time missions for the other gathering and mission skills. Not too long ago slicing was changed. Now it still provides Lockbox missions, but Slicers are also the only supplier of the blue and purple quality materials needed to make blue and purple augments. They also remain the primary supplier of mission discoveries.

I point out the difference in Slicing because (IMO) it makes a huge difference if you want to run a slicer. I find that running a Slicer toon means that I am NOT crafting. I am the supply side of the business. Pick 2 other NON-Crafting skills to go with slicing. I took Underworld Trading and Bioanalysis, I sell everything that I gather, or I send mats to my alts. But by selling everything I gather I make a TON of credits. At lvl 30 my Sentinel (my slicer) was sitting on about 1 million credits, and I was not even trying to make money.

If you are a new crafter I suggest sticking to the skills that work together. Check the skill trainers often, learn all the schematics that you can, or, if moeny is tight, learn the ones that you will use for yourself or your companions. Do not forget and Reverse Engineering.

I see that you said "I have made tons of belts" (or something like that), but, how many times have you RE'd (Reverse Engineered) those belts? If the item you make is green quality, then you can RE it to a blue schematic. There are 3 types of Blues (Redoubt +def, Critical +crit and Overkill +power). Once you have a blue version you need the blue materials provided by your missions skills to craft the item. There are 5 types of Purples based off of each blue. So, for every green item you know, there are 14 Purples that you can make. (It should be 15, but to the best of my knowledge there is 1 purple that you can not craft but I can not remember which it is)

I see that you said "I have made tons of belts" (or something like that), but, how many times have you RE'd (Reverse Engineered) those belts? If the item you make is green quality, then you can RE it to a blue schematic. There are 3 types of Blues (Redoubt +def, Critical +crit and Overkill +power). Once you have a blue version you need the blue materials provided by your missions skills to craft the item. There are 5 types of Purples based off of each blue. So, for every green item you know, there are 14 Purples that you can make. (It should be 15, but to the best of my knowledge there is 1 purple that you can not craft but I can not remember which it is)

This paragraph is HUGE, nobody explained it like this to me and it's not easy to figure out on your own, someone really needs to make a visual chart of this family tree style with the green being the source, the three blues one in each direction and then the purples beyond the blues. The visual will help BIG, some things are easier to understand by seeing rather than explaining with words. Picturing it in my head like that was a big Ah-ha moment when I first started crafting.

This paragraph is HUGE, nobody explained it like this to me and it's not easy to figure out on your own, someone really needs to make a visual chart of this family tree style with the green being the source, the three blues one in each direction and then the purples beyond the blues. The visual will help BIG, some things are easier to understand by seeing rather than explaining with words. Picturing it in my head like that was a big Ah-ha moment when I first started crafting.

For how those colors of items affect crew skills, read this thread.

If you check out the link that I had quoted above, the third sentence (in the bright yellow font) contains a link to the very thing you're asking for!

If you check out the link that I had quoted above, the third sentence (in the bright yellow font) contains a link to the very thing you're asking for!

I've read that article before but missed that link... VERY nice. That image should be mandatory reading for all would-be crafters. When are we getting a crafter class. *cry* tie skill boosts to attribute gain and allow 6 crafts/mission/gather skills, but otherwise gimp them for combat, have them earn xp by doing crafting missions, making certain items and turning them in to the dropbox.

Thanks for the link. I have looked at that post before but I forgot about it. And it appears that the missing item is a Redoubt/Alacrity purple. Which is no great loss since Alacrity is usually for healers and redoubt is for tanks and no one can be both .

One more thing.... Some of the schematics that you can learn are already blue. You can RE those blues into a Purple with the redoubt/overkill/critical prefix. But since you started from a blue instead of a green and all itrems can be REd to 2 additional tiers from their starting point... you can then take that purple and RE it to get the next level of enhancement. BUT.. since the item you are REing is already a purple it will require many more of the hard to get materials and the resulting items may not be worth the time, effort and cost to make. But they are pretty good to have if you can afford them.

Last thing, do not get discouraged if your REing is "hit or miss" You have a 20% chance to get a new schematic but that does NOT mean that you will get one after 5 tries. It means that your 6th attempt has the same 20% chance to give a new schematic. Sometime the random number generator will not give you any good stuff, other times you will get a purple really fast. It is all random.

Last thing, do not get discouraged if your REing is "hit or miss" You have a 20% chance to get a new schematic but that does NOT mean that you will get one after 5 tries. It means that your 6th attempt has the same 20% chance to give a new schematic. Sometime the random number generator will not give you any good stuff, other times you will get a purple really fast. It is all random.

This is very true. One time I was crafting & it seemed like the odds were never in my favor - it took 12 tries to RE one item, and 14 times the next. So, I started tracking, and after 50-100 items, it really did average out to 1 in 5. Those losing streaks just seem really long...

This is very true. One time I was crafting & it seemed like the odds were never in my favor - it took 12 tries to RE one item, and 14 times the next. So, I started tracking, and after 50-100 items, it really did average out to 1 in 5. Those losing streaks just seem really long...

When the dog poops on the rug one day because you came home late you never think of the 20 times you came home late before and it didn't poop on the rug.

Thanks for the help so far... I don't know why they call them crew skills if they are in fact the main characters... am I being pedantic? Maybe..

So just now a scenario to talk through... say two of us are on a HEROIC mission.. etc...and the shiny loot light comes on and it is green...signifying well .. better than normal stuff. The Loot thingy comes up saying Need, greed or reverse... I can hover over the item to compare it with mine, and on that basis I choose as option right? Although this is hidden from other players, thus relies on integrity?

So the mission is over, I have a whole new bunch of loot.I find, for example, some boots. They are better than mine, so I take them. The ones I had are better than my companions, so I give him my old boots. So the spare pair of boots are now free to be sold, or reversed? Yes? Or should I reverse the best boots in the first place?

What if I find a really good light sabre and I happen to be a trooper and therefore cannot use it? Do I reverse it or sell it? I presume there is no point reversing weapons if I don't have the weapon skill thing right? or is it? As I cannot build them...

Generally, should I craft boots then reverse them? is that good (assuming I have the money)? At what point would I stop?! Is that what people do? Seems pretty repetitive...

any advice....