So just finishing off my sorc with the 12xp which I started from scratch. This is the first toon that I have levelled without crew skills. It feels a little odd as I like crafting, but with the 12xp its just not viable to keep ontop of the gathering while you level.

 

How are people handling this, are you crafting while levelling, or just not crafting at all or maybe go back and craft wen at 60? Just one of the side effects of the 12xp I suppose, which I am loving.

Starting from scratch at 50+ is no different than changing skills at that level:

 

get some credits together

start running missions for materials

my advice is to focus on one crew skill at a time: for example level the gathering skill to feed your crafting first, then level the mission skill for advanced materials, then level the crafting skill

 

If you babysit the process, you can get from 0-500 in one skill in a day.

For the characters I am "speed" levelling I am only taking gathering skills either scavenging or bioanalysis, archaeology and slicing. I don't know how successful I will be yet (not seriously levelled anything past the starting world) but I am hoping I will at least be able to find enough nodes to keep the gathering skill at least to the planet I am on.

For the characters I am "speed" levelling I am only taking gathering skills either scavenging or bioanalysis, archaeology and slicing. I don't know how successful I will be yet (not seriously levelled anything past the starting world) but I am hoping I will at least be able to find enough nodes to keep the gathering skill at least to the planet I am on.

 

Hi. That is exactly what I do and am currently doing. I am leveling a Sentinel with Scav, Arch, and Bio.

 

You will find that you quickly outlevel the nodes and that what you gather will be of little use to your current character. But mats are plentiful and have value. You will end up with tons of them. Although they won't be useful to your current character, it is great to have a cargo hold full of mats when you level your next one. I always have the thought in mind of the next character when I gather for the current one.

 

Mats also translate into credits both through pure mat sales and from the sale of finished products built from currently gathered mats.

 

It is possible to be crafting skill underleveled for the nodes on a planet if you speed level. There is nothing worse than finding a fat node and when you click on it get the message that you have insufficient skill. I just keep all of my companions out and gathering while I play. Their missions build the crafting skill levels as you go and alleviate the problem.

 

PS - If you do want to change to a crafting skill, you will find that the full cargo holds allow your to do so in little time and without the need to run missions. Don't forget to run missions for the fluxes, etc. as you go so that you have a nice stash of them when you go to level up your crafting skill.

Edited May 15, 2015 by asbalana

I make a lot of alts, and this is how I personally am handling it.

 

First, I take my mission-heavy skill, and always make sure as many companions as possible are constantly working on that one so it keeps up. I have enough Underworld Traders, Treasure Hunters and Investigators already (though those are good if you *don't* have them), so I usually take either Slicing (since you can never have enough of that!), or else Diplomacy (if I want to farm LS/DS points on an alt ultimately intended to be Light V/Dark V, and I often dump it for something else after I've maxed my LS/DS in that case).

 

I save all the blues I get from this in case I need them for a crafting skill, and I sell all the purples because they are very good money (and I never use purples myself before endgame, as I feel they're a waste when blues are perfectly serviceable and the purple mats sell for *so* much).

 

Next, I take a couple of gathering skills and do as much gathering as I can to try and keep them up. If they start to lag behind, I'll pull some companions from the first skill to run some of the gathering missions, if my mission skill is leveled well enough for my current character level (which it usually is).

 

Some of the materials I get from these gathering skills I will sell off if I have a surplus, but more often I save them for that specific character (if I'm planning to later level a crafting skill that goes with it), or dole them out to my other characters who have the appropriate crafting skill (and are always wanting low-level mats, both for crafting things for alts and for doing conquest).

 

If I want that character to have a crafting skill, I wait until they're at least level 50, because then they can send out five companions. I dump one of the gathering skills, take the crafting skill, and powerlevel it... most guides for most crafting skills are "Craft 10 of this, then 10 of this, then 10 of this, etc", so with five companions, I just queue them up with two items each, wait a few minutes, learn new recipe, rinse and repeat. It goes by quite fast when you do it that way!

I have maxed out my crafters already, so I only do mission/gathering skills.

 

I get Treek ASAP and whenever I can, run without a companion to have the missions running to keep the gathering level with a planet I am on. I always buy each companion’s affection to 4,000 with level 1 gifts.

 

I also try not to level too too fast, taking my time to do zones or flashpoints between the planets or during the long drives. 1 to 2 weeks per character is fast enough for me, makes for a better final alt with less things to finish off ‘later’ and gives me a better feel for whether I want to continue the alt or give up on it.

For the characters I am "speed" levelling I am only taking gathering skills either scavenging or bioanalysis, archaeology and slicing. I don't know how successful I will be yet (not seriously levelled anything past the starting world) but I am hoping I will at least be able to find enough nodes to keep the gathering skill at least to the planet I am on.

 

If you are speed leveling, you will quickly find yourself under-leveled for the gathering skill and be unable to harvest nodes out in the game world.

 

My advice, especially if you plan to level multiple alts, is to plan your skills around companion bonuses and pick one of the mission / gathering skills to spam missions while leveling the alt.

 

Level the other skills when you get to 60, mission / gathering skills can be leveled in a couple of days easily.

 

Keep all the green materials you collect for power leveling crafting skills, most can be leveled crafting 10 items using trainer 2 / 2 / 2 schematics every 20 levels (synth / armor will have spots where items require more materials, all have wonky leveling from 400-450, 450-500 is easy).

 

Unlock Treek account wide so every alt has two companions right from the start - one to run missions, the other to assist with leveling.

 

Personally, I sell all purple mission materials (significant profits), some blue materials, and hold all green materials unless or until I am sure I have no use for them (leveling crafting skills / conquest / crafting).

 

Even leveling a totally new set of alts on a new server, I've been able to max all crafting skills, at least one of each gathering skill, and at least one of each mission skill sans investigation, all while staying credit positive.

Edited May 17, 2015 by DawnAskham

Personally, I sell all purple mission materials (significant profits), some blue materials, and hold all green materials unless or until I am sure I have no use for them

 

I've done something similar to this, but taken it even one step further:

 

I don't even necessarily bother with the crew skill missions that don't allow you to gather from the world while leveling. I.e., The Underworld Trading, the Diplomacy, etc. They're credit sucks unless you plan on selling what you get from it (Companion Gifts, Blue or Purple mats). If your main focus is to level Crafting, then you don't need them until you've hit the 401-450 stretch.

 

If all you want to do is level your crafting and don't mind not using Blue gear--just gather for your craftng skill plus one other thing. I've been taking Slicing, because in addition to the security nodes in the world, even spamming the Lockbox missions tends to be credit positive even before selling the schematics that drop with crits. You could take one of the other missions if those mats sell well on your server, too, or to supply an alt.

 

Then, once your crafting is over 400, if you want one of the credit sink skills, drop the second gathering skill and learn the other one. By that time, you should be high enough level, have enough credits and companions that you should be able to power level it in only a few days.

Edited May 18, 2015 by AlixMV