I agree that the slicing nerf was too much. I am not sure how people were abusing it or why it was considered imbalanced as a "gathering" type of profession. It gathered money. Not tons of money because the critical payouts were not very often and few and far between, based off my experience with it pre-nerf it was around 5%. It did however provide me enough money to keep my companions geared at level relevance, to not have to constantly grind mobs for grey trash to sell, to pay for skill upgrades, and to pay for mats off the auction house in order to raise my crafting profession. Since the nerf, the majority of the time all I see is a loss of a few hundred credits. I have not gotten one schematic or mission, and I can no longer afford to pay for skills. I hit a wall money wise, where before I felt I was breaking even. Now the only way it seems worth money is to go grind containers, the missions feel and seem completely useless.