So I understood through patch notes that crafted gear would exceed the abilities of in-game gear that is rewarded.

Being artifice, and playing the majority of pvp due to low FP and OPs participation on my low pop server, I decided to craft about 24 light sabers in the hopes of critting an augmented one.

I did, wrote down all my stats, removed the modifications from my BattleMaster saber, modified the Elegant Augmented Lightsaber, and then compared the change.

First, there was basically no change in stats with my artificed creation even with the augmented slot. The addition of an augment is a small one and whatever I put in there is going to be negligible (at least with just one custom piece).

Second, it cost me over 100k to test this theory and see for myself.

So my complaints are twofold: cost and no real benefit. I wish there was some way to do a mock up comparison of a custom piece before you go through the entire process of building it.

Even if I exchange the BM shell for a WarHero saber, the mods from that WH will basically just create the same Lightsaber in the custom version and I'll have to remove and add mods again. I don't understand if I did something wrong or if there is a problem here. I also had to spend a ton of time and effort to craft all those lightsabers waiting for the crit. And all the non-crit items are basically trash because there are hundreds of them around. I can't even RE them or sell them to a vendor for any decent money.

So can anyone advise me or offer some correction in this regard? Why would I craft a critted custom piece of gear? Has anyone else had different results with an item and done a comparison? Did I just waste my time with artifice?

The augment is what adds the extra stats. The item itself is not inherently any better.

And, while +18 is a minor boost, when you consider to possibility of maxing out your gear you're looking at somewhere between 6 (3 main armor, main hand, 2x implants) and 14 (every slot) +18 bonuses.

That's a minimum of 108, and a maximum of 252 extra stat.

108 is more than most Rakata level gear pieces, and 252 is enough to put you at severe diminishing returns for any secondary stat.