Hi All,

I am not really interested in crafting so

I have come up with Slicing , Scavenging & investigation for gathering & selling the stuff on GTN so as to make credits.

Are there better gathering skills ?

Many thanks

Hi All,

I am not really interested in crafting so

I have come up with Slicing , Scavenging & investigation for gathering & selling the stuff on GTN so as to make credits.

Are there better gathering skills ?

 

Many thanks

forget crafting. It is a credit sink and you will spend an inordinate amount of time that will actually drain your wallet rather then enhance your equity. Bulk your toons up with scavenging, and bio for when you are in the field. Add in underworld metals and have your unused toons running those missions continuously. There is a huge profit margin. I can earn up to 300k in about an hour.

forget crafting. It is a credit sink and you will spend an inordinate amount of time that will actually drain your wallet rather then enhance your equity. Bulk your toons up with scavenging, and bio for when you are in the field. Add in underworld metals and have your unused toons running those missions continuously. There is a huge profit margin. I can earn up to 300k in about an hour.

Crafting is a credit sink? My 4 million a day say otherwise, especially when they point out, that i only have to spend an hour at most to get them. Saves me the trouble of running missions, running through the wilds to gather materials or doing dailies.

That's more time i can invest in an alt or do something else outside the game.

I think both of you are right. Specialization is the key here. You can make boatloads of cash doing just the gathering missions and selling mats, but the same applies for just doing the crafting (while obtaining the mats from the GTN). So there's a definite market for each strategy.

What is really suboptimal is if you try to do both. E.g. when crafting, you can queue up all your companions, churning out items at a steady pace, with hardly any intervention. I can generate a boatload of items per hour that way, while I use my character to do the fun stuff. If I were to gather my own items (especially the more exotic ones) that means my companions are NOT generating items (= loss of income). And there's NO guarantee I'll actually get the exact amount AND type of mats I need for specific items (not very efficient). Or I have to go out to get mats myself, which I find about as interesting as watching paint dry. Better to scourge the GTN looking for bargains (large stacks usually can be acquired at a decent price per item).

Same way the other way around: you can make good money just gathering and selling the mats (mostly for people like me), and don't craft anything at all (better have extra gathering capacity). The efficiency argument I used earlier does not apply in this case, since you are not crafting yourself. Just put any crafted materials on the GTN and people like me will buy them. And again, let your companions do the heavy lifting, and use your character to do the fun stuff (unless you enjoy gathering of course, to each his own ).

4 mil in an hour??? is that one hour a week, or day... so you do 28 million a week?

is any of that 4 mil an hour profit, after paying top coin on the GTN... cheap mats are scarce, alot of people want cheap mats... so, middle to high end prices prevail, if not today, if not tommorrow, sooner or later the damand drives up the price for mats, with someone buying up supplys to turn 4 mil of end product.

how many items max can we put on the GTN... 80??? so you're selling something, worth at least 50K... but that's pure profit...

can we assume, 100% markup.... so, 80 items at 100K, to cover expensive mats... perhaps it's 40 items, at 200K...

takes 16 people running dailies at 250K profit, to generate 4 mil creds... so, 160 people generate 40 mil a day...

you're taking 10% of the GPN daily, leaves room for 9 more people to do that same...

alright, I won't throw the BS flag... I will say crafting won't produce 4 mil per day in an hour, for very many people.

4 mil in an hour??? is that one hour a week, or day... so you do 28 million a week?

 

is any of that 4 mil an hour profit, after paying top coin on the GTN... cheap mats are scarce, alot of people want cheap mats... so, middle to high end prices prevail, if not today, if not tommorrow, sooner or later the damand drives up the price for mats, with someone buying up supplys to turn 4 mil of end product.

 

how many items max can we put on the GTN... 80??? so you're selling something, worth at least 50K... but that's pure profit...

 

can we assume, 100% markup.... so, 80 items at 100K, to cover expensive mats... perhaps it's 40 items, at 200K...

 

takes 16 people running dailies at 250K profit, to generate 4 mil creds... so, 160 people generate 40 mil a day...

you're taking 10% of the GPN daily, leaves room for 9 more people to do that same...

 

alright, I won't throw the BS flag... I will say crafting won't produce 4 mil per day in an hour, for very many people.

He said a day. I do about the same per day. I sell mk-6 kits, 27 armoring & mods and augments.

Although the OP isn't interested in high level crafting, he sounds like he wants to make extra money on the side. You're on the right track. Slicing is a good way to go for the neural augmenters and crew skill missions. , I've been telling people in my guild to get underworld trading, the price of mandalorian iron is just crazy. bioanalysis and scavenging are great as well. I would suggest looking on the gtn and see how much materials are selling per lot on your server and make your decision based on that. You can make money on any of these crew skills just some will have a little more profit than others.

4 mil in an hour??? is that one hour a week, or day... so you do 28 million a week?

 

is any of that 4 mil an hour profit, after paying top coin on the GTN... cheap mats are scarce, alot of people want cheap mats... so, middle to high end prices prevail, if not today, if not tommorrow, sooner or later the damand drives up the price for mats, with someone buying up supplys to turn 4 mil of end product.

 

how many items max can we put on the GTN... 80??? so you're selling something, worth at least 50K... but that's pure profit...

 

can we assume, 100% markup.... so, 80 items at 100K, to cover expensive mats... perhaps it's 40 items, at 200K...

 

takes 16 people running dailies at 250K profit, to generate 4 mil creds... so, 160 people generate 40 mil a day...

you're taking 10% of the GPN daily, leaves room for 9 more people to do that same...

 

alright, I won't throw the BS flag... I will say crafting won't produce 4 mil per day in an hour, for very many people.

What he is talking about is 4 million credits for one hour's effort. It can still take several days to actually reap the profits of that effort, but his statement is not wholly unrealistic.

That being said, you do have a valid point, that he is more the exception than the rule. He has probably managed to find a high demand low supply niche market that has very little competition.

I think both of you are right. Specialization is the key here. You can make boatloads of cash doing just the gathering missions and selling mats, but the same applies for just doing the crafting (while obtaining the mats from the GTN). So there's a definite market for each strategy.

 

What is really suboptimal is if you try to do both. E.g. when crafting, you can queue up all your companions, churning out items at a steady pace, with hardly any intervention. I can generate a boatload of items per hour that way, while I use my character to do the fun stuff. If I were to gather my own items (especially the more exotic ones) that means my companions are NOT generating items (= loss of income). And there's NO guarantee I'll actually get the exact amount AND type of mats I need for specific items (not very efficient). Or I have to go out to get mats myself, which I find about as interesting as watching paint dry. Better to scourge the GTN looking for bargains (large stacks usually can be acquired at a decent price per item).

 

Same way the other way around: you can make good money just gathering and selling the mats (mostly for people like me), and don't craft anything at all (better have extra gathering capacity). The efficiency argument I used earlier does not apply in this case, since you are not crafting yourself. Just put any crafted materials on the GTN and people like me will buy them. And again, let your companions do the heavy lifting, and use your character to do the fun stuff (unless you enjoy gathering of course, to each his own ).

Good post and really true.

I mostly deal in mats and kits, but often have crafted mods, armorings, enhancments, implants, etc. left over or from crits when I am gearing a leveling toon. They sell well and at a good price and every so often I am tempted to crank them out. But doing both (mat and aromoring sales) is not really feasible and one cuts the time and profit from the other.

To those that make 4M a day in a short time, you are not profiting from any application other than selling max level (27) armoring or mods. The credit flow is heavily tilted to the raider or pvper who can gather a ton of stabs. I can go a coulple a million a day (when motivated) through mats, kits, and non max level armoring and mods but it takes some time and efffort. So unless someone who can generate that amount of income in a short time can show me otherwise, I would say that your are not really a crafter but rather a raider or pvper who is cashing in on a crappy system that overcompensates non crafting persuits.

PS - To the OP, go scav and arch, and then bio or UT or Slicing for making credits. You may want to add somethng like Synth or Armormech to a second character to craft items that can be REed into components for kits.

Hi All,

I am not really interested in crafting so

I have come up with Slicing , Scavenging & investigation for gathering & selling the stuff on GTN so as to make credits.

Are there better gathering skills ?

 

Many thanks

I suggest taking underworld trading instead of investigation. From my experience, investigation is one of the least profitable and least demanded crew skills, whereas underworld trading is useful to multiple crew skills and will make you the most money. You'll make a killing on Mandalorian Iron. The other two crew skills are great choices.

Investigation will not likely net you much at all. Slicing also doesn't do much for you other than the purple mats for augments, and the return rate on missions is quite low, so the profit is not what you would think.

Take slicing if you want, but you'd probably make as much or more with archaeology, bioanalysis, and scavenging, and just farming up grade 1-4 basic mats to sell. Overall they're as good as anything for the time and credits you have to spend to get them. Low level UT missions can be ok too, but again they cost more to run and only the purple stuff really sells, so they're not as lucrative as they seem compared with basic mats.

To those that make 4M a day in a short time, you are not profiting from any application other than selling max level (27) armoring or mods.

Like any other crafter, i craft items that other people want to use. Is it really a fault, that we can craft items, that are worth more than others? Those who make a few 100k, do so by selling items to other people, just like us. The only difference is, that i and some other people sell items that are more valuable than others.

The credit flow is heavily tilted to the raider or pvper who can gather a ton of stabs.

Yes, and anyone can raid, anyone can pvp, just like everyone can run through the wilds to gather some minor mats or run missions for purple mats. Do i have to feel guilty, that i'm actually good at pvp or raiding?

I can go a coulple a million a day (when motivated) through mats, kits, and non max level armoring and mods but it takes some time and efffort.

Then do so. I don't even doubt it that you can. But what is your point?

I have a synthweaver too, i know about making credits with augments, augmentation kits and, especially(!), moddable bracers and belts without class restrictions. I do so without problems, but why should i ignore a crafting profession, that is by far more profitable?

Is anyone, who's making a lot of money through crafting no crafter? Where's the logic in that?

So unless someone who can generate that amount of income in a short time can show me otherwise, I would say that your are not really a crafter but rather a raider or pvper who is cashing in on a crappy system that overcompensates non crafting persuits.

I'm not a crafter, because i put my stabilizer, which i earn through raids and pvp, to good use? Is it my fault, that i can't gather those mats on the world map like a bunch of rubat crystals? I fail to see the logic. I gather my mats when i can, and i buy mats when they are cheap in the GTN. I use the given system to earn credits through critical crafting results. Not only with Armorings, but with augmentations and kits as well.

I am a dedicated cybertecher and a dedicated synthweaver. Until you can prove otherwise, i consider myself a crafter, who worked hard for those his schematics, which are accordingly rewarding.

Crafting is a credit sink? My 4 million a day say otherwise, especially when they point out, that i only have to spend an hour at most to get them. Saves me the trouble of running missions, running through the wilds to gather materials or doing dailies.

Alright Mr DarthBurton... nothing wrong with spending your raid rewards to earn coin... however you did misrepresent when you state "an hour to get them".

Here's what I've seen regarding UT.

There are 4 total Tier 5 UT missions. 3 moderate and 1 abundant. They average out around 2k credits each to run and take about an hour. Most of the time you don't get all 4 to come up in your list of available missions, and if you really want to run all 4 of them you have to change zones repeatedly to cycle through the missions. THAT can take 15 minutes or more. You also don't get the abundant mission every time, so you need to change zones trying to get THAT one to pop up.

Even with Max affection and a UT crit toon, you won't get Mandalorian Iron every time. You will get anywhere from 2x to 6x Ciridium per run. Ciridium isn't worth much on the GTN because everyone has tons of it trying to farm Mandalorian Iron.

I'd say I'm lucky if I get 3 - 6 pieces of mandalorian armor a day, on a weekend when I can send them out multiple times. Say it takes 4 rounds of sending 4 toons out at 2k each mission, I just spent 32k to run crew skill missions on the hope of getting 3 - 6 pieces of iron back. If I get 3, each piece cost 11k (roughly).

Generally speaking I see Mandalorian Iron on the GTN priced anwhere from 10k each to 13k each. Very rarely do I see it higher than that.

Unless you get VERY lucky with crits on missions trying to make money farming Mandalorian Iron, in my opinion, is a lost cause.

I think you'd be better off farming Tier 3 - 4 artifact level UT mats. You can sell the Blues you get much more easily than T5 and T6 blues, and the purples can go for a lot more (percentage wise) as well.

(if you're going to CRAFT with the mandalorian iron you farm, then it will be worth it because you can sell the 26's and 27's for a lot of money right now...after 2.0 arrives, maybe not as much)

Quick question, this seems like a good place to ask. I'm leveling my first character on a new server. I I have 400 Scavenging, Bioanalysis, and Slicing.

Assuming I am selling everything on the GTN is it worth running gathering missions with Scav and Bio? Also is it worth running tech part missions for slicing? Usually the only missions I run are lockbox missions.

The expansion 2.0 is gonna trend the GTN down. Mission costs are fixed, results are fixed, and in a downtrending GTN that means lower profit margins.

I think you're gonna have to gather, in order to maximize the gathering crafts you've chosen. Until 2.0 goes live, profit margins for almost anything "old game" are gonna be lowered. You beat that by lowering your costs, ie, you gonna have to ground pound for profits.

When starting out also, be wary of selling materials at recommened GTN prices. This is very low. I often see stacks of Laminoid which sells on our server for 6000 for a stack of 10, on sale for about 450 credits and other low prices. I buy these, mail back to the seller with a note in mail about pricing (most respond with a thank you) but most players will buy and use/resell. Always price check before listing.

For me i find scavening the best , esp for F2P players who have 1 crew skill only, and concentrate on compounds where u can and only metals if abundant yields. Also Underworld metals (this is also handy for companion gifts) and bio anylsis i find best gathering skills. Scavenging lets u harvest alot of droids u kill ingame also and bio anylsis lets u harvest creatures u kill also

Assuming I am selling everything on the GTN is it worth running gathering missions with Scav and Bio? Also is it worth running tech part missions for slicing? Usually the only missions I run are lockbox missions.

You can make money off basic materials missions. At grade 6, figure mats will cost you somewhere around 300 credits per unit to farm overall, and you should be able to get double that for most of them. If you're logged on and going to farm for a few hours, the best returns are from cycling several toons with a full set of maxed companions on low level missions. The price per unit on mats is pretty flat from grade 1 to grade 6, for the basic mats that are in steady demand, but the mission cost is far lower, and you can produce a lot more units per hour from those very short low level missions.

Lockbox missions are only worth running for the mission discoveries, and those are just ok. Most of the common missions are trash drops, like Investigation. Slicing ones you can run yourself or sell for a lot. UT usually sells for a decent price. They're pretty seldom drops from lockbox missions though. The only thing they really have going for them is that they cost nothing to run, since the usual credit return is around 105% of what they cost, so at least everything you get is profit, other than the time cost to run them.

Tech parts are about the same really. The purple mats sell ok (though their price is probably going to freefall with 2.0 coming and 22 augments no longer commanding BiS prices). The drop rate for purples is not that hot, and the blue mats are basically trash drops you will vendor for cash to run more missions. On the whole, you're not going to make a lot more off these compared to Scavenging, where the profit per unit is lower, but the overall return is more consistent.

Keep in mind that anyone can max any crafting skill in a trivial amount of time from level 10. So the ones that are profitable at all are going to balance out over time. If any one thing becomes a cash cow, then people rush into it and start dumping whatever it produces in a frenzy, until prices are back to a level where it's the same return as anything else.

Fundamentally with all crafting skills the price you get per unit of a given item is just a function of the time you spend in game on average to get that item, and there is a certain equilibrium credits / hour value that all activities in the game will trend to. Farming overall will tend to be about as profitable per hour as other things you could do in the same time, like running dailies. So whatever the peak credits / hour from dailies winds up being, that's what farming profitability will converge on.

Crafting is a credit sink? My 4 million a day say otherwise, especially when they point out, that i only have to spend an hour at most to get them. Saves me the trouble of running missions, running through the wilds to gather materials or doing dailies.

 

That's more time i can invest in an alt or do something else outside the game.

You're spending more than an hour to get that much, unless you're master looting. Also its the materials making you the credits not the crafting. You could just sell the mats and make 3.5 million easy without having to craft.