I have too much. New to the game, still learning the ins and outs, though I've done a certain 'other' MMO for 8 years, so I'm not entirely helpless.

 

What I'm finding, though, is that I have a thousand things that demand my attention. My questing, my crafting, examining new gear, selling stuff, buying stuff. Trying to figure out the best rotation for a Sorcerer...

 

Enjoying the story, but my god, there's no natural break points once you enter a new world. It just holds you captive until you either force yourself to stop mid-quest, or soldier on until the world is completed.

 

So, I guess my point is this: Do I 'need' to worry about leveling up my crafting now? Do I 'need' to worry about doing every single question? Flash points? PVP? Or do I just need to worry about my questing and do the rest after I hit 50?

 

Advice is welcome, of course.

Wait till your 50 to worry about crafting.get all the matts while u level take it slow there isnt much to do at 50 the first 50u have is gonna make u creds.dont feel overwhealmed its not really all that hard and u dont have to do all the side quests.i have leveled up 3 toons just pvping.Just take your time

The sole focus you should have before 50 is getting to 50. Don't go to a planet before you are ready; for example, Tatooine is level 24 to level 28. You shouldn't go until you are 24 or 25. This holds true for every planet in the game. If you find yourself underleveled, get the PVP mission from the PVP terminal from the Combat Training section of the Fleet and click the insignia on your minimap to get started. And, as the other poster said, take it slow and enjoy the story. Crafting is useful, but it isn't fun. Getting to 50 in two weeks sounds cool, but I take two months at the minimum to enjoy the story and all of its aspects. Edited January 31, 2013 by Mrtwo

Crafting is time consuming and costly, particularly at lower levels, at 50 you can make money off of dailys to fund the gathering of resources to build up your crafting skill/ability.

 

As for gear, you really only need to gear up yourself and your 'active' companion (the one you use most in combat). However sometimes your storyline quest will require you to use a specific companion for the quest, in those cases it's best to gear them up, at least in greens, before proceding.

 

flashpoints are great as a break from normal questing on planets, they give you a chance to group up and really get an idea of how to play your class/role, the gear you may recieve from it is also quite usefull, but not essential.

 

PvP isn't for everyone, but it is a good break from side quests, and a good way to get a bit of exp if you're behind in levels, although effort and thought are required.

 

Space missions, well they are the same as above although some people don't like that they are on rails, I find that they are fairly easy (once you learn the missions, and as long as you stay geared up), you don't need to think too much for them.

 

Basically the only thing you really have to do, is the class story line, everything else is optional, you can do a little bit of each on your character, or stick to one thing, and try something different on another character.

It would be a good idea to try every FP once, so that you've already seen the sotry, know the mechanics and everything, since a lot of them have lvl 50 hard modes.

Other than that.. do what makes fun. If you like the space missions, do the. If you like PvP, go into warzones.

As for your crafting skill; it makes sense to walk around with open eyes and gather the materials if you see them while questing so you can level your skill a bit, but most of the time it's really not worth the bother to craft something. And you'll outlevel the stuff pretty quickly anyway. I would just solely focus on the stories and enjoy the game. Everything else is optional and they won't run away.

I don't agree with the folks who have said that crafting isn't useful while leveling. It's not going to make you millions (like it might at 50), but while leveling your 1st toon, even 10,000 can seem like a lot of money.

 

It depends on what crew skills you've chosen. If you've chosen biochem, it's quite useful to get your crafting up. That way, you can keep producing reusable medpacks for your current level. And you can keep yourself equipped with at least blue-level implants.

 

I'd say the same for cybertech or artifice. Keeping your crafting up while leveling will ensure that you have at least blue-level parts for your orange shells.

 

I've found that by doing this, I have very little that I need to purchase with my planetary comms. I can then use my comms to purchase the purple random boxes (costs 24 comms). This will either give you a *very* useful piece of equipment, or you can sell it on GTN for 50,000 to 80,000 credits (depending on level).

 

I would highly recommend that you pursue your crafting while leveling. Of course, if you are feeling overwhelmed, crafting is not a necessary part of the game.

Everyone that has posted in here is wrong.

 

Just kidding. But it really depends on what you want to do at endgame. If you plan to be a force in PVP warzones then you better get your work in now. Skip some side quests in favor of leveling through warzones so that you can get warzone commendations and be ready to gear up when you hit 50. It will also give you invaluable experience in dealing with each class and knowing your own better.

 

If you plan to be more PVE oriented, then run the FPs when you get in that level range. It will give you good experience in grouping with others and help you learn your class in an environment that isn't all trash mobs. It is also a good source of XP and gear for you.

 

There really isn't much benefit to space missions, but they can offer quite a bit of XP for the time commitment, especially the first time you run them. If you enjoy doing them then feel free to run them when you have time.

 

The main storylines are awesome, of course, but the secondary quests are usually just so-so. Keep in mind, this game has a lot of benefits for making alts, so if you skip a side quest in favor of doing some other leveling activities then you can always do that quest on another character later.

 

Crafting really depends on if you enjoy it and what skill you have. A skill like Cybertech is worth working on while leveling since you can create armorings and mods for gear and stay up to date at all times (this is the first crafting skill that every new player should have btw). Like someone else said earlier, make sure you are gathering mats while leveling at least so you don't have to run missions later to collect them and it'll save you quite a bit of creds. Wait until you have 2-3 companions so you can send the ones you aren't using out on missions while you are continuing whatever task is ahead of you.

 

Ultimately though, don't rush to 50 unless you are really only interested in end game. The leveling process is enjoyable the first time and it will seem far more grindy later on when you are leveling toons 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. That's when you may want to be skipping missions in favor of PVP, FPs, and space because you really don't wanna run through the same planets for the nth time. There really is no bad way to level, and you won't really be behind when you hit 50 (PVP being the exception without adequate planning).

 

Anyway, good luck out there and enjoy the game.

So, I guess my point is this: Do I 'need' to worry about leveling up my crafting now? Do I 'need' to worry about doing every single question? Flash points? PVP? Or do I just need to worry about my questing and do the rest after I hit 50?

 

Advice is welcome, of course.

 

Short answer: like everything in life, there is NOTHING in this game you HAVE to do.

 

My first character I almost exclusively played him solo - I did every quest on every planet, I rarely ran FPs (no group finder and low population server). I did a lot of space combat for the credits, I did PvP to finish off levels. And I really worked my crafting - I maintained a crew skill level slightly ahead of my character level so I could craft stuff that would be waiting for me when I dinged.

 

On my second character, I ONLY did the class quests on each planet. I did lots of FPs (after server transfers and group finder), and PvP. I cut back on the space combat (usually did the "hardest" ones for the XP to finish off a level), and I cut back on crafting because of all the gear I was getting through FPs.

 

On my third character, I switched sides (pub to imp) so planet stories were different but I did not do every quest on every planet. I of course always did the class quest but depending on what level I started the planet on I would choose to do the main planet quest line or not - i.e. I got to Tattooine at level 27 so all I did was the class quest, but when i got to Alderaan (the next planet) i was only level 28 so I did the class quest and the planet chain. I did every FP at least once, but there were times when I would only get one FP so I stopped queuing in the group finder until I KNEW I would not get that same FP again.

 

Lastly, I get what you are saying about the quests on the planets - it can feel like there is no real good place to stop. But there is...each planet is segmented, the start of each segment is a good stopping/starting point in my experience.

I, like you, spent years on other MMOs and am new to SWTOR. The nice thing about having lots to do is that you can pick and choose based on what you enjoy.

 

For instance, I want to PvE and see all the quest content. When I hit 50 I'll look at PvP. My character is a smuggler. He's now level 40 and has cybertech, scavenging, and underworld. Based on that, I've worked myself into this leveling groove:

 

 

1. Do all the quests for a planet while using my gathering skill every chance I get. I do all the Heroics once just to see them, even though they're dailies.
   
2. Spend all the planetary commendations. I only keep gear for myself or my primary companion. Get boxes if you don't need any of the gear for BoEs.
   
3. Go back to the fleet.
   
4. Sell all of my BoEs on the GTN. I use 2 day auctions. Any green gear that doesn't sell goes to the vendor.
   
5. Using my gathered mats, craft and buy new recipes until my mats can only make items that show as "green" difficulty to construct. You can sell, equip/use, or reverse engineer whatever you make.
   
6. Put all of my excess mats (I usually have a couple of stacks) on the GTN below the going rate. Do a search for crafting materials you want to sell to find out what that rate is.
   
7. While I'm doing 4,5 and 6, have my extra companion(s) run my mission crew-skill.
   
8. OPTIONAL but fun: do my level-appropriate Flashpoint once.
   
9. Set course for the next planet (go to step 1).
   

 

I've had three major benefits from working this way. Firstly, the stuff I craft keeps up with my level progression, meaning I can actually use what I craft. Currently, I'm at ~340 cybertech and scavenging, and about 250 underworld trading.

 

Secondly, I have room in my inventory to store lots of other things, like orange gearsets I find appealing that I'll mod up at 50.

 

Thirdly, I earn credits to finance large purchases, like my speeders. At level 40, this being my first SWTOR character, I now have over 800k credits (and that's after all of my recipe/speeder/etc purchases).

 

Also, as a rule of thumb, I rarely buy stuff on the GTN. I just use the gear I get from quests. The exception is when I decide to switch companions. Then I'll beef up his/her gear to make sure I get decent performance out of him/her.

 

Hope that helps... enjoy your journey.

Edited February 1, 2013 by ButteredSoul

There are ways you can pace yourself, here's what I like to do.

 

I like to completely finish a planet while I'm on it. I complete 100% of the quests and collect as many crafting materials as possible. Once I leave that planet, I spend time on the fleet leveling crafting. This gives you some breathing room, and when you are ready, you can head onto the next planet.

 

Good luck.