Dude, you said if we took this apart we'd get a purple schematic. I'd never call a Wookie a liar but...
Those of us that have dabbled with crew skills in Star Wars: The Old Republic know that BioWare’s take on MMO crafting can be pretty addicting. If you don’t have a max level character, you may not have considered what crafting at max level will be like. Will it be worth doing once you reach level cap?
Today, MMORPG’s Michael Bitton, posted a column addressing this very question. It’s obvious that Bitton is a fan of the system, but he feels that as far as PvP and endgame gear, the system needs some work. Below is a small portion, but check out the entire article here.
There are some other issues with Crew Skills at endgame as well, at least if you care about PvP. Outside of Biochem, Crew Skills have very little purpose as far as PvP goes. PvP gear with Expertise on it is highly sought after by dedicated PvPers, and crafters are completely (for the moment) excluded from this market. If PvE activities such as Operations and Flashpoints can grant access to special schematics and required crafting materials, why can’t PvP do the same thing? I’d love to see special schematics drop from the various PvP bags or be outright purchasable from the vendors using appropriate commendations. Specifically, I’d like to see crafters able to create item modifications with Expertise on them. Like the high-end PvE stuff, these schematics could require resources only accessible via PvP activities (especially contested nodes out in the game world) and could even be gated by Valor rank for both the crafter and the person looking to equip them.
Players looking to keep their customizable PvE gear have some recourse via modifications acquired via Operations, but PvPers really don’t have that option. Sure, in the mid 30’s you can rip out Expertise mods from PvP weapons, but once you get into the high-end purple quality items the Expertise stat appears to be either baked into the item or part of its locked Armoring/Hilt/Barrel slot. On top of that, both PvE and PvP item sets have set bonuses, which may still put them ahead of fully customized gear, even in the case of PvE.
What say you TORWarriors? How are endgame crew skills going for you? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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At the moment it souns like crew skills like Synthweaving, Armourtech and Armstech just don’t seem worth getting especially if youare max level. It can be good while you’re leveling but you get better gear while questing anyway.
I’m at max level, have leveled up my cybertech and have gotten most of the purples..Unfortunately, once you get a bit of gear from dailies and pvp whatever you can make, is worse if you compare it.
Right now, crafted gear could use a boost because it’s easier to get better stuff through pvp
I’ve been getting most of my non-orange gear for the past ten levels from crafting, although that might just be a side-effect of being severely overeleveled for my quests right now. It’s definitely a godsend for equipping my companions though; companion gear rewards seem to be few and far between.
I do know that the GTN in flooded with peoples’ synthweaving stuff right now, so I have yet to try and sell anything that I’ve made. My plan for endgame right now is to build up a large portfolio of orange schematics to craft for the appearance-minded; that’s probably what the market is going to end up revolving around.
As my guilds Tank gear synthweaver, we have been planning gear for months.
I REALLY don’t want to run vast endless pvp sessions like I stopped doing in RIFT, just to get me some dps gear. Which is really a side note. Other than if/when I decided to pvp for fun, I dont really feel like submittting to another Rift rape fest. So I do hope they block off the pvp so that the highest end valor ppl don’t get to constantly maul those who don’t or havnt pvp’d often.
And don’t tell me its blah blah blah fair because they spent all that time pvping. That would be like telling me I have to wear my lvl 40 greens when I start hard modes, its only “fair” to those poor mobs…
Note: @40, not a single green on me, so…