Sep 30, 2011

Posted by in Zlatto's Bazaar | 11 Comments

Zlatto’s Bazaar: Crew Skills Configurations

Zlatto’s Bazaar is the one-third Wall Street, one-third criminal empire and one-half gossip rag. You need to keep up on the Bazaar if for no other reason than to keep an eye on your competitors. Don’t be a Ho-tah and visit often.  Your comments are encouraged, especially if they make me credits…

As the launch date for Star Wars: The Old Republic has now been spoken, us non-combat focused gamers (what a fancy term for crafters, huh?) are reading up on every last bit of info, reading and re-reading any and all posts related to our passion and begging anyone we know to who has touched the game for more than 5 minutes for some insight.

an idea

Like the chisel-jawed Bounty Hunter above, my mind is on crafting. Not just the same old general stuff, but the specifics.

A few weeks ago I clearly stated the dysfunctional process I used to select my crew skills, and like a Krilhead I forgot one important factor.  In fact, I forgot RULE NUMBER ONE  in the Toydarian economic playbook: The Market Changes. (Note: This rule #1 is not to be confused with the time honored “you can sell anything that is not bolted down, and if you can pry it up it wasn’t really bolted down” which is more of a personal mantra than a rule for the Toydarian merchant class.) So I am announcing that the market has changed for me.  The Mrs. wants the toon created with her name as a Force user.  I could have sworn the video of the Gunslinger would have sold her, but nope. So back at the drawing board I find myself.

The change in starting class  is not the only impactful item that has crossed my economic line of sight. There might mean another strategy. It might mean there is an option to configure your Crew Skills for short-term gain as you level and then convert to the long-term strategy.

iphone message

It might seem to some that I am obsessed, as this intercepted text message between Stephen Reid and BioWare's security head seem to discuss.

So without access the the game, I have to generate my ideas from what I can read, research from Stephen Reid’s trash cans and most importantly, discussions all of you.

To better understand/steal the thoughts of the genuises out there, and also to sort them out from the nerfherders my hope is a poll with some comments from you all might help.  I was curious about what crew skill configuration you were going with at launch.  The specifics of type is helpful, but more leaning towards what mix of Gathering, Crating and Missions are you leaning towards?  I am currently leaning towards traditional but could go hybrid with very little prompting.  When (or if) the NDA drops, my hope is that I can get more input from some people I trust so the final configuration choices can be made prior to Early Game Access.

Help a Toydrian out here, people!

What Crew Skills mix are you leaning towards?

View Results

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  1. When I first read about crafting skills, it seemed like all of the gathering skills would be available to all of the players, regardless of skill choice.

    By choosing a gathering skill, a player would gain the ability to send their companions on gathering missions and also unlock options in flashpoints related to that gathering skill. So i figured, why waste a point on gathering at all if i can just sink the time and do it myself?

    I’m still considering a Craft, Mission, Mission set for my companions – unless I am totally misunderstanding the crafting system in this came. In which case, I think Slicing seems pretty cool. (And I would end up with a 1-1-1 choice instead)

  2. Like you, I’m still not fully understanding the needed lash-ups for crew skills, and the consequences of choosing one set-up over another. There’s just not enough released info out there, yet.

    So, I chose Traditional for the poll.

    But, well, it may not matter to me in the short-term. I’m an altoholic, so I’ll have enough characters to cover every skill.

    And, like you said, I’ll be reading, carefully, beta tester crafting info once the NDA is dropped.

  3. Hybrid.

    Gathering and the corresponding crafting plus slicing.

    Slicing from what I have heard (could have been changed in the latest build) is almost required for making money, and is also rare component generating for cybertech (my chosen crafting)

  4. I know the amount of ‘rumors’ and leaks have generated a sense of unknown. By know we have enough to select a race, a class and a faction. Just seems odd we can’t really choose a configuration very easily with the data we have.

  5. There is alot of info on the forums and the devs stated recently that pretty much all the info was there. From what i’ve read you only get a choice of traditional. You won’t be able to do the other options.

  6. If, Zlatto, you only ever listen to one thing this man tells you, it’s this: don’t forget about mutli-character options!

    That said: I think mission skills will probably work out best to have one per toon, as I’m sure at least one of the effects for each will be restricted to benefit that character only. But there’s nothing stopping you from getting a gather-gather-gather and then having a craft-mission-mission type.

    And everything you hear now about professions in Beta is just that: Beta. If it turns out one has a marked advantage over the others, then I’m sure us money-grubbers will take it, and Zlatto or I will complain about it. But I wouldn’t pick any one profession now based off information from an early version, unless it’s official info.

    Our time will come, crafters and money-makers. Our time will come.

  7. I am just not a multi-toon player until my prime reaches the cap. So for me, finding a useful combo will be more important to those who don;t mind 2-3 lvl 15’s

  8. I voted “other” because there is no “all of the above” option :P

    seriously though I do plan to incorporate a different build for every character I have, main and mules included that way I have most if not all of it covered.

    Self sufficiency is my goal, in an insane way.

    spreadsheets, timers, countdowns, making my kids play my characters when I am away from home, sneaking and playing at work, yeah i am weird like that :P

  9. Lord-Maknoe says:

    I want to be able to create powerful armor for myself so I choose armormech, but I need to be able to get materials to create that armor so I choose scavenger, and then I have 1 left over and I can’t get another crafting one and there is no point for a gathering one, so I chose the Diplomacy mission skill since the others didn’t really appeal to me. :)

    Scavenger
    Armormech
    Diplomacy

  10. Spuddelkopf says:

    I voted traditional.
    I want to do BH tanking, so I think I’ll take Armormech and Scavenging, and according to this chart (http://www.starwarsmmolevelingguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/SWTOR-Crew-Skills.jpg) I should also take the mission skill Underworld Trading for materials. Also, mission skills can bring in companion gifts for raising my companions affection which in turn makes them craft faster.

    Then again, I’m considering the (foremost) always useful and (also) potentially forever money making combo Biochem, Bioanaylsis and, again, Underworld Trading (the last also bringing Biochem materials in).

  11. DarthTimmah says:

    My main, a JK, will be a gatherer of Archaeology, Bioanalysis, and Slicing. I’ll keep a tradeskill alt stationed near a mailbox, market, and trainers with Biochem at a minimum and that alt will manage my sales.

    At some future point in my character’s life, I might swap out Bioanalysis and Archaeology for mission skills, especially if I feel the urge to grind whatever’s left on Light Side points / levels. I’ll probably never give up Slicing. I like money too much.

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