Nov 21, 2011

Posted by in Zlatto's Bazaar | 18 Comments

Zlatto’s Bazaar Special Edition: Gathering To 75 Before Level 10…It Is Possible

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…

Zlatto here, with a special message from the other side. You can get your gathering to 75 before you can craft a level 1 item. Remember you cannot craft without a companion but gathering can be done solo.

“Tell us how Zlatto!” is what you must be saying at this point. First, raise your right hand and state the following oath.

I solemnly swear to use this knowledge for personal gain, to wreak havoc on the economy of my server, and to at least over charge players by 3%.

Beware – Spoilers Abound

The info below talks about specific locations and mobs at those locations,  it does not impact story but I will use specific examples.

Now, Zlatto’s gathering loophole. As I think about it is not really a loophole, just that it is assumed that gathering begins after your starter world. After all, the first trainers you run across are on your space station, before you hit your capital world. So the logical process is to move along your story line until you are led to the crew skills.

Ask A Jedi did not invite me to create posts because I follow the herd, I am more of a, “Rustle the herd and sell it,” kind a player. So my first clue that profit was on the horizon was the mobs that I killed in certain areas were ‘skin-able.’ I will use this analogy as both of my examples rely on killing a mob that is gather-able. This was also done on Republic worlds, so I am uncertain if my greedy Sith counterparts have the same capabilities or not, though I would assume they do.

So at level 1 run to the nearest space center and take a shuttle to the Fleet of your faction. Funny story: training in your crew skill costs nothing (this is in beta might change at go live to stop this from happening so that means you can move credits to your alt and use this process). My loophole has only been tested on Bioanalysis and Scavenging as these two options leverage both found nodes and ‘skinning’ kills.  **Side note there is some amazing free XP to be found on this run I will share at the end.**

Tython – Bioanalysis

Once you are trained and return to the Spaceport continue your questing as normal. When you reach the ruins you will be sent on a quest to kill these creatures. Big headed brutes, found up on a plateau nearby. As you kill them you can ‘skin’ them. As they are orange in skill level to your gathering skill they jump you up 2 point at a time. In the kill quest alone you can reach 20+ Bioanalysis.

If there are others killing at the time you are in luck. Free nodes! To test out my hypothesis I sat there and killed and skinned till I reached 100. Imagine a area with non-stop respawning nodes. You get XP and mats/skill points at the same time.

By the time you actually leave the planet and get your first companion (a requirement to craft but not to gather) you have enough materials to level your Biochem skill to 30+ and enough starter stims to run through Coruscant/Dromund Kaas or make credits quickly.

Ord Mantell – Scavenging

Once you are trained you will continue your questing as normal. Scavenging droids is where the bang is on Ord Mantell. Not all droids are ‘skin-able’ but there is a pattern. Any droid that has the silver portrait ring or gold portrait (strong or elite droids) ring will be harvest-able. The options for a scavenger on their starting planet are vast. I was able to reach 60+ without straying from my storyline (like on Tython where I was mindlessly killing over and over). This allowed me to craft as soon as I got my first companion and improve some of my starter items.

Bonus XP

I promised a little something-something extra.  So here is another interesting find. When you reach the Fleet you get 2 quests that are used to introduce you to Crew Skills and Item Enhancement Stations. Look for them on your map, I believe they are right on the main path into the station. So as you run to get your Gathering skill, be sure to select your Crafting skill.

Now, just speak to the Crew Skill vendor again. At the most recent build it gives you 5K xp. Not a whole lot for a level 10 character leaving their starter world but a huge free bump to a character at level 1 or 2. You should also receive a quest to interact with an Item Enhancement Station, this is currently being adjusted currently you just need to run to the location your map tells you to go and patiently wait for a minute or so and you will receive credit for it. Another nice chunk of XP for just trying to get a jump on the competition.

Now I shared my tidbits, I expect this community of credit hustlers to share what else they have seen in early credit schemes. The readers of AAJ will be the a credit making organization that will cause the syndicates of SWTOR to stand up, take notice, and place bounties on our heads!

  1. Lady Republic says:

    I’ll definitely have to try this over the weekend. Thanks for the tip! Don’t suppose you remember offhand where the Republic Space Station is location-wise off Ord Mantell?

  2. Its in the first major location you head too, just after clearing out the snipers for either trooper or smuggler

  3. It’s really more bonus XP than bonus credits, but: talk to each crew skill trainer, then cancel before learning their skill. At level 2-3, this was earning me 450 XP per trainer!

  4. Does this work with the other gathering skills? And can anyone confirm if this works for sith as well? I haven’t been lucky enough to get into beta yet so can’t check this out until this weekend.

  5. Is this still possible with the new build? I don’t have access to the normal beta, so won’t be able to test until the weekend but the patch notes for this build say that they “Adjusted the overall level requirement for Gathering and Mission Skills”

    Since there seemingly wasn’t a level requirement before, that would appear to imply that maybe now there is one

  6. Rasmus Lauridsen says:

    Thanks alot Zlat

    Ill have to try that out :-)

  7. On the BH / IA starter world there is a section that has lots of droids, might be the place where you go clear out the rival Hutts business. We have seen that it takes a ‘Strong’ or higher level mob to either scavenge or bioanalyze the results. For the Warrior / Sorc I am unsure, as I have not played them yet.

  8. Really could secret. I hope they don’t add a credit cost to gathering skills before launch. 2 questions:

    does it cost anything to remove a gathering skill? i.e. get 3 gathering skills till I get my companion then drop 2 and grab a crafting and mission skill.

    AND Are there any gathering nodes on starting worlds that would make any other gathering skills worthwhile? For example slicing

  9. I played a bounty hunter and a sith inquisitor during the 11/11 test weekend and can confirm there are droids/biologics to skin on both origin worlds. I was surprised that they presented as “sinkable” since I had not seen anywhere to train the skill. Thanks Zlatto for the tip, now come final beta and early access I will be a crafting god!

  10. @Eric so far all I have been able to confirm is the gathering that you can kill to generate nodes, but be on the look out as i know Arch and Slice would love to see a boost prior to Corusant

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