Jan 6, 2012

Posted by in Blasters, Beggars & Credits | 8 Comments

Blasters, Beggars & Credits: Missions, Gathering and Crafting!

Some players do it for glory. Some do it for infamy. Some like to accumulate the most points, or explore the far reaches of the worlds they inhabit. This, however, is not a column for those people. This is a column for those people who, quietly or not, enjoy making money so that their digital avatar can sleep on large piles of cash.

Today is a day where we talk about relative value. I will actually use some basic math, so if that turns you off, let me get you hot and bothered in another way: some people do not think things through when pricing their sales on the GTN.

Some of that has to do with not understanding how things work. In the interest of promoting a healthy server economy, let me show you something us robber barons have known for some time.

Underworld Trading produces, without a doubt, the highest demand items on the GTN. The reason? Three professions (Cybertech, Armormech, and Synthweaving) pull from its materials, and all three use the Underworld Trading metals. So the metals are used by three of the six main professions, and it serves all the crafted armor and the crafted armoring and mods to everyone.

That’s a lot of people it’s going to need to go to. Unsurprisingly, the material demand is quite high. There are two metals in particular, the artifact-quality of the 300 and 340 level, that you should pay attention to – these are Promethium and Mandalorian Iron.

3k for this? I'll buy that every time.


Both of these items sell for a good amount. I’ve been selling Promethium (it’s slightly rarer) for around 6.5 – 7k credits per unit, and the Mandalorian Iron at 6k consistently. I’ve eased up a bit on selling raw materials as I’ve gone into production mode myself (been blowing a lot on missions lately, and I’ve probably RE’d 1 million credits worth of items to get the higher level patterns), but in general I can make a tidy profit, as I have a reliable source of these items.

Where, you might ask? From crafting missions.

Sending a companion on one these missions for Underworld Trading results in getting 4 of the artifact-quality metals, and 4 of the artifact fabrics, as well as the 8 of each prototype-level, and a companion gift. Sometimes I will also get a schematic.

If you have a companion with any bonuses to Underworld Trading, and they are at high affection, you can crit on these missions. A crit gives you 1 extra artifact of each, 2 extra prototype, a artifact-level gift, and almost always a schematic. That’s a lot of stuff to get. It also takes about 2 hours.

This is why I don't have 5 or 6 million credits - too much reverse engineering. It's like a drug, only more addicting and destructive to your pocket book.


There are crafting missions for each gathering and mission profession, and at the 340 level (highest they will go) they return a great amount of materials. That’s not even the best part, though.

Many times, people will sell these for 4,320 credits, the price when they use the default price for the item. That’s a pittance compared to the materials you get back.

This is what happens when you sell Archaeology missions cheap - I buy them.


For my money, I usually snatch up anything under 10k, even though (theoretically) I could make as much as 25k just by selling the 4 artifact metals I get from each. In theory, the 72 Mandalorian Iron sitting in my bank means I’m sitting on roughly half a million credits. Where do these missions come from? Slicing.

That’s right, the profession I complained about last week that got nerfed for straight credit intake, which I mentioned as needing to be re-buffed so as not to hurt the economy? One of the side-effects is that less people running those missions means less of these awesome crafting missions on the GTN, and less of them being placed at ridiculously low price points. Even now people are wising up and posting them for a lot (and, frankly, for more than they are worth – they can fail, too, like any other mission) – at 40k I’m losing out on quite a bit of money to potentially get nothing.

While I will refrain from copying my last week’s article, my advice to everyone is to snatch up those crafting missions while they’re still cheap, because that won’t continue forever. Always check the GTN for the people who post them rather cheap, however!

Beggar’s Tip: Republic players who want a purple lightsaber, be prepared to spend a lot of money.

The patterns for the Magenta Adegan Crystal are rare drops from high level world bosses (thus far, The Primal Destroyer on Belsavis is the only one I know that does, but Gargath on Hoth is level 49 and possibly drops it as well, though the loot table indicates level 45 drops.

Here’s the fun part: the schematic calls for normal artifice materials, and a single Magenta Adegan Crystal. And nobody knows where it drops. Those who claim to know aren’t revealing the secret, so until some proof is forthcoming, we will assume it is unknown. That debate is big enough that Georg Zoeller stepped in on a thread about it to debunk the myth that it comes from reverse engineering. He also stated that it is currently the rarest item in the game.

This means that, when it is discovered and figured out, it will probably still be rare (at least by the mechanics – the item itself is unique, meaning that an artifice can have but one in his inventory at a time), and if it’s a rare drop off a monster with a long respawn timer, it will cost even more. The guy who has the pattern in my guild said he’d want to charge one million, and he might be right (guildies who help him get it free of charge, provided they help acquire and/or down whatever is required). Happy hunting!


  1. So youre saying that slicers could be sitting on decent profits still from these missions. What would you expect them to settle at and still remain profitable for both parties? 20k +?

  2. where does the “Spaceship Parts” of the title come in. Other than that, great read as always.

  3. Ugh, I would have to want the purple saber. :( guess that isn’t happening anytime soon. Well I’m glad it is super rare, gives something to work for.

  4. ChrisAltizer says:

    GG AAJ, right after finishing reading this i went to my servers GTN and found that ALL and i do mean ALL of the Underworld Trading Mission Discoveries where priced at 20k each… Apparently my server read’s AAJ….

    Thx for inflating prices!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :( :( :( LOL

  5. To get the crystal you need to go to Tatooine, get the refreshed buff off of an evaporator; go to hoth and climb the mountain north of the Seth(?) Outpost to “freeze” the water from Tatooine (really it just removes the buff and replaces it with an item called “pure shockfrozen water”); you take the pure shockfrozen water to Ilum and use it on a crystal formation called the “depleted white adegan crystal” and fight an elite to get your magenta crystal. Good guide at http://dulfyforce.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/guide-advanced-magenta-crystal/. Though you don’t have to go that far out to get the evaporators as is shown. The units in anchorhead are accessable too.

  6. posthumecaver says:

    U lost me here….

    U are speaking here about “Underworld Trading” so why are u taking Archeology missions????

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