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Crafting Still Viable?
EchoesIE
Member Posts: 5
Let's be honest...SWG popped my MMO cherry and I still dream of the old days. But, those are long gone, and I'm thinking about making a comeback. I had a Master Chef / Master Architect, and I was in the minority of the player base that I loved planting my harvesters in spots I had scouted, left them overnight and would come back and grab my resources in the morning -- go back to my house and cook up the best recipes in the game.
Yet, does any of this still exist? I know they shrunk the 10 die-hard crafting classes into just a couple. But is it still a viable part of the game? Any chance of making any money or still being a viable way to play the game? I lust for the days of people sending me whispers about when the next batch of whatever would be ready and had people lining up. Does this still exist?
Thanks!
Comments
Crafting is just as important as it was previously. You can't play the game without crafted items - well you can, you'll just won't do so well.
Loot weapons and armour do certainly exist but they intentionally drop with horrible stats and the like so they don't compete with the crafted variety. They've overcome the longstanding issue they've had since launch of giving out items from quests, loot drops, etc that while are appealing enough to make people want to do the quests, don't also cut out the crafters. Now days, when you complete a quest you'll essentially get a working skin of an item with horrible stats, however when you radial it you have the option to deconstruct it into a schematic that you can then take it to a crafter who can remake it many, many times better then it was raw. You'll commonly find these on items such as Weapons, Armour and Vehicles. In the case of structure items, furniture, etc, they tend to just reward those in schematic form.
Food is still useful and desired by people, especially PvP'ers. While previously there was only a small handful of foods that were actually worthwhile, they've since done a pass over of the foods to give many of them new functions that appeal to different playstyles/professions.
The process of crafting is mostly untouched. The same process of crafting exists that has existed since launch, as does the resource harvesting process.
You'll make some money off of food to be certain. Unfortunately at this point you'd probably make more money off adventuring with a level 90 combat toon but when it comes to crafting it never really was about the credits so much for me. With decay removed from the game your sales can be really slow for most crafting profession but chef will do well, people always need food/drink. The real money for crafters is in the new beast master components though but you have to make arrangements with other crafters for subcomponents unless you just sell subcomponents yourself. BM items take a ton of resources though so you'll be constantly moving harvesters which can be tedious at times but i'm sure you are already familiar with that. Traders can do a pretty good job of clearing nests now by themselves with a capped combat droid and a decent suit of armor. Welcome back, have fun.
Regards
While the "crafting" might be "untouched" (which is also not entriely true) the world it goes into is not. (Smugglers are still around, can they craft spice? Medics are around, can they craft useful meds? Why, no they can't).
No decay means very few repeat sales, for anything not consumable. Buy one set of armor, done forever. One capped rifle, same. Even pets don't decay like they used to. Stims drop from the sky (magic). Med buffs no longer require buff packs (more magic). Food and pups do not a lively crafting system make. And compared to what it once was, it's nothing.
Also, almost all of the few remaining crafters (as of the last trial) are long time hold out players. Perfect resources, stacks of resource deeds and on and on. That is who you'd be competing against.
And then there is the loot. Loot is King, TCG items are queen. Crafted items are much less important than they were in the past (from an economic perspective, and you can trust someone who is in no way affiliated with or connected to SOE to speak truthfully on the subject). The highest value items are mostly looted, go check the various trade forums to confirm this for yourself. Most of the desirable new items going into the game are put in through the TCG and one must spend additional real money to gain any but a statistically insignicant chance to get something you want. Ships, structures, buff items, pets, armor appearances, furniture and decorations, and on and on. All for the TCG. none for the crafters.
SOE intentionally crapped on the crafters, as one can see from dev comments all the way back to the CU, and that has continued to this day.
Crafting used to be a reason to play.
Now, were I a current player, it would be a reason to quit.