Hello all,

I really liked the crew skills ideas and leveled them up on all 8 of my toons (with my last one, a consular, almost there) to 450. I've also maxed out affection with all of my toons save for the consular and Ashara (can't please her).

I was under the (wrong) impression that efficiency made the missions cost less as well as the time saved, but only recently was corrected that it is time only. Only the critical bonuses are worth it for getting more out of it every now and again. I was also told that companions will crit on items at times even if they don't have a bonus for that particular skill.

My question is, however, is it beneficial to me in the long run (for the next 2-6 months) to reset certain crew skills on toons just to pick the ones that have the most critical? Such as right now, on my operative, I have biochem, bioanal, and slicing. The info I have shows that the +2 crit to slicing is good, but perhaps I should drop the 450 bioanal for the +5 crit of diplomacy? I don't want to give up bio-chem since I've got all 6 level 52 stems in blue for my other toons for ops.

Or should I keep everything as is and concentrate on getting treek or HK51 for all of my accounts (I only have HK on one toon, and I haven't yet gotten to the 1 mil mark to unlock treek - although I plan to unlock her/him to all accounts for the 700 CC). How big of a different is the +1 from the +5 (and don't say "4"). Relatively it looks like a big difference, but I'm not sure how the numbers are calculated.

Any and all help would be appreciated. I have read a bunch of the crew skill stuff from DarthTHC and psandak, but they are novels to read through in the entirety and I feel like this question might be more specific than that general info.

Thanks,

Willy P

Given that a lot of bonuses are class-specific, why don't you list what your eight char classes are, and which skills each currently has.

BTW, the answer is yes -- at least for gathering/mission skills, it would be worth it to consider optimizing their allocation. Crafting, maybe -- depending on how many schematics the character knows.

It's tough one to answer as NOONE really knows how the rnd truly works. For example let's say you have doc with a +5 to biochem crit but for all we know the roll in crit for biochem is 1-200 and you need to hit a 190-200 for a crit where as say another crew skill might only have 1-100 with a 140-150 required to crit. In this case the later crew skill is better than former even with a crew member with +0 to their crit. If I'm right even with the +5 that would only give you 7.5% chance in Biochem with Doc vs the other skill which would be 10%.

I also only post this because I notice I crit more often in artifice with a +0 companion than I do in Biochem with a +5. Of course biochem rewards 3 items @ 450 level for your craft so it would make sense if the roll is higher. Now knowing that it makes sense and the rolls are probably different then likewise it makes sense to assume we know nothing about any of the crew skills in that regard and should base our decisions not on companion crit bonus but more based on what sells for a profit and that requires research into the GTN trends and what things cost to make yada ya etc. I've touched on this numerous times in previous posts.

So yeah to your question I think you're better off staying as you are and working with what you have if the reason for changing if crew member crit bonus or not. If however you've done plenty of research and you see your crew skill as utterly unprofitable compared to another then this would be time to consider a change. also don't forget to do some research on the upcoming GSH materials ... I've done some quick easy stuff and there are some interesting materials on there that are required a LOT more than others... dun dun dun heh.

Here is what I have:

Smuggler: Scav, UT, Slice

Knight: Artifice, Arch, TH

Trooper: Biochem, Bioanal, Dip

Consular: Armstech, Slice, Invest

Bounty Hunter: Armor, Scav, UT

Warrior: Biochem, Bioanal, Dip

Agent: Biochem, Bioanal, Slice

Inquisitor: Cybertech, Scav, Slice

It's tough one to answer as NOONE really knows how the rnd truly works...

Actually we know exactly how critical chance works. Crafting and missions have a baseline critical chance, based on the difficulty related to your skill level:

Orange Difficulty: 10%

Yellow, Green, and Gray Difficulty: 15%

Companions gain an additional 1% chance to crit every 2000 affection earned, up to a maximum of +5% when their affection is maxed.*

At max level and affection all your companions have a 20% chance to crit, add to this any companion-specific crit bonuses to determine your actual critical chance. Example: Running a green Treasure Hunting missions with a maxed affection Vette (+5% crit to TH) has a 25% chance to crit.

Taking advantage of your companion crit bonuses is worthwhile, but as you can see Affection and LoC perks are too.

*The Legacy of Crafting perk adds another 1% to this, up to 3% for crafting only.

Sources:

Baseline critical rates

Legacy of crafting

Here is what I have:

 

Smuggler: Scav, UT, Slice

Knight: Artifice, Arch, TH

Trooper: Biochem, Bioanal, Dip

Consular: Armstech, Slice, Invest

 

Bounty Hunter: Armor, Scav, UT

Warrior: Biochem, Bioanal, Dip

Agent: Biochem, Bioanal, Slice

Inquisitor: Cybertech, Scav, Slice

Well, only you can decide if it's worth sacrificing the schems on crafting chars and relearning them. Also, you probably want to change only a few at a time so that you don't disrupt production.

That said, with 8 chars, there's no real reason not to have one of each, and unless you *really* need the reusable Biochems or anticipate spending *a lot* of time crafting, I'd say one of each is plenty.

THAT said, three professions (Armstech, Armormech, and Biochem) have optimal classes, one sort-of does (Synthweaving), and two don't (Artifice and Cybertech). You currently have none of the professions with optimal classes, or Synthweaving, on the Optimal class.

Your Cybertech is on the inquisitor, which has no class-specific crafting bonus, and the Ship Droid +5 crit is the best bonus available, so you'll want to keep that where it is. You have Slicing, and a +2 (max crit) companion for that, so keep that as well. You have Scavenging (with a +2 comp), which isn't bad, but you have three chars with scavenging and only one with Archaeology, and the Inq has the highest (+5) crit for that, so I would replace scav with arch on the inq immediately.

You mentioned that you want your Agent to keep Biochem b/c of the already-re'd schems -- they wouldn't be that difficult to regain if you do change it, but since (a) the Agent doesn't have the max bonus with any crafting and (b) none of your other Biochem chars have class-specific bonuses, there is no great reason not to leave Biochem on your Agent. Definitely keep Slicing (love that Scorpio +2), and since you have two other chars with bioanalysis, and the agent has no crit bonus, definitely replace bioanalysis with Diplomacy (for Vector's max +5 crit bonus) immediately.

You really don't need three Biochems, so unless you are *really* getting good use of it (or have a lot of valuable schems) on your Sith Warrior, ditch the Biochem and add Synthweaving -- anybody can get a +5 from the Ship Droid, but the SW has another companion with +5 as well. And you don't have anybody with Synthweaving at the moment. Synth doesn't have much other than Aug Kits and Might/Resolve Augs at the moment, but will get a fair amount of stuff to craft with GSH. You'll get a +2 to Bioanalysis, so keep that. You only have one TH char, and Vette gives the Sith Warrior the max (+5) bonus, so I'd ditch the diplomacy and add TH. Your other Dip char is the Trooper with two +2 bonuses (one from a companion, one from the ship droid), so you can probably afford to lose the Warrior's Dip while building up Vector and leave the Trooper for the Grade 9 mats, since there are two Rich Grade 9s available. If you don't want to do that, switch over as soon as you have Vector able to run the Rich Grade 9s (you don't have to wait until he is at 450, that's just for the Wealthy discovered missions which your Trooper should already do as good as your Warrior).

If you are with me so far, you are keeping Biochem on your Agent (as you wanted) and removing it from your Warrior. You have it on your Trooper as well; the Trooper gets a +5 to Armormech, and your Jedi Knight has a +5 to Biochem, so (unless your Trooper has some awesome Biochem schems), I'd replace Biochem with Armormech immediately. Your warrior is keeping Bioanalysis (with a +2 crit), and your Agent is ditching it. However, the Trooper has +crits in both UT and Scav, so I'd ditch the Bio for Scav (since it has the max +5), but a +1 UT from comp (and +2 from Ship Droid) isn't bad -- it's just that you can get better elsewhere.

Believe it or not, I do have a logical order here As much as I want to say your BH sucks, my BH was my first alt (my main is an agent with Cybertech, Diplomacy, and Slicing) and has exactly what you have, and even though I've been optimizing my Legacy the last few months, I haven't had a good reason to change anything out (yet). The BH doesn't have any max +crits, so you'll be better off optimizing the max crit chars and then revisiting the BH. Depending on what schems you have (I wouldn't add more if you can get them on your Trooper), you may want to keep Armormech. Eventually, you would be a bit better off replacing two of your three skills with Bioanalysis and Treasure Hunting, but I'd stay with what you have currently until all your other changes have fit 450.

For your Smuggler, I'd replace Scav and UT with Armstech (max +5 bonus) and Bioanalysis (+2 bonus). You may want to switch Slicing (+1) with TH (+2) if you don't switch something on your BH to TH (+2).

The Consular has no max crafting crits (not that Armstech is a bad choice), but if you can avoid adding new schems, you can trade it out for Artifice once your Smuggler gets to 450 Armstech (and learns enough schems). It's you only Invest for now, so I'd hold it for now. I'd definitely trade Slicing for Scav (your are keeping better Slicers, and Consular gets a +2 to Scav).

For your Knight, unless you already have a lot of good/rare schems, you should eventually ditch Artifice (once your Consular has it to 450 with good schems) and learn Biochem (+5). Only the Inq has an Arch bonus, so keep Arch here as well. This is your only char with TH currently, so wait until one of your other chars hits Rich Grade (or 450), and then replace with Invest or Slicing, or whatever else you need more than TH.

Summary:

Inq: Replace Scav with Arch immediately

Agent: Replace Bioanalysis with Diplomacy immediately

Sith Warrior: Replace Biochem with Synthweaving immediately, replace Diplomacy with TH asap

Trooper: Replace Biochem with Armormech immediately; Replace Bioanalysis with Scavenging immediately

Smuggler: Replace all skills with Armstech, Bioanalysis, and Treasure Hunting

Bounty Hunter: Leave as is

Consular: Replace Armstech with Artifice (after getting 450 Armstech on Smuggler); replace Slicing with Scav (+2)

Knight: Replace Artifice with Biochem (+5) once Consular has Artifice at 450, replace TH with anything more useful once your other chars get TH 450.

This will leave you as:

Warrior: Synth (+5) , Bioanalysis (+2), TH (+5)

Inq: Cybertech, Arch (+5), Slicing (+2)

Agent: Biochem, Dip (+5), Slicing (+2)

BH: Bioanlysis (+2), ?, ?

Knight: Biochem (+5), Arch, ?

Consular: Artifice, Scav (+2), Invest

Smuggler: Armstech (+5), Bioanalysis (+2), ?

Trooper: Armormech (+5), Dip (+2), Scav (+5)

After all that, you'd probably want to replace the Warrior's Bioanalysis with Inv (max +2 bonus).

OFC, if you don't want to lose any the schems from any of the chars which I recommended changing crafting skills, just make a new char of the class that gets the best bonus for that skill -- it may not be "optimal", but you wouldn't lose the old schems, and you can focus on learning new schems for the one with the better bonus.

NOTE: Assuming everything else maxed, Treek/HK have +1 to all skills, so at most you are gaining +4%. The only items for which crit really matters are ones that get an extra unit on crit -- item modifications, dyes, biochem meds/stims/adrenals, augment kits, etc. Things that can have augment slots (earpieces, implants, weapons, armor) get an augment slot on crit. The slot type (MK-1 - MK-9) is based on the min char level needed to use that item, so with few exceptions, it won't be MK-9, and is thus much less valuable than a crit on an item that can be duplicated. Most of the schems for items that get duplicated are learned from the trainers, so are "easily" replaceable (endgame schems are an exception, of course).

Hopefully this helps a bit

I remember what a long and a tedious process it was to get my skills to 450, so... don't do it. Really, if you need some crit points that much, you can spend 100k on a droid sensor and get his affection to 10000 - it's easier and faster.

Also, Biochem is an invaluable skill for any character, despite any crew skill bonuses, so I'd say that it's even worth it to have it on all your chars(except for one char for Cybertech) for reusables. (Artfice/Armstech are not that great, since blue hilts/barrels are cheap with comms and on gtn, and Synth/Armormech are practically worthless, since you don't need that many augments, and the competition on GTN is too high).

Wow, great information guys. Thanks for the critical explanation as I was having a tough time believing no one knew how it works. I know RNG are a bear. I know in the old days when I played Magic Online, it seemed like the shuffler which also "randomizes" always seemed to screw me more than IRL.

It's also good to know that the LoC works on missions as it reads like it is only for crafting. I did start a couple of skills over because of the +2 and +5 crits on maxed out companions. Plus it is a good way to get a bunch more of the lower level mats for the upcoming GSH. It's good to know not to worry about synthweaving, but I know I'm drowning in luxury fabrics for sure.

I remember what a long and a tedious process it was to get my skills to 450, so... don't do it. Really, if you need some crit points that much, you can spend 100k on a droid sensor and get his affection to 10000 - it's easier and faster.

 

Also, Biochem is an invaluable skill for any character, despite any crew skill bonuses, so I'd say that it's even worth it to have it on all your chars(except for one char for Cybertech) for reusables. (Artfice/Armstech are not that great, since blue hilts/barrels are cheap with comms and on gtn, and Synth/Armormech are practically worthless, since you don't need that many augments, and the competition on GTN is too high).

1) He said he was looking over a 2-6 month period, so I assume he knows it will take a while.

2) Not all skills can get max crit from Ship Droid, and I did factor the Ship Droid into my analysis

3) Biochem is not an invaluable skill for any character by any stretch of the imagination. Reusable stims/medpacks/adrenals are not BiS, so all the reusables do is make leveling a bit faster (and with a 3 min CD, they don't even make it that much faster). It's a "might as well" if you don't want to spend any time crafting or gathering, but the OP is clearly not in that category.

4) With eight chars, and especially with GSH using all crafts, there is no good reason not to have one of each crafter. Ignoring Synthweaving is leaving a hole in his portfolio that no number of Biochems over 1 can fill.

That said, maxing comp affection and buying Legacy Crafting III gets you a base 23% crit rate (24% for crafting if you have Treek or HK) regardless of which char has which skill (at level 450), and the largest bonus is +5, for a max crit rating of 28%, so you should definitely take the time and $ to get those maxed stat If you don't want to spend a lot of time crafting, you can do well with 23% crits and making sure you make almost all of your own mats (I'll always supplement my stockpile with drastically underpriced mats from the GTN).

But if you plan on doing a lot of crafting, either making some new chars and taking the optimum skills or making some of the suggestions I made will pay off in the long run.

I remember what a long and a tedious process it was to get my skills to 450, so... don't do it. Really, if you need some crit points that much, you can spend 100k on a droid sensor and get his affection to 10000 - it's easier and faster.

And I recently re-leveled a number of crew skills to optimize and it was not a long process at all. When you have five companions to work it, leveling is fast. I'll admit it was mildly tedious, but worth it.

And the droid sensor is not a perfect solution. +5Crit to SW and CT, but nothing else.

OP, look at the "best" link in my signature. What are your priorities? Only you can answer that question. Once you do, you'll know the answer to your question.

Thanks! This is what I'm gathering from my guild as well. GSH is making it where all mats of all skill levels are important, so that lessens the blow of starting a skill over again. Besides, at least for the first few levels, it's going by quickly. Just send 4 of the 5 toons out for missions while running the dailies and I still come out ahead. Might be different in the 300-450 range, but it's not so bad. Besides, I need the money and dailies.

That was the biggest question was whether the difference between 23% and 28% crit was worth it, and it seems like that 5% is. I also want to have the synthweaving maxed out for the achievement title.

I prefer the blue level stims and medpacks over the purple. Yea, the purple does offer the reusable part, but you have to have biochem and they don't offer the continuous heals. Besides, I don't use the medpacks in OPS since you have healers (except in rare instances), but I do use the stims that persist through death.

When I run dailies, I use the medpacks more, but usually only for the bosses if I'm a tank or dps and my healer is falling behind and my cooldowns are shot. Doesn't happen as often now as it used to. I don't use any stims in dailies. I do, however, want a way to give all of my newly 50-55 toons enough gear ot run hardmode FPs without fear of being kicked. I know when I was a BH and we ran Athiss HM, and I had a spattering of 146 - 162 gear, one guy voted to kick me. Luckily it didn't happen,, he left, someone else came, and no one died the whole time except for one sniper who decided to camp in the purple circle on the last boss.

The tedious part makes sense when leveling up because to start you only have 1-2 companions (and in theory you need one to follow you around). At 55, you can have 5 out shopping while doing your own thing, so it goes quick.

I know I reset 2 skills on my smuggler and basically in 2 hours, I had both skills leveled up to 104-108 while running a czerka daily.

Thanks! This is what I'm gathering from my guild as well. GSH is making it where all mats of all skill levels are important, so that lessens the blow of starting a skill over again. Besides, at least for the first few levels, it's going by quickly. Just send 4 of the 5 toons out for missions while running the dailies and I still come out ahead. Might be different in the 300-450 range, but it's not so bad. Besides, I need the money and dailies.

It's difficult to lose money retraining the mission/gathering skills, since you should always be able to run missions that return stuff you can sell for more than the mission cost plus keep some for crafting, and gathering is 'free'. If you chars are close to cap (50-55 you said), you won't have any problems. Players on their first char or so run into problems when the mission cost is a larger percentage of their bank.

Crafting skills can be harder, as you often have to RE stuff (which means you can't sell it) to advance as quickly as possible, but at your level, you can run a single set of dailies and be able to fund that day's crafting. Ofc, you are making your own mats, so you shouldn't need to buy much off the GTN, which is where a lot of people with fewer chars (and thus not as many personally harvested mats) run into problems.

I prefer the blue level stims and medpacks over the purple. Yea, the purple does offer the reusable part, but you have to have biochem and they don't offer the continuous heals. Besides, I don't use the medpacks in OPS since you have healers (except in rare instances), but I do use the stims that persist through death.

Also, the blues heal more and give higher stats than the reusables, which is not unimportant in ops. As you said, using a med pack in an op should be rare (at least if you are reasonably geared and aren't running progression), and stims last 2 hrs, so 1/op should work. A single Biochem should be able to provide enough stims for your whole legacy.

I do, however, want a way to give all of my newly 50-55 toons enough gear ot run hardmode FPs without fear of being kicked. I know when I was a BH and we ran Athiss HM, and I had a spattering of 146 - 162 gear, one guy voted to kick me. Luckily it didn't happen,, he left, someone else came, and no one died the whole time except for one sniper who decided to camp in the purple circle on the last boss.

Between planetary comms and 1 of each crafter, you should be able to get anybody up to all 156s by the time they hit level 53. The item modifications (barrels, hilts, armorings, mods, enhancements, and augments) are easy -- just RE the trainer schematics until you get the purple you want. There is only one upgrade path for these items. NOTE: If you are going to move your armormech, armstech, and artificer as I recommended, try to avoid "wasting" money and time learning and re'ing any more schems on them. Use your planetary comms for this mods (minus augments, for which you make cheap greens until you are producing purples with the 'new' crafters). Your Cybertech is fine, so go to town making your own purple Advanced 28 Armorings and Mods -- Armorings are the biggest Planetary Comm sink, so by making those yourself, you should have plenty for the other modifications.

SUPERCAVEAT: Your Cybertech can craft Earpieces and your Biochem can craft Implants, but the best Crew Skill Trainer schems are for char level 54, can take up to 15 successful REs to get the desired purple (as opposed to 2 successful REs for item modifications), and are item level 152. If you have [Champion, I think] Rep with the Makeb forces, you can buy earpiece and implant schematics from the Basic Comms Vendor (near the Crew Skill Vendor) for Basic Comms. These are character level 53 purples with a rating of 156 that cost less to make than the level 54s (two Berylius instead of 4 for earpieces, I forget exactly how much cheaper for implants). Again, don't buy these schems for chars if you are going to switch the crafting skill, but be sure to use these instead of Re'ing less effective one.

COUNTERCAVEAT: My understanding is that some tanks prefer the level 54s to the level 53 because they have more 2ndary (mitigation) stats. If you have any such tanks, you might want to buy unless you want the joy of REing to a target purple.

At max level and affection all your companions have a 20% chance to crit, add to this any companion-specific crit bonuses to determine your actual critical chance. Example: Running a green Treasure Hunting missions with a maxed affection Vette (+5% crit to TH) and Legacy of Crafting III has a 28% chance to crit.

The last bit is incorrect. The Legacy of crafting perk does not affect crew missions, only actual crafts

http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=4768155&postcount=12

The last bit is incorrect...