I am fairly new to this game (and MMOs in general), but I would like to make an attempt at crafting. I have read through some of the guides presented in this subforum and they seem to recommend artifice or synthweaving. The impression I got was that artifice is an easy path to take, given the Inquisitor's companions, but synthweaving is more useful.

With that, I have a few questions:

1. With the benefit of hindsight, would you recommend starting out with synthweaving or artifice?
    
    
   
2. Is one of these more useful during the leveling process?
    
    
   
3. Is one of these better for the end-game?
    
    
   
4. Does one of these yield better profits from selling items?
    
    
   
5. One of the guides mentioned that, for those with only 2 crew skills, they can forgo the mission skills and buy the items that those would yield on the market. I have heard that slicing is a very profitable skill. Would crafting/gathering with slicing work better than crafting/gathering/mission as my crew skills?
    
    
   
6. Can the crew skill unlock item be used to get a 4th crew skill for subscribers?
   

I would appreciate any input.

I am fairly new to this game (and MMOs in general), but I would like to make an attempt at crafting. I have read through some of the guides presented in this subforum and they seem to recommend artifice or synthweaving. The impression I got was that artifice is an easy path to take, given the Inquisitor's companions, but synthweaving is more useful.

 

With that, I have a few questions:

1. With the benefit of hindsight, would you recommend starting out with synthweaving or artifice?
    
    
   
2. Is one of these more useful during the leveling process?
    
    
   
3. Is one of these better for the end-game?
    
    
   
4. Does one of these yield better profits from selling items?
    
    
   
5. One of the guides mentioned that, for those with only 2 crew skills, they can forgo the mission skills and buy the items that those would yield on the market. I have heard that slicing is a very profitable skill. Would crafting/gathering with slicing work better than crafting/gathering/mission as my crew skills?
    
    
   
6. Can the crew skill unlock item be used to get a 4th crew skill for subscribers?
   

 

I would appreciate any input.

1) It really doent matter what crew skill you choose. Synthweaving will provide you with armor and mod for you character. but the same can be said for any of the crafting proffesions because you can equip your companions for free.

2) as far as leveling goes none really assist with it. It cost money to send the companion on missions but can wield high return rates. Its usually only with level grinding and finding boxes and such that it would benefit really and other people can grab those as well.

3) as far as end game it depends on what your wanting. stims and medpacks can be useful to all party members. And most crafting have mods in them that can be of assistance.

4) as for profit it really depends on the market and how you sell them.

5) Again it depends on the market. there may be times when the cost to buy the items outweighs the effort, And the reverse is that you gathered so much but is not selling and just taking up inventory slots in the bank

6) No. 3 is the max number of skills you can have.

Thank you.

One thing, though, what I meant about "useful while leveling" was: Since you receive a fair amount of gear through questing and general PvE stuff prior to the cap, is it reasonable to keep your crafting skill of choice on par with your level to keep your gear up to date or will it be overcome by rewards/drops?

Thank you.

 

One thing, though, what I meant about "useful while leveling" was: Since you receive a fair amount of gear through questing and general PvE stuff prior to the cap, is it reasonable to keep your crafting skill of choice on par with your level to keep your gear up to date or will it be overcome by rewards/drops?

I personally chose synthweaving for my Sorc and found it fine- you get both Archaeology and Slicing crit companions so it works out well in that respect.

As for useful while levelling, I personally found no use for any of the gear I crafted until I hit max level where I was able to make my own MK-9 augments. I most of the gear I needed from planetary comms, quest rewards and flashpoint drops. The gathering missions are useful to keep up to date however if you want to pick up the stuff you find while questing such as lockboxes on the ground if you are a slicer.

I personally chose synthweaving for my Sorc and found it fine- you get both Archaeology and Slicing crit companions so it works out well in that respect.

 

As for useful while levelling, I personally found no use for any of the gear I crafted until I hit max level where I was able to make my own MK-9 augments. I most of the gear I needed from planetary comms, quest rewards and flashpoint drops. The gathering missions are useful to keep up to date however if you want to pick up the stuff you find while questing such as lockboxes on the ground if you are a slicer.

Thank you for the info. I went with synthweaving, too, since the various guides seem to value crit over efficiency.

Thank you for the info. I went with synthweaving, too, since the various guides seem to value crit over efficiency.

You have chosen...poorly. For a first [imperial] character concerned with endgame profitability and leveling potential, you should only consider only Cybertech and Artifice, and Sorc favors Artifice. Synthweaving is best left to a Sith Warrior alt (and not your first alt at that).

You have chosen...poorly. For a first [imperial] character concerned with endgame profitability and leveling potential, you should only consider only Cybertech and Artifice, and Sorc favors Artifice. Synthweaving is best left to a Sith Warrior alt (and not your first alt at that).

I was beginning to rethink that decision. Upon further research I was considering going the profiteering approach with Slicing and Underworld Trading, then using those to fuel Biochem (which I gather is useful on your main for the BoP items).

As for Cybertech and Artifice, is that due to the fact that the mods have a more linear schematic progression or something else?

I am fairly new to this game (and MMOs in general), but I would like to make an attempt at crafting. I have read through some of the guides presented in this subforum and they seem to recommend artifice or synthweaving. The impression I got was that artifice is an easy path to take, given the Inquisitor's companions, but synthweaving is more useful.

 

With that, I have a few questions:

1. With the benefit of hindsight, would you recommend starting out with synthweaving or artifice?
    
    
   
2. Is one of these more useful during the leveling process?
    
    
   
3. Is one of these better for the end-game?
    
    
   
4. Does one of these yield better profits from selling items?
    
    
   
5. One of the guides mentioned that, for those with only 2 crew skills, they can forgo the mission skills and buy the items that those would yield on the market. I have heard that slicing is a very profitable skill. Would crafting/gathering with slicing work better than crafting/gathering/mission as my crew skills?
    
    
   
6. Can the crew skill unlock item be used to get a 4th crew skill for subscribers?
   

 

I would appreciate any input.

I wouldn't take synthweaving or artifice.

I went biochem on my first character (which happened to be an inquisitor) and I am glad I did. The reusable stims, medpacks and adrenals were great for leveling (Some medpacks also heal your companion). It was also nice to be able to craft implants because they are hard to come by. Biochem goes with bionanalysis and diplomacy btw.

You can only get 3 crew skills.

If this is your first character, my advice is to avoid crafting altogether while leveling. If you take two gathering skills and slicing, sell what you gather (or save it for a later switch), you will make enough money to buy whatever your character needs.

The fact is that crafting is a significant investment and if you level up a crafting skill while leveling your character you may either end up strapped for credits or have a crafting skill that lags behind your character level (meaning what you craft is not useful for your character).

to answer your first four questions I direct you to a guide I wrote on this forum (you may have read it already ) "best crew skills" (link in my sig).

With that, I have a few questions:

5. One of the guides mentioned that, for those with only 2 crew skills, they can forgo the mission skills and buy the items that those would yield on the market. I have heard that slicing is a very profitable skill. Would crafting/gathering with slicing work better than crafting/gathering/mission as my crew skills?

 

6. Can the crew skill unlock item be used to get a 4th crew skill for subscribers?

With regard to question #5, that really depends on what you plan to craft. And slicing can be very profitable, but it can also be VERY frustrating. With regard to buying materials my policy is this: I watch the market for low pricing and buy what I need off the GTN, but I also run LOTS of missions so that WHEN (not if) GTN pricing skyrockets, I have a significant "reserve" of materials.

As to question #6, it's been answered: no subs get 3 crew skills period. F2P accounts get one crew skill and have to unlock the other slots. If you get/got a random crew skill slot item, it is probably BoP and therefore worthless unless you go F2P.

As to question #6, it's been answered: no subs get 3 crew skills period. F2P accounts get one crew skill and have to unlock the other slots. If you get/got a random crew skill slot item, it is probably BoP and therefore worthless unless you go F2P.

Preferred chars get two slots, and the Refer-a-friend program gives referred chars a BoP "Unlock Crew Skill" item, so players should use it in case they ever go Preferred, and they'll get to keep all three slots.

I appreciate the advice, but this thread is a bit old. I'm at 400+ in cybertech and making decent cash via material selling and earpieces.

to answer your first four questions I direct you to a guide I wrote on this forum (you may have read it already ) "best crew skills" (link in my sig).

I did, in fact, read that guide. It's one of the main reasons I went with cybertech. I figured that the combination of high-demand gathering/mission skill and diversity of mods for alts was a good approach.