Crafting/Crafters and skills. New, about to log in...

[kadaena]

...and start exploring but since I plan far in advance i have some questions as it pertains to skills and crafting.

as I understand it (reading boards for hours) I can progress in anything I please to the max, but have read some things that indicate this may not be true for crafting. soooooo...

1. can I learn the entire crafting line/learn to craft everything craftable in-game?
2. are there race/faction specific crafting plans that I'll miss out on from being a certain race/faction?
3. how does the economy on items work? ie repeat 'customers', is there decay? level requirements?
4. If the answer to #1 is a 'no' what should I watch for skill-wise/level wise as an indicator of when i have to make these choices and if there are choices what are they?

thank you and Hi! all. Looking forward to logging in, stumbling about newbie style and learning all I can. Been trying to download this for two weeks, all went well last night.

For those still reading (hah! i can be longwinded) I'm a SWG-refugee 2 years playing, cancelled acounts nov 16 2005 day after NGE. My game revolved around crafting (1 of 2 Server-best Master Weaponsmiths), {beautiful craft system}, despite having 2 combat avatars. Been in CoV for a few months but I need my 'sandbox/crafting' gameplay back.
Reallly don't want to gimp my namesake character's future crafting endeavours. so any insight would be truly appreciated.

okay off to learn about stanzas then to character creation screen (most probably the new server).
-Manifest Apocrypha, 12-point Force Crafter Master Weaponsmith. Starsider
-<secret til i log in>, Loot-whore, Master Swords/TKM cum Dark Jedi. Starsider
-<secret til i log in>, ?/?/?/crafter. Cho

<grin>

[XoloX]

Welcome

1. can I learn the entire crafting line/learn to craft everything craftable in-game?
2. are there race/faction specific crafting plans that I'll miss out on from being a certain race/faction?
3. how does the economy on items work? ie repeat 'customers', is there decay? level requirements?
4. If the answer to #1 is a 'no' what should I watch for skill-wise/level wise as an indicator of when i have to make these choices and if there are choices what are they?

1. Yes, you can indeed. But wait 'til #4 before going to /dance
2. The majority of plans are racial and there are a few "factional", being tied to OP materials/drill origin. You can learn them all, however.
3. Decay - yes. Level requirements - yes. Attribute requirements - yes.
Which of these applies depends on the item itself, eg. jewelry has level requirements, melee weapons have strength requirements, etc. Add to that that Homins outgrow their equipment quite fast until they reach their 200's.
Since you're starting on Cho expect the resellers to function well for you in terms of sales. I wouldn't expect to get real rich at the beginning, though. Later the resale lines will focus on good reputation
4. Skillpoints are scarce at the beginning, even more true in crafting.
That leaves you at a point where you should specialize on no more than two branches and few lines at the beginning (despite the tutorial missions on Silan pushing you toward diversification a bit) and maybe keep the rest afoot. I wouldn't worry about getting all available boosts, crafting plans or even all "foreign" crafting skills at the beginning... That's better saved until later when you begin to have SP leftover from your main crafting trees.
It's a long, and sometimes very tedious, way to go.

hf

[iphdrunk]

1. can I learn the entire crafting line/learn to craft everything craftable in-game?

Yes, but it takes time and dedication. Also, although it is often not mentioned, as things are now you need to be a dedicated harvester. You cannot be a competitive crafter if you don't harvest and feed yourself mats. Other options are not practical.
With regard to learning, some players have learnt the entire craft tree. Some crafters have over 5000 spare skill points, just by learning all they do really want to craft.

2. are there race/faction specific crafting plans that I'll miss out on from being a certain race/faction?

After fame changes, your choices in race / faction may limit your ability to craft very specific craft plans (which are not used a lot anyway). It is not a biggie, you can ignore them or, at the last, use some workarounds to get them anyway...these are rite-specific craft plan rewards, or OP plans (e.g. a Karavan RP player may not want to learn Kami-technology)

3. how does the economy on items work? ie repeat 'customers', is there decay? level requirements?

Items decay, but, imho, a bit slowish. One sad thing is that 99% of your crafts are useless, and dump, just crafted for the sake of leveling, thus the high demand for "grind mats".


To craft a specific quality, there are several factors: first, crafts are grouped in "related craft groups" e.g. armor crafting or Melee Weapon crafting, which ofter group different branches. Armor crafting groups all the heavy, light and medium armor pieces. Leveling a branch in a given group will allow you to get upgrades of the skill the group refers to (e.g. lvl 70 in any melee weapon will allow you to get Melee Weapon Craft 8, thus you can theorically craft q80 melee weapons), although you will be overcrafting in some cases. "overcrafting" refers to the action of crafting an item you are low level at, using a quality you learnt by leveling another specific branch in the same group, e.g. overcraft heavy armor boots using a high quality I learnt crafting light armor pants.

Second factor, your success rate will be determined by your level on the specific craft branch of the item you want to craft, which means that overcrafting is a dual edge blade: you can get more xp by overcrafting, but the chances of getting a good item is lower(the higher the difference of the targetted quality and your actual level, the higher the risk of failing or degrading). In general, overcraft less than 15 levels if you want good items, unless you are looking for XP and not an actual item to be used.

4. If the answer to #1 is a 'no' what should I watch for skill-wise/level wise as an indicator of when i have to make these choices and if there are choices what are they?

Although you can learn everything, not at the beginning. Focus on a specific branch or group and stick to it. Learn the most useful boosts (e.g HP and not stamina) and stick to one race first. Remeber that for some crafts your customers want *sets* (e.g. a light armor, not just boots) and decide to what point you want to overcraft. Overcrafting a lot means that you can potentially craft high quality sets by focusing on a single (faster) branch and leaving the others low, BUT it can be a pain to get set once you need one. If you don't overcraft and keep the branches at basically the same levels, you can mass-produce but the effort and time is considerably higher.

[riveit]

.2. are there race/faction specific crafting plans that I'll miss out on from being a certain race/faction?

No, but there are some stanzas useful to crafting and digging that one cannot obtain after becoming a citizen of a race. For instance, the Matis food rite and the Fyros crafting durability rite give you useful stanzas. If you want to do all of the rites, accomplish them before opting for a racial citizenship.

[kadaena]

wow. those are awesome responses. thank you so much. good advice and information. Had a lot of fun last night and today....alas work calls. Looking forward to this evening

much appreciated

-Chirikiti