One of the big announcements to come out of BioWare in recent weeks has to be the upcoming changes to the crafting system in game update 1.2. While the system itself has been generally well received, there have been some big issues with the current end-game viability of most of the skills. In order to improve all the skills many of them are getting new recipes, the ability to craft new modable gear, the removing the Bind On Pickup requirement for some of the recipes. BioWare posted a nice bit of information on the specifics of the changes we can expect to see when 1.2 hits the live server.

 

Check after the jump for all the info.

 

Characters with the Armormech profession will now be able to learn Aim, Cunning, Shield and Absorb augments schematics, which may be reverse engineered for a chance to research their prototype and artifact variants. They can also reverse engineer almost any modifiable outfit into an empty custom (orange) shell of the same name and appearance, which may now gain an augment slot when crafted with critical success.

 

Characters with the Armstech profession will now be able to learn Endurance, Surge, Critical, Accuracy and Power augment schematics, which may be reverse engineered for a chance to research their prototype and artifact variants. They have also added new schematics to create custom (orange) ranged weapons to the profession and enabled the reverse engineering and researching of vibroknife and shotgun variations. As with Armormech, a critical success while creating a custom weapon may yield an additional augment slot.

 

Artifice crafters can expect to see a bunch of new schematics added that will allow them to craft high end crystals like those found in the highest level of Operations, as well as +Power crystals of various colors. Artifice is also the first profession to gain some dedicated PvP crafting. Players may earn crystal schematics of various colors via PvP, making it the only profession able to create items that offer a permanent expertise bonus at this time. The required materials for these crystals will also be obtained through PvP, creating a closed loop for those players that prefer to only engage in Player versus Player conflict. Finally, Artificers are now able to create willpower based shields for Sith Assassin and Jedi Shadow tanks and, while crafting Enhancements, gain a bonus item on a successful critical.

 

If your character has the Cybertech profession, you will now be able to sell any of the vehicles you create on the Galactic Trade Network, as they have had their binding restrictions from the game removed. A critical success while crafting grenades now results in double the number of grenades (which also had their cooldown reduced to 3 minutes to allow more frequent use), and a critical success when creating item modifications now yields an additional mod for your efforts.

 

Players with the Synthweaving profession can now learn schematics allowing the creation of Strength, Willpower, Defense, Alacrity and Presence augments, which may be reverse engineered and researched into their prototype and artifact level variants. As with Armormech, a critical success crafting custom (orange) outfits will add an additional augment slot to the resulting item. There has also been a number of additional light armor schematics and tweaked the material requirements for some custom (orange) outfits for better balance added to the game.

 

BioChem is seeing fewer changes than any profession, as it is fairly well off already. Some minor changes include producing an additional implant on a crafting critical and reclassifying ‘Red Goo’ as a Grade 6 Biochemical compound via Bioanalysis Missions.

 

With Game Update 1.2, Augment Slicing missions are changing to become the source of Sliced Tech Parts – the main material component used in the creation of Augments by Synthweaving, Armstech and Armormech crafters. Slicing missions completed with a critical success may now occasionally yield premium quality augment schematics.

 

Reverse engineering is seeing some changes as well. The chances of reverse engineering an item are significantly improving, and you will now see a ‘Research Available’ indicator in item tooltips while in reverse engineering mode, indicating if a schematic can be researched from an item. The dreaded ‘You already know this schematic’ message when discovering an already known schematic is also a thing of the past. Instead, players now discover another available schematic in that case, leading to less frustrating and more predictable research advancement.

 

Finally we have a little update on everyone’s favorite crafting droids, C2-N2 and 2V-R8, presented to us  in a nice little “lore” announcement.

“The C2 Droid Corporation is proud to announce the development of a new series of Droid sensors for their most popular product, the C2-N2. These sensors may significantly improve the crew skill efficiency and critical success chances of this unit when operated under normal, non combat conditions.

Not the be outdone by their Republic competition, the 2V Droid Corporation has announced a series of sensor updates for their popular 2V-R8 line of Droids. The corporation categorically denies reports that these new sensors may cause increase vocal frequency in the upgraded units!

Both lines of Droids reportedly had their personality matrix updated with an experimental emotion response chip, allowing them to accept gifts and tokens as a show of appreciation from their currently selected master. Crew skill performance of these units will increase upon acceptance of these objects in a way carefully created to simulate the response often associated with the transfer of goods between organics.

In related news, Balmorra Microprocessor Corporation has announced the discovery of a critical engineering flaw in the ‘appreciation’ subroutine of their bestselling ‘Droid Vocal Response Chip’ used on almost all ship maintenance droids currently available. The flaw is said to cause excessive expression of appreciation towards owners entering the proximity sensors of their Droids and is likely to blame for the sharp increase in escape pod related incidents around the galaxy over the last two months. A repair and replacement plan for the affected units has been devised and is said to take effect in the immediate future.”

That’s all the new information we have for now, if you want to read the blog post in its entirety head on over to the official blog post.

Tags: 1.2, crafting, crafting droids, crew skills