Game Update 1.2 is big- we know this. In fact, it’s huge! It’s quite possibly one of the largest free game updates in MMO history. Many are saying this is really the way SWTOR was supposed to be launched but that EA pushed the release date on BioWare and they were unable to finish everything properly in time.
One important update in 1.2 will be to the Crew Skills. There have been lots of complaints about screw skills and while there are some good aspects to the program, it’s clearly “unfinished” and unbalanced when you compare the various crew skills to one another.
This is one thing that Devs mentioned at the Guild Summit they would be updating. There is now an official SWTOR blog post to tell us what we can expect for Crew Skills in 1.2:
“Since the launch of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™, the Crew Skill system has been incredibly popular. Every week in-game, 52 million items are produced or harvested, 4.5 million item mods are installed and more than 35 million items change hands. Players actively participating in the Crew Skill system are generally better geared and have more credits in the bank than pure consumers.
That said, we still believe the Crew Skills can be made better. Without further ado, here are some of the things you can expect for your profession when Game Update 1.2: Legacy goes live.
Crafting Professions
Armormech
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.
Armormech crafters may now 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.
Armstech
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.
We 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
As alluded to in a previous blog post, color crystals are seeing some change in Game Update 1.2. We want players to be able to choose their weapon color without having to worry about stats. To this end, we are introducing top-end crystals for all available colors to the game.
Lack of schematics is one of the major concerns we’ve heard from the community. To address this, we are adding a large number of schematics to the game. This includes elder game crystals as powerful as those found currently found through the highest level of Operations, as well as +Power crystals of various colors.
We have also added mid-level and end game schematics for the creation of the prestigious magenta crystal to the game along with a new exploration activity chain for obtaining them. All magenta crystal schematics have been changed so they can be freely traded via the Galactic Trade Network.
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.”
How will your Crew Skills be affected? How might this change the economy in the game? How will your characters be affected whether you have these skills or not? Will it change the dynamics within your guild any?
Want to see more on what the rest of the crew skills are getting? Read more.
