SWTOR - KotFE: Changes in Crew Skills

It had been announced, especially during the last livestream presented by Eric, the crew skills would benefit from several changes with the release of Knights of the Fallen Empire. A blog post gives us more details about these changes.

Several objectives for developers:

• Balancing the benefits of all skills
• Improved item quality
• Simplification

 

General

• Always limit to 500.
• Removed bearings. Understand: no need to go to the trainer to learn levels 400 and 450.
• Harmonization of skill ranks and materials in 8:
  • Rang 1 : Niveaux 10-16 : 0-80
  • Rang 2 : Niveaux 16-24 : 80-160
  • Rang 3 : Niveaux 24-32 : 160-240
  • Rang 4 : Niveaux 32-40 : 240-300
  • Rang 5 : Niveaux 40-46 : 300-350
  • Rang 6 : Niveaux 46-51 : 350-400
  • Rang 7 : Niveaux 51-55 : 400-450
  • Rank 8: Levels 55+: 450-500

 

Modifications

Each skill now offers new blueprints, most of them of better quality than the previous ones (which are moved to an Archives section).

• No more green quality manufacturing.
• Reverse Engineering results in an improved version of the item. A priori therefore, more materials.
• All armor crafted is adaptable.
• New material, needed to craft items, called "Component", obtained by combining two harvesting materials and two materials purchased from vendors, all of the same rank.
  • Possible to level up only by crafting Components.
  • Example: An armor maker wants to craft rank 6 (level 46) chest gear. This is prototype-grade (blue) armor that requires 4 Ciridium units and 4 Dursteel armor assembly components. The player will need 2 units of durasteel, 2 units of zal alloy, and 2 thermoplast streams to create each component. When he is in possession of the 4 components and the 4 units of ciridium coming from the illegal trade, he will be able to make his chest equipment.

 

Direct changes to skills

• Cybernetics no longer offers Armor.
• Crafting armor will craft Resistant Armor (Endurance).
• Synthweaving will craft Versatile Armor (Mastery).
• Artifice no longer offers Sophistications (note: Improvements in the blog, but translation error on their part), which are reserved for Cybernetics.
• Improvements:
  • Armor Crafting: Shield, Absorb, and Mastery
  • Synthweaving: Alacrity, Defense and Critical
  • Weapon Crafting: Precision, Endurance, and Power
• Biochemistry consumables are no longer reusable, in order to improve the appeal of this skill and create a market for these items.
• Stims made by Biochimie will now last 8 hours and will be crafted in batches of 6 to 8.
• The droid armor is removed from the game, the armor of the partners only having an aesthetic role.
• Cybernetics Grenades are no longer reusable, for the same reasons as Biochemistry consumables.

 

Confection and end of game

• No more reverse engineering of objects recovered in operation, whether set or out-of-set, so no longer possible to learn their plans.
• Possibility to craft equipment of the same level as that of operations in Story or Hard mode:
  • Plans to learn from the coach
  • Non-modifiable equipment
  • Once reverse engineered (note: to improve it, if you followed), equivalent to the story mode equipment
  • Once the gear in Story Mode is reverse engineered, you can get blueprints for the Hard Mode gear
  • Chance of reverse engineering guaranteed, can be sold and traded
  • Requires material that is obtained by completing personal Conquest objectives (so the question arises, with the temporary suspension of Conquest, how will it be in the meantime?)
  • No set bonus
  • It doesn't work for relics

 

Collection

We already knew a lot about it, but here is some additional information:

• All collection missions by sending partners are available and more random. No need to change zone to hope to have Prolific missions therefore. They will also give a little more material. And in addition, they will last less.
• Gathering nodes will be able to be harvested regardless of your level and will increase your skill level.
• The number of materials collected will depend on the skill level of the player. Less materials if level lower, more materials if level higher.
• A chance on each node to collect materials of both types of each rank.
• The crystals will be able to give crystals and fragments in addition to the colored crystals.

 

Material removal

Some materials will therefore be removed from the game. But rest assured, if you have any, they will be converted to their equivalent.

Removed materials

• Advanced power implant processor
• Fragment d'artefact alien
• Alien data cube
• Aluminium
• Amorphous carbonite
• Type 10 upgrade kit
• Type 9 upgrade kit
• Type 10 Upgrade Slot Component
• Type 9 Upgrade Slot Component
• A bacterial strain
• Chemical with biological compound
• Biometric Crystal Alloy
• Blue jelly
• Bondar Crystal
• Chanlon
• Cosmic particle
• Diatom
• Dual pulse implant processor
• D-pack implant processor
• Enriched Duracier
• Eralam crystal
• Exon
• Exotic Element Equalizer
• Exquisite yellow crystal
• Flawless yellow crystal
• Immaculate yellow crystal
• Flawless Orange Crystal
• Flawless yellow crystal
• Inert virus
• Laminate
• Luminescent cell culture
• Mass manipulation generator
• Material transubstantiator
• Medicinal fluid
• Molecular stabilizer
• Neurochemical extract
• Neutronium
• Obsolete crafting material
• Perfect orange crystal
• Perfect Upari Crystal
• Perfect yellow crystal
• Phond crystal
• Plastacier
• Precious yellow crystal
• Prehistoric Artifact Fragment
• Blank yellow crystal
• Psychoactive compound
• Growth agent
• Rakata energy module
• Red jelly
• Resinite
• Rybcoarse implant processor
• Self-regenerating energy cell
• Single-pulse implant processor
• Synthetic energy matrix
• Synthetic mesh implant processor
• Toxic extract
• Universal catalyst
• Unknown microorganisms
• Stabilized isotope 5 vial
• Viral residue

 

Update 08/10 : several clarifications were made on the forum by Nick Avola.

• Two new epic materials:
  • Materials of Conquest: Strategic Resource Matrix
    • Redeemable upon reaching the Personal Conquest objective
    • Used to craft equipment equivalent to that in Hard Mode
    • Base plan available to trainer, then reverse engineer for Story version, then reverse engineer again for Hard version
    • Unmodifiable equipment, bind when equipped and slightly better than that sold by merchants
    • No Mods and Relics crafting
  • Operation Materials: Dark Matter Catalyst, recoverable by eliminating Operation Bosses
    • Used to craft Operation Equipment and Mods
    • Requires having obtained the equipment in operation to be able to reverse engineer it
    • Only Modifications, Implants and Atria can be made with this material
    • As before, empty operating equipment cannot be reverse engineered

 

So those are all the changes to crew skills. Whether we like all these changes or not, in any case, we can say that a lot of things will change!