Darth Hater

Armstech will be for blasters... HT was saying that Artificer would be the crafting skill that would supply lightsaber components... and yes, I really hope he's right.

You really have to look at the text of the Dev blog closely. Malott says

"Lightsabers arent acquired or assembled via the Crew Skills system"

So you can't have Vette come back with a new saber from a mission, and no one but you actually assembles the saber. What element isn't mentioned? Yep. Upgrades.

That's wizard, Ani

Ding Dong the Wizard is dead.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jedi_Wizard

I CANT WAIT!

I'll second that.

I'll third that.

I have to admitt I'm more than a little surprised at the community reaction (or rather the lack of one) to the news regarding the Lightsabers not being part of the Crew Skills... This represents a potential problem of monumental proportions in my view...

Either, the 4 Force-using classes will be crying "foul" becuase they lack the diversity and access that crafting upgrades provide to the non-force-users...

Or, the 4 non-force-user classes will be crying foul because the Jedi and Sith have access to a "private" form of weapon upgrades that permitts them to bypass the crew skills cost and time consumption...

Or possibly both forms of griping simultaneously due to the old "grass is always greener" syndrome.

Regardless, there is a freakin huge balancing issue presented with this announcement that most folks seem very ready to simply "gloss over" for some reason... You thought balancing the classes was a headache before - just try pulling it off when half of your classes utilize a completely different system for equipment upgrades - and not just any equipment - we're not talking about boots here folks - whether it's lightsabers or blasters, we're talking about the main weapons used in a game which is fundamentally about combat.

I will try to remain patient while waiting for the DEVs to clear up exactly how they plan to side step what seems like an abundantly clear problem to me... Ever since the bombshell Damion Schubert dropped so casually on a Friday afternoon a week ago I've had great trepidation about this... This is easily the scariest thing I've heard about this game to date... You thought you heard an uproar over the AC name Wizard? phffft... that was nothing compared to what you'll hear (for a few seconds before your eardrums implode) if you screw up the balance between lightsabers and blasters.

I think you are freaking out over nothing, or you have not carefully read the full text of the developer blog released today.

"Though companions are vital to The Old Republic and the Crew Skills system, we do know that some players want to be the primary crafter for all their crafted items, or for particularly special pieces of equipment. Its worth noting that players will definitely need to be directly involved in the process when learning rare schematics, and that Lightsabers arent acquired or assembled via the Crew Skills system. Well have more details on this later."

Higher end schematics that you've acquired will be something that you, the player, will need to craft or be involved in.
That puts everyone on equal footing.

They announced that blasters can be crafted via the crew skills system... and they announced that lighsabers are not acquired or assembled via the crew skills system...

Thus an inherent dispararity that should be abundantly obvious to... anyone.

Are you honestly telling me that it's going to be balanced to have Jedi and Sith players have to spend their in game time working on their lightsabers, while the blaster using classes go out adventuring and have their crew working on their next upgrade at the same time?

Or, are you suggesting that the process for creating / modifying lightsabers won't take up to 23 hrs (like it could for a high quality blaster) and therefore all the Jedi and Sith will be getting their upgrades much, much faster, while those using blasters will have to "wait" on the crew skill system to get theirs?

I'm not saying this IS the way it will be...
What I AM saying is that there are some pretty obvious pitfalls inherent in having half the classes in a game go about getting their equipment in a fundamentally different way than the other half, and some very careful balancing issues need to be given attention... I am merely surprised that the community seems so oblivious to this announcement...

Obviously we have to be patient for them to announce further details on this, but the fact that they haven't been able to announce those details yet, while still making mention of this facet of the game mechanics two weeks running now should give some insight into just how delicate a balancing act this could be...

But do not blithely dismiss this and blindly say "everyone is on equal footing"... you are lacking the very same details that could potentially put my mind at ease, and this is far too fundamental an aspect of the game and the IP to be so casually dismissive of...

I understand where you're coming from, however, I think we should wait it out and see about the other crafting skills. What they said was that lightsabers will not be AQUIRED or ASSEMBLED via crew skills. Now, this may be my reading into lack of words or my wild assumptions, but I have a feeling that one of the other crafting skills may have MODIFYING lightsabers as part of it.

I may me completely off here, but I've been thinking that one of the crew skills will have something to do with the changing or enhancing of lightsaber crystals and parts. If you look at lightsabers as a whole, one of them is not inherently better than another, save for the crystals and the lenses used inside of it. It would be really reasonable for you the create your own lightsaber, like we've seen in the video, and be able to choose what you want your hilt to look like(hopefully) and then keep with that lightsaber, while using crystals or lenses to enhance that saber further.

Now, that's not to say that lightsabers won't drop from bosses and raids. I'm sure they'll drop with specific crystals already in them and rare hilt styles that you won't be able to choose yourself, but I can't see them being 'lightsaber from boss X has +100 agility and lightsaber from boss Y has +100 strength' etc. I forsee that the loot drops for lightsaber classes will be about the rare crystals already in that bosses lightsaber or the rare hilt style that they have, rather than this lightsaber having better stats than this one. At least, I kinda hope that. I don't really like the idea of one lightsaber being better than another and having a bunch of different stats. I think crystals and lenses and other parts should be the main factor in weapons for the lightsaber classes.

I don't see it as a balance issue, since the Artifice crafting skill seems to be the lightsaber equivalent to blaster crafting. I think it's now very likely that lightsabers are going to be assembled similarly to how it was done in KOTOR, where you mix and match crystals within a chassis. The Artifice crafting skill will almost definitely have you making lightsaber crystals and components that you the Jedi/Sith then add to your existing weapon.

Swapping out whole lightsabers isn't something Force users generally do; they modify them. However, relegating the Artifice system to making the lightsaber crystals (and related items) means that functionally, all weapons will still be reliant on the crafting system, blasters and lightsabers alike.

I really hope you're right HarryTruman... if it's simply a "vaneer" to make it more paletable for the self-important Jedi wannabes, but manages to keep ALL classes on equal footing then I will be greatly relieved... I've never wanted someone else to tell me, "I told you so" so much...

If so, I'd really like to hear their justification for throwing a live handgrenade into the room before saying "have a nice weekend" and closing the door for two weeks running...

This should have been addressed in a straightforward and informative manner, or not commented on at all... for two weeks in a row.

I will probably just content myself with reading your reply numerous times this weekend and repeating to myself like a mantra, "Of course that has to be the answer" and maybe gently rocking back and forth...

KOTOR2 lightsabers have crystals (one for color, others for effects), one (energy) cell, one emitter, and one lens.

I'm sure we'll have at least as many upgrade parts, and that the technical parts (cell, emitter, lens above) will be craftable.

If it makes you feel even a little bit better, I also figured basically exactly what he said in terms of the lightsaber bit. Kind of a "different end to the same means". Basically still crafting, but without telling your companions, "hey, make my lightsaber for me", because that just wouldn't fly with a lot of Jedi/Sith lovers.

They've already shown a bit where the Jedi gets their first saber, which is part of their class story. They'll likely not get lighsaber hilts through quests as often as non-Force-users will get entire weapons, but crafting a la KOTOR 2 where different skill ratings allowed the crafting/use of various types of crystals (which, let's be honest, a lot of times is as good as getting a new blaster rifle) would push forward FU character development in the same way as it does for non-FU characters. I know, KOTOR 2 wasn't BioWare, but it's still a good crafting system to take examples from if I'm BioWare.