Darth Hater

The widely publicized augment system coming in Game Update 1.3: Allies is now available for players on the PTS. An in-depth guide to the current build of this new system can be found after the jump. 

UPDATE 6/19/12:  The latest update to the Public Test Server included some changes to the Augmentation system. Specifically, the crafting recipes for the MK-5 and MK-6 Augmentation Kits have been changed to additionally require some slicing components. The installation costs for some kits have been modified as well, most notably the cost for a MK-6 kit installation increasing from 25,000 credits to 30,000 credits each. It also appears that the issue with orange/moddable equipment not returning the components when being reverse engineered has been fixed. The guide has been updated to reflect these changes.

UPDATE 6/27/12: Update 1.3 is now available on the live servers. The guide has been updated to reflect adjusted costs to train each augmentation kit schematic. The prices were increased slightly. 

Guide

With Game Update 1.3, crafters no longer have to rely on luck and some kindness from the RNG in order to create equipment with augmentation slots. Gone will be the days of crafting a purple item twenty times hoping for a critical success, only to fail every single time and watch the valuable materials used in the crafting process become essentially wasted. This update will allow crafters to bypass that frustrating randomness and take steps to ensure augment slots are available on any piece of equipment they choose.

Also as part of this update, augments are no longer limited to certain armor slots and weapon types. Every single piece of equippable gear can have an augment slot added to it. This means earpieces, implants, relics, belts, bracers, and offhand items such as generators, shields, foci, vibroknives and scatter guns can all bear augments. In addition, players looking to push the performance of their droid companions even higher will be able to add augment slots to all droid parts.

Augmentation Kits

There are two parts to the new process of installing an augment slot onto a piece of "normal" (that is, non crit-crafted) gear. The first part is obtaining the Augmentation Kit. Augmentation Kits are created by players using the Armormech, Armstech, and Synthweaving Crew Skills. All three of those Crew Skills create the same exact items - there is no difference or advantage of one over the other. The materials used to craft the Kits are exactly the same for Armormech and Armstech, using materials common to those crafting professions. The Synthweaving recipes are different, since they typically use different crafting components. The full lists of materials needed for each kit can be found in the tables below.

 Armstech and Armormech

Synthweaving

One of the components required to craft these Augmentation Kits is the Augmentation Slot Component. These items are also new to the 1.3 game update and are obtained solely by reverse engineering items. Crafting each Augmentation Kit requires ten Augmentation Slot Components of the same tier. All crafted items that are reverse engineered will yield a single Augmentation Slot Component of the appropriate tier in addition to the usual materials returned by the reverse engineering process. For example, if reverse engineering a level 49 green item today returns 0-2 Zal Alloy and 0-2 Durasteel, those materials will still be returned when reverse engineering the same item after the 1.3 update goes live. The difference is that an Augmentation Slot Component will also be returned.

Orange/moddable gear also return components when being reverse engineered based upon their level. No modifications are required to be inside the orange shell when reverse engineering it in order to receive the component. For crafters who created dozens of  orange Battlemaster and War Hero PVP gear in attempts to get critical crafts with augment slots, those non-critted items can now be reverse engineered and turned into something useful. 

As noted in the chart above, there are multiple tiers of Augmentation Kits and Augmentation Slot Components. These are designed so that players of all levels can add augment slots to their gear. The level of gear that is reverse engineered will determine the tier of the Augmentation Slot Component returned. One way of judging what tier of component will be returned by a reverse engineered item is to look at the grade of components used to craft the original item. For example, a gun that was crafted using Grade 2 materials will return an Augmentation Slot Component MK-2 when it is reverse engineered.

Reverse Engineering Results

The Augmentation Slot Components that are returned when reverse engineering a crafted item will be of the same tier as the crafted item. So if crafting the item required Grade 4 materials, the item will yield a Augmentation Slot Component MK-4 when reverse engineering it. Below is a table displaying the level range of crafted items to receive the different tiers of Augmentation Slot Components.

The tier of the Augmentation Kit also controls which augments it will support. The tooltips giving this information appear on the actual augments themselves, not the kits. For example, a level 49 augment will have information in its tooltip indicating that the destination item requires at least a MK-6 augment slot. Players cannot install augments that are of a higher tier than the augment slot itself. However, a lower tier augment can still fill a higher tier slot, meaning that a MK-4 augment could potentially be placed in that MK-6 slot discussed earlier. The tiers of the augment slots and the augments scale up uniformly as a player levels.

Installing

The second part of installing an augment slot is using an Item Modification Table to attach the slot to a piece of equipment. There are several of these tables located on the fleet and they can be found on the map by selecting the "Modification Table" filter.

Right-clicking on one of these tables will open the Augmentation Workbench interface. There are two ways to select an item to modify. The user can click and drag an item from your inventory or backpack into the empty slot on the workbench. The second option is to click into the "Click here to show items you may modify" box at the top of the workbench interface. Doing this will open a dropdown list of all items on the character, with equipped ones marked as such and items in the inventory also available for selection.

Once an item is selected, the user can choose which tier of augment slot they wish to install. Selecting a tier of augment slot will then show the materials required - a single Augmentation Kit of the same tier - and the cost, in credits, to install the kit. The installation cost for each tier can be found in the table above/below. As long as the character has the kit and credits required, clicking on the "Buy Augment Slot" button will complete the process and successfully add an augment slot to the selected item.

Upgrading

It is possible to upgrade from a lower tier augment slot to a higher one. The process is identical to the installation process and costs exactly the same - one Augmentation Kit of the appropriate tier and the corresponding amount of credits. The cost in credits for upgrading is the same as doing a new installation. There is no discount for having a previous slot installed.

It is worth mentioning that it is still quite possible to gain augment slots the old fashion way. A critical success on an item will still produce an augment slot on that item, and it is not necessary to go through this process of installing an Augmentation Kit on it. However, the tier of the augment slot obtained through a critical success will match the tier of the item itself. So if a level 50 player likes the look of a level 20 orange piece of armor, and a critical success happens when crafting that item, the augment slot will only be of the MK-2 tier and can only support augments around the same level. In order to put a level 49 augment into this piece, the augment slot will have to be upgraded from a MK-2 slot to a MK-6 slot. This means a MK-6 Augmentation Kit and 30,000 credits is still required.

Conclusion

The ability to add augment slots to any item combined with the adaptive gear also coming with the 1.3 update should truly give players a chance to better customize their stats and appearances to suit their play style. Crafters who have spent tons of time and credits on trying to obtain a complete set of augmented armor will breathe a sigh of relief now that they can directly control and predict what will be required to create augmented gear.

For those wanting to prepare for the 1.3 update so they can put augments on all their items as soon as possible, some planning in advance can be done. There will be fourteen possible equipment slots that can be enhanced by adding an augment. For level 50 players, that means getting fourteen Augmentation Kit MK-6 components, either made themselves or obtained from crafters. For those crafting the kits themselves, fourteen Augmentation Kit MK-6 means 140 level 47+ items to be reverse engineered. While it's possible the issue on the PTS will be fixed and orange items that are reverse engineered will yield the Augmentation Slot Components, the cheapest and easiest way to do this from scratch would be to craft green items. Finally, there is the credit cost of installing the kits. At 30,000 each for MK-6 augments, a full set of 14 slots would cost a grand total of 420,000 credits. Keep in mind that these totals are for a single player character, fully augmenting a single companion will require 12 kits and 360,000 credits.

Competitive players will almost surely want to upgrade as many pieces as possible, as the bonus stats provided by augments add up together nicely. It will be interesting to see how the market develops for Augmentation Kits and augments once the 1.3 update goes live.

Gallery: Update 1.3: Augment System