I’ve been checking out Patch 1.3 on the public test server (PTS), focusing my time on the crew skills changes to synthweaving. And I will get to a post on that topic later in the week. But first, I wanted to share some of my recent experiences regarding interacting with PTS folks around crafting.
My Time is Worthless, Your Money is Precious
So far, I think I’ve crafted about 30 augmentation kits on the PTS for folks to try out. To do so, I’ve stood around on the fleet, chatting with players about the patch, for several hours as I’ve made crafted pieces to reverse engineer, then made augmentation kits. I am keeping 4 of my companions busy on making the crafted items, and sending the 5th out on Underworld Trading missions in the hopes of scoring some of the new synthweaving patterns added to the game.
I logged in to the PTS this time around to find that I had 20k in credits and not very many crafting materials, due to the huge number of custom pieces I made and sold on the cheap during the last patch’s testing phase. Thus, to have enough cash to list anything of value in the GTN, I had to make and sell some custom gear. I was nearing the end of my possible Kit creation when I got a tell from a reader of this blog who gallantly gifted me with 5 stacks each of the crystals and the artifact fragments. And thus, I was able to crank out a ton more augments which I put up on the GTN for 250k a pop, selling them as fast as I could list them.
And at some point, the grumbling started in General chat, along the lines of “You’re a jerk for selling those kits for 250k. You should be selling them for 100k max. You are greedy.” One of my fellow crafters jumped in and noted that we have to spend 4+ minutes crafting each of our 10 items that we have to RE in order to make each kit. And that further, the materials for making those crafted items sell for 1-3k a piece on live servers, making your base cost for materials anywhere from 40-120k depending upon your server economy. To which our heckler replied “Go farm the mats.”
Uh, excuse me? I need to go and farm materials to make items so they can be cheaper for you mister general chat big mouth? Because my play time is worth less than your precious bank balance? Are you serious? You might think that I was being trolled. But I wasn’t. Because this isn’t the only time that I have had folks consider my time, which I’ve spent crafting or improving patterns or spending tons of credits on missions to obtain schematics to be worthless. (NOTE: see also this same issue, years ago, in WoW.)
Why did I “need to make that much cash anyway”, as one person asked with a side of snark? Because almost nothing on the PTS is free in case you hadn’t noticed. In my case specifically, I want to try out the new custom patterns. Which has meant spending over 50k on executing missions so far (plus another 250k on buying mission discoveries). And buying a schematic on the PTS for 50k. And buying a ton of companion gifts to improve my affection to increase the chance of crits. (The copy of me from pre 1.2 didn’t have her toons very far along in that area, unlike current me.) And so on. And so far? I have exactly two of the new crafted schematics to show for all my efforts. T-W-O.
The great thing about MMOs is they provide a variety of things for each player to do that meets their individual definitions of fun. I love to discover and collect new patterns, and feel a sense of accomplishment when a ton of peeps are running around my servers wearing gear with the made by Anexxia label. And I like that I can support my characters through crafting instead of doing dailies because repeating quests for multiple days is not my preferred way to make cash. Not even if a vanity pet is on offer.
Now, I can understand it is annoying to see people buying my augment kits and reselling them for 750k or even 1.25 mil credits on the GTN. But if you make it a practice to harass players such as myself, who are there making items for you to try out and who genuinely love seeing all the new crafting changes on offer on the PTS so we can plan accordingly, then don’t come crying to me when crafters stop selling the items they make– or worse yet– stop even putting in the time on the PTS crafting items for you to try out. You’re welcome.
/end rant.
Inquisitor's Roadhouse 
/signed.
I’m not a huge crafter, but I HATE when people in either game (and I’m sure in any game) get angry about goods and services being sold at a price. Time and effort is spent to provide that item or that service, and it’s worth payment.
Here’s my stance: if you don’t like the price it’s being sold for, you have the option to a) farm or buy the mats yourself and have the items made for you, or b) create your own crafter in that profession.
The crafter took the time to level that profession, to either train, hunt down, discover, or buy the item being created, and buy or farm the mats themselves. THAT IS WORTH SOMETHING.
Exactly! Thank you.
I mean, I know I sometimes personally get a little annoyed at the prices–but not at the crafters or the fact that they are that price. Just the fact that I can’t afford them. Though, I do wish they would, at least maybe for the first two days of the PTS, lower prices and/or requirements so more people can test them right away.
I had been putting them up for 100k on day 1, and watched others buy them and relist at 3x, and they sold quickly, hence my upping the price a bit (and to fund my crafting research given how expensive everything was on the PTS.) When I logged in one day one and had only 20k to my name, I was sunk from an ability to test crafting perspective. It took me a few days to build up enough to do so.
And for anyone wondering why I had so few credits? Well, someone didn’t transfer her bank alt’s money to her main prior to her being copied t the PTS. Derp.
This post made me think two things:
1. Holy cow, the PTS is serious business.
2. Uh… If they’re selling at 250, that’s their current value. Right? I mean, if they sat around for three weeks while you got undercut like woah, I could see this person’s point regarding selling them for less, but that doesn’t really seem like the case. And, um, it’s your choice to sell for whatever you deem appropriate. (Ditto what Ambermist said)
1b. Serious business, y’all.
Thank you for the validation! If I am selling them within a few minutes every time I put them up, then it seems like it is a reasonable charge…
And I need to give shout outs to Vilexica and Rancidious who have chatted w/me on the PTS about crafting and helped out with my crafting research. You guys ROCK! Ty!
Ick, I admire your dedication to crafting that you do it on the PTS where there’s not even anything you get to keep for all your efforts. I encounter this a little bit on the live servers, where I think I’m about the only max level Cybertech left on the planet. People routinely ask me to craft them the rank 3 speederbike from my mats and offer me 50k or less for my services. Riiiight. Just the Mandalorian Iron is worth twice that much. Either bring me the mats and pay me 50k for the service of crafting for you, or pay me the value of the mats + crafting fee and I’ll happily farm or buy them.
Someone recently asked me to do it and then disappeared before I could establish a price. I COD’d it to them for 160k, which is a hair under the GTN value (I’m not losing the GTN’s “cut” so I can undersell that a bit) and I got a RAGE FILLED mail reply in return with my rejected speeder… which I turned around and sold to someone else for 185k. 😛 Too bad so sad.
Folks who expect a crafter to use their own materials seem to often be looking for an unrealistically cheap deal. I’ll make clothes for guildies with my mats, when I have them in hand. But for people I’ve never met before who are soliciting me? Not going to happen! They could at least go to the GTN and purchase materials then negotiate a crafting fee…funny how the games may change but this aspect of crafting seems to stay the same…
The way I usually explain to these idiots that “time is money, friends” is to give them a rough estimate of what my time would be worth if I were not crafting or gathering for their lousy items. How much would I make in an hour of dailies? Including selling my grays and BOE’s… well that sometimes shuts them up. Occasionally.
It’s pretty amusing how the value of the crafter’s time and efforts is so rarely taken into account, by people who are constantly complaining about *their* valuable time and money!
Its really amazing how one bit of nastiness can become a black hole of fun, particularly if bystanders just sit silent.
You totally and completely rock for testing out crafting on the PTS. It takes a ton of time and credits and dedication to do it, and most players really appreciate that effort. I’m absolutely certain that the absurd little hecklers are vastly outnumbered by others who are really happy to see someone so dedicated to crafting.
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