Crafting is always one of my key motivators when leveling a character. I get excited about finding or training new recipes, and improving my character as a result of my crafting profession. And over my years of playing World of Warcraft, with my and my SO’s army of alts, I’ve gotten really used to having all my crafting needs covered in-house. But, since you can only pick a total of 3 skills (across Gathering, Crafting and Mission Skills) for your crew to take on, it will be quite a while before that’s the case for me in the Old Republic. Which means deciding what profession to pick up first takes on some significant weight.

The Crafting choices:

• Armormech, working with hard metals and electronic shielding to construct all types of personal armor (for non Force users)
• Armstech, constructing blasters, blaster rifles and upgrades.
• Artifice, constructing Jedi and Sith artifacts, including crystals to change your lightsaber’s color, and item enhancements.
• Biochem, engineering of performance-enhancing chemical serums and biological implants.
• Cybertech, constructing gadgets and components for Droids and high-tech armors, including earpieces and armor upgrades.
• Synthweaving, creating lighter outfits and armors that are imbued with supernatural qualities, for Force users.

The Gathering choices:

• Archaeology, the ability to seek out imbued items like Lightsaber crystals and ancient artifacts
• Bioanalysis, the practice of collecting genetic material from creatures and plants
• Scavenging, the art of recovering useful materials and parts from old or damaged technology
• Slicing, a skill in accessing secured computer systems and lockboxes to acquire valuable data and rare schematics

The Mission Skills choices:

• Diplomacy, conducting and managing negotiations
• Investigation, examining evidence and following clues to discover valuable secrets
• Treasure Hunting, recovering valuable items by investigating a series of clues
• Underworld Trading, trading in illegal goods and services

You are limited to a total of 3 Crew Skills, with only 1 allowed to be a crafting skill. For this reason, I am thinking I’ll go with Aracheology, Synthweaving and Diplomacy Underworld Trading on my Inquisitor. I always like being able to make myself (and my friends) good quality gear at max level. Both of my max level shadow priests in World of Warcraft are tailors, so I am used to the cloth grind and the money sink. Thankfully, through reverse engineering of my completed goods, anything I don’t end up wearing can be ripped apart to recover at least some of the materials it took to make it.

My SO is thinking of going with Artifice for his first crafting skill, which makes me happy. I hope to see a purple lightsaber crystal in my near future…

I’ll be participating in the BETA testing this weekend, and hope to actually have a stable enough server to get a character up to the 8-10 range so I’ll make it to a town with profession trainers to get my first hands-on look at the professions.