As those of you following along at home may know, I was first on Juyo, which was merged – I mean totally optional transferred – to Canderous Ordo.  I was pretty stoked about an increased population because I’d be able to more easily buy and sell goods with a larger customer/seller base AND the combination of imp and rep side markets.  It was a huge benefit to my quest to get all the schematics.¹  However, I was the opposite of stoked about the degree to which the population was increased.  If you remember, at the time, I said it was pretty damn overcrowded and impersonal.

I was won over to the larger population when, not only was I able to find the schematics I needed, but my crafting became a means for me to support my repair bills and other needs so that I didn’t have to do things that I did not prefer for cash (dailies).  Once I stopped needing commendations, I could legitimately quit doing dailies and focus on crafting for cash.

It helped that I had been diligent (obsessive) about recipe collecting fairly early, so I was able to make items that other people simply COULD NOT – at least not yet.  I priced them reasonably, and they sold like hotcakes.  Or flatcakes, as one would say in space.

I have no earthly clue why, but the market that was bustling to buy orange belts, bracers, gloves, and boots, totally dried up when we were merged – I mean consolidated – into Jedi Covenant.  You would think that with an even larger playerbase, the economy would be better, but it doesn’t seem to be.  I’ve stopped selling crafted goods as much because the prices do cover the cost of mats and then some, but don’t come close to covering the pain-in-the-ass factor of crafting, listing, and relisting.  I have started resorting to other methods of making money – for example: selling off excess materials or farming companion gifts to sell on the GTN.

Now that the cartel market is here, with its new shinies for fashion, I don’t really have a prayer of selling crafted goods.  I admit that I am as taken in by the fashion of the cartel market so that even I want to wear all its fun stuff and not crafted gear.  My main’s current outfit (not counting weapons) contains 2 cartel pieces, 1 space token piece, 1 legacy piece, 2 armormech pieces and 1 synthweaving piece.  I should be wearing more crafted items for CRAFTER PRIDE, but hot damn, the cartel items are sexy and allow us to do what I’ve been wanting forever – wear imp fashion.

I want fashion crafting to become more relevant again, but I’m afraid of how it might be implemented given the prominence of the cartel market.  I don’t want to pay real money to buy recipes so I can make in-game items for myself, guildies, or cash.  I don’t want recipes in the cartel packs because holy crap, that would be excessively expensive on the GTN, or I would have to spend real money, not get what I want, and swear a lot.  I don’t want cartel to have anything to do with any new fashion schematics we might get.  As Skadge would say, just hand em over.

But my favorite thing about the fashion isn’t doing GTN sales.  Those could drop off a cliff.  What I have always liked, from my SWG days, is to actually have the specialized knowledge to help someone out.  If a guildie wants “a belt that doesn’t clip with my butt” or “shoes that will colormatch with blah” I can usually find it, even if it’s something that isn’t crafted.  I miss the boutique nature of SWG custom orders and I practically smother anyone who comes to me with a request for an outfit because I CAN DO THIS.  However, here’s the problem with custom orders in SWTOR – things are not crafted instantly.  Sure, I can queue them up, but then I have to do some serious out-of-game bookkeeping to track what I’m sending to whom and for how much.  It’s not like I can pre-make things that people are likely to want (like selling hilts) because I have no effing clue which of my…. 400+ recipes the person is going to want.  This slow crafting, which I usually don’t mind, is a severe disincentive to doing fashion custom orders.

Fortunately, I should be done with houseguests soon and will be raiding again, which will once again shift my focus away from my crafting woes.  Since, right now, I’m only logging on to craft, and it’s very woeful indeed!