SWTips: Crew Skills

Before we get too far into the actual post, I wanted to address the content of this blog. Up to this point, Psynister’s Notebook has been almost entirely about World of Warcraft. I made a few exceptions for personal posts and a couple of Rift reviews here and there, but otherwise it’s all WoW all the time.

That’s going to change.

I have found that I very much enjoy playing Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR), and with in its current state WoW isn’t exactly thrilling me. I haven’t given up on WoW entirely, but I’m not too far off. If you’re only a WoW player and have no interest at all in seeing posts about other games, then you’re not going to be happy with me for the next few months. There’s a good chance that I’m not going to put any serious play time into WoW until Mists of Pandaria, which means you aren’t likely to see me blogging about WoW until then either (unless they release new heirlooms, ’cause I’m a sucker for heirlooms).

To express my official position, I don’t have anything at all against WoW right now. I might not love everything about every aspect of the game, but it’s done nothing but treat me well since the day I rolled my first toon. Personally, I just don’t feel a lot of drive to play WoW right now. I have fun doing a lot of things there still, I’m just finding more fun with another game at the moment.

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Now, back to SWTOR and on to Crew Skills.

Crew Skills are to SWTOR what Professions are to WoW. You’ll see me refer to them often as professions rather than crew skills because I’m still trying to make that mental switch in my head. Just know that when I’m using either of those words/phrases I’m referring to Crew Skills.

Crew Skills are SWTOR’s version of professions, and for the most part I love them. You, as the player, select three Crew Skills that your Companions will have access to. You get three, and only three. Of those three, only one of them can be a Crafting skill (you don’t have to have a crafting skill, you just can’t have more than one on the same character).

Crafting Skills: Armortech, Armstech, Artifice, Biochem, Cybertech and Synthweaving.

These professions all craft gear, consumables, and/or item mods. You can only have one of these per character. You don’t actually craft anything yourself, your companions do all of the crafting for you. You can never do your own crew skill crafting, no matter what your character level or crew skill level happens to be. If you want to craft something, you have to have companions available to craft it for you.

While crafting, each companion can have a crafting queue of up to 5 items at a time. The number of companions you can have crafting for you is based on your level and how many companions you currently have access to. You can only have 2 companions actively “deployed” at a time until level 25. Deployed means they are either crafting or running Mission quests for you, the one you have running around with you doesn’t count as being deployed. At level 25 you can send out your third, and I don’t have any characters high enough to deploy a fourth yet so I can’t confirm for certain when that slot opens up just yet. [Update: I’ve been informed via twitter than level 41 is required to deploy your forth companion.]

Gathering/Mission Skills: Archaeology, Bioanalysis, Scavenging, Slicing.

These professions are all used to gather items while you’re out questing, and they can be used as mission skills to get specific types of items. Both you and your companions can gather nodes while you’re out in the world(s), but only your companions can go on the Mission quest portion. With the exception of Slicing, these professions all give you the basic materials required by the crafting professions. I’ve heard that during beta they restricted you to a maximum of 2 gathering professions as well, but my main has Archaeology, Scavenging, and Slicing so I know that is not correct in live.

Concerning the Mission portion of this skills, refer to the last paragraph of the Crafting section up above to see the limitations of how many companions you can have actively doing missions for you at one time.

Mission-Only Skills: Diplomacy, Investigation, Treasure Hunting and Underworld Trading.

These crew skills, to my knowledge, do not have any nodes that you can gather from, and instead require Mission quests to level. These crew skills are required if you want to be able to make Blue or Purple quality gear with your crafting professions as they are the only reliable method of obtaining the rare materials required to craft them.

That last sentence isn’t entirely correct since you can get the crafting mats you need for blue+ items from buying them off of the Global Trade Network (GTN), which is SWTOR’s version of an auction house. If you want to be self-reliant though, you’ll need to pick up a mission skill.

Refer to the last paragraph of the Crafting section up above to see the limitations on how many companions you can have actively doing missions for you at one time.

To get a visual idea of when each class gets their companions, I refer to you the chart below (click to enlarge of course) given to me by the infamous @Suzushiiro of Big Crits.

In order to help you navigate this beast of a post, you’ll find links like the following to help you bounce around as needed.

CRAFING SKILLS	GATHERING SKILLS	MISSION SKILLS
Armormech	Archaeology	Diplomacy
Armstech	Bioanalysis	Investigation
Artifice	Scavenging	Treasure Hunting
Biochem	Slicing	Underworld Trading
Cybertech
Synthweaving

Perceptions of Crew Skills
A lot of players right now feel that leveling a crafting profession is a waste of time because the gear you craft doesn’t compare to what you can easily obtain at level 50. There is some validity to this, though how important it is depends on who you’re asking. Everyone has their own opinion about what professions should or shouldn’t do, and everyone is entitled to their opinion.

The professions causing the most problem in this area are Armormech, Armstech, and Synthweaving. There’s not quite so much of a stir about the ones that craft mods since they’re good for leveling, but there’s still some concern there since most of what you can craft is outmatched by mods you can purchase from commendation vendors in the area you’re questing in. Some people like to mod their gear while others do not, so again it comes down to personal preference (at least to some degree).

Personally, I’m more interested in how my professions can help me throughout the leveling process than I am about what they do for me at end game. I don’t expect a profession to give me better gear than I can get from actually playing the game, though I would certainly hope that I could craft a set of starter gear to help me get to the end game. What I do expect from my professions is that they allow me to make gear upgrades for multiple characters, and for that I think they’ve done a great job on the majority of them. I’m not thrilled with Armormech or Synthweaving, and Armstech isn’t too far behind those, but otherwise I like where we stand overall considering the game was just released.

I also like for my professions to provide income, and I’ve got mixed feelings on that. I think right now the Global Trade Network (the auction house) has a horrible interface and I really don’t like using it. Buying things is a pain, and selling things can be a nightmare (especially if you’re trying to sell several stacks of mats that you want broken down into smaller sizes). Since I’m not willing to spend a great deal of time at the GTN in order to sell all of my goods, my primary source of income is the Slicing skill.

Slicing got a recent nerf that made the Mission portion of the profession much more hit and miss and slimmed down the profit margins of the top 2-3 tiers worth of missions. However, they also increased the amount of credits you got from the gathering portion of this crew skill by almost 100%. While it’s not quite as easy to get a lot of credits at low level as it was prior to that nerf, this still gives us an option for earning a steady amount of credits while leveling without having to go through the potential hassles of playing the auction house.

Matching Crew Skills to Class Choice
Typically, people like to choose the professions that match their character class or the concept of their character. You’ll often see tanks who like to build their own armor for example, or altoholics who like professions that can benefit all classes like one that makes potions or enchants gear to make it better, or you may find a PvP oriented character who goes for the profession that offers him the most versatile or surprising options.

What you don’t often see is people taking professions that completely conflict with their character, such as a WoW Paladin having Tailoring back before they gave professions bonuses that impacted game play (I did that). That’s the basis for this section of the post; which classes match which crew skills the best.

[Index]
Armormech (Crafting)
Linked Gathering Skill: Scavenging
Linked Mission Skill: Underworld Trading
Primary Classes: Trooper, Smuggler, Bounty Hunter, Imperial Agent
Mods Produced: None

Armormechs make Medium and Heavy armor for the tech-based classes (those that use Aim and Cunning). The only benefit you get from this as a Force using class is being able to make gear for your non-Force Companions. Armormechs do not make any type of mods for gear, though they can make gear that can be modded. In that way Armormech can be utilized by Force using classes to make the blank armor and then fill the slots with applicable mods, but this type of armor is the exception rather than the norm.

There’s not a whole lot more that can be said about this profession. You build armor for tech users and that’s about it.

[Index]
Armstech (Crafting)
Linked Gathering Skill: Scavenging
Linked Mission Skill: Investigation
Primary Classes: Trooper, Smuggler, Bounty Hunter, Imperial Agent
Mods Produced: Barrels (Tech classes only)

Armstechs make all form of blaster-style weapons and Barrel mods for them. Force classes do not use blaster weapons and Barrels work only in blasters. That being the case, this definitely isn’t your optimum choice if you’re not playing one of the classes listed above. As with Armormech, the only benefit you get form this as a Force user is being able to make weapons for your non-Force companions.

While Armstech does build Barrel Mods, that mod slot is only used by Tech classes (or Tech companions).

[Index]
Artifice (Crafting)
Linked Gathering Skill: Archaeology
Linked Mission Skill: Treasure Hunting
Primary Classes: All
Mods Produced: Color Crystals (all classes), Enhancement (all classes), Hilts (Force classes only)

This one skill is the reason why I decided to write this post in the first place. Literally every guide I’ve seen written regarding crew skills lists this as being a Force class profession and that it builds “lightsaber color crystals”. Let me fix their faulty information for you right now.

The Artifice crew skill makes 4 things: Color Crystals, Hilts, Generator/Focus, and Enhancement mods.

Of those four things, three of them are used by every class in the game. The only Force-specific items that they build are Hilt mods. Unlike Armormech and Armstech where there’s virtually no reason for a Force-user to take them, the presence of Hilts is in no way a reason for Tech classes to avoid this profession.

Color Crystals are used in both Lightsabers and all forms of Blaster weapons, meaning they’re great for every class in the game. Hilt mods are only used by Force classes which does restrict their usefulness a bit. Generators and Focuses are used by all classes as well. Enhancement mods are also used by every class, and are used in both weapons as well as armor making them one of the more versatile mods out there.

[Index]
Biochem (Crafting)
Linked Gathering Skill: Bioanalysis
Linked Mission Skill: Diplomacy
Primary Classes: All
Mods Produced: None

If you were to relate Biochem to World of Warcraft, you’d end up with a mix of Alchemy and Inscription. Overall Biochem is tied with Cybertech as the single most versatile crafting profession in the game. Biochem makes Stims (similar to Scrolls, Battle/Guardian Elixers, or Flasks in WoW), Adrenals (similar to short-term buff potions in WoW), Medpacs (similar to health potions in WoW), and Implants (roughly equivalent to the Relic slot in WoW).

Biochem is a great fit for every class since everything it can build can be tailored to your class, your companions, and your situation. If you rely on a companion for soloing but your companion is always dying and you have no means to heal them, Biochem gives you medpacs that heal both you and your companion. If you like buffing yourself with Stims but hate how many credits you waste because the effect wears off when you die and you need to apply another one, Biochem has you covered with reusable stims.

From my experience with Biochem (my first profession), I wouldn’t hesitate to say it’s the best crew skill to take for the solo leveler. It isn’t going to make you rich by any means, and it’s quite capable of making you broke if you’re going to chase down every schematic out there, but it’s also going to give you more lasting benefits and more survivability than any other profession. With reusable medpacs providing heals every minute, stims that persist through death, medpacs that heal both you and your companion and apply an additional heal over time effect for you both – it’s just hard to beat this for the solo player.

Biochem also has another neat little feature that most other crafting professions do not, which is that the majority of the items you make are able to stack. That’s not just good for saving your inventory space though. Another benefit of stacking is that you can Reverse Engineer an entire stack with a single click. This makes getting new patterns faster and easier as you can craft stacks of 3, 5, 7, 10, etc and then RE the whole thing to get the full amount of mats back and an equal number of chances to roll for that new pattern.

[Index]
Cybertech (Crafting)
Linked Gathering Skill: Scavenging
Linked Mission Skill: Underworld Trading
Primary Classes: All
Mods Produced: Armoring (all classes), Mod (all classes)

Cybertech is the odd duck of the crafting world, similar to Engineering in WoW. It’s useful for all classes and offers the pieces of gear that don’t necessarily fit into the other crafting categories such as Droid armor, Earpieces, Starship equipment, and explosives.

Cybertech is the sole source of craftable Armoring mods as well as Mod mods (I really wish they would have called Mods something else, like Modular, so we didn’t have mod-mods). Both of these mods are used by every class.

The explosives are similar to the explosives from WoW’s Engineering profession. All of them have a secondary ability (I believe) so that in addition to dealing AoE damage you’ll also Stun, Slow, Root, or apply a Fire damage over time effect to those within the blast radius. Explosives are great for leveling any class whether you’re using them for the added damage or for their crowd control effects, and with SWTOR’s enemy NPC’s almost always being in groups of 2-5, having AoE damage on demand is pretty nice.

[Index]
Synthweaving (Crafting)
Linked Gathering Skill: Archaeology
Linked Mission Skill: Underworld Trading
Primary Classes: Jedi Consular, Jedi Knight, Sith Inquisitor, Sith Warrior
Mods Produced: None

Synthweaving is the Force users’ version of Armormech. You make gear with Willpower and Strength which are used by Force classes and that’s about it. Synthweaving does not make any type of mods, though it does make gear that can accept mods.

As with Armormech, I would not suggest using this skill on a class that cannot directly benefit from it, though there’s certainly nothing wrong being a Tech Synthweaver if that’s what you’re really into. Synthweaving is SWTOR’s Tailoring except that it can’t increase your inventory with bigger bags, nor does it provide any direct benefit to non-Force users save crafting gear for the odd companion.

Gathering Crew Skill Special Notes
For the most part, gathering professions are pretty straight forward. While you’re running around the world you’ll come across gathering nodes that allow you or your companion to gather items related to your chosen skills. You also have the option of sending your companions on mission quests that will both increase your skill and give you varying amounts of materials.

When you’re killing monsters or NPC’s out in the various worlds and you see one with an icon of some type beside their name, there’s likely a chance that you can also farm the mob with a relevant gathering skill after the corpse has been looted (unless it’s a humanoid). For example, most Droids can be farmed with Scavenging and most beasts can be farmed with Bioanalysis. I haven’t found a farmable enemy that gives Archaeology nodes when you kill them, but I would be surprised if they don’t exist somewhere. I haven’t seen a Slicing node mob yet either, though I don’t expect them to exist with the nature of Slicing.

[Index]
Archaeology (Gathering)
Linked Crafting Skills: Artifice and Synthweaving

Archaeology is useful for gathering Color Crystals, Artifact Fragments, and Power Crystals. Of those three materials color crystals are used only by Artificers, where artifact fragments and power crystals are used by both Artificers and Synthweavers.

When doing Mission quests with Archaeology you can also find each tier’s vendor material. Each tier of crafting has at least one white quality item that you can purchase form a vendor and will be used in at least some of the patterns for your skill range. Running missions for these vendor items saves you an average of 10% credit cost compared to just purchasing them from a vendor. If you have companions with +Critical to the this skill then you can occasionally proc additional mats and save significantly more credits.

[Index]
Bioanalysis (Gathering)
Linked Crafting Skill: Biochem

Bioanalysis is somewhat unique because it’s the only gathering profession that has only one crafting profession that utilizes it (Biochem). Gathering nodes will yield all kinds of biochemical samples and compounds used to craft biochemical items; all of which are used in Biochem. You will often find the corpses of beasts that you kill allow you to use Bioanalysis on their corpses after you loot them.

When doing Mission quests with Bioanalysis you can also find each tier’s vendor material. Each tier of crafting has at least one white quality item that you can purchase form a vendor and will be used in at least some of the patterns for your skill range. Running missions for these vendor items saves you an average of 10% credit cost compared to just purchasing them from a vendor. If you have companions with +Critical to the this skill then you can occasionally proc additional mats and save significantly more credits.

[Index]
Scavenging (Gathering)
Linked Crafting Skills: Armormech, Armstech, Cybertech

Scavenging is the most widely used gathering skill of them all as it has three crafting professions that it feeds (see above). Gathering nodes appear around the worlds and your primary source of kill farming comes in the form of Droid “corpses”.

When doing Mission quests with Scavenging you can also find each tier’s vendor material. Each tier of crafting has at least one white quality item that you can purchase form a vendor and will be used in at least some of the patterns for your skill range. Running missions for these vendor items saves you an average of 10% credit cost compared to just purchasing them from a vendor. If you have companions with +Critical to the this skill then you can occasionally proc additional mats and save significantly more credits.

[Index]
Slicing (Gathering)
Linked Crafting Skills: None

Slicing is the king of odd ducks in the gathering world because it has no related crafting or mission skills at all (except itself). Slicing allows you to farm various lockboxes while you’re out in the world, which will contain credits.

Another thing that sets Slicing apart from the other gathering skills is that it has the chance to proc additional goodies when you’re farming nodes or doing Slicing missions. Slicing procs include special Mission quests for every gathering/mission crew skill (including itself) which take significantly more time but also return significantly higher or larger quantity rewards, Cybertech crafting schematics for Ship items and vehicles, and additional lockboxes with even more credits. You can get multiple procs for each mission/gather as well. The best I’ve gotten so far is the base lockbox that gave me 140% profit above the cost of the mission itself along with two purple mission quests.

And in case Slicing wasn’t already unique enough for you, it also has a unique Mission reward. Slicing missions come in two varieties: lockboxes and augments. Lockboxes work just like the gathering version I just described in the paragraph above. Augments are a special type of item mod that comes only from Slicing (and quest rewards and such). Augment slots often appear in crafted gear that, when made, is made critically so that it comes out as an Exceptional version of the item which will have all of the same stats but include an Augment mod slot as well. I believe there are some higher level pieces of gear that come with Augment slots already, but for leveling I think only the Exceptional crafted pieces will have the slot.

Mission Crew Skill Special Notes
Mission skills are an interesting addition to the professions world to me, as someone who has MMO experience only in WoW. Mission skills require you to send your companions away for a period of time to complete a quest that gives you certain rewards. There are no nodes for you to gather from and no other way to level these than sending your companions off and burning the credits it costs to do so.

Mission Skills are the only means (other than the Global Trade Network) of obtaining blue and purple quality crafting mats which are required to craft all non-green patterns for the crafting professions. If you want to be able to craft everything with your crafting skills you MUST have the linked mission skill unless you’re willing to spend the credits buying them off of the GTN; there’s no other way around it.

If you’re just starting out, be careful about sending your companions out on too many mission skills as it’s very easy to find yourself nearing level 25 about to buy your first mount (40,000 credits) only to find you only have 4,000 credits to your name. I made that mistake on my first character with Biochem/Bioanalysis/Diplomacy as I was crafting like a fiend right up until I found myself broke as a joke.

NOTE: ALL mission skills give you an option to farm Companion Gifts. I’m going to say that here and now so that I don’t have to bother repeating myself on every listing below.

[Index]
Diplomacy (Mission)
Linked Crafting Skills: Biochem

Diplomacy is a really cool mission skill because it offers you something beyond just simple mats and companion gifts. Each Diplomacy mission also comes with a Light or Dark rating and running that mission will result in you gaining those Light/Dark points. If you’re really looking to maximize your Light/Dark standing in game then this is your ticket.

Diplomacy missions typically return either Companion Gifts or Medical Samples which are used in high quality Biochem recipes. Diplomacy can also proc the occasional Synthweaving Schematic from what I’ve read, though I never saw that in my own experience and I’m not currently playing any of my Diplomacy alts to test that for you.

[Index]
Investigation (Mission)
Linked Crafting Skills: Armstech

Investigation is the mission skill of the Armstech world, allowing you to research new and improved ways of shooting things in the face. It’s considered to be the Tech user’s mission skill because it ties well into the Armstech and Armormech crafting skills by providing mats and/or schematics for the two.

Investigation missions allow you to find rare metals used in Armstech, and occasionally you will also find schematics for Armormech, Armstech, and Synthweaving.

[Index]
Treasure Hunting (Mission)
Linked Crafting Skills: Artifice and Synthweaving

Treasure Hunting is the Force user’s version of Investigation, and provides the rare mats required for blue+ schematics in Artifice and Synthweaving.

Treasure Hunting missions also have a chance to proc schematics for Armstech, Cybertech, and Artifice.

[Index]
Underworld Trading (Mission)
Linked Crafting Skills: Armormech and Cybertech

Underworld Trading is the Chex Mix™ of mission skills. While it only provides materials for Armormech and Cybertech, the missions skills have a chance to proc schematics for every crafting profession in the game.

If you want to make money by selling schematics on the GTN, then this is one of your best options because it has such a large array of schematics to pull from. It’s also the only way to get additional Biochem schematics outside of vendor training and reverse engineering.

Companion Efficiency and Critical Bonuses
The section above goes over which crew skills match up with which classes from the standpoint of who will use what that skill is capable of making. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that those classes will be the best ones at using those skills. So in this section we’re going to look at optimizing your skills based on which companions are available to each class.

I know some of you out there don’t really care how a profession relates to a character, you just want access to a certain profession and you happen to have a character to stick it on so away you go. If you don’t care that our Force user can only build Tech items as long as you get some kind of bonus for doing so as that Force user, then this is where you find out what your best options are.

The following values are brought to you by the swtor-spy.com companions database with the assumption that “Research” actually refers to Investigation.

Efficiency Bonus by Crew Skill		Crit Bonus by Crew Skill
Bonuses By Class
Bounty Hunter	Imperial Agent	Sith Inquisitor	Sith Warrior
Jedi Consular	Jedi Knight	Smuggler	Trooper

[Index]
Efficiency Bonus By Crew Skill (Reduced Crafting/Mission Time)
Archaeology: Consular +15, Smuggler +10, Knight +10, Warrior +5
Armormech: Bounty Hunter +15, Smuggler +10
Armstech: Trooper +10, Knight +10, Warrior +10, Agent +10
Artifice: Inquisitor +15, Knight +10
Bioanalysis: Trooper +10, Knight +10, Inquisitor +10, Agent +5
Biochem: Agent +15, Trooper +10, Consular +5
Cybertech: Smuggler +10, Warrior +10, Agent +10, Consular +10, Trooper +5, Bounty Hunter +5
Diplomacy: Smuggler +15, Warrior +10, Consular +10, Inquisitor +10
Investigation: Consular +15, Agent +10, Trooper +10, Bounty Hunter +10, Inquisitor +5
Scavenging: Agent +10, Knight +10, Smuggler +10, Bounty Hunter +10, Warrior +10
Slicing: Bounty Hunter +15, Trooper +10, Consular +10
Synthweaving: Consular +10, Inquisitor +10
Treasure Hunting: Inquisitor +5
Underworld Trading: Smuggler +10, Bounty Hunter +10, Knight +5, Smuggler +5, Warrior +5

[Index]
Critical Bonus By Crew Skill (Chance to proc extra quantity or higher quality)
Archaeology: Inquisitor +5
Armormech: Trooper +5, Agent +2
Armstech: Smuggler +5, Consular +2, Bounty Hunter +1
Artifice:
Bioanalysis: Smuggler +2, Bounty Hunter +2, Warrior +2
Biochem: Knight +5, Bounty Hunter +2
Cybertech:
Diplomacy: Agent +5, Trooper +2, Consular +2
Investigation: Warrior +2
Scavenging: Trooper +5, Consular +2, Inquisitor +2
Slicing: Knight +2, Agent +2, Inquisitor +2, Smuggler +1
Synthweaving: Warrior +5, Knight +5
Treasure Hunting: Warrior +5, Smuggler +2, Bounty Hunter +2, Knight +1
Underworld Trading: Agent +2, Inquisitor +2, Consular +1, Trooper +1

By Class
Each of the following listings is grouped by bonuses that belong together if you’re considering going with the full Crafting + Gathering + Mission lineup. As such you’ll see a full listing of available bonuses, but if there’s a bonus to Scavenging for example and they have a bonus to two or more crafting skills that use Scavenging then you will see the bonus to Scavenging listed multiple times.

[Index]
Bounty Hunter:
+15 Armormech Efficiency
+10 Scavenging Efficiency
+10 Underworld Trading Efficiency
—
+1 Armstech Efficiency
+10 Scavenging Efficiency
+10 Investigation Efficiency
—
+2 Treasure Hunting Crit
—
+2 Biochem Crit
+2 Bioanalysis Crit
—
+5 Cybertech Efficiency
+10 Scavenging Efficiency
+10 Underworld Trading Efficiency
—
+10 Underworld Trading Efficiency
—
+15 Slicing Efficiency

So if you’re looking to maximize your potential crew skills with a Bounty Hunter you’re best options are Armormech (efficiency bonuses all around), Armstech (efficiency bonuses all around), or Cybertech (efficiency bonuses all around). You have solid bonuses for Biochem as well.

[Index]
Imperial Agent:
+2 Armormech Crit
+10 Scavenging Efficiency
+10 Investigation Efficiency
—
+10 Armstech Efficiency
+10 Scavenging Efficiency
+2 Underworld Trading Crit
—
—
+15 Biochem Efficiency
+5 Bioanalysis Efficiency
+5 Diplomacy Crit
—
+10 Cybertech Efficiency
+10 Scavenging Efficiency
+2 Underworld Trading Crit
—
+2 Underworld Trading Crit
—
+2 Slicing Crit

The Imperial Agent is one of the most well rounded classes in terms of bonuses. From a maximization standpoint you should go with Armormech (crit crafting and efficient gathers), Armstech (efficient craft/gather with a crit to your rare mats mission skill), Biochem (efficient craft/gather with crit to rare mats missions), or Cybertech (also with efficient craft/gather and a crit mission for rare mats).

[Index]
Jedi Consular:
+2 Scavenging Crit
+1 Underworld Trading Crit
—
+2 Armstech Crit
+2 Scavenging Crit
+15 Investigation Efficiency
—
+15 Archaeology Efficiency
—
+5 Biochem Efficiency
+2 Diplomacy Crit
—
+10 Cybertech Efficiency
+2 Scavenging Crit
+1 Underworld Trading Crit
—
+10 Synthweaving Efficiency
+15 Archaeology Efficiency
+1 Underworld Trading Crit
—
+10 Slicing Efficiency

Jedi Consulars have a decent grouping of bonuses that allow for flexibility. If you’re looking to maximize then you’ll want to choose Armstech (crafting/gathering crit for higher quality and larger quantity with mission efficiency), Cybertech (crafting efficiency and gathering/mission critical for extra materials), or Synthweaving (efficient crafting/gathering with mission crit for rare mats). You also have decent bonuses to Armormech and Biochem.

[Index]
Jedi Knight:
+10 Scavenging Efficiency
+5 Underworld Trading Efficiency
—
+10 Armstech Efficiency
+10 Scavenging Efficiency
+1 Investigation Crit
—
+10 Artifice Efficiency
+10 Archaeology Efficiency
—
+5 Biochem Crit
+10 Bioanalysis Efficiency
—
+5 Synthweaving Crit
+5 Underworld Trading Efficiency
—
+2 Slicing Crit

Jedi Knights are a bit odd considering the only grouping they have full bonuses in is Armstech (craft/gather efficiency with mission crit for rare mats) which they don’t use at all themselves. However, they do have a solid bonus to Armormech, Artifice, Biochem, and Synthweaving of which all but Armormech are directly usable by the Knight.

[Index]
Sith Inquisitor:
+2 Scavenging Crit
+5 Investigation Efficiency
—
+2 Scavenging Crit
+2 Underworld Trading Crit
—
+15 Artifice Efficiency
+5 Archaeology Crit
+5 Treasure Hunting Efficiency
—
+10 Bioanalysis Efficiency
+10 Diplomacy Efficiency
—
+10 Synthweaving Efficiency
+5 Archaeology Crit
+5 Treasure Hunting Efficiency
—
+2 Slicing Crit

The Sith Inquisitor fits in right about where I would expect them to. Optimal professions are Artifice (crafting/mission efficiency and critical gathering for extra base mats) and Synthweaving (again crafting/mission efficiency and critical gathering for extra base mats). They also have a decent pairing of other crew skills allowing them some advantage as an Armormech, Armstech, or Biochem.

[Index]
Sith Warrior:
+10 Scavenging Efficiency
+5 Underworld Trading Efficiency
—
+10 Armstech Efficiency
+10 Scavenging Efficiency
+2 Investigation Crit
—
+5 Archaeology Efficiency
+5 Treasure Hunting Efficiency
—
+2 Bioanalysis Crit
+10 Diplomacy Efficiency
—
+5 Synthweaving Efficiency
+5 Archaeology Efficiency
+5 Treasure Hunting Efficiency
—
+10 Cybertech Efficiency
+10 Scavenging Efficiency
+5 Underworld Trading Efficiency

The Sith Warrior is pretty well off overall with their bonuses. Maximizing professions shows that Armstech (efficient crafting/gathering with critical mission for rare mats), Synthweaving (full efficiency bonuses), and Cybertech (full efficiencies) are your best options. If those don’t thrill you there are still solid bonuses to Armormech, Artifice, and Bioanalysis.

[Index]
Smuggler:
+10 Armormech Efficiency
+10 Scavenging Efficiency
+10 Underworld Trading Efficiency
+5 Underworld Trading Efficiency
—
+5 Armstech Crit
+10 Scavenging Efficiency
—
+2 Treasure Hunting Crit
—
+2 Bioanalysis Crit
+15 Diplomacy
—
+10 Cybertech Efficiency
+10 Scavenging Efficiency
+10 Underworld Trading Efficiency
+5 Underworld Trading Efficiency
—
+10 Underworld Trading Efficiency
+5 Underworld Trading Efficiency
—
+1 Slicing Crit

Smugglers are unique in that they have two different companions with efficiency bonuses to Underworld Trading. That doesn’t surprise me at all given the class concept, but it’s odd to see something like that which is almost tailored to the class when you look at some of the other classes and their lack of relevant bonuses.

From a maximization standpoint you definitely want to shoot for using that Underworld Trading which means Armormech (full efficiency with dual mission efficiency) or Cybertech (full efficiency with dual mission efficiency). Armstech and Bioanalysis have some decent bonuses as well, and that dual UT efficiency could help with rare mats for Synthweaving as well.

[Index]
Trooper:
+5 Armormech Crit
+5 Scavenging Crit
+1 Underworld Trading Crit
—
+10 Armstech Efficiency
+5 Scavenging Crit
+10 Investigation Efficiency
—
—
+10 Biochem Efficiency
+10 Bioanalysis Efficiency
+2 Diplomacy Crit
—
+5 Cybertech Efficiency
+5 Scavenging Crit
+1 Underworld Trading Crit
—
+1 Underworld Trading Crit
—
+10 Slicing

Troopers are another fairly well rounded class, and they fit in right about where I would expect them to on their bonuses. Optimization shows that Armormech (full crit bonuses), Armstech (crafting/mission efficiency with crit gathering for extra mats), Biochem (craft/gather efficiency with crit mission for extra rare mats), and Cybertech (efficient crafting with crit gathering/mission for extra mats).

Making the Decision That’s Right For You
When it comes to crew skills in SWTOR, or professions in any other game, remember that this choice is yours to make. You can choose whatever you want and so so for whatever reasons you want. Unlike WoW, SWTOR professions do not give specific bonuses that increase your performance stats in game, so there’s no reason to worry about a +2 Aim difference between maxed Arsmtech versus maxed Biochem because such a bonus does not exist. [Update: Had that last sentence worded as “performance” which isn’t actually true if you consider the explosives of Cybertech in terms of PvP since they can have a definitely impact on your performance there. Thanks to @aggrazel for pointing out the bad wording for me.]

If you want to be self reliant then you want to pick up three professions that match up together. In all cases that is 1 Craft + 1 Gather + 1 Mission, and in none of those cases is Slicing an option.

If you want to be able to make gear upgrades for all of your alts, then your best bet is to go for one that crafts mods. The top two mod crafting professions are Artifice (Hilts, Crystals, Enhancements) and Cybertech (Armoring and Mod mods).

If you want to maximize your earnings, then you definitely want Slicing (for the gathering aspect more so than mission runs). Crafting is very hit and miss and varies wildly from one server to another, so I won’t make any suggestions there.

If you just want to gather, then by all means grab yourself some gathering professions and go to town. Of the four gathering professions, only three of them provide materials (the fourth being Slicing). Of those three, Scavenging is the most widely used since it feeds three professions, Archaeology next feeding two professions, and Bioanalysis last feeding only one. In some cases Scavenging will be the most lucrative because it has the highest supply and demand, while in others Bioanalysis will top the charts because it has the lowest supply and lowest demand. Archaeology is the invisible underdog since it rests right in the middle, which means there will also be times that it comes out on top as people fight over the other two.

So take what you want, and do with it what you will.

As for me? Gotta catch ’em all!