Okay, and now try getting it to a point you can use it end-game. Get that baby up to Mk XII, at least Very Rare.
Try that, and report back. Let me know how long it takes with all the time gates. Let me know how much dil you wasted, how many hard-to-get mats you used to craft the upgrades, oh and don't forget the time gates on crafting the upgrades, too! Then let me know how one single item does any good at all for ALL of that wasted resources, when everything comes at Mk XII Very Rare as standard these days. You've wasted a TRIBBLE-ton of valuable resources to get.... where? To get back to par?
Then try to get that Mk XII Very Rare to anything higher. You know, a net gain? Do that. Then report how long it took, how much resources that took.
.... then do it 20 more times because that's just ONE item on your entire ship full of equipment ...
Why do you even go so obsessively after special mod combinations?
Before the Crafting system or the Upgrade system, you could pick from a selected list of items available for Dilithium, or hope for a random drop (or the Exchange).
The important thing was to get good mark and good grade items. Sure, [DMG] is not as good as [CritD], but it beats having nothing.
I use the crafting sytem and the upgrade system and it works just fine. But I don't obsess over getting to GOld or the 3-4 special mods that I really, really, want.
At least not on a general basis.
The problem isn't the crafting system. The rpoblem is that different mods are seen as different useful in general. It is not like you pick [DMG] for one type of build and [CritD] for another type of build. That is the real problem the game has. Because if that was the case, and every mod and every mod combination could have some justification, then getting the "wrong" mod just means you got something another player is looking for, and you can use the Exchange. If you two are not outliers in interest, you are very likely to fetch as much money as it will cost you to get the stuff you actually wanted. Everyone wins.
Of course, it's already almost like that - you can sell the "TRIBBLE" on the exchange, it will just not be highly sought after and fetch a lower price for someone working on a "low budget" build - and so you will likely need some extra money to afford the really good stuff.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
I created a toon somewhat recently and I decided to craft weapons and consoles for that toon. Consoles are basically easy, it is just craft the consoles I want and "boom", instant very rare Mk II TRIBBLE. Weapons were a bit tricky since I was basically trying to craft weapons with [CrtD]x2 [CrtH]. I got energy weapons I wanted rather quickly, but I can't say the same for photon torpedoes for which I just decided to use the best ones I crafted. MK II Torpedoes with [CrtD]x2 [CrtH] were a lot more expensive on the Exchange than I was willing to pay.
Because the energy weapons I crafted had the basic mods I wanted for end game and I would be using the consoles for end game as well applied superior tech upgrades to them in the hopes that they would turn into ultra rare gear. And since they will increase in Mk level, I don't really need to worry about searching for new weapons, except for photon torpedoes which I simply bought the cheapest ones I can find that were appropriate for my rank.
Sadly of all the gear I crafted only one tactical console became ultra rare after using a single superior tech upgrade; everything else remained very rare. Weapons were Mk VII and consoles were Mk IX. I continued to all the gear until I reached level 50 at which point I replaced the weapons with cheap green Mk XII versions for the moment.
Overall, I would have to say that crafting Mk II space gear and using superior tech upgrades is pretty cost effective to gear up a new toon. But it is sad that only one console has made it to ultra rare and is the only one worth upgrading with more superior tech. The other consoles will get dumped when new very rare Mk II versions are upgraded to ultra rare.
Comments
Why do you even go so obsessively after special mod combinations?
Before the Crafting system or the Upgrade system, you could pick from a selected list of items available for Dilithium, or hope for a random drop (or the Exchange).
The important thing was to get good mark and good grade items. Sure, [DMG] is not as good as [CritD], but it beats having nothing.
I use the crafting sytem and the upgrade system and it works just fine. But I don't obsess over getting to GOld or the 3-4 special mods that I really, really, want.
At least not on a general basis.
The problem isn't the crafting system. The rpoblem is that different mods are seen as different useful in general. It is not like you pick [DMG] for one type of build and [CritD] for another type of build. That is the real problem the game has. Because if that was the case, and every mod and every mod combination could have some justification, then getting the "wrong" mod just means you got something another player is looking for, and you can use the Exchange. If you two are not outliers in interest, you are very likely to fetch as much money as it will cost you to get the stuff you actually wanted. Everyone wins.
Of course, it's already almost like that - you can sell the "TRIBBLE" on the exchange, it will just not be highly sought after and fetch a lower price for someone working on a "low budget" build - and so you will likely need some extra money to afford the really good stuff.
Because the energy weapons I crafted had the basic mods I wanted for end game and I would be using the consoles for end game as well applied superior tech upgrades to them in the hopes that they would turn into ultra rare gear. And since they will increase in Mk level, I don't really need to worry about searching for new weapons, except for photon torpedoes which I simply bought the cheapest ones I can find that were appropriate for my rank.
Sadly of all the gear I crafted only one tactical console became ultra rare after using a single superior tech upgrade; everything else remained very rare. Weapons were Mk VII and consoles were Mk IX. I continued to all the gear until I reached level 50 at which point I replaced the weapons with cheap green Mk XII versions for the moment.
Overall, I would have to say that crafting Mk II space gear and using superior tech upgrades is pretty cost effective to gear up a new toon. But it is sad that only one console has made it to ultra rare and is the only one worth upgrading with more superior tech. The other consoles will get dumped when new very rare Mk II versions are upgraded to ultra rare.