Leveling up in Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is one of the smoothest, most well-directed experiences available in MMO’s today, but when it comes to pursuing endgame content at level 50, it’s surprising how little direction there is for aspiring endgame raiders. Some say that any hand-holding isn’t needed, but given that SWTOR might be the first MMORPG for many players, I’ve decided to compile a handy guide for getting geared and prepared for endgame raiding.

A comment before starting is that endgame progression in Star Wars: The Old Republic is surprisingly accessible for even the most heavily time-constrained player. At some points, it does seem like BioWare has made it too easy to get the very best gear in the game, but my main point is this: even if you hate endgame raiding in other MMORPGs, I would highly advise you to try out SWTOR’s 8-person operations at least once. Both Eternity Vault and Karagga’s Palace – in spite of all their bugs – are fun and it’s worth the experience to try them out. Now let’s get on with Part I of the guide!

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Crew Skills and You:

Some of the best equipment in the game can be gained from crafting (the recipes for which can be learned directly from the crew skill trainer), and the materials for these items are surprisingly easy to get, with the Biometric Crystal Alloy being the rarest. Given that every hard mode flashpoint drops at least one Biometric Crystal Alloy (some drop two), however, you should be able to stock up on them in due time.

In terms of viability, while BioWare has stated that they intended for all crew skill professions to be good choices for endgame raiders, a few are simply better than the rest. That said, if you’re worried about taking the wrong crew skill, keep in mind that, with Reverse Engineering, it’s very easy to level up your crafting with materials from the auction house. Here are the six crew skills and their endgame viability:

Biochem: Considered by many to be the very best endgame crew skill, Biochem has been consistently nerfed since the launch of SWTOR, and it seems BioWare isn’t done nerfing it yet. You have been warned. That being said, Biochem currently offers substantial rewards to the endgame raider that no other crew skill can provide, namely in the form of reusable Medpacs, Adrenals, and Stimpacks that can only be used with level 400 Biochem. With some luck at discovering recipes, it is also possible to unlock epic-level implants with almost perfectly tailored stats (+crit, +surge, and +power, for example). With an augment slot, these implants can sometimes be even better than your Rakata level implants. You can, however, buy these implants from other players, so Biochem’s primary draw is still its powerful medpacs, adrenals, and stimpacks.

Armormech* and Synthweaving*: Considered to be parallel crew skills, with Armormech benefitting tech users (Bounty Hunters / Troopers and Imperial Spies / Smugglers) and Synthweaving benefitting force users (Sith Warriors / Jedi Knights and Sith Inquisitors / Jedi Consulars). Both crew skills give access to Rakata level bracers and belts (here are the Synthweaving variations) for all associated classes, making them a popular choice for players who want to get some top-tier equipment fast. While some players argue that you can get these items from hard mode flashpoints and operations (thereby making this crew skill redundant at advanced endgame), it is still possible to “crit” while crafting the bracers and belt, thereby giving them an augment slot and making them better than what you can get in any operation.

Artifice*: Artifice has a few unique advantages, like being able to craft Magenta Crystals if you can hunt down the schematics and raw materials. Like Biochem implants, however, you can purchase magenta crystals from other players who have the schematic, so don’t think you need to go Artifice for a pink lightsaber. The same goes for high-level enhancement mods, as doing dailies gives equivalent or better enhancements. The main reason for going Artifice is to craft Rakata level relics, which are the best relics in the game (see the pattern here?). Do note that it is possible to have a critically crafted Rakata Relic, which is the only way for you to get a relic with an augment slot in it.

Cybertech: A fun, if near useless, crew skill that doesn’t offer much for endgame raiders, but does give access to two unique items: the Hotrigged Speederbike mount, and a plethora of unique, reusable Wynz-Tek Grenades. The grenades are considered to be great PvP items, as they deal good damage while rooting, snaring, or even stunning their targets. Their long cooldown (five minutes), however, makes them pretty useless in PvE, where sustained DPS is far more important. The mods that Cybertech crafters can create are outclassed by daily rewards and hard mode flashpoint equipment, and while it’s possible to create excellent augmented ear modules, you can easily purchase them on the GTN (just like implants with Biochem).

Armstech: Currently considered the most useless of the crew skills, as more powerful barrel mods can be purchased with daily tokens on Ilum, and while the unique Armstech weapons look cool, they are quickly outclassed by weapons that drop from hard mode flashpoints. Armstech’s only unique trait is the ability to craft rare NPC weapons like Electrostaves and Vibroblades, which can be sold for a high profit on the Galactic Trade Network.

*: At the moment, Rakata level Synthweaving, Armormech, and Artifice items have no crafting level requirement to equip, even if they are bind on pickup. What this means is that if you want to fully optimize your character, you can go 400 Synthweaving / Armormech to craft augmented Rakata bracers and belts, then go 400 Artifice to craft augmented Rakata relics, then finally finish with Biochem for access to the medpacs, adrenals, and stimpacks.

Do Your Dailies: While SWTOR actively directs players to Ilum once they complete their story quest, there are also daily level 50 quests to be completed on Belsavis. Completing your daily quests rewards you with cleverly named “daily commendations,” which can then be traded for high-level barrels, hilts, and armor modifications at a rate of eight commendations per. Additionally, there are a few heroic level dailies (one on Ilum, three on Belsavis) that award high-level modification / enhancement / armor mods, all of which are on par with gear that drops from hard mode flashpoints and normal mode Eternity Vault (excluding Columi level equipment).

With six pieces of customizable gear (Helmet, Chest, Gloves, Pants, Boots, and a weapon), it’s entirely possible to have a very good set of well-modded equipment within a week of hitting 50, which is more than what’s necessary to do normal mode Eternity Vault. Once you’re done modifying your equipment through commendation purchases, you can start saving your daily commendations for Rakata level implants and ear modules, both of which cost 120 daily commendations, or you can save for the mounts, which cost a whopping 200 daily commendations.

Get Your PvP On: While many players have expressed great frustration with SWTOR’s lottery bag system, if you do manage to get Champion PvP equipment, you can rest easy knowing you’re also building a spectacular PvE set that’s almost on par with Tier 2 Columi Equipment (Centurion is the PvP equivalent of Tionese level equipment). While PvP gear is obviously not quite as good as Columi level equipment, you might be surprised to know how effective PvP gear is for jumping into endgame content. PvP equipment is, for the most part, similar in stats to PvE gear, except that the “main stats” (endurance and aim / cunning / strength / willpower) are slightly lower in PvP sets versus PvE sets.

Aside from the different set bonuses, that’s pretty much it.

In this way, unless you need that piece of Tionese gear to hit a 2-piece or 4-piece PvE set bonus, Champion-level gear is actually better than everything else until you start hitting Columi gear. Consider yourself extremely lucky if you manage to pick up a PvP Champion Weapon, as that will last you all the way to normal mode Karagga’s Palace or hard mode Eternity Vault; those being the first opportunity you’ll have to get the slightly better Columi weapon (as it has no expertise and more aim and endurance).

As a quick piece of anecdotal evidence, You can easily main tank normal mode Eternity Vault and normal mode Karagga’s Palace with half Champion / Centurion gear, and a few pieces of Columi / Tionese equipment.

Since the badges earned in the course of a warzone directly calculate into more valor, xp, credits and most importantly warzone tokens, let’s examine how to maximize those badges and top the charts.

First, most players have a tendancy to look at their overall damage done and biggest hits. I don’t know why this represents the metric people care most about, but let’s put some things into perspective. A player can get 1 badge for scoring over 2.5k damage in a single hit. Additionally, he can get another badge for doing a total of 75k damage. For those with the gear to manage it, players do recieve an additional badge at 300k total and 5k in a single hit.

2.5k single hit
75k damage
300k damage
5k single hit

So far, players stuck on doing big damage have earned 2 (exceptionally geared players 4) badges. If in the course of doing that damage the player gets a killing blow on an enemy, he gets another badge. As he continues killing, he gets another badge at 10 and 25 kills respectively. For most players, this total of 5 represents the most badges they’ll get in a match. Some however will get the coveted and extremely difficult to get assassin badge by running off into the middle of nowhere and thereby doing nothing for the sake of his team other than killing an enemy while he’s out in the middle of nowhere. Congratulations on the gold star at six badges.

1 killing blow
10 kills
25 kills
1 solo kill

Seriously though, thanks to this guide, the reader will know the way to get more than 6 badges without sticking it to his team by constantly running off into the middle of nowhere to collect his assassin badge.

First off, many players have the ability to heal but then don’t use it. It only takes a 2.5k heal to get another badge. So even those that don’t spec for healing, should try doing their large heal a few times until it crits and thereby pops a badge. For those that do spec healing, one only needs to hit 75k healing total to get the next badge. Although the game needs healers, don’t let the dps have alll the fun: try to cap a killing blow here and there. Drop some instant casts dots and spread some love around. There’s not all that much reason why a healer can’t get credit for players dying too. I pity the healer that works his butt off to keep everyone alive but then only scores 2 badges. Exceptionally well geared players can get another badge at 300k healed and 5k in a single heal.

2.5k single heal
75k healed
300k healed
5k single heal

Secondly, players that roll tank capable toons, REALLY ought to tank some. At the very least, in the course of one life, throw guard on some melee guy who’s going to get burnt down. While he dies, pop one’s damage push off cooldowns, maybe use a taunt and watch as one’s character gets a badge for 2k defense in one life, 5k defense total and then a little bit later, 10k defense in 1 life. That’s three additional badges just for helping some a teammate not die as fast as he otherwise would. For those that make a habit of guading players in need, like healers, huttball runners and that awesome dps on one’s team, expect to get another badge at 50k total defense. Coupling these tank specific badges with the killing badges above will get one easily into the 8+ badge territory.

2k defense in 1 life
10k defense in 1 life
5k total defense
50k total defense

Finally catching badges isn’t only about killing some random guys, healing some random guys or even shielding some random guys. There’s actually badges for doing something that helps the team as a whole. I’m not talking about scoring with the huttball, or capping nodes, for some reason these actions don’t count anymore (in previous beta builds they did). But for those who guard a captured node or presumably kill and heal/shield huttball runners, expect to get something called “Defender Points” (not to be confused with the previously mentioned tanking stuff). Defender points when accumulated to 1k give a badge. Triple that amount and get another badge. Since, defender badges happen to those players that actually guard stuff think about that the next time one desires to leave a node unprotected. Those guys who spend an entire warzone zerging around chasing that oh so coveted assassin badge could get two badges just for guarding a node or a door. Go figure.

1k defender
3k defender points

In conclusion, don’t be the guy that only scores 5 or 6 badges by games end. Don’t zerg around aimlessly chasing that assassin badge. Defend a node, throw some heals or guard someone. Sure, some people get really excited to hit 400k damage in a warzone (I’ve seen videos, players can hit that). Honestly, I can see trying to do that on occasion just to do it. But ultimately, players that want the badges that in turn will give them the tokens to buy pvp gear, really ought to focus on first winning the match, and secondly maxing their badges using the method above. After all, 8+ badges don’t pay as well in a loss, and incidentally winning a warzone while only getting 5 or 6 badges doesn’t pay very well either.

This has been dug up all over the internet and I have tried to make it as accurate as possible. If something isn’t right, please let me know and I’ll update the list.

I could be missing a few things. If you can fill in the blanks that would be great.

First and foremost C2-N2. All republic toons get him when you get your ship. He can heal…..but personally I think he’s best on the ship…I don’t have any real stats on him….

Now for the rest

Jedi Consular

Qyzen Fess, (male Trandoshan) – Picked up on Typhon
Combat Style: Melee Tank
Armor: Heavy
Weapon type: Techblade
Crew Skills: +5 BioChem, +15 Archaeology
Gifts loved: Weapon, Likes: Military Gear, Technology, Underworld Good
Main Stat: Aim

Theran Cedrex, (male Human) – Picked up on Nar Shaddaa
Combat Style: Ranged Healer/Techie
Armor: Medium
Weapon type: Pistol
Crew Skills: +10 cybertech, +10 slicing
Gifts loved: Luxury, Likes: Underworld Goods, Cultural Artifact, Courting, Favorite: Technology
Main Stat: Cunning

Zenith, (male Twilek – Romance-able) – Picked up on Balmorra
Combat Style: Ranged DPS
Armor: Medium
Weapon type: Sniper Rifle
Crew Skills: +15 Investigation, +1 Underworld Trading
Gifts loved: Imperial Memorabilia, Like: Underworld Goods, Military Gear, Favorite: Weapons
Main Stat: Cunning

Lt Iresso, (male Human – Romance-able) – Picked up on Hoth
Combat Style: Ranged tank
Armor:
Weapon type: Blaster rifle
Crew Skills: +2 Critical Armstech,+2 Critical Scavenging
Gifts loved: Trophy, Courting, Likes: Weapons, Luxury, Favorite: Republic memorabilia
Main Stat: Aim

Nadia Grell, (female Sarkhai – Romance-able) – Picked up on Belsavis
Combat Style: Melee Dps
Armor: Light
Weapon type: Double blade saber
Crew Skills: +10 Synthweaving, +2 Critical Diplomacy
Gifts loved: Cultural Artifact, Courting, Like: Luxury, Underworld Goods, Favorite: Republic Memorabilia
Main Stat: Willpower

Jedi Knight

T7-01, (Astromech Droid) – Picked up on Typhon
Combat Style: Ranged Tank
Armor: Heavy
Weapon type: Blaster Rifle
Crew Skills: +10 Bioanalysis, +2 Slicing Critical
Gifts loved: Technology, Like: Weapon, Military Gear, Favorite; Cultural Artifacts, Republic Memorabilia
Main Stat: Aim

Kira Carsen, (Female Human – Romance-able) – Picked up on Courscant
Combat Style: Melee DPS
Armor: Light
Weapon type: Dual lightsaber
Crew Skills: +5 Synthweaving Critical, +1 Rescarch Critical
Gifts loved: Luxury, Like: Military Gear, Trophy, Cultural Artifact, Republic memorabilia, Imperial Memorabilia,
Favorite: Underworld Goods, Technology, Courting
Main Stat: Willpower

Doc, (Male Human – Romance-able) – Picked up on Balmorra
Combat Style: Ranged Healer
Armor:
Weapon type: Pistol
Crew Skills: +5 Underworld Tradeing, +5 Biochem Critical
Gifts loved: Courting, Luxury, Like: Weapon, Underworld Goods, Military Gear, Technology, Trophy, Cultural Artifact
Main Stat: Cunning

Sargent Rusk, (Male Chagrian) – Picked up on Hoth
Combat Style: Ranged Tank
Armor: Heavy
Weapon type: Sniper rifle
Crew Skills: +10 Armstech, +10 Scavenging
Gifts loved: Military Gear, Like: Luxury, Technology, Trophy, Cultural Artifact, Imperial Memorabilia, Favorite: Weapon, Republic Memorbilia
Main Stat: Aim

Lord Scourge, (male Sith Pureblood) – Picked up on Hoth (Empires Palace – Class quest right after Hoth)
Combat Style: Melee DPS (tank)
Armor: Heavy
Weapon type: Lightsaber & Shield generator
Crew Skills: +10 Artifice, +10 Archaeology
Gifts loved: Trophy, Like: Weapon, Underworld Goods, Military Gear, Cultural Artifacts, Republic Memorabilia, Favorite: Technology, Imperial Memorobilia
Main Stat: Aim

Trooper

Aric Jorgan, (male Cathar – Romance-able) – Picked up on Ord Mantell
Combat Style: Ranged DPS
Armor: Heavy
Weapon type: Sniper Rifle, Assault Cannon, Blaster Rifle
Crew Skills: +10 Armstech, +2 Diplomacy Critical
Gifts loved: Weapons, Like: Technology, Trophy, Cultural Artifacts, Republic Memorabilia, Favorite: Military Gear, Courting
Main Stat: Aim

Elara Dorne, (female human – Romance-able) – Picked up on Taris
Combat Style: Ranged Healer
Armor: Heavy
Weapon type: Blaster Pistol
Crew Skills: +10 Biochem, +10 Bioanalysis
Gifts loved: Courting, Like: Military Gear, Technology, Republic Memorabilia, Imperial Memorablilia, Favorite: Luxury
Main Stat: Aim

M1-4X, (Assault Droid) – Picked up on Nar Shaddaa
Combat Style: Ranged DPS
Armor: Heavy
Weapon type: Blaster Rifle
Crew Skills: +5 Cybertech,+5 Critical Scavenging
Gifts loved: Republic Memorabilia, Like: Weapon, Luxury, Military Gear, Trophy, Cultural Artifacts, Courting, Favorite: Technology
Main Stat: Aim

Tanno Vik, (male Weequay) – Picked up on Balmorra
Combat Style: Melee Tank
Armor: Heavy
Weapon type: Rifle
Crew Skills: +5 Critical Armormech,+1 Critical Underworld Trading
Gifts loved: Underworld Goods, Like: Military Gear, Technology, Favorite: Weapon
Main Stat:

Yuun, (male Gand) – Picked up on Hoth
Combat Style: Melee DPS
Armor: Medium
Weapon type: ElectroStaff
Crew Skills: +10 Research,+10 Slicing
Gifts loved: Technology, Cultural artifacts, Trophy, Like: Weapon, Military Gear, Republic Memorabilia, Imperial Memorabilia
Main Stat: Aim

Smuggler

Corso Riggs (male human – Romance-able) – Picked up on Ord Mantell
Combat Style: Ranged Tank
Armor: Heavy
Weapon type: Blaster Pistols and Blaster Rifles
Crew Skills: +5 Underworld Trading, +5 Armstech Critical
Gifts loved: Weaponry, military gear, Like: Luxury, Technology, Cultural Artifacts, Favorite: Trophy, Courting
Main Sat: Aim

Bowdaar, (male Wookie) – Picked up on Nar Shaddaa
Combat Style: Melee Tank
Armor: Heavy
Weapon type: vibroswords or blades
Crew Skills: +10 Cybertech, +10 Scavenging
Gifts loved: Luxury, Cultural artifact, Liked: Underworld Goods, Military Gear, Technology, Courting, Favorite: Weapon, Trophy
Main Stat: Strength

Risha, (female Human – Romance-able) – Picked up on Alderaan
Combat Style: Ranged DPS
Armor: Medium Armor
Weapon type: Uses Rifle or Sniper Rifle
Starting Kit: Grenade Kit
Crew Skills: +15 Diplomacy,+1 Critical Slicing
Gifts loved: Luxury, underworld goods, Like: Weapon, Military gear, Republic Memorabilia, Imperial Memorabilia, courting,
Favorite: Technology, Cultural Artifacts
Main Stat: Cunning

Akavi Spaar, (female Mandalorian – Romance-able) – Picked up on Balmorra
Combat Style: Ranged DPS
Armor: Heavy
Weapon type: Electrostaff
Crew Skills: +10 Armormech,+2 Critical Bioanalysis
Gifts loved: Weaponry, Like: Underworld Goods, Technology, Republic Memorabilia, Imperial Memorabilia, Favorite: Military Gear, Trophy, Courting
Main Stat: Aim

Guss Tuno, (male Mon Calamari) – Picked up on Hoth
Combat Style: Healer
Armor: Medium
Weapon type: Blasters
Crew Skills: +10 Archaeology,+2 Critical Treasure Hunting
Gifts loved: Underworld Goods, Like: Trophy, Cultural Artifact, Republic Memorabilia, Imperial Memorabilia, Courting, Favorite: Luxury, Technology
Main Stat: Cunning

Patch 1.0.2 isn’t huge by any measurement, but it does include a number of welcome bug fixes such as the cover mechanic now working correctly when behind hard cover, the ‘Sith Corruption’ toggle no longer turning itself back on every time you enter a new area, and a fix that was preventing Bounty Hunter’s from completing their class story under certain circumstances.

Bioware is hard at work fixing a lot of issues that still need to be resolved, such as the current lack of high-res textures, various bugs in hard mode flashpoints and operations, and the mysterious case of party/guild chat randomly disappearing for certain players. Hopefully these issues will be resolved in short order.

The full list of changes can be found below.

General

Guilds that are currently leaderless will have an Officer chosen and promoted to Guild Leader.

Classes and Combat

Sith Inquisitor

The Darth title is now properly granted to Sith Inquisitors. Bug Fixes

Corrected an issue that could prevent players from taking cover when targeting large NPCs

Fixed a bug that caused some abilities with activation times to be interrupted when used from cover.

Crew Skills

Gathering

Removed some high-level harvesting nodes from Tatooine, Corellia, and Ilum.

Flashpoints and Operations

Flashpoints

Cademimu

General Ortol can no longer be pulled out of his room.

Maelstrom Prison

Corrected an issue that could cause Kilran to behave incorrectly when defeated in cover.

Taral V

General Edikar now has the correct loot in Hard Mode and no longer enrages in Normal Mode.

Operations

Eternity Vault

Gharj can no longer be pulled out of his encounter room. Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue that could cause choosing Nightmare Mode to not set enemies to Nightmare difficulty.

Items

General

PvP lockboxes now cost 70 commendations, contain more consumables, and always contain an item. Bug Fixes

Corrected several PvP items that were Bind on Equip. They are now Bind on Pickup.

PvP vendors on Capital Planets now offer the correct PvP items.

Commendations received via in-game mail are now correctly added to the Currency tab.

Missions and NPCs

Missions

Imperial

Number One with a Bullet: Players who choose dark side options now correctly receive the mission First Strike after completing this mission.

First Strike: Players who did not receive this mission will now receive it upon entering their personal starships. Republic

Death Cloud: Players can now complete the “Toxic Waste” bonus objective regardless of how quickly they complete this mission.

Bug Fixes

Corrected mission steps on several planets that could cause client instability.

Fixed issues with some missions that could prevent pending rewards from being accepted.

Space Combat

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue that caused a client crash if a space station was destroyed in Space Combat.

UI

Maps

Group members no longer appear on all planets on the Galaxy Map. Corrected an issue that could cause map notes to disappear after logging out and back into the game.

Corrected some map notes that referenced the incorrect map. Updated map notes for “travel to planet” steps in class missions on Nar Shaddaa, Hoth, and Belsavis to indicate the planet’s space station.

Bug Fixes

Group members outside of a player’s phase are no longer prompted to roll on items.

The In-Game Customer Service Portal no longer appears to hang while the “updating” message is displayed.

The Guild interface now properly displays the guild member list when it is sorted.

The “Show Sith Corruption” option no longer toggles off when transitioning between areas.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

Taxi rides are no longer occasionally interrupted, causing the player to be dropped from the taxi.

Using the /dismiss command now correctly dismisses a vanity pet.

Corrected some issues that could cause players to become stuck on the loading screen when logging into a character.

Players can now use emotes while riding a vehicle.

Fixed a bug that prevented some text-only mail messages from being received.

Graphics preferences in settings files are now consistent with actual settings in use.

Being in Do Not Disturb mode no longer prevents characters from being logged out for being away.

Corrected an issue that caused poor performance on some machines in indoor areas with shadows enabled.

Fixed an issue that could prevent players from being logged out for inactivity.

Introduction

Hello everyone, I’m Slaign. Armed with a thirst for knowledge and an interest in SWTOR crafting, I wanted to learn as much about Reverse Engineering as possible. This system is vastly more complex than I think most people realize, especially for armor and weapon crafters.

Not content to keep the information to myself, and wanting to enlist the help of as many fellow players as possible, I decided to write this guide. In it’s infancy, it had many flaws and much speculation. While there is still much to learn, 115 posts (as of this update) and many helpful contributors later, I feel I can say that this guide is now the premier source of information on the mechanics of Reverse Engineering on the forums, if not the internet itself.

I want to thank everyone who has read this guide, commented, questioned, and contributed. I especially want to encourage you to take the time to look over the names in the Special Thanks section and recognize the assistance they gave in making this guide what it is today.

We’re not done here by a long shot, so I encourage everyone to continue to comment, question and contribute. The goal is to make this guide a source of knowledge capable of answering any question about the mechanics of Reverse Engineering. If you have a question, please ask, and even if I can’t answer, someone will try to help you.

So without further ado, let’s get to it.

Help!! My Reverse Engineering button is gone!
(And Other Bugs.)

This is a bug that occurs for reasons unknown to me. In order to get it back, try opening your inventory with the keybind (Defaulted to the I key) rather than the icon at the top of the screen. If this doesn’t work, interact with a vendor, bank, or Galactic Trade Market Kiosk. Failing that, log out and back in. If all this fails, restart the client entirely. If you cannot ever get the button back, please file a bug report with any details you can. In fact, it is a good idea to file a bug report about the issue with whatever details about what you were doing when it happened even if you resolve the issue, but please only do so once.

Another bug is that linking an item with a discovered prefix (see below) does not show the prefix or associated stats in chat. They do appear in trade windows, inventory, and the GTM.

What can I reverse engineer?

You should be able to reverse engineer anything that your profession can make. There are a few caveats to this:

1. Armormech and Synthweaving only allow you to RE the gear with the stats they make. Armormech can RE non-force armor and Synth can RE force armor, but neither can RE the other.

2. Certain quest rewards and dropped items seem to be immune to RE’ing despite being in line with what a profession is able to RE. This is likely an oversight.

You can learn improved versions of items learned from your trainer and from schematics acquired via other means. It currently seems as if you cannot learn new schematics from world dropped or quest items.

The two progression methods of Reverse Engineering

Reverse engineering can follow two paths.

The first is very straight forward. RE an item and discover a schematic for an item of higher quality with similar stats, but higher stat values. Medpacks, Stims, and Modifications seem to exclusively use this method. Certain other items also use this method, notably weapons and offhands, but these items can also use the second system, depending perhaps upon the item in question. Chances are, if your item has a prefix like Gammorian or Ithorian built into the base item name, it will use the first system. If it doesn’t, it may use the second system. Most items that are equippable, including armor, many weapons, and implants follow the prefix system, which is elaborated on in great detail in this guide.

Example of the first system:

Might Hilt 2, a Premium item, will RE to Might Hilt 2, same name but Prototype, which in turn RE’s into Advanced Might Hilt 2, an Artifact.

For Biochem, the Artifact level stim is re-usable, as apposed to consumed on use like the Prototype and Premium versions.

The second system is the prefix system and involves a tiered system of multiple discoveries per base item, which lead to multiple discoveries per improved item. This is what the bulk of this guide covers, as it is the most complex.

Premium (Green) Items:

Premium recipes can, for the most part, be learned from your trainer. For the purpose of this post and my experiments, I focused upon Heavy Thermal Boots, a Tier 1 Premium heavy armor boot item.

- Critical crafting:

Earning a crafting critical on a Premium item will give you an item with the [Exceptional] tag appended to it’s name. These items allow you to insert a single item mod of the Augment type. Augment types are found through Slicing missions.

- Reverse Engineering:

Reverse Engineering a Premium armor item will give you a small chance of discovering a Prototype schematic. This schematic will be an improved version of the item.

If the item you are RE’ing follows the linear path (Mods, Biochem, etc.) the Prototype version will simply be better, with improved stats.

If the item you are RE’ing follows the Prefix tree path, it will gain a Prefix and a new stat. The old stats will remain the same, but you will gain a new one. There are 3 possible outcomes, and you can find all three. These are Redoubt, Overkill, and Critical. See the prefix section for more information.

Prototype (Blue) Items:

Prototype Items, as stated above, can be learned by reverse engineering Premium items. There are also trainable Prototype items, and certain mission skills can offer Prototype schematics.

-Critical Crafting:

Critically Crafting a Prototype item will result in an item with the tag [Advanced]. As before, this item can receive an Augment type Item Mod, found via Slicing.

-Reverse Engineering:

Reverse Engineering a Prototype item results in an Artifact item.

If your item follows the linear path, it will be an improvement in stats or functionality. (Biochem, for example, doesn’t make better medpacks as far as healing levels, but they are reusable.)

If your item follows the Prefix path, then what happens depends on whether the item you are RE’ing is the base item (learned from the trainer) or a prefix Tier 1 item (learned by RE’ing a Premium level base item, and gaining a prefix).

If your item is a base item, it will advance just like premium items do, into 3 new schematics (Overkill, Redoubt, or Critical). If it is a Tier 1 Prefix item (Already sports an Overkill, Redoubt, or Critical prefix) it will advance into a Tier 2 Prefix item. Each Tier 1 prefix can advance into 5 Tier 2 prefixes, for a total of 15. See the Prefix section for more details on these. Regardless, the resulting schematic will be an Artifact.

Artifact (Purple) Items:

Artifact schematics can, at high levels, be trained. However, RE’ing Prototypes is the primary method of finding Artifact patterns. They can potentially also be found through mission skills.

-Critical Crafting:

Artifact items have a special case for critical crafting. Items with a Tier 2 prefix (see below) gain a tag that says [Superior] by default. It is important to know that these items are not critically crafted. Items with a [Superior] tag lose that tag and gain a [Mastercraft] tag when critically crafted.

Items that do not start with a [Superior] tag gain the [Advanced] tag when critically crafted. As usual, both [Advanced] and [Mastercraft] critical crafts give you an Augment slot. See the Prefix section for a theory on why Tier 2 prefix items have the [Superior] tag.

-Reverse Engineering:

If your item follows a linear path, it is currently unverified if you can find an improved item by RE’ing the Artifact version. Indications are no, but some reports have said otherwise. These reports generally lack the detail needed to be confirmed, so RE linear artifacts at your own risk.

Tier 1 Prefix Artifacts (Overkill, Redoubt, Critical – Obtained from RE’ing a Prototype base item) can be Reverse Engineered into Tier 2 Prefix Artifacts (See the Prefix section).

We don’t currently know whether RE’ing Tier 2 Prefix Artifacts or Non-Prefix Artifacts grants any new schematic. Further information on this subject is greatly appreciated.

Legendary (Deep Purple) Items:

I know nothing on this subject yet.

Custom (Orange) Items:

Custom schematics are obtained via Underworld Training. All Underworld Training mission types have a chance to yield a schematic.

-Critical Crafting:

We really don’t know 100% one way or another whether Custom gear can gain an augment slot via critical crafting. On one hand, it may be possible, in order to keep Custom gear on par with Artifact gear, on the other hand, perhaps Custom gear requires a full set of critically crafted mods to keep up with critically crafted Artifacts.

-Reverse Engineering:

Current reports indicate Custom items cannot be reverse engineered. Update: Newer reports indicate that they can, but no results have been gained. However, I haven’t received confirmation of either report. further information is appreciated, but I personally recommend NOT RE’ing oranges, as I see no potential benefit.

[Prefix] Table:

Prefixes are added to some items (Usually armor and weapons) when an improved version is found. If you improve upon the improved item, a new prefix is added to replace the first. These prefixes are different for each parent prefix. This prevents your Artifact level items from the different stat groups having the same names.

Tier 1 prefixes add 1 of 3 stats to the item, in addition to the stats the item already had. The original stats (with the exception of armor or damage, see below) stay the same and a new stat is added. Redoubt adds Defense, Overkill adds Power, and Critical adds, well, Critical.

When RE’ing an item with a Tier 1 prefix, the Tier 1 prefix will be replaced with one of it’s child prefixes, or a Tier 2 prefix. These Tier 2 prefixes retain the stat of it’s parent, and add another stat. 5 Stats are possible, Accuracy, Alacrity, Presence, Surge, and Shield.

This means for every learned schematic that follows the prefix system, there is 1 Base item, 3 Tier 1 prefix items, and 15 Tier 2 prefix items in total.

If your base item is Premium, it will receive a Tier 1 prefix upon graduating to Prototype. If the base item is Prototype, it will earn a Tier 1 prefix by graduating to Artifact. If an item received a Tier 1 prefix upon graduating to Prototype, it will earn it’s Tier 2 prefix by becoming an Artifact. If your item earned a Tier 1 prefix upon graduating to Artifact, the Tier 2 prefixes can be learned by RE’ing those items. Tier 2 prefixes learned from Artifact quality items will still be Artifact quality, but will have more stats. Prefixes do not care about the quality of the item, only about the number of times it has been upgraded.

When you learn a Tier 2 prefix schematic, it will come with a tag that says [Superior]. While this looks like a critical craft, it is important to note that it is not. My guess is this tag is meant to denote that the item is better than Tier 1 Prefix items for people who may not recognize the difference between a Tier 1 prefix and a Tier 2 prefix. This is especially helpful for when both Tier 1 and Tier 2 prefixes appear on Artifact quality items.

Here is a list of the prefixes I have found, and what stats they represent:
(Each first prefix will be followed by its upgraded prefixes)

Redoubt (+Defense)
-General (+Defense, +Presence)
-Veracity (+Defense, +Shield)
-Anti-Armor (+Defense, +Surge)
-Exactitude (+Defense, +Accuracy)
- ????

Critical (+Critical)
-Leadership (+Critical, +Presence)
-Tempest (+Critical, +Shield)
-Fervor (+Critical, +Accuracy)
-Endowment (+Critical, +Surge)
-Supremacy (+Critical, +Alacrity)

Overkill (+Power)
-Vehemence (+Power, +Alacrity)
-Rampart (+Power, +Shield)
-Commander (+Power, +Presence)
- Expert (+Power, +Surge)
- Hawkeye (+Power, +Accuracy)

Here’s a flowchart to help better understand:

—————————-[ Leadership
---------------------------/- Tempest
---------------- Critical ---- Fervor
-------------/-------------- Endowment
-------------|--------------[ Supremacy
-------------|----------------------------
-------------|--------------[ Exactitude
-------------|-------------/- Anti-Armor
Base Item -|- Redoubt --- General
-------------|-------------- Veracity
-------------|--------------[ ????????
-------------|----------------------------
-------------|--------------[ Vehemence
--------------------------/- Rampart
---------------- Overkill --- Commander
---------------------------- Expert
----------------------------[ Hawkeye

It is possible that the game will try to teach you a schematic you already know, in which case the chat log will show an error stating you already know that schematic. If you don't already have all available prefixes for the tier you are trying to learn, you just got unlucky.

Armor and damage values as they apples to quality:

Armor (for armor) and damage (for weapons) values increase on items based on their quality. For example, using once again, Heavy Thermal Boots:

Premium - 88
Prototype - 111
Artifact - 127
Custom - Scales in accordance to quality and level of the Armoring mod used

The prefix of the item has no bearing on armor or damage values.

This is a ton of work! Why would I ever do this as opposed to just keeping Custom items updated?

People who claim the armor crafts are useless simply do not understand them, or do not like the way they work. Usually it's the former, but for the latter, it's usually people who think "Useless" means "Not necessary because there are other ways to achieve similar results."

The fact of the matter is that with armor crafts, you can make armor competitive and sometimes better than you can find elsewhere. However, the flip side is that you can achieve similar results without an armor crafting skill.

The pros of armor crafting:

• It's cheaper to craft basic armor than it is to mod out every slot. For every moddable item you use, you must keep 3-5 slots upgraded. With regular armor, that's 1-2. Orange gear has no stats, and requires mods. Crafted gear of a certain quality has the same stat value as an orange item filled with that quality mods. This means for an orange item, you must buy or craft 3-5 purple mods in order to equal the power of a single crafted purple.
• Contrary to popular belief, crafted purples have just as much variety in stats as moddable armor, or at least nearly so. If you truly understand reverse engineering, every equippable item you can make has 19 variations, 1 base quality, 3 improved, and 15 vastly improved.
• While it's true you could raid for gear, it will take longer to outfit yourself. Even if raid gear is better, you will be able to craft gear to take up those slots you haven't yet filled. It's also likely that raids will also drop schematics to allow you to craft comparable gear. While it's true you could also keep up with orange gear, see my first point about the extra effort required.
• Armor crafters make the bulk of the orange gear in the game. If you want a certain look, or to be able to often change your look, or to sell orange items to appearance conscious players, you will want to be able to craft armor.
• Armor crafters can critically craft armor to gain an extra mod slot that isn't available from any other source. This includes orange armor, meaning even if you choose to use mods, you will need armor crafted by a crafter to get the best results. Might as well be you.
• Being able to craft armor allows you to easily and relatively cheaply outfit your companions in excellent gear.
• Reverse engineering is fun (Highly subjective.)

Cons:

• Using standard armor rather than orange armor removes your ability to look however you want.
• Finding orange schematics is rare
• Discovering all the varieties of a schematic can be time and credit consuming. If you are lucky, you will be able to find the variation you want quickly. If you are unlucky, it can fast become a time and money sink.
• Crafting takes a lot of time. Fortunately, you can do other things while doing it.
• You won't feel the immediate satisfaction of always having a neat toy to use during combat like you will with Biochem. Biochem feels more useful in the short term, because it can actively save your life. Once you equip an item, you tend to forget about it. Also, Biochem is easier and more relevant while leveling, because you only need to keep up with stims rather than upgrading all your gear.
• Reverse engineering is frustrating (Highly subjective.)

In the end, only you can choose what's important to you, and what fits your playstyle. However, don't let anyone tell you that armor crafting is useless, as it is not, assuming you know what you want to get out of it, and how to do so.

Why can't I find this schematic? Is it broken?!

Chances are that no, it's not broken. The RE system is random, meaning you are likely just getting very unlucky. Sometimes you might get lucky and get a schematic first try, other times you might RE dozens of items and get no schematic. Keep trying, the schematic is out there if it follows the established pattern above. If there are any exceptions, I will add them to the guide as I learn of them.

There are reports that the higher your crafting skill in relation to the recipe you are RE'ing, the higher your chances are to earn the schematic. This is nearly impossible to confirm absolutely from a player standpoint, but you may find it worth while to try coming back to schematics once you have a few more skill points. The upshot of this, however, is the more you make the item in attempts to RE it, the more your skill will go up.

Courtesy of  http://blackrabbit2999.blogspot.com/2011/12/swtor-reverse-engineering-guide.html

If you aren’t aware Bioware promised a lot of fresh content to be released after launch and it looks like we will not be disappointed. To be delivered in January is a brand new Flashpoint and an expanded Operation

And what is this “brand new world” they speak of?  Stay tuned…….

 Compliments of: Bioware

A lot of people have been asking for more information on our future plans. What are we going to provide for players in terms of features and content? While we’ve given some information on what features we’re working on, we haven’t given much detail about content. We’ve said that we’ll be providing new Flashpoints, Operations and Warzones. Now we’d like to give some more details on what they are.

Next month we’re going to be releasing a new Flashpoint and an expanded Operation. The new Flashpoint involves a plague that could have significant repercussions across the galaxy. It takes place on a brand new world and involves some pretty epic battles. I can’t go into much detail, but be prepared for something different. The expanded Operation takes the existing Karagga’s palace scenario and more than triples it in size. It includes three new boss monsters and some pretty epic set pieces.

We plan to continue releasing Flashpoints, Operations, Warzones and new game systems on a regular cadence. This patch coming early next year is only a taste of what is to come. Stay tuned for more announcements!

Posted by: BioWare (1.0.1 Patch Notes 12/27/2011)

Classes and CombatCombat Bug Fixes- Fixed a bug that could cause the global cooldown to display incorrectly in the UI.
- Abilities that require Companion Characters now always correctly require a companion.
- NPCs no longer attempt to engage vanity pets in combat.

Imperial Agent

Operative

- The tooltip for Acid Blade now displays the correct information.

Companion Characters

Companions

Kira Carsen

- Fixed an issue that could cause Kira’s affection progression to become blocked.

Bug Fixes

- Companion Character dialogue now plays at the correct volume.

Crew Skills

Gathering Skills

Slicing

- Rewards from Slicing have been reduced to bring them into balance with other skills.
- Adjusted incorrect values for medium slicing boxes.

Bug Fixes

- Corrected an issue that could cause some gathering nodes to appear as unharvestable.

Flashpoints and Operations

Flashpoints

Mandalorian Raiders

- Crowd control immunity has been removed from several members of the Enemy Boarding Party.

Colicoid War Game

- An issue that prevented some players from mounting turrets in this Flashpoint has been corrected.

The Red Reaper

- Darth Ikoral now uses his abilities correctly.

Directive 7

- Mentor now resets correctly if he defeats the player group.

Bug Fixes

- All players in a group who have a daily Flashpoint mission now get credit for completing that Flashpoint.

Operations

Eternity Vault

- Fixed an issue that could cause players to instantly die when affected by Soa’s knockback.
- Turrets in Normal Mode no longer behave as turrets from Hard Mode.
- Players are now able to properly obtain loot from chests.
- The Ancient Pylons now spawn enemies at the correct intervals.

Karagga’s Palace

- Players no longer need to reset this Operation if they do not defeat Bonethrasher.
- Corrected an issue that caused some players to become stuck at the throne room door.

Items

Bug Fixes

- PvP lockboxes can no longer be sold for credits.
- Fixed incorrect item rewards from PvP leveling lockboxes.

Missions and NPCs

Missions

Imperial

- A New Master: Defeating Teeno no longer causes him to surrender on top of Phyne, making him difficult to interact with.
- General Faraire: All of Khourlet’s Elite Guards are now accessible by the player.

Bug Fixes

- Fixed a mission-related issue that could cause poor performance and client crashes on Taris for some players.

NPCs

Bug Fixes

- Corrected several instances of non-interactive NPCs appearing and disappearing from the player’s view.

PvP

Warzones

General

- Rewards for winning Warzones have been increased.
- Warzone completion rewards have been decreased.

Bug Fixes

Voidstar

- Corrected an issue that could prevent some players from entering the Voidstar.
- Made adjustments to prevent attacking players from reaching the doors in the reactor core before bridges are extended.

UI

Bug Fixes

- Fixed a bug that could prevent players from accepting pending mission -rewards.
- Targeting a friendly player no longer occasionally displays incorrect text for the character’s name.
- Corrected an issue that could cause some auction expirations to behave incorrectly.
- The splash screen no longer displays longer than the “accept changes” dialogue when changing resolutions on some computers.
- Master Looter now works correctly for items being looted from chests.
- The server select screen no longer displays over the character select after being disconnected for being away.
- Corrected an issue that could cause mission mapnotes to disappear when a new mission is obtained.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

- Special characters no longer display incorrectly in the French credits.
- Remaining baby names have been added to the credits.
- Corrected a link that displayed in French and German versions when the servers are unavailable.