Architect Archive

I have always done a combat class, in this game and other MMO games. I have no interest in being a Jedi and want to be a crafter for the heck of it.I am tempted to start a artisan and see what it's like to be a crafter in this game. Problem is, I am not sure what to specialize in. Architect seems interesting and I would love it if you guys could give me the pros and cons to an architect over the other crafting professions (weaponsmith, tailor, and armorsmith) and how important is it for a crafter to be his own merchant as well. Also what supplimental combat profession is good for a architect?

My personal opinions of course..

Merchant: Yes. Never hurts to be able to actually SELL your stuff

As to pro's and cons of Architect..

Con: massive resource requirments, very poor return customer sales, Mastering has no real value.

Pro: get to build big honking buildings, the joy of being a fairly self sufficent miner, able to help a PA out.

Don't go in to architect to get rich, it can happen, just don't plan on it.

Tailor suffers much the same pros and cons (ie no decay on items, able to help folks out)

Armorsmiths and Weaponsmiths are pretty much where the money is. If an Architect is lucky we can charge 4 - 6 credit per resource without being accused of gouging, Armor and weapons run upwards of 10 - 15 credit per resource.

My wife has a Master Tailor and I've got a Master Architect, so those are the ones I've seen first hand - I can't compare to the other crafting professions first-hand.

Rather than think about what you are making, per se, spend some time thinking about how you want to spend your time. Think about how you want to interact with your customers and suppliers.

Let me give some (simplied) examples of what I mean using Master Tailor as the profession. At one extreme you could figure out what clothing is in high demand, make some schematics with a few color combos, and fill up a vendor. Your claim to fame might be that you always have reinforced jackets, wookie garb, or .... in stock. You might never really interact with the customers - it's all "off the rack".

On the other extreme, you might have no vendor at all and essentially design everything as custom orders - picking the styles and colors to suit the customer.

Both extremes can be fun and profitable.

With Architect, you can have those same types of choices. You could specialize in furniture and have 1000's of pieces on your vendor, or have 10 of every heavy harvester always in stock, or 2 of every house. Or you can take custom orders - for furniture or harvesters - and never "stock" anything.

Master Tailor is not resource intensive - so you could buy all your resources from miners and still make a living. As an architect, you MUST mine everything you possibly can. You may also buy from miners, but both the cost and volume mean that you have to do your own mining. (An exception might be someone who does furniture only - that isn't as resource intensive as harvesters or houses).

I'm sure that other people will chime in here. I like Architect because it provides a range of "discretionary" products (e.g., furniture) and "functional" products (e.g., harvesters, factories, crafting stations). I've had to hone some basic business and customer service skills in order to be successful.

Great feedback here guys

I guess in the long run, credits is not the biggest issue, but really, what is more fun. Of course I am aware that is 100% opinion based, but I still love to hear what people think. Credits is second place though in the priority list, doesn't hurt to have alot of credits heh, but I am looking for fun factor first and foremost.

Usefulness is probably my third thing (which I am sure can be tied to the credit thing). Generally, I am sure that everything that is crafted is useful, I guess weapons and armor fit in that category. As for tailoring and architect, how often is the need of them... generally that is? I know this is all opinion and server based, but general knowledge is still a great thing.

Well being a master Architect for while now, I can say its really not worth hassle at this time, my suggestion would be go into Armor smith or Weapon smith.

Cons to be an architect (at this time) is:
There are to many cheep architect items out there, mostly from holocron grinders.
Huge resource requirements for our items.
Soon to be lack of demand for our items, as our items are a one-time purchase for most customers.
Also, our primary resource we use (low-grade ore) hardly-to never shows up in deposits higher then 60%, with 65% being the best I have ever seen.

Pros to being an architect:
You get to build all your own buildings and furniture.