A brief intro

Welcome to any new readers of the blog!  I am planning to organize some of my older content in a more logical way to makes more accessible in the near future.  Much of my writing involves market conceptions and market structures more than specific situations, so it holds up well over time if you’re just getting into the economy of Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR).

I have been writing very little during the initial few weeks of game update 4.0 and the Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion because I’ve been playing the game too much to blog about it.  I am catching up now and will be posting content over the next couple months in much more consistent volumes.

Overview of Character Perks

Within your character’s legacy menu, default shortcut key is [Y], the first tab is named Character Perks and the legacy menu opens to this tab.  The page currently offers 65 different perks that you can unlock at the character level, which means you would need to pay either credits or cartel coins for each of your characters to gain the perk.  Many of the perks, especially those in the Travel and Convenience sections at the bottom of the page, are massive quality of life boosts.  I typically purchase most or all of these convenient options, almost exclusively with credits, but depending on your play style and plans for that specific character it may or may not be worth unlocking those perks.

There are 30 perks dedicated to XP boosts for various types of game play.  I find no use for these perks in the current leveling environment, but many lower tier ones are very cheap so if you despise leveling enough some of them may appeal to you.  If you have any doubt, save your credits for other uses and don’t unlock any perks in the Advancement section.

The Mandatory Perks

Now for the main attraction and the crux of this article. There are certain perks that were previously of only moderate utility by boosting the companion Influence (formerly Affection) that is gained by giving a companion a gift or by completing a conversation with the companion.  The Influence system is central to crew skills and the SWTOR economy that attaining the highest Influence rank possible on at least seven companions (six for crew skills, one for combat) is very important.  It is a huge grind, so an initial goal would be to attain at least 20 Influence with those companions, then get the group to 25, 30, 40, and finally 50 over time.

Altruism I is the first character perk under the Companions section and boosts the affection gained by giving a gift to your companion by 10% for just 10,000 credits.  Altruism II and Altruism III in turn provide additional 10% boosts (30% cumulative boost) for just 30,000 credits and 50,000 credits respectively.  For less than 100,000 credits you gain 30% more Influence through client gifts, which is incredible.  The additional point of Influence per credit spent on companion gifts is boosted so significantly that the perks “pay for themselves” very quickly.

Legacy of Persuasion I, II, and III have the same cost pattern as Altruism I, II, and III but boost companion conversation Influence gains by the same amounts.  It’s less lucrative than the prior perks since the boost is more narrow and has a limited amount of Influence it can boost.  However, anyone who wants to reach Influence rank 50 will obtain more than enough boosted Influence to warrant the 90,000 total price tag on the Legacy of Persuasion perks as well.

Summary

The new Influence system is central to the economy of SWTOR and especially the crafting economy.  The bonuses for critical chance and efficiency are massive, reaching 75% efficiency and 25% critical chance boosts at Influence rank 50.  The inclusion of these six character perks offering 30% boosts to Influence for such a low cost is an incredibly valuable opportunity that no one should pass up.

A quick thank you to Max and Sema of the SWTOR Escape Podcast for having me on their show last night as a guest.  It was great fun and hopefully we’ll do it again soon because we could have spoken through the night I’m sure!  Our conversations last night inspired me to sit down and write this morning to begin sharing my observations and tips about the 4.0 SWTOR economy!  As always, thanks for reading!

Andrew | SWTOR Economics