Hyperspace Beacon: Easy money in SWTOR
Players have complained about Star Wars: The Old Republic's Legacy system's being a huge money sink. Why would I want to blow 275,000 credits to gain 30% extra XP? I'm not sure that the return is worth the investment unless you want to level multiple alts or level strictly through PvP, but I can understand BioWare's thinking regarding this sink. True, at the guild summit, we were told that the vast majority of level 50s have less than 500,000 credits in the bank, but I think you will agree that the money sink is needed when you see just how quickly money can be earned in SWTOR.
I've been asked multiple times by other players, "What is the fastest way to make money?" Well, just as in any other MMO, there isn't any way to make money superfast from zero. But doing daily quests can certainly help you out with most money struggles. What if I told you that you can make nearly 200,000 credits in less than two hours? That 30% PvP XP increase doesn't seem so far away now, does it? Because any amount of credits can be instantly sent to any of your alts on the same server (including ones of the opposite faction), you can make this fast money on your level 50 and ship it quickly to the alt you wish to power level.
This method is just one of the ways to make money in SWTOR. It is not the most efficient, but it takes the least amount of preparation. It is also very solo-friendly. Anyone with a level 50 Imperial character can do this right now; you don't even need good gear. (Note: The Republic side has similar quests, but I don't know the specifics.)
To increase my efficiency, I took down the lowest enemies first in each example here, followed by silvers, followed by golds -- if I decided to fight the mobs at all. That should be standard knowledge, but I've been surprised at how many people don't know that.
In order to see exactly how much money I could earn during one of these trips, I zeroed out my test center character's bank account by emailing the money to an alt.
Starting credits: 0
Ending credits: 63,000
Time: 15 minutes
Although it's possible to do these planets out of order, Ilum gives you the most return on the time spent on planet, but it's not always the most fun. Do these in the order that is most fun for you. Ilum will take you only about 15 minutes to complete using my method, whereas the other two areas may take as long as 30 to 40 minutes. If you only have time to do one, run the Ilum dailies.
As you step off shuttle platform, a short bounty hunter named Operative Che'nash stands just outside the base door. Grab her quest. Inside the door and straight ahead, Major Dermian offers another quest to you. Lastly, to the left and around the bend, a Sith Pureblood named Lord Tetsu has another quest for you. Don't do any of these quests, yet -- efficiency, remember? Instead, travel to the Imperial Waystation via the speeder (if you haven't been there yet, you can drive your personal speeder). Once there, talk to Captain Barstead and Colonel Baramak.
The first quests you'll want to do (because they are in the same area) are Rightful Owner and Sabotage. I traveled to the far west to tackle these two quests, but there are a couple of different places to take care of this mission; it just seems that the far west is usually unoccupied by other players. Also keep in mind that the crates with the mining equipment have a short timer, and you might be able to pick up the mining equipment from the same crate more than once. Turn in these quests at the waystation.
Next, head to the middle north for Operation Shatterstorm. This quest is the reason I asked that you go to the waystation before doing the quests closest to the shuttle. You can hit this quest and the other two on your way back to the main base. The objectives are at the bases of the towers throughout the Talz camp. Logic would dictate that you run from tower to tower recovering the Talz comm logs. I say kill the Talz in front of the first tower you see and plant yourself there. It will take more time to find the next tower and kill the Talz in front of it than to stand in front of your current tower waiting for the controls to become clickable again. You should be able to nab all five comm logs before the Talz respawn.
I usually hit A Tightening Grip next, followed by Defend the Shipment. There are no special tricks to these other than remembering one important thing in order to complete these in a timely manner: Don't fight anything unless you have to. You might be able to run away from some mobs in less time than it takes to fight them.
Each of these Ilum quests yields 10,762 credits. Combining that with money I looted from NPCs and selling greys, I gained 63,000 credits in about 15 minutes.
Starting credits: 63,000
Ending credits: 110,939
Total: 47,939
Time: 25 minutes
The Corellian Black Hole quests might be doable in the same amount of time as Ilum because they are all very close together, but the yield is lower, and other players can and will get in the way of your efficiency. That said, I do have a few tricks to help you complete these quests faster.
When you step out of the base, head toward the Hypermatter Directive door. On the way, kill every group of four NPCs; skip the smaller groups and the silver mobs. There should seven groups. This will give you more than enough to finish the first phase of the Asset Liquidation and Control the Battlefield quests.
Next, go in the Hypermatter Directive door, then head right back out. To your left and behind some large crates guarded by four NPCs is a clickable box for that quest.
You can then go back through the Hypermatter Directive door to finish the quest, but personally, I finish the Asset Liquidation and Glow quests first. Sometimes, by the time I come back to the Hypermatter Directive door, the clickable box is back. No matter when you do the second phase of Asset Liquidation, remember the object is to destroy the supply boxes, not fight the mobs. Run when possible. This will not only cut down on the actual time it takes you to finish the quest but save the mobs for the next player who might be running the first phase of the quest.
By the end of Corellia, I had 110,939 credits, which means I made 47,393 credits.
Starting credits: 110,939
Ending credits: 189,057
Total: 78,118
Time: 35 minutes
Admittedly, I skip Belsavis' dailies a lot. It takes about 35 minutes to do the actual quests, but it can take 10 minutes just to get to the quest location, depending on where you start and how long your load times are. However, if you have the time, 78,000 credits is worth it.
Most of Belsavis quests are straightforward when you find them. If you've not done the Domination Outpost main questline, you will have to do that first. It will add quite a bit of time to the overall questing, but once you've done it, you don't have to do it again.
Your first trip should be to the Domination Outpost. Grab the Invisible Threat quest from N4-71 and the Unintended Consequences quest from Major Charkron. Finish those, turn them in, and then head through the Rakata transport to the Deep Launchpoint.
There, grab Darth Synar's, AR-72's, and Specialist Nattis' quests, but do only Found in Translation and Reluctant Volunteers. This will prevent you from having to backtrack later. Turn those in and then head to the Signal Monitor Center.
Three quests await you here, but unfortunately, one is a heroic quest. Don't do that one unless you are in a group. But do finish The Carriers of Xenovirus Prime and Ancient Transmissions before heading off to do Droid Malfunction. On your way to do the last quest, you should pick up another quest from a terminal in the tunnel called Deadly Mutations. Again, these are all straightforward and shouldn't be a lot of trouble.
In the end, you should have about 78,000 credits if you did all the quests on Belsavis, totaling about 189,000 if you started on Ilum. Granted, if you did these quest with a group, it could go faster, and you could also do the heroics on the way. However, 189,000 isn't too bad for solo work. You can also make more money by gathering the resources on your route if you have the skills. Ilum yields grade six materials, and Belsavis gives grade five. It's possible to sell those on the galactic trade network for extra profit.
What is your favorite way to make money in SWTOR? There are definitely faster ways to do it -- what's your method?
The Hyperspace Beacon by Larry Everett is your weekly guide to the vast galaxy of Star Wars: The Old Republic, currently in production by BioWare. If you have comments or suggestions for the column, send a transmission to larry@massively.com. Now strap yourself in, kid -- we gotta make the jump to hyperspace!
