$ales

I stumbled across a fitted gun that seemed like a bit of a hot item. Someone had it listed at almost a billion credits. I put a listing up for 800m, but then the other guy canceled his listing and undercut me by another 100m. I decided that I thought the price he was asking was probably insane anyway, so I canceled my listing and listed it again for 100m. When I came back, it was sold. For all I know, the same guy bought it hoping to resell it for a lot. Whatever. I'm happy with almost tripling my bank with one sale. 

The economy in SWTOR's GTN is pretty messed up. But if I keep my eye on fitted pieces that drop, I can probably do OK. I've got a bunch of stuff listed, and I also make a steady but modest income from advanced V-9 seismic grenades. And I'm trying to unlock the highest adrenal schematic for critical and shield, at which case I'll grind those with my biochem guy. Apparently those sell for a less modest amount than the grenades, although they also are more difficult to gather for and craft, so it takes longer. Still; these modest gains are sufficient to keep me moving. 

A heavily armored Phovos Maledict image.

Other than that, on Tuesdays, my routine is to grind new heroics, especially with my low level characters who are in the "Just Started" status, so Vandal Guent, Karr Tanus, Iakar Kodo and Goth Severax. I also consider Saxon Hettar as just started... kinda... even though he's actually done many of the Hutta missions in his story and is advancing pretty quickly. But until they actually go to the fleet, take the Back Talon or Esseles Flashpoint, and arrive on the second planet, they're still in play to do the heroics. So, I spent some time managing my SWTOR "business" with crafting, banking and GTN transactions, built a few new outfits for some of my newer characters that still needed some, and did all of the Heroics on Hutta with Saxon and Iakar, all of the Heroics on Ord Mantell with Vandal and Karr, and all of the Heroics (plus a couple of dynamics) with Goth. All five of them got at least one additional level. That's my strategy for new characters, in part because I still have so many that aren't semi-retired; they sit in a waiting queue, but rather than just sitting there at lame-o first level, I run around with them doing Heroics and killing random enemies. They get to level 10 in no time flat, usually, and then they've unlocked weapon crystals, travel to the fleet to pick up stuff that's on the fleet, etc. Usually when I create a new character, I do that in about an hour or two, along with creating a few outfits so I have a look or two for the character before I start the opening cutscene. I record a lot of my cutscenes in OBS for "archival" footage, so having a cool look is certainly an important part of the activity. It's important to me anyway, and I get annoyed at the people who disparagingly (even if fondly so) call it the "space barbie" game. 

Anyway, once I do that, I've got plenty of companions for my character even without having even started my story; Darth Hexid, HK-51, Treek, the Probe Droid, Master Ranos, Nico Okarr, Paxton Rall, Shae Viszla, Fen Zeil, PHA-LANX, and maybe another one or two that I'm not remembering right now. I have a cool look, and decent gear (for my level) and I'm pretty much the meanest thing (other than even higher level PCs slumming it) on the planet already and I still haven't even started my story. So they go to the back burner. But, once a week, usually on Tuesday nights, which I set aside for that, I'll run them through their Heroics. But then I usually play my more advanced characters through their story missions, because I want to get more of them done before I start more characters.

Sigh. But, of course, I started Saxon Hettar, so he's kinda sorta "Just started" but technically he's "In play." I oughtta do myself a favor, get him finished on Hutta, do the Black Talon and park him on Dromund Kaas while I go back and finish Vash Galaide as my agent playthrough first. He's level 48 and just finished Balmorra, I believe, so I've got plenty to do with him still. And I really like him; he's got one of my most iconic agent looks out there; one that I borrowed from the internet where it was also seen as super iconic; a Republic Protectors chestpiece (Makeb reputation) and the Remnant Resurrected Agent headgear (Heroic crates RNG) with a black/black dye module. The other parts don't matter as much; the chestpiece, headpiece and color make the outfit; the pants, belt, gloves and boots are nice, but are more flexible. 

Anyway, the screenshot taker is kind of iffy, so I took some, but they didn't all save. I'd like to have shown some others than the one that I have, but here's what's available right now. I'll try and take some more later. 

And an aside, I can grind Heroics (and solo flashpoints) to level up with anyone at any time, too. I just tend not to bother with anyone except the lower level ones, who are then significantly over-leveled as they start their stories, and will tend to hit max level with several planets in the main story still to complete. As I said before, I usually tend to start skipping faction stories and exploration missions once they hit max level, and just focus on doing their class story, or origin story as they now call it. I need to make sure that I do go back and occasionally do them, though. You can go back after the fact that pick up any of those that you want with semi-retired characters, although... I tend not to be very motivated to do so. But sometimes when I'm feeling in the mood for just some pretty brainless combat, I'll take mid-level characters and grind heroics or flashpoints just to get them a level or two. There were even some guys where I'd run Black Talon or Esseles and then go back to the fleet when it was over instead of on to the planet, and do it again two or three more times, just to grind XP. It's not the funnest way to play, but sometimes when you don't really want to think too hard about what you're doing, it's an easy way to grind.

For Empire characters, there's at least two Dromund Kaas Heroics that are pretty quick, plus four on Hutta and two on Korriban. For Republic characters, there's a pretty nice bundle; four or five, on Coruscant that are relatively quick. Those are my usual grinds for XP and gear for mid-level characters that have their ship available, but still have levels to get.