Make Looted Gear (Armor and Weapons) Usable Again

Make Looted Gear (Armor and Weapons) Usable Again
This idea/suggestion is Open. You can respond to ask questions or discuss the idea and either vote it up or down if you believe it should or should not be implemented, respectively. Popular suggestions and ideas will be considered by the development team to become reality in-game.
Proposal
My proposal specifically targets looted armor and weapons. I suggest removing the Junk 'category' from looted armors, so they are wearable (either as actual armor, or as Appearance items) and improving the stats of looted weapons to be more consistently useful, while still worse than crafted weapons.
Justification
My justification is simple - I feel looted (and honestly, even later-level quest reward, but that's not my focus here) equipment should be usable. Never the best, and barring specific unique, amazing items, not necessarily even close to the best - but usable at the level the item would drop, instead of feeling like it should've dropped 20-30 levels ago.

I've heard the argument, regarding armor, that it's meant for RE components - but that would be equally true if the armor was normal, wearable equipment with the exact same stats. In my experience, barring stat modifiers, the armor I've looted has always been worse than armor I was able to buy from a crafter back at level 20-30, and this trend has continued all the way to my current level of ~70.

For weapons, my understanding is that originally, weapon drops were skewed far too powerful, and the loot tables got nerfed in response. Something I completely understand, and think was the right choice - but I believe the nerf-blaster was fired a few too many times. Instead of being overpowered, the weapons are now completely useless. And 'you can sell them for decent credits' gets the same response as the 'RE components' argument for armor - how would this be any different if the weapons were actually useful?

I don't feel that this would unbalance things, just by making looted gear actually viable. To those already at high levels, or those levelling exclusively through Spin Groups, perhaps none of this particularly matters. But not everyone does that - and for those trying to level characters "normally" (through Legacy and missions, for instance), the complete lack of looted usable gear is very noticable. Crafted gear should always be better - but I don't feel it should be the ONLY option.
Motivation
Throughout my time levelling up, and doing missions to do so, I've noticed that every single piece of loot - barring clothing and accessories - has been completely worthless. Weapons found at CL 60+ have worse usability (mostly damage) than a quest or crafted item at level 20-30, and Armor looted is always the Junk-category, meaning no matter how cool or an improvement it might have been, I had no choice but to scrap or sell it. It makes looting equipment more annoying and somewhat depressing, rather than exciting like it could be - there's no "Oh cool, a new rifle!" feeling.
I just want looted gear to be actually useful, you know?
 
I'm gonna give this one an up-vote.

As a SW, I can only imagine the absolute outrage if the space loot was ALWAYS worse than the parts that were crafted. OR in the case of say, shields and armor on ships completely useless. You can't wear ANY armor that drops. Not even as an appearance. I'm pretty sure the space community would have a heart attack if the "BEST" shields and armor were only crafted with RE components. And the drops you got from space loot were all "junk" category.

Meanwhile, I get a bunch of crap loot while leveling that I can't even use as an appearance. I can understand keeping it less than crafted gear. But it SHOULD be usable until you can afford that amazing crafted set after you're done leveling.
 
100% agreement I've picked up gear that statwise (skill bonuses) is amazing but armor value is terrible but I would have happily worn it for style & stats.

It'd increase visual diversity & give people an idea of the style of armor they like the best.

Armor would still end up on vendors for RE & people would get use of loot. Looted wepons are without exception useless. Give us armour at least.
 
I was completely baffled the first time I tried to wear a piece of looted armor. The text was green and said I could wear the item. I was like is it because of my species? My gender? Do I need to have a profession? Why can't I wear this? Then someone told me it was the junk tag. Can't even use it at all even as appearance item. How is this even in the game like this it makes no sense. The armor was pretty crappy bone armor off some tusken raider.

Agree with this 100 percent and really it should already be like this in the game.
 
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I really like this idea.
There is nothing greater in a "looting" game than getting a new piece of gear you can swap out for.
Especially with the appearance tab feature we have.

I see no reason this isn't already a thing, especially since loot stats generally are not better than crafted armor or slotted clothing.
 
I really like this idea.
There is nothing greater in a "looting" game than getting a new piece of gear you can swap out for.
Especially with the appearance tab feature we have.

I see no reason this isn't already a thing, especially since loot stats generally are not better than crafted armor or slotted clothing.
I think this last part is absolutely key: it should never be something that is better than what can be gained from interacting with other players, especially vets. But as it stands, it is a mechanic that seems like it might confuse some of the new folks that may decide to try out the game after Jedi are released. I know it confused me for quite some time. :LOL:
 
As long as the looted armor doesn't compare to crafted armor I agree, it sounds like a good idea.

It would be nice to be able to pick up some stated armor to wear during ginding and save $ for end game set instead of having to buy stuff to keep up with your level.
 
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I was completely baffled the first time I tried to wear a piece of looted armor. The text was green and said I could wear the item. I was like is it because of my species? My gender? Do I need to have a profession? Why can't I wear this? Then someone told me it was the junk tag. Can't even use it at all even as appearance item. How is this even in the game like this it makes no sense. The armor was pretty crappy bone armor off some tusken raider.

Agree with this 100 percent and really it should already be like this in the game.
This. I was like "What?! Why can't I wear this?!?!"
 
As a newer player to this server, I was severely disappointed that I wasn't allowed to equip armor that I found as loot. 100% for this.
 
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