Is SWTOR Crafting being cut?

Back from a mini-vacation!  It was fun, we went to the beach.  Had pretty good weather the whole time, which is pretty much critical when going to the beach.  I also did not get sun burned.  Yay!  SWTOR is still swirling with possibilities since the Fallen Empire announcement.  I've been thinking about crafting, and I think it is going bye bye.

Crafting, as it stands now, is tied to companions.  They have special bonuses and are responsible for doing crew skills.  In the expansion,  you lose all your companions initially.  You'll also have a lot more flexibility in how you build your roster of companions.  In fact, there is some Alliance system which will handle it all.  Crafting is also affected by your companion affection, which you have to work at to max out.

Not all opf this makes sense in a new world where companions can be killed, and you have choices in which companions you can take on.  It'd be strange to login to the expansion and find you have no more access to crafting since you have no companions. That's why I think a big change is coming to the system, possibly it being removed.

In one of the interviews (Polygon I think), the word 'streamlined' is used a few times.  We all know what that is code for:  simpler.  Crafting, while already simple, is one of those systems that could be removed.  Seriously,  what good is crafting right now?  It can make a couple of useful things.  It also isn't very fun or engaging.  The last serious update it got was with the Galactic Strongholds expansion.

It's not a secret that BioWare is making SWTOR more Mass Effect like.  And why shouldn't they?  Mass Effect is a very successful franchise.  I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting a Star Wars game in the Mass Effect style.  Did Mass Effect have crafting?  Sorta but not really.  You could upgrade things.  That seemed to work out for them though.

I love crafting, when done right.  The whole Wow-style kind of crafting has never been fun to me though. While I would hate to see systems removed from the game, I won't shed a tear if crafting is one of them though.

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