I know among many people, the abbreviation "NGE" is a curse. It brought about a number of bad game changes and designs, eventually including content that felt really out of place (Ewok festival of love, anyone?).
On the other hand, from a dispassionate perspective, both the CU and NGE brought about some really good ideas that were overlooked.
If you think about pre-CU and doing high-end content, what kind of equipment are you going to be using? Composite armor. T-21 rifle. Powerhammer. Lightsaber. PvP varies a shade more on weapons, since composite armor is weak against stun damage.
The CU introduced a core system for armor, changing the focus of crafting from the /type/ of armor to the /core/ of armor, which could then be inserted in any armor skin. Eventually in the NGE, the devs did the same thing for weapons. It introduced a broad range of graphical diversity, since you could actually get a weapon in the style you wanted with top-end stats.
The goal for weapons is a four-core design - a "basic" core (the equivalent of CDEF weapons), an "efficient" core (with low HAM costs), an "overcharged" core (high damage), and a "quickfire" core (very low refire rate). Additional modifications can still be made with stocks, scopes, etc, but the big stats are now moving to the core instead of the weapon itself.
(Note - on my server, we've removed armor piercing/armor levels as a factor in combat, due to the effect on high-end PvE. It'd be entirely possible to alter or add cores to make this a factor as well.)
On the other hand, from a dispassionate perspective, both the CU and NGE brought about some really good ideas that were overlooked.
If you think about pre-CU and doing high-end content, what kind of equipment are you going to be using? Composite armor. T-21 rifle. Powerhammer. Lightsaber. PvP varies a shade more on weapons, since composite armor is weak against stun damage.
The CU introduced a core system for armor, changing the focus of crafting from the /type/ of armor to the /core/ of armor, which could then be inserted in any armor skin. Eventually in the NGE, the devs did the same thing for weapons. It introduced a broad range of graphical diversity, since you could actually get a weapon in the style you wanted with top-end stats.
The goal for weapons is a four-core design - a "basic" core (the equivalent of CDEF weapons), an "efficient" core (with low HAM costs), an "overcharged" core (high damage), and a "quickfire" core (very low refire rate). Additional modifications can still be made with stocks, scopes, etc, but the big stats are now moving to the core instead of the weapon itself.
(Note - on my server, we've removed armor piercing/armor levels as a factor in combat, due to the effect on high-end PvE. It'd be entirely possible to alter or add cores to make this a factor as well.)