"Yeah someone's gotta write one and .. I do have better things to do but anyway.
To start off, a mission pops into your journal once your toon reaches level 10. Oracle or Calculator will tell you to go chat with whichever origin mentor you'll have for this stuff (Will Magnus > all the rest) who will then give a brief summary of how this fits into your storyline. For instance the Meta mentor on villain side discusses the human genome improving upon itself or something. Makes this make sense for RP purposes. Well the important thing is they start you off with 6 plans that allow you to combine your exobits into exobytes and a power alpha that allows you to develop a power mod for your gear.
Plans are in essence recipes. You gain more from drops in every instance imaginable and of course, the harder the instance, the better the plan. There are also basic plans which you can purchase from the vendor next to the research and development machine in each wing. It's right next to your R&D mentor so pay attention when you're sent to talk to them (or they're next to the soder vendor in each wing in the Watchtower and down the ramp opposite the Pit in each wing in the Hall of Doom.) Certain other vendors sell plans as well, look around (especially vendors in instanced cities like Central City.)
Basic plan types:
Aggressive: Increases DPS stats
Support: Increases Support (Healer or Controller) stats
Fortified: Increases Tank stats
Vengeful: Combination plan for Tank and DPS stat increase
Tenacious: Combination plan for Support and DPS stat increase
Durable: Combination plan for Tank and Support stat increase
To craft or build that mod (modification/module/gem) you need exobits and materials. Exobits are gained from the multicolored collection node scattered around the cities (think like the yellow ? collection token.) Materials are gained by salvaging gear. BE CAREFUL! Salvaged gear will affect your Combat Rating so be certain you no longer gain any benefit from the item before salvaging. You may also need Equipment Interfaces, Soder Coler Enhancers, or other similar items purchasable from the vendor next to your R&D machine. These allow you to modify the item or gear.
Exobits:
Red - Aggressive
Blue - Fortified
Yellow - Support
Vengeful - Created with 4 aggressive and 4 fortified
Tenacious - Created with 4 aggressive and 4 support
Durable - Created with 4 fortified and 4 support
Super Speed - Used in plans from Central City vendor
Combining Exobits into Exobytes:
Follow that mission mentioned above in your journal. Once complete, you will gain several plans pertaining to each type of exobit (aside from super speed.) Collect them. Now when you visit the R&D machine, you will see a recipe to create exobytes. Follow the instructions.
How to Mod an Item:
[In this example, I will be creating a simple might mod for tier gear]
1. Research the plan for your intended mod. I am making a might mod which is a dps stat, so I'll be working with aggressive exobits. Obviously I will select the item called Plans: Agressive Exobyte (gained from my R&D mentor) and collect it. This allows me to use the R&D machine to combine the 8 exobits into my 1 exobyte.
2. Purchse the applicable stat mod plan from the vendor. In this case, since I'm working with tier gear, I purchased Plans: Might 1.
3. The recipe calls for 3 Aggressive Exobytes (so I will need 24 aggressive exobits,) Equipement Interface Type 1 (purchasable from the R&D vendor,) and 4 simple materials (gained from salvaged items.)
4. Be sure to craft your exoBYTES from your exoBITS using the R&D machine. Very simple process, much like having the correct amount of cash and tier marks to purchase gear.
5. Once all items are collected, use the R&D machine to craft your mod, same process as crafting your exobyte.
6. Now that the mod is in your inventory, simply select it and drag it to the item you want to modify. A diologue box will pop up for confirmation.
Salvaging Items:
Just like selling. Visit your R&D machine, tab to the Salvage tab and you will see all items available for salvage. Select and follow the process. Some items you will gain are vendor trash.
Important Notes:
[*] Be certain the item you salvaging is not something you still use, or your highest Combat Rating for that slot or you will lose the benefit of that rating.
[*] Tier and Raid gear have color coded sockets. Using the SAME color mod will give you an affinity (description is on the gear itself.) However you CAN use ANY color mod on that piece.
[*] Once the mod is socketed you cannot remove it. It will remain unless it is "overwritten" by another color mod.
[*] As you gain access to more gear, you will need to rebuild a mod for the new piece of gear. Your modified Tier 1 chest piece will not automatically modify your new Tier 2 chest piece. As of this writing, it is unknown if anything extra is gained from salvaging modified gear.
[*] Tier gear and PVP gear cannot be salvaged.
[*] So far it appears all items involved are tradeable so premium players lacking the funds due to cash cap can work with a friend to gain items to participate in crafting.
[*] Also at this time it appears only level 30 items can be salvaged. Level 24 epic was salvaged.
[*] Mods cannot be stacked, when you add a new mod to gear, it will "overwrite" the prior mod.
[*] Special thanks to Tesseract and Calixte for their patience and helpfulness in gathering information. Thanks also to Ashianna for the assist."