tradeskill
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Making/Money: Newbs at Auction
... And we're not talking about selling accounts on eBay. One of the most frustrating aspects of being a new player in an established game, to my mind, is the cost of start-up crafting materials. Hit up any public market area, auction house, trade square or similar as a newbie and you will see what I mean. Even low-level items of any use (i.e. not vendor trash) are sold for seemingly absurd amounts given the time that would be required at early levels in order to generate the money. It can make the start of a new character infuriating and the game too taxing (pun fully intended) to continue. Why does this happen? What makes these things so costly? Why can't we all just get along...? (Oh wait, that's another column entirely)
Official Vanguard site encourages fledgling crafters with tradeskill guide
A tradeskill guide has been posted to Vanguard's VGPlayers website, which explains for those who are just starting the game, or who never got around to crafting earlier, how to embark upon the road of their chosen profession. To get started started with crafting, you'll need to visit a starting city and talk to a Crafting Advisor. From there, you'll have a choice to make on which path you'll take (Artificer, Blacksmith, Outfitter), and this initial choice will affect your options later on when you advance to your final crafting class.The guide also gives a few suggestions of some mobs that can be killed for experience, and then harvested for crafting materials as well. It really is a guide intended for beginner's though, and probably the best part of it is the link to Vanguard Crafters. The forums at this site are home to many enthusiastic crafters and a ton of information is already posted. Before you even choose a crafting path, it's a good idea to do some research at these forums to see if it's the right choice for you.[Via MMORPGDot]
The Daily Grind: Should crafting be risky?
In certain MMOs like EverQuest II, you can whiff profession combines -- which is to say you can fail to craft an object if your skill isn't high enough. We've even heard tales of people bombing them so badly at the highest levels that they wind up nearly killing you on top of destroying pricey materials. In other games like World of Warcraft, your tradeskill combines are guaranteed to work every time. There's also no mechanic in "specialization" that opens up the ability to make slightly better gear than a non-specialized person -- in WoW, you either are able to do that tradeskill, or you aren't. Some of the hardcore crafters out there enjoy the element of risk for the trade-off of being able to make slightly better items if you've practiced that trade a lot. Others like the knowledge that you're guaranteed to make at least as good an item as everyone else with your expensive materials. This morning we'd like to ask you where you stand? Do you think that crafting should have an element of risk, wherein you can lose materials but may wind up with slightly better items on a particularly good combine? Or do you prefer the model that WoW uses, that guarantees that you'll wind up with an item, exactly the same as everyone else's item, without the fear of losing materials or taking damage?
Tradeskill developer for EQII Emily "Domino" Taylor chats about her role
Tradeskill developer for EverQuest II Emily Taylor (better known to the community as "Domino") was recently interviewed by The Tairise Tribune. Anyone who has ever read the official EQII tradeskill forums will more than likely have seen a post by Domino, or a reply to a player's question, or a hint about upcoming content and changes -- in truth, her level of interaction with the community is amazing, and it's nice to see people's feedback and suggestions being acknowledged by the person who calls the shots.in the interview, Domino discusses her role with SOE and EQII, working with her team on deadlines (such as the huge amount of new content required for Rise of Kunark) and how working with gaming industry "celebrities" has been far more rewarding for her than meeting the Hollywood celebrities that she did in her former job. It also appears that she isn't above a little real-life tradeskilling too, as she mentions that she has recently been constructing Weighted Companion Cubes inspired by Valve's hit game Portal. Check out the full interview for more from Domino.[Via EQ2Players]
EQ2 Rise of Kunark tradeskilling: armor
We have one last link to share with you from EQ2 Traders Corner tonight. Previously, in their blitz on EQ2 Rise of Kunark tradeskill coverage, we featured their new harvested resources and furniture showcase pages. This final page has to do with pimping out your character's appearance (and undoubtedly stats, though we don't see that just yet) in the expansion, with a large gallery of the different kinds of crafted armor.This gallery has front and back shots of males and females wearing what looks like every kind of new armor. As with the furniture catalogue, it contains items of both the common and rare variety. There is one set of chain armor that has been updated in-game and not yet on their page, but apart from that, you should be able to determine what your avatar will look like once you've been kitted out by your local crafter after RoK hits.Have a browse of the armor shots, and stay tuned to Massively for more Rise of Kunark coverage both leading up to and after the anticipated release.
EQ2 Rise of Kunark tradeskilling: furniture
Earlier today we linked to EQ2 Traders Corner's article on harvested resources found in EverQuest II's upcoming Rise of Kunark expansion. This wasn't the only hard work that they did to document their creative journeys in Kunark, as we now bring you their tier 8 furniture showcase.There are nearly 60 screenshots in this gallery of brand new crafted furniture, from the expected lighting, bed, table and bookshelf items, to other more unique things such as weighing scales and hourglasses. Some of the paintings that can be made look particularly nice, and will surely be a popular choice for those wanting to shake up the aesthetics of their housing.If you're less concerned with what these items look like, and more with what they can actually do for you, the page also tells us that the common items will reduce rent status by 125, and the rare items by 1100. Have a window shop for things you'd like to buy in the expansion via the related story link, and there is more still to come from EQ2 Traders Corner later on.
EQ2 Rise of Kunark tradeskilling: harvested resources
There's not long left now before EverQuest II's world will be expanded once again, and Rise of Kunark is released. Leading up to the November 13th launch, the tradeskill fanatics at EQ2 Traders Corner have put up a ton of great information for crafters in the new expansion. One of their most useful pages details the tier 8 harvested resources found on the continent of Kunark.The names of all the new resource types can be found here, including the rare harvests, as well as a list of transmuting items. Apart from this, the page informs that meats will no longer come from animal dens as they used to. Dens are solely for hides now, and meat will be obtained by killing mobs. We are assured, however, that for those tradeskillers that prefer not to bloody their blades, there is a level-up path for Provisioners that does not involve meats at all. Check out the resource lists at the link below, and we'll feature some more excellent RoK crafting coverage from EQ2 Traders Corner, later in the day.
Preparing for 2.3: Pre-patch farming, part 1
Although your time to farm before the release of the patch is quickly dwindling, hopefully everyone will be able to spend some quality time over the weekend preparing for next Tuesday. It's always difficult to accurately predict what will be big sellers, especially since the economy on one server may be radically different than another. With this in mind, I've decided to simply provide a list of all the items that will be used in new trade recipes or for obtaining the new reputation rewards.
EQ2 tradeskill writs confirmed for Tier 8
If you were worried that you would be grinding your EverQuest II tradeskiller to 80 without any writs to help along the way, then fear not. EQ2 tradeskill developer Domino has replied in a thread on the official forums, stating that T8 writs are currently being beta tested for inclusion with Rise of Kunark, the new expansion that will see the level cap for both adventuring and tradeskilling raised to 80. It was also confirmed that the existing distribution scheme of writs throughout a tier, will be used for T8 -- that is to say, the writs will be at level 70, 74 and 79. There was some discussion in the thread as to the possibility of changing this formula, particularly moving the 79 writ a little closer to 74 -- people argued that there was limited use of a new writ on the second-to-last level, and that the few levels prior to this are punishing when grinding on a lower level writ. However, Domino stated that for the time being, the levels would remain the same for the new tier, and could not say whether they would be changed in the future.Are there any EQ2 tradeskill buffs out there that have an opinion on this matter? Would you prefer to see the last level of writs moved down somewhat, to bridge the large gap -- or perhaps, an extra level of writs to be added altogether? Or are you of the mind that it is fine as is? Let your voice be heard in our comments section.
Preparing for 2.3: Post-patch item farming, part 1
Nearly every patch includes new items for players to farm up. While these additions are typically new tradeskill recipes, occasionally other goodies are thrown into the mix. The upcoming patch 2.3 contains both of these types of items for your farming pleasure (or annoyance). I'll quickly cover the items, where they're dropping and the creatures that drop them in order to create a consolidated resource to help plan your farming once the patch hits the live realms.First off is the new leatherworking bag. The pattern for the Bag of Many Hides can be found through the mass slaughter of the Gordunni ogres in the Barrier Hills above Aldor Rise in Shattrath. This recipe will allow a leatherworker to create a 24 slot bag to hold the essential tools and materials of their trade.
Encrypted Text: Tricks of the trade(skills)
We've covered many different aspects the world of Roguecraft has to offer thus far -- from class quests to gear to number crunching. However, one of the things I've heard from people who are new to Rogues is the question of what trade skills are useful to take up and why. As such, this week's edition of Encrypted Text will contain some of my views on what each trade skill can offer a Rogue. Obviously, short of starting a wiki -- this is not going to be a fully comprehensive version of all that Trade skills can offer. But hopefully between my experience of bouncing between many, many trade skills, and comments from the seasoned Rogues in the WoW Insider crowd, we'll be able to de-mystify one of the earliest choices facing the new Rogue.
Breakfast topic: Hardest tradeskill
Just like in real life, in WoW, some jobs are harder than others. Gathering professions tend to be pretty easy and lucrative -- it doesn't take a lot of effort to wander around and gather stuff, particularly herbs. Skinning's a little tougher, but at least you get to control how many "nodes" you have by killing everything. Mining is widely considered to be annoying because of the intense competition for nodes, but it can also make you a lot of cash. The crafting professions are much, much harder, and tend to require a significant gold investment. I've only been an alch/herb up to 375, so everything else is based on friends and guildmates. Alchemy ... well, alchemy is easy. It doesn't require a lot of materials, the recipes are usually easy to find, and everyone loves the guild alchemists. Enchanting has the major negative of depending mostly on the kindness of strangers, most of whom want you to enchant their gear for free, but at least you can get the mats free by disenchanting your old gear. Tailoring has cheap mats, but you need a lot of them. Jewelcrafting is apparently difficult without mining, easy with it. Blacksmithing can apparently be really easy or really hard, depending on your luck (and your patterns!) The two professions reported to be the "worst" -- both in terms of leveling and overall usefulness -- are leatherworking and engineering. Leatherworking from 350 up is a giant pain, since you need rare patterns, and you don't make a lot of money from LW unless you get hard-to-find epic patterns. Engineering requires a lot of rare materials and is just largely useless. However, on the pain-to-level scale, nothing beats fishing. I would seriously rather beat my head against a wall than fish for more than five minutes these days. Admittedly, it doesn't cost money, but the cost in brain cells is far too great. What do you think is the hardest profession to level? What about leveling time vs. usefulness at 70?
Profession revamp preview
Professions have been on the drawing board for changes for a good while, but until now Blizz have been very tight-lipped about what specific modifications they might be making. No more! Nethaera has posted a nice preview of changes that are being made to many professions for "the next content patch," i.e. 2.1 (The Black Temple). Before I go into detail, note that Neth said her post "does not contain all of the upcoming changes, but instead gives a brief look at what is to come," so bank on more surprises to come. Anyway, this round is mostly buffs and new recipes, with a major nerf to alchemy.Full post copied after the jump as usual, but here's the changes I found more interesting: Alchemy: Elixirs now stack in two categories, Battle (Offensive) and Guardian (Defensive) Elixirs. You can only have one of each type of Elixir up at a time. As a result Elixirs now stack with class abilities such as "Arcane Intellect." I totally called this (as did many others, I'm sure). The intended effect is obviously to reduce the maximum possible effect of consumables in raids and other such situations, and this will go a long way towards producing that effect, without hurting alchemists too much (in my opinion). Engineering: "Seaforium" now opens locked chests as well as locked doors. About time; having to skip locked chests if I didn't have a rogue in the party has been annoying. But will Powerful Seaforium Charges open the top-level locked chests, or are we going to see new seaforium? Engineering: 11 new epic goggles have been introduced at 350 engineering skill and are available from the trainer. They range from cloth to plate, and have a variety of stats to appeal to most talent specs. This is probably the biggest change to any profession. I've always loved the goggles Engineering had to offer, and now engineers have something epic to work towards. Exciting! Fishing: The fishing timer has been reduced from 30 to 20 seconds and it now takes less time to fish. Sweet! I always though 30 seconds was a bit too long. But on the down side, Fishing has been removed from Arathi Basin and Alterac Valley -- what, you mean I have to actually fight now?! Jewelcrafting: The jewelcrafting UI now has gems split up by color so it is easier to find gems of a specific color to create. This is long-overdue; Blizz's profession UIs are so primitive it's not even funny. I would recommend ATSW as a replacement, but it tends to crash my client sometimes. Now where's my gem category in the AH? Jewelcrafting: Jewelcrafters can make two new melee oriented meta gems. One is found randomly as a world drop and the other sold by the <Faction> reputation vendor. Definitely needed -- but what do they mean by <Faction>? Scryer or Aldor? HH or Thrallmar? Any faction? Jewelcrafting: New recipes have been added that use the Jaggal and Shadow Pearls. Time to stop vendoring those, I guess. Skinning: Skinning higher level creatures will give more leather; you will no longer get a single leather scrap. Good, it was getting silly. Read on for the full blue post.
