What good are we?

[Druentia]

So.. if this is anything like EQ1 tradeskills... The items we can make are not nearly as good as the drops...? (Expert Artisan on EQ1)

Could someone fill me in.. i dont see why i should go through all the work to skill up outfitting if its not worth it.

And why cant we make most of our supplies our self, even if its more difficult?
I just like to be self sufficent. Once I get my main to a decent level i'll level up an alt with a skill that will be benifical to the outfitting profession i choose.

[Durgrok]

What good am I?

I'm a 19th brawler wearing a full suit of orange-level armor.

I have 10 slot backpacks with 20% weight reduction; shortly, I'll have 12 slotters the same way.

I've got adept-level of every technique available to me, because of my backpack and cloth armor sales. My mage friends love the fact that they, too, are wearing full orange-level armor.

Show me a 19th level brawler who can score enough drops to outfit himself and his mage friends in orange-level armor, make enough cash to buy every technique at Adept level, and I'll be impressed. ;)

That's just a tailor-outfitter, but I'm sure there are other success stories in the other disciplines.

[Artaud Terranova]

Good attitude Druentia... "EQ1 tradeskills sucked, these suck too, why would I bother?"

Don't. This stuff takes a long time and there's no guaranteed reward other than knowing you're wearing stuff you made yourself. For many that's plenty and fun, too, but for you it might not be that great.

[Druentia]

I love wearing what I can make... Im just wondering if it is worth it. EQ1 was a real big disappointment as far as tradeskills.. i could get so much better via drops, even from mobs i could solo.

[Philipmoris]

I haven't heard of any drops obtainable for a 20th level chcharacter that are better than a 20th level craftsman can make. From plate to cloth and including weapons thus far in the game you really cant be better equipped than through traidskills. I wouldn't count on that trend to hold till 50 but it may. tho even if it holds true that end game equipment will be player made it cirtianly will not last through the first expansion. What good are we? Well even in EQ1 player made elemental armor was what we equipped our apps in so they could survive the application prosess with some dignity. That being said an app to an elitist guild usually in one slot or more came to us in less than player made equipment. So even if that fact alone is a truism I say its more than worth it to develop this area of your character. besides that there were the quest based traidskill items wich were peerless in quality through out the game.

Philipmoris

[vae]

And why cant we make most of our supplies our self, even if its more difficult?
I just like to be self sufficent.

If u want to be self sufficient then be a provisoner. Its kinda sounds like choosing to be a warrior and saying "why cant i heal, even just a little healing power is fine". Lol everyone will tell u "play a healer". dependency helps defines your class, not just your final products.

I used to think what a pain it is to be dependent on other people (21 carpenter) but when i started making maple boxes i found i could use them to trade for anything i need (most of the time anyway lol). And actually its quite fun working with other people, give a try sometime. As an outfitter u should be able to make 10 slot bags? use em to trade when u need something from others. thats how everyone else survives.

[Marionette]

Short rule of thumb: if it ain't fun, don't do it.

Okay, so it's not all fun, but I just completed my first cured leather backpack and when it came out pristine I did a little dance around the room. :D

[Durgrok]

I found a Sisal Root for 19c on the broker yesterday.

Now THAT was worth doing a little dance over. ;)

[Druentia]

You guys seem to be taking things out of context.

I really enjoy tradeskilling... im an expert artisan on EQ1 ... I'm an expert artisan so I can do/make everything I want myself and for my friends. But, I could solo a majority of mobs that had better drops than what I could make. Which was disapointing. My question was : Is tradeskilling going to be a waste of time like EQ1 was (and it sort of was unless you had all flags to do the earring quest or could farm the super rare drops off 70 mobs). It wasnt a huge waste of time as it was a money sink... Even after Omens came out the ceramic stuff (for people who sold) went down from 80k (ceramic insense burnet) to like 9k on my server. And the only reason it was so pricy was because the components were nearly impossible to find. I rarely ever sold what I made, I offered my services freely to friends and guild members. But I'm just wondering if the armor is going to be adequate enough to continue my efforts or if armor questing is more efficent.

PS - I love backpacks.

Druentia the Pack Rat

[Yellowspine]

I see almost no comparison between EQ1 and EQ2 tradeskills.

Where in EQ2 can you get all the bags and boxes you need from mobs? Food?
I dinged a level 20 Zerker last night. In my bank I had a full set of Pristine Forged Carbonite waiting for me. This is as good as the Armor Quest gear.
I have 2 Pristine Forged Weapons, a shield. I earn 90% of my $$ from alchemy. I have great gear at level 20. I gained 350hps and around that in AC soon as I leveled 20.

Where EQ2 gear comes into play. If you notice gear, no matter if you get it from mobs, traders, a merchant, it is all close in stats. You simply have different ways in which you can gear out. I don’t see SoE changing this as you level. They have done a really good job so far at making 2 paths you can take to gear out. I bet Tier 3 crafted armor will be equivilant to Tier 3 AQ.

Not to mention, I’m having a blast doing tradeskills in EQ2! Going out and gathering what I need, meeting and working with other people to trade for stuff. Selling what I make. Really enjoying myself!

[Druentia]

Thx, Yellow.
That was my point :) I wanted to know if Tradeskills were equivilent (T3 for example) to the AQ/T3 drops/quests.

In EQ 1 it seemed that "teir 1" armor from tradeskills were no where near equivilent to "teir 1" drops.

[Durgrok]

Tier 3 Common Armor is slightly below AQ quality. Tier 3 Rare Armor is slightly above AQ quality. I've worn both crafted versions and compared at length with a monk wearing full AQ - he was quite chagrined to discover my cuirboulli was superior. ;)