Is Jeweler the toughest craft?

[Nycah]

Sorry for the newb question, but I just starting playing EQ2 last month. Looking around, I decided to try my hand at tradeskills. I made my main a Provisioner, alt1 a Carpenter and alt2 a Jeweler.

Here's my problem:

Leveling up my tradeskills, my main and alt1 have no problems making "pristine" items. I go one level lower than their level, and get at least 1 pristine (or more) per level, which is making leveling go fairly quickly. (They are both at approx level 24.)

However, on my Jeweler, no matter how many levels I go down, all I see is -50, -50, -50, -100, and all possibility of getting a "pristine" goes out the window. She's currently at level 25.

Is there anything I can do to increase my chances?

I should mention that I took up Jewelcraft to make my main Bard Scrolls, as they seem to be very scarce on my server. So, I'm mostly crafting "Runes" (which are actually scrolls).

[Niami DenMother]

Welcome to EQ2TC! I suspect it is an issue with the reaction arts that you are using.

Having *finally* created a jeweler alt (my 8th crafting alt), I've seen how the T3 jewelry reaction arts seem to make things crash in quality quickly. Please excuse the lack of response names, as I am doing 60 things at once, and can't run to verify right this moment. I'll try to get onto my jeweler later today for exact names if the below is confusing to you.

How I got around it was this:

Set up your T2 (+ durability) jewelry reaction arts and your T3 (+ progress buffs) beside each other on the same hotbar.

Use the +durability/- success chance and the + durability/- progress arts from tier 2 for the first several rounds, randomly mashing the pure + durability art as well ... once you've had a few rounds where your durability (green bar) is beyond maxxed, then you can use the + durability/- success art every round and throw in the pure + progress art from tier 3 every other round. Add the +dur/-progress to the mix if it starts tanking again.

You can start adding more of the T3 arts in, BUT you'll find you'll often start really losing durability fast in T3 when you do that, and it then becomes more complex to recover because of one important detail -

You cannot use a T2 reaction art when you've used the higher version (T3) of the art in the previous round (something messy with timers, so it takes about a round and a half before mashing the lower version of the art will actually do anything productive)

Because of this, I've tried to simplify the explanation. The reality of it is that I juggle timing and all three arts in each tier due to long practice in ways that can be a bit overwhelming at first. :)

You DO want to sneak those tier 3 reaction arts in here and there, as that is the main way that you get skillups, but if you find you are really having issues with getting pristine, then set aside resources for some junky things in jewelcraft from ANY tier, and use just the T3 reactions on them every round to try to boost your skill up.

Let me know if this makes sense. :)

[Nycah]

Ok, I loaded up what I think is the T2 buttons, with the T3 buttons. Using the T2 seems to be at "tad" better.

What annoys me most is the teasing that it does.. I start out, and it gives me: -2, -3, -10, -4, I'll almost have it, then it will whop me with -50, -46, -118 and knock me right out of Pristine.

Or, it will start me out with a few -50's and knock me out of pristine, before it even gives me anything to counter.

It seems to do this more in Jewelry than Prov or Carp. Do you find this, also?

[Lalkin]

I don't have any experience in any craft other than jeweler so I don't know how it compares.

That said, I always get pristines.

My method is to use my highest +durability skills (all three, lose of progress, power, or success chance doesn't matter really). I try to keep enough power to counter an event at all times but otherwise each crafting tick I'll use all three skills.

I do this until either I have ~200 durability more that displayed max (I keep a running tally in my head) or my progress bar is almost through shaped (which normally means I kinda spaced out and my durability is through the roof).

Then I will hammer all three of my highest progress skills until either item is completed or I see durability lower at all. If durability lowers at all I go back to my durability skills.

A couple notes: ALWAYS counter events. the minor ones I think prevent getting a failure on that tick. The rest will give you back some power which is really nice to let you use your 2 skills that cost power. Also if you fail to counter a non-minor event you will lose power which really hurts.

[Nycah]

Are you saying to hit a "counter" even tho there isn't an event to counter?

[Lalkin]

Are you saying to hit a "counter" even tho there isn't an event to counter?

Yup. you can use all three skills each tick even if there isn't an event.

However be aware that if there is an event you must counter it with the first skill you use that tick.

[Nycah]

I saw this after I started on my carpentry alt, and by golly, it worked!! Now I have to log my Jeweler back on, and see it it holds true.

If it does... yowzah!!
........

Ok, tried it with Jewelry. It's a bit trickier, but it works!!! Neat. Now I'll be able to furnish myself with at least Apprentice IV songs. Thanks bunchies.

I'll go for the Adept when I get the rarer items in stock!!!

Thanks to the both of you for your invaluable input. You guys are swell!!!

[Niami DenMother]

{grins} Yep, there are days when you feel like you're playing "Whack a Mole" with the buttons, mashing them every round. When you use them that way, instead of just reacting to an event, you are using them to "buff" your progress, basically, and it makes a HUGE difference.

Based on something you said about thinking you had the right reaction arts lined up - you get a new set of reaction arts every tier, for the applicable tradeskills. The easiest way to figure out which is what, is to go into your knowledge book (hit K), go to the tradeskills tab, and click on the Sort button in the upper-right corner. Sort across by category and you'll find them properly clumped so they are in order by tradeskill AND by tier. :)

~Mum

[Nycah]

{grins} Yep, there are days when you feel like you're playing "Whack a Mole" with the buttons, mashing them every round. When you use them that way, instead of just reacting to an event, you are using them to "buff" your progress, basically, and it makes a HUGE difference.

Based on something you said about thinking you had the right reaction arts lined up - you get a new set of reaction arts every tier, for the applicable tradeskills. The easiest way to figure out which is what, is to go into your knowledge book (hit K), go to the tradeskills tab, and click on the Sort button in the upper-right corner. Sort across by category and you'll find them properly clumped so they are in order by tradeskill AND by tier. :)

~Mum

Heh, yeah, my fingers are tired !!! But it works!! Thanks so much, you two, for all the help.

Yeah, somehow I stumbled on that info yesterday, AFTER I had gotten my tradeskills up to over 20. I just never looked, dunno why. Does that mean I'll get more? And will I need all of them on hot keys? I hope not.

[kieroth_whiteleaf]

Typically, I've found that keeping T1 & T2 up, along with whatever my two most current tiers of buffs works well. The MAIN reason for keeping t1 & t2 up is because the power buff uses up less power so you can use it for countering if you run out.

Basically, this method uses up one hotbar and that's it, and works for 99.9% of any situations you might get into... but experiment and see what works best for you. There are a lot of tradeskillers (mum among them if I recall) that use some of the lower level ones (T4?) instead of the most current.. everyone has a different strategy, but eventually you figure out what works best for you.

SFG

[Liandra]

Personally i only ever use the T1-4 buffs. In a normal round i would use T2 Center of Spirit, T3 Precognition and T1 Round Brilliant Cut.

If i have an event to counter I would always use one of the T4 counters due to the hidden power regen. (major events restore ~20% power, minor ~5%)

The reason why i don't use the t5+ buffs is due to the lower lvl buffs not overwriting bug that SOE refuses to even acknowledge. The T4 power heals are too useful to loose that effect to the bug.


T2 Center of spirit (-3% success, +10dura): while the t4 buff is an upgrade (-6% success, +20 dura) i found i got a noticeable amount of bad rounds using T4 over T2. I will occasionally use it in the same round as i have countered an event due to the guaranteed successful round negating the -% success.
T3 Precognition (-6 dura, +18 progress): the T3 buff is better than the T1 version (-3 dura, +9 progress) and helps things along nicely.
T1 Round Brilliant Cut (-5% power , +9 progress): this uses the least amount of power leaving me with plenty for emergency Durability situations.


If i need to boost Dura a little i will switch to T2 Center of spirit, T4 Psychokenesis and T2 Square Cut.

If you dont have the t4 buffs yet try using the T3 Fixation of Spirit to counter all the (Major/Minor) Paradigm Shift events. Keep an eye on your chat window when you use it and you might see somthing useful. ;)

[Nycah]

Okie dokie... taking all the great advice given here, my Prov is up to 31, my carp up to 27 and my Jeweler up to 30. I'm leveling all my TS's equally, so my main char can harvest for all of them at the same time. :D

One thing I do, I guess you guys do too, but just don't even think about it. Since my prov can make +power drinks, I make sure I have the best one I can make equipped on each of my chars as they TS.

I haven't made less than a Pristine following all your instructions. :D

"Keep an eye on your chat window when you use it and you might see somthing useful" --- oh, YES... only my jewelers artificing isn't maxed, but she will be next time!!!!

[kieroth_whiteleaf]

You want to make power REGEN drinks, but you actually don't want more power - the trick is actually to get your power as LOW as possible.

Tradeskill buffs use percentages of your power, but your regen still stays constant.

Which means that if you have 100 power, 20 points of regen and the buff you choose uses 8% power, you'll never run out - you'll lose 8 power every round, which will be regenerated before the next round.

HOWEVER - if your pool is 1000 power, 20 points of regen and the buff uses 8%, you'll lose 80 points each round for a net loss of 60 power each round.

Keep your regen high and your pool low.

SFG

[Nycah]

Oh, yes, sorry, that's what I meant, Power Regen Drinks.

My carp is exp level 9, my jeweler is exp level 15, so their power pools are low.

My main is my bard, and she's exp level 58 atm, so her power pool is high, nothing I can do about that. But she's my prov, so can make her own high power regen drinks, as well as for my other girls. :D

[kieroth_whiteleaf]

You CAN unequip all your gear, that usually helps some. I generally don't bother, but if you're really having issues it might correct it. Usually I can get by with just the non-power buffs, so any power buffs are just bonus... if I have power great, if not, meh.

SFG

[Serenya]

Since I can't be bothered to fiddle with my gear either (that's bank room!) I also will carry some of the power regen totems that woodworkers make. For my pure tradeskillers, that's totem of the rat; for tier 3 it is totem of the flying viper I think. If I find I'm having power issues I'll use it, the regen stacks with that of drinks.

[kieroth_whiteleaf]

Starting around T3/T4 you stop having power issues - you still run out (faster, even) but it's not as big of a deal. In T2/T3 power is significantly more important.

My power pool is huge (ranger with LOTS of agi gear) and I don't even bother with drink.. Never have a problem if I'm actually paying attention. I think I've botched two items while trying in recent history (last several months), with both of those I got hit with chains of crit failures and at that point there's not much you can do even with power. But that's extremely rare (almost as rare as FoI).

SFG

[Moya Paradoxical'Journeys]

If one is still running low on power, totems that increase power regen helps alot! Totem of the Beetle, Totem of the Rat..

Moya's an 37 Jeweler

[mordruu]

I have a level 30 Jeweler and I make pristine everytime. I hit all 3 T2 which gives me some durability in the hole sort of speak. Then when my mana gets about 1/3 left i start using T3 buffs. Once I pass the first line the T3's finish the craft in large gulps(hehe pardon the visuals):o

[Moya Paradoxical'Journeys]

Moya makes pristine all the time at 37 Jeweler...but she is horribly dismayed at the rarity of the next Advance volume - and some folks are selling it for a king's ransom (1 plat). It used to be one could buy the volumes for a few silver for no one was really into JC...now? Moya has to pay gold; and quite abit of it. So Moya has been buying up the cheap ones, so that when she gets to that level she'll have it.

Moya will stop there, for she can get rather hissy and yowling about it.

[kieroth_whiteleaf]

I VERY rarely have to pay more than 10 gold for a book. At that point I just hold off until (if) they come down. If I have a potential commission for an expensive book I don't have, I usually tell them I'll do the work "at cost" and consider the book part of the cost.. they can either take it up and I get a book (and lose a bit on fuel if it comes to that, but it's still a winning proposition for me) or they can go to someone else (so I don't lose the money).

MOST of the time, the client would rather pay a bit extra for the book than try to broker a deal with someone else, so I usually win. At any rate, I come out ahead financially.