Artisan leveling on IoR or in City??

[Ceggon]

So I've been leveling up still in IoR, even though I could get the citizen quest and head out. I've been doing it because of the posts talking about the competitiveness of getting to nodes, which I havn't had any problem with in IoR. While the things they produce is limited, I've been able to harvest my little heart out with essentially no conflict with other folks.

I'm about to start fresh on a new server to connect up with some EQ1 friends, so I'll be skilling up anew. Anyone have any opinions about level 1-10 skilling in or out or IoR? One thing I'm particularly curious about is dropped books... my initial impression was that they didn't drop in IoR, however a post by Seregila seemed to indicate one dropped from a named wolf on IoR.

anone got an opinion?? =)

Ceggon

[quie]

my opinion (for what it's worth - which isn't much! lol) get your harvesting skills up as high as you can before leaving the island because the harvesting nodes are contested in lower level zones and you need them to be a certain level before you can harvest in the higher zones .. the crafting though components are more expensive than on the mainland so I'm not sure I'd stay for that .. much easier to make money once you get off there too

but right now, I'm level 11 adv and lvl 10 scholar but I'm stuck wandering around the lower level zones competeing for nodes because when I go out into commonlands I can't harvest anything :(

I had an alchemy 9 book drop on IoR from a goblin if i remember right .. so they do drop there

[Elyana]

I set a goal for each of my toons to have 5 bags, and 8 boxes before I leave the island, and I make sure I have a stack each of elm, salt, lead, and roots banked too (not tin though.. thats masochistic!). This puts me at lvl 8-9 ish (depends on if I also make my spells for my mage/priest or my scouts bow and arrows and skills or not =P). I feel this is much smarter to do on the island, where you may not get rares but you can get nodes with little rudeness on the part of others.

[Ceggon]

I kinda thought it all hung on the issue of the nodes.... thanks for the responses :)

Ceggon

[Dafydd]

my opinion (for what it's worth - which isn't much! lol) get your harvesting skills up as high as you can before leaving the island because the harvesting nodes are contested in lower level zones and you need them to be a certain level before you can harvest in the higher zones .. the crafting though components are more expensive than on the mainland so I'm not sure I'd stay for that .. much easier to make money once you get off there too

but right now, I'm level 11 adv and lvl 10 scholar but I'm stuck wandering around the lower level zones competeing for nodes because when I go out into commonlands I can't harvest anything :(

I had an alchemy 9 book drop on IoR from a goblin if i remember right .. so they do drop there

The Alchemy 4&5 books drop there as well. And yes the nodes in the Tir 1 city zones are HIGHLY competed for. If i was starting a new char I would definatly max mining and forestry on IOR.

However there is one thing to consider. There are no Badger nest that I know of on IOR so trapping skill will still need work in the lowbie zones. So one might argue that since you have to get your trappin up you might as well get the others up at the same time. back to the other argument in favor of IOR pelts can be harvested by killing anuimal and so one may say that trapping is not as needed a skill as mining or forestry for example.

[Popsi]

Another reason to head to the big city is that the quests pay lot better and the books are cheaper. I haven't found harvesting ~that hard in Qeynos - just try the other instances if the one you picked is picked over.

[Oakraven]

The Alchemy 4&5 books drop there as well. And yes the nodes in the Tir 1 city zones are HIGHLY competed for. If i was starting a new char I would definatly max mining and forestry on IOR.

However there is one thing to consider. There are no Badger nest that I know of on IOR so trapping skill will still need work in the lowbie zones. So one might argue that since you have to get your trappin up you might as well get the others up at the same time. back to the other argument in favor of IOR pelts can be harvested by killing anuimal and so one may say that trapping is not as needed a skill as mining or forestry for example.

That and traping nodes seem to be underspawning compared to the other nodes, but It seems you can get pelts from mob drops throught the game. the only catch is that you risk the zones your hunting turning into 100% traping nodes only

as for packs, I end up with a 8 slot when I get to qeynos because theirs one that you get as a quest reward if you do the right thing.(do the wrong thing and you get thanks and a couple of copper)

[FenixFyre]

Another thing you can do on the Isle if you get burned out on the tradeskill grind is get your character to 6 +220% adventure level and you can solo most everything on the Isle. I've done this with all 4 archetyes so I know it can be done, but scout IS the hardest to solo IMO. Once you get XP capped, you can run around killing blues and greens trying to get those elusive dropped artisan books. When the mobs drop chest loot, it usually sells for around 1.3 sp or so, a fairly decent way to make money on the Isle as well. I did this with a fighter, got 4 books in the span of a week and around 30 sp. When I went to Qeynos, I did every quest I could find (was a lot easier to do when they didn't cap the number of active quests) and had 1 gp by the time I dinged 10.

Even with all the changes, I try to max out as much as I can on the Isle before I head to the city. Crafting is "easier" in the city, but you get more XP making everything from scratch.