Any longtime players never bother with tradeskills?

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Raptorjesus5, Jun 22, 2020.

  1. Raptorjesus5 Augur

    Just curious. Feeling overwhelmed by the process.

    The rewards can be outstanding but everything eventually gets replaced. Maxing tradeskills is such an enormous effort and pain in the I am just really wondering if it's worth it in the end.

    Not to mention the sometimes overwhelming effort of keeping thousands of different tradeskill items organized. Which ones do I need? Which ones do I no longer need? Which ones aren't useful etc. Then there are trophies to worry about, another huge pain to gather and level up. Especially if you didn't do at 50 skill points.
  2. Tucoh Augur

    My recommendation is only do it if it's fun.

    The rewards are great. The artisan's prize is head and shoulders above everything else you could put in that slot. But in the end it doesn't provide a game-breaking experience to not have it. It's just one more item that's a bonus and is becoming less and less impactful every expansion.

    You can also try slowly leveling over time. Don't worry about trying to max them all, just focus on leveling blacksmithing and in a few months do it again with JC. Or baking.
  3. sirelothar New Member

    I've honestly hardly ever messed with tradeskills in all my time in EQ. The exception being Alchemy but that tradeskill is more just buying vendor crap and pressing some buttons over hunting raw items (Last played live in 07 so I'm sure things have changed, lol.)
    Corwyhn Lionheart likes this.
  4. Crystilla Augur

    It really comes down to preference. The Artisan's Prize earring (3000 HP/Mana, give or take) is an augment that will be quite some time before that would ever be replaced but requires the skills at 350.

    There are other items that require tradeskills to 300, but again it's only if those interest you. If not, it doesn't need to be done.
  5. Derka Power Ranger

    It's worth it in the end if you like to save plat and make TS gear for yourself or friends. You can even make plat selling current templates in baz to fuel your sub needs. In all honesty though if you aren't a min maxer I wouldn't worry about taking artisans prize past tradeskill books. You bring up a good point about TS trophies at 50 since it is way easier to do them at that point versus high skills.

    For a point of reference I did the AP when it came out and its taken me years at a casual level to finally max every TS but Research. The process is taxing and not fun. Some days it was easy to bang out 50 recipes while others it was more interesting to run missions or help people with progression. All in all I would say if you're looking for filler to work on after finishing progression then do it. Save every item that is listed as "used in tradeskills" setup a barter for Taafinite, Prestigidase, and all those other similar gems because you need about 100 of each to knock out a huge chunk of recipes in JC. Barter is your friend or auctioning in General since most lowbies are looking for spell money.

    I also went the path of easiest first like most. Fishing>Brewing>Fletching>Baking>Jewelrycraft>Smithing>Tailoring>Pottery. Although pottery wasn't bad. Smithing and Tailoring were drags.
  6. Xyphen Maximum Augur

    I don't think EQ will even be around long enough for standard augs to come close to the Artisan's Prize. I think the other highest all-purpose aug has ~770hp. Even something that compares to the base 1200hp prize is a few expansions out.

    So yes, if you're trying to max out your character they're definitely worth it.
  7. enclee Augur

    I got a few to 300 recently, but it was a waste of time and not enjoyable. Currently, taking a hiatus from the game because of it and generally finding the game unsatisfying.
    Raptorjesus5 likes this.
  8. Darchon_Xegony Augur

    Getting to 300 is extremely easy at this point in time.

    Getting to 350 is extremely time intensive but what else are you going to do for the 11months of the year where you have no new content.
  9. Smokezz The Bane Crew

    I did it on my Rogue when it first came out. Took until now to do it on my Warrior. Working on my Zerkers and Cleric now too. It's worthwhile, but definitely tedious.
  10. Raptorjesus5 Augur

    The few times I've 'quit' in recent years was getting burnt out from trying to do tradeskills.



    Something that doesn't make me want to pull hairs from my head in frustration lol.
  11. minimind The Village Idiot

    The first tradeskill I did was research... as a berserker. At least on Stromm, pretty much all melee missed the patch notes saying that melee could research tomes. I knew a couple melee who were missing some drop/progression tomes, so I decided to give it a shot. Then I started selling them. And that's how I made my first million plat.

    With the advent of Extraplanar Trade Satchels, I became a packrack. Eventually, I disappeared from EQ and when I returned, I wanted to do something low/no-pressure to get back in the game. So, using my Tome Research revenues, I gave the other tradeskills a shot. With everything maxed to 300, well, I might as well do the Shawl quests, right?

    And then I was back in EQ. ;)
    Skuz likes this.
  12. GoneFission Augur

    My problem with trade skills is that I did them here and there on characters it made sense for at the time. Now, it pays to have them concentrated for the benefits, like the trade alliance recipes that you only get from having multiple trades maxed.
  13. Corwyhn Lionheart Guild Leader, Lions of the Heart

    When I tried eq 2 for a bit I liked tradeskills there. No interest in EQ tradeskills. Been playing 21 years with no breaks and the only time I did any trade skills was for a ssra bane weapon for a raid.

    Same with overseer it doesn't seem fun to me at all. Maybe I will try it sometime but I didn't stick with EQ for 21 years so I could play some add on game *shrugs*
    Nadisia likes this.
  14. dreadlord Augur

    I didn't until current earring quest
    Not a fan
    It could be so much more interesting/less likely to lead to repetitive strain injury
    Now i've reluctantly got the ones i needed to just over 300 and can't see me doing any more
    (if you haven't got handy friends or guildies to make stuff for you, that would be a good argument for giving it a go)
  15. Nadisia Augur

    EQ2 tradeskills are pretty cool, yep, way better than EQ1 ones.

    But Vanguard tradeskills were even WAY better. Best tradeskill system EVER. :)

    @OP
    I do agree with Tucoh's 1st answer : it's not required, but it gives pretty cool bonuses.
    Do it at your own pace, if you like it.

    Some tradeskills are pretty easy to max : baking, brewing, fletching (on live. Back in the days, and probably on TLP, fletching was a pita for non wood elves/halflings).
    Some can be costly if you take the wrong route, or if don't get the materials to use the shortcuts (research comes to my mind. If you don't have a good stock of ethernere essences to craft guidestones, it can be expensive).

    You can do it slowly, from time to time, when you have enough material.
    It can even be relaxing when you're feeling lazy hehe: click combine, and forget.

    For Artisan's Prize, it's a really good aug, the grind to 350 is painful, but the Planar Progression can sometimes be worse.
    On TLP/ex TLPs servers, with Agents of Change, it's pretty easy.
    But on live standard servers, if you don't rush or track nameds after each server reboot, it can be frustrating ...

    Side note to devs : Seriously, please consider adding Agents of Change on Live servers, at least for PoP Planar Progression.
    It's just stupid to struggle with these trivial mobs because some people are not social enough to share their kills on /1 for planar projection hails ... :(
    Raptorjesus5 likes this.
  16. Flatchy Court Jester

    I have always worked on TS but not rabidly. After I maxed one I had to do em all. Well I say max when that was 300. Now I am still behind , not 350 in any of em. I really enjoyed the Artisans prize, The Shawl crawls, and all the rest you had to have done to get AP finished. I still only get 150 ac and 1500 hp from my AP but it is still the best aug I have. You can still attain that casually and be able to do the earring tasks they have been coming up with. WHICH I LOVE! I got one more level to go on my current earring. I dont care that they linked it to hunter or collector tasks but we all have to jump through their hoops from time to time. Trophies are not much to worry about. I never had a max trophy and was able to finish my AP.
    Heajol likes this.
  17. Tucoh Augur

    Other games and TLP :D
  18. Jumbur Improved Familiar

    I think the game-designers more or less expects everyone on live to have 200+ in all tradeskills...
  19. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    I never did trade-skills very much on live, think I had them all at 200 or less then.
    Came back in 2015 & this time around just decided to keep everything and anything with a trade-skill tag on it, it meant I struggled for plat some but it paid off in the long run, it also helped I had friends who were avid trade-skill collectors who donated their stashes when they left the game.

    I know a few players who don't do any trades but they are a small number.
  20. Bobokin Augur

    21 years and barely a dent into trade skills.

    EQ has turned trade skills into a boring time and coin sink.