Researched Spells--Buying versus Crafting

Discussion in 'Time Locked Progression Servers' started by Ezra, Oct 2, 2020.

  1. Ezra Journeyman

    Looking for advice--as a new player on a TLP server, should I buy my researched spells or start grinding the research skill and wait to make them myself? As for as I can tell, the skill will be expensive to raise.
  2. Protagonist Tank

    EQ players, like most MMO crafters, never take opportunity cost into account. It will always be 100% cheaper to buy all the spells you and all of your friends need than it will be to level a tradeskill.
  3. Captain Video Augur

    All tradeskills are expensive to raise, and will involve a lot of grinding. Research is no different. In the early phases of the game, you can get by without them, but the time will come later on when you need 300 skill in each TS for the trophies they award and the perks each trophy offers. In the modern game you will need 350 skill in each TS as well, and you will need to have completed a whole lot of different recipes. So, it doesn't hurt to save the mats you collect through normal gameplay and use them as time permits to try to skill up a few points of this or that. There are guides for what recipes to focus on that are the most cost-effective (check out eqtraders.com if you haven't already). Go ahead and buy now any spells you think you will actually use.
  4. Healiez Augur

    There are only a few reasons to do tradeskills on EQ.

    1) you just enjoy them

    2) you want to be one of the first on a tlp to get your skill high, this offers you a narrow window of monopolization.

    3) You want some of the later quest items that require near max skill in every tradeskill

    4) You need it for your 1.5/2.0

    5) You are in a raiding guild and during PoP will be one of the first to get access to ele planes. The crafted gear fetches a pretty high premium at first.

    6) You enjoy making your own stuff and not having to go to others.
  5. Fluid Augur

    This kind of stuff is like a pig passing through a snake. As the mass of players advance, the spells they craft advances at the same level. That is, when the bulk of players are level 20, the spells available for purchase will be in the range of 15-30.

    In general crafters don't look back. The skins that drop for a spell range are level equivalent. If you want to make a level 20 spell, you kill level 20ish magic using MOBs to get the proper skin to create the spell. Nobody, pig in snake thing, wants to go back and start killing low level mobs so them's the breaks.

    I still craft a few spells for mains on the way up and ALTs until PoP, that's about it. IIRC, it is easy to get spell research up to 100 and that is good'nuff. The holes you get due to not having a spell can all be overcome by grouping. Both of the new TLP servers are a long way beyond needing spells at this point. I mean if you are an Enchanter for instance, Breeze and Clarity will usually be enough to get you into a group. Some of the spells you would miss on the way up are really desirable, it's just that they are icing on the cake so to speak if you group. There's a bunch of Magician summons that are nice to have. I've found not having a particular elemental for a level or two is inconvenient just not a show stopper.
  6. Ruhi Augur

    research is only worth doing if you're 1 of the first to make spells in classic/kunark - outside of that, you'll spend more plat lvling up research than just buying what you need.
  7. Ezra Journeyman

    OK, my take away is that overall, I'd be better off buying the spells. I'm not sure how important the trophies are though that Captain Video mentioned, as I've never leveled a character high enough.
  8. Captain Video Augur


    If you want to see the TS "endgame", do a search for the Artisan's Prize quest. You'll need to be on a Live server or a close-to-Live TLP to work on that, though. The place it might matter sooner, as was noted in another post above, is that some class epic 1.5 and 2.0 quests have TS conditions in them. You can search based on your chosen class for that as well.
    Ezra likes this.
  9. Ezra Journeyman

    I see. Thank you.
  10. Wengi Journeyman

    If you didn’t grind your research over 200 in classic then you’re far better off buying lvl 50+ research spells from players. Saltpeter is no longer something players actively farm and it’s what you need most to level research. I made close to 30 krono off selling research spells the first few weeks of kunark. At this point you won’t make anywhere near that so you’re better off just buying the spells from players. If you only need spells 1-50 then you could easily level research for that but after 119 skill it’s not easy to level up.

    If you can find 3-4000 saltpeter for cheap then by all means up research but I highly doubt you’ll be finding saltpeter in that quantity now that people don’t go to lavastorm to level alts like they do in classic.
  11. HoodenShuklak Augur

    That artisan prize is so soooo far away. Don't base that into what you're doing now as trades get a ton easier and honestly its years away.

    Research makes a little money until pop but it drops off faster than others.
  12. Captain Video Augur

    Well I only mentioned the Artisan's Prize to show the OP what the endgame is. On the assumption the OP was considering crafting spells for his own use, I also say just buy them. The only thing I've ever tried to make money on crafting-wise is bags.
  13. Tweakfour17 Augur

    Aug 2024 for Aradune/Riz by the looks of it, a lifetime away in TLP years.

    Research can be lucrative as others have mentioned if you can get the mats funneled to you and there isn't a ton of researchers on your server already. It also has a resurgence in DoDH for making the type 12 raid augs, but if TBM is a lifetime away, DoDH is at least half a lifetime away haha
  14. Fluid Augur

    Someone pointed me to this not to long ago.
    https://everquest.allakhazam.com/wiki/eq:Progression_Original_Research

    Some spells in there that I do, like Mezmerization<level 16 AoE mez> and Feedback<level 25 damage shield> are seldom needed, just really nice. Reason for this is you can just cast regular mez twice or someone else in the group will root the extra MOBs, that kind of stuff. Most pullers you run into at this stage of the game are typically very good as they have been doing it for years. The damage shield, well everybody else has a better one. I mean if you are casting a damage shield on a tank you are in a pretty weak group.

    Other spells like take for instance Magician Greater Summon 'pet' spells, the only one not research is Earth. Trust me on this, if you are in a group, the group will be radiating hate at you for this! You have to chose the areas you group wisely.