Golden Path? (looking for advices)

Discussion in 'Tradeskills' started by DoomDrake, Feb 3, 2017.

  1. DoomDrake Well-Known Member

    Okey folks I am most certainly have my hat off before ppl who actually did full scale leveling TS from 1 to 100 and I bow to those who did it for more than 1 char :)
    Since we all been bent over (err asked nicely to do pre-req for Epic 2.0) and one of pre-req is TS level 100.
    I read some articles checked some ppl profiles on EQ2wire and got some vague ideas for spring to TS level 100
    Basically with about 7 draft of wise (110% exp boost) and 2x using hammer of adept hands (I still have few not claimed full TS vita portion - saving those for 95+ levels) I been able jump to level 83 alchemy). Rush order slowing becoming less efficient and since I am getting to level 100 anyway it also might make sense to get this TS Cloak which is BiS.
    Now here is a bunch of question
    I almost did not done any side TS quests so far (except for the Raffic timeline which I am up to the date for my level). From my understanding I should do TS Epic 1.0 at level 85? What other quest lines I need to complete (or you guys suggest to complete for useful things - like gathering obsession). And most important question - what would be "golden path" for level TS from 85 (95) onward to 100?
  2. Ursa Minor Well-Known Member

    I can't think of a better place to start than visiting the site of Niami Denmother. You won't find a more comprehensive collection of EQ2 tradeskill information.
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  3. santargria Well-Known Member

    If I were you - Go do the Othmir series and get the othmir Shell Armor suit - Destiny of Velous

    Also do the cobalt Scar series to get the Hand of the maker (same link as above)

    Those 2 items will help you quite a bit

    Also, when you get over lvl 95 - unless you have lots of plat you want to get rid of, only do the lvl 95 writs.
    The reason being, the lvl 95 uses 5 fuels and over that they use 25! The going is a little slower, but it saves you a lot of plat from buying fuels - and you will buy a lot

    For the Tradeskill epic you're going to need the help of 8 other crafters. IMO this should be done AFTER you do the push to lvl 100. It's a nice cloak but the KA one is much better.

    Hope that helps a bit - I have 25 lvl 100 crafters - it's not that bad once you've done 4 or 5 LOL
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  4. Finora Well-Known Member

    I couldn't tell you the 'fastest' way, but I typically do most of the crafting quests available on my characters as I'm leveling crafting. You can also do the daily transmuting/tinkering/adorning quests (super fast) for a decent amount of xp.

    That will also give you a bit of a break away from the crafting table.
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  5. Melt Actually plays the game

    Rush order to 95, then pop everything you can and do AoM weekly, then just grind up the rest. AoM weekly in optimal full bonuses is an easy 95-98 in one quest with no vet bonus.
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  6. Mermut Well-Known Member

    The fastest (and most boring) way to level crafting is rush orders, rush orders and more rush orders.
    However, I'd suggest doing the tradeskill time (http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Tradeskill_Timeline). You'll get AA, xp, advanced recipe books and other useful rewards.
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  7. Crastinal Active Member

    "Golden Path" to crafting: Niani Denmother's site is the best resource out there. Skipping crafting quests on appropriate level can be problematic, because there is no way to mentor down and get XP once a quest is grey.

    I see you are already level 83, good time to start working on Epic 1.0 though, it's level 80, not 85 -- 85 is the flying mount line.

    There are some strides one can take for crafting, if you're in a hurry. Up until level 50, rush orders hands down. From 50 until 90-ish... Mara. Mara Mara Mara Mara Mara Mara. Get to Mara and talk to the quest giver upstairs for the group tradeskill quest. Do it solo, takes about 90 minutes a trip and gives solid XP if you're under 90. Good Far Seas faction to purchase these mounts too. From 50 to 90 it's insanely fast, you literally can level a crafter from 1-100 in 24 hours through that route. You will never want to craft again, but hey, you asked the fastest way, not the best.

    Also remember to go back to Qho (you will love him!) and do his questline to get the pony.
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  8. Meirril Well-Known Member

    If you do not intend to be a "serious crafter" but you are doing this just as an adventurer there isn't any point to doing most of the crafting quests. That said, the level 100 cloak is too nice to ignore. That said, it is a hell of a lot of work.

    The easiest way to get your faction with Bethlazid Watch is as an adventurer. Instead of grinding the crafting repeatable for 500 faction per pop talk to the NPCs around the fort. You can find at least 4 adventuring quests that will give you 5000 faction per quest which will let you devote more time to grinding Rush Orders which is much more efficient for leveling. Then run the rest of the way through the Proof of the Pudding quest to get your first crafting cloak.

    Then grind Rush Orders till you hit 95. Make sure you use all your xp potions on the Rush Orders because that will be the most efficient time to use them. Same with the hammers for vitality. Once you hit 95 take a break from Rush Orders and check your mail. You should have a mail from Captain Ethan. You'll need to do enough of the ToV era crafting quest to take you into VI and rescue Captain Ethan (this should also be a good opportunity to do the last Qho quest and upgrade your Pack Pony if you have progressed that far).

    Once you rescue Captain Ethan (finish Captain Overboard) you can immediately zone and then check your mail for a new letter from Captain Ethan to help with an investigation. This is the lead in to ToT-era crafting quests which you need to finish the entire signature line to get the starting letter from the Galfey Queen to start KA crafting sig. You'll need to be 100 to get the ToT starter, so you might need to grind some rush orders.

    General hints on Prestige Abilities and AA: Pick up anything that boosts durability and Progress. The Harvesting line of the Prestige abilities is the best for questing. Being able to summon work stations at will is very helpful. Yes you can do that with tinkered items, but seriously why? Only spec experimentation when you are going to experiment, and mass production when you aren't questing. Mass Production can't be used on most quests because it only triggers quest flags once. (it can be used on the Group Instances since the turn in takes all of the quest items in your inventory. You can seriously finish the entire instance in 10 minutes with mass production). Oh, and always spec Trim Reaver. Rare Harvest Chance is an absolute cheat.

    Outside of the 2nd Crafting Cloak, and the censure from ToT;s sig line and the Earring of the Solstice the rest of the crafting rewards are really not all that useful for an adventurer. Well, the evac ability from the Crafting Weapon is nice, but as a Beastlord you won't have much use for it. While crafting gear helps, it doesn't make a huge difference in crafting and certainly does nothing for adventuring.
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  9. Mensa Member

    YES! Also remember to pick up the Overlord Overload quest from the clipboard behind one of the questgivers outside. It's a one-kill quest and nets you 10,000 faction with them. With that and two of the other 5k faction quests that's all you need to get the needed faction to progress with the timeline.
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  10. Hexalobular Well-Known Member

    Which writs are these that don't compensate you for your fuel costs?
    If you're not grinding faction but just levels then do the ordinary city crafting writs so you don't have to pay for the fuel.
  11. Crastinal Active Member

    And remember that if you spec for mass-production (just enough to hand back ingredients) you're actually making money as well as status on writs. Going that route it's well worth do rush orders to 100.
  12. Hexalobular Well-Known Member

    I still want to know which writs you don't make money on even without mass-production?
    It's still a good idea, making more money is always nice, but I can't recall seeing any writs that didn't either pay well enough that I made a profit after calculating fuel costs or explicitly compensated for fuel costs, like the city tradeskill writs.
  13. Mensa Member

    You've peaked my curiosity. How can you make more money doing writs with mass production? Oh, and I agree about you still being able to make money on +95 writs. The only gripe one can have from doing them is having to hit the fuel merchant up more often (but if your guild hall is set up right this isn't an issue at all).
  14. Hexalobular Well-Known Member

    You don't want to use mass-production when doing writs because it doesn't count, so you'd lose money.
    But if you put AA's in the Mass-production tree, before you get to the actual mass-production, you can get a portion of the ingredients or fuel refunded.

    Crastinal formulated that better, I can see how my post would be confusing if one didn't read that first.
  15. Niami DenMother Well-Known Member

    Hmmm, we haven't had anyone submit a "Golden Path" that is expressly for leveling crafting for the sake of adventuring, only for those who are serious about crafting. If nobody gets to it first, it is another thing to put on my overflowing To Do list as health and energy allow.

    But to get back to the OP, from 85 to 95, once you've finished the crafting Epic 1.0, writs are likely the fastest, if most boring way to do it. The DoV questline, the WL questline and the CS questline would give you more xp in large chunks, but that's counterbalanced by travel time, remembering to bring mats with you, etc.

    At 95, you will want to do the AoM crafting line. The xp from it is very solid, and at the end of the line the HUGE xp dailies and weekly unlock. You will also get a ring that can be equipped at crafting level 97 that will give you an xp boost for those last couple of crafting levels.

    You will need to do at least the start of the ToV line, notably The Captain's Lament. It will be required before you can do the ToT line, which you'll need before you can do the KA line. (Captain Ethan needs to know you're reliable before he'll refer you on, after all :D)

    Now, as to the "what crafting items should you get along the way?" If you are a class that doesn't get an evac/escape spell, and you want a non-combat evac item, then you'll want to do the Paineel then Que'Ule parts of the SF crafting line, then Shadows of the Betrayed.

    You've already mentioned Raffik and the Gathering Obsession, so I know you know about those.

    Other stuff, well, it all depends on if you're going to use your crafting skill once you go to the trouble of leveling it to 100. :D The CS questline I linked above has some gloves, "The Hand of the Maker" awarded during the endline that are good for 10-item mass production without the need to respec. They're also good for experimentation. The Coldain Prayer Shawl is great when working with rares, especially making GM spells and the like, and you want an added chance to get a "free" combine that returns all your mats - it is long, it is an involved and grindy HQ. The reward is totally worth it for serious crafters, but if you're not going to be serious about it, you might want to shelve that line for now. :D


    ~Mum
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  16. Conifur Well-Known Member

    The AoM TS line gives great exp and the daily and weekly are good after. Also you can get the Rallic pack from daily on Tuesdays I believe.
  17. DoomDrake Well-Known Member

    Wow, thank you ladies and gentlemen!
    That was one really AWESOME read (for lack of better words) thank you EVERYONE for input
    So far I did hit 95 (yes the simple answer was draft of wise and pop the hammer of adept hands every time is up) to summarize it. It took me 8x1 hour portions + 2 hammer reset to run from 9 to 95. I picket alchemy for reason that dark elf have bonus in it. I spec to get max progress and dura gain. Using all AA points to get skills at level 20 really boosted speed. Also (I think you guys know that anyway) I have noticed that doing rush order can be boosted in terms of speeding up execution. All you need once you hit "begin" press all 3 available crafting skill (like 1-2-3) - net result you jump like 2 bars forward out of 4, the let 1 tic go natural way and then again press same all skills 1-2-3 (even w/o anything needed to counter!) I'd say I was able in the end squeeze 3 rush order in 10 minutes of time!
    As for the quests I done so far - I done TS Epic 1.0 (for earring)
    I done full line of Gathering Obsession and now up to letter of Captain Ethan and I guess Gathering Obsession beyond grave (yes I want at least get that darn pony that collect rare for all pain I took to get to level where I am :D)
    I done all Rafic quests but 2 last one that do require level 100 for execution
    With TS prestige ,,,
    I pick harvesting rare boost and goblin out of curiosity - here is a question is it worth time to convert this goblin into the merc? How goblin merc (brigand/fury as I understand) compare to say sarnak (ranger/warden) and to Zhurgus (inquisitor)? I got 1 point to salvage - do I need more of it? I put amp point into food/drink preservation (moneys saving ehm always good ah?) and have in mind to boost speed on my mount by 10%. I do not really see myself doing a lot crafting in future (well may be some most useful portions here and where, may be some new purple adorns but that pretty much it so I am not even sure what should I pick more along those lines (in terms skills that could be useful for adventure rather the trade skills).
    Just to summarize:
    From 95 I need to do Captain Ethan (at least to point of Captain Lament) for the cloak pre-req and for finishing better version of pony? Once I done that move to AoM and do quest line until I hit 100? (yes my hammer due to reset today). Also is doing mount level 100 quest worth it? (I mean how's TS mount stat wise compare to regular adventure one)? Is goblin conversion worth of doing it? And yeah since I endure THAT much pain to get where I am - I will most certainly go for KA cloak
  18. Melt Actually plays the game

    Yes, it is worth doing the AoM timeline. The Mark of the Far Seas gives an XP buff that is nearly necessary for levelling from 95-100. Again, after the timeline, the weekly and daily open. The AoM weekly gives a stupid amount (3 levels for me). Not sure about dailies, but the weekly is insane. Eyes on the prize, the cloak is very nice.
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  19. DoomDrake Well-Known Member

    Eh another stupid question ... how I do start AoM timeline .. do I need first finish Captain Ethan timeline or just part of it?
  20. Xianthia Well-Known Member


    Need to be level 95 crafter, get mail then can start. If you just dinged 95, try zoning to "force" the mail, otherwise can go to Mara and speak to NPC Jerol.

    I don't remember if there were any pre reqs for aom and lean towards only need level 95. That said, I suggest you do your level 90 and Captain's Lament, as those seem to be hold out for other things (both from Ethan in Mara).

    Edit to clarify - Captain's Lament is a five minute quest which involves some zoning. This is the quest you need done for requisites for other quest lines.
    Captain Overboard is the ToV much more involved quest line. Didn't want to confuse anyone since the word "Captain" is in both quest titles.
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