House smouse...

[p]Buy your house, set up your market board and never go back in it again.[/p][p] [/p][p]Then you never have to pay the rent and can keep the benefit of selling out of your house for free.[/p][p] [/p][p]Kinda a cheat, but works. [/p][p] [/p][p]Make a one time purchase of a 5 slot house and you can put stuff in your containers from the broker forever.[/p]

But if I didn't have a house, where would I keep Blikritz??
Houses are for storage, brokering, and showing off. At low levels, yeah, it doesn't seem like they're worth having, but if you never go in, they don't cost you anything to keep.
Others have already explained about the extra storage and the sales containers. Also, as you level, you'll get tons of stuff as quest rewards that can be put in your house. You can sell them, but money is easily spent, and these are mementoes of quests you did. Some people like having that "tangible" reward.
You can buy pets from the pet store and keep them there. Lots of quests reward you with pets. Heck, my main's house used to be a menagerie, with mantises, mummies, snakes, harpies, you name it all wandering around. I finally picked 'em up; they got underfoot too much. They're all toilet trained, too, so don't worry about that. Only one I've left out is good ol' Blikritz; I enjoy having a goblin around the house. (now if I can only get a Billy doll...)
There are a couple of quest rewards that are extremely useful, but you need a house to use them. Diety altars, for one, and there's a carpet that transports you to Shimmering Citadel as well. In-game events will also reward house items, most notably on Halloween and Frostfell (Christmas).
As for decorating, you can buy or have made items of any level. Your level isn't relevant to what you can buy or even what housing you can get. Guild level counts, but that's another discussion.
In closing, go ahead and keep your inn room. It gives you one extra broker slot. You can dump stuff there, use the extra storage, and you only have to pay the rent when you want to go in.

You'll get more broker slots, sure, but people can't buy from the specialty sales crates (placed as furniture) in your house unless you pay your rent.

If you go down Armorsmithing/Tailor then you will want to keep your tradeskill level about 8 levels above your adventure level. By lvl x9 you should be able to make all the items for that level range x0-x9. For example: I have a 24 Guardian who is a 29 Armorsmith, it wasn't until he hit lvl 28-29 that he was able to make a full suit of armor that he could wear. (for example not exact): Lvl 21 I could make boots Lvl 22 I could make a helm lvl 23 I could make shoulder's etc... till lvl 29 I could make the final piece a breastplate. Sages/Alchemists who make spells I think you just have to have the level in crafting that the adventuring level is of that spell. So to make a lvl 25 spell you need lvl 25 in Sage/Alchemy. Take a read through this site: http://eq2.eqtraders.com/articles/news_page.php

In games like this a lot of it is about status. Look at my uber armour and weapons, look at what I have achieved etc. In truth your house is the ultimate way to display your achievements in game from all your quest rewards to your wealth from rare furniture etc that you were able to purchase. Then there is of course the creativity involved - its the same sort of thing that made the Sims so popular - being able to make 'your' place just as it should be. Its the only part of the entire world where you have complete say in terms of its look and when its all said and done, often ones home is one of the most memorable things when one leaves the game because it really is 'your' place. It is difficult to explain but Im sure many people understand. Yes its not essential but I do think its important - if you do ignore it, you lose out on the ability to pretty much display all your achievments. And displaying your achievements is something people do a LOT in MMOs (see people trying hard to get rare titles, the biggest best looking armours, the coolest mounts etc).

My name is House Mouse & I thought you were making fun of me....then, that'd be fighting words!

House@Unrest wrote:

This got me. Sorry for the off topic but this was awesome

[p] There is no relative level restriction on your crafting. You can, in theory, sit on the newbie island as a level one whatever and get to level 70 in your crafting profession (getting materials and goods back and forth via shared bank). Your crafting level and adventure level have effectively nothing to do with each other.[/p][p] Crafting is also EXTREMELY easy and cheap to start; I guarantee you can afford it. Even if you're a Brand Newbieâ„¢ you can get going easily enough even in the starter areas. All the raw materials are available for free if you harvest them yourself and the first fuel components you need to buy cost something on the order of 6c each (so for 1 silver you can get yourself 15 or more of them). Once you have completed items you can often sell even the lowest level stuff on the broker to people planning on starting a new alt since there is little competition at that level of crafting. While you're not going to get rich making level 1-10 items you can ocassionally make a few silver here or there. Even if you just vendor the finished goods at that level you're probably going to break about even. The upside to this is while you're harvesting you'll inevitably find some rare materials which you can either use to make yourself better than normal equipment or sell for a decent chunk of change. I've seen Bronze Clusters, the rare ore used for weapons and armor in level 1-10, sell for 8 gold each or more. Not a ton of money for some, but if you're a new player without someone supporting you that is a *lot* of money.[/p][p] The only real exceptions to this are the secondary crafting professions of Transmuting and Tinkering, both are expensive. I wouldn't consider pursuing either of those until you've gotten a better footing in the game.[/p][p] As for which tradeskill to choose, your class has really no bearing at all. No class is better or worse at any particular crafting profession than the other. Now race might have some bearing if you choose to pick a racial trait that improves a skill. Every so many levels you'll get to pick a special trait based on your race, these vary from things like slightly increased power pool to increased stats to improved crafting skills. Not every race gets every skill, for example Trolls are naturally good cooks (don't ask) and can choose an option that gives them improved skill in that field. These bonuses are fairly small however, so don't worry too much if you can't take them. They're nice to have but in the end it doesn't really make a huge difference, there is nothing someone with them can do that someone without can't.[/p][p] As far as usefulness however, you'll have to figure out that for yourself. Some are better at making money than others. I know a few woodworkers that make a killing selling ammo and idols but I don't know of a single carpenter that makes any substantial income. If money isn't your goal then as a Templar/Inquisitor you're probably most directly benefited by Sage and Armorer. Realize though that if you are using your crafting to make your own equipment you'll need to keep your tradeskill level a little ahead of your adventure level to make any useful equipment for yourself. Also, just because those two are probably the biggest direct benefit don't discount others, Alchemists can make themselves potions, Woodworkers can crank out totems and dolls, Carpenters can make themselves furniture to offset the status costs of bigger houses making it much cheaper for them to own the larger stuff, Weaponsmiths are all around useful as there isn't a class in the game that doesn't use a weapon. Mostly I would just suggest going with what you think is interesting.[/p][p] [/p]

[p]I just wanted to mention that you can't go above level 9 on the newbie island because there isn't anyone there to let you pick your tradeskill class.[/p]

True, didn't think of that. I just assumed the fellow outside would fill that role like they do in the cities. Never really felt the need to try to level that high on the newbie island so it was theoritical

[p] You may want to take a peek at the Norrathian Homeshow forum just down the page a bit. A lot of players have really done some amazing things with their homes. I was originally a bit confused about the housing when I started, but after looking at the pictures of other people's homes - I've really gotten into decorating mine and have a real sense of pride about how my little home is coming together.[/p][p] It is nice to see the enormous wall of weapons that I've collected through my quests and playing. And my kitchen and gardens are getting better all the time.[/p]

House@Unrest wrote:

LOL! Hmm will think twice next time I name a topic....

My first cat - back when paying 5pg for a pet was an extravagance My 2-room house / shop - showing some quest rewards Now - 5room house - Dining hall And the Attic

Possible Nit Warning: Actually this is not completely correct. If you put the sales crates in a friends home and he pays the rent, they can buy from your crates. So if you just want the many broker slots+vault space and you don't care about the house itself, you can buy the 5-room house and then stop paying the rent. You then place your crates in an alts inn room or a friends house and you can continue to access them and sell from them, but without paying the 5-room rent. So Scotia is quite right on this one. Edit: inserted Nit warning

Is that tiger grinning?

I was wondering that too... got a set of chops on 'em

Okay, maybe I'm a little dense here (not too farfetched lol). So say you pay for a 5 slot house and you don't use the slots but add your crates in an alts (say 2 slot inn)? What was the point of buying the 5 slot house then? You are still restricted to the number of slots of the room you place your crates in? Unless you put your crates in the 5 slot house on the broker and then place the crates somewhere else (you can do this?). I thought the other people's market boards are inaccessible from inside their homes?