There is absolutely no failure in my logic. The reality from which you are hiding is that they could completely eliminate all crafting from EQ2 and it would have virtually no impact on the game.
Which would be first off, wrong, and second off, not a logically valid answer to the question at hand. Just because you CAN level just fine without crafting does not mean that crafting is unhelpful or not worth pursuing.
Of course crafting is worth perusing. I had a much easier time leveling my Guardian when I was crafting my own MC armor with rares I harvested.
Did you mean perusing (as in 'to browse') or pursuing (as in 'to engage in an endeavor')? Not trying to nitpick; it just changes the meaning of the sentence, and I want to make sure I am interpreting it correctly.
Cool. I thought so, but I figured that you might mean peruse in a non-standard manner (like suggesting that the OP give it a try before deciding whether to abandon it altogether). Glad we got it cleared up, though.
To answer your second question first, yes a lot of people craft to level 85, and then buy a flying mount with Station Cash, then level up their toon because flying makes doing quests faster and easier. However, unless you really enjoy repetitive work, this will not be very enjoyable to you. It takes a minimum of a week of grinding away at writs to get to level 85, and when you're done with that, you might want to continue to 95, do the withered lands quests and then probably buy the advanced level 93-95 books from the broker (maybe by then the writs will have provided you with the money). EDIT: Keep in mind that you start with close to 0 money, and almost anything worthwhile from the broker will cost about 1plat or 2plat minimum. When you get to the level 80 writs, you start making some good money, but not that good. This being your first toon, it will take a bit of time to get some money. SOE recently introduced Krono for just this kind of predicament. You might want to research that. Anyway, if you're low level, your harvesting will likely be limited to the adventure level of your toon. I've konwn some very dedicated people who've worked out means of harvesting anywhere, so it can be done, but it's not common. Which means you'll be stuck at handcrafted gear, unable to make mastercrafted unless you buy rares or someone gives them to you at higher crafting levels. Sounds to me like you want to make a profit and make gear that will be useful at all levels. Ok, then I recommend an alchemist who makes expert ability upgrades for fighter classes and poisons and potions for all classes and especially scouts. I play a high level scout and have just today purchased level 92 poisons to resupply myself. Also high level expert fighter upgrades go for a large amount of plat. Lower levels too, but they sell slower. If you also choose a fighter class, then the crafting will dovetail with your toon. But the best thing I can tell you is this: What is going to make you enjoy the game? I mean, making money, that's just business, almost like real life. Learning this game will take a long time, it's very complex, so I second the idea of getting into a populated guild that is willing to answer questions and group with you occasionally, if not all the time. With crafting there are quests that will level your crafting faster, and you will need to know where to find guides for these quests. Places like zam and wikia will have tradeskill timelines and questlines for you to follow. Google them. I don't know what type of toon you like to play, but I can tell you that it's a lot of fun in this game to play a shadowknight, which is a fighter class and it would make roleplaying sense for an sk to be an alchemist. An SK is evil, folr the good option, choose Paladin. These are worth unlocking, best money I ever spent, but I think they're not free to play classes. A free to play option that is huge fun to play is Warlock, they get powerful very quickly. I haven't played the wizard, but I imagine it's similar. Good luck and have fun.
You don't need to grind rush orders to level crafting. There are quite a few quests and quest lines to do to break up the rush orders. They give good tradeskill xp, good, useful rewards (like mounts and rares) and also give 'regular' AA that can be used to make your character more effective while adventuring... plus there's the stuff you can make as a tradeskiller. If tradeskilling is something you enjoy, there are lots of rewards for doing it. If it's not, then it's unlikely the benefits will enough to make up for not liking tradeskilling.
Except to remove one of the dimentions of the game that give it depth. When you're tired of questing, killing and dungeons, you can craft for a while, manage your broker and banker, then get back to the more active parts of the game. Nobody's forcing you to craft. You don't like it, don't do it. It would have no impact on the game if YOU didn't craft.
ignore this wall of text, Just roll what ever you enjoy and get to max level while leveling up xmuting
Not if they join a guild that has a harvest depot and harvesting NPCs. I got the harvesting cloak on a level 10 so it is certainly doable to harvest above your adventure level. It just takes time, patience, and knowledge of aggro distances.
Something MANY people need to learn as well as their AE range. The number of times someone drags half the zone on my head because they AE'd in Dreadcutter is just astounding. Just because I can survive it doesn't mean I want to.
Absolutely right. And here is what i do to level a crafter: 1-9 Crafting trainer quests 10: pick a craft 10-19 Varla or Tami in Frostfang Sea (all quests), I make extras to make sure I get to 19 20 pick a craft (if Varla, pick a craft before you do the last quest because you'll have a chance to buy books including level 20, but not in Frostfang Sea, you'll be zoned away) 21-29 Cordelia in Butcherblock, make some extra so you hit 30 and can do the leaping mount quest (worth doing both for aa and ts xp) ***Sometimes I take a break at the top end of this quest line and do a few rush orders because otherwise the skill you need such as Chemistry, Artistry or whatever, will not be developed, I also take the time to fill up my tradeskill AA page at this point. 30-39 Steamfont questline, at this point you will HAVE TO level your harvesting. Until now you've been able to get by with the harvest box or broker or harvesters in the guild hall. But to do the salt gathering quest, you need mining of 150. So take this opportunity to pick up: Journeyman Service Tiffin for Duggin Gathering Obsession and work them all up through Tier 4. I'm not aware of any questline for 40-49, so I just do rush orders, and get my crafting skill (Chemistry, Artistry, whatever) levelled up. 50-59 it's helpful to have favor with one of the Maj Dul courts if you don't already have it. It gives you access to the 50-59 books and scrolls. I don't think you can avoid fighting at this stage, but only ONE of your toons needs this faction, the books/scrolls are heirloom. After that point I just stick to rush orders unless I'm bored. Then I go back to Gathering Obesssion. I've done quests in Mara etc, but I find them much longer and slower than rush orders. Mara is important again for access to books and recipes, as is Far Seas faction. Look into Ship Out quest for the beginning of that questline. Much of what I've said can be researched in more detail at any Tradeskill timeline at websites like Zam or Wikia. Once you have a high level crafter, consider grouping with a trusted fellow crafter for the daily misions from Mara, those can take a long time i fyou're doing them solo. I think you can help with the group quest even if you haven't done the Mara questline beginning with Ship Out. One of my high level crafters can't get the daily writs from Mara, but can do group quests in Mara. Goodies: At 85, flying mount, 86, flying mount quest (warning, this will take a long time i fyou do the tradeskill one, but if you're patient, go for it) At 90, if you're finished with Gathering Obsession, the Gathering Obsession Returns quest rewards you wtih the harvest pony and the harvesting cloak At 95, you get the veteran bonus, helping all your other crafters to level up more easily Research the Proof of the Pudding quest to see if you know a few other crafters who might help you complete it. I wrote this off the top of my head so be kind in your comments please. Just add to it where I missed something.
Oh I know what I forgot, if this is your first crafter, you will want to do the faction quests in Kunark so that you have access to Danak, Riliss and Bathezid (Di'zok) recipes. These are easier if your toon is able to fight in these zones also, so you may want to consider levelling your adventure level to 70ish so you can gain faction both by fighting and by doing tradeskill quests (Di'zok is way easier if you can do both, I got to about 20k faction by fighting and finished off by tradeskilling). The relevant zones are Fens and Jarsath. The Kunark recipes are higher in stats than the basic recipes at level 70 and having faction with even one of these groups will provide you with the 70-79 advanced recipe books for the basic crafting recipes. At 80-85 you will want faction with Paineel, the Craftkeepers, the Kerra, and finally the Hua Mein (in Sundered Frontier), then on to Quel'ule for the 86-89 books. Plus extras, each faction will provide such books as "secrets of Quel'ule" which have interesting slightly higher stat items in them. I've never done these factions without fighting so I hope someone will speak up with tips on that. Or a link. This final Paineel/Quel'ule step is very tedius and doesn't offer much reward all by itself, but I did enjoy it for all that. Not everything is about the loot / reward given. It was a very absorbing and fun storyline, and so was Kunark. However, with refining and experimentation, these items now can be on par with Legendary or the lowest rung of Fabled items, so NOW they are worthwhile again. Previously I couldn't sell them for more than 5p and they sold very very slowly, but now I get a nice price for them at visionary / refined.
I had no idea that they had added so much crafting content to the game. Back in the old days, the only crafting quests were writs. I have found the beginning crafting quests (1-9) enjoyable and rewarding.I also stumbled on the Tami quests by accident. Guess I really need to start researching all there is available now.
Crafting is awesome in this game. I have all 9 crafters @ 95 now. Only been playing since May 2012. With the new expansion they added experimentation which you can upgrade crafted armor to be even better, including buffing your armor with heals/damage. You can fly once you hit level 85 crafting or adventuring. I have level 25 characters who fly because I work crafting up first on my characters. It's fast to level. You can do timed writs in which you craft 6 receipes in 8 minutes. doing 3-4 of those will level you in higher levels...faster at lower levels. Welcome to the game...this is crafters heaven really...
Not sure if this was mentioned yet and I know not all tradeskills apply, but one of the many great things in this game is the individuallity of appearance. And crafting helps with that if nothing else we aren't all wearing "t12 gear"
