Low-Level Biped Crafter wishes to ask...

I've been having some trouble trying to level my craft, I'm not sure what the heck I'm supposed to be doing to get any real experience.

I am a Lv12 Outfitter and a Lv10 Blacksmith, Lv11 Cleric and Lv11 Warrior. I need some platemail armor, so I thought I'd go the ole route of making my own armor, as that sounds funner. The first 10 levels go by nice and smoothly, but then... then I run out of quests. Right now, on my Lv12 Outfitter, I have done the Flax Spools, and the Hide Strips quests 10 times (and now only get 1/2 the experience for turn-in). I have 111 skill in the Outfitter crafts, and still have 4:1 (111 out of 200 max skill and I still have 4:1. That's over 50% and I still didn't get down to 3:1? Odd.... meh).

Anyways, just what am I supposed to be doing for experience? I tried filling my cargo disk up with as much raw material as I can, which netted me about 200xp. I need 7,200 for a level. As you can predict this didn't even touch my meter, at all. I tried turning those into something I had at least 75% skill on, first I tried tools. I got about another 200 or so making/deconning those tools. At this rate it is going to take me 4+ hours to gain a single level...

Surely there's something I'm missing here. I'm already wearing as much cargo gear as I can, I have the best cargo disk I can equip, and I'm also carrying the best sack I can find.

The Bronze Bars/Hide Tannin/Leather Tannin quests are simply not practical due to the sheer logistics (travel distance) associated with them, so I didn't do them, unless you know of a trainer that is standing Somewhat Near those resources/machines.

So what am I missing? Is it really supposed to take 3-4+ hours for one single level?

--Dhalin

i'm not big on crafting for levels, more used to having levels be a bonus to my crafting, but this is one thing i've picked up when making/autodeconning for xp:

pick a form that has its optimum skill level point the closest to your current skill level. this will give you the best return on effort.

aside from that, yes, there is a lot of effort required to level crafting, and especially on the second half of a tier it seems to take forever at times.

Couple of things

First, outfitter is great for generalists, less so if you're focussed on one thing.

In this case, you're looking to make platemail armor. Your best bet is to wander by Mahagra and chat with the armorer trainer. Armorers get more armorcraft per level at the expense of not developing their leatherworking and clothworking skills.

Next, find a journeyman shop if you can. At low levels a +50 point bonus can have a large effect on the amount of exp per load of bars.

There's no denying that leveling craft classes involves a lot of repetition. However, there are things that can be done to make it less tedious. I would bring my tools along and hunt golems, mine the kills and make stuff from the results, then go hunt some more. Add in trophy hunter and town marshall quests and you get adventure exp, craft exp, money and more adventure exp.

Granted, golems aren't the most exciting dance partners out there, but if you look at it as more strenuous crafting practice, then it doesn't seem all that bad. Also, don't neglect your adventuring. Adding levels bumps your stats which helps your crafting too.

The fact that golems are often found near machines whose purpose is to process bits and pieces of thier bodies is proof positive that golems are as dumb as a box of rocks. (heh)

I thought about doing Armorer too, but...

1). The Trainer (thus, quests on the trainer) are way out in freaking Mahagra. There is no bronze anywhere near Mahagra.

2). There are no jman or any kind of player-made shops that give bonuses that I know of, that are anywhere near any bronze fields.

With 1 and 2 combined, a Specialized craft does not sound like the best way to begin levelling. I was thinking maybe if I do outfitter... yes, I only get 8 points per level, but... the trainers for the first tier are right near the resources, so I can do the quests, well, until I max them all out, that's good for 2-4 levels or so. Then, when I have a good skill with mining and metalworking, I can go back and do armorer, I grab 5+ ore per hit, and I got 2:1 with bronze bars, and thus I wouldn't really need the quest NPCs as much, grinding and/or machines wouldn't mean that much.

But if you know of an Armorer Trainer that is actually near any resources that I can use, so I can actually do quests, lemme know. Or if you know of any jman machines on order that are near Copper and Tin ore... I'd love to know.

--Dhalin

Dhalin, why don't you use your dragon to help out? I've seen others use a main to help an alt in this way, I don't consider it an exploit as you are still doing the work after all :rolleyes: Find a trustworthy friend or guildie if you don't have the silos/shop, stock up with your main, then log your alt in and deconn away:p This might help you push through those last levels until the next tier in which the HZ crafting grind can be so painful.

If this approach doesn't appeal to you...potions might help at least speed the gathering bit up.

With whichever method, best of luck :D

One additional point: You will need to acquire the formulas for Platemail armour which can be a pain and a half at times,but good luck on that front.