Silly question

[Jarlek]

I just joined the armorer school after reaching lvl10 OUT. My armorcraft skill is 80, base. Now, on a newbie island I saw a formula for expert chainmail tunic or whatever with a req. of 990 armorcraft. Hum, if I'm at 80 at level 10 and gain 10pts/level as an armorer, how can I ever get to 990 skill. 980 maybe is possible, but I don't see how 990 is possible or my maths are wrong ...

Is the formula bugged? It was on a pawnbroker. Or are there anyways to boost armorcraft skill other than leveling?

Not sure, but isn't it a base skill check to scribe formulas?

Or maybe I should have waited to be higher as an OUT before joining the school?

Not a game breaker, still wondering and would like to know what's the deal, I have a long way to lvl100 but if I screwed up, would like to know before getting there.

Thanks

[Lascivious Goat]

I just joined the armorer school after reaching lvl10 OUT. My armorcraft skill is 80, base. Now, on a newbie island I saw a formula for expert chainmail tunic or whatever with a req. of 990 armorcraft. Hum, if I'm at 80 at level 10 and gain 10pts/level as an armorer, how can I ever get to 990 skill. 980 maybe is possible, but I don't see how 990 is possible or my maths are wrong ...

In the Help forum there is a sub-forum called Player Guides. There is a guide entitled "FAQ - Crafting" which addresses the first issue of your post. Here's the relevant Q&A lifted from that guide:

Q: Why is my base skill only X when as a <prestige crafting class> I'm supposed to get Y points per level of my prestige class?
A: When you switch to a prestige class, you get the first 10 or 15 levels for "free", you don't start at level 1. But for those free levels, you only earn skills a the rate of the crafting class you qualified in, not as that of the prestige class. E.g. Outfitter gets 8 pts / lvl in Armorcraft skill, but an Armorer gets 10. It takes a minimum of 10 levels of Outfitter to join Armorer (Armorcraft skill 80). When you become an Armorer from level 10 Outfitter, you start at level 10, but your skill is still only 80. So at level 20 Armorer, you base skill will be only 180, not 200 (10x8 + 10x10). Etc. Similarly with other prestige classes.

Q: I just joined a second crafting school. Why isn't my skill going up when I level?
A: When cross-classing, your total skill is the highest skill you would have with only one school. For example, if you are a level 10 blacksmith (7 points in mining per level), your base mining skill would be 70. If you then join the miner school (11 points in mining per level), your mining skill would remain at 70 until you reach level 7, at which point it would become 77.

At first I got confused with the second Q&A because it seemly contradicts what the first one explained. According to the first post, the Mining skill should only advance at the rate of 7 points/level and not 11 points/level because Mining is a Prestige school. But, both Mining and Gathering schools are the only Prestige crafting schools that don't have a pre-requisite like the other prestige schools. You can take up Mining and Gathering right from the get-go as a lvl 1 newly-created character. Hence, Mining and Gathering start at lvl 1 and there are no "free levels" as there are with the other prestige schools. The rest of the second Q&A still applies though; for Mining, you won't start gaining 11 points/level until that school has "caught up" to the Blacksmith level. Unfortunately, this doesn't appear to apply to a prestige school like Armorer.

One of the ways to boost Armorer skill beyond its theoretical max base is to apply Armorcraft tech to jewellery or armor items. For example, last night I needed to boost my Armorer skill from 193 to reach 200 so that I could decon an armor item. I did this by making two armor wristbands and applying Armorcraft I tech to each wristband. Buffs stack, so I got +8 to Armorcraft skill overall when wearing the two wristbands. By the time you reach the max base of 980 Armorer skill you will probably be able to use Armorcraft V tech and boost the skill beyond 1000. Items I've found so far that can have Armorcraft tech applied to them are armor wristbands (actually a Jewellery item) and gauntlets (Armor item) and tools.

[Lascivious Goat]

Bah, stuffed up the second part of my reply, so here it is again:

According to the first Q&A, at lvl 100 Armorer the max base skill is 980. But you can buff the skill higher through wearing items that have the Armorcraft tech applied to them. Buffs stack, so if you wear two Armorcraft I items, for example, you get a +8 boost to Armorcraft skill overall.

I included the second Q&A because it makes interesting reading: Miner and Gatherer schools are the exception to the Prestige rule of the first Q&A. These two schools don't have a pre-requisite, so you can train them right from lvl 1 and get their full skill increases at each level up. So at lvl 100 Mining, your Mining skill will be 1100.

[Jarlek]

Thanks alot, really appreciate.