I'm reposting this from the old boards because I feel it's a valuable way for a poor smith to make it through the hellacious 122-155 area in Smithing.
I figured out how to get through the ornate chain bit - and make a profit.
Last night I went from 133 in ornate chain to 155, where gold mail trivials. I made 500 plat in selling off my successes - after the cost of gold and patterns - and made another 700 plat while hunting. Not bad considering I spent 1k on ornate chain 3 months ago doing it the expensive way!
I did it this way...
1) Clear out all your bags. Get as many empty spaces as you can. Then make sure you have at least 1 stack of water, and 1 file.
2) Go to High Hold Keep. I'm kos to the guards there, after doing 3 levels on nobles, and the related factions are freeport militia and corrupt queynos guards. I never go to freeport or Queynos, so I really don't care if I'm kos.
Kill guards. Each guard drops a fs sword. I would kill them until I had 65 fs swords... don't bother killing the captains, they drop "rusty" swords instead of fs. Each guard also drops up to about 8 plat, so I got a nice chunk of change even while hoarding the swords. Strength buffs are a must, as I went to 250 weight very quickly. You can sow inside HHK, and the aggro range of the guards is small. The only things to watch out for are Ran Firespinner and Carson McCabe, and they're out of the way.
I got 65 swords in about an hour, even with 2 other people farming the guards.
3) Take your swords to High Hold Pass (1 zone over). There's a forge there behind a merchant's house. The merchant sells water, and while I was dubious to him, I could use sneak and buy water from him. Plus merchants were only dubious, so they didn't aggro me when I uninvised and smithed.
1 fs sword + water = 1 small brick hq ore + 1 small piece hq ore
3 small pieces hq ore + water = 1 small brick hq ore
3 small brick of hq ore + water = 1 large brick of hq ore
1 large brick of hq ore + water + file = 2 hq rings (that's what you need).
Large bricks of hq ore weigh an insane amount, so it's best to complete the process up to hq rings rather than lug hq ore around. HQ ore doesn't stack, but the rings do.
I needed about 9 stacks of hq rings to get to 155.
4) Bank your rings in HHK. I was kos to the banker (she's not on different faction - she is on guard faction), but I would invis, run behind her, remove invis, use her. Sometimes she would turn around and attack, but I could bank through her attacking, and then run to the zone.
5) Repeat steps 2-4 until you have enough hq rings. 65 swords makes around 2 stacks 6 rings, or 46 rings.
Extra loot made while farming: around 700 plat.
Then I made the ornate armour in Sanctus Seru, because it has chainmail patterns, water, and electrum/gold bars all within close reach. Plus I'm not KOS there
I succeeded far more than I thought I would, and skillups far faster than I remembered.
I ended up with a 500 plat profit, because I did not buy the ore.
I then went and used my 3 stacks of leather padding to make fs armour. I did loose 1200 plat going from 155 to 164 (when I ran out of padding). As far as I can tell, there is no cheap way to gather blocks of mq ore (required for fs armour). The 1200 price tag was on molds and ore - my padding I farmed.
So I came out about even for the evening, and at 164 skill
I figured out how to get through the ornate chain bit - and make a profit.
Last night I went from 133 in ornate chain to 155, where gold mail trivials. I made 500 plat in selling off my successes - after the cost of gold and patterns - and made another 700 plat while hunting. Not bad considering I spent 1k on ornate chain 3 months ago doing it the expensive way!
I did it this way...
1) Clear out all your bags. Get as many empty spaces as you can. Then make sure you have at least 1 stack of water, and 1 file.
2) Go to High Hold Keep. I'm kos to the guards there, after doing 3 levels on nobles, and the related factions are freeport militia and corrupt queynos guards. I never go to freeport or Queynos, so I really don't care if I'm kos.
Kill guards. Each guard drops a fs sword. I would kill them until I had 65 fs swords... don't bother killing the captains, they drop "rusty" swords instead of fs. Each guard also drops up to about 8 plat, so I got a nice chunk of change even while hoarding the swords. Strength buffs are a must, as I went to 250 weight very quickly. You can sow inside HHK, and the aggro range of the guards is small. The only things to watch out for are Ran Firespinner and Carson McCabe, and they're out of the way.
I got 65 swords in about an hour, even with 2 other people farming the guards.
3) Take your swords to High Hold Pass (1 zone over). There's a forge there behind a merchant's house. The merchant sells water, and while I was dubious to him, I could use sneak and buy water from him. Plus merchants were only dubious, so they didn't aggro me when I uninvised and smithed.
1 fs sword + water = 1 small brick hq ore + 1 small piece hq ore
3 small pieces hq ore + water = 1 small brick hq ore
3 small brick of hq ore + water = 1 large brick of hq ore
1 large brick of hq ore + water + file = 2 hq rings (that's what you need).
Large bricks of hq ore weigh an insane amount, so it's best to complete the process up to hq rings rather than lug hq ore around. HQ ore doesn't stack, but the rings do.
I needed about 9 stacks of hq rings to get to 155.
4) Bank your rings in HHK. I was kos to the banker (she's not on different faction - she is on guard faction), but I would invis, run behind her, remove invis, use her. Sometimes she would turn around and attack, but I could bank through her attacking, and then run to the zone.
5) Repeat steps 2-4 until you have enough hq rings. 65 swords makes around 2 stacks 6 rings, or 46 rings.
Extra loot made while farming: around 700 plat.
Then I made the ornate armour in Sanctus Seru, because it has chainmail patterns, water, and electrum/gold bars all within close reach. Plus I'm not KOS there
I succeeded far more than I thought I would, and skillups far faster than I remembered.
I ended up with a 500 plat profit, because I did not buy the ore.
I then went and used my 3 stacks of leather padding to make fs armour. I did loose 1200 plat going from 155 to 164 (when I ran out of padding). As far as I can tell, there is no cheap way to gather blocks of mq ore (required for fs armour). The 1200 price tag was on molds and ore - my padding I farmed.
So I came out about even for the evening, and at 164 skill
Comment