Seeking an E'CI Ogre Grandmaster Smith

[Bearn]

I have managed to gather and craft all the components for the final combine of a number of pieces of Crimson Darkscale cultural armor. I am willing to either trade additional materials or pay a reasonable combine fee for each successful combine.

While I thoroughly enjoy smithing, I am a casual player and don't really have the in game time for the last 50 skill ups I would need to have a decent chance of success on the final combine of this armor


Bearn

[Lling]

Rreddroot is the MAN!!

[Bearn]

Rreddroot is the MAN!!

Thank you Lady Lling, but I attempted to contract Rreddroot for the combines. I was informed that he only does the smithing, his "business partner" handles the transactions. Upon contacting said business partner I found him decidely NOT interested in trades for materials, or even materials and coin. Evidently there is not enough profit for the middleman to make it worth a couple of item transfers and combine button clicks.

Are these two the only folk dealing in Ogre and Troll cultural armor on E'Ci?

Bearn

[Lling]

Evidently there is not enough profit for the middleman to make it worth a couple of item transfers and combine button clicks.

Bearn

/shrug

If that is the attitude you brought to the transaction, I don't wonder why you found him less than helpful.

[Bearn]

If that is the attitude you brought to the transaction, I don't wonder why you found him less than helpful.[/quote]

Milady, I brought no attitude whatsoever to the transaction. I politely and patiently approached both parties involved, laid out my offer, and was just as politely turned down.

In my response I was simply stating a fact. If there WAS enough profit to make it worth their while, they would have done the combines.

As it turns out, I was wrong in assuming there would be enough profit to interest them, and now have a bunch of high level smithing components I will not be able to use for a very long time :-)

As a non uber character without a guild, I believe my mistake was a natural one. I overestimated the value of the extra materials I had gathered, and had forgotten what I have been told concerning the ease with which a smith that has taken the long road to GM status can gather what would be to me absolutely huge quantities of PP.

After discussions with both Rreddroot and his business partner, I understand their reasons (ie not enough profit to overcome the hassle of doing the combines). In truth, as I stated in another post on these boards, I should have found a willing GM ogre smith before collecting the components. A very expensive and time consuming lesson for a casual player and smither.

Bearn the somewhat wiser

[Lling]

Let me do some poking around.

It is very frustrating on both sides of the issue - for the smith who has a busy schedule and maybe has a hard time finding the time to do tradeskills at all and for the person with the small guild who has taken the time to get components and who doesn't have a lot of PP.

Thinking that it is just a matter of accepting trades and hitting combine is so far from what happens. I tend to do everything myself, from enchanting my ore to powdering my BDs to making all my tempers. It can take me hours to do the preparation just to attempt a few pieces of armor. And I often go anonymous so I don't have to deal with the tells of "while you're there, would you mind....?"

Some smiths got burned by doing combines. I can provide references for why I refuse to do them. I won't do it for money and I won't do it for extra components. I won't do it unless it is for someone I know.

[Bearn]

A feeling I am coming to understand that many tradeskillers share with you, as I am discovering Milady. I certainly do not begrudge you all your gametime, I value mine too highly not to do the same for others. And I have met my share of unscrupulous individuals in Norrath :-(

Thank you for taking your time to have this discussion with me. My experiences with this particular endevour have led me to take a second look at my own reasons for smithing. My glimpses into the world of the Grandmaster Smith have me thinking that mayhap my limited time in Norrath might be better spend farming PP and purchasing what I need. I am beginning to seriously doubt that the thrill of making (or participating in the construction of) my own high end gear simply isn't worth the time, effort, and sheer agravation envinced by those who have gone before me.

Bearn

[Kingbobb]

Bearn, it all depends on what brings you enjoyment within the world of Norrath. Gming any skill takes a long time, a ton of effort, loads and loads of patience, and dedication. It's not for everyone, but it is very rewarding, IF you enjoy that end result. I've worked to attain GM smith status, and am proud of tat effort, but I recognize that it's come at the sacrifice of other aspects of the game, some that I would also have enjoyed. I've not been on as many big raids as I'd like, had to put my quest for my Epic on hold, and watched players and characters I "grew up" with level faster than me, and have access to zones without me. But I chose to pursue smithing with my time in EQ, and made it my main goal. Now that I'm close to meeting that goal (a few more skillups and I"ll have maxed my effective skill, according to some schools of thought, anyway) and I'm able to attempt that most difficult pieces with an actual reasonable chance of success.

I don't know any ogre GM smiths, but perhaps you could open a discussion with him (or his agent) and find out what else you would need to make it worth his while to set up a session with you.

[Bearn]

Thank you Kingbobb, excellent advice. I am now in such a dialog with the agent. I am trying to find out what they would like to see for a session, but I am also trying very hard not to become a pest :-P I fear I may have already failed the second goal :-)

As to what brings me enjoyment, I began smithing for two reasons. The first is probably fairly common. I wanted to be able to construct for my own personal use truly powerful armor and weapons that I could point to and say "I made that". The second reason is a probably a bit less common. I have been researching and constructing medieval armor for around 12 years now. I have a fairly extensive shop, and have built pieces ranging from early Roman to 16th century European, mostly focusing on the various forms of plate armor that can be found scattered throughout history. So when I ran across smithing in EQ a couple of years back, I thought "COOL! I can make armor here too!".

Bearn

[Meschit]

I've dealt with Rreddroot before, and what helped in my favor was having an ogre alt I had already developed a 175 skill with. So, I was able to do all the annoying subcombines in the Oggok forge beforehand so that all Bbigg Rredd would have to do is make one final combine. He's a very active character, so you just have to catch him at a time when he's smithing and don't rush him. I've hooked up with him 3-4 times and he's been more than helpful each time.

[Bearn]

Thanks Meschit!

I have spent the last month and a half getting all the required tradeskill levels and materials and doing all the sub-combines. I do indeed have everything done except that one last combine :-) Hopefully Rreddroot will have some free time to give me a hand. I've been out collecting PP since I first spoke to him in the hopes of offsetting some of the hassle of taking time out of his own smithing for my final combines.

Bearn

[Threlcour]

Slowly skilling up my ogre smiph, currently I am at 202. The problem is that I don't really put the fish in efishent, when it comes to skilling.

Threlcour hunts up the substances to make the orbs. He then hunts 16 swirling shadows in twilight before running back to Shadowhaven so that Biph can make eight skill attempts.

Plus, sometimes Biph has to take a break to work on his themesong and dance. Or Albhert needs to brew. Or Bakir needs to bake. Or I need to merchant mine.

Its an awful lot of work playing this game while making sure that you do anything that makes sense.