148 Flawless rockhopper hides...wasted!!!

[Rissenn]

Farming...Farming.....more farming.....I have even farmed in the DSP hopper cave while inviting guildies in their lower 20's and teaching them languages..all to break the monotony.

So..148 hides gathered, and I get to it to raise my skill in Tailoring which is currently sitting at 195. 148 attempts later I am so <censored for the innocent children> upset. Not a single skill-up!!

We really, really need a storbought means to conquer the hell levels, even in tailoring.

I think I will take a break from Tailoring now. Lets see..I can go and grind three AA's in a couple of hours and then raise..Umm..; How about Jewelcraft? All storebought from 200 to 250, 2 components and wont cost me more than around 5k lost in materials.

Hmm..or maybe Brewing. Storebought from 200 to 248, and then some more storbought for the last two points..will cost me some peanuts in pocket change

/sarcasm off

[Angelsyn]

Hmm...

Smithing... No Store-bought method of raising skill. Even Fine Plate requires the farming of Pelts and Spiderling Silks for the Leather Paddings.

Tinkering... No Store-bought method of raising skill.

Baking... No Store-bought method of raising skill past 202. At a minimum you're farming Brownie Parts or Mammoth & Wolf Meats.

Pottery... Well, you could just make Star Ruby Steins... but that will end up costing you a serious boat-load of cash.

Fletching... Shadewood Bows will take you all the way... if you really enjoy blowing huge piles of cash.

But the primary two are Tailoring and Smithing... And they're also arguably the most useful and valuable, with Jewelcraft coming in a close third.

[Pootle]

while 148 attempts with no skill up is a serious kick in the nuts, it is not too uncommon for someone in there 190's.

I went through 144 attempts before i got a skill 192 to 193.

Keep at it.

it gets better trust me - 72 reinforced Rockhopper got me 216 to 222 last sunday! (6 skill, 1 every 12)

[Angelsyn]

Gah...

I never kept track of how many attempts I make to get a skill point.

I know I've used up more than 400 Folded Sheets of Acrylia since ~220 skill. That's also more than 300 Acrylia Tempers. More than 9k, just for the Mana Vials.

And with the Acrylia Plate market wiped out... there's very little return.

Just keep plugging away.

[noudle]

Recently went 227 combines to get 209-210. first 190 combines all solstice robes. ouch! Ya, it sucks, bring on the pain.

[Cigarskunk]

Re: 148 Flawless rockhopper hides...wasted!!!

Originally posted by Rissenn
We really, really need a storbought means to conquer the hell levels, even in tailoring.

A tempting thought at times, but let's think about this -

Store bought means that now it does not take any kind of dedication to get someone to GM status in a tradeskill, just plat.

This means that there is going to be more competition from folks who don't have a real appreciation for tradeskills, just the plat that can be made from them.

This devistates secondary markets created by folks selling the raw materials that are used in tradeskills.

If the price of the store bought method is too high, then all it does is create yet another unfair advantage for folks who are high level and in uber guild that can afford to dump100-200p (or more - let's say three times the average farmed version cost) per combine into a store bought method to GM status.

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No how's about getting rid of hell levels - fixing them so that either they don't exist or the total number of combines is spread across a larger number of levels?

Well, as much as I hate to say it and as much as many of you are going to hate to agree with it - we need the hell levels.

The hell levels are one of the last lines of defence against the folks that aren't true tradeskill fans and are only comming into them to shred markets and make some fast plat.

Someone might have the plat and farming skills to bulldoze thier way through the first 180 points of any tradeskill, but once they hit those hell levels, all but the most dedicated of players will stop.

************************************************** **

So is there a solution?

Perhaps.

Assuming that hell levels in tradeskills are intentional and not a bug, that means that Sony could program things so that if you successfully made it through to 250 in one tradeskill then that would reduce the hell level penalty by a certain degree.

They could even modify it so that depending on which tradeskill you had at 250 would varry the modifier - something (realatively) easy and macroable like brewing and baking would have a low modifier - maybe only reduce hell levels by 5-10% for your next tradeskill. While something like smithing, tailoring or fletching might have as high as a 20-30% modifier.

Make the modifiers constant and stackable so that folks that really are sincere about tradeskills and reaching 1750 status don't have to deal with the gatekeeper of hell levels every time they start a new tradeskill.