Maybe luck, but it further supports my superstition

[Calliopeia]

Like most tradeskillers, I have my own superstition about how to achieve success on combines in a non-random way.

I am a bard who twists while tradeskilling, and I haven't found another bard who does, so I only have my own experiences to go by.

Since most people aren't bards (silly people!), I'll give you the background. Bards have a song called Amplification that increases the value of any singing-based song. We also have a song, Cassindra's Elegy, that adds intelligence and wisdom. When I tradeskill, I need all of the extra INT that I can get, so I twist Amp and Elegy.

You can't begin a cast with a tradeskill container open, so I close the tradeskill container when I need to refresh Amp. I sing (i.e., cast) Amp, wait the 3 seconds for it to hit, then sing Elegy. I open the tradeskill container as soon as I've started the cast of Elegy. I load everything in and if I hit combine just when Elegy finishes casting, I have success on that combine 90% of the time.

The other night, it was time for my shaman husband to try his Alchemy trophy. His skill was 190 with no Alchemy Mastery AA or skill mod item. I had been farming the guard camp in Seb for a bit so I had stacks of the gems and he figured we might as well give it a shot. I logged in the jewelry bot chanter and made the mounted gems and vial of purified mana. Since my pottery skill is 189, I figured I'd have no problem with the Artisan's Seal combine and didn't bother to sing Amp or Elegy since I couldn't skill up on it. The RNG decided I should fail that combine in the kiln. GRRRR!

We bought 8 more blocks of velium and got busy with the jewelbot. This time, I managed to succeed on the totally trivial pottery combines and handed my husband the artisan's seal. (Can you sense my bitterness at failing on trivial stuff?) It was late and I was still singing Charisma when he did the final trophy combine. He failed.

So, he made one more trip to Thurg to buy 8 more velium bars. I made one more trip to my bank to get the gems and logged on the chanterbot one more time. This time, I did my Amp/Elegy twist trick when making the unfired artisan's seal and when firing it. Success both times. (Again, this doesn't lend credence to my theory, but it doesn't detract from it either because I SHOULD succeed on trivial combines.)

Now for the hard part... this time, I twisted Amp and Elegy when he made the potion. Success. And for the Grandmaster's Trophy, I told my husband to load the bag and I would tell him when to hit combine exactly. I sang Amp. I cast Elegy and told him to open the bag. Right as the casting finished, I told him to hit combine. SUCCESS!

Based on other people's experiences with the trophy, I didn't think he'd be successful on his second combine with 190 skill and no geerlock. So, yep, I have to think it's the Amp/Elegy twist. That's the only explanation, right? :twisted:

************** And now for the bragging part ******************
Whoo hoo, congratulations to my husband, Grandmaster Alchemist Nulli Secundus, on his trophy!

[Rathelon]

Actually, judging from the thread over on the crucible on this, most people in the 180-200 range have been making theirs on the first or second try. Somebody even made one on first attempt with 177 skill.
Some of them using philosopher's stones and/or alchemy mastery, but some using neither.

Not trying to debunk your theory, but it seems they did cut us some slack on our trophy since alchemy is capped at 200. Our success rate seems to be better than a 180 blacksmith would be on his trophy, for example.

Congrats to your husband, though. I failed my first attempt at 181 skill. Didnt want to empty my bank account for another attempt yet.

[Niami DenMother]

Aye, I'm horrific when it comes to numbers, but the trophy was set up so that a 200 alchemist would have about the same chance of making our alchemy trophy as a 250 insert_tradeskill_here tradeskiller would have on their appropriate trophy ... sooo ... someone else can do the math on what 180 alchemy would compare to for other skills.

My shammie got hers on the first try, skill 183, no AA, no philosopher's stone, no bard songs, no fancy buffs. Just pure, dumb luck. (I've since worked her up to 187 ... 13 more points to go!)

[Sebilrazen]

180 = 90% of 200 so equivalently 90% of 250 = 225