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Hell Levels...actually exist or just bad luck?

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  • Hell Levels...actually exist or just bad luck?

    Hello, this is my first post here at EQtraders, although I have utulized this site for quite some time.

    I am currently a lvl 197 baker on my lvl 27 DE Necro (my main and highest character). I have been baking rather causually lately, only every now and then when I had nothing better to do, but my girlfriend gave me an artisan's seal as a christmas gift and that kind of lit a fire under me to push for the GM. I was 196 at the time, and it only took about 20-30 combines of Halas pies to hit 197 which seems to be about right for me (I have 195 Int btw). Since then, however, I have had no luck. I spent about 80 combines of pie that day without the skillup, and have made 40 more combines today without any luck. My question is thus is there actually such thing as a hell level, and if so is 197 one of them? It seems odd for it to need at least five times as many combines as usual. Is this a hangup that occurs to everyone when they hit this level or is it just bad luck on my part.

    Another question: I have a geerlock baking utensil but am not using it right now since I am holding on to a +5 int item instead since I am more interested in skilling than I am in being sucessful (I already have way more pies than I have had luck selling...trying not to kill the market). Is this smart? I also understand that while you can skill up on failures the chances of skilling up are better on a success. So which is better for skilling up, 195 Int with no skill bonus or 190 int with the skill bonus?

    I wouldnt mind so much if the pies werent such a pain to make...100s of pie combines means like 1000s of sub-combines. I dont really have too many other options. I rolled a wood-elf ranger to forage cinnamon and hunt pixies, but the rate he was doing that and transfering the items with the help of my girlfriend (I only have one account) makes it faster just to make the pies. I considered truffles as I have seen mushrooms for sale at reasonable prices before, but since im only 27 I cant really get to Velious to get the brown algae very well and have yet to see that for sale in bazaar. I've also considered MTP but would need to get my brewing up to make the beer, plus would have to go through the hassel of transfering items through characters since the halflings dont like me too much and I'd have to buy the stalks with an alt.

    Alas. Sorry about my first post just being a whining one, but I needed to vent. I got so excited when i got that seal (Ive never had more than 1K on my character at any one time so I didnt think I'd get one of these in a million years), and have had my spirits shot down with two consecutive days of baking without a skillup. Oh well, third times the charm.

    I'm on Vazaelle if anyone wants to buy any pies...I got about a bazillion of them lol.

    -Utumil
    Utumil Tolvarr
    51 Necromancer of Innoruuk
    Vazaelle Server

    Baking - 243 with trophy
    Smithing - 188
    Brewing - 170
    Pottery - 122
    Jewlcraft - 110
    Tailoring - 95

  • #2
    Just hang in there and keep plugging away. You'll break 198 before you know it.

    As for there being hell levels, well....no "specific" hell levels, but we've all had our days when the RNG (Random Number Generator) is particularly angry or bad to us. I remember when I was working on baking, I was stuck at 231 for about 200+ combines. Nothing I could do...zoning, camping, using a different oven, etc., would get me that skillup. The RNG just decided to make my life miserable and hold onto that skill point. :roll:

    What I found works best when you do encounter a run of bad luck, is take a break for a day or two, or a few hours. Try a different type of combine, or do something else. Sometimes, there isn't anything to do but just push through it. I can assure you though, you WILL get past the block and soon reach 250!

    As for your int/skill, my opinion is go with the +5 int. Geerlocks are great if you want to increase your chances on succeeding on a combine, but if you're looking for pure skillup, I would go with the int item. Int/wis affects how fast you're learning skills, and in my opinion, every little bit helps.

    By the time you reach 250 baking, you will have more Halas Pies (or in my case, Misty Thicket Picnics) then you can shake a stick at. Eventually they will all sell, or you can do what I do, and hand them out to all your alts/guildmates/friends/passer-by's.

    Good luck on the road to 250. Just keep at it and you'll get there and soon be the proud owner of the Grandmaster Baking Spoon!

    Cend


    Cendorly's Magelo ~Lurina's Magelo

    Comment


    • #3
      Cendorly is absolutely correct... No real built in Hell levels... Just your own personal ones... 250 takes a good bit of time and there will be times when you really wonder if you are bugged (300+ combines and no skill up) plus even at 250 skill with Geerlock and Trophy with 255 wisdom I still average 5 outta 10 Misty Thicket Picknics.

      Despite the time spent I think it is a most useful skill!
      Darklens
      57 Druid of Tunare
      65 Beastlord
      Vagabond of Quellious

      My Stuff
      Been there… Done that … Left a good lookin’ Corpse or two!

      Comment


      • #4
        /comfort Utumil

        For me, it was 193. Ugh, that was the bad one. 129 Ohabah Truffle combines. (Im still slowly selling them off months later, haha 500 left !!!)

        Everyone hits a roadblock at a different point. Just dont give in to it!!

        My spoon is one of my favorite items hehe
        Feoni [Ytrilynth's Horde]
        1750 club

        Comment


        • #5
          I feel your pain, believe me. I tried doing truffles after patty melts since I had a huge stockpile of mushrooms in the bank. My first two skill points came without too much trouble, about forty or fifty combines. But then it stopped. Eighty truffle combines later and no skill points. My huge stockpile wasn’t quite as huge as I thought. Actually trying to forage mushroom for baking turned out to be far too slow. So I started making Halas pies. And thankfully the skill points started flowing again. Then I hit another roadblock, 100 pies and no skill points. I quit baking for a while, until a friend gave me several stacks of griffon meat, anaconda meat and plant shoots. And once again the points started flowing, or at least trickling, in. I’m currently at 219 baking. At this rate it’ll be a good while before I make 250, but I know I’ll make it some day. And you will as well. Just keep baking and the points will eventually come.

          As for what to bake, truffles aren’t too bad if you can get the brown algae. It’s very cheap, just hard to get to. It’s possible to port in, invis as quickly as you can and make a mad dash, with levitate, to the otter vendor on the beach. But it’s best if you have decent CoV faction so the big lizards don’t hassle you. The best way to do that is kill dire wolves and giants in Great Divide. So you might consider fighting there in the not too distant future. If you have ally faction to the dwarves there, you’ll have indifferent faction with the dragons on CoV faction. Just something to think about for the future. For now, you might ask any wizard or druid friends if they have the faction to get you the algae. If you happen to be on the Seventh Hammer server, I’d be more than happy to get you some. Just look for either my druid or my ranger, I’m usually on with one of them.

          If truffles aren’t an easy option for you, another alternative would be using griffon meat, anaconda meat and/or plant shoots from Jagged Pine. Unfortunately, this would again require you depending on friends to get you the supplies, as the zone is about level 45 and up.

          If neither of these are an option for you, I’m afraid, for all practical purposes, your stuck with making either Halas pies or Misty picnics. But if you want to try your hand at making picnics, it might not be as hard as you think. You can buy your jumjum stalks in Shadowhaven, from an NPC in the short section of the zone. You may have to do a few quests got get him to sell to you, but at least he won’t try to kill you on sight. And there’s a quest in SH for a medallion that I’ve been told will get most all the NPCs there to at least sell to you.

          As for brewing, it’s very cheap and easy to get your brewing to 122. You’ll need a skill of 162 to trivial the beer, but you won’t be far from it. You could even skill up on jumjum spiced beer from there if you like. To get to 122 brewing all you have to do is visit the plane of knowledge. In the center section, directly across from the entrance to the “evil” section, is a little gnome guy at the top of some stairs. He will sell you all the fishing grubs you can carry. I think they sell for something like 2 coppers each. Around the corner from the gnome is a lady that will sell you water. Combine 1 water and 1 fishing grub in a brew barrel. This simple combine will take you to 122 brewing.

          Best of luck. I’m sure you’ll reach your goal. Just don’t give up.
          Pait Spiritwalker
          63rd Season Vah Shir Shaman
          The Seventh Hammer

          Comment


          • #6
            From the high 180s to the low 200s is the hell levels for all tradeskills. While a few lucky souls plow through those levels with normal combines, an inordinate number of combines is the norm for those levels.

            For example, doing both fletching and JC, it took an average of 100 combines per skill point going through those level (the average would have been higher if it hadn't been for the occasional lucky skill point after just 10 combines).

            Baking took me 212 to go from 188-189 and I'm at 140+ so far and still haven't gotten from 191 to 192.

            I've seen many a poor soul in the smithing forum who's been in the 200-400+ combine area with no skill ups at these levels - only thing to do is just grit your teeth and pray for that success.
            Cigarskunk!
            No more EQ for me till they fix the crash bug.

            Comment


            • #7
              Thanks guys. Nice to know I'm not alone . After several more tries at pies, I purchased 15 plant shoots from bazaar and made casseroles. I got 198 on that. After more combines at pies, I bought 6 griffon meat, all that was on sale, and hit 199 on griffon casseroles.

              Now I just think the pies are hell .

              -Utumil
              Utumil Tolvarr
              51 Necromancer of Innoruuk
              Vazaelle Server

              Baking - 243 with trophy
              Smithing - 188
              Brewing - 170
              Pottery - 122
              Jewlcraft - 110
              Tailoring - 95

              Comment


              • #8
                Now I just think the pies are hell
                Recall that it does take 161 subcombine to do each stack of these suckers - see here.

                http://mboards.eqtraders.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1877
                Cigarskunk!
                No more EQ for me till they fix the crash bug.

                Comment


                • #9
                  10 lbs are the real hell. And a long stretch pie failures is realy discouraging to say the least. But try thinking of each non-trivial combine as a 0.05 point skill up. It puts a positive spin on combines, skill-up or not.

                  And do what ever you can to get your INT or WIS past 200 (or is it 255).
                  | Boreal - 50 Druid - Fippy Darkpaw |

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