Int. How important is it?

[Kess0n]

Yes, I know int/wis has nothing to do with successes. This is about skill ups. It's common knowledge the caster stats affect them but how much?

The reason I ask is that I have a character on firiona vie that happens to have a passion for brewing Unfortunatly, you only get 1 character per account and the low population of the server makes items VERY expencive. I have to pay at least 50pp for any item slot to get as little as 1 int and as high as 3. Maybe 4. All with the exception of those +2 int rings of course. Some slots like arms with int start at 200pp.

My character is a bard and a half elf. This leaves me with 75 int and even less wisdom. I can't twink even if I had a higher level character on the server so the only way to make cash is to camp aqua gobs (impossible with the amount of people trying to make money. Remember, every level 10 or so you see really is level 10 unless the person has 2 accounts. They can't just have a high level farm a place more lucrative than AG. They have to get it here) or ghetto it out. That buying and selling kind of stuff. The server is also a tradeskillers heaven. Leather padding goes for 7pp here. Silks go for 7g at times. Even less. Since everyone trade skills, everyone tries to exploit the situation creating a ton of competition. Buying and selling pelts and silks will net me some 200pp every 2 or so days. The only saving grace I've had so far is that my heady kiolas always seem to sell out

So what I really want to know is, should I put my efforts aside now and wait till I can afford some int gear? I managed to get to 151 doing the fetid/skull ale route but the skull ale nearly drove me insane trying to get skill ups. I must have literally made over 1000 combines going from 125 to 151. Is it the same for everyone or will it be just impossible to go on from here?

Also, if someone could get me a nice trade skill parcer, I happen to have the log of my 125 to 151 skill ups. Another thing I was wondering was, does wis have the same boost as int? Both increase the chances yes, but does one increase it more than another?

[Iannyen]

It is of course, up to you, but I noticed a huge difference in skillup rates between my Enchanter (255 INT) and my Paladin (174 WIS) in smithing. Same item (Gold Ornate Chain). I spent around 2k going from 116 to 153 with my Enchanter, and around 3-4k going from 116 to 134 with my Paladin. With my Enchie, I got a skillup every 3-5 Combines, and with the Paladin (its been awhile) I don't remember anything better than 1 skillup in 10 on average. So keep in mind that every copper you spend raising your INT or WIS, that you save at least that much on skillups. Remember that the fewer combines it takes you to get to trivial level, the fewer chances you have of failing...

Don't know what level you are, but Gatorscale sleeves are a deacent item that drops easily. Or you can buy a set for 300 ish.

[cattywumpus]

To give you a ballpark figure on brewing at lower wis, I went from 43 to 151 on Skull Ale in just under 880 combines with a 119 wis.

[Calabar]

I can’t give you numbers, but I’ve noticed a BIG difference in the skill up rate between my druid with over 200 wisdom and my ranger with less than 100 wisdom. With the changes in fletching, its now impossible for my ranger to pursue his craft any further than the 202 fletching he’s currently at. I simply can’t afford it. Thankfully there are other craft skills he can pursue for the fun of it that are not so expensive. His brewing is 122 via feted essence, his baking will soon be 191 via patty melts and his pottery is at 122.

The simple fact is that it’s not easy for any non-caster to take up trade skills. It can certainly be done, but it’s going to be expensive. You’re either going to have to buy wisdom or intelligence items for trade skilling or your going spend a lot more money making more items trying to get that next skill point.

Smithing is an exception, as it will use your strength stat if it’s highest, as is fletching which will use your dexterity. But otherwise you’re going to have to grit your teeth and fork out some more coins one way or another. Unfortunately for me, my ranger’s dex is just a little bit lower than his wisdom so that’s currently little help to me. *sigh*

As for which stat is best to raise, to the best of my knowledge neither wis or int will raise your skills faster than the other. So my advice would be to buy whichever is cheaper if the stat will otherwise do you no good. I’ve notice on my server that wis items are cheaper than int items. But that may differ on your server.

The first real tradeskilling I ever did was with my Monk to get into his guild.

One of the entrance requirements was 25 heady kiolas, so I found the recipe and went to FP.

I did sooo many failed combines at zero skill, then went to trainer, trained to 9 in it....

Anyhow, by the time I had 25 my skill was at 17, and I had gone through 15 stacks of combines .

With my Wizard, who had over 200 int starting tradeskills, it took one tenth the combines for skill-ups.... it is incredibly important.

[Velurian]

I'd go for WIS gear in the short term, assuming your base wisdom is close to your base intelligence. There's lots of minor WIS gear that shouldn't be especially expensive (though between TLC and one character per player, I expect that there are very few of some items...). You don't mention just how much money you have on hand, but getting yourself 40 or 50 WIS, at least, shouldn't be horribly expensive.

But in the long term, I'd seriously consider switching to INT gear -- there seem to be a lot more items that have large +INT than large +WIS, and since you're starting from such a low base, you need to make the most of every slot. (Unfortunately, even on a regular server, this is going to be expensive, which is why I don't necessarily advocate it right away. Though there are a few slots where you can get large +INT for just a few hundred plat -- I assume Steins of Moggok aren't TOO expensive on FV, and that's 10 right there...)

(And to answer the title question...VERY important. Even comparatively smallish changes -- ten or twenty INT points -- have seemed to make a major difference to me. So if you don't do anything else, get a Stein of Moggok, and seek out INT buffs whenever you can.)

[Calliopeia]

But the good thing about being a bard...

Your INT/WIS will make a significant difference with skill-ups. I am also a half-elven bardess and I've worked to put together a set of INT gear just for tradeskilling.

I worked on my Prayer Shawls side-by-side with a cleric friend and we would often sit together and work on tradeskills. His WIS was capped at 255 at the time. My INT, even singing Amp and Elegy with my epic equipped, was only 189. He would frequently skill up 5 more times in an hour than I would tailoring in the mid 100's.

If you can't find the gear, don't underestimate the kindness of your local enchanter or higher-level bard. If you run across a bard level 44 or higher who is tradeskilling, ask if you can group with them and soak up the Elegy song. (Not every bard takes the time to twist Amp & Elegy while tradeskilling; I do. It helps break the monotony.) Enchanters can also give you Brililance, or if you come across an exceedingly nice level 60 Enchanter, KEI.

All in all, a half elven bard is not the best choice for tradeskills. As a half-elf, you cannot make any cultural armor. As a bard, you should focus on other stats like Strength, Dex, and Charisma instead of Intelligence until level 39 when mana becomes important.

With that said, good luck!

[Laurefin]

int/wis vs. skill up rates

I did some extensive research into skill up rates before they "fixed" them. Although I never found a conclusive formula to define the skill up rates for the different skills, I did find that in all skills the primary stat works the same way.

The effect of INT/WIS on skill ups is much greater at lower stat levels than at higher stat levels. Meaning if you go 25 points from 75 to 100 it makes an enormous difference, while going 25 points from 225 to 250 only makes a slight difference.

My main character is a ~115 WIS ranger, and a 220 brewer. Somewhere in the 190's skill range I had a "hell level" of over 500 mino hero brews for one skill up. Over 200 skill I'm averaging around 40 attempts per skill up. For me the low wisdom is bearable, I have enough patience and luckily Mino Brew's have readily available components and are inexpensive.

However my sister is a 192 tailor... and you can bet your patootie we're spending money on WIS upgrades for her(she's at 254 now unbuffed, yay!).

Laurefin

PS - I still have some graphs up on the web, although they are out of date they might help some readers to visualize the effect of INT/WIS on skill up rates. They can be found:

http://www.geocities.com/laurefinlonestarr/baking.html

[Kess0n]

A big thanks to all that replied. The graph was especially helpful. I've made an extra large batch of heady kiolas to sell overnight (I always seem to sell those out for some reason...). I hope with that I can get some int together and see how it goes.

BTW, for those who asked, at this very moment my bard just turned 15 although he was 12 earlier today. Money is a bit tough. Still, I think if this batch sells out I can get myself to at least 100 int.