New Fletcher on Stromm

[Pondlife]

I took up EQ for the very first time 6 weeks ago. Always played Rangers in RPG's, so it was the natural choice for me. Fletching, in my opinion, goes hand-in-hand with being a good Ranger.

I've got my Fletching skill to 171, through hard work, farming Goblins, Skunks and Greenbloods in BB for the Platinum, probably at the expense of gaining exp. I quested for and made my Trueshot Longbow (on the fourth attempt), followed two days later by a Shaped Shadewood Compound (first attempt, and couldn't afford another one!).

Sold the Trueshot last night, and made another bow for a fellow Ranger. I enjoy the Fletching, and get personal gratification from making bows and arrows.

Anyway, it seems to me (from reading all the message boards)that there is a severe lack of quality bows available on Stromm, compared to other more mature servers. My question is, can one make a decent living in EQ from making bows? I'm not sure how many highly skilled fletchers there are on Stromm, as I have never seen any fletchers /ooc advertising their skills. Just seeing if it is worth the investment to get to 250, and if there is a chance I can get reward (or at least some pay-back) for the efforts in getting there.

Any input from those that know would be greatly appreciated.

Also, how do I get a geerlock?

Thanks!

[andyhre]

My hunch is that on Stromm you'd do quite well. I am on E`ci, with a very developed economy, and there is a nice market in low and medium level arrows, such that at 171, you could make some 1/150s and 4/150s and make a profit over your cost (though I do appreciate that 1pp on Stromm is worth MUCH more than 1pp on E`ci). You might test that out. That could fund further skilling up.

Even on E`Ci, the lower trivial Sedgewood bows are selling profitably, esp. if you have or know a gnome to tinker your cams. i would think the GM bows would sell well, assuming the ratio of storebought (fixed cost) ingredients is low to the farmed/player-bought items which will reflect the economy better.

I also suspect you could repeat the Trueshot quest repeatedly and make a decent profit for you time, again given the difference in infaltion there.

My advice to you would be to make some basic arrows that have 150 range at each damage level that you can. Pullers want 1/150s, and then others will want more damage, but everyone wants range. See how much you can mark them up (think big, sometimes 2pp of 1/150s will sell for 45pp on E'ci, so on Stromm maybe a 5 or 10 fold mark up will be possible)

[Pondlife]

Thanks for the response - much appreciated.

I'll take your advice on the arrows, and see how sales go for the 150 range at varying damage levels. Pricing the arrows to sell, whilst making a few plat, seems to be the hardest thing to work out. Any further advice as to what prices I can reasonably expect people to pay would really help.

As for Bows, would you make a number of different bows to sell, or make to order? Could even do both, I guess.

At the end of the day, if I can make enough to pay my way to 250 skill, and then be able to make any bow I want, I'll be a happy Ranger.

One final question (for the moment!) - for Fier'Dal fletching, will I have to skill up in Smithing as well?

[andyhre]

I have to think my pricing experience on E`Ci has almost no bearing on yours in Stromm.

I make the 1/150s, it costs about 2pp for a run of 20, which generates 95 arrows, approx.

I sell the arrows for 5gp each, which means 47.5pp of revenue, or 45.5pp of profit. When I was a little bit poorer, this was a good use of my time, but now the number of clicks to platinum pieces is less lucrative to me, so I only do it once in a while when I have a lot of vendor space.


But on my server, my customers are often 65th level raider types who buy arrows 300 at a time, for whom that 150pp expenditure is worth it comapred to the time it'd take them to fletch up 300 at 6pp of cost. These guys also have horses, and alts with horses, and horses with horses, etc. I doubt your server has too many of those folks, not yet anyway.

And so it's still going to cost you 2pp to make 95 of those arrows (in case you are wondering, I am assuming you will fail 1 in 20 tries) and the question is, how much platinum wil someone else pay to avoid those 20 4 item combines?


What does Leather Padding sell for? On E`ci the range is typically 25-30, though recentlty it has gone closer to 20-25. The input prices are still approx. 10-15, so people are paying about 15pp for the joy of not doing a couple of simple combines (and, possibly, for not needing to skill up in tailoring) Gauge against that, perhaps.


As for bows, I just make a sample and see what sells, then I make more of the ones that do. I don't get many requests for customized work, yet, at skill of 202.

[Aethia]

I play on Stromm and except for the few people I have met either fishing or at the common tradeskill containers (looms, ovens, brew barrels, forges), very few tradeskillers advertise their services.

I am a 200 fletcher and have friends asking if I can make PoP bows. Theoretically I can try, although I don't know how the success rate would be. One friend is desperate to find a wood elf for cultural fletching. There is a market out there.

However, you also have to let the market know you are there. Strangely, none of us can seem to find a GM brewer that plays consistently. Plenty of JC, potterers and bakers. A couple of tailorers exist. But as for fletchers (and selling arrows) I would recommend active advertising, even if you have a trader.

For me, arrows didn't sell well on my trader. I think it had to do more with the fact that either classes with archery make their own, or don't use archery. If arrows were available I know several high level chars that probably would use them (provided the range was good).

So, get out there and sell yourself. Stromm has a very strange economy compared to the 'established' servers but you should have little competition.

Best of luck to you.

[iasmin]

I've been playing for about as long as you on Stromm, perhaps a little shorter time. And in that time one of the things I've noticed is an upsurge in interest in Tradeskilling in general. I suspect what I'm seeing is not so much new interest in it, but a cyclical surge based on the maturity of players who have gotten comfy with the game and decided that tradeskilling might be for them.

I've also noticed the lack of advertisement of high level tradeskillers and I know it's not because they don't exist. They do. On Stromm is seems far more popular to simply go to PoK or the Bazaar and /shout or /auction your stuff if you don't have a trader set up. It's *far* more common to see people sending an /occ "Looking for a GM <insert tradeskill here>" I think.

I've watched what people have been selling and I've watched what people have been buying (though not as religiously as some of my friends), and I think if you were interested in becoming a GM Bowyer, you'd be a very welcome person on Stromm. But that's from a noob, so take it for what it's worth.

[Pondlife]

Being a newbie I'll have to go by trial and error, and see what works and what doesn't.

I have no doubt there will be a market for the cultural bows - hopefully it won't be too long before you'll see me advertising them for sale. Need to work on my Smithing as well, I suspect...

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[Trepan]

Pond,

There will always be a demand for bows as long as there are twink alts. There will also be a demand for all the acrylia or mithril or steel arrows that you make during the long climb towards 250.

I GM'd fletching with my ranger on T.Marr and don't regret it. Being able to make a planar bow when they were few and far between was very gratifying and... lucrative. Of course I turned around and traded those profits and, literally, the shirt off my back to buy a stonewood, but I don't regret that either (except when it gets cold) or my guildies obscure my line of sight (grumble).

Your bows will sell slowly, but steadily. Your arrows will sell like crazy one day and not at all the next. If you are a wood elf, you will learn to love Mithril. If you are a half elf, you will learn to loathe acrylia.

I'm not alone in saying that if you want to do it as your only means of income and profit... don't. You'll spend months in the poor house and get frustrated during the climb past 200. If you want to do it because you want the satisfaction of crafting things that other people want, then do so with all haste and single mindedness.

[Pondlife]

Trepan, thanks for your comments.

I enjoy the whole 'making something from nothing' (or at least, from constituent parts) aspect of tradeskilling, and reckon its a good diversion from levelling. I also want to be fully self-suficient when I actually reach the stage where I can use an elemental bow. Until then, I'm working my way towards making a Thunderbolt.

Trouble is, just Fletching ain't going to cut it. I found out after embarking on this quest that to be self-suffient, I need to skill up in Smithing, Pottery, Brewing and Tailoring for the elemental bows (and create a Gnome for Tinkering). Tailoring and the Tinker can wait, but the others are necessary for crafting cultural bows. Spent my entire weekend farming for platinum and working on skills.

Currently 202 fletching, 108 smithing, 137 brewing (and now 20 Alcohol Tolreance!). Made my Fier'Dal Fletching kit, and am on my way to making mithril arrows (I am a Woody). I may even try gaining a few more levels at some point!

One quick question - what sort of prices do the elemental Bows, mithril arrows, and the Blessed Faydark Thunderbolt go for (especially on a newer server like Stromm)?