Which GM Skill is the most profitable?

[Mdaisy]

I am currently working on my trades skills (again). I am a master at all unrestricted trades for woodelfs and a druid. My top three choices to take to GM ( I do not have the aa at this time so only one can go over 200) are Baking (192 at present), Brewing ( 150), and tailoring (167). Money is tight <10K available,

So the question is: Which of these skills is the most profitable at GM level on an average. Not the abiility to sell one item. I think it will be either brewing or baking as these have repeat sales, but want to hear some other opinions. Also which is cheaper to get to GM level.

Thanks in advance for your assistances

[Sanna]

As one woodelf druid to another...

Baking has funded me through this game, literally. Not only has Halas 10 alone bought me Golden Efreeti Boots, I also paid back my roommate the 6k I owed her for equpping my monk with matching Journeyman's Walking Sticks and giving me various armor pieces. I made 600p last night alone, with which I promptly turned around and bought Blood Weave Pantaloons (5wis). I've bought matching Chipped Bone Bracers, whatever my neck item is, a Boiled Leather Cuirase... And now with 7k in the bank (hey, it's my 1st char, 7k is still a lot, ^_^!), I'm beginning to look at getting all my other skills in the region of 200, so when I can get the AAs, I get them past.



They say Halas 10 sucks, b/c of the subcombines. Here's what I do:

I take my spit and mixing bowl and all ingreedients necessary out with me when I xp. During the down times, I do the subcombines. I get it so I have one stack each of the Meat Fillets in Cream. Then, all I have to do when I reach the oven is mix up some Dough, and throw it all in there with Sage Leaves and Pie Tin, and voilia. Halas 10.

To me, really rather painless.



Brewing has been advised by many people because it's relatively easy to get to 248 (Mino Hero). And high level brewers are DEFINATELY needed for planar combines. My guild leader, tho, has said on more than one occasion that he wishes he had Baked first, and not Brewed. I guess it ends up being a matter of personal preference.


Tailoring... is linked with Smithing, in that it makes people cry very very easily. I advise researching the Tailoring skillup routes if you want to give serious thought to 250ing this skill first.


Above all:

Do not do a tradeskill because you desperately need profit. Do it because you like throwing creamy meats and dough and leaves in an oven and hitting combine. Do it because you like sitting in front of a brew barrel for hours, click click click combine. Do it because you enjoy farming combine ingredients, and because you do not cry easily.


Tradeskill because it's fun. If you do it for any other reason, the snake will whip around and bite you in your leetle drood booty. ^_^

[furioso]

Tradeskills are a good way to make a small fortune after spending a large fortune to get the approporate skills. -unknown

[sir0die]

like others have said, don't GM a trade skill for the purpose to make a profit.

but if you intend to GM tradeskills anyways, and wondering which will turn a profit earlier, i'd have to say baking.

once ya pass 200, you can make a whole lot of different stat food, and it's a consumable produce so folks will be back for more.
especially those with horses.

a power play knows how to manage his/her food, so they can get by with only 1 unit of stat food and a ton of fish rolls or patty melts, either way they are still buying food of some sort (or making it themselves, fishrolls can be made with a low skill, <100)

but the average player does not know about/ understand the concept of forcefeeding, so the market is still there.

profit is also a loose term, baking will provide you steady income quickly, but unless you keep excellent records, who's to say how long it will be before you turn a PROFIT.

brewing is similar to baking, but has only a few high demand items. the temper making may be some high paying stuff, but that is very scarce, unless ya know a smith that has a large customer base.

Tailoring is exspensie to GM, and VERY time consuming, you could probably GM baking in the time it would take to get tailoring from 200 to 210.

[andyhre]

It is clear that the real profit in tradeskilling is supplying rich tradeskillers with labor.

Sew their leather padding for them, forage their plant shoots, etc.


If you mix in some "farmskilling" (i.e., doing combines for money rather than for skill ups) with your tradeskilling, much as some folks mix xping and plat farming to advance and equip themselves, you can make it self-financing. of course, if you can resist the need to skill up and just "farmskill" you can get VERY rich.

[racquet13]

Forget what people say, and work on a tradeskill for profit. It works for me.

However, this requires a lot of trader time. I am in trader mode 90% of the day, sometimes even 100%. All of my skills, save JC are over 100, some near 200, but none above. I just keep a good supply of armor dye on my trader and periodically check to make sure I have the lowest price. Sometimes I'll have to sell really low, but in the end, I'm still making a profit. Sometimes I'll make some Stat Drinks as well, but my wrist usually hurts enough after making a couple hundred armor dyes.

Using that method, I've made about 10k in the past week or two, just from keeping a fresh stock of goods on my trader. And btw, I have 193 Brewing, still deciding which one I want to GM.

[Monodon]

Anyone that tells you tradeskill are not profitable is generally not a tradeskiller. I am a human GM smith and can tell you first hand that tradeskills do pay off in the end.

I initially got into smithing because I was well aware that it would take me a VERY long time to be able to afford to buy a full set of heraldic armor in the bazaar. Once I made my full set I started selling and rapidly made back all the money I had spent on skilling up. Heck, I even made some money while skilling up on sickles.

Basically smithing has allowed me to upgrade my gear to better stuff (like a wind-worn chestplate). I can also be of greter service to my guild. It always feels good when somone asks me if I have the time to do a favor.

SOme tradeskills are more profitabe than others. And some don't really start to pay off until around 220 or so (like smithing).

Baking is good because it generally costs less than most others. If you can foage then that helps too. The money you make from single items won't be huge, but it will be steady.

Tailoring on the other hand, will cost more to do, unless you want to put large amounts of effort into farming hides ad pelts. If you have a reasonably high lvl druid then you can always kite hoppers etc. In the end tailoring will be quite profitable. WHile tae ew chain has droppped to about 5 or 6 k for tunic or legs, the tae ew leather has stayed at between 12 and 22 k.

Be aware that all markets are subject to crashes though. You may work your butt off to skillup, but then when you can finally make the valuable stuff the bottom falls out of the market. This always sucks. (baking doesn't have thsi problem because the items are consumables)

Basically you have to consider why you want to GM a skill.

Do you want to be able to make yourself a full set of fancy duds?
Do you want to be of greater service to your guild?
Are you just in it for the money?

There is no best reason to do tradeskills, but I honestly believe that doing tradskills because they are enjoyable is important. If you don't enjoy tradeskilling then it is more like work, and I for one already have a job. EQ is for fun.

So weigh out your reasons. What skill would be of geatest use to YOU in the long run.

[TheGiantOne]

Hmm..

Between smithing and brewing and fletching and pottery..most of which is smithing I do well but then again I turn around and put it back into tradeskills again.

Smithing best sellers:
Ethereal Sheet of Metal (needed for the ornate plate molds)- sell around 20 a day.
Tae ew Shield sell around 10 a day
Tae ew Chain Armor sell around 5 pieces a day
Tae Ew Weapons sell about 4 of them a day.
Anyone elses combines for armor or weapons. Each combine 1k to 2k depending on what it is. (Around 5 of these each day)
Diety Armor (Sell 2-4 pieces in a day)

Fletching - make one uber elemental bow per week.
Best sellers: Stonewood Compound Bow
Second Runner up- Featherwood Compound Bow

Pottery please don't make me laugh hmm o% business since I became a GM in it 2 weeks ago.

Brewing - you guessed it sell scale tempers or lizard blood temper for all those neat lil Tae Ew Items everyone needs or combine the various saps together for GM tailors or other Gm smiths who did not study brewing for their uber elemental planes armor etc.

So if ya add it up am selling over 120k worth of items a day which cost me maybe 40k in materials if I buy in bulk.

Yes of course I had the following costs to become GM in the below skills.

Smithing 175k
Fletching 150k
Pottery 10k or less
Brewing 10k or less

But since a month ago I have gotten those costs back + a very nice profit.

So yes the hard work does pay off in the end but the greatest thing a GM can profit from are new expansions. Whoever has a GM in a particular skill will be well sought after. After all if you found a new tradeskill item as a player would you want a master in a skill or a Grandmaster to try that recipie for ya?

Its not all glamour guys. It takes some flare and the gift of gab in the bazaar and the auction channel to sell items faster than others who just go afk and say ok the items will sell themselves.

Sure the plat is nice in the bank account but what is even greater is seeing that final item after you see that message "You have created something new" after you have finished 30 + sub combines for that one final item.

There is a offset benefit to trade skills. You can provide quite a few people with ways to earn plat by collecting skins, hides, bricks, you name it for you for any skill. So in this fashion you are helpng the economy overall in EQ not just yourself.

So in the end YOU WILL BE REWARDED for your hard work if you know how to time the market (in this case the bazaar and auction channel) to see whats hot and whats not.

[Catranizi]

It will depend on your server economy, and the demand of crafted items in the bazaar...

Baking will usually be fairly profitable. Meat pies, hero sammiches should be sold with a decent profit. Misty Thicket picnics, lotus pies, cabbages still sell fairly well.

Brewing can also give back a decent profit, mostly in kaladims, liquidized meats and qeynos tea. Also, the planar blood brew always sell fairly well.

Fletching. Only if you have elemental access.

Jewelcraft. Only if you are an enchanter and can invest in the tradeskill aa. Else you won't be able to compete in terms of pricing with enchanters, since PoP jewelry has a fairly high chance of failure.

Pottery. Again, mostly if you have access to elemental planes, although ceramic items and some steins can sell.

Tailoring and smithing... Varies on server. I can't move my smithed stuff (mostly due to ornate molds abundancy in bazaar). My Ykesha robes sell like hotcakes. On other servers its the other way around.