Have you a superstition when you do combines?

[eniamn]

cept i doubt they could trace it and if they tried the extra load would be enormous. i just try to do runs of over 50 if i am expecting a skillup. nothing superstitious.

[Naila]

heh

I'm a superstitious haffer. I do certain combines in certain spots.

JC, at the foot of the gem dealer in thurg
Brewing, in thurg or at the top of the fool's gold in RV
Tailoring, has to be in RV. has to.
Baking, sitting in the corner next to the oven in PoK.
Pottery, one particular wheel in PoK or in RV
Smithing, near the druid guild in RV
Fletching, surprising, anywhere i happen to be, but when i was skilling up, always in SFG

[gnormy]

First combine is always a trash combine. The first one always seems to fail or get no-skill up.

This is similar to the first casting of Invisibility wearing off instantly.

[Tudamorf]

My old superstition was to toss everything in the container and hit combine. My new superstition is to toss everything in the container, hit combine, and wait the annoying delay until the next combine.

As for the rest of this stuff, jesus -- I hope you all are just trying to be funny. The only thing that will affect your success rate is skill. If you max INT or WIS, it will be the only thing that will affect your skill gain rate. I've been doing this since banded armor was the hottest thing and that's all there is to it, really.

[Renjah]

my superstition as of late has changed a bit. Since I'm nearing the 240 goal for tailoring (yeha I want 250 but not til I get smithing maxxed too!) I do skill runs everytime I get at least 20 cobalt drake hides. I stand on one foot, cluck like a chicken and yell PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!

Got me 2 skill ups in a row on my last run of 20

[Goresmash]

Always sit facing north and have the DMF buff on.

[Robintun]

LOL my superstition is to do the combines at a specific time. I explained the RNG yrs ago though and most didn't believe me. My ratios of combines to skills are still about half of what is posted. Did I mention that I went from 216 to 223 in smithing in 65 combines last night?

[GraemeFaelban]

Toss items in whatever TS container is appropriate or convenient, hit combine. Do however many combnines I have items for, and go on about my business.

Guess that means none here.

[Dazma]

Originally posted by Robintun
LOL my superstition is to do the combines at a specific time. I explained the RNG yrs ago though and most didn't believe me. My ratios of combines to skills are still about half of what is posted. Did I mention that I went from 216 to 223 in smithing in 65 combines last night?

Okay i'll bite... when is the best time? (repeat your post about the RNG since I'm new to EQ and here)

Dazma
Ranger on Kane Bayle

[Robintun]

Yrs ago, I used to post under ImDoc on the first generation EQTC forum (this being at least the third generation I think). I posted about EQ time seeming to make a difference. Some at the time, myself include, think this may be the seed of sorts for the RNG, since this language does not have a true RNG. I used to have the link for the original message boards as NDM used to keep them up; not sure if she still does and I am at work so don't have the addy or I'd find the original post and link it.

Too long to go through it again, though, and it can still be based on "superstition". In any event, there are specific EQ times when skilling up is much more common. You can definitely can skill up at any time, but if supplies or PP are limited you can focus on those time.

I have many characters, with many tradeskills (this magelo profile is not up to date for any of them) and superstition or not, I think there is definitely something to this. I DO NOT believe there are hell levels and have never had one in any of the TS. But you must remember, it is still based on a RNG so even during these times, skill-ups are variable. That being said, I do tradeskills and skilling up whenever I have the materials and time. If I go a whole stack of combines though without a skill-up (reguardless of my current skill) I stop and wait until the "right" time.

I log everything, but I do not ever look at these logs, so feel free to call it anecdotal as I am a "scientist" by trade and do not want to claim proof of something I have not put through a statistical model like some have here. I also don't want to make a job out of a game

And int/wis/str for me makes little difference. Most of the stuff I did with 198 int early on with my original character, though now I work with 305 int or str, or as close as I can get with songs and buffs with this current character. Can't make much comment on this though as they have changed the TS and skilling up so much over the last 2yrs with all the different ones.

OK, and now for some real superstitions I have - real as in they probably are just superstitions:

Skill-ups seem to slow down a few pts before an item becomes trivial, so I usual pick an item with a trivial about 10 higher than my level or more.

Certain items seem to give slower skill-ups. Shadow-screem sucks and is a perfect example for me. 100s of combines at 188 and nothing ....AH HA! some say,,, a hell level. LOL, I switched to ethril bits and got my usual 1pt per 15 (or less) combines all the way through 222 (its trivial level; for some reason I thought its trivial level was 227 and I had enough for 1 stack of combines - 40bits - and only intended to go to 220 so finished em of and got 2pts in that last stack and had 8 left before I realized it was giving me the "trivial" message on the last few). Another good example of this is minotaur hero brew. Though I still do this one anytime I skill a character up (unless I need more Grobb's) as everything is store bought. Oh, and did I mention I don't believe that failure rate has anything at all to do with skill-ups. Doesn't seem to for me anyway though plenty say otherwise - they don't combine by time though

At times, I think the crowdedness of a zone makes a difference and like to skill up in less populated zones. Other times I don't lol.

When doing big multi-combines in a zone oven, it you are turned just right, you can see it "flare-up" so to speak and smokes. Hmm, wonder if that means anything

EDIT: oh about the hell levels; I only meant that going from 190-220 or what ever is no harder for me than anything higher than that. There is no doubt that skill-ups slow down about 180s-190s, but for me my skill-ups do not speed back up after any certain magical number. Up to 180s, my skill-ups can vary from 3-10 or more per stack. About the 180s they slow down to 1 per 15 and stay at that to 250. Keep in mind too that 1 in 15 is still an average based on the RNG. I may get 1 or 3 skill-ups per stack of stuff combined. But it is consistent enough that I can always tell what I need to get to a certain level or vice versa.

[Yaldin]

I always do my tradeskills in the lowest lag zone possible -

I have a theory in regards to skill ups that higher lag = incompatibility in the system and it will truncate your skill up percentage considerably -

If the system has a hiccup it might think something is wrong so it cuts off any chance of a skill up.

least I think so.

[splunge]

I almost always have SoE on, so what i do, is for big combines, i time my breathing with the bobbing of my SoE and i click when im done exhaling and right when im at the lowest point of a 'bob'.

This is one of the reasons for my name.

[Nairn Niteraven]

??

Always skillup in Rivervale... I thought that was given. You want it to work don't you?

[Sayleth]

Buffing my DEX to its cap is my new superstition. Courtesy of a successful fire combine for the Aid Grimmel masochist quest.

Sayleth

[naivewolfie]

I put things in the container in the order they would be used, decending...like for the vale sewing kits I'd put the HQ metal bits on top, then the 2 mold below it, and the water to cool off the finished product at the bottom...and now im going to start trying to see what times combine best and a few other things everyone else here mentioned Im a poooor lil wizzie :P