Skillup from duplicate Lore item?

[Xislaben]

I was thinking about doing cultural container combines as a possible skillup path in smithing, and I know the item's lore and won't sell back to vendors. It trivials at 162, and costs less than doing fine plate visors and is all store bought, so it's definitely a viable skillup path. Yes technically if I farmed everything the fine plate would be less costly with selling back to vendors, but I lack the patience right now.

But I was wondering, it would be faster by just keeping one in my inventory and getting the duplicate lore message than destroying the combine every time so the question is, would I still get the skillup points periodically or does it check for duplicate lore item first?

I imagine I'd still get the skillup points, but I'd rather ask for confirmation than spend x combines finding out the hard way.

[Nolrog]

But I was wondering, it would be faster by just keeping one in my inventory and getting the duplicate lore message than destroying the combine every time so the question is, would I still get the skillup points periodically or does it check for duplicate lore item first?

Yes, it's a lot faster. This is what I did when I was making EVBs.

[Xislaben]

Yes, it's a lot faster. This is what I did when I was making EVBs.

Great! And thanks for a fast reply. Well I'm off to make Embroidering Needles and then Bile Spine first, it'd be nice if those stacked, and the molds stacked. I seem to recall that they don't, but I could be wrong.

[Prelgor]

I can also confirm that this works (or at least it did). I used exactly this method to raise smithing before the Big Patch. I sold back a few, but eventually the Dark Side took over and I just destroyed the last few until I hit the trivial. As a bonus, you end up with a 10-slot container!

However, unless things have changed, I don't think the container is LORE. Lucy and Allakhazam concur. I seem to remember the limiting factor being that it was a container, and I could only free up so many top-level slots. I still have one around, so I'll double check on it tonight.

The nice thing about the Troll sewing kit is that the cultural forge in Neriak is just a few steps away from the vendor selling the cultural metals. Everything I needed was right there, except maybe the (stackable) water. No needles are required - just needle and thimble molds, which do not stack, as I recall.

[Taadieri]

If it is lore, you can just do the combine, the game will check for success or failure and on success it will tell you that you can't have duplicate lore items and the new one will be destroyed. You will still get skill-ups follow this path.

If it is not lore but is a container, just use autoinventory and the container will fall to the ground and you can do the next combine.

Except for items that have a sell back price that is a significant fraction of the total cost of each combine, it is generally not worth interrupting your combines to sell back one or two successes at a time.

[Xislaben]

Ok, not sure what I was thinking but the cultural continer items are not actually lore. What's really odd is that they are No Drop (no trade), but I can drop them... Oh well, Im at 162 now.

I tried dropping a no drop item that wasn't a container and no dice there. Maybe this behavior is by design.