Return Profit

[Nizzr]

Good Day To You...

My name is Nizzr and I play on the Saryrn Server. I am a 55 Necromancer and also have a 30 Bard (Tracking soon) named Minolwen.

Throughout many boards I have seen multiple post of the same garbage over and over about how to make money. Each opinion and answer sent in reply was true but, soon caught on to and overwhelmed with traffic. Therefore, I no longer post asking what spots drop a lot of loot, or where can I get rich real quick.

I have decided tradeskills. I cannot do RM because as a Necromancer I have no patience to deal with the morons who run through the mountains and KS, or otherwise. I cannot camp large items to much because I am a U.S. Marshal and when it's time to go... well it's time to go. I have norrowed it down between Tailoring and Smithing.

I am a master Baker, Fletcher, Brewer. I have made some money off and on by stat foods, good arrows, and tempers. Not enough to live on, but enough to give the idea. My question is, which in the eye of the norrath community would yeild me the most money in the long run?

I realize it takes money to make money, the two skills I have to choose between are the hardest of the two (opinion) and cost a TON of money to GM. However, that is a chance I am willing to take. If nothing else I will do both, however by the time I GM one I will need to recoup some of that money with tradeskill sales to pay for the other, so which one comes first?

This is not a question of good idea or bad idea, how do I cheat or level fast in tradeskills, etc... Just you opinion, on which would yeild me better profit in the end?

[kiztent]

Baking or brewing.

Really.

I mean that.

[Thicket Tundrabog]

*Shrug* Not really sure because I'm not a grandmaster smith. I'm a grandmaster tailor and it has been profitable for me. It has also been hugely time consuming. I have sold about 600k plat of tailored products (I record this) and have probably spent 200k in raw materials (I stopped recording this a few months ago, but this is pretty close). At my lowest point, I had spent 60k more than I had recovered. This was when my tailoring was 204.

The problem with saying what is more profitable, is that the future is uncertain. Tailoring has gone through lots of changes and I'm sure these will continue. The prices of finished goods has plummeted. Raw material costs in Bazaar have also gone down but not as much. Skill-ups are easier. Farming of some raw materials is easier. Cost of some components (coldain velium temper) have gone down. There have also been new recipes where you can make a fortune tailoring until the market become glutted.

My advice when choosing between tailoring and blacksmithing is pick the one that you would enjoy more. Do you see yourself as a smith pounding metal on an anvil, or a tailor sitting with needle and thread?

Thicket

[PinyonTreedotter]

You didn't mention race. Erudin would make tailoring slightly less expensive, most others would make smithing slightly less expensive.

As for making money, neither shows much promise. There are now GM tailors/smiths all over the place, and the stuff in demand is now normally 250+. I've even noticed a drop in demand for black pantherskin -- I presume there is now better twink gear.

The acrylia was nice while it lasted. Some of the stuff will always sell (studded cloak, for example), but the demand has dropped and there are still a lot of people trying to skill up in tailoring.

Baking will probably always make a small profit, but really only if you can keep a trader on most of the day. I don't know about brewing, since I never use the stuff (except maybe a Halfling Stouter after dinner on special occasions).

Good luck in your adventures.

[Liwsa]

Right blacksmithers are making more than tailors. When Luclin came out tailors made a killing in the acrylia market. When the PToC quest came out both trade skill folks made lots of PP.

[PinyonTreedotter]

<sigh>
I forgot about the non-alcoholic drinks. I normally carry around some Qeynos Afternoon Tea (kiting is thirsty work) -- how could I forget?!?

There are a couple brewing recipes that should make money. Many of those require a forager.

[Nizzr]

Bard is a forager (I think 75 cap). So not great, but a forager none-the-less.

The race will be Erudite. You said that the race would effect the cost, maybe I miss-read or it was a typo but you said both ways would be less expensive. Could you possibly correct this, or correct me? lol

Baking does well, but the market is flooded atm with MTP's for 10pp and HMP's for 5pp. This is again on Saryrn Server.

As for tailoring I have been searching for a GM tailor for weeks and every zone I /ooc in, I only recieve the name of one person. Everyone knows that person as the GM tailor of the server and noone knows anyone else. This is what aided my idea to GM in one or the other, same with Smithing. Saryrn is not crowded with Gm's by far, it's even hard to find them.

[kiztent]

You didn't mention race. Erudin would make tailoring slightly less expensive, most others would make smithing slightly less expensive.

Uhhh. You do know what the material components for purified mana are... don't you?

[Kaidian Blade]

I think that timing played the biggest role for any tradeskill that made significant money. The newer recipies had the highest demand and therefor garnered the highest profit. Just about every tradeskill has gone through this cycle.

From my experience, Baking and Brewing continue to offer a steady income with the variety of items produced in each. Granted, there are no items that are worth 10kpp to be made... sometimes quantity wins over quality in the long run.

The high priced goods will continue to be made from Smithing and Tailoring. Armor and Weapons will always outperform other items that are player-made.

Jewelcraft is only profitable as far as resists go. Once a player gets the basic resist gear available... there are very few items left that are screaming out to be purchased - so there's not much of a market for other Jewelcraft type items.

Fletching is a niche market. Not everyone can wield a bow and arrow so your customer base is limited. Don't get me wrong, fantastic bows can be made and once demanded top dollar... but the sheer numbers of Fletchers has caused prices for just about all those items to plummet.

While everyone can fish... Fishing as a tradeskill only has one cash cow item, The Blessed Fishing Rod, and prices on those continue to fall. This too is tiny market and the numbers of 200 Fishers are too many to consider this your "Tradeskill of Choice".

Pottery. This is the skill I see as really coming into the spotlight. The new PoP recipes with Focus IV effects are being sold for absolute top dollar. The components are mostly PoP drops and infrequent enough to keep the prices high for finished products. We're talking 25kpp - 40kpp price ranges here. This is where the money is to be made if you're a GM Potter. Add to that the other items that still have a high demand (Idols, Steins, Crucibles, etc.) and you get the point.

Tinkering, if you're a Gnome, is another one of those steady income Tradeskills. PoP and SoL have introduced lots of wonderful items that all players can use and there are still those Rebreathers that are always needed for Warrior Epics....

Alchemy and Poison.... Shaman and Rogues really got the shaft when it comes to their specialty skills. Even with the price reduction in components and the removal of negative stats to potions... Alchemy just isn't as profitable as most the other skills. And how many Rogues do you know that sell Poisons and their ability to apply them to your weapons? NO money being made there.

My suggestion:

GM Pottery NOW while the market is hot and you can make enough plat to fill even the biggest coffers. Even when the PoP craze has faded, Pottery will continue to provide a steady source of income from a variety of items.

If not that it's a toss up between Smithing and Tailoring. But I'd still get my Baking maxed to 200.

[Yalum]

You already missed the boat on pottery, with the Affliction focus nerf the lower tier items are no longer the cash cow they had been. If you have access to elemental components you can still make a killing, but the same is true for elemental smithing, tailoring, and fletching as well (and jewelcraft, but only chanters with the right AAs can compete in that arena).

[sir0die]

ok folks, you missed some important facts, there are only 1 "known" GM tailor and 1 "known" GM smith on his server. So he hasn't missed too much. All these PoP recipies that may be old news on your server and mine, are fairly unknown on his server. He has excellent potention of making a killing as a gm smith/tailor

I'd recomment smith over tailoring, you can work your way up to 188 relitively easy with vendor bought stuff (or farm stuff to save some plat). He's already a brewer so he can make his own tempers. Unless the 1 "known" GM smith is and Erudite, he'll have his cultural market cornered.

if he were to spend about 3 hours farming HHK for FS weaps (running into High Hold Pass to forge the weapons into HQ rings) then about 3 hours in EK for cat pelts, then 1-2 farming spiderling silks. he could probably get to 188 VERY quickly. He's a necro so he has a pet, fast farming there. He'd need about 8-10 stack of HQ rings to triv out ornate chain, and probably about the same 8-10 stacks of leather padding to triv out plate.

[Shjinn]

Saryrn

Not to burst his bubble, but I know of at least 5 GM tailors on Saryrn who are active (including me). There are more in the uber guild who only tailor the very highest end stuff from upper tiers of PoP.

Tailoring is not all that profitable on most items. It is simply because many of the past tailored items that sold well are no longer any where near the worth to the buyers. With each expansion, there are simply more and more items that drop that are better.

What people have said here is correct. Tailors (and I won't speak for smiths since I am not a GM) make what perceive as uber plat during the period after a new recipe is released AND components available in reasonable amounts. Velium Mastodon Cloak is an example of something that a few tailors made a killing on. Tae Ew would be a great money maker also for certain pieces, but the components simply are available to make that killing.

For the last month, I have sold barely ANY pieces of tailored armors other than my Tunarean Cultural. Simply, I am in the red in that side of tailoring. Eventually I'll drop the prices so they will sell easier (most pieces have been very reasonable. None are near the highest. Some items like Ice Silk, I'm the only tailor selling and no one ever buys.)

So...

Why did I become a tailor? Because I had a dream of being a GM tailor shortly after I started EQ. If I make money (total lifetime expenditures is greater than sales), kewl. If not, then I still achieved a goal I very wanted to achieve in this game.

Of course if LoY comes out with a good recipe... :twisted:

Shjinn
250 Tailor of Saryrn

[Soulfiend]

Baking all the way for me.

I still get about 4,000% profit from it, but making 1 thing. Misty Thicket Picnics.

Although the demend for them as Quest items has dropped, they are still a nice allround stat food, and at 400pp for a stack lasting 40 hours is still considered a worth while invesment by quite a few people.

I think I have made about 200k selling them.

[Quesci]

While everyone can fish... Fishing as a tradeskill only has one cash cow item, The Blessed Fishing Rod, and prices on those continue to fall. This too is tiny market and the numbers of 200 Fishers are too many to consider this your "Tradeskill of Choice"

There is a fishing recipe that sells much better than the Blessed Fishing Rod and is far easier to get the pieces for. It does require that you visit PoValor and PoNightmare, but the recipe is insanely easy. I sell 4-8 sets a day at 600pp each. You do have to auction the products, because few people know about them and very often don't see the benefits of the resulting item. If you are good at marketing, fishing can be profitable.

[Cigarskunk]

You're an erudite and a necro.

Erudites have no cultural smithing at the moment, so it's not like you can get in on that cash cow - you'd have to make due with the acrylia armore and weapons and atleast on Xev, that market is going down faster than a lead balloon.

I'm not too familiar with Erudite tailoring, but atleast as a 55 necro you can definately farm all of your own ingredients, so your real enemy is time.