New tradeskiller

[thRover]

I play on the FV server and am about to open a second account. The whole purpose of which will to be to develope a character into an accomplished tradeskiller. My main is a 53 Troll warrior.
We have 2 GM smiths in guild, one of which is a Troll and the other a Dark Elf. Neither of them can make cultural armor that I can wear. I have enough plat in the bank to buy components for a whole suit of the stuff, but if I were to buy each piece outright I would be stuck with just one or 2 items before I became poor again. So I hit on the solution of starting up the second account and concentrating that character solely on tradeskills.
First off, as I mentioned before, the first priority is to skill up smithing. I am planning on making the Troll wearable cultural armor myself. This leaves me 2 choices-Human, or Ogre. The Human cultural stuff is a bit better than the Ogre but their starting stats are much weaker. Also I am in an evil only guild and would wish to have my alt guilded. That leads me to the conclusion that an Ogre is the best choice. We also have a lack of slowers at the moment and a Shaman would have very good starting Str. as well as decent Wis. I'm thinking this way if I ever level my alt up, I can benefit the guild class wise as well as being adept at tradeskills.
Being on the FV server, you can only have one character per account. It is obviously an added expense that I do not undertake lightly. I want this second character to really do the job well. It would be a shame to invest time and energy in this project only to find that the alt was not doing a satisfactory job. That would leave me with no option but to delete him and start another from scratch.
Please, anyone with more experience in tradeskills than me, if I am missing anything or failing to take anything into consideration please let me know. Any input from you all would be most welcome, and I thank you in advance.

[EnfinitiStarr8]

Well, there are several things to look at. First, it will cost you more money to get to the Cultural armor then it sounds like you know. If 2 or 3 parts of armor will make you poor then that is only enough money to get you to maybe 130ish Smithing.
Now, if you go with the second account...
First, how do you feel about being an Troll who is in Human armor?
Second, if that's ok, how about a Human Shadow Knight, not bad INT, evil, Human yes, but work with it.
Third, Shaman, not bad, good WIS, slower for guild, but can you play one?

I never made it past logging on one toon on the FV server so I know nothing of it, just saying this to give you some thoughts. Hope it helps.

[ChaseFV]

...

Being a light-bringer myself, I cannot say for certain how many evil humans there are, but I suspect the number is small. I would second the option of an human SK.

As you can see here, there doesn't appear to be much competition at the top end of either Human or Ogre cultural smithing. I would say go with the character you think you'd have more fun with. A well-played SK can tank with the best of them, so it's a class you could adapt to easily, but a shaman would be a completely different experience for you, and likely be more useful to your guild should you opt to level him. It's up to you, just thought I'd yammer at a fellow FV'er a bit 8).

Good luck,

[Kaidian Blade]

Also another idea....

Gnome SK. I've seen quite a few of these guys on Sol Ro and those that play them seem to do rather well. Being a Gnome also gives you the luxury of one day taking up Tinkering, something to keep in mind for the "tradeskill mindset" you're in.

[Chenier]

I think it's perfectly fine to start a second account/character, however, I highly suggest you review why (at least as you say) you are doing it.

If you are starting a second char to tradeskill for the sole purpose to creating armor for yourself, stop. You will without a doubt spend several 10's to several 100's times more money getting your skill up to even being to attempt the cultural armor than if you just saved up more money (cash farming instead of tradeskill component farming) and bought it outright. Trust me on this - or ask any other tradeskiller here.

Now - if you want to do tradeskills because you think they'll be fun, then more power to you and have fun. But know that you will absolutely spend more money skilling up to do cultural smithing than if you just spent the time you would farming for tradeskill components bought the armor outright from someone else.

[kiztent]

Aside from the saving plat part, your logic makes sense.

Also, an ogre shaman is the only race/class combination that can imbue the jade for the Rallos imbued heraldic armour, which is always in high demand among warriors.

Chenier, however, is right about the plat cost. You will actually net LOSE plat and time skilling up smithing. If you are doing this for profit, stop now.

If you would do this SOLELY to 2 box a slower on a raid, go ahead and smith on the side. If you are doing this for smithing primarily, don't.

[Calabar]

I can add little to what has already been said other than to agree with it. Doing trade skills is not a means to an end; it’s a way of life. Brewing is about the only trade skill I can think of where you could sit down in front of a vendor with a small pile of money and reach 248 skills with little trouble, other than a painful wrist. Tailoring and smithing both require a large investment of time, money, and abject frustration. If you aren’t doing trade skills for the love of doing trade skills then you could easily come to hate logging in your character.

As for playing a shaman, its not really that difficult but it’s a completely different mind set from playing a warrior. Shaman can do well soloing, but if you plan to be a slower for your guild expect to spend a lot of time sitting and buffing. I soloed my way to 38 rather quickly, but my play style has changed a lot after teaming up with a friend duel boxing a ranger and cleric. I haven’t poked a monster with my spear in the last 12 levels. I buff, I med, I slow, I med, sometimes I heal and I med. Still, I’m having a great time so I don’t have a problem with that. But your own play style will determine how well you fit into that role.

I greatly admire your goal. Becoming a skilled smith is a great accomplishment. But just be aware that it isn’t something to be taken on lightly.

[thRover]

New Tradeskiller

Thanks for the advice everyone. I went ahead an rolled an Ogre Shaman. I've only played to level 8 so far, but I have to say I absolutely love it. I've been playing on the front lines with my warrior for so long, its nice to get a new perspective. With an outlay of under 4kpp I have managed to get him equipped to 229 Str and 151 Wis. With spell buffs and such I can easily max my Str before I even start smithing. Of course I am having so much fun just playing him right now, I think I am going to wait a few more days before I start doing tradeskills.
For those of you who suggested doing an SK, I should tell you that I almost rolled an Ogre Sk. The stats were basically the same, only I would have had Int instead of Wis. Considering the fact that my main is a Warrior and that my original character was a Ranger I don't think I could stand to do another melee. As for not understanding the role a Shaman would play in a group, I have been around long enough to have a firm grasp of what it take to play one. Not only does that not dissuade me, it actually is attractive to play something that does not stand in front and hack away.
The Ranger I played for about 6 months on the Tunare server was mid 100's in Smithing, Fletching, Baking, Brewing, and Fishing. Hell, I think I even got him to master level in Alchohol Tolerance. I do, very well, understand the time and money involved in getting your tradeskill up. Perhaps the title of the original post was a bit misleading. I just meant someone who was making a new tradeskill mule, not someone who was new to tradeskilling altogether. I don't expect to get to a level in smithing that will allow me to start knocking out cultural stuff right off the bat, I just mean that as the goal for the whole endeavor. It will take a lot of time and money. However, I hope to be at a skill level where I can start to make stuff for profit fairly quickly. Then I plan to build my skill taking order for equipment or making stuff for guildmates who bring me the components.
Anyhow, thanks again for the advice and good luck on all your tradeskill endeavors. :P