Creating a newbie foraging slave

[Stugein]

Greets,

By my .sig you can see that I am a very amateur tradeskiller. I started off with blacksmithing for a change of pace from the daily grind. I then moved on to begin work on other skills. So far so good. Having fun with it. I dig.

I've been going over the recipe lists for the various skills and noticing that quite a lot of stuff requires foraged items of some sort. Being a human SK, I of course cannot do this.

I've never been one for alts. This is really my only character. I was wondering if it would be worth the effort to create a newbie chracter that can forage for the sole purpose of finding bits and pieces for my main to tradeskill with. I know that foraging skills-up like anything else, but is foraging level limited (capped per level) or can a L1 work foraging up to 100+ doing nothing but foraging from character creation onward? I'm not really interested in "playing" the character. I just want the foraged goods. For example, could I just start a L1 and head to Lfay to forage cinnimon sticks, or would I actually have to play and level up that toon first? How many (if any) of you have created toons specifically for foraging? How has it worked out?

I don't want to sound lazy (too late), but I just really have no interest in playing or putting any effort into alts. If the char (whatever it is) won't be able to forage tradeskill supplies right out of the gate (sure it will be slow at first at a 1 skill, but I can work that) then I won't bother. I'll just move on to non-foraged items to create with. Thanks for any tips or input.

[Stugein]

Ack. Just answered my question. Teaches me to read more carefully before I post. From http://www.eqtraders.com/learn/learn_foraging.htm:

"If you have gained the ability to forage only due to your race, you will never see a skill increase in your forage ability. (Racial forage is capped at a skill level of 50 for iksar and wood elves) If you are a ranger, druid or bard, you will be able to increase your foraging by practice, with 5 added points gained per level until you reach your maximum ability. (Bards have a very low forage cap, while druids and rangers have a higher forage ability.)"

So it looks like I will actually have to put forth some effort and level the toon. Ah well. Still, it may be a consideration. At what level (skill-wise) does a forager become useful for foraging tradeskill components?

[kiztent]

Increasing foraging skill only decreases the chance of failing a particular attempt to forage. So my ranger with max forage always gets something. And my druid with less that max forage doesn't.

Forage for druids and rangers can be capped at 200 at level 39.

Anyway, to answer your question. A wood elf or Iksar will be useful - that is able to forage rares - at level 1.

[Zyrtryx Conjureblade]

If you pick a race that has natural Foraging, also make them a class that gets Foraging (Wood Elf Druid or Ranger would be a good choice), as it WILL go up as you level, from what I understand. (But Foraging is level-capped)

[Hibashira]

At what level (skill-wise) does a forager become useful for foraging tradeskill components?

I think this is still debatable but one thing is certain, the higher your skill, the less likely you will failed to forage something, thus maximizing the chance of you getting what you want.

Personally I went with a druid. Porting is very helpful.

[Araon]

I created a Vah Shir bard with at least the partial intention of using him to farm tradekill items once he got tracking and forage.

Problem is the furry scamp grew on me and now he's level 55 with 12 AA....

[Liwsa]

Also to get your forager into the planes if you want those forages(planer oaks for one off the top of my head) then you need to level your forager to 46 at least.

[Galathnor]

One thing I have also noticed is that the higher your foraging skill the better your chance to forage those rare items in the zone. I have 2 Druids, one level 41 with forage at 200, and one level 50 with forage now at 161, I 2 box them when foraging for tradeskills and the level 41 always comes up with a higher ratio of rare items that the level 50.

[Ndaara]

With the Bazaar, there's not much need for leveling up your very own forager. I have a 60 druid with maxed forage since level 39 (yeah yeah so i'm compulsive) yet i happily purchase foraged goodies in the bazaar.

Sure my profit margin's lower but I don't mind, I'm starting to run out of other stuff to spend my plat on anyway

[Quesci]

I agree with Ndaara. I leveled a ranger to 30 because of all the foraged goodies I was using. Honestly, though, It isn't worth the effort. For roots and veggies there are always hundreds for sale cheap in the bazaar. tea leaves are rarer and more expensive, but I can usually buy them at a price that makes sitting in EK seem unattractive.

[Morani]

The nice thing about starting with a race that can forage right away is that you can get into the habit of USING the ability. Also, you can start to reap the benefits right away (assuming you are after the "common" items).

I believe there is some debate currently regarding whether or not it's currently working, but I would recommend getting a Foraging Machete. It's +10% to forage and lore but NOT no drop so you can buy one or get a higher level ranger/druid you know to MQ it for you.

At what level (skill-wise) does a forager become useful for foraging tradeskill components?

That depends on what you are hoping to get and how often you have to get them to be happy. If you are looking for Veggies, fruit, and other basic stuff and you're happy with an average of 1 item about every other time you try, you really don't need to do much to level them at all. A level 1 Wood Elf should be fine. If you are looking to get Misty Acorns, Morning Dews, and such; the higher the skill the better but you still only get an average of 1 every 20-30 tries.

One thing I have also noticed is that the higher your foraging skill the better your chance to forage those rare items in the zone. I have 2 Druids, one level 41 with forage at 200, and one level 50 with forage now at 161, I 2 box them when foraging for tradeskills and the level 41 always comes up with a higher ratio of rare items that the level 50.

I'll second that. I was going to say pretty much the same thing about two-boxing a Wood Elf Ranger (188 in forage) and a Wood Elf Druid (200).

With the Bazaar, there's not much need for leveling up your very own forager. I have a 60 druid with maxed forage since level 39 (yeah yeah so i'm compulsive) yet i happily purchase foraged goodies in the bazaar.

I agree with Ndaara. I leveled a ranger to 30 because of all the foraged goodies I was using. Honestly, though, It isn't worth the effort. For roots and veggies there are always hundreds for sale cheap in the bazaar. tea leaves are rarer and more expensive, but I can usually buy them at a price that makes sitting in EK seem unattractive.

There is some merit to this:
Forage follows the standard [(Level * 5) + 5 = skill] formula so to get to 200 you'll need to PL the character to level 39, save at least 60 points to train in (that's if you forage religiously while you are PL'ing the character: those last 40 points come SLOW) and about 1k plat to pay for the training. This certainly lends some support to what Nadir is saying. If you only are going to use a hundred rare forages you'd be better just buying them. If they average 15 plat each, that's 1.5k total. 1.5k minus 1k for PL'ing a forager means hours of PL'ing to "save" 500 plat. Not worth it to me. BUT, you're not really SAVING the 500 plat. With some guild help, you might be able to PL a Ranger to 39 in 20 hours (I'm just guessing here; I have no experience to based the time spent PL'ing off of.) With your SK, you should be able to farm ~200 plat in an hour (or so I hear). So, if you spend 20 hours PL'ing a forager you'll loose 4k plat you could have farmed in the same time, plus 1k in training, plus (lets say) 2k in equipment/buff components/KEI's to keep the forager alive to 39. That's 7k "spent" or the equivalent of 467 foraged items bought in the bazaar at 15 plat each or 700 items if you wait some and only pay 10 plat each. Now the icing on that; at a rate of 5 rare forages per hour (rather high by some people's standards) it'll take you ANOTHER 120 HOURS to forage 700 Morning Dews, Acorns, etc (that's assuming you have gathered 100 items by the time your forage skill hits 200) versus 24k plat you could have farmed and bought another 1600 items at 15 plat each with… Still interested?

[Zyrtryx Conjureblade]

I'm cheap. I've got a Halfling Ranger and a Wood Elf Druid that I use for Foraging (both low lvl - Druid is lvl 15, Ranger lvl 14). I mainly use the Ranger, because he seems to be better at Foraging for some reason.

I created the Druid mainly to be a money maker, but don't use him that often because I get bored quickly. I prefer the Ranger because I like being able to Track (which Druids don't get until 20) and because I like Archery (the lvl 14 Halfling Ranger was armed with a Trueshot, but I recently bought a Compound Steelshaft Longbow and equipped him with it).

I may park the Ranger in Shadeweaver's for a while to forage Mushrooms. I sent him there about a week ago to check the vendors (for Mushrooms - didn't have any, though), and managed to get 2 Mushrooms in about 5 foraging attempts there.

[Cigarskunk]

Personally, I'm very happy with my WE ranger - not only does she do all of my foraging, but she'll also track down mobs or quest NPCs for me as well as hunt brownies, cats and spiders (especially when I'm looking for zone specific forages in the Karanas).

As a result, she's currently 22 and will most likely eventually hit 30 or so (if only so she can be more efficient with SOW).

[wrin]

I may park the Ranger in Shadeweaver's for a while to forage Mushrooms. I sent him there about a week ago to check the vendors (for Mushrooms - didn't have any, though), and managed to get 2 Mushrooms in about 5 foraging attempts there.

Just an FYI Shadowhaven has the best rate for foraging mushrooms. Been in Shade and gotten 2 then none for 2 hours. Shadow I get them ever 3rd forage or so if not more.

[Brynneah]

I've got a Halfling Ranger and a Wood Elf Druid that I use for Foraging (both low lvl - Druid is lvl 15, Ranger lvl 14). I mainly use the Ranger, because he seems to be better at Foraging for some reason.

I have to agree. When using both a halfling druid and halfling ranger -- both with 200 foraging skill -- the ranger tends to forage the items I'm looking for at a significantly better rate than the druid.

Brynneah Faithwalker
Brotherhood of Soul Searchers <Xegony>
Seamstress 250, Blacksmith 250, Brewer 250, Jeweler 250