New to the game - Is there $$ in this?

[sp000n]

As an adventurer, I often see items for sale ranging from 5k-25k.. even more. This kind of stuff isn't dropping from my kills.. in fact I'm lucky to make 15p per hour as a level 33 Necromancer... it's hard to even afford my spells.

Are trade skills going to provide cash in this game? While I've enjoyed them immensley in other games, I can't stand EQ's interface for trade-related stuff. There's no impetus for me to participate unless they're going to fund my adventuring a bit.

[Rendael Brigh]

As a lvl 33 necro, I can't see how you can NOT make money for your spells.
You can solo HG just fine. There are so many more money droppers you can solo with ease.

Once you get past the many clicks it takes to skill to the level required to effectively and economically make items wanted, it isn't so bad. You just have to have patience.

[Auricula]

I am sure others will be along shortly to post their responses, but in short the answer is NO.

I remember all to well being a newbie and my mind being boggled by the prices I saw folks selling things for. Heck, some the prices STILL boggle my mind and I am level 60 now. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that you are level 33, and while having level 65 planar armour would be nice, it is not the way the game was designed. There are folks who have been playing this game for 4 years and have built up a huge stash of cash to spend on their baby characters ... that isn't you, and it isn't me either. Expecting to be able to afford the items that they can just isn't realistic for either of us.

There are some Trade Skill made items that sell for good pp, but they fall into the category of 'even if you have the pertinent skill maxed, you have a snowball's chance of a successful combine', and that is only if you luck into the rare drops off mobs that you need a Planar raid to kill. And you will be frustrated in what you have to invest to get your skill even close to daring to try the combine.

Having said that, I LOVE trade skills; I spend more time working on them than I do hunting for experience. To me they are a nice diversion that I can pursue at my own pace (here's hoping none of my friends who have listened to me whine for 5 days about needing ONE more tailoring skill point ... they might beg to differ right now).

When I started in EQ about 14 months ago, being level 60, having all your class abilities maxed, having one trade skill at 250 and the others at 200 was the BEST you could do stat-wise. So that it what I set for my goal. Right now I am 32 blacksmithing skill points away from that. And I have had FUN challenging myself to get there ... FUN is the important part of any game. If you truly can't stand EQ's Trade Skill interface, then it would not be fun for you to pursue them.

My advice to a level 33 for making decent pp ... find the Crazed Goblin camp in Butcherblock and solo them for a while. Kinda slow spawns, but decent exp and above average loot for that level. And accept that it will be a while before you can afford that 25k item, or even the 5k one

[Koru]

They can be quite profitable. If you put the time and money into them. I'm not sure I could recommend them as a "get rich quick" path however. EQ trades usually take enough time and money before you get to serious money that it's more efficient to spend that time leveling instead. I don't know anyone who went into tradeskills just for the money who didn't get frustrated and give up. I certainly would never do them unless I enjoyed them.

At 33rd lvl on your first char you won't be making as much money as a twinked alt can afford to spend for equipment. So don't worry if you can't afford spells at first, it gets better and it depends a lot on where and what you fight. I'd focus more on leveling for now, the more levels you have the easier it will be to make money - especially as a necromancer. HGs can be very slow and frustrating but they are good money. FS dropping mobs can also be nice for cash.

Err, I just reread the above and it sounds like I'm discouraging you from trade skills - which I don't intend to. I love trades and think they're fun. I just mean that from your particular situation (needing money on your first/highest char) it's probably gonna be slower and less profitable than straight out xping and farming would be.

[sp000n]

Good points, all, and thanks.

I should clarify my original post... I don't expect to be buying that fantastic gear at level 33 (first char, anyways). However, the $$ I'm bringing in hasn't improved much since my earliest levels. I thought perhaps tradeskills would fill in the gaps.

What I'm hearing from all you, however, is that they may/may not be profitable.. but they're almost definatley not for the noob char.

Appreciate it.

[Itzena]

The cliched answer is:

Q: How do you make a small fortune from tradeskills?
A: Start with a large one.


Your best bet would be to farm tradeskill components (spider/spiderling silk, quality pelts, etc) and sell them on in the Bazaar in bulk (and also at reasonable prices, please. )

[Liberta]

What Itzena said :P

Tradeskillers consume vast qualities pelts and silks - learn basic tailoring and you can make and sell stacks of leather padding.

Zombie skins also sell well - used for skilling up pottery. Don't know if you are big enough to hunt the beach in Gunthak yet, but lots of zombie skins drop there.

At your level you can easily farm acrylia in Hollowshade Moor and do much better than 15pp an hour. Learn basic smithing and you'll find a market for studs and boning.

Good luck!

[sp000n]

Lol! Points well taken!

[Cigarskunk]

Re: New to the game - Is there $$ in this?

As an adventurer, I often see items for sale ranging from 5k-25k.. even more. This kind of stuff isn't dropping from my kills.. in fact I'm lucky to make 15p per hour as a level 33 Necromancer... it's hard to even afford my spells.

Heh - if a 33 necro could farm the drops for the 5-25k items then they most assuredly would not be selling for that much plat.

One really has to wonder where you are hunting though that your cash is going so bad - at your level, my SK was soloing for nice plat and XP off of the ulthorks in EW - based off of my XP with necros, even a poorly equipped one should be able to do the same. The cash and merchant drops you'll get from the ulthorks will easily clear what you're currently making and then some, plus, you've got the potential bonus drops of the tusks which you can do the turn in quest for in CS - I've done it about a dozen times to date and have only been given a crappy gem once.

Are trade skills going to provide cash in this game? While I've enjoyed them immensley in other games, I can't stand EQ's interface for trade-related stuff. There's no impetus for me to participate unless they're going to fund my adventuring a bit.

At your level, baking is probobly the only feasable plat maker - assuming you can keep yourself up in the bazaar overnight, you can make some nice plat off of the Misty Thicket Picnics and some other misc baked goods.

For the most part though, you'll probobly have to stick with selling raw materials - get your brewing up to 170 or so and sell heady kiolas and coldain tempers - both have great profit margins and sell pretty easily.

Silk and pelts are also good sellers - having heady kiolas next to your silk swatches is also a great idea.

Leather padding also seems to be a great stand by - sell the HQ cat pelts for tailors and turn the other pelts into padding for smiths.

[Malathos]

At 33 you could still be getting xp and good cash from unrest as well.
Your pet should be able to sweep most of the ground floor on it's own and you should be ok for holding the first basement area. In unrest I could normally bring in over 100pp an hour in cash, gems, and spell components with only the occassional FS weapon.

Like Cigarskunk says, if you can put a trader up in the Bazaar overnight - you can off load any valuables onto them. Temper components, poison components, pelts, silks etc all sell fairly well (mostly bought by other tradeskillers who are in the process of turning their large fortune into a small one ).

Baking does seem to be a way of making loose change - i've been selling patty melts as I skill up on them - and even some fish rolls at a reasonable rate.

[Maisie]

me me!

Come to fennin ro and I will buy all the acrylia and velium bonings and studs you make..Please??? /plead

[JMorgana]

I made a lot of PP on Xegony by making Celestial Essences in mind-numbingly mass quantities and selling them cheaply to other tradeskillers. They cost about 1.5PP to make (depending on CHA of course) and sell for probably 5-10PP depending on the server. They're kinda like heady kiolas in that they're used in mass quantities for skillups (Cured Silk or Wu's anyone?) so lots of folks need them but the folks that need them have long since gotten tired of making them by the time they no longer need them.

[BrellRakshasas]

You have a role to play in the tradeskill economy of any server at 33. One that will be appreciated and rewarded.

That role is SUPPLIER.

Kill animals for low quality pelts/skins nad combine with silk thread (farmed from spiderlings) for leather padding. It's used in large quanities by smithies. On my server it sells pretty well in the bazaar and goes for about 25p. I imagine it sells well just about anywhere.

Farm cultural drops, such as essence of shadow or elf blood. You can get good xps killing mobs that drop these things, and make a good amount of cash in the bazaar selling them.

Talk to the higher level traderskillers on your server and find out what farming they need done. If you make rep for yourself now as a reliable supplier, you can make a huge amount of cash AND get xps doing it.

[vizzie]

I'll echo what others have said here, and add slightly.

The easiest way to make money off tradeskills is to be a supplier. Heady kiolas, pelts of all types and qualities and silks of all types. But as a supplier, your best bet is leather padding. By far the easiest way to make leather padding is to genocide greyhoppers in Marus Seru, and combine the LQ pelts with shade silk threads farmed from lesser shades in Shadeweaver's Thicket (also save the swirling shadows, since those sell well too.)

The next easiest is probably baking. Fish rolls, which trivial at 135, and patty melts, which trivial at 191, will most likely more than pay for themselves, especially if you fish the fish for the fish rolls yourself. Once you skill up to 191, you can make Halas 10lb. meat pies. At least on The Rathe, they sell for 4pp each, and I generally spend ~ 160pp and 2 hours to make 2 stacks of combines, which nets me around 9 stacks of HMPs, selling for 4pp each = over 500pp profit, usually in less than 2 days.

There are other paths to making money from tradeskills, but they will generally follow the "spend a large fortune to make a small fortune" type, and involve skilling to 250. The above path, however, should allow you to buy spells and much more.

Good luck!

[sp000n]

Guys, ya got me all excited ops:

I've no idea what these items are, but I'm gonna look 'em up and find out how follow your steps )

Ty.