Approximate number of silver combines?

[BobDole901]

Hail all,

I am just beginning jewelcrafting and am wondering if anyone can guess the number of silver + gem combines that I will need to make between 21 skill and the skill where silver is no longer worthwhile to skillup on. The reason I ask is that I would prefer to get an enchanter to enchant a huge number of silver bars for me instead of having to do one stack at a time. Any ideas at all on this would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[Velurian]

It depends on your intelligence/wisdom, but the answer is probably that it's more than your local enchanter is likely to want to do, and if you're paying for the combines, more than it's worth your while to pay for.

To expand on the first part of that: with an INT/WIS in the 250-ish range, a skill-up every 3 or 4 combines wouldn't be unusual. Silver and Topaz is where most people stop working with silver, and that trivs at 44. So that's about 70-90 combines (from your current skill of 21), best (reasonable) case. If your INT/WIS is lower, it could take a lot more.

Most of these combines will cost a platinum and change each; to be generous, let's say an average cost of 2pp per combine. On a success, you make a bit less than 5% on an enchanted combine, and lose less than 1% on an unenchanted one. So what you gain by enchanting the bars is less than 6% per combine -- or, in this case, less than a gold and 2 silver. And that difference only matters on the successful combines, and trust me, you'll have more fails than successes at this skill range.

So even if if takes you 300 combines, that's a maximum difference of about 35 platinum, if you succeed every combine. In more tangible terms, a difference of less than 2.4 platinum per stack of silver. And maybe you know a chanter that will do that many enchants for free, but I know I would want to be paid more than 2 and a half plat per stack to sit around enchanting silver for someone else.

(And, frankly, if you can't afford the 2 and a half platinum loss per stack, you've picked the wrong tradeskill. :shock: )