Minimum Skills for Shawls

[Itek]

Howdy,

Got asked yesterday if I'd give someone some help on how to do Blessed shawl. (8th)

Itek: Sure
Questor: How did you get your pie tin?

*Itek blinks repeatedly*
*Itek scratches head*
*Itek forces brain to recall 3rd shawl*

Itek: Well, since I had both Smithing and Pottery I think I just made myself one, but you can buy yourself one in the bazaar pretty cheap for now if you don't want to work on Smithing Pottery yet.
Questor: Oh, so I have to have Smithing and Pottery?

*Itek faints*

Itek: Yeah, the combines for 7th and 8th shawls require doing combines with no drop items so you need to have the skills. Lucky you only need roughly 168 and a geerlok in each for 95 percent success.
Questor: What's a geerlok?

*Itek ponders The Spoon *

Itek: Um, it raises your effective skill level, it's tinkered, there's one for each tradeskill, and they sell in the bazaar most of the time.
Questor: *repeated other questions*
Itek: Let me post my "skills needed" chart on EqTraders.
Questor: Oh, I just use Allakhazam.
Itek: I -love- Alla, and I'm a premium member, but for tradeskill stuff you MUST use EqTraders.

Questor: *more questions*
(Did I mention I was running to The Grey from PoK, arrived, killed enough things that A Lucid Shard dropped for a friend during this conversation)
Itek: *more answers*

Questor: Thanks for all the help. What's a Coercer?
Itek: Level 65 enchanter. I like helping when I can, it's why I became an enchanter.
Questor: Most 65's can't be bothered to help.

*sigh*

True, but it's sad to say I -was- about to run completely out of "helpfulness" for the day.

Any ways....

skills needed for 95% success in most attempts

baking 139
brewing -- (157 + geerlok)
pottery 165
fletching 169
tailoring 158 - 167 + geerlok (191 + geerlok for 6th shawl 95%)
jewelry 171 + geerlok
smithing 175 + geerlok

3rd shawl

--- baking 127 trivial
--- --- need 139 without geerlok for 95% success
--- --- I just did fish rolls to 135 and left it at that

4th shawl

--- pottery 123 trivial
--- --- need 136 without geerlok for 95% success
--- --- I have a 167 now, did the 4th so long ago I don't remember my skill then

5th shawl

--- tailoring 115 trivial
--- --- need 124 with geerlok for 95% success
--- --- I just worked my tailoring up to 158 and bought a Geerlok

6th shawl

--- tailoring 209 trivial
--- --- need 191 with geerlok for 95% success
--- --- with 158 and geerlok about 61% success
--- --- with 167 and geerlok about 70% success
--- --- with 187 and geerlok about 91% success

7th shawl

--- brewing I ran up to 248. It's cheap, fast and the easiest.
--- --- 95% success (also got my Tradeskill Trophy, it's handy)

--- fletching 168 trivial
--- --- need 169 without geerlok for 95% success
--- --- Fletching was quick, cheap and easy to raise. Like an hour and 100 pp spent to go from 1 to 169 (geerloks are more expensive than they are worth for this)

--- jewelcraft 162 trivial
--- --- need 157 with geerlok for 95% success
--- --- Pretty easy and cheap to just raise it to 172, but get an enchanter friend to enchant the metals.

--- pottery 162 trivial
--- --- need 165 without geerlok for 95% success
--- --- Farm zombies skins and get to 165-168 really easy. (again so much cheaper to just get the skill than buy a geerlok)

--- tailoring 162 trivial
--- --- need 157 with geerlok for 95% success
--- --- Geerlok is worth having, I got my skill to 158 and then got to 163 JUST on shawl (sub)combines for 6th/7th/8th

8th shawl

--- jewelcraft 182 trivial
--- --- need 171 with geerlok for 95% success
--- --- This is the last crafting step. Make the armor first, carry it around with you, facet the gems and "imbue" the armor as stuff drops. I actually got 172 by doing the shawl combines here.

--- tailoring 176 trivial
--- --- need 167 with geerlok for 95% success
--- --- You might want to make the investment in LoY tailoring to get to this skill level. I stopped at 158 and blew 2 "soft fur padding" combines. Velium hound fur sells for 500 pp on my server.

--- smithing 187 trivial
--- --- need 175 with geerlok for 95% success
--- --- I stopped at 163 because I figured it was easier to farm for components if I blew 1 or 2 armor combines than to get the roughly 100 leather padding to raise the last 12 points. I failed -4- armor combines. (Which means a total of 6 wasted Velium Hound fur, 5 blocks and 2 large bricks of velium, plus some coldain velium tempers... not really -happy- but I figure it still cut some time out of camping greens so not entirely -unhappy- either.)

Someone asked me "how hard was the 8th shawl to get"

I replied "hundreds of hours of work, and thousands of plat spent"

They said "ouch, might not get it then"

I replied "Oh, it's worth it, it's SO worth it. If you want help holler any time."

I figure I have spent 20 to 30 thousand plat and probably 400 or more hours on the 8th shawl. But since I consider it to be equal to roughly 48 AA points. (4 aa's each STA, INT, all saves, 12 aa worth of Mental Clarity, and 8 aa worth of Spell Casting Reinforcement) But it STACKS with those AA's. Plus you can't beat it for a status symbol. *grin*

So WOOT! to me, and all the rest of the Blessed Coldain Shawl owners. And double WOOT! to DenMom, HouseOgre, the Shawl Guru, and the rest of the EqTrader's gang. Could not have done it without you.

[Cigarskunk]

I figure I have spent 20 to 30 thousand plat and probably 400 or more hours on the 8th shawl.

/boggle

You're a 65 chanter and you put that much into just the 8th shawl???

OK, assuming that you meant that this time and cost was for all 8 shawls total, let me say again -

/boggle

My troll SK got his shawl at 52 and he's my main. I got the K blood during a ring raid and it took a group of 5 of us (highest level being 56 warrior) to do the swordfish. The 8th shawl gems were all farmed with an XP group of simularly level characters and the wolf hides were purchased for 200pp each (I would have farmed them but we were working giant faction at that point and the dragons didn't like me).

So all said and done, my total cost for raising up all of my tradeskills and buying what I did was around 8k.

What the heck did I do right or you do wrong??? I can only imagine dropping that kind of plat doing the shawl quest if I were to have bought every silk swatch at 10p each, every kiola at 5p, every leather padding at 30p each, skilled smithing from 0-180 on plate BPs and didn't sell any successes back to the merchants.

And while I can't claim to know exactly how much time I put into this thing, I know that there is no way I put 400 hours into it - the tradeskills alone weren't more than 100-150 hours and that's including farming for skill ups?

[Fundin]

I have spent about a year and a half working on my shawls. I suppose the reason it has taken so long is that I started at about level 35, and worked on the various components (up to shawl 5) while I was getting xp in those zones. Finshed Shawl 5 last fall - after many many hours of duoing with my GF's ranger in velks for the silks.

Took a bit of a break, failed shawl 6 three times, took another break, and got shalw 6 and 7 within the last month.

I now have all my tradeskills at 161 or higher. At this point I have no current intent to get any of them (except brewing) higher than abolutely required for shawl 8. I have basically nothing for shawl 8 now. Using my 35BL alt (and my GF's 30 SK) to slowly farm velium.

I am curious about how to approach this set of combines. Looks like the first thing I need are the velium hound furs from WW - but as my guild is doing NToV, and I am KoS to CoV now. Should I be looking to farm the cash and buy them rather than expose myself and friends to the risk and tedium of farming the furs myself?

Once I acquire the furs, is 161 tailoring with geerlok worth attempting the combines? I am a bit leery after failing shawl 6 three times, though I am loath to even consider what I have to do to get my tailoring higher.

Once I have the padding and the velium, I do not think I would mind getting my smithing a bit higher than 162, would 187 too high or just sufficient?

And once I have the base armor combines done, I would, as others have suggested, take them along for the gem farming and do the combines on the spot. My jewellry is at 167 now, and I think maybe I should get that up a bit more too.

To sum up:

Being KoS to CoV am I better served to buy the furs for the padding? What is the minimum tailoring skill to attempt the combines?

How high should I get smithing and jewelcraft to maximize my chance of success?

Keeping in mind it will be some time for me to get the velium I need, and I am still working smithing up (and will consider working jewelcraft).

Thanks!

[Merts]

To answer Fundin a little, these are just my opinions and there are many different ways to approach it.

I would buy the velium hound fur in the bazaar. Being kos there as you said is a big headache. And while going through SG is trivial to a level 65, i didn't see mention of your level, 50-60 might have a tougher time and introduces another level of risk to farming those fur, CR's take time in SG and WW. The wolfs are kinda hard to track down without a tracker and it's a constant worry and look behind your shoulder type of place.

I did the combine for everything of the shawl at 165 tailoring, that includes the 6th(?), i was lucky and had no failure's on this part, or the 7th shawl. I think i had 1 failure on the soft fur padding at 165 doing the 8th shawl, if you have about 5k to spend, you might wanna do some LoY ribbons as others have said, steam dye was the easiest to get for me, took me to 182 incredibly fast. But you may only want to go to around 170 if you are cash limited.

187 smithing will be very sufficient to do the 8th shawl armor combines. I had around 185 and a geerlok and don't think i failed any of them.

Jewelcraft is insanely easy to raise, the only thing stopping you from raising that is if you don't want to spend more cash on it. Dropping about 2-3k should raise you to 200 easily. I stopped at 190 and had no failures with a geerlok.

Edit: p.s. I have had the 8th shawl for about 2 yrs probably, a little after it was introduced in Luclin i believe. (Was easy to finish up as i had already the 7th.) And it is worth it to do, it has served me very well over the times and only now am i looking to upgrade it after years of service. So keep at it, it feels great once you finish it!

[Fundin]

Might as well post an update on my progress:

A very kind guildmate (my GL actually) gave me a load of the Furs, I failed on one combine, and actually got a few skillups. Tailoring now 167.

At 179 base smithing plus geerlok, I succeeded on all the armor combines.

At 186 base jewlcraft plus geerlok I have so far succedded on 6 of the ething and imbuing combines. I only need two raw emeralds (and success on the combines) to finish all the tradeskilling for the 8th. Sort of waiting on some guildmates who also need gems to come hunt with me,I hate to see any of them rot.

Once that is done, I am certain I will have little trouble getting the force needed to complete the run in Iceclad.

Then all I have to do is decide what to replace my ceramic shield of war with

[Aluaeia]

Then all I have to do is decide what to replace my ceramic shield of war with

It shouldn't be hard to replace something that doesn't exist.

(There's a Ceramic Shield of Valor, or Ceramic Sword of War, but no Ceramic Shield of War)

[Bregalad]

Even if those 20-30k included costs to SKILL up... insane.

Started on shawls at 62(chanter), when I got my new pet, SoV and other stuff.

Shawls 1,2: A couple hours spent at giant fort in GD, killing as fast as they came. Also, stashed whatever wolf whiskers came my way. Too bad beards are lore, but I stashed one. Made couple hundred plat on

Shawl 3:
Baking: 0-135 on fishrolls in PoK in about 30 minutes, vendors selling batwings and fish are right next to each other. About 3 hours hunting solo in EW, plus next day duoing with a guildie druid (she tracked griffins for me in ST vicinity). While at it, stashed whatever manticore manes I got. Cost to skillup - negligible.

Shawl 4:
20 miniutes in CC provided the needed materials. Skilled up to 120 in PoK on less than 100pp in an hour or so. Made vial, found the dorf in EC at one of specified locations.

Shawl 5:
This one was the most frustrating - had to do it twice. My tailoring was already in the 90s, got it to 131 with Crystalline silk: ~3 hours in CC, and the gems/items from named spiders more than offset whatever costs there were. Shardwurm hunting took 3 days total. Spent about a week at Velks TS - either solo, or helping out group currently there in exchange for the threads. Ended up with 2 SCHWs in the process - those were still going for 3k+

Shawl 6:
Some time spent in FV farming silks. Way better than EK, and very nice plat on the side. Two days farming: tailoring 158. Net cash positive considering plat drop by drachnids. Then, an hour in CS. Cleared sirens near SS entrance twice - got the hairs, succeeded 6th on 1st try.

Shawl 7:
Found shell on bazaar for 700, ulthork tusk for 60, Molkor hide for 20. Me, and a guildie SK and druid went to WW side of SG. First swordfish we killed dropped the tooth. Kromrif blood was given to me by a guildie who had extra - returning a favor once done. Fletching 0-200 in PoK on 800pp in 2 hours. Brewing to 188 on Faydwer shakers - not even 100pp. Pottery to ~160 on vials - farmed skins off undead and animals in South Ro, also very little cost. JC I had at 195 - been slowly working on it from wee levels. Made all combines on 1st try.

Shawl 8:
I had smithing at ~140 already from previous times, so I did some fine plate, getting to ~175. Estimate about 2k expense. Farmed padding myself: spiderlings in Feerrott, greyhoppers in Marus Seru. Bought furs at 300pp each. Farmed Velium in CC, good cash there. Farmed geonids in WL for gems - also good cash. Also, I got a lot of extra raw sapphires and diamonds, which I used to make and sell engraved royal velium BPs and vambraces. Made about 10k on that alone. Then, a little rumble in Iceclad, and I had my shawl.

I estimate about a month passing between me starting, and getting the 8th. Ended up roughly 11k in the plus from shawl-related activities.

[Anubsin]

the tradeskilling isnt whats scary in this quest, its the final walk the dwarf part, im a 52 chanter im sure ill gain acouple of level in farming im currently about half way through a level and farming for 5th shawl in velks (got 7 biles already) , what am i going to need to walk the dwarf? is it posible for a chanter to solo this quest? if so how what level and strategy do i need? I would prefer to do it before im 65 but 60 or 61 isnt out of the question for me.

[Airl]

what am i going to need to walk the dwarf? is it posible for a chanter to solo this quest? if so how what level and strategy do i need? I would prefer to do it before im 65 but 60 or 61 isnt out of the question for me.

No, it's not soloable. Single group of Elemental geared people or two groups of bazaar clad people can do it though.

[Rerashyaka]

Ugh, I didn't even want to think about how much time I spent on tradeskills related to the shawl quests. But, once I got started on it, good memories.

1st and 2nd: I'm level 32, I think, and I've just taken the spires to Velious, bubbling with optimism about raising my dwarf/dragon faction, and putting those naughty giants in their place. No groups in my level range and I die learning that giants run faster than most mobs. I persevere, and in the next couple weeks I finally accumulate enough toes and noggins.

3rd: Luckily, I'd been learning baking ever since level 12, when I got forage! I've been making pies for a loong, loong time, and so I only have to go through a couple dozen stacks of bat wings and fish! (At this time, my wisdom is /maybe/ 75 and my int is even more embarrasing) And I just got track, too! Time to move to a new zone and show those snow griffons who the boss is! Turns out, they were. Showing an uncommon display of sadism, those birds would let me get them to 30%, then root me, and pummel the snot out of me (I am still teased about the quantity of bodies I created in EW). This remains a common theme until I get to level 40, and get my very own cancel magic spell. Of course, I'd gotten my eggs by then but I'm really out for revenge, and at one time end up with a full stack of eggs which get MQ'd to guildies and friends.

4th: Ahh, pottery. My very first tradeskill, forced upon me by my guildmasters in Shar Vahl. (the cat cloak quest is something else I've been working on between corpse runs.) I get to play around in the Crystal Caverns, and learn all about the importance of having an emergency flute in the bank (a bard's source of indoor invisibility) and more importantly, putting it back after I finish a corpse run. I learn that the RNG is a harsh mistress as I get 8 consecuitive death squads. The zone remembers me begging for rezzes in #3, and I get moral support as I memorize the dash to kael.

5th: Okay, tailoring won't be that bad! It says that dex gives me a chance to skillup! 8 stacks of greyhopper hide later, I decide that perhaps that information was flawed. (my base wisdom is still around 75) On the other hand, I am able to scratch up some wis gear and get my tailoring to 115. Despite the best efforts of almost everything on Norath and points beyond, I make it to 50. Velks, here I come! I manage to find a group, primarily because there is a magic pathing bug on the first floor and I have an AoE fear song. It breaks a lot and I die some more. But, eventually, I get 75 whole threads banked away and go after biles. I even have some resist gear now! Somehow, I don't die very often, even though the kills are slow. An indeterminate amount of running-in-a-circle later, I have my biles and (thank you, spirits) do not fail anything. I have an upgrade to my shoulder slot!!

6th: More tailoring! I improve my wis suit slightly, and go to EK. I chase down low level enchanters and bribe them to make me vials of mana. I kite enormous amounts of rockhoppers and get my tailoring to 162. I decide that collecting the parts can't possibly be more onerous than getting tailoring any higher. I, and everyone in Cobalt Scar, learn that a charmed bard is incredibly entertaining in its uselessness. Druids and wizards gleefully inform me that my max hit is 4, plus I don't cast to save my life. Then they offer to port me back, along with a cleric if I can find one. And then, miracle of miracles, I succeed on my first try, and get a skillup (!). I am hooked more firmly on tailoring.

7th: My brewing is already high enough for this, as my latest money-making scheme has been making coldain tempers. Fletching doesn't take long, as I can get a 255 dex, with some help. Jewelcraft makes me cry, and I have to make a few more backpacks of coldain temper to pay for it. I got the blood on a guild raid, found a seashell and a molkor hide on a vendor, and spend some time chasing down the rest of the parts. Except for the swordfish tooth. A lot of parts molder in my bank for around 6 months, until I am able to sucker a couple friends to going to SG with me.

8th: One advantage to farming rockhoppers for tailoring is that I end up with a LOT of LQ hides. A backpack and a half of padding, plus 2k, and I have smithing 188. Then I find out that geonids are incredibly resistant to everything but fire and magic. I check the caves after every patch to see if a shimmering might be up, and after some time (as in around a year), I get most of my gems. I spend some time xp'ing, and after a while, I find out I can melee them faster than I can kite them. (with a 60 point DS and 55 points of standing regen, anyways) I spend 8 hours getting those last two sapphires. And then I fail a bracer. I spend another 4 hours and don't fail this bracer. A quick dash to the Dain, and I am ready to start my walk. Except that there are currently a lot of problems with collision detection and the general is reportedly warping a lot and getting killed. (as of june 1, 04)

I now realize that if I'd have just waited to start it at 65, I could have done the whole thing in a hundredth the time. But, I'm pretty sure I'm going to treasure my shawl that much more. When I finally do get it. Sometime.

Rerashyaka Mousekiller
65 Vah Shir Bard
Druzzil Ro

250 baking + trophy
250 brewing
200 fletching
199 pottery
191 smithing
191 jewelcraft
188 tailoring

[Airl]

A quick dash to the Dain, and I am ready to start my walk. Except that there are currently a lot of problems with collision detection and the general is reportedly warping a lot and getting killed. (as of june 1, 04)

I had the collision problems on June 1. A GM returned my items so I'm going to try Tuesday, June 8th. Hopefully the last patch fixed the warping problem!