Skillups 188+ (help please)

[Zarathros]

I spent yesterday farming CC for velium, so am going to go to CS tonight to get some algae for making tempers, and give this Enchanted Velium Bits thing a try. LDON smithing is not very cheap on The Rathe, as the bazaar prices are nowhere near the 5-10pp i saw mentioned above. The usual price seems to be 100pp, tho they are often priced higher. I just need 7 more skillups to hit 200 so am hopin velium can get me there.

[Vhalis]

I am also on the Rathe, prices on velium and other components are very high (500-700pp per Flawless Rockhopper pelt!!)... So far I have found Enchanted Velium Bits the fastest/best way to get to 200. I farm Velium in Tofs wedding floor, I just wipe the floor, wait on repops and repeat. Not the fastest way but doesnt go to bad; much faster for me than CC since I cant AE.

[Quillium]

Treyla said:
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Tonite I drove myself crazy. Had enough velium pieces for 135 combines. No CVT available so YES I made all my CVT. YES 540 celestial essences, 135 coldain heaters and 135 spell: enchant velium. Out of 135 combines, 6 skillups. I hear thats average, 1 skillup per 20 - 25 combines. I was in shock. So not wanting to spend another 6 hours farming velium I prepped for 20 sickle combined. Yes, ANOTHER 180 celestial essence, tunare dust, etc. Out of 20 sickle combines, 2 sickles, no skillups /cry. I'm just beside myself. I certainly don't remember TSing this difficult. I'm sick to tears of fighting with people trying to farm CC for velium. Nor am I enjoying the constant buff requests of those boxing and PLing in Velks. I don't do much LDoN, and honestly, when I do I tend to be healer so foraging isn't really on my mind when watching the party health. I'm just a few steps away from saying oh well, cuz really I'm losing my mind. The drop rate of velium is horrible ... I stopped farming when I did the *circuit* of miners from top to bottome of CC three times in a row and got ZERO velium drops. I'm really beginning to think it just isn't worth it to go on with smithing.
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Well, let me see.. you spent just 6 hours and farmed 135 combines? Yes.. JUST. This is only like a couple times faster than the previous option which was shadowscream. People have spent weeks farming SS to go from 188-222 and you complain about 6 bumps in 6 hours? 188+ has ALWAYS been a pain in smithing, just be glad there is an option that now gives you 6 bumps in 6 hours of work, because it certainly wasn't there before. And this doesn't include the ldon combines you can add in to make that transition to 222 a lot easier. Here is the thing, this is supposed to be hard. Its SUPPOSED to take time. Its supposed to take work, if it didn't it would be the extreme joke of a skill called Jewelry Crafting. I have no respect, none, for any JC'r in this game because all that skill is is a matter of dumping 15K and 5 hours of clicky combines in one store with merchants 5 feet apart to get to 250. Its skills like smithing that show that even if the recipe books with a one-click combine go into effect, people still won't be able to power all skills to 250, expressly because its this farming they hate about tradeskills and consider a waste of time, not necessarily the carpel tunnel stuff. Hell, any one of us who don't give a crap about using our hands in 5 years if we could just hit the 1750 club would be able to power to 250 in all skills if it were just as easy as JC.

-Quillium Lifehammer
65 Warrior Fennin Ro

[Meirril]

Just a little mention of ToFS. While their are only about 10 spawns that have a chance of dropping velium (the golem types on the wedding floor) they drop velium more frequently than the miners in CC (miners drop velium rarely, its about 1 in 3 golems that drop velium). I'm sure that the gargoyals and golems in Velks drop velium more frequently but its harder to farm them effectivly (at any level, solo).
Another source of velium nobody talks about is Sky Shrine. The golem mobs there drop velium and should drop it more often than the mobs in ToFS. Again, harder to solo however the mobs here are soloable by the right classes or a duo. If your not on dragon faction (I am, and yes I care about it still for some unknown reason) its an excellent option. I'd imagine its almost a wholy uncontested zone.

[Daikoku Ashikaga]

Gauntlets of the Dark Embers - 15%, VT, Semi Rare.

Was fairly common in my VT days, about 3 went to people that would never smith.

Hammer of the Ironfrost - 15%, Ssra, XTC, Rare

about 1/4 drop rate, Hatebringer is rare, this is fairly common.

Dai

[Madbakerhobbit2]

Skyshrine is a fabulous place for velium. Absolutely fabulous. The main room has a rather large number (I call it the main room... zone out/zone in to cs) there are floors with nothing but golems, the entrance has golems.... the place is overrun with the **** things!

The best part about skyshrine is that if you are a class that can sneak... you really never have to leave the zone. YOu have a forge there to bust your velium up, and merchants to buy all of the crap loot you find. What more could you ask for

One day this weekend, I actually filled a 10 slot pack with small pieces of velium in about 4 hours.

[Marteeny]

I have no respect, none, for any JC'r in this game because all that skill is is a matter of dumping 15K and 5 hours of clicky combines in one store with merchants 5 feet apart to get to 250.

I am a GM JC'er. It was my first skill and the reason I got into tradeskills to begin with. I was level 30 on my first character when I gm'd jewelcraft. I was ****ed proud of being able to fund what to me, was an incredible amount of pp. I am still proud of my trophy.

So what if it wasn't as hard as the other skills. There is no reason to belittle those who took that route. That is just plain rude and elitist.

[Vhalis]

Thanks man! I compleatly forgot about that place (Skyshrine); and since im bottom rock KoS there, ill have no issues killing whatever is in my path