Cash and Smithing.

[Jarroda]

I'm pretty new to smithing. In fact I only started yesterday and following your helpful guilde I'm now 140'ish. I guess that the new tradeskilling interface has made things a whole lot easier for everyone recently as I remember having a go a month ago and it was such a pain in the bum I gave up instantly, but now it's actually quite cool (I've only been playing EQ for 2 months btw).

My question is one that I don't seem to see answered anywhere but is so obvious that I'm sure it must be.

Is Smithing actually a way to make some money..? Or is it simply a money and time sink..? I know that some people will max this skill simply because it is there and they have done everything else in the game and have 10mpp to burn. Others will do it simply because it's there to do. I'd like to do it as a way to make money, mainly because I only have about 15k atm, and being a cleric I won't be getting rich anytime soon

So far everything that I have made makes a loss when you sell it to vendors and it is so terrible that no-one will want it in the bazaar.

At what lvl can you actually start to make things that ppl will want to buy in the Bazaar..? And buy for a cost that actually makes me a profit..?

And if this miracle does kick in at some lvl, then can any of you give me a couple of pointers to good things to make..?

Thanks for any answers. I'm just keen to learn all I can.


Jarrodc
65-Cleric
No Tradeskills worth bothering about

[Aethn]

Is Smithing actually a way to make some money..?

Yes and No. For the most part, all tradeskills are a cost not a revenue now. There are a few select items that do sell well but for the most part, tradable or dropabale items ingame are better. Ornate armor is one example. You might be able to, depending on you culture, find a niche market on your server that would buy some cultural armor. If you have elemental access, you can make and sell elemental armor at a profit also.

At what lvl can you actually start to make things that ppl will want to buy in the Bazaar..?

Between 220-252

And if this miracle does kick in at some lvl, then can any of you give me a couple of pointers to good things to make..?

Elemental armor, SubCombines for smithing skillers, some but very limited Cultural armors.

[ColdHeart]

Jarrod, you are here as well! Is there no escaping you :-p

I sell Tae Ew fairly well on Venril Sathir. Human cultral rarely sells and not sold my hurricane chain coif. I'd say the competition is fairly high and you will have to get well over 200 to make stuff worth selling.

It is never a good idea to use Tradeskills as income unless you are willing to put alot of effort into it and be prepared for the competition.

[Saleani]

A significant number of people merely smith to do the combines for the coldain shawls or for the aid grimel quest. I know it is no consolation to say that you could have made a lot of cash 3 years ago making plate armor to sell to players (back before pelts stacked). What appears to be the situation is that there is a window of opportunity when a new expansion, or a new set of recipes are released. So it is best to be prepared when that window opens, sieze all those opportunities when they are profitable (MINE! MINE! MINE! ALL MINE! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! /cough, and now back to the regularly scheduled rant, err, thread) and not be upset when the window of profitability closes.

It also appears that, at this time, the most profitable route is to farm materials for the folks who want that danged earring and are willing to drop a million plat or 20 to get their skill up to 220+ for the earring. Some of the parts for that earring sell for 20k on my server (all the saps of which you need 3 per combine).

[FeroceFV]

Yes and No.

It depends entirely upon how you want to smith for cash. If you mass produce stuff and hope that it will all just sell in the bazaar, you will lose money. EQ servers are not industrialized nations; they're the equivalent of a small town, population-wise.

The best way to make money as a smith is by offering to make items to-order. Meet people's needs directly, and you can get away with prices that are above what you'd expect to make in the bazaar, and you will also get bigger sales. More than any other tradeskill, smithing gives you the maximum opportunity to make a huge variety of very useful tools, gear, weapons, and shields.

I have made a considerable amount of platinum off making suits of LDoN armors to meet the specific needs of people on FV. I'm slowly getting up towards doing the same with Heraldic armors.

[Nairn Niteraven]

Never overlook the market for subcombines. If you're willing to do some "grunt" work, there's plenty of people willing to buy from you rather than do the subcombines themselves. This is slow money, but it's steady. (This isn't peculiar to Smithing, it's just a way to make money, and I assume that's really your question).

[Voltai Ausra]

How To Make $$ Smithing

Strange as this will sound to alot of people. LDoN armor is actually a viable way to make money smithing. If you do alot of LDoN, and ask for the drops at the beginning most people will give thme to you. Mind you this is far from a fast money maker. You'll make net about 15-20 plat per combine you don't fail and resell to a vendor. Assuming max cha bonus. Ah love the Gm trophies.

Another way that's easy to make money smithing is to sell the ldon gear at a mark up in baz but under what others sell it for. Only gothic sells remotely well. If you are a dark elf, cultural plate bracers sell like hotcakes and aren't expensive to make if you farm the stuff yourself.....about 45 plat and sell for 1K+ The high wis is what gets people honestly, DE, FRG clerics love them at mid levels.

You can also make decent twink caster armor as a DE, caster wearable chain armor, it looks radical to see it. That sells pretty well on my server too.
(Rallos.....ah the power os Zek!)


beyond those ideas everyone's basically covered everything else i could suggest that you bother with in any attempt to make money

Tradeskills are there for the pride of saying "You see this neat item, yeah it ain't a Plane of Time drop, but I made it with my own two hands" Plus the rarity of having an item like that. Dark Prince Regent armor is a status symbol in my mind

[Nolrog]

Is Smithing actually a way to make some money..?

Rule 1 of tradeskilling. Never start a tradeskill with the intention of becomming rich. Since you have a 65 cleric (in 2 months, that's awesome) you will do far better making money by grouping and trying to get ornate drops in Valor.

[aamedorpo]

trying to get ornate drops in Valor.

when did ornate start droping in valor? or were you thinking bot?

[Aethn]

Rule 1 of tradeskilling.

I thought rule # 1 was "Powerlevel a Necro to 65"?

(sorry couldnt resist the old necro rule, hehe.)

[Dumpty]

probably meant HoH

[Daikoku Ashikaga]

probably meant HoH

Only ornate dropss I have seen in HoH have been from raid events, Tactics and BoT are the low level orante zones.

Dai