Skilling-up 221 to 250

[Dyllwin]

Quote:"Check you cultural armor, DE armor for instance is a good way 250+ Without farming for very long"

Really? Where is the best place to farm Midnight Stones? I have tried to farm them all over PoN and have not seen one drop. They are rarely for sale in the bazaar and when they are they go for about 1k each.

Check on the old Blue Diamond cultural. Only the new DoN cultural uses the midnight stones, the old cultural uses BD's, which can be found in higher quantities from more zones...

[Dunthor Warsmith]

Could also try the old cultural (pre-BD) if you have easy access to a 49+ enchanter. Some of the DE stuff should trivial around 242 if I recall correctly. Probably not much of a market for it though, whereas the BD cultural has a (very) small but still present set of buyers.

[Zolina]

Shadowscream isn't as hard as you may think. Once you learn to properly manage the Hallowshade war, you can get two stacks of wailing substance or shrieking substance per hour. Then for the swirling shadows, I like to clear the island in Twilight Sea for 5 minutes and spend the next 25 minutes watching TV or reading a book; you'll get about 8 swirling shadows per clearing.

So my typical 80 combines only takes about 5 hours of farming. By comparison, othmir fur caps would take twice as long for 80 combines.

[mrjimorg]

Shadowscream isn't as hard as you may think. Once you learn to properly manage the Hallowshade war, you can get two stacks of wailing substance or shrieking substance per hour. Then for the swirling shadows, I like to clear the island in Twilight Sea for 5 minutes and spend the next 25 minutes watching TV or reading a book; you'll get about 8 swirling shadows per clearing.

So my typical 80 combines only takes about 5 hours of farming. By comparison, othmir fur caps would take twice as long for 80 combines.

8 swirling / 25 mins = 160 / 8 hours (you need 2 swirling/combine). Add the almost 2 hours for the shrieking/wailing and your at 10 hours for 80 combines. And with that you'll usually get 2, sometimes 3 skillups. Ouch. If you decided to skill up 33 more points (my plan), thats roughly 100 hours = 2 1/2 weeks of full time work.

[Phantron]

If you look at swirling shadows as time spent per time actually being there, it's not too bad. But you still have to spend a lot of time there, even if you're not always behind the keyboard during those time, and further that time could be used to farm something else too.

[Arfyak Reflux]

If you look at swirling shadows as time spent per time actually being there, it's not too bad. But you still have to spend a lot of time there, even if you're not always behind the keyboard during those time, and further that time could be used to farm something else too.

You can wipe the island in TS then (faction dependent, et al) zone through CK into TM and wipe out the grimling caves for acrylia/loot and then go back (with a quick stop in CK, if you have the faction, for selling and banking) do the island, etc... Or grind some xp on CK guards if you do not mind the faction hit and are of sufficient level.

[Qaladar Bragollach]

Invariably, someone will come in and claim the shadow island while you're not there.

[Phantron]

Or they'll just claim the island while you're afk waiting for it to spawn.

In the end you really have to be there more often than 1/5th of the time unless no one else is doing the shadows.

[YurienStonebow]

From skill 220-227 you can make Cleansed Breastplates:
http://www.eqtraders.com/items/show_...=8130&menustr=

from the Aid grimel quest:
http://www.eqtraders.com//articles/a...r=120055000000

EDIT: You must have Grummus, Carprin cycle, and Bertoxx flags to get the item from Aid Grimel.

Cost per attempt is under 10pp. In case you haven't already read about this one, there is one tricky part. The Filthy Breastplate you get from Aid Grimel to combine is Lore. And, Aid Grimel is in the top of the PoK library, so it's a long run to the forge.

I borrowed two mages to CoH me back and forth (don't forget to give them each stacks of pearls), and 80 combines later (335 wis, pre-skillup nerf patch), I was a 227 smith. The hardest part is dealing with a pair of giggling mages.

When was the last time you actually had fun working smithing?

rereading the thread and wanted to ask now that after the patches if changing your stats would be better to this trick now. i know smithing requries higher str then wis (generally) so would it make sense to lower them so you can fail more often since it costs so little to attempt it?


does what i said make sense to anyoen other then me....

[Phantron]

I just ran back and forth rather than trying to do anything cute. It seems like a long time, but when you think about how much time & money is needed for a combine, it's still cheap & fast. I'd imagine by the time you worked out the arrangements for the fast combines you probably could've taken that time do it the slow way anyway.

[Qaladar Bragollach]

rereading the thread and wanted to ask now that after the patches if changing your stats would be better to this trick now. i know smithing requries higher str then wis (generally) so would it make sense to lower them so you can fail more often since it costs so little to attempt it?


does what i said make sense to anyoen other then me....

1) Stats only effect your skillup rate, not the chance of success.
2) You don't get anything back on a failed combine so what would be the advantage of failing more often??

[Xodar]

8 swirling shadows per 25 mins is a little light, I am averaging about 15 a clear. Definitely a contested camp though, I see other folks pop in an check it several times an hour during primetime.

Do collars to 228 anyhow, save yourself a few shadows (collars are 2). I generally spend 2/3 of the time farming a combine run in TS, the substances come faster even considering you need both kinds.

Run of 100 tonight +whatever few extras salvage gave took me from 227 to 337, then went 3 for 3 (chest, chest aug, legs) on some master cultural and augs for a friends alt, I am heading off to buy a lottery ticket.

[eqblackrose]

Thanks for this post, I thought I would post my results :

Aid grimel quest : Acid Wash + Dirty BP

78 combines resulted in 6 skillups , STR = 390 & 415

Borrowed 1 Mage for CoH. Positioned him up at the library with KEI. I threw levitate on myself. I left the elevator in the "down" position and got to wheres I could float down the elevator shaft, run out the door, and float down on the smithing house. Then I just COHd myself back on top. I was timing it at one point when I was doing it pretty fast and it was 1 combine attempt per 50 seconds.