smithing newbie looking for words of encouragement

[TurBoBoAst]

first time reading in the forums and to my dismay I feel REAL discouraged right now about smithing...

I just finished up making spoons and at skill lvl 75 Ogre shadow knight in Tallon Zek... whew... getting ready for banded soon...

any words of advise from the pros here or guides... I am quite clueless, lost and discouraged...

also... when will I start making some profits...
:?

[Cigarskunk]

If you want to save some plat, make condensed shadow arrowheads till they trivial - a little more time consuming then banded, but a heck of alot cheaper in the long run. You can sell the finished arrowheads in the bazaar for a few plat, so that's when you can start making profits.

[Bennan]

First thing to do, is start collecting !

If you want to make your Cultral, start collecting your bloods now. Check Vendors for Pelts, and Spiderling silks you will need them for the Fine Steel Plate stage. Kill mobs that drop these items on sight as well...

If you pass through Luclin abit, pick up what Shrieking Substances and Wailing Substances you can, again by killing whatever you see. (Shadowscream Armour).

Keep an eye out for Windstones, and Swirling Mists as well (Acrylia armour)

There is no need to go way out of your way right now, but keep an eye out for any opportunities to gather the above components.

Make sure your primary smithing stat is as high as possible, be it int str or wis (if you can go all out for 255 I would suggest very strongly you do that).

Make sure you have a Charisma gear setup as well, I work with 124 Charisma myself when buying stuff.

Don't expect to make large profits, until you get to a stage you can make Acrylia armour (for me I started at 189).

You can actually get 240 plus in smithing (not sure if Shadowscream takes you to 250 ?), for under 10 to 12k (possibly even a bit less really).

Arrowheads to 116,

Deathsteel weopons to 163(this is just looking at the recipies, it looks feasible, maybe another poster can correct me here).

Fine Steel until 188 (the sellback price on the finished product is very close to the total cost of manufacture, it cost me about 2k from 175 to 188 myself).


ShadowScream to 250?

Of course it will just take alot of time to do all the above.

With the money drops from hunting the above criters that drop smithing stuff, plus saleable goods such as Perfect Owlbear Pelts you should cover half your costs I would think...

Also, investing some time in tailoring so you can make your own Leather Padding is a good idea.

So all in all, smithing does not have to cost you an arm and a leg, its just time. Look at each smithing item you make as a stage, stage one being spoons stage two being arrowheads stage three getting tailoring up etc etc. Just set yourself ACHIEVABLE goals and stick to them.

Its not that hard to do, just very very time consuming Go for it !

[ArrakeenNaedShoj]

I do not know what the trade situation is on Tallon, since it's PVP and I have no Idea how the bazaar would even work in that situation, but on the blue servers there is still some money to be made in smithing. However, it is not the big easy money it was 8 months ago. Many cultural markets are dead or dying, as is the Sickle market, prices on many components continue to rise while finished product prices drop. You can still make money, but you will work for your plat(which in a way is a good thing).

Luckily for you you have one of the easier tempers to get, everything can be gotten while gaining faction(and possibly decent loot farming bandits). And I would suggest at least looking into the old cultural for this reason. But if your server does not have an easy way for you to get into Neriak, and you can't make freinds with a high-level enchanter and imbuer, this will be a total dead end.

As for encouragement, I have been stuck at 193 since 3 days before the patch that lowered trivials. I have done well over 300 non trivial combines without a skillup. Yet, I really really believe that when I make it to 250(If I don't quit the game for other reasons) it will be worth it; and it will be something I am very proud of. The only thing I can say, is that if you give up, you are only giving up on yourself.

[chubbyone]

Spending time farming components 3 month
Combining recepies 20 hours
Showing up to the next guild meeting in full cultural suite = priceless