Am I Cursed?

[Amenarra]

I have read this board for a while now and I just have some question my smithing progression. This is what I have done to get from 188 to 191. I have a geerlok max WIS and usually other stat buffs as well.

15 Acrylia Chain Combines
40 Shadowscream Combines
120 Sickle Combines
150 Koada`Dal Mithril Plate combines.

That makes 300+ combines, max wisdom, geerlok and 3 skill ups.

Is this average or am I really cursed?

[Perseverence Rewarded]

/Smack "Bad RNG"

[Zhorn]

OMG! Ouchies....!

I averaged 1 skill up per 10 combines from 188 til I hit 199.
(All on shadowscream bracers except for 1 run of 20 sickle combines).

Then yesterday it took me 38 combines to go from 199 to 200.
And I thought that was rough!!

That was 280 Str/280 Wis.

I would say it was just random bad luck. Other people have had a similar bad luck as well.

Zhorn Spiritwalker,
Barbarian Smith (200)
The Tribunal Server

[Amenarra]

This whole thing has just absolutely wrecked me. I am hemorraghing pp, I realize I SUCK at soloing and I have tried every trick in the book: zoning, home forge, stand on one leg with a parrot on your head, I end most skilling session in tears out of the frustration. Gah!!!! Am I overlooking anything at all or do I just need to grab some lube and pray harder?

[Zhorn]

Hmm I would definitely _not_ do sickles til 220-ish skill when you can start to break even (unless the sickle market is busted on your server).

At 7kpp-ish per 20 combines (= 1 skill up MAYBE) its just not worth it.

Take a small break from smithing and do some exping or something.
Clerics get some real nice PBAE's so maybe level and get those to help with shadowscream pharming.

Also maybe don't do more than a stack or two of combines at once.

I always did about 20 combines at a time (or less!). Most skill ups seemed to occur in the first 5 combines.

Shadowscream can be a pain to pharm but at least its DIRT cheap

[Bennan]

Fairly rare spell, and Level 58 as well I think, is The Unspoken Word. Its a godsend when farming. But thats a few levels away !


I really feel for your poor skilling run, I have gone from 188 to 204 with on average of 24 attempts per skill up. But what I have done is small batches of combines (between 20 and 40). And I have never done any big runs at all. This is with Shadowscream, and making Bracers.

But honestly you are just having the worst run with luck.

[Amenarra]

I usually do runs of 20. The *only* reason I did sickles was because it was totally self reliant and vendor bought and I wanted to give it a go. It was against all reason lol.

It is hard for me to stop smithing, I really hyper focus on anything I do so for me to stop the smithing grind to exp is like a slow death. Right now I am lucky to have decent access to dews and a great lvl 61 enchanter friend who lets me abuse her mana every chance I can. I just needed to know if I was crazy or not with my total and utter lack of skill ups. I think I am paying for getting 188 in 1 1/2 days

[Hethral]

191-192 was the longest run I've had so far without a skillup, 100+ at 265 wisdom. Seems like it's just one of those really happy points in the progression.

[Samoht]

191-192 was the longest run I've had so far without a skillup, 100+ at 265 wisdom. Seems like it's just one of those really happy points in the progression.

Happy?!!!

[Hethral]

Happy in the same way that beating yourself with a hammer is fun.

[Koutarou]

Happy in the same way that beating yourself with a hammer is fun.

But it feels so good when you stop!

[Liper]

I personally believe there's something to be said for trying things that are triv above your own skill but not too much.

Tailors who hit 199 and do robes I seem to see get less skill ups than those that are 199 and do acrylia.

I think the sickles are too far out of reach for you. Try making acrylia until at least 210 or so.

[xaanru]

Well, most of the posts replying to you are from the people who have had an easy time with the skillups. Let me give you a different perspective.

Pretty normal progression from 1-199.
199-200 took me 347 combines
200-205 took about 20 combines (pretty nice)
206 took 73
207-210 took about another 40 or so.
210-212 took 7 combines (I know this because I had stocked up on 58 ethereal tempers and bricks, just for this purpose.)
213-217 took about 60 combines
I am on a current run of 28 combines with no skillup.

About half of the combines on the 200 skillpoint were done with KEI, so 255 wis. The rest were done with 232wis. After finally breaking 200, I have never smithed with below 240wis (usually 255).

I started sickles at 212 skill, and average about 1 in 4 success. Since they are selling for 2200-2900pp (depending on who else has them), I have made a steady profit since beginning sickles.

Anyway, bad runs occur, I saw a post on the old eqtraders boards, from a guy who was over 1000 combines with no skillup. Roll with it, eventually you'll break thru.

[Amenarra]

I should note all skill ups past 188 have been on Koada`Dal Mithril.

I really knew better then to try Sickles, it was just during this pahse where I could not get dew to save my life and I hated just sitting there doing nothing, so I panicked and made sickles.

[Zopharr]

Not sure about runs since they adjusted skill-up rates a few months back, but a year ago "hell levels" of 200+ combines were pretty common and considered a rite of passage. Most people had at least one, and Zopharr had a hell level of 225 and two more in the 120-150 range. (According to many, he got off pretty easy.)

No, I am *not* trying to minimize your pain - just saying that unfortunately it happens a lot with smithing. Hang in there. 188-200 is a pain, but it gets better after that. And hold off on sickles for a bit unless hemmoraging plat is one of your goals. <grin>