188-200 cheapest route?

[Anise]

Would it be cheaper to go the acrylia armor route, or the misteltoe sickle route to get to 200?

Which of the two will give me a better chance at a skillup?

Anise Dreamwolf

[Zeralenn]

The cheapest route is shadowscream.

Mistletoe cutting sickles are BY FAR most expensive route -- you will spend about 6.5k for 20 combines and will be lucky to get 1 success early on. Someone estimated that 188-250 on sickles alone can run well over 400k plat.

Acrylia is almost never recommended as a skillup route due to the scarcity of windstones. If you farm windstones, 1-2 per hour is a GOOD drop rate. If you buy them, expect to pay at least 150pp per stone, and you need 2 per item.

If you want cheap, do shadowscream. Some races (specifically dwarf, ogre, dark elf, and especially human) also have good cultural skilling options.

...Zera

[OberonMiM]

Dark Elf cutural is a pita.

Dwarf is easy

Main reason why de cultural is a pita is because of essence of shadow (if you like getting one every 15 minutes or so and need 2 per a temper)

Besides to get past 188 you need stuff enchanted which unless your a chanter is annoying at least

[Zeralenn]

Hmm, I don't know where you are hunting but I can get MUCH more than 2 drops in 15 minutes on essence of shadow. I get closer to 15 an hour at the Lavastorm shadowed men camp.

Human cultural is actually the easiest.

...Zera

[OberonMiM]

You must be really really lucky then

Cause a drop every 2 clearings is usually the norm (spawn rate is about 6-7 minutes)

As for high elf.

You can easily get people to forrage morning dew for you. Every noob wood elf can forrage

As for shadowmen. Nobody hunts them or exp's on them because they are serious undercons

[kiztent]

Acrylia armour requires:

1 block of acrylia (or more)
1 large brick of acrylia per 2 combines
2 windstones
1 clear mana - emerald and poison vial
1 essence of wind
leather padding
plate mold (~1-20pp)

Sickles require:

1 ruby
1 emerald
1 sapphire
3 imbued emeralds
9 celestial essences
3 elven wine
3 mistletoe
3 sheets of metal
3 molds (~5gp, ~5gp, ~4pp)

Which is cheaper depends on a few things:
- cost of windstones
- cost of mana vials
- cost of ore
- cost of imbues

If windstones are 200pp each, acrylia ore is 100pp a block and mana vials are 30pp, and you have free emerald imbues, sickles are cheaper.

If you have a bunch of windstones and acrylia, as well as a pocket enchanter and have to pay 40pp per imbued emerald, acrylia is cheaper.

A sickle is ~300pp plus imbue costs. If you can get the components for acrylia cheaper (and the 2 windstone are typically more than 300pp), then go for it, but I'd guess sickles are probably cheaper.

From a pure skill up perspective, it's probably cheaper to sell acrylia to fund sickles. I'm not aware of any given combine being more likely to yield a skill up.

[xaanru]

Main reason why de cultural is a pita is because of essence of shadow (if you like getting one every 15 minutes or so and need 2 per a temper)

I would definitely not complain if Essence of sunlight dropped at that high a rate, from mobs that are that easy to kill.

Shadowmen are relatively low level, fixed spawns, easy to single pull. Even using your drop rate, thats two tempers an hour.

As for shadowmen. Nobody hunts them or exp's on them because they are serious undercons

And now people are complaining that they aren't camped???

Maybe I'm missing something, but uncamped mobs, relatively low levels, dropping components at a relatively high drop rate, sounds like a good thing to me.

Human cultural is actually the easiest.

Thats only for the freeport temper, and its arguable. using your 15 an hour figure, I'd say yours drop faster, and the mobs are easy kills. Plus you don't have to ride a (buggy) boat, out to OOT, and fight all the BL, druids and shammies for spawns, while simultaneously fishing for the other components.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Sea temper is hard. But SHADOWMEN, a bottleneck? There are uncamped, static spawn shadowmen in about a dozen different zones. Who could ask for easier than that.

[Ihnanna]

I have to agree with Xaanru. Sea tempers can be a pita in themselves. Have to fish for *unstackable* seaweed and fight the seafury cyclops which are camped to no end on that small island. I never see shadowmen camped. They are pretty much avoided like the plague.

Honestly, I would go with Shadowscream Steel if you are worried about cash. I spent way too much on Imbued Field Plate from 195 to 217. Now, I'm doing Shadowscream and wish I didnt go thru the trouble of Imbued Field Plate. I was farming Swirling Shadows last night and ran into a cleric that said she had been doing Shadowscream since her Smithing was 50 (is now 140) and only dished out 500pp. I wish I had been smarter, I wont even say how much I spent on just 22 skill ups. ops:

[Meirril]

As for high elf.

You can easily get people to forrage morning dew for you. Every noob wood elf can forrage

I'm laughing, or else I'd start crying. Yeah, newbie wood elves can forage. They have an inate forage skill of 50. Considering you don't realy start foraging rares till you have 100 skill, and any level 20s entering Gfay are there to bank and do trade skills...
There are ground spawns areas where Morning Dew just pops into existance. Newbies run by, say "what's this?" and pick it up. Usualy at that point it goes into the bank and is promptly forgotten, or destroyed.
If you realy want Morning Dew, you go to Lfey and make a foraging toon for yourself. Then you level up to kill off the brownie guards to get to the common brownies behind them that have an acceptable drop rate of morning dew (like about 5 per hour, from 4 static spawns that respawn every 5 min 30 sec).
IMHO stick to what ya know.