Dear God what am i doing wrong? ss armor 188+

[lumbule]

Iksar Shaman 140 str 260 wis 130 int trying to get past 188 with ss. farmed 1000 wailing 1000 shrieking started with 300 swirling shadows making boots

skill 188
combine 15 at a time and then make more orbs.. then another 15
60 combines.. ding 189
30 combines.. nothing.. quit.. swear.. read the boards
start again
combine 20 at a time and then make orbs.. then another 20
60 combines.. NOTHING... ****.. at this rate i will burn through all my wailing and shrieking and not even be at 200 skill..

WHAT IS WRONG? Did the patch mess stuff up? Am i just unlucky bastard?

[Kaysha Soulsinger]

Actually, the skill levels from 188 to about 200 are hardest of any tradeskill, purely looking at the amount of combines that people usually need. Reports of people who need on average 50 combines per skill up are not uncommon at all, and many people suffer one or more dryspells in this range as well, dryspells meaning that they suffer 200+ combines without a skillup on that number ...

You're just having bad luck . Carry on, post-200 skill it should be easier. Good luck.

[Zopharr]

Welcome to the evil RNG.

Not sure since they made it skill ups more common in smithing a few months back, but "Hell Levels" of 100-200 combines per skill point were pretty common, most people experiencing at least a couple. Sounds like you've angered the RNG gods.

[Bennan]

Unless you are unlucky, you will get periods when it takes 60 combines to get a skillup, if you are unlucky it will go to 100 and more combines for skillups.

Sometimes it will take less than 10 per skill up, on others more than 40 per skill up.

RNG is like that.

[Naelia]

Can someone clarify this point for me? Does the RNG have different averages in skill up rates for higher smithing levels? I saw a formula on the FAQ that did not seem to appy any differences between lower and higher levels of smithing. I am only at 184 so I cannot comment....

Thanks in advance 8)
~Naelia

[Kaysha Soulsinger]

The RNG doesn't have anything to do with the actual skillup rate. The higher your skill gets, the more difficult it gets to get yet another skill increase. The rate at which this difficulty increases varies from Tradeskill to Tradeskill, however.

The RNG just rolls out a random number from which the game determines if you scored a skillup or not, based on the current skill you have. Sometimes, people need to have the RNG roll out 100+ or even 200+ numbers before the game says 'Ah, skillup!'.

The streakyness is not in the RNG (at least, not for the largest part), it's in the way they coded their skillup difficulties, I think.

[Altanis Blazewielder]

Welcome to Smithing
I've spent just under 300 combines on my current point
Feel free to take out your frustrations on gnomes and other small animals, I know I do.
::smiles and walks away before he hits someone::

[Reflan]

Believe it or not, 260 is NOT that high a stat for tradeskills. I do much better at 275 than I did at 255 or 260 or 265.

When my friend told me about the insane skill increases he was getting at 325 wisdom, my skill rate increases seemed miserable. So I hit 61 and got the planar power AA for another 5 points on possible stats; being a shaman, I was able to get planar enlightenment to get to 275.

Getting the stats up there is a bit of a pain, but I believe it can save an enormous amount of effort spent farming and combining, and/or money spent, not to mention the time factor and sheer frustration level.

Everyone's different, but getting over 260 in a stat is something you might want to consider trying. No reason it shouldn't help you if it helped me and my friend; the logic works the same, and perfectly well.