I Wove Wu but I Have Outgwown Wu...

[Morani]

Ok, so haven't grown past it yet (I'm only at 40 now) but I'm looking ahead and getting the idea that it'd be smart to start collecting materials now. I'm wondering about the progression path after Wu's. Since I don't have a lot of plat, I recognize that I'll need to do a LOT of farming. I also recognize that ,being a Ranger at level 38, I'm only going to get so far in the farming but I also do a lot of merchant mining. I don't yet have POP either. Part of what I'm looking for is what make the most sense to do now that will take me to ~200 and what makes sense later when I get access to AA's. Basically, I see 5 possible options:

Shade Hide - I like the idea that there is a progression but I believe the Mind Worm hides are a rare drop from a level 50+ mob. In addition, I don't remember shaded armor being particularly common either. Besides, there's got to be a reason too little has been made to find the trivials in the amount of time the recipe has been available.

Ribbons from LoY - Doable but too expensive for me, especially since I'm a Wood Elf.

Studded & Reinforced Acrylia - perhaps the "best" bet since it has 2 trivial steps but I'm under the impression that superb and flawless hopper hides are quite hard to come by. (I'm working on +202 fletching so I already know the frustration call acrylia.)

Cultural - The other candidate for "best" from what I see. Again, there is somewhat of a progression with Mithril Studded at 215 and Reinforced latter on. I have access to a Druid that can due the imbues but I don't know the expense of the store bought items in combination. I tend to find a few Sabertooth hides on merchants (but once I start wanting them for myself we know what will happen ). But there is the dreaded word: tannin.

Jump right into the 250+ level Velious recipes - I really don't like the idea of jumping to something with a trivial 80-100 points above where I am at this point but I DO tend to find the hides for these recipes (on merchants) in greater numbers than of the others. Still, I'm really hesitant to even consider it an option.


I'm also VERY unfamiliar with what sells now and what doesn't so I do not know how to factor in buy-back (merchant or player) to "neutralize" costs. I would greatly appreciate any advice on this. Also, if there are any holes/flaws in my thinking, I'd like to know.

Last question (for now ); does the embroidering needle get "used up" in the cultural recipes?


Thanks.

[Pockets FullOfGold]

The decision is really yours. I went the Acrylia Studded and Acrylia Reinforced way... but I made choice before LoY came out. You have an advantage over me. You being a Ranger have the ability to track down your prey so you are able to find and kill more mobs than I could if you were to choose the Velius Armor direction. You can also Forage which gives you a better advantage when it comes to those Velius Armors that require Foraging. My Thieving abilities force me to do as well as I can with what I have and at times it doesn't help at all (when foraged items are needed *grin*).

If you have friends I suggest going into Wakening Lands(WL) and killing there for your Tailoring items. I hardly see anyone in WL so farming there should not be a problem. This should be done after you are at least partially through Wu's unless you are willing to put up with alot of failed combines. The reason for WL is that you can kill Black Panthers, Haze Panthers, Tigeraptors, Hulgresh's for many different Velius Armor items and gather up their hides. You can also forage there for the needed items to combine the Armor. Since you are in your 30's you will need help killing the mobs but you will get good exp while there. Just watch out for Wuoshi if you are not on Dragon Faction and watch out for the Giants if you ARE on Coldain/CoV faction.

Again, the decision is all yours.

Pockets FullOfGold

[Zarubine]

I went with the Velious armour, specifically with Arctic Wyvern masks, after finishing Wu's. They seem to be the easiest to get ingredients for.

Cod is fished easily in CS and I still find a lot of Arctic Wyvern hides at the Othmir vendors there. And in the bazaar they sell for much less than superb and flawless rockhopper hides. Velium drops in CC and since you are in your 30s, this sounds like the place to be for you right now. Nice exp, the possibility of a nice drop or two, wich you can sell for cash and, most importantly, velium.

The only drawback of the masks is, since they are relatively cheap to make, they are used by lots of people for skill ups and therefore don't sell for much in the bazaar.

Hope this helps.

Zar

[Liwsa]

Most people that want to get to 250 in the trade skill work off of one theory.

Combine everything you can get your hands on. There is no BEST way to get to 250 . It is a long, hard road. Most of us just combine whatever we can get our hands on velious stuff, acrylia, solstice robes, whatever.

[Velurian]

Do make sure that you finish Wu's before working on anything else (except for the LoY ribbons, if those are a feasible option for you). Definitely collect all the supplies you can as soon as you can -- I would suggest, as others have, Velious armor as what you might want to focus on. If you're on CoV faction, these pelts (especially Arctic Wyvern once you're of a level to be able to hunt them) are much easier to farm than the components for most of your other options. (Silk for Solstice Robes is easier, but you need six for every attempt, and you need to find a jewelcrafter for the chains and an imbuer for the emeralds...) Until you reach that level, WL is good, especially the group of Tigeraptors near Skyshrine.

The problem with cultural is usually finding the components in sufficient quantity for serious skillup runs.

Acrylia is another more or less practical option, if you can farm the rockhoppers solo (or have a group that's willing to let you have the pelts) in DSP. You imply that you don't have much money, and buying the rockhopper pelts (at least on my server, YMMV) is pretty pricey. The acrylia isn't as bad, but still worse to farm than velium, unless/until you can handle Acrylia Caverns.

But in the end, you'll find yourself combining a bit of everything, whatever happens to be cheap in the bazaar or happens to coincide with your exp'ing on any given day.