Do I have enough silk swatches?

[Calabar]

After just telling someone they’ll most likely run out of padding before they finish fine plate no mater how many padding they have, I feel kind of silly asking this question. But all I’m really hoping for is a very rough estimate. When the shared bank space goes live I plan to start working on tailoring again. I’m at 131 and plan to do Wu’s to 158. Between my different characters I have about 260 silk swatches. Assuming I don’t hit a run of 200+ combines without any skill ups, might this be enough to reach my goal with 255 wisdom or should I go squeeze more silk strands from giant spider butts? And yes, I always wash my hands afterwards.

[Pockets FullOfGold]

The RNG can be a fickle thing. I do not know if you have enough or not but with a current skill of 131 and a want to go to 158, I do not think you have enough Swatches. You are estimating less than 10 combines per skillup and that's with using only 1 Swatch.

This is just my opinion though.

Pockets FullOfGold

[Mahlig]

You never have enough silk swatches. However many you have, you need at least 1 more to get to your goal. That, of course, coming from someone who has 149 attempts (and about 15k pp) at skill level 201 and still no skill up. Many spiders have died, and yet no skill ups. I recommend getting more. If you have excess, sell it to reap monies back.

[Calabar]

I hate to say it, but I’m sure you’re right. That looks like a lot of swatches when I look at them in the bank, but once I start doing the math it all kind of falls apart. I guess my ranger will be spending a lot more time in East Karana. Oh well, its not such a bad thing. He’ll be able to forage more tea leaves a pluck a few more griffon feathers that way.

Has anyone noticed that carrion spiders in Ease Karana seem to drop a lot more silk then giant spiders in the Commonlands? Perhaps its just bad luck, but it seems that most of the giant spiders in E and W Commons are empty when I go to loot them. And though carrion spiders have fewer silks than crag spiders, they seem to have at least one or two silks most of the time.

[Mahlig]

Yes. Carrior spiders in EK seem to drop up to 6 silks. I have not seen that boon yet from a commons spider. Further, they seem to drop silks more frequently. Then again, I am PBAEing them, so perhaps the ones with nothing vanish before I get a chance to loot them.

[Hibashira]

131 to 158 is 27 points.

1-swatch Wu's will get you to 144, i.e. 13 points
2-swatch Wu's to 151, 7 more points
3-swatch Wu's to 158, 7 more points

At those levels, 10 combines per skillup is not unreasonable, so that's 130 + 70 + 70 = 270 combines, or 130 * 1 + 70 * 2 + 70 * 3 = 480 swatches. I would say you are probably short with 260.

At 5 cps, you would have enough but I think that's optimistic.

[Mahlig]

Though 1 in 10 is not unreasonable at that level, I went to 135 in baking yesterday from 123 (yea, I know...different skill, but the same point being made). I figured I could get 1 skillup per 8 or so combines. Well, it took me 217 combines to get those 12 points. So, I dunno if the RNG is out to get me or what, but given that success rate, you will need a lot more silks. =)

[Morani]

Funny how things like this can turn around Calabar. While I'm in the same place you are, I did some looking earlier and found three old posts from people mentioning that they went through nearly 300 swatches doing Wus. Unfortunately that means 1200 Kiolas.... I have 9.5 stacks of swatches I've farmed and I didn't get too bored doing it so I think I'm going to make a goal of 20 stacks farmed and what I don't use, I'll sell. I wish I'd though about DOING tailoring when I saw the person in the Bazaar selling 1500 silk swatches...

If you are at 131, you might want to consider doing the sacred Tunare silk to 135 and selling the results for the POTC quest (depending on your resources, that might be simple or might be ridiculous.)

[Koru]

Well, I did that same run you did on 11 stacks of silk as I recall. Have to also remember that skillups are a bit more common at lower skill. Now the real question is, do you have enough kiola? :twisted:
Hehe, I was dreading the Wu's but ended up having farmed just enough silk to triv it. Leather padding on the other hand... oh boy. Lets just say I'm still farming greyhoppers.

[Velurian]

I went through that range at about 5-7 combines per skillup until the last few points. So with some luck, you might have very close to enough. But for the most part, I agree with what it sounds like you've already decided to do: go farm another few stacks.

[Marteeny]

I got through Wu's on less than 250 swatches.

Most people here are saying you will need more. I'd say it's time to find out. Use up what you have. That way you will not waste any time. If you run out, you can always go get more silks. I personally would rather not farm extra silks. BORING! I would be pissed if someone told me I would need at least 400 swatches, so I go and farm them and only end up needing 300. Yes, the excess can be sold for good pp, but that is still a lot of wasted time.

If you have to sit down 2 or 3 different times to triv out on Wu's, so be it. I don't think anyone has the wrist to do it all in one sitting anyway.

[Mahlig]

If you are going to be a GM tailor, you will not *waste* silks. Solstice Robes will take care of any and all the excess silks you have. Additionally, they sell for probably 10pp per swatch on most servers (if you do not plan on becoming a GM tailor), so not a waste there either.

[TocapValdor]

at 145

I'm working on tailoring myself, and it hurts
Silk swatches are selling easy at 23pp each on vallon zek. So everytime i combine it's 46pp gone, and getting better, soon will need 3 swatches....

[Morani]

Yes, the excess can be sold for good pp, but that is still a lot of wasted time.

I wouldn't call 1k plat for a couple of hours work a waste of time personally. I'd be happy that it took me FAR less than I'd planned to reach my goal and be near ecstatic that I'd actually be MAKING money at the same time. But then I don't really find it all that boring to farm the silks either. Just a difference of opinion.

Something that I've not heard mentioned yet is INT/WIS. Someone with a 255 INT is going to take far few combines than someone with a 100 INT. Without spending masses of cash, my WIS isn't going to be much over 155 and I'm getting skill-ups about 1 every 8-10 combines. Truly and example of "your mileage may vary". My estimate above was a "hopefully worst case scenario" so, putting all together, the answer seems to be anything from 10 to 20 stacks. I look at the numbers: 27 points at 8 combines per skill-up = 216 combines. Round to 220 for simplicity. That's 11 stacks of mana, 11 stacks of patterns, 19 stacks of silks (13 points of 1 silk, 7 points of 2 silks & 7 points of 3 silks at 8 combines per point), and 44 stacks of Kiolas. Total of 85 stacks worth of materials. That alone means you'll have to do batches.

If farming bores you, work though what you've got and see where you stand. You might even feel like you've accomplished something. If it doesn't bore you; gather 20 stacks and then have at while hoping you can make a solid profit or bank a stock for latter.

[Craftah]

You never have enough silk swatches. However many you have, you need at least 1 more to get to your goal.

This is so correct! No matter how much you farm you will always need more. If you are planning on GMing tailoring then you will need about 500 more silks than you farm. Farm 2000 silks? You'll need 2500. Farm 3000 silks? You'll need 3500.

It probably some kind of law built into the RNG: For each combine check the inventory and bank of the player, all the alts, and any other accounts with the same credit card. If a signficant number of silks is found (greater than 6) then lower the chance of skillup by 200%.