Rawckett's Tinkering Skillup Blog

[Rawckett]

Wow! So after 4 months with out any combines done, I was able to sneak some in late Monday night.

236 Tinkering skill (247 w/Trophy):
Collapsed Toolkit (242 Triv) – ssss – DING 237

237 Tinkering skill (248 w/Trophy):
Collapsed Toolkit (242 Triv) – sssss – DING 238

238 Tinkering skill (249 w/Trophy):
Collapsed Toolkit (242 Triv) – ssssssssss

note: s = success; f = failure
__________________________________________________

I was happy to see 2 skill-ups in my first 9 combines. =) I have over 2 stacks of Coiled Springs left to hopefully get the last 4 skill-ups and then move on to Anizok Guaze Press (more coiled springs, blah) and Molten Metal Bow Cams.

236 – 237: 4 combines (4s, 0f)
237 – 238: 5 combines (5s, 0f)
238 – 239: 10 combines so far (10s, 2f)

As for my trophy progression, well I forgot to see what I finished at. I started out at 30% and had 19 successes without a fail. So I’d guess I’m up to 33%. Ironically, I did fail a metal bits combine (194 smithing) and a Base Protoype skill. Both are trivial to me. However, I did salvage one of the two ores on the metal bits. LOL.

Skill Update:
Tinkering 238
Journeyman Mechanist Trophy, Level 4/7 - 30% to 33%

[KyrosKrane]

Great to see you still working on it. =)

[Rawckett]

Thanks. Been a slow process. LOL

Not to mention, that I just lost my book that I kept track off all this stuff as well. Bahhhhhhhhhh. I hit 239 in that time, but have gone something like 40 combines (or close to it) with no more skill-ups. But I can't remember the details and can't find my book.

[Rawckett]

Well, I'll probably get back to work shortly, just haven't felt like after the disappointment of losing my book that had all my previous info.

Oh well, gotta keep those gnomish spirits up.

[Rawckett]

Okay, here we are. Currently standing at 239 and my Journeyman Trophy evolved to 41%, we put the nose back to the grindstone, and attempt to bank out somemore Collapsed Toolkits. I went through approx 2 stacks of coiled springs to get to wear I am, but do not know how many combines into 239 I am

239 Tinkering skill (250/Trophy):
Collapsed Toolkit (242 Triv) – ss - DING 240

240inkering skill (252Trophy):
Collapsed Toolkit (242 Triv) – ssssssssssssss

note: s = success; f = failure
__________________________________________________

Did a quick 16 combines, got a skill-up right in the beginning which gets your pumped for more quick skill-ups that never come. Lol. But, we'll do some more tomorrow, gotta organize the bank space as I have a lot of researching crap hanging around.

238 - 239 Unknown, but guess between 15 - 20 combines (?s, ?f)
239 – 240: Unknown, but more than the 2 I did today. Prolly 15 - 20 (?s, ?f)
240 – 241: 14 combines so far (14s, 0f)

As for the trophy , I got 16 successful combines done, bringing the trophy from 41% to 44%

Skill Update:
Tinkering 240
Journeyman Mechanist Trophy, Level 4/7 - 41% to 44%[/QUOTE]

[Rawckett]

Were back for a second day in a row. That may be a record for me. Haha. Well, I left off with 14 successful combines in 240, and we will continue from there I guess.

240 Tinkering skill (252 Trophy):
Collapsed Toolkit (242 Triv) – fsss - DING 241

241 Tinkering skill (253 Trophy):
Collapsed Toolkit (242 Triv) - sfsssssfs - DING 242

Salvaged Mold and Metal Bit
Salvaged Mold and Metal Bit
Salvaged Coiled Spring, Mold, Water

242 Tinkering skill (254 Trophy):
Anizok's Gauze Press (262 Triv) - fssssssssssssssss - DING! 243

No Salvage

243 Tinkering skill (255 Trophy):
Anizok's Gauze Press (262 Triv) - ssssssssss - DING! 244

244 Tinkering skill (255 Trophy):
Anizok's Gauze Press (262 Triv) - sssssss - DING! 245

245 Tinkering skill (257 Trophy):
Anizok's Gauze Press (262 Triv) - ssssss
Mechanic Ceramic Clay (262 Triv) - ss

Pretty nice night with 5 skill-ups and my trophy going from 44% - 54%. Had a few fails in there along the way, but all is well. Can't wait to ding 250, and make more ground on the path to 300. Hehe

[Rawckett]

Well, I had a busy week in the Tinkering department. I was excited to be coming upon the 250 DING to become an Expert Tinker, so I tried to get in as many combines as possible. Let’s take a look at what we did.

245 Tinkering skill (257 Trophy):
Anizok's Gauze Press (262 Triv) – ssss – DING 246!

246 Tinkering skill (258 Trophy):
Anizok's Gauze Press (262 Triv) – ssssssssss
Molten Metal Bow Cams (282 Triv) – ssssssssssssssssssfsss – DING 247!

This time around, I forget to keep track of when salvage went off and what I salvaged. Doh! Oh well. I also ran out of Steel Ball Bearings needed for the Base Protype sub-combine for Anizok’s Gauze Press, so I began dipping into the Clockwork Grease and Brick of Molten Ore’s I had stashed away.

247 Tinkering skill (259 Trophy):
Molten Metal Bow Cams (282 Triv) – sss – DING 248!

248 Tinkering skill (260 Trophy):
Molten Metal Bow Cams (282 Triv) – ssssssss

Here is wear I ran out of Clockwork Grease. So, I took a break and hit PoI, looking to farm some Steel Ball Bearings and Clockwork Grease. I have a ton of Pinions and Bricks of Molten Ore. However, after a couple of hours and only getting 4 Steel Ball Bearings and 6 Clockwork Grease (man, foraging these with a bard is tough, :lol), I decided to hit the Bazaar. Found 20 Steel Ball Bearings for about 300pp each and 40 or 50 Clockwork Grease at about 100pp each, and headed back to Guild Hall to reach that 250 plateau.

248 Tinkering skill (260 Trophy):
Anizok's Gauze Press (262 Triv) – sssssssssfssssssssssssfss – DING 249!

There goes my supply of Steel Ball Bearings again. Dinged on the last one. Had been hoping to get at least 2 skill-ups on that supply, but I have high hopes. Haha. Still have all the Grease jarred and ready to make some Bow Cams.

249 Tinkering skill (261 Trophy):
Molten Metal Bow Cams (282 Triv) – ss – DING 250!

WOOT! Expert Trader now, and took only 2 combines. Sweet. So, now the next thing to watch is the evolution of my Journeyman Mechanist Trophy. When we started this run, I was at 54%. 67 sucessful combines later, my trophy is up to 72% evolved. Still 28% to go to get to Expert level.

250 Tinkering skill (262 Trophy):
Molten Metal Bow Cams (282 Triv) – ssss – DING 251!

4 successful combines, and trophy now up to 81% That’s about 2.5% per successful combine now.

251 Tinkering skill (263 Trophy):
Molten Metal Bow Cams (282 Triv) – ssfsssss – DING 252!

Trophy now up to 99% now.

252 Tinkering skill (264 Trophy):
Molten Metal Bow Cams (282 Triv) – s – DING TROPHY!

So, now my trophy modification has increased from 5% to 8%. Will be interesting to see what I reach first this time, 300 skill or evolution of trophy to Master level. Although I I was already at 229 before these trophies were developed, so now they are pretty much on par with each other, although tinkering skill is beginning with a 3 point lead (253 to 0%).

252 Tinkering skill (272 Trophy):
Molten Metal Bow Cams (282 Triv) – s – DING 253!

253 Tinkering skill (273 Trophy):
Molten Metal Bow Cams (282 Triv) – ssssssssssssss

note: s = success; f = failure
__________________________________________________

Here is the breakdown of leveling, including last session which I did not break down in my prior post:

240 - 241: 18 combines (17s, 1f)
241 - 242: 9 combines (7s, 2f)
242 - 243: 17 combines (16s, 1f)
243 - 244: 10 combines (10s, 0f)
244 - 245: 7 combines (7s, 0f)
245 - 246: 12 combines (12s, 0f)
246 - 247: 32 combines (31s, 1f)
247 - 248: 3 combines (3s, 0f)
248 - 249: 33 combines (31s, 2f)
249 - 250: 2 combines (2s, 0f)
250 - 251: 4 combines (4s, 0f)
251 - 252: 8 combines (7s, 1f)
252 - 253: 2 combines (2s, 0f)
253 - 254: In progress (14 combines so far; 14s, 0f)

That is an average of 11.47 combines per skill up. So a pretty good rate if I do say so myself. I know I should start to expect great infrequency of skill-ups as I keep going up, but I am praying that I can keep this rate. Haha. =D

As for my future, I think I’ll probably head back to PoI (maybe I can convince some friends to bring their ranger/druid alts to help ) and try and forage some Clockwork Grease and farm some stuff that I can sell in the bazaar to fund the purchasing of more Clockwork Grease. I have been stockpiling Yttrium Ore for some DoN Master combines as well as Clockwork Carpaces for some Wok combines.

I figure I’ll try and use the Molten Metal Bow Cams up to 282 with a mixture of Anizok’s Gauze Press combines and some Mechanic Ceramic Clay combines thrown in there. The Mechanice Ceramic Clay requires Vvergalid Slave Manacles which drop in Sunderrock. My first time there, I got 2 that dropped on my first 4 kills, but haven’t seen too many since. Haha. I actually saw more Crushed Diamond Dust than shackles. So, as I come across the shackles and Steel Ball Bearings, I will do those combines until I reach 262.

This has been a fun run for me, and look forward to reach my goal of 300. It’s taken a bit longer than I had hoped, but unfortunately RL isn’t as cooperative as you’d like. Haha.

The next thing to do is get my Tinkering Mastery AAs. As you may have noticed in another post, I did the quest to get the books, and got 2 AA in a 69.1 last night that enabled me to get the first rank of the AA. 6 more AA points left to get TM3.

Meanwhile, I have broken 200 in Smithing as well, and will probably try and get pottery to that level next, so I can work on those new charms.

Skill Update:
Tinkering: 253
Journeyman Mechanist Trophy, Levl 4/7 – DINGED!
Expert Mechanist Trophy, Level 5/7 – 0% - 2%

[Catweazel]

This has probably been said before, but I thought I would share my recent experiences with Tinkering.

As you are over 250 now (congratulations) I wont bother with my pain before that level, except to say Gunthak was the place to be.

Beyond 250 I would take a few guildees into POI and slaughter the whole zone. Tinkering parts came thick and fast. Skill ups on POI combines though were appalling. I could easily combine 60 with no skill ups. I tried beating the RNG by tinkering 1 or 2 at a time, or stopping after I dinged and doing something else.

I switched to Molten ore / cams and found the success rate only marginally better.

I have now moved to The Deep for Yttrium and it is such a relief to see realistic skill ups per stack of ore. Although progress is slow, I would really advise anyone to use POI for the experience of making various tinkered components and rarely to use parts from there as a skill up mechanism. Without a doubt it is more expensive per combine using Masters armor, but the cost of sold drops from The Deep almost offsets the cost. I have a net loss of about 20pp per combine. (This compares to making a profit from POI farming especially with saltpeter being in high demand a few months ago).

I am now at 275 myself and can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. I made my first AAAA at 262 (base)

Good luck in the rest of your journey.

[Rawckett]

Since my last run, I have been getting in some combines here and there. Also, I have finished the Tinkering Mastery AAs. These combines here were with only TM1. Here’s what I did:

253 Tinkering skill (273 Trophy) TM1:
Anizok's Gauze Press (262 Triv) – sssfsssss – DING 254!

Salvaged: Class Six – Mana Battery

254 Tinkering skill (274 Trophy) TM1:
Anizok's Gauze Press (262 Triv) – ssssssfssssssssssssss – DING 255!

Salvaged: Base Prototype and Bandage

255 Tinkering skill (275 Trophy) TM1:
Anizok's Gauze Press (262 Triv) – ss – DING 256!

256 Tinkering skill (276 Trophy) TM1:
Anizok's Gauze Press (262 Triv) – s

Here is where I ran out of supplies for the Gauze Press. I then finished up Tinkering Mastery to reach rank 3 and headed out to the Deep where I started to farm Yttrium while camping the Shrink Wand for my bard (I hate that cloak.) Seems the best route according to a lot of previous posts here. Previously, I had acquired almost 3 stacks of Yttrium via /buyer mode and finding some on some merchants. So I am planning to pretty much exclusively go with Servolink combines for the time being.

Last night, I converted all the Yttrium and my first set of molds and made one each of the Helm, Gloves, and Boots so that I could learn the recipes before making a run. I actually received a skill up as well.

256 Tinkering skill (276 Trophy) TM3:
Master's Servolinked Helm (263 Triv) – s
Master's Servolinked Gloves (263 Triv) – s
Master's Servolinked Boots (263 Triv) – s – DING 257

note: s = success; f = failure
__________________________________________________

Here is the breakdown of leveling:

253 – 254: (23 combines; 22s, 1f [14s combines last run])
254 – 255: (21 combines; 20s, 1f)
255 – 256: (2 combines; 2s, 0f)
256 – 257: (4 combines; 4s, 0f)

Skill Update:
Tinkering: 257
Expert Mechanist Trophy, Level 5/7 – 2% - ?% (forgot to check progress, but thought it may be around 11%)

[Rawckett]

I started with DoN Master armor tinkering, and I have to say I had a very nice run. Not sure if it is just luck or if indeed the skill-up rate is better with DoN cultural, but I was happy nonetheless. I started with the gloves, as they only required 1 brick. Here we go:

257 Tinkering skill (277 Trophy) TM3:
Master's Servolinked Gloves (263 Triv) – ssssssss – DING 258!

258 Tinkering skill (278 Trophy) TM3:
Master's Servolinked Gloves (263 Triv) – s – DING 259!

259 Tinkering skill (279 Trophy) TM3:
Master's Servolinked Gloves (263 Triv) – ssssssss – DING 260!

260 Tinkering skill (280 Trophy) TM3:
Master's Servolinked Gloves (263 Triv) – ss
Master’s Servolinked Helm (263 Triv) – ss – DING 261!

261 Tinkering skill (281 Trophy) TM3:
Master’s Servolinked Helm (263 Triv) – ssssss
Master’s Servolinked Boots (263 Triv) – s – DING 262!

262 Tinkering skill (282 Trophy) TM3:
Master’s Servolinked Boots (263 Triv) – sffsssssss – DING 263!

Salvaged – Mold for Gnomish Boots and Master’s Servolink Bronze Bar
Salvaged – Mold for Gnomish Boots and Master’s Servolink Bronze Bar

note: s = success; f = failure
__________________________________________________

Here is the breakdown of leveling:

257 – 258: (8 combines; 8s, 0f)
258 – 259: (1 combines; 1s, 0f)
259 – 260: (8 combines; 8s, 0f)
260 – 261: (4 combines; 4s, 0f)
261 – 262: (7 combines; 7s, 0f)
262 – 263: (10 combines; 8s, 2f)

Well, it appears that my skill up rate is about 50% better using DoN Cultural Armor combines, as opposed to other methods. In my previous posts, In my last 2 posts, I got a skill-up about every 11- 13 to combines, while in this run, I got a skill-up every 6.333333333 combines.

I’ll be living in The Deep for the future, farming Small Bricks of Yttrium Ore. Last night, in about an 1hr or 1 ½ hrs, I got over a stack of ore.

You’ll probably see me throw in some combines for the Ice Cream Churn, since I have 2 stacks or so of Boot Gaskets from my time buying up Severed Feran Tentacles. Also, if any guildies happen to farm some Clockwork Grease while leveling up any alts in PoI, I will use the Molten Metal Bow Cam recipe. Otherwise, it will be Master's Servolinked Sleeves to 290 and then Master's Servolinked Greaves and Master's Servolinked Sleeves Cuirass to 300.

Skill Update:
Tinkering: 263
Expert Mechanist Trophy, Level 5/7 – 2% - ?% (still forgot to check progress, but thought it may be around 11%, however, think it may only be 8 or 9%)

[Bobaten]

The DoN master armor has a skill up modifier of +5% (confirmed). That doesn't mean you get 5% more skill ups, it means you take your base chance of skill up (around 5.5% at your skill) and add 5% (total of 10.5% or 1 skill up every 9.5 combines). So at your skill it really does work out to about double the chance for a skill up. As you get closer to 300, your base chance for a skill up falls even more:
1 in 20 at 267 (5%)
1 in 25 at 280 (4%)
1 in 33 at 288 (3.3%)
1 in 40 at 299 (2.5%)
But that +5% on Master armor changes it to:
1 in 10 at 267 (10%)
1 in 11.1 at 280 (9%)
1 in 12 at 288 (8.3%)
1 in 13.4 at 299 (7.5%)
Which makes even the 3 brick combines from 290-300 a reasonable skill up path.
(of course if you have my luck, you won't get the shrink wand to drop and will keep farming yttrium for smithing skill ups too)

[Rawckett]

Thanks for that info Bobaten.

(of course if you have my luck, you won't get the shrink wand to drop and will keep farming yttrium for smithing skill ups too)

Well, I tell you, so far I've only been killed the named 8 times, and 8 cloaks. I don't mind, though, as it gives me a goal aside from just farming.

[Catweazel]

I am back to the misery of skill ups and RNG.

I burned through 108 bricks of yttrium making the DON cuirass and got zero skill ups. I have destroyed any further chest molds as I will never make those again. From now on it is legs for me.

At this stage I don't even care if the cuirass is broken, but that is just plain absurd that only twice as many bricks took me from 260 to 290.

Sorry to hijaak your thread Rawkett, but as you are approaching this point, I thought you could make use of the information.

[Rawckett]

I am back to the misery of skill ups and RNG.

I burned through 108 bricks of yttrium making the DON cuirass and got zero skill ups. I have destroyed any further chest molds as I will never make those again. From now on it is legs for me.

At this stage I don't even care if the cuirass is broken, but that is just plain absurd that only twice as many bricks took me from 260 to 290.

Sorry to hijaak your thread Rawkett, but as you are approaching this point, I thought you could make use of the information.

No sorry needed, it is quite on topic here. I see have some interesting results to look forward too. I will let you know how I do once I get there.

[Gezmel]

I've been working the same route. Did the molten metal bow cam's until they went trivial with miscellaneous PoI combines in between. Then switched to the Yttrium and been working mostly servolinked since. Made it up to 291 that way and just been murderously slow since. I did manage to do all of the tinkering combines for a guildy yesterday to make up 10 AAAA's for him, as he'd managed all of the subcombines I just had to finish 'em off for him. I got 3 tinkering skillups and 8% more on my trophy, so I'm up to 294/62% of lvl 6 on the trophy. Overall happy with the skillups, and only had 2 failures on subcombines, fortunately they weren't the spendy ones either. I just know that farming the Yttrium is a pain too, due to the long crawl back there (half hour to an hour depending on DPS) and the no CotH in the zone, which realllllly chaps my hide. The drop rates are not too shabby though, and if I can coerce a bunch of friends to help me I can pull trains of 10-15 mobs at a time from the surrounding tunnels and that helps up the drops considerably, but it takes a fairly significant commitment from a bunch of people to do this.