Sidetracks: Tradeskills Basics
Tradeskills Basics
I have added this because I have been trying to work my way through the Goru’kar Mesa quests, which require several trade skills, mostly notably tailoring. The master reference is, as usual, EQTraders. This suggest the Abysmal Sea starter quests, but the Crescent Reach equivalent is very much faster. Just go to the tailoring area near the upstairs bank, and you will soon have skill 54.
Tradeskills Basics
Before you start, there are a couple of things that you need to know; any old Everquest hand will automatically assume that you know these things.
All tradeskills use a container of some sort: some containers are portable, others are fixed. For tailoring, there are static looms near most tailoring vendors and in guild halls, or you can buy a sewing kit. If your sewing kit opens to show a “Combine” button, then you can use it like that; if it opens to show a recipe list and a “Search Recipes” button, then you use it like that, too. But you need the first form to learn new recipes. You can switch forms by opening using control-right-click, and the Options menu can set which version you prefer. Opening as a normal container with the “Combine” button is the more convenient of the two for use as a simple container.
Use to search for recipes and combine should be self-evident. In the other form, put single item stacks of ingredients in (and nothing else), and click “Combine”. You will fail more often than not to start with. Once you have made an successful combine for the first time, you can switch to the recipe list form, which is far swifter once you have learned a recipe.
Exactly the same applies to all tradeskills. In addition, some recipes must be made in special containers, usually “racial”, or, in the case of epics, “New Tanaan” containers in the Plane of Knowledge.
Tradeskill Trophies
If you intend to pursue trade skills much higher than 54, and without fail if you want to get max trade skill or even just progress to 200 and above, you should do the appropriate trophy quests to get your trophy for each trade skill, and you do it while your skill is under 100, so that you can get the easiest quest with the fewest rare drop ingredients.
A trophy gives you a bonus chance to succeed each combine you attempt, which will save money while skilling up (a very few rare skill intervals are best done while failing combines that would otherwise consume expensive ingredients). To get the quests, you need to see Baublie Diggs in West Freeport newbie yard; then make the items, and return to there to hand in to the judge. Depending on your level, you may be given a trophy, or a way to do a combine to level up your existing trophy.
EQTraders has a reasonable guide to trade skills, including trophies.
To 100
For each trade skill, do the Crescent Reach free quests; this will get your skill level to 54. I will give a brief set of suggestions for each tradeskill to get your to 100, which should be enough for all of the epic quests, at least. See also this link. Some skills need products from brewing or smithing, so best to do those first. These recipes use vendor sold ingredients as far as possible; there is also a way to skill up using drops, which can more efficiently be obtained (depending on your server, of course) in the Bazaar, either from traders or in barter.
Alchemy
Baking
Fish Rolls (135): bat wing, fresh fish
Crescent Reach: ground floor, Merchant Osaze, Merchant Odimari (fresh fish), Merchant Wyn’las (bat wings). As there isn’t an oven down there, you may want to buy a spit from Butcher Umi.
Brewing
Fetid Essence (122): water flask, fishing grubs
You can easily make in Plane of Knowledge. Grubs from Caden (parcel vendor) by the small bank, brewing vessels at the east trade skill building, and water flasks from many vendors, including one around the corner from Caden.
Make heady kiola for tailoring: bottle, 2 pakets of kiola sap, water flask.
Fletching
Field point, bone shaft, round fletch, large nock (68): 2/50 Hooked point, wood shaft, round fletch, large nock (102):2/50
Or you can make usable arrows instead:
Field point, bone shaft, parabolic fletch, small nock (68): 2/150 Hooked point, wood shaft, parabolic fletch, small nock (102): 2/150
You can do these in Plane of Knowledge at the fletching vendor.
Jewelry
Old recipes no longer work.
Poison Making
Pottery
Unfired Medium Bowl (122): block of clay, medium bowl sketch, water flask
Crescent Reach: Potter Subira, Merchant Anji (on platform by Boawb)
You can do these in Plane of Knowledge by the pottery vendors, but there is slightly less movement required if you work in Crescent Reach. As each finished combine takes up an inventory slot, and is worth nothing; and you no longer auto-drop items when your inventory is full, you can’t use the auto-combine button to speed up the process.
Smithing
Metal bits (18): 2 small pieces of ore, water flask (3g5s for 2) Sheet Metal (31): s small brick of ore, water flask
Lanterns (68): bottle, lantern casing mold, metal bits, water flask (3g4s) or: Dairy Spoon (74): 2 metal bits, water flask, scaler mold
Banded Bracer (95): sheet of metal, water flask, bracer mold (can make various sizes, use whatever molds you have access to) Banded Mail (115): 3 sheets of metal, water flask, mail mold
Crescent Reach, for banded bracers: Smith Yahya (sheet of metal or small bricks of ore), Smith Kaphiri (bracer molds), and Smith Gyasi (water flasks)
Tailoring
See Tailoring for Beginners for a guide to the trophy and skills to 170. This is oriented to completing one of the Goru’kar Mesa quests, so I will give an alternative path here as well.
Cured Silk Mask (82): silk swatch, heady kiola, mask pattern Greyhopper Boots (95): greyhopper hide, boots pattern Quiver (115): HQ cat pelt, quiver pattern
Or: LoY ribbons.