Is Crafting Worthwhile?

Moonscythe · June 2014

This is a serious question. I spend entirely too much time just managing my inventory and have begun to wonder if it is worth the effort. I have never crafted gear that I wear. My gear is all either loot or quest rewards. I am very low level so that could be a factor but finding and managing wood and rawhide for light/medium armor and bows/staves is time consuming. It's not that thick on the ground. I have only found two racial motifs but, again, I haven't made anything better than I have found or won.

Runes are even scarcer and I have yet to make a glyph that was worth the trouble. Most of them are for jewelry that I don't have. I have made potions but other than invisibility, which I haven't used but could be useful, most seem underpowered considering the effort I have to put into collection.

Making food seems like it might be useful though the drinks don't. Finding recipes and learning what ingredients I should keep an eye out for requires a notebook by the computer to help keep it all straight. So my question is simple. Other than just the fun of being a crafter and I do get that it can be, is the result worth spending skill points on or even pursuing?

I guess I should also say that I am in no guilds yet and have been holding off on even looking since I will switch to the console as soon as I can and don't want to be a drag on any guilds. I am a total MMO novice and have been wary of possible "drama" associated with guild membership.

Reevster · June 2014

You likely wont make a glyph worthwhile using until you get to lvl 28 or 29 in enchanting and are Vet lvl.

I only keep the round and square components and trash the triangle one. You get the triangles from deconstructing dropped glyph which is the best way to lvl up enchanting btw, you also get a nice exp boost by using unknown components

Dont keep low lvl ingredients for provisioning they are a waste of space, I personally dont make drinks now that I have hit 50 in Prov so you can dump all those ingredients for drinks and just keep the higher lvl food stuffs. If you do use drinks just keep the high lvl ones.

poodlemasterb16_ESO · June 2014

Level 13 enchanter. Just made a 450 fire resist jewelery glyph for my Vampire witch. She has 1100 fire resist and most of it came from him.

My army is self sufficient. We make everything we use and it's a real advantage. All found stuff, that is not researched, is broken down for mats and improvers.

A large difference when my fighters go out with blue and green gear, all enchanted to their particular needs, with blue and green food to buff them for various situations. I can also make my guys look good. Difficult with all found stuff.

It's true when you get to higher levels the low level food stuff is just space wasted but pay no attention to his enchanting advice.

nudel · June 2014

Moonscythe wrote: »

...I am very low level so that could be a factor...
*snip*

It is a factor and probably the main one leading you to this conclusion in the first place.

Crafting is worthwhile if you're willing to spend the time and points to invest in your professions. Provisioning requires rare recipes to be useful, but the crafted foods are far better than Stale Bread. Alchemy is moderately useful and then you get the perk Laboratory Use and it becomes invaluable. Enchanting is extremely useful if you put the effort into leveling it. It is the hardest to level and will easily fall behind other crafts if you don't work at it. Since you don't sound terribly committed to crafting at the moment, I would suggest dropping Enchanting altogether and concentrating on one of the others for your own sanity. Blacksmithing/ Woodworking/ Clothing are extremely useful. Get the 3/3 in Extraction and your profession turns into an instant moneymaker even without doing any actual creation. Research all the time and you can make crafted-only sets and sell the traits to other crafters. Further improving items at end-game will be very expensive in materials unless you level this up and put points in the passive that increases improvement chance OR hook up with a crafter buddy to improve your items for you.

tl/dr Crafting is great and only becomes more useful over time. If you do craft, do yourself a favor and pick only 2 or 3 professions rather than having to shuffle mules about. You'll thank me later.

Moonscythe · June 2014

Thanks, I came here from TES and was always a crafter but was able to squirrel away stuff until I needed it which doesn't work in this world. I made a crafter but I didn't take her out to quest or anything so she doesn't have many skill points to put into crafting and she dies a lot if I do quest. I hate being a noob!

Thunderknuckles · June 2014

A very likely reason you aren't seeing many crafting nodes out running around, especially if you're EP in Stonefalls, is due to the flood of bots speed hacking everywhere. You can just barely see them on occasion, but they're there zipping around at near light speed hitting every node in the zone. I am serious.

poodlemasterb16_ESO · June 2014

I am there and the stuff just sits there till I take it. Nothing at all like it was. I see the odd bot but they all seem to be crippled somehow.

Thunderknuckles · June 2014

poodlemasterb16_ESO wrote: »

I am there and the stuff just sits there till I take it. Nothing at all like it was. I see the odd bot but they all seem to be crippled somehow.

I sure hope so! They're like locusts consuming everything in their path.

AreoHotah · June 2014

Moonscythe wrote: »

Thanks, I came here from TES and was always a crafter but was able to squirrel away stuff until I needed it which doesn't work in this world. I made a crafter but I didn't take her out to quest or anything so she doesn't have many skill points to put into crafting and she dies a lot if I do quest. I hate being a noob!

DON'T make another character as crafter only. There are enough skill points to max out all 6 crafting professions on your main and still have lots left for your build.

Crafting is totally worth it. I can make 20-30K gold in 2-3 hours of playtime just by crafting for people...

Ofc you need lots of traits researched...

poodlemasterb16_ESO · June 2014

AreoHotah wrote: »

Moonscythe wrote: »

Thanks, I came here from TES and was always a crafter but was able to squirrel away stuff until I needed it which doesn't work in this world. I made a crafter but I didn't take her out to quest or anything so she doesn't have many skill points to put into crafting and she dies a lot if I do quest. I hate being a noob!

DON'T make another character as crafter only. There are enough skill points to max out all 6 crafting professions on your main and still have lots left for your build.

Crafting is totally worth it. I can make 20-30K gold in 2-3 hours of playtime just by crafting for people...

Ofc you need lots of traits researched...

I would disagree. My witch does 2 crafts and I wish I had not put two on my fighter. One would be fine.

I have a full roster and I like having dedicated crafters. 4 fighters, 2 in use and three crafters.

Sasky · June 2014

I'd recommend having dedicated crafters and only put 2 crafts per character. Two reasons: skillpoints and space.

I have 3 on my main character and I have been stretched at times for skill points. It's eased off considerably now that I'm about to start 2nd VR zone content, since I'm near maxed in crafting and have another zone of skillpoints to get.

Early on I had 40-50% of skillpoints in crafting. It's backed off to about 30% now (with 207 skill points) but it's still substantial.

Space-wise it's much easier if you can throw all enchanting to one alt, provisioning (ESPECIALLY provisioning) to another, etc.

Keep in mind: passives for alchemy affect usage as well as crafting, so that's a good candidate to put on your main character. It also lets you keep alchemy reagents in-bag (after some upgrades) to make sure you have room to gather.

Finally, separating materials to different alts lets you use something like this addon to greatly decrease your time for material management:
http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info291-BankManager.html

Moonscythe · June 2014

I really haven't looked at add-ons because I'm on a mac. The world of PC gaming seems to be an exclusive enclave of Windows geeks. I'm a mac and have been since there was a mac (yes, I'm a creaky old lady). I do need to just relax and learn this stuff as I go. I believe I may be over-thinking even more than usual because I am in a new type game world. Thank you all for your aid and insights.

kimboh · June 2014

Crafting is a must!

I have 3 vets, 2 crafts per character, all are now in full crafted special sets, purple weapons, and blue food (haven't found a purple recipe yet)

All loot drops are now useless other than deconstructing and rare traits.

Vendor trash

Moonscythe · June 2014

That is encouraging, anyway. I was accustomed to making my own gear in TES, especially Skyrim, that I could balance for my preferred playing style.

I know that part of my problem right now is getting my head back into gear for a low level beginner in a new game having just finished 2 years of Skyrim and attained goddess standards. I sometimes forget that it took that much time to be able to face a legendary dragon at Master and confidently thrown fireballs down it's throat.

Cously · June 2014

I have 100 skill points invested in my craftings. Except Enchanting that is lv.35 all the others are lv.50. I tell you, crafting is essential.

Blacksmithing, Clothing and Woodworking allows you to create and refined your own gear with your own traits and also set bonuses. It's very satisfying to walking around with purple-yellow gear you made from scratch.

Provisioning is a bit boring compared to LOTRO cooking but is also essential to PVE/PVP, that extra bonus on Health can be a salvation.

Alchemy is also very useful, like the other crafting skills it must look like very hard or useless without the right perks, but crafting is all about the perks, make such a huge difference.

Enchanting, on top of make your own legendary gear you can paste your own legendary glyphs with whatever you want. It really pays off if done with a friend using green+ on skill level glyphs. Goes up so fast, never decon your own glyphs.

Of the 300 skill points attainable in game I have 200. In my case was worth put 100 points alone in crafting. The perks really make it shines, from researching 3 slots to remove all negative effects from potions. The other 100 are on my passives, main skills, armour, weapon, vampire, etc. And I know there's another 100 points waiting for me.

It's very doable have all in one character, many people use alts and that's okay too. But for who want just one character is absolutely okay to invest 1/3 of points in craft and lots of spare for 2 weapons, all passives and at least 15 skills with morphs. You can only slot 5-10 anyways.

Reevster · June 2014

Joolio wrote: »

I have 100 skill points invested in my craftings. Except Enchanting that is lv.35 all the others are lv.50. I tell you, crafting is essential.

Blacksmithing, Clothing and Woodworking allows you to create and refined your own gear with your own traits and also set bonuses. It's very satisfying to walking around with purple-yellow gear you made from scratch.

This...

I have all at lvl 50 except for Alchemy and am working on enchanting its at 32 .

Put you 3 skills points into traits skills on clothing.woodworking,blacksmithing...you should have 3 traits on each researching 24/7.

reggielee · June 2014

it doesnt hurt to have crafting, its nice to be self sufficient. If you want to whittle down the inv annoyances then concentrate on 3 trades for your main, one each for your armor/weapon preference and provisioning. I find there are enough potion drops to keep you going or if you want you can buy top notch potions from someone else.

start using those alts to store your mats till you need to use them to actually make yourself something. that will free up a ton of space once you get a stack of each trait, style gem, worked ore/wood/cloth. you wont need more if you are only crafting for yourself. heck, i find drops more than adequate for casual play, but crafting comes into play at later game, then you will be glad of it.

if you have alot of gold and hate the clutter, then by all means skip it. just buy what you want off others but be ready to have to wait or farm the guild stores all day to find what you need

Moonscythe · June 2014

I can see I need to craft. Just telling me I would need to wait or farm guild store for what I need sent a chill down my spine. That was exactly what I hated about Diablo II with an auction house. I was dependent on someone else and in that game it was also plain luck in a drop. I prefer to chart my own course using my own stuff. Clearly I need to think about this logistically because I'm spinning my wheels right now which is probably why I think it may not be worthwhile.

Joolio, why do you say to never decon my own glyphs? I try to put armor and weapons glyphs on something but I have no jewelry except the ring from the prophet so I figured decon was the way to go to at least get some exp out of it.

nudel · June 2014

You get far less inspiration (IP) from deconstructing your own glyphs. It becomes a waste of materials. The best IP comes from deconstructing crafted glyphs from someone other than yourself. You're far better off trading glyphs with an enchanting buddy. You could alternatively give an enchanter your mats and let them craft glyphs for you to decon. Another alternative is to make an alt and give all your mats to him/her to make for your main to decon. Alts do count as different crafters.

AreoHotah · June 2014

poodlemasterb16_ESO wrote: »

AreoHotah wrote: »

Moonscythe wrote: »

Thanks, I came here from TES and was always a crafter but was able to squirrel away stuff until I needed it which doesn't work in this world. I made a crafter but I didn't take her out to quest or anything so she doesn't have many skill points to put into crafting and she dies a lot if I do quest. I hate being a noob!

DON'T make another character as crafter only. There are enough skill points to max out all 6 crafting professions on your main and still have lots left for your build.

Crafting is totally worth it. I can make 20-30K gold in 2-3 hours of playtime just by crafting for people...

Ofc you need lots of traits researched...

I would disagree. My witch does 2 crafts and I wish I had not put two on my fighter. One would be fine.

I have a full roster and I like having dedicated crafters. 4 fighters, 2 in use and three crafters.

Just L O L. Well have fun switching from alt to alt to make stuff while i can make EVERYTHING with my main.

AreoHotah · June 2014

Sasky wrote: »

I'd recommend having dedicated crafters and only put 2 crafts per character. Two reasons: skillpoints and space.

I have 3 on my main character and I have been stretched at times for skill points. It's eased off considerably now that I'm about to start 2nd VR zone content, since I'm near maxed in crafting and have another zone of skillpoints to get.

Early on I had 40-50% of skillpoints in crafting. It's backed off to about 30% now (with 207 skill points) but it's still substantial.

Space-wise it's much easier if you can throw all enchanting to one alt, provisioning (ESPECIALLY provisioning) to another, etc.

Keep in mind: passives for alchemy affect usage as well as crafting, so that's a good candidate to put on your main character. It also lets you keep alchemy reagents in-bag (after some upgrades) to make sure you have room to gather.

Finally, separating materials to different alts lets you use something like this addon to greatly decrease your time for material management:
http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info291-BankManager.html

Having all 6 professions on 1 characters helps you not waste time with alts and focus on crafting alot and fast to make gold and upgrade your bank space. I have 180 slots in bank, mooooore than enough. If someone asks me to craft ANYTHING for him i have all the mats i need ready.

Put AdvancedFilters and Banker add-on and your bank and inventory becomes perfectly managable in seconds...

You ppls must stop being so close minded.

poodlemasterb16_ESO · June 2014

AreoHotah wrote: »

poodlemasterb16_ESO wrote: »

AreoHotah wrote: »

Moonscythe wrote: »

Thanks, I came here from TES and was always a crafter but was able to squirrel away stuff until I needed it which doesn't work in this world. I made a crafter but I didn't take her out to quest or anything so she doesn't have many skill points to put into crafting and she dies a lot if I do quest. I hate being a noob!

DON'T make another character as crafter only. There are enough skill points to max out all 6 crafting professions on your main and still have lots left for your build.

Crafting is totally worth it. I can make 20-30K gold in 2-3 hours of playtime just by crafting for people...

Ofc you need lots of traits researched...

I would disagree. My witch does 2 crafts and I wish I had not put two on my fighter. One would be fine.

I have a full roster and I like having dedicated crafters. 4 fighters, 2 in use and three crafters.

Just L O L. Well have fun switching from alt to alt to make stuff while i can make EVERYTHING with my main.

Huh. Umm I have 700+ slots my friend. I craft from a large base. It does take some fooling around to make it all work but I'm good at it now.

Building Song of Lamae sets for me and my son right now. I can do his 5 med, later tomorrow. He is a VR1 NB and lives on crits.

Food4Thought · June 2014

You want my take on this ...

I craft across all crafting lines and I can honestly say it is worth it. Outside of jewelry, my main has only used crafted items (except one exception when a blue axe my level all but fell into my lap from a random loot drop).

Crafting is very useful especially at the lower levels. You can always keep your armor and weapons up to level with no repair costs. Just gain to levels and make a new batch.

As for as inventory goes ... you can expect to take steps and alot of time to manage inventory. As a full on crafter, I probably spend more time managing inventory than not. Run a dungeon or knock out a quest ... I'm usually headed back to town immediately afterwards because I'm out of space. I have to move items to the bank, decon items, check on research traits, make food and drink to vendor sell, level alchemy and enchantment, etc.

As for what to keep ...

I get rid of everything resource wise once I outlevel it. It just takes up too much space. The only exception is starter level resources I keep some of that arround just in case somebody wants an item trait. Instead of wasting my level resources I just make them something with garbage resources I can get in less than 5 mins in the starter zone.