Is the provisioning skill worth it?

Cameron_Star

So, I'm level 45, and I've never bothered with provisioning because I always thought it was pointless and a hassle to level up along with the other crafting skills. Blacksmithing, clothing and woodworking are all around 35, while enchanting and alchemy are around 20, and provisioning sits at 6.

I've thought about the buffs they give, like extra maximum health for an hour or so, and only just considered that they might actually be useful.

Does anyone else use them? Is it too late for me to even start? How useful is it in PvE and PvP?

Ourorboros

Dude, everyone and his mother uses these all the time. They are a linchpin of game economy. Yes, provisioning is worth it. Better than any equipment crafting.

Aett_Thorn

Ourorboros wrote: »

Dude, everyone and his mother uses these all the time. They are a linchpin of game economy. Yes, provisioning is worth it. Better than any equipment crafting.

This is truth. Having more max health, stamina, and magika is always a good thing. Makes you sturdier and makes you do more damage/have more resources.

Rosveen

It's more resources practically for free, what's not to love? And it's incredibly easy to level. Just get one recipe for each tier, stock up on mats and you'll max it out in half an hour.

MissBizz

+1 to everything in this thread. Provisioning is extremely easy to level up, super useful, easy to quire ingredients for, and it's writs are actually the most rewarding ($ wise).

Aett_Thorn

Rosveen wrote: »

It's more resources practically for free, what's not to love? And it's incredibly easy to level. Just get one recipe for each tier, stock up on mats and you'll max it out in half an hour.

I actually find it somewhat tough to level from about 10-20. But once you get it to level 20, it becomes very easy to keep up with leveling. Recipes just don't seem to give enough Inspiration in that area. And don't even get me started on how well the Provisioning Writs are set up for low-level new players.

ontheleftcoast

MissBizz wrote: »

+1 to everything in this thread. Provisioning is extremely easy to level up, super useful, easy to quire ingredients for, and it's writs are actually the most rewarding ($ wise).

Really? Because I have to tell you the first provisioning writ I ran was a boondoggle and complete waste of effort. But I'm only level 19 in the second zone for my alliance. Are they ever worth doing before you get to veteran ranks?

OhItsReckt

They are all worth doing, Provisioning Writ wise. The only tricky side is either having the recipes to cook it, or having someone cook it for you.

sirhellraiser

where can i read about how to do this provisioning??

Cameron_Star

Thanks everyone! I'll see about levelling it up like @Rosveen said. Feel a bit dumb not having done it from the start

UrQuan

If you don't use blue or purple food (depending on your build) then you're going to be at an extreme disadvantage in group dungeons, trials, and PVP. Provisioning is probably the most vital craft. If you've got a friend who will craft the food that you need for you, that's fine and you don't need to do provisioning yourself, but you're going to need player-crafted food to be competitive.

The best and easiest way to level your provisioning is to get a good stockpile of ingredients (you can farm delves for ingredients - just grab the contents of every container, exit, go back in and repeat), and just craft as much as you can of the highest level recipe you know (and are able to use). If you have loads of ingredients and know a few good recipes, you can easily level provisioning to 50 in one session.

As far as the writs go, provisioning writs are by far the best writs to do in the game in terms of return on investment. With a maxed-out provisioner with the right passives you'll craft 4 food or drink items with each crafting. Each writ asks for a single food item and a single drink item.

That means that with 2 craftings (one each of a food and a drink, using a total of 4 ingredients between them) you can create enough to satisfy 4 writs. Each writ rewards you with:

• Gold based on your character level (most of my characters get around 650 gold from a writ)
• A small amount of XP
• Inspiration to level your Provisioning (pointless if you're already at 50, and not the best way of leveling it anyway if you're below 50)
• A random recipe of an appropriate level for the writ
• 20-30 ingredients (at least I think that's how many you get - someone can correct me if I'm wrong)
• A chance to get purple ingredients that you can only get from writs or hirelings
• A chance to get a recipe fragment for the new Psijic Ambrosia XP drink

Multiply that by 4 and it's a ridiculously high return on your investment of 4 ingredients.

Now there are a couple of things to be aware of with Provisioning writs in order to most effectively complete them:

• The food and drink that are required by the writ must be player-crafted, but do not have to have been crafted by the character doing the writ
• There are only a handful of recipes that may be required by writs of a given rank (for example a rank VI writ will always ask for either Argonian Saddle Cured Rabbit, or Fresh Apples and Eidar Cheese, or Pickled Carrot Slurry; along with either Arenthian Brandy, or Khenarthi's Wings Chai, or Sipping Imga Tonic)

Now take those 2 things together and what you can do is pre-craft a bunch of food and drinks that you will later use for writs. Then each day you grab a writ and immediately turn it in because you already have the items it requires. If you don't know the recipes for the items a particular writ calls for, you can check to see if any friends/guildies can give you the recipe, or you can check guild stores, or you can look for the already-crafted items in question. If that doesn't help, or if it's too much effort, just abandon the writ and grab a new one the next day until you get a writ that you can complete. Because each completed writ always gives you a recipe, odds are that you'll eventually get the recipes you don't know.