Sunshine Daydream's Guide to Crafting (more recent updates)

Tevalaur · May 2016

NOTE:
I've put a lot of work into this! You may freely LINK to the guide on our website, but do not copy this into other sites without attribution and without obtaining my permission.

Sunshine Daydream's Guide to Crafting

Introduction to Crafting

Craftable Traits

Preface: The Special Craftable Sets

[*] Crafted for Magicka DPS
[*] Crafted for Stamina DPS
[*] Crafted for Tanking
[*] Crafted for Healers
[*] Crafted Sets that Balance Magicka & Stamina

Jewelry Crafting

Summary of Crafting Styles and How to Acquire Style Motifs & Style Materials

Basic Motifs found all-in-one as a full book
Rare Motifs typically found by the chapter, with 14 chapters in a full book)

Skills for Anyone (even the non-crafting consumer)
Skill Progression for the Provisioner
Food Ingredients
Drink Ingredients
Leveling Provisioning
Daily Provisioning Writs
- Recipes for Writs
Provisioning Your Characters
The Exotic Menu (rare & special treats)
- Orzorga's Recipes
- Unique Benefits of Festival Recipes
- Ambrosias (experience elixirs)

Alchemy

Skills for Anyone (even the Non-Alchemist)
Skill Progression for the Alchemist
All About Solvents
All About Reagents
Quickly Discover Every Reagent's Traits
Leveling Alchemy
Introducing Poisons
Alchemical Recipes
- Multi-effect Poisons
- Super Potions (with multiple effects)
Applying What You've Learned
- Master Writs
- Further Experimentation

Housing & Furnishings

EDIT: July 1, 2016 - added new sections on multi-effect poisons and on craftable sets; updated much of the text throughout
EDIT: Sept 1, 2016 - removing the link for the 103-page PDF as it's just too difficult to keep the full PDF updated even with minor changes; each section still has a PDF available and linked near the appropriate webpage's title
EDIT: Feb 13, 2017 - added new section on Housing & Furnishings
EDIT: June 9, 2017 - Typically I have drafts ready to upload upon the launch of a major update but I simply was unable to do so this time. Due to a death in the family in May, I was unable to prepare from the PTS so website updates were instead finalized in the first week of June, 2017. All pertinent information should now be considered updated!
EDIT: June 18/19, 2017 - 3 major edits:
1. Noticed that I'd not updated these links/overview to include the separate page on Craftable Sets and a few other recent layout changes/enhancements, so updated the overall list/links
2. Added Master Writs to the Alchemy Guide and enhanced the organization within the tables of alchemical recipes
3. Reworked the Styles page, publicly revealing the design of a long-planned and finally underway renovation of this section.
EDIT: May 26, 2018 - added the new section for Jewelry crafting, several major changes in Alchemy, new subsection in Traits, and updated several other sections for Summerset
EDIT: Dec, 2020 to change URLs

Nestor · May 2016

Nice, thank you for all your hard work on this.

One minor quibble. Writ Recipes are now sold by Chefs and Brewers in the game. They are not cheap, so guild stores or farming or writs would be the best source, but at least people are not stuck any more because they can't find a recipe.

MissBizz · May 2016

That's fantastic! I didn't get a chance to browse too long due to the bright yellow background (I'm at work and that draws attention, lol) but what I saw looks very clear and straightforward! Great job! I imagine this will help out tons of people.

Tevalaur · May 2016

Found one typo in Provisioning Skills, fixed.

Found some errors in Enchanting Skills (where it said what CP level runes you'd be able to use with Potency Improvement), fixed.

If anyone downloaded those PDFs already, I offer apologies and suggest grabbing them again.

Easily_Lost · May 2016

You may also want to post this in the Player Guides forum.

agn231 · May 2016

Awesome, thanks! Your guild looks great, wish it was XBOX NA!

BenevolentBowd · May 2016

Great guide!

Darkestnght · May 2016

Much appreciated. Thanks for the time and effort to put this together

knight776 · June 2016

One change I might suggest: There are no longer three different types of rune stone harvest nodes. They're all one look now and you get a random number of different styles of runes from them.

Tevalaur · June 2016

knight776 wrote: »

One change I might suggest: There are no longer three different types of rune stone harvest nodes. They're all one look now and you get a random number of different styles of runes from them.

Thanks, have now completed that update. I was waiting to see the resolution of the issue brought up in the Official Feedback thread, which has still not been truly finalized. Last statement by a GM there however was "Any changes to these crafting nodes will be after Dark Brotherhood launches, but we are working on it. Thanks for your feedback!" so I probably should have made the update at that point instead of waiting to describe what will eventually be ZOS's "final" plan.

The Guide now reads:

"After Dark Brotherhood, every runestone you find in the wild has a 1/3 chance to drop a potency rune in addition to its aspect & essence runes. Each time a potency rune does drop, it has a 50% chance to be based on character level and a 50% chance to be based on points in Potency Improvement. If you are unable to find the proper potency runes in the wild, you can now purchase them from a vendor."

and

"Every runestone should contain an essence rune along with an aspect rune since the launch of Dark Brotherhood. Essence runes are random; which area you farm makes no difference to the rune you acquire."

and

"Every runestone should contain an aspect rune after the launch of Dark Brotherhood; aspect & essence runes are found together in all runestones when they spawn. Aspect runes are random; which area you farm makes no difference to the rune you acquire."

Note that it is unclear whether there will come a time when potency runes are distributed this way only in battle-skilled areas rather than all nodes everywhere (GMs seemed to misunderstand the issue of concern in the official feedback thread). It is possible they may make gathering resources for enchanting more similar to gathering other resource nodes and make this 50/50 split only occur in battle-zoned areas (Cyrodiil & DLCs) with other areas (at least partially) tiered to the level of the zone.

mikejfs · June 2016

WOW....I really appreciate the work you put into this. That's a lot of work. Everything a person needs to know about crafting in 1 place.

Thanks once again!!

Tevalaur · July 2016

Several sections have been updated recently and today I added a section on multi-effect poisons. I've updated the initial post with the new links.

NOTE:
I've put a lot of work into this. You may freely LINK to the guide on our website, but do not copy this into other sites without attribution and without obtaining my permission.

SpAEkus · July 2016

Just re-confirmed on DB live and you may want to update a few notes on Writs

1 Must first travel to Coldharbour & complete the Groundskeeper's (noncombative) quest.
2 Must be level 50+ and have defeated Molag Bal.

1. You do not have to complete the Groundskeeper Quest, you just have to accept it to open the writ boards.

2. You do not have to defeat Molag Bal, you just have to reach L50/CPxx. There may be a particular quest point that must be started, but I don't have confirmation of that.

SpAEkus · July 2016

And a few others after reading through:

Inspiration received from deconstruction is increased with higher level items, with better item quality, with the presence of traits especially with "Intricate" items.

The only trait that increases DECON IP is the Intricate Trait, no other traits increase DECON IP. Also Enchantments do not return any extra Craft or Decon IP. The only extra IP is given from higher levels, quality and the Intricate Trait. This applies to both crafted and loot items.

Significant inspiration is gained only by translating a rune the first time you use it.

This appears to be account wide and if any character already knows all Potency Runes there is no extra given on another character learning a Potency for the first time.

The alchemy skill line goes to level 50 and leveling without the bonus inspiration we were gaining from discovering traits will feel slower .

This also appears to be account wide and if any character has learned all reagent Traits no extra IP will be given to any other characters learning them for the first time.

One last item that you might want to consider adding to any IP per item tables is a note that your numbers are for the base game without Plus+ subscription for 10% bonus or any CP points in the Tower Constellation for 20% bonus IP returns.

And if you ever want to include IP per item charts for the other crafts, feel free to add my charts from here:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/271450/craft-decon-ip-data-for-dark-botherhood-dlc-as-of-patch-2-4-6#latest

Tevalaur · July 2016

SpAEkus wrote: »

And a few others after reading through:

Inspiration received from deconstruction is increased with higher level items, with better item quality, with the presence of traits especially with "Intricate" items.

The only trait that increases DECON IP is the Intricate Trait, no other traits increase DECON IP. Also Enchantments do not return any extra Craft or Decon IP. The only extra IP is given from higher levels, quality and the Intricate Trait. This applies to both crafted and loot items.

Correct, enchantments don't offer any extra inspiration when deconning weapons/armor, don't believe that I implied they did.

As for traits, I know that when I was deconning, I was getting varying amounts based not on what the trait was but on whether the item had a trait or no trait at all (no trait items were giving far less inspiration); I also believe this only mattered on dropped loot items. As I'm now level 50 so get no inspiration for deconning and this wasn't mentioned in patch notes, thank you for the information. I will attempt to confirm on an alt and update as soon as possible.

SpAEkus wrote: »

Significant inspiration is gained only by translating a rune the first time you use it.

This appears to be account wide and if any character already knows all Potency Runes there is no extra given on another character learning a Potency for the first time.

The alchemy skill line goes to level 50 and leveling without the bonus inspiration we were gaining from discovering traits will feel slower .

This also appears to be account wide and if any character has learned all reagent Traits no extra IP will be given to any other characters learning them for the first time.

I don't believe the rune translation and alchemy reagent trait bonus inspiration were ever account-wide before, I learned enchanting on two different characters when I decided my main crafter should do it all just earlier this year... I wonder if they are meant to be account-wide now or if it's a bug. I will also attempt to confirm this, if I see the same results will try finding out if it's a bug and proceed as necessary.

Update: Made a brand new character on the PTS. First time she combined Jora+Makkoma+Jejota she got 3509 inspiration, the 2nd time she made the same combination she received 329 inspiration. Made another non-template character. First time she made Jora+Makkoma+Jejota she got 3509 inspiration. The second time (once all were known/translated) she only received 329 experience.

Looks to me like each character received a translation bonus even though another character on the account already had such... now on to test the alchemy (will update again after that test).

SpAEkus wrote: »

One last item that you might want to consider adding to any IP per item tables is a note that your numbers are for the base game without Plus+ subscription for 10% bonus or any CP points in the Tower Constellation for 20% bonus IP returns.

Agreed.

SpAEkus wrote: »

And if you ever want to include IP per item charts for the other crafts, feel free to add my charts from here:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/271450/craft-decon-ip-data-for-dark-botherhood-dlc-as-of-patch-2-4-6#latest

Thank you, I will consider it although I begin to fear the guide is a bit too lengthy and unwieldy as it is.

I am updating the writ tables footnotes about accepting rather than completing the Groundskeeper's quest and not needing to defeat Molag Bal. Thank you for that information as well.

Tevalaur · July 2016

Update after retesting alchemy "translation" bonus:
1st combo of Pristine Water + Blessed Thistle + Scrib Jelly yielded 8150 inspiration.
2nd combo of the same yielded 8000 inspiration
Both done at alchemy level 13. So if not a 150 point bonus for "translation" of Scrib Jelly's first trait where did the extra inspiration come from?

Know no traits on Spider Egg or Beetle Scuttle. Attempt to combine them in Pristine Water.
1st combo Beetle Scuttle + Lady's Smock gains 8150 experience
2nd combo Beetle Scuttle + Lady's Smock gains 8000 experience
1st combo of Beetle Scuttle + Torchbug Thorax gains 8150 experience
2nd combo of Beetle Scuttle + Torchbug Thorax gains 8000 experience

Now testing at alchemy level 16 and combining Beetle Scuttle + Mudcrab Chitin in Pristine Water (wondering if learning the last trait gives an additional boost), I get these results:
1st combo of Beetle Scuttle + Mudcrab Chitin gains 8600
(learned 2 new traits on each of 2 plants; so 150 experience bonus per trait just as above)
2nd combo of Beetle Scuttle + Mudcrab Chitin gains 8000 experience

This is on an account that already had the bonus on another character. The bonus may be small, but is definitely present on all characters despite another character on the account having previously attained it. What I cannot confirm: whether the bonus is larger on the first character on the account as I'd already worked with an alchemy tester on this iteration of the PTS yesterday so my account knew all traits there.

Next I'll need to gather a bunch of weapons/armor to test your assertion that the lack of traits does not reduce inspiration from deconning. That will probably take a while to gather materials for that test as it's rare to find drop loot weapons/armor without traits, but your assertions about alchemy & enchanting "translation" bonus being account-based and not available to new characters on the same account seems to be wrong.

SpAEkus · July 2016

Looks to me like each character received a translation bonus even though another character on the account already had such... now on to test the alchemy (will update again after that test).

I should have specified better, it is when any character knows ALL the Potency, I think it is tied to the Achievement.

My one V16 has all Max crafting achievements except for some Motifs and other characters do not get any extra bonus from learning Runes or reagents.

Do you have a single crafter that has all the Crafting Achievements on your account?

And on the Traits, I purchased several loot items from store that where same level and same quality and had either nothing, trait, or Trait plus enchantment.

I also ran the same test against L1 Daggers.

Tevalaur · July 2016

SpAEkus wrote: »

Looks to me like each character received a translation bonus even though another character on the account already had such... now on to test the alchemy (will update again after that test).

I should have specified better, it is when any character knows ALL the Potency, I think it is tied to the Achievement.

My one V16 has all Max crafting achievements except for some Motifs and other characters do get any extra bonus.

Do you have a single crafter that has all the Crafting Achievements on your account?

Yes, my main character has all craft-specific achievements; she does not have some style achievements but definitely has all achievements listed under each specific craft -- including the "Ruby Potency" achievement, the "Potency" achievement, the "Positive Potency" achievement, & the "Negative Potency" achievement.

SpAEkus · July 2016

Then definitely diff between our current games. I ran this on DB DLC NA-PC before I commented.

I'm using Loot Drop and Harven's Experience Notify for data.

I'll run mine again in a bit for another check of my old eyes.

Tevalaur · July 2016

Perhaps the add-ons aren't reflecting the bonus but the actual experience bar in the base game shows it?

SpAEkus · July 2016

I'll check both as soon as I run mine, but they have always def showed bonuses before.

Tevalaur · July 2016

SpAEkus wrote: »

Just re-confirmed on DB live and you may want to update a few notes on Writs

1 Must first travel to Coldharbour & complete the Groundskeeper's (noncombative) quest.
2 Must be level 50+ and have defeated Molag Bal.

1. You do not have to complete the Groundskeeper Quest, you just have to accept it to open the writ boards.

2. You do not have to defeat Molag Bal, you just have to reach L50/CPxx. There may be a particular quest point that must be started, but I don't have confirmation of that.

Took my template character who has completed no quests at all to the SE gate in Coldharbour and spoke to the Groundskeeper to get her quest, but closed the window at the choice to walk with her or "just tell me what I need to know" so it would not be completed.

So quest journal shows "The Hollow City" quest as started but incomplete. Then upgraded recipe improvement to 5/6 and went to writ board to acquire provisioning writ quest. After a detour to certify in provisioning, I went to Coldharbour's writ board and pulled a provisioning writ. I was assigned to make Skyrim Jazbay Crostata (recipe level 4) & Blue Road Marathon (recipe level 4). These do NOT deliver to Coldharbour. So while you may not need to "complete" her quest you definitely need more than to accept it.

(exploring the issue further now to see how far I must go until it works, although I seem to recall walking with her was basically all there was to the quest before completing it)

Took another character out there, did the same thing except she did choose the "just tell me what I need to know" and spoke with the Groundskeeper right up until the text choice was "Complete the Quest" and closed the window at that point. Then went to the writ-board, got the Provisioning Writ and was assigned to make Cyrodilic Cornbread (recipe level 4) & Gods-Blind-Me (recipe level 4). Again, these do not deliver to Coldharbour and are level 4 provisioning writs that do not deliver to Coldharbour.

Abandoning the Provisioning Writ, returning to the Groundskeeper and telling her "Complete the Quest" opened up the tier 5 provisioning writs. I was then assigned West Weald Corn Chowder & Comely Wench Whiskey which are tier 5 provisioning writ recipes and do deliver to Coldharbour. But until the quest "The Hollow City" was complete I was only given the lower level writ assignments.

Apparently you DO need to complete the quest "The Hollow City" to get Coldharbour-deliverable level 5 provisioning writs.

helediron · July 2016

With the Groundkeeper you either walk with her, or choose the "I don't have time", and the quest completes immediately. No one leaves the quest open, when next dialog step completes it.

Tevalaur · July 2016

helediron wrote: »

With the Groundkeeper you either walk with her, or choose the "I don't have time", and the quest completes immediately. No one leaves the quest open, when next dialog step completes it.

The point is that you DO need to COMPLETE not just "accept" the non-combative quest to get the writs that deliver to Coldharbour, so my guide was correct on that matter.

SpAEkus · July 2016

Okay...I have to apologize as much as I can for causing you work that you didn't need to do. Please let me know what you wasted in re-checks and I'll send mats or pay for them.

Looks like I didn't have Harven's XP Notify set up properly to catch the bonus IP, it was closing too soon and LootDrop wasn't catching at all. Since they matched I mistakenly thought I had good numbers.

Bonus XP IS given for learning Alchemy and Enchanting.

As far as Coldharbor, I mistakenly mixed Speak to Groundskeeper and completing the full dialogue that then immediately starts Army Of Meridia on the Quest Tracker. As it all completed in one set of dialogue, it quickly swapped to Army of Meridia each time and I didn't catch that it was separate completion.

----

As far as BS Decon IP. I reran my tests again after resetting Harven's XP Notify to remain on screen for full scroll.

Using L20 Character L3 BS 6438/6920 1/10 ESO Plus+ No CP applied

--ALL CRAFTED--

L1 White Iron Dagger 114 IP 6552/6920

L1 White Iron Dagger Powered 114 IP 6666/6920

Level 4 BS 354/8900 1/10 ESO Plus+ No CP applied (Quick level up to 4 so more range to check before next level)

L1 White Iron Dagger 114 IP 468/8900

L1 White Iron Dagger Powered 114 IP 582/8900

--Skipped up due to not catching a L6 dagger in the stack, have to go very slow as item stacks are combined in the table GUI--

Level 4 BS 354/8900 1/10 ESO Plus+ No CP applied

L1 Green Iron Dagger Frost 179 IP 1060/8900

L1 Green Iron Dagger Frost 179 IP 1239/8900

L1 Green Iron Dagger Powered + Frost 179 IP 1418/8900

L1 Green Iron Dagger 179 IP 1597/8900

L1 Green Iron Dagger Powered 179 IP 1776/8900

I am not seeing any bonus IP from Traits or Enchants, only Quality.

--LOOT ITEMS--

Loot Items have too many variables to confirm whether the exact patterns apply. Was also unable to quickly find any exact duplicates with countering traits/enchants. Some give massive bonus and some that should give more gives smaller.

Level 4 BS 2303/8900 1/10 ESO Plus+ No CP Applied

L4 Green Heavy Chest (Loot named but not set item) Well Fitted + 81 Health 18g Value 425 IP 2728/8900

L4 Green Heavy Chest (Crafted) Well Fitted + 77 Health 16g Value (cannot craft 81 Health) 299 IP 3027/8900

L6 Green Heavy Chest (Loot named but not set item) Reinforced + 86 Magicka 16g Value 399 IP 3426/8900

L6 Green Heavy Chest (Crafted) Reinforced + 82 Magicka 19g Value (can't craft 86 Magicka) 381 IP 3807/8900

Definitely more IP from Loot Items but no pattern to how much from item to item.

Again I apologize for causing you that work for my misinformation.

Serenityx · July 2016

Favorited and bookmarked. Thank you!! I havent found guide with a better, more concise easy to read layout than this. Especially the alchemy reagants section.

Tevalaur · July 2016

SpAEkus wrote: »

Okay...I have to apologize as much as I can for causing you work that you didn't need to do. Please let me know what you wasted in re-checks and I'll send mats or pay for them.

Looks like I didn't have Harven's XP Notify set up properly to catch the bonus IP, it was closing too soon and LootDrop wasn't catching at all. Since they matched I mistakenly thought I had good numbers.

Bonus XP IS given for learning Alchemy and Enchanting.

As far as Coldharbor, I mistakenly mixed Speak to Groundskeeper and completing the full dialogue that then immediately starts Army Of Meridia on the Quest Tracker. As it all completed in one set of dialogue, it quickly swapped to Army of Meridia each time and I didn't catch that it was separate completion.

I am not seeing any bonus IP from Traits or Enchants, only Quality.

Thanks for the apology and no need to reimburse ingredients as I was testing on the PTS (that's why I test crafting issues there, the template characters have plenty of ingredients).

As for the differing inspiration with or without ANY traits (not between traits other than intricate), as I stated earlier I believe that was only in looted (not stolen) world-dropped (not crafted) items so your tests posted here show me nothing in this regard. It's not easy to find a non-stolen world-dropped item without any traits so it won't be a quick/easy test (which is why I've not posted any additional data about it).

I wouldn't expect you to see any difference from enchants and only the pure absence of any trait in a NOT-crafted (and non-stolen) item would be beneficial data to show a change from what I'd seen previously.

helediron · July 2016

To leveling enchanting: Level 45 is an optimal place to learn every runestone. Learning them brought my latest enchanter almost to 50. If learning earlier, you earn less XP, and if later you might go beyond 50.

SpAEkus · July 2016

@Tevalaur

On a hunch I just did a PTS run of Coldharbor Tutorial and came away with a good bit of White kill loot with all the categories we have discussed.

I was going to run the Decon IP on it but thought I'd ask if there are specific matches you would want to see?

Tevalaur · July 2016

@SpAEkus

I'd try tossing anything with a value of 0 gold before running tests, those white items at that low a level sometimes might count like the "stolen" white items that are near useless for inspiration even when openly "found" and might make it more difficult to see a pattern.

Aside from that I'd be curious as to the results! Although I will note that where I remember seeing it matter was more like on items at levels in the 40s and perhaps a green item of that level range without any trait is what truly drew my notice when I was leveling the craft; so if you don't see any variation I'd wonder if it was so small as to not show up on items that aren't likely to give much IP anyhow. But if the trait's only going to make a difference at all that late on then I'd need to make note of that in my guide anyhow, so am very interested to see the results with that one adjustment of toss any 0 value items first.

Tevalaur · July 2016

helediron wrote: »

To leveling enchanting: Level 45 is an optimal place to learn every runestone. Learning them brought my latest enchanter almost to 50. If learning earlier, you earn less XP, and if later you might go beyond 50.

@helediron

This seems to be EXCELLENT info! Thank you for sharing! I'd not realized the difference in translating at different levels. Will be updating the guide later today after some more testing so can document the data. But can presently say that translating a rune at enchanting level 6 gave an additional 2047 IP and at enchanting level 26 gave an additional 5992 IP.