Why I'll Never do Another Level 50 Crafting Writ!

Fudly_budly

This is a zero-sum cost basis analysis of my blacksmithing writ from yesterday. It very clearly lays out why doing these repeatable quests are a gold sink. I'll never do another.
Blacksmithing
Toon level 50 Blacksmithing 50 ALL Passives. level T10

Writ: Craft Helm 1 Pauldon 2 Dagger 2
Materials: Amount MM price Gold cost
Rubedite Ingots: 59 36 2124g
Motif stones: 5 4 20g
Total Marginal Cost 2144g

Reward:
Blacksmith Crate 10
Grand Repair Kit 1 159 159g
Sardonyx 1 4 4g
Sabatons (ornate) 1 105 105g
Quicksilver Ingots 25 10 250g
Inspiration 20,000 (worthless!)
Gold 604g
Total Marginal Reward 1122g
Net profit -1022g -91.09%


Now, I obviously didn't buy the materials but even assuming that savings; my most profitable action would be to merely sell the rubedite. Further, I don't even have to do the clothier or woodworking writs because, intuitively, I know they are also gold sinks.
Next, can the level 50/T10 writs be re-crafted by ZOS to be profitable for crafters? Sure! ZOS could simply raise the gold payout but that's both unimaginative and arbitrary. There are any number of approaches to make level 50/T10 writs viable.

Here's what I would do:
1. Move the level 50/T10 crafting writs to Cyrodiil and have the quest given by the siege equipment vendor.
2. Change the item crafted to siege machines (catapults, ballistas, etc.) and tents, tabards, and banners. Make the writs weekly vs. daily (except Haderus)
3. Allow use of any level mats. Crafter can complete only one component part of siege gear per day. (Haderus would be components only) Crafter must use Cyrodiil crafting stations.
4. When complete report to siege vendor for writ turn-in.
5. Change inspiration reward to appropriate level of alliance points for achievement of level 3 campaign rewards. Tweak and balance type of reward. Crafters are in a support role - not combat!

Such a system could also open up the crafting of siege equipment and allow crafter to sell to other players for gold. After all, isn't the war in Cyrodiil what we're supposed to be winning? Can't be done without siege machines.

Tygerfire

Wow....this just made me take a moment.

I've only been back for a few months, but I constantly find myself struggling to get the materials for the 160 equip writs each day.... and now I have to ask myself why?

Doesn't the occasional gold improvement item make it worthwhile? I havn't really been keeping track but it seems like out of the 3 equip writs I usually get atleast 1.

Does your logic apply to enchanting and alchemy writs as well? They don't take up nearly as many ingredients, so prob not that much of an issue.

I'm waiting for someone to give a counterpoint, while I'm still waiting on maint. to end.

Fudly_budly

the big money makers are consummable writs. They are very profitable.

THEDKEXPERIENCE

You're wrong in the macro.

Yes, this one writ was a loss. It happens. What about when you get a survey and get 100+ rubedite back? Or when you get a free Temper? A sellable recipe fragment?

I do all 6 top level writs about 5 times a week. That's about 20k right there. I think it's fair to say I get a gold temper back about every other day, but have frequently gotten two in one day so that evens out. It's the surveys that throw it over the top. They easily return half of the materials you use over a week.

Fudly_budly

danielpatrickkeaneub17_ESO wrote: »

You're wrong in the macro.

Yes, this one writ was a loss. It happens. What about when you get a survey and get 100+ rubedite back? Or when you get a free Temper? A sellable recipe fragment?

I do all 6 top level writs about 5 times a week. That's about 20k right there. I think it's fair to say I get a gold temper back about every other day, but have frequently gotten two in one day so that evens out. It's the surveys that throw it over the top. They easily return half of the materials you use over a week.

Yes. IF you get a... but EVERY day you don't you lose. My analysis is marginal and doesn't rely on RNGoddess.
You're better off day-in/day-out if you refine collected ores, maybe get some tempers, and sell the ingots. Please, don't take my word for it. Run the numbers for yourself.

THEDKEXPERIENCE

Adding ...

- You even said you didn't buy the materials so the "value" of them was 0 not what MM said.
- Do you really think that moving crafting to only Cyrodiil won't start a PVE only player tire fire?
- Doing 6 writs takes me under 2 minutes since I've already pre-made the food and potions, while stationing my crafter in Stormhold for an easy crafting run. How is making people potentially wait for a queue into Haderus a good idea?
- Some people actually enjoy doing them every day.

You are suffering from small sample size syndrome. Run these numbers another 100 to 1000 times for accurate results. And if you want to know why that study doesn't exist, it's because anyone that does the writs every day knows it's a huge profit center.

Integral1900

I've got almost three hundred gold blacksmith tempers, more than half are from writs, calculating from one writ is pointless, it's the average of hundreds that matters. I can go days with useless rewards because I know that if I do enough they balance out in my favour with rare or valuable items.

Also the value of max level crafting items like rubitite, rubedo leather etc has gone through the floor on pc. Since the wrothgar event I've been making more money dumping equipment ruby level mats on npcs than the guild trader in Elden Root

Enchanting, food and alchemy are the real cash cows, calculating from one tamriel, a bit of casual farming when I can't be bothered with anything else, using 4 alts, selling alchemy mats at low cost in bulk along with surplus survey kuta I'm making over half a million month with no effort at all. If I could be bothered I could double that no problem

Selling the ornate items and decoding the intricate ones for the extra mats is another seven hundred gold a shot. Selling low level crafting mats from the reward boxes is another revenue flow, it's not as if that junk has a use, my new alt will have to find their own mats.

Fudly_budly

Like I said... "I'll never do another. " Not saying you shouldn't. Peace.

Bouldercleave

Fudly_budly wrote: »

This is a zero-sum cost basis analysis of my blacksmithing writ from yesterday. It very clearly lays out why doing these repeatable quests are a gold sink. I'll never do another.
Blacksmithing
Toon level 50 Blacksmithing 50 ALL Passives. level T10

Writ: Craft Helm 1 Pauldon 2 Dagger 2
Materials: Amount MM price Gold cost
Rubedite Ingots: 59 36 2124g
Motif stones: 5 4 20g
Total Marginal Cost 2144g

Reward:
Blacksmith Crate 10
Grand Repair Kit 1 159 159g
Sardonyx 1 4 4g
Sabatons (ornate) 1 105 105g
Quicksilver Ingots 25 10 250g
Inspiration 20,000 (worthless!)
Gold 604g
Total Marginal Reward 1122g
Net profit -1022g -91.09%


Now, I obviously didn't buy the materials but even assuming that savings; my most profitable action would be to merely sell the rubedite. Further, I don't even have to do the clothier or woodworking writs because, intuitively, I know they are also gold sinks.
Next, can the level 50/T10 writs be re-crafted by ZOS to be profitable for crafters? Sure! ZOS could simply raise the gold payout but that's both unimaginative and arbitrary. There are any number of approaches to make level 50/T10 writs viable.

Here's what I would do:
1. Move the level 50/T10 crafting writs to Cyrodiil and have the quest given by the siege equipment vendor.
2. Change the item crafted to siege machines (catapults, ballistas, etc.) and tents, tabards, and banners. Make the writs weekly vs. daily (except Haderus)
3. Allow use of any level mats. Crafter can complete only one component part of siege gear per day. (Haderus would be components only) Crafter must use Cyrodiil crafting stations.
4. When complete report to siege vendor for writ turn-in.
5. Change inspiration reward to appropriate level of alliance points for achievement of level 3 campaign rewards. Tweak and balance type of reward. Crafters are in a support role - not combat!

Such a system could also open up the crafting of siege equipment and allow crafter to sell to other players for gold. After all, isn't the war in Cyrodiil what we're supposed to be winning? Can't be done without siege machines.

Go to PVP lag zones to writ craft? Pass

STEVIL

My suggestion for equip writs was to require one item of specific trait and specific motif.

You can add second item to replace motif and another to replace trait if you want or need.

You can cat items at ANY level. Rewards base off lowest level of items submitted. So you can dial down and get dialed down mats gear reward.

Survey odds go up based on item levels. If no survey 25 pc box at item level.

xaraan

The OP example is a bit unfair IMO.

You are picking one bad RNG reward to use as the example when it would look much differently using, say... a whole week as a base.

They are definitely worth doing because you gets a few gold upgrades out of doing them each week and you also get a map or two to help you recoup the material cost. But, if you get one Temp Alloy in a crate, suddenly your numbers look very different.

Adding a value to the racial style stone, though accurate per vendor perhaps, is also slanting your numbers as most every crafter will have tons of these at no cost from breaking down and gathering.

Also, the material value isn't set by zos, we are already seeing the price come down on matts like ingots, wood, etc due to the amount of drop sets available (less crafting needed throughout the game for a good set) and due to the Orisinium event. Even if you don't want to buy the matts, just breaking down some gear from dungeon runs, or pve, or refining from gathering covers the materials for most.

As for the cyrodiil thing - no thanks. When I do pvp, I don't want to worry about crafters clogging up the queue or running around and when I'm crafting I don't want to have to go into pvp just to do a simple writ. And no way is creating a siege engine going to use less materials than making one wooden staff of each destro type (for example).

akl77

Op should calculate over a week, cos gold temper doesn't drop everyday.

Fudly_budly

Yes. Posting this thread has been enlightening.
Ok, the Cyrodiil thing is too traumatic an idea. Scrap that.
Yes. I used the guild trader market which is changeable BUT it's a realistic way of attempting to capture decision-making information. You could use npc costs but doing so would only deflate costs AND profits.
Next, yes Glass motifs CAN come in the Blacksmith's Crate X. I have pulled exactly 2 in the 3 months I have been doing daily writs. BTW, yesterday, Glass Fragments were selling for 150g each. I bought 4. I understand with 10 I can go plunk down another huge hunk of gold to start playing Glass Recipe RNG roulette. Oh so exciting. Can't wait...
Finally, yes, getting a Tempering Alloy in the crate would definitely change this analysis BUT, honestly, this possibility I must accept on faith as the experience is unknown to me.
Now, I am open-minded guy. So, tell you what. I'll do a writ everyday for the next 7 days and post the results. Yesterday 11/12:
Writ:
greatsword 14 ruby ings.
sabatons 13
gauuntlets 13
cost 1400g
Reward:
Blacksmith Crate X
Fire Opal 10
Gauntlets 105
Repair Kit 163 (this might be a sleeper benefit as yesterday's repair bill was 583)
25 Orichalcum Ingots 275
20,000 useless Insp pts
604 gold 604
Income 1157
profit/loss -243
cya tomorrow.
let's all be open-minded and see how it shakes out...
peace

UrbanMonk

OK...here is my trick to optimise the temper drops. Before you read further make sure that your crafter is maxed out on all 6 writs.

1. Obviously take the writ quests and go crafting. Once done proceed towards delivery area.
2. 1st submit the writ for Enchanting. Open the container. From this point 2 things might happen-
2.1 you get a Kuta
2.2 you don't get a Kuta

2.1.1 if you get a Kuta- proceed to submit the alchemy. Open the box and take the flowers. Next submit the Provisioning writ and open the box. After that submit the Black smithing writ. There is a high chance of you getting a temper. If you do, go for the woodworking and the for clothing and if you don't then go for clothing for a better chance of wax and then woodworking.

2.2.1 if you don't get a Kuta - submit the alchemy and then proceed for black smithing writ. There is a high chance for you to get a gold temper. If you get one submit the provisioning followed by wood and clothing in last again to improve your chances for Wax drop. And in case you don't get a temper, open clothing writ box. If you get a wax follow it be opening provisioning and wood and if you don't then wood followed by provisioning.

In my case I do writs on 7 chrs and my average so far is about 3/4 of each temper every day. Sometimes my temper drops goes to even 5.

I hope it'll help...

AntMan100673

Fudly_budly wrote: »

Yes. Posting this thread has been enlightening.
Ok, the Cyrodiil thing is too traumatic an idea. Scrap that.
Yes. I used the guild trader market which is changeable BUT it's a realistic way of attempting to capture decision-making information. You could use npc costs but doing so would only deflate costs AND profits.
Next, yes Glass motifs CAN come in the Blacksmith's Crate X. I have pulled exactly 2 in the 3 months I have been doing daily writs. BTW, yesterday, Glass Fragments were selling for 150g each. I bought 4. I understand with 10 I can go plunk down another huge hunk of gold to start playing Glass Recipe RNG roulette. Oh so exciting. Can't wait...
Finally, yes, getting a Tempering Alloy in the crate would definitely change this analysis BUT, honestly, this possibility I must accept on faith as the experience is unknown to me.
Now, I am open-minded guy. So, tell you what. I'll do a writ everyday for the next 7 days and post the results. Yesterday 11/12:
Writ:
greatsword 14 ruby ings.
sabatons 13
gauuntlets 13
cost 1400g
Reward:
Blacksmith Crate X
Fire Opal 10
Gauntlets 105
Repair Kit 163 (this might be a sleeper benefit as yesterday's repair bill was 583)
25 Orichalcum Ingots 275
20,000 useless Insp pts
604 gold 604
Income 1157
profit/loss -243
cya tomorrow.
let's all be open-minded and see how it shakes out...
peace

Ok, even doing it for a week your sample size will be too small to get an accurate picture.

Looking at the details of the 2 you've listed so far I think there's enough info to safely say they're worth doing.

The first writ you did was the bad one, in terms of materials required, and the 2nd one was the good writ. You get the bad writ every 3rd day (though you could always not do it on that day). The rewards you got were basically the worst you could get. Take your big loss and add 2x your small loss gives you your loss every 3 days and dividing by 3 gives you an average loss of about 500g per blacksmithing writ (just getting bad rewards).

That loss of 500g divided by what tempering alloys go for x100 gives you a percentage. If you get a tempering alloy more often than this percentage figure it's worth doing the writs (this is ignoring getting glass motif fragments and surveys).

I'm on console and I don't know what TA's go for on PC but just to give an example I'll assume 10k which gives a figure of 5%. My experience is that TA's drop far more often than that which makes blacksmithing writs worth doing.

disintegr8

Looks like it is up to each person to decide if the writs are worth doing for them. Before 1T I was doing them every day on 6 characters and while I occasionally had to buy some materials or make an effort to get friggin nirnroot, I was getting enough back in gold and other materials to justify it.

I have only done a hand full since 1T and have really noticed a drop off in my gold improvement tempers supply, so might have to start doing them again.

One negative I have seen, in the few I have done, is the change in provisioning so you now have cp50 and cp150 recipes you have to make. I think there are now 12 slots used if I want to keep a stash 'pre-maid' rather than the previous 6 - this is valuable storage space!

Another I am unsure about is the change to getting surveys from anywhere. I used to deliberately do Craglorn writs to get the Craglorn surveys for the good chance of nirncrux from the nodes. Not sure how this will play out of I leave the characters at those same levels, whether I still get many Craglorn surveys or not..

Reorx_Holybeard

This is a link to some writ statistics from before One Tamriel. It shows that the *average* profit for doing all 6 max level writs is around 12,000 gold on the PC-NA server. I don't have enough stats post One Tamriel but it should be about the same (raw materials went down, tempers went up in value).

Yes, one day you might get nothing. Or maybe 10 days in a row you get nothing. But in the long term if you keep doing there is a net profit. If you set up your characters to do the writs quickly and hoard the surveys then time wise it takes very little and you can profit from harvesting while you collect surveys once every few weeks.

Its also good to know that the 3 smithing writs are a *net loss* of materials over time (unless you get very lucky with surveys). But the cost of materials is built into the calculation so you can just buy the refined materials to do writs if you wish (they're getting cheaper and cheaper since OT).

Btw, for reference the drop rate for gold tempers from writs is 33%, or 1 in 3 writs on average.

Dagoth_Rac

There is a 33% chance of a Tempering Alloy in a top-tier Blacksmith Writ reward. Those are worth like 10,000g on PC. Spending about 2,000g worth of materials for a 1/3rd chance at 10,000g is a good deal. You need to do writs consistently, though. In small sample sizes, you can do badly, even very badly. But over months and months of doing writs day in and day out, you will do well. They are designed to reward dedicated crafters, not people doing a writ here or there.

disintegr8

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

There is a 33% chance of a Tempering Alloy in a top-tier Blacksmith Writ reward. Those are worth like 10,000g on PC. Spending about 2,000g worth of materials for a 1/3rd chance at 10,000g is a good deal. You need to do writs consistently, though. In small sample sizes, you can do badly, even very badly. But over months and months of doing writs day in and day out, you will do well. They are designed to reward dedicated crafters, not people doing a writ here or there.

Last week when I checked the guild traders in Deshaan on PS4 NA, tempering alloy was starting at 20k gold - I could not believe it. If I do 6 writs a day at 1 in 3 chance, that would be 40k a day.

Fudly_budly

Thanks for all the great comments. I am learning things I didn't know. Notably, that the temper drop rate in crates is 33%. That's a wow eye-opener! Let's see if I score one during my 7-day trial.
Yesterday, November 13, the blacksmithing writ took an exciting turn that breaks new ground in the analysis. Before we jump into that, I just wanted to clarify that my test is of the blacksmithing writs only. Briefly, I do all of the consumable writs: provisioning, alchemy, and enchanting every day as they are extremely profitable. I say this just to keep the discussion focused.

The November 13 blacksmithing writ:
sword 13 35g MM daily spot price
greaves 14
curiass 15
Cost of writ: 1470g

Reward:
Blacksmith Crate X
Greatsword (intricate) 289
Repair Kit 158
Glass Motif Fragment 146
Quartz 10
25 Calcinium Ingots 250
20,000 useless Insp pts
604 gold 604
Earnings 1457
Net profit -13

Okay so, I have a couple of things to deal with in these rewards that I haven't previously encountered. First, the intricate great sword with a MM value of 289g. According to the tooltip, I can deconstruct this and receive an extra mat. This option only nets me 70g. The next option would be to list it to a Guild store and hope it sells for the 289g. Or, I can donate it to my Guild's weekly auction. This is the option I selected so I claim the full 289g as a reward but it is only a "book value" reward.
Second and more exciting is the receipt of the fragment of the glass motif. Getting this helps us to flesh out how valuable this particular reward is. The MM spot price for glass recipe fragments is 146g. Hmm, not the big payday that I had anticipated it would be. Further, even with the receipt of this reward, I still lost gold on the daily writ.
Following up on the potential of what to do with this fragment proved enlightening. The mages Guild Mystic merchant wants 10,000g for the meretic solution to turn 10 of these into a random piece of the glass motif. My understanding is that once created this particular class motif chapter is bound to my account and unsellable. So, I'm having difficulty seeing much of a reward here. Admittedly I did not thoroughly research all of this so if one of you knows more about how glass motifs work please feel free to elucidate. I will add, however, that I currently hold nine of these fragments and 59 pieces of malachite shard.
Overall an exciting day and I learned more. See you tomorrow. Peace.

Reorx_Holybeard

Deconstructing cp160 intricate items gives you 3-5 materials. When the refined material cost was higher before OT it was better to deconstruct and sell the materials but now the price has fallen to a point where its better to just sell the item to people wanting it to level crafting skills (although their price will probably drop too).

Unfortunately, Glass motifs haven't sold very well for a while. You can sell the motif once you make it however most pieces actually sell for less than 10k on PC-NA so its a net loss unless you happen to get the few pieces that sell for more than 10k.

The bulk of the profit in writ rewards are the gold tempers and survey maps, around 20% using the pre-OT prices. Also keep in mind that the survey maps give you around 100 raw materials now which when refined will give you another 0.5 gold temper on average which adds to the profit.

So writs aren't a "huge" profit generator but more of a slow and steady one, especially if you have a large collection of materials you need to use up. I wish there was an easy way of using up the CP140 materials as post-OT I'm doing all max level writs and my 10k of Voidstone Ingots is practically worthless.

Fudly_budly

Reorx_Holybeard wrote: »

Deconstructing cp160 intricate items gives you 3-5 materials. When the refined material cost was higher before OT it was better to deconstruct and sell the materials but now the price has fallen to a point where its better to just sell the item to people wanting it to level crafting skills (although their price will probably drop too).

Unfortunately, Glass motifs haven't sold very well for a while. You can sell the motif once you make it however most pieces actually sell for less than 10k on PC-NA so its a net loss unless you happen to get the few pieces that sell for more than 10k.

The bulk of the profit in writ rewards are the gold tempers and survey maps, around 20% using the pre-OT prices. Also keep in mind that the survey maps give you around 100 raw materials now which when refined will give you another 0.5 gold temper on average which adds to the profit.

So writs aren't a "huge" profit generator but more of a slow and steady one, especially if you have a large collection of materials you need to use up. I wish there was an easy way of using up the CP140 materials as post-OT I'm doing all max level writs and my 10k of Voidstone Ingots is practically worthless.

It does seem to be headed in the direction of profitability hinging on temper drops and thus our mindless service to RNGoddess. At the end of the week, I am going to just refine a comparable stack of ruby ores and see what happens.
I feel you on the cp 140 mats... I took them and some vaseline to a npc vendor and just got it over with.

kylewwefan

I have been doing 6 writs a day on 2 toons for quite some time. The legendary mats I get make it worthy of doing.

In game gold.....what exactly are you gonna do with all of it anyways?

Writs aren't gonna make you rich, but I occasionally log on other toons and do low level enchanting, provisioning, and alchemy. That's an easy 2k gold and chance for a kuta or psijic piece. That's plenty enough to pay for their horse training and repairs.

Many people play this game for all sorts of different reasons. If writs aren't fun for you anymore....there's always even more not fun things to do....like maelstrom. LOL!

Fudly_budly

kylewwefan wrote: »

I have been doing 6 writs a day on 2 toons for quite some time. The legendary mats I get make it worthy of doing.

In game gold.....what exactly are you gonna do with all of it anyways?

Writs aren't gonna make you rich, but I occasionally log on other toons and do low level enchanting, provisioning, and alchemy. That's an easy 2k gold and chance for a kuta or psijic piece. That's plenty enough to pay for their horse training and repairs.

Many people play this game for all sorts of different reasons. If writs aren't fun for you anymore....there's always even more not fun things to do....like maelstrom. LOL!

Yes. the consumable writs are very profitable but we're discussing crafting writs. As for in-game gold, It's my game score. Should be a leader board for it!! Further though, my trading guild has a 400k gold sales per week quota. So, "Time is gold and I've too little of both." LOL

Wrecking_Gorilla

I did writs on 6 characters today. I got 2 Tempering Alloy, 2 kuta and 2 rosin. I thing they are worth doing. The consumable writs are great.

ELDARTHVADER

Fudly_budly wrote: »

This is a zero-sum cost basis analysis of my blacksmithing writ from yesterday. It very clearly lays out why doing these repeatable quests are a gold sink. I'll never do another.
Blacksmithing
Toon level 50 Blacksmithing 50 ALL Passives. level T10

Writ: Craft Helm 1 Pauldon 2 Dagger 2
Materials: Amount MM price Gold cost
Rubedite Ingots: 59 36 2124g
Motif stones: 5 4 20g
Total Marginal Cost 2144g

Reward:
Blacksmith Crate 10
Grand Repair Kit 1 159 159g
Sardonyx 1 4 4g
Sabatons (ornate) 1 105 105g
Quicksilver Ingots 25 10 250g
Inspiration 20,000 (worthless!)
Gold 604g
Total Marginal Reward 1122g
Net profit -1022g -91.09%

.

using you numbers. for the week. i get 1-3 tempering alloy. so let sat 2. and i sell for 25K each (total 50K)
Writs cost 2144G x 7 days = 15,008G

Reward total marinal reward 1122G x 5 days = 5610 Plus
Reward total marinal reward: 5 days = 5610 + 1122G x 2days + 50K (alloy) = 57,854G

Profit 42,846K
if you get 3 alloy in a week 92,846G Profit.

if 1 alloy yes -8K

disintegr8

Reorx_Holybeard wrote: »

.....
So writs aren't a "huge" profit generator but more of a slow and steady one, especially if you have a large collection of materials you need to use up. I wish there was an easy way of using up the CP140 materials as post-OT I'm doing all max level writs and my 10k of Voidstone Ingots is practically worthless.

You can still use those mats if you change your writ character to level 8 or 9 on the relevant craft.

While I have characters set for higher level writs, I have 2 that were deliberately left below level 10 (pre 1T) for doing Craglorn writs. I did writs on these 2 last night and they both used CP140 mats (Voidstone, Nightwood, Void Cloth) and I even got a Craglorn survey map.

Reorx_Holybeard

disintegr8 wrote: »

Reorx_Holybeard wrote: »

.....
So writs aren't a "huge" profit generator but more of a slow and steady one, especially if you have a large collection of materials you need to use up. I wish there was an easy way of using up the CP140 materials as post-OT I'm doing all max level writs and my 10k of Voidstone Ingots is practically worthless.

You can still use those mats if you change your writ character to level 8 or 9 on the relevant craft.

While I have characters set for higher level writs, I have 2 that were deliberately left below level 10 (pre 1T) for doing Craglorn writs. I did writs on these 2 last night and they both used CP140 mats (Voidstone, Nightwood, Void Cloth) and I even got a Craglorn survey map.

Yah, I might just do that. Right now all my characters are at max level for the hirelings but I might switch over a few of them to level 9 Blacksmithing/Clothing/Woodworking to use up those materials. Will have to see if level 9 writs make up for the loss of level 10 hirelings or not.

Fudly_budly

Yesterday's writ was the worst one so far this week. It had both high material cost and meager reward. I did not even score the Repair Kit. I claimed the full 245 gold for the intricate pauldron in spite of the fact that I actually deconstructed it to see how many ingots it would return. It's deconstruction yielded three ingots which would be worth approximately 102 gold. My actual results were worse than shown here.

November 14th Blacksmithing Writ:
Craft: ........Ruby Ingots Cost
helm................ 13 34
Pauldron (2)..... 26
Dagger (2) ........20
Cost of writ.................2006g

Reward:
Blacksmith Crate X
Chrysolite ......................10
pauldron (intricate) .......245(Decon'd for 3 ingots)
25 Steel ingots .............225
20,000 useless Insp pts
gold............................604
Total Reward .............1084
Profit/loss................. -922g

As several of you pointed out the key to profitability of these writs is the inclusion of a gold temper in the blacksmithing crate. Unfortunately, four days into our seven-day test and this elusive item has yet to be seen. Anyway, we have three days left. Finally, A running tally shows that so far I have lost more than 2000 gold doing these writs. Day five tomorrow.

Synfaer

Hmm..30% chance to get temper
I think temper is about 7k on NA/PC, so that averages about +2300 gold (just from temper) for every writ....

Yep, no money to be made here...move along

Below is a months data from my crafters; all 10/10 skill top tier writs.




.

Synfaer

OK..I got bored so I did my own cost breakdown.
Some items are approximations but you will get the general message.





.