Level 1 Alchemy Writs to expensive?

WiseSky

I been doing writs on 8 chars and just ran out of Blessed Thistle I said no biggie I can buy it for 50... Sadly its around 250 and the writ wants 3 of them ...

Then I looked up on wiki what other ingredients it needs in set of 3s, sadly it say Corn Flower which goes for around 375 each... Am I missing somehthing or are they just not worth doing at low low levels?

bmnoble

I never bother with Alchemy/consumable writs until I max the crafting skills even then there are some expensive mats required for the max level writs.

The inspiration/gold gains for doing the low level writs are not worth it considering how quickly you can level the consumable skill lines, better off saving your mats for leveling the skills.

That said unless I am actively using the character, Alchemy is the last crafting skill I will usually level on an alt, the mats are quite expensive unless you farm them yourself, it can end up being one of the most expensive crafting skills to level.

The only writs I bother with at low level are equipment ones, due to the surveys making it worth your time, just bank them and gather max level mats on your main crafter to sell or refine.


This guide is one of the better ones for leveling alchemy without wasting mats/gold:

http://www.sunshine-daydream.us/craft-alchemy.html

Once your character learns all the Alchemy reagent traits and Enchanters learn all the rune words you max out the drop rates for master writs, which you can sell for a reasonable amount/comparable to some gold mats.

Dusk_Coven

You're supposed to harvest it. Of course things are going to be overpriced in Guild Stores.
Starting with 8 toons means in the early game of course you're going to be short a lot when you have the harvesting power of 1 toon at a time -- so you need to do a lot of harvesting.
Once you get the writs going, though, each daily writ rewards 4 stacks of materials, 3 stacks often what you need for writs. So the more you do, the more you will accumulate, until at some point in the later game you hardly have to harvest at all.

Focus one character at a time. The highest-ranked character can make all the potions for everyone at reduced material cost due to the passive that multiplies your output.

tmbrinks

Level 1 and Level 2 Alchemy writs do take corn flower, which is the most expensive of the alchemy reagents (outside of DLC ingredients, which will never be used)

Once you get to level 3 and above, none of them will require Corn Flower.

If I make a character that's going to do writs, I level up alchemy immediately to max level.

FlopsyPrince

I am finding Corn Flower much more commonly now and I have pushed all my characters up to Potions (level 3) in Alchemy.

I am running out of Mountain Flower now and I suspect they jiggered something so Corn Flower shows up more at the expense of Mountain Flower.

redlink1979

@oneskygod Just a consequence of demand and supply, bud. The cheaper option will always be farm the mats yourself - normal farm or picking up survey reports.
Or level Alchemy quickly since other crafting ranks don't require corn flower, as stated previously.

WiseSky

I did the math and when I get anything but the cornflower I do the alchemy writs and profit. If its corn I just abandon it

WiseSky

Thanks for the Replies

FrancisCrawford

I recently invested the skill points to take almost all my characters up to the top level in alchemy, so that they can do top tier alchemy writs. Advantages include:

• Half the time they ask for poisons, which are much cheaper to make.
• When I checked, they didn't ask for expensive mats such as cornflower.
• They can yield alchemy master writs, which recently skyrocketed in price on PC/NA. (I guess folks finally figured out that alchemy master writs are a great way to power level skills and skill lines, since I can't think of any other reason for the price increase.)

bakthi

This guide:

https://alcasthq.com/eso-alchemy-guide-crafting/

has a section that walks you through discovering all the traits for all the common ingredients (not dragon, pearl, etc.) Just doing this should get your alchemy to the point where dailies no longer ask for corn flower, and it's probably something you want to do anyway.

My main problem now is farming up skill points for alts. They prioritize combat skills, then alchemy (for Medicinal Use), then jewelry (to get to 50 for more grains), but there are a few that have the other durable craft lines at skill 50 but level 1 due to lack of skill points. Most of them are DPS, and most have already done a good chunk of the main quest, so I guess it's time to hit the public dungeons? Not sure if there are easier/faster skill points to be had.

Nestor

I do Tier 1 Alchemy Writs on up to 12 characters, and top Tier on 4 of them. Ok, during the Anniversary Event I do that many. Counting in Surveys and Reward Containers, over time, Alchemy is a net gain in mats for me.

Jayne_Doe

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

I recently invested the skill points to take almost all my characters up to the top level in alchemy, so that they can do top tier alchemy writs. Advantages include:

• Half the time they ask for poisons, which are much cheaper to make.
• When I checked, they didn't ask for expensive mats such as cornflower.
• They can yield alchemy master writs, which recently skyrocketed in price on PC/NA. (I guess folks finally figured out that alchemy master writs are a great way to power level skills and skill lines, since I can't think of any other reason for the price increase.)

There is one problem with top tier alchemy writs, and that is mudcrab chitin. I had around 300 or so after the anniversary event, as it drops in the anniversary boxes, but I just checked a few days ago, and I have 70 left. I generally slaughter every mudcrab I come across, but chitin isn't a guaranteed drop, so I can kill a dozen or so and only end up with one or two. I've tried farming them, but it's tedious to wander around killing mudcrabs for the paltry return. I guess it's easier, though, than trying to farm for a particular plant, such as cornflower, but at least they drop in the writ reward containers and from surveys. Chitin doesn't drop in the writ rewards, though beetle scuttle, spider eggs, etc. do.

code65536

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

You're supposed to harvest it. Of course things are going to be overpriced in Guild Stores.

Whether you farm the corn flower yourself or buy it from someone else, the lower-tier writs that require it was still pretty expensive to do.

"Hey, I just farmed 3 corn flowers! I can use them for a writ... or I could sell them for 1100g. Hmm..."

However you frame it, either directly by spending 1K gold to purchase, or indirectly by forgoing the opportunity to sell them for 1K gold, that writ is going to cost you 1K to do.

OG_Kaveman

you doing the surveys you get from them? cause you can just reset the 6 nodes before you collect them, just keep resetting them till you get what you want. i mean, i do the same thing as you, though only on 2 toons but when the Anniversary Event was around, i was doing 9 toons at level for alchemy, for 14 days, never ran out of anything, was doing surveys every other day though.

inchdixprb19_ESO

personally I find alchemy writs the most viable to actually do at any level. I just make a batch of the 4 sips required for each daily on a maxed alchemy crafter (I.E. one that makes 4 at a time), then I bank them. A level 1 alchemy writ char will then draw the required potion daily from the bank when doing his/her writs
Making, 4 of each potion will require only 8 flowers and 4 water. this will give me 16 potions, therefore 16 daily writs for which I will recover 96 flowers.
So if the writ requires, say 3 cornflower, there is a very good chance that I will recover those from the reward box and will earn me roughly 10k in gold for doing those 16 writs.
Plus there is still the chance of getting a survey, therefor recovering even more flowers

code65536

They are worth doing at any level, yes. The return on mats and chance at a survey make even the Corn Flower ones viable.

That's irrelevant, though. The Corn Flower writs are still, by a large margin, the most expensive to do. Sure, you can still come out ahead. But not by much. Alchemy is easy to max, so if you can afford the skill points, it's generally much easier to have everyone do the max-level ones.

Asardes

The reagents asked for by low tier alchemy writs are indeed quite expensive. For example on EU-PC Corn Flower goes for 450-480 gold a piece. If you need 3, that will be 1400-1500 gold. You get 600 from turning in the writ, so that's an 8-900 gold loss. You may recoup some of it if you get a survey and grab it, but that's not guaranteed.

I leveled alchemy to full on all my 18 characters. What I do is get low level poison solvents from guild stores, where they sell very cheaply, and make poisons. Even without passives you get 4 of them which you can then sell to NPC to recoup some of the cost of the reagents used.

In the first phase I go about and discover all reagent properties - not only do they give extra inspiration when you discover them, but the achievements for knowing them all count towards the chance of getting master writs later, when the skill is fully leveled; except the DLC ones that are quite expensive and don't have any achievements associated. That gets me to about level 22-23. Then I craft a cheap combo, until I get to 50, usually Wormwood + Spider Egg. Every 10 levels I spend a point in Solvent Proficiency, then change the type of solvent used, since the higher level the poison/potion crafted, the higher the inspiration gained from it. The full list of reagent combos to learn all properties is found here, in the Learn tab: https://esolog.uesp.net/viewPotions.php

Having alchemy leveled on characters is pretty much a must if you want to play end game since without Medicinal Use passive you can't have 100% up time on Weapon & Spell Power Potions.

Ardaghion

Jayne_Doe wrote: »

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

I recently invested the skill points to take almost all my characters up to the top level in alchemy, so that they can do top tier alchemy writs. Advantages include:

• Half the time they ask for poisons, which are much cheaper to make.
• When I checked, they didn't ask for expensive mats such as cornflower.
• They can yield alchemy master writs, which recently skyrocketed in price on PC/NA. (I guess folks finally figured out that alchemy master writs are a great way to power level skills and skill lines, since I can't think of any other reason for the price increase.)

There is one problem with top tier alchemy writs, and that is mudcrab chitin. I had around 300 or so after the anniversary event, as it drops in the anniversary boxes, but I just checked a few days ago, and I have 70 left. I generally slaughter every mudcrab I come across, but chitin isn't a guaranteed drop, so I can kill a dozen or so and only end up with one or two. I've tried farming them, but it's tedious to wander around killing mudcrabs for the paltry return. I guess it's easier, though, than trying to farm for a particular plant, such as cornflower, but at least they drop in the writ reward containers and from surveys. Chitin doesn't drop in the writ rewards, though beetle scuttle, spider eggs, etc. do.

You'd think it would be cheaper to buy the chitin from some Guild traders, seeing so many bots harvesting them. Just last night I saw about 10-20 bots all grouped up near the Ali'kr docks, they were all scripted to run to the spawn locations, attack and drag them to the group which consisted of all sorcs using Lightning form to kill many dozens of mudcrabs.

Darkhorse1975

If you have the DB skill line Shadowy Supplier passive unlocked on an alt, you can get a free poison satchel everyday which often drops a few Blessed Thistles.

xpixelatedtkox

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

I am finding Corn Flower much more commonly now and I have pushed all my characters up to Potions (level 3) in Alchemy.

I am running out of Mountain Flower now and I suspect they jiggered something so Corn Flower shows up more at the expense of Mountain Flower.

I noticed that this weekend too. Surveys were producing more cornflower and found more out in the open.

In response to OP, the way I stay up on ingredients for any writ is surveys. I usually wait till I have a bunch for a single zone, then go hit them all up.

mague

oneskygod wrote: »

I been doing writs on 8 chars and just ran out of Blessed Thistle I said no biggie I can buy it for 50... Sadly its around 250 and the writ wants 3 of them ...

Then I looked up on wiki what other ingredients it needs in set of 3s, sadly it say Corn Flower which goes for around 375 each... Am I missing somehthing or are they just not worth doing at low low levels?

When you do them on 8 characters there should drop some surveys. Plus they drop sometimes good recipes and epic ingredients for the good recipes

Alinhbo_Tyaka

bmnoble wrote: »

I never bother with Alchemy/consumable writs until I max the crafting skills even then there are some expensive mats required for the max level writs.

The inspiration/gold gains for doing the low level writs are not worth it considering how quickly you can level the consumable skill lines, better off saving your mats for leveling the skills.

That said unless I am actively using the character, Alchemy is the last crafting skill I will usually level on an alt, the mats are quite expensive unless you farm them yourself, it can end up being one of the most expensive crafting skills to level.

The only writs I bother with at low level are equipment ones, due to the surveys making it worth your time, just bank them and gather max level mats on your main crafter to sell or refine.


This guide is one of the better ones for leveling alchemy without wasting mats/gold:

http://www.sunshine-daydream.us/craft-alchemy.html

Once your character learns all the Alchemy reagent traits and Enchanters learn all the rune words you max out the drop rates for master writs, which you can sell for a reasonable amount/comparable to some gold mats.

I did the same thing and used the same leveling guide after I had enough extra skill points to increase proficiency while leveling. I would gather materials while questing or traveling in the open world and never had trouble meeting my needs while following the guide. I didn't start doing writs until I had fully leveled alchemy.

SeaGtGruff

If you need Corn Flower, Blessed Thistle, and other Alchemy plants needed for low-level daily writs, try going to a starter zone to farm them. I'm maximum level on all crafting skills, and I'm constantly coming across Corn Flower, Mountain Flower, Blessed Thistle, etc., in the wild. The only real advantage of going to a starter zone is that they're smaller (with the exception of Khenarthi's Roost) so it's easy to run around in a big loop farming stuff. Just be sure to use a SP to buy the passive that lets you see Alchemy materials (plants, mushrooms, and water) more easily, because the plants can be difficult to see if you don't have that passive.

pdblake

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

I am finding Corn Flower much more commonly now and I have pushed all my characters up to Potions (level 3) in Alchemy.
.

I noticed that too. I read a thread about how expensive cornflower is and now I'm tripping over the stuff everywhere.

I don't think I've ever not had enough materials for an alchemy writ though. The only thing I run low on is Butterfly Wings, and I just grab them while I'm waiting around for things to spawn (which seems to be a lot).

SeaGtGruff

pdblake wrote: »

I don't think I've ever not had enough materials for an alchemy writ though.

When I was starting out on my main EU character I did, but that's mostly because I wasn't farming until I actually needed stuff, and that in turn was mostly because I didn't have much inventory and bank space yet so I didn't have room to keep every type of plant and mushroom that I came across.

You have to farm plants and mushrooms all the time until you've built up a decent supply of them, otherwise you're going to have trouble doing the writs. If you wait until you need 3 of some plant to do a writ, RNGsus is going to make you run around for hours trying to find it; and then, the moment you no longer need it, you're going to start tripping over it everywhere.

pdblake

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

pdblake wrote: »

I don't think I've ever not had enough materials for an alchemy writ though.

When I was starting out on my main EU character I did, but that's mostly because I wasn't farming until I actually needed stuff, and that in turn was mostly because I didn't have much inventory and bank space yet so I didn't have room to keep every type of plant and mushroom that I came across.

You have to farm plants and mushrooms all the time until you've built up a decent supply of them, otherwise you're going to have trouble doing the writs. If you wait until you need 3 of some plant to do a writ, RNGsus is going to make you run around for hours trying to find it; and then, the moment you no longer need it, you're going to start tripping over it everywhere.

I should perhaps point out that, when I first started playing, it was a few weeks before I realised you even could do daily writs lol, so had accumulated quite a few mats, and then I have also subbed since about the first week I was playing (I liked it so much I decided it it deserved to be paid for), so have the craft bag too. That craft bag makes a big difference.

SeaGtGruff

Yeah, the craft bag would be a godsend for me, but I don't subscribe to ESO+.

As for not knowing about doing writs, you can't even get certified until you leave the starter zones-- which doesn't matter now like it did before ESO:Morrowind, unless you don't have Morrowind, Summerset, or Elsweyr and each new character starts out with the Soul-Shriven in Coldharbour quest. But the starter zones have crafting stations, so you can at least get started with each crafting skill line except Jewelry, refining raw materials, deconstructing gear and glyphs, and crafting stuff-- there's just no NPC characters to train and certify you in the starter zones. Of course, you can take the wayshrine from your starter zone to the city in your alliance's first zone to get certified, but if you're playing the zones in "proper order" then you have no reason to even know about that unless you're a veteran player who's starting a new character.

Asardes

The certification NPCs are also present in the large DLC areas like Morrowind, Summerset & Elsweyr. For example in Morrowind they're both right next to the bank booth.

SeaGtGruff

They don't start out there; IIRC you have to go to the Fighters Guild and Mages Guild to find them, and after that they move to where the crafting stations are.

But if you don't have Morrowind, Summerset, or Elsweyr, then your character will start with Soul-Shriven in Coldharbour, and when you escape you find yourself in your alliance's starter zone. As I said, you can immediately take the wayshrine to your alliance's first zone, where you'll be able to get certified. Otherwise you'll be able to start using the crafting stations on your own in the starter zone, but you won't be able to do writs yet.

If you have Morrowind, Summerset, or Elsweyr, you can get certified as soon as you complete or skip the tutorial quest.

FlopsyPrince

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

If you have Morrowind, Summerset, or Elsweyr, you can get certified as soon as you complete or skip the tutorial quest.

That is not true. You have to be level 6 IIRC. Though I have done most of mine in Alinor (Summerset) so I am not sure the rules in the other places. The starting quest doesn't show up until then.

SeaGtGruff

Hmm, okay. I haven't ever tried to get certified before L6. But what i meant was that

(1) if you don't have one of the three chapters that starts you out with their own tutorials then in the base game you don't even encounter the crafting certifiers until you've left your alliance's starting zone(s) and progressed to your alliance's "first" zone (in which case you've probably hit L6 by then anyway), but

(2) if you do have one of the three chapters then you start out (after completing or skipping the tutorial) in that chapter's zone and have immediate access to the crafting certifiers within that zone (whether or not your character's level is high enough to actually be certified yet), and

(3) in the first situation where you start out with the original tutorial and are placed in a zone that doesn't include the crafting certifiers you can always just go to the nearest wayshrine or other means of travel and go to your alliance's first zone to talk to the crafting certifiers.