Question about the finer points of crafting & passive line combinations

Penarddun

I've been playing very casually for years, but finally decided to take a serious look at crafting and need some finer points clarified.

Without really trying, just deconstructing what I get, and researching what I have, I've gotten my main character's Blacksmithing, Clothing and Woodworking up to Level 50, and most everything is researched. However, I never put any actual points into Metalworking, Tailoring, and Woodworking passives. They are all at 1/10.

What I've noticed is that I cannot craft anything that is above white gear. I see both jute and ancestor silk around the world, and when I do a crafting quest from the boards around the cities, it's to make low level items and I get low level materials as rewards. This seems to correspond to what I've read on the posts/guides I could find.

Currently, I'm trying to maximize my material gains, so I was thinking of starting to craft on some of my other characters. My BIG question is, is there some magic combination of for example Clothing level versus Tailoring level for each character? Like, would it be worth it to have one character at Tailoring 10, one at Tailoring 9, one at Tailoring 8, etc. so that each writ gives different materials from different levels? And would that affect the hirelings items on each character as well?

Is there an overabundance of certain materials? Maybe those gotten at the max level 10, because that's what most people leave their Tailoring at? Is there a scarcity of a certain level of materials, like maybe Level 1 Jute, or whatever is at Level 5?

Any insights or links to guides that touch on these specific concepts would be wonderful!

Thank you!

tmbrinks

Materials that drop in the world are 50% at your character's level, and 50% at your crafting level. So, since you are above CP150, you see ancestor silk, and at tailoring 1/10, you see jute. If you were at 10/10 in tailoring you would only see ancestor silk.

There is not really any advantage to keeping characters at levels other than 1 or 10 in those crafting skill lines. The materials at all levels below max level are extremely abundant, and rarely used, since they drop as "bonus" rewards from doing max level writs. At level 1, at least while doing writs, you can still get surveys, which are a large cache of materials.

The daily writs give the best rewards, in their highest drop rates, doing your writs with 10/10 in the first passive. These are the gold improvement materials and they make up the bulk of the gold value of doing writs, so the most profitable is to do your writs at that level. (as said, level 1 is okay, since they are self-sufficient, and you can get surveys, but the ones in between are not really worth doing, in my opinion)

VaranisArano

What your rank in Metalworking affects (same for the other crafting passives):
1. Which ores/ingots you can use to smith armor and weapons, which corresponds to the level of said armor and weapons
2. 50% of the ore you can harvest. The other 50% is tied to your level.
3. Which tier of crafting writs you can do and the rewards you receive

Writ rewards
All writs will grant some mats from your current tier, and some from a lower tier. So you won't ever lack for a way to get some lower tier ore even if you are all at Metalworking 10.
Max Tier writs, as in you've fully unlocked your Metalworking passive, give the best chance at getting gold improvement materials and are required if you want to get any Master Writs to do for vouchers.

For blacksmithing, Clothing, woodworking, alchemy, enchanting, and jewelrycrafting, it is far more profitable to do max tier writs (raising your passive fully) for the best chance at improvement mats and vouchers. This is especially true of Jewelry, since it has a guaranteed grain in the rewards at max tier writs.

The one possible exception is provisioning. Provisioning writs grant recipes at the rank of your provisioning skill, and the recipes at midtier ranks tend to be rarer and thus more expensive than the max tier recipes. So if you want to leave your various provisioners at below max rank to try to pull the rarer recipes in rewards, that's a viable strategy. You just won't get any master writs for provisioning since you aren't at max tier.

Finally, if you are looking to collect a certain material for sale, the ones most in demand are the max tier materials. You may see some lower tier mats that seem more expensive, like potency runes or alchemy waters, but those are in much lower demand unless someone needs to level their alchemy, for example. There will probably be a short-lived boom in the trade for the lowest tier mats during the Anniversary Event when everyone runs crafting writs on their non-crafter alts for the extra rewards, but the steady demand is for the max tier rubedite, lorkhans tears, ruby ash, etc. as crafting players fill their daily writs and craft max level gear.

Hope that helps!

Penarddun

Wow, thank you both so much for your detailed replies. This really helps me!

tmbrinks wrote: »

At level 1, at least while doing writs, you can still get surveys, which are a large cache of materials.

Does that mean that surveys stop dropping at higher levels? You also mentioned they are self sufficient at Level 1. What benefits would I be getting from Level 1 (other than the surveys)?


That's interesting info about the provisioning exception. So having provisioning on multiple characters is something I will look into putting into place.

VaranisArano wrote: »

You just won't get any master writs for provisioning since you aren't at max tier.

Do you get master writs at max level? Is that how they are obtained?

Also, the hireling deliveries correspond to the level? Or is it level and below? I noticed I got some purple and blue mats but then also jute from the mails. Or are things like Turpen separate from the level materials?

tmbrinks

Penarddun wrote: »

Wow, thank you both so much for your detailed replies. This really helps me!

tmbrinks wrote: »

At level 1, at least while doing writs, you can still get surveys, which are a large cache of materials.

Does that mean that surveys stop dropping at higher levels? You also mentioned they are self sufficient at Level 1. What benefits would I be getting from Level 1 (other than the surveys)?


That's interesting info about the provisioning exception. So having provisioning on multiple characters is something I will look into putting into place.

VaranisArano wrote: »

You just won't get any master writs for provisioning since you aren't at max tier.

Do you get master writs at max level? Is that how they are obtained?

Also, the hireling deliveries correspond to the level? Or is it level and below? I noticed I got some purple and blue mats but then also jute from the mails. Or are things like Turpen separate from the level materials?

No, surveys drop at a consistent rate, regardless of level of daily writs that you do (it's about 1 in 8).

The only reason to do writs at level 1 is because of the surveys and self sufficiency (the materials required are less than the materials that drop from the reward box, the only exception is jewelry, which requires either 5 or 6 materials, but only returns 5, so it's still very, very, close).

The drop rate of gold improvement materials is about 3% at level 1. It's 30% at max level.

Master writs ONLY drop from max level daily writs.

I believe the raw materials that you get from hirelings are based on your skill level in the craft. And they can also give you improvement materials as well (which I think is independent). I have not really looked at collecting those at lower levels (all of my characters are max level in everything other than provisioning)

VaranisArano

You will always get surveys no matter which tier of writs you are doing. The surveys will give you the mix of mats that's 50% your passive rank mat and 50% your level mat. So a tier 1 writ blacksmithing survey on a CP 160+ character will give 50% iron ore and 50% rubedite.

You don't get any special benefits from doing tier 1 writs as opposed to higher tiers.


Master writs are a reward for doing max tier crafting writs. Once you fully rank up your blacksmithing passive to 10, you'll start using rubedite to craft your writs and you have a chance to get master writs as a reward. The drop rate is increased based on how many traits you have researched and how many motifs you know on the character doing the crafting writs. Master writs will not drop at all if you are doing tier 1 - 9 writs.

The easiest crafts to get master writs are Alchemy (discover all ingredient traits), enchanting (discover all runestone traits), and jewelry (research all traits.) It can take a while to fill out motif and recipe knowledge for the other crafts and I've really only bothered to do so for my main crafter.


Hireling deliveries get better the more skill points you put in the hireling passive - I believe it must be maxed for you to get gold improvement mats. I'm uncertain about the connection to the Metalworking type passive because I only ever used the hirelings on a maxed crafter, sorry.

Penarddun

VaranisArano wrote: »

The drop rate is increased based on how many traits you have researched and how many motifs you know on the character doing the crafting writs.

Oh that's interesting. I had no idea that motifs would affect anything. There must be thousands right? It includes motif sets and individual ones like motif for dagger versus motif for shoes?

Are there any mods that would help keep track of all that? Or is it just a matter of going through your in game lists to figure out what you don't have?

VaranisArano

Penarddun wrote: »

VaranisArano wrote: »

The drop rate is increased based on how many traits you have researched and how many motifs you know on the character doing the crafting writs.

Oh that's interesting. I had no idea that motifs would affect anything. There must be thousands right? It includes motif sets and individual ones like motif for dagger versus motif for shoes?

Are there any mods that would help keep track of all that? Or is it just a matter of going through your in game lists to figure out what you don't have?

I believe you have to learn the entire motif in order to get the increased chance for master writs. There's about 78 motifs right now, though the 3 crown store exclusive motifs don't ever count towards receiving or doing master writs. You can use addons. Your journal may also have the achievements for learning certain motifs. Alternatively, I've completed the Mages Guild questline with my main crafter who's learning all the motifs, so I use the Eidetic Memory records to check all the pages I've learned.

Penarddun

VaranisArano wrote: »

Alternatively, I've completed the Mages Guild questline with my main crafter who's learning all the motifs, so I use the Eidetic Memory records to check all the pages I've learned.

Ah, that's smart. My main crafter also has the Eidetic Memory records unlocked, so I can check via those too.

Nestor

Even on alts I am not going to craft on, i will learn a few desired traits on certain things I use so I can Transmute. Like learning Impenetrable, Divines and Infuse on head pieces. So for two or three traits, it does not make sense to invest in the research passives.

It can also help to put some points in to Extraction to get more tempers back from decon.

It can also help to get Temper Expertise so that you don't have to move things you want to improve to the bank first.

None of the above are needed, but if have tons of skill points and need a place to spend them, there is some advice.

Scion_of_Yggdrasil

so...I thought I was being clever in passively leveling my crafting skills but I want to be sure lol:
1. all first passives are 1/10 (for ease of crafting writs)
2. hirelings are maxed based on level, as well as extracting passives to maximize deconstructing

I was planning on continuing this till the crafts reach lvl 50, then spending points to get them at 10/10. The idea is to build up my craft bag until lvl 50 (for those master writs!) so I have an easier time knocking those out quickly. Should I continue at this pace?

Would appreciate any advise from Alchemists/Cooks: how did you max alchemy/provisioning? Because everything else I have steadily leveled from deconstructing dungeon loot, but alchemy and provisioning are below lvl 10 *sobbing*

Nestor

@Scion_of_Yggdrasil

Your gear crafting leveling is perfect.

Alchemy and Provisioning can leveled to 50 in minutes. Like 5 minutes, by making foods or potions. The hardest part is finding the recipes and solvents for each level. Make sure to gather waters or oils as you level your characters. Same with recipes. In fact the hardest part of leveling these is knowing when to move up a tier for an efficient use of mats. Hint, its about every 10 craft skill levels.

Scion_of_Yggdrasil

Nestor wrote: »

@Scion_of_Yggdrasil

Your gear crafting leveling is perfect.

Alchemy and Provisioning can leveled to 50 in minutes. Like 5 minutes, by making foods or potions. The hardest part is finding the recipes and solvents for each level. Make sure to gather waters or oils as you level your characters. Same with recipes. In fact the hardest part of leveling these is knowing when to move up a tier for an efficient use of mats. Hint, its about every 10 craft skill levels.

I figured my gear crafting plan was solid, thanks for the affirmation! Guess I'll be crafting a bunch of fish sticks and sips of what not. lol Trifling glyphs too! Enchanting is coming on a bit slow as well.

Nestor

Scion_of_Yggdrasil wrote: »

Nestor wrote: »

@Scion_of_Yggdrasil

Your gear crafting leveling is perfect.

Alchemy and Provisioning can leveled to 50 in minutes. Like 5 minutes, by making foods or potions. The hardest part is finding the recipes and solvents for each level. Make sure to gather waters or oils as you level your characters. Same with recipes. In fact the hardest part of leveling these is knowing when to move up a tier for an efficient use of mats. Hint, its about every 10 craft skill levels.

I figured my gear crafting plan was solid, thanks for the affirmation! Guess I'll be crafting a bunch of fish sticks and sips of what not. lol Trifling glyphs too! Enchanting is coming on a bit slow as well.

@Scion_of_Yggdrasil

Enchanting is a good craft to learn with two alts. Make the glyphs on one alt, decon on the other alt. You will level both at the same rate. You can buy all the Potencies you need cheap from the Enchanters (they are over priced on most guild traders), Essences and Aspects in the Guild Traders. Make Green Glyphs up to about L15, then Blue up to about 25 or 30, then Purples from there. Learn the Potencies and Essences you don't know

Scion_of_Yggdrasil

Nestor wrote: »

Scion_of_Yggdrasil wrote: »

Nestor wrote: »

@Scion_of_Yggdrasil

Your gear crafting leveling is perfect.

Alchemy and Provisioning can leveled to 50 in minutes. Like 5 minutes, by making foods or potions. The hardest part is finding the recipes and solvents for each level. Make sure to gather waters or oils as you level your characters. Same with recipes. In fact the hardest part of leveling these is knowing when to move up a tier for an efficient use of mats. Hint, its about every 10 craft skill levels.

I figured my gear crafting plan was solid, thanks for the affirmation! Guess I'll be crafting a bunch of fish sticks and sips of what not. lol Trifling glyphs too! Enchanting is coming on a bit slow as well.

@Scion_of_Yggdrasil

Enchanting is a good craft to learn with two alts. Make the glyphs on one alt, decon on the other alt. You will level both at the same rate. You can buy all the Potencies you need cheap from the Enchanters (they are over priced on most guild traders), Essences and Aspects in the Guild Traders. Make Green Glyphs up to about L15, then Blue up to about 25 or 30, then Purples from there. Learn the Potencies and Essences you don't know

Enchanting doesn't sound so bad. Its alchemy that I'm dreading. Been saving up for furniture from the guild trader, but I guess I'm gonna blow it on mats!

katanagirl1

Scion_of_Yggdrasil wrote: »

Nestor wrote: »

Scion_of_Yggdrasil wrote: »

Nestor wrote: »

@Scion_of_Yggdrasil

Your gear crafting leveling is perfect.

Alchemy and Provisioning can leveled to 50 in minutes. Like 5 minutes, by making foods or potions. The hardest part is finding the recipes and solvents for each level. Make sure to gather waters or oils as you level your characters. Same with recipes. In fact the hardest part of leveling these is knowing when to move up a tier for an efficient use of mats. Hint, its about every 10 craft skill levels.

I figured my gear crafting plan was solid, thanks for the affirmation! Guess I'll be crafting a bunch of fish sticks and sips of what not. lol Trifling glyphs too! Enchanting is coming on a bit slow as well.

@Scion_of_Yggdrasil

Enchanting is a good craft to learn with two alts. Make the glyphs on one alt, decon on the other alt. You will level both at the same rate. You can buy all the Potencies you need cheap from the Enchanters (they are over priced on most guild traders), Essences and Aspects in the Guild Traders. Make Green Glyphs up to about L15, then Blue up to about 25 or 30, then Purples from there. Learn the Potencies and Essences you don't know

Enchanting doesn't sound so bad. Its alchemy that I'm dreading. Been saving up for furniture from the guild trader, but I guess I'm gonna blow it on mats!

Don’t buy alchemy mats, go to a starter zone and farm them. There are online guides to level up that skill in the most effective way.

ghastley

There are different strategies depending on whether it's your first character, or an alt, and with and without a craft bag, and bank/storage for recipes etc.

If your main (or main crafter) has spare copies of the writ recipes, and you have room to store them, then provisioning is a lot easier. Similarly, material returns from higher-level writs help out the upcoming alt, who doesn't have to gather them.

If you're grinding up the first ones, then they have to buy/find/earn the recipes, gather the materials, etc. before they get anything back. Remembering to leave a legacy, and not just sell off duplicate recipes, is far from anyone's mind. Keeping items after the first character researched the trait, because another will need it, is another consideration. If you have plenty of materials, you deconstruct or sell, because your higher level characters can just make a research piece. And you can't keep anything too long, or bank/storage gets full.

Most people giving advice are the ones who now have alts, craft bag, and all the bank and storage space they can get. Your mileage may vary, if you're not there yet.

Zephiran23

Scion_of_Yggdrasil wrote: »

so...I thought I was being clever in passively leveling my crafting skills but I want to be sure lol:
1. all first passives are 1/10 (for ease of crafting writs)
2. hirelings are maxed based on level, as well as extracting passives to maximize deconstructing

I was planning on continuing this till the crafts reach lvl 50, then spending points to get them at 10/10. The idea is to build up my craft bag until lvl 50 (for those master writs!) so I have an easier time knocking those out quickly. Should I continue at this pace?

Would appreciate any advise from Alchemists/Cooks: how did you max alchemy/provisioning? Because everything else I have steadily leveled from deconstructing dungeon loot, but alchemy and provisioning are below lvl 10 *sobbing*

All the required recipes for provisioning writs can be purchased from cooks and brewers - so don't buy them from guild traders, unless you really want to make other players rich.

For alchemy, if you're playing on PC, there's various addons that will let you know in advance whether or not the combination you are going to use will make a potion. If not there's plenty of websites that you can use as a guide. If you run out of the various water grades, don't forget you have the option to make poisons instead (if you haven't sold all your solvents).

tmbrinks

Zephiran23 wrote: »

Scion_of_Yggdrasil wrote: »

so...I thought I was being clever in passively leveling my crafting skills but I want to be sure lol:
1. all first passives are 1/10 (for ease of crafting writs)
2. hirelings are maxed based on level, as well as extracting passives to maximize deconstructing

I was planning on continuing this till the crafts reach lvl 50, then spending points to get them at 10/10. The idea is to build up my craft bag until lvl 50 (for those master writs!) so I have an easier time knocking those out quickly. Should I continue at this pace?

Would appreciate any advise from Alchemists/Cooks: how did you max alchemy/provisioning? Because everything else I have steadily leveled from deconstructing dungeon loot, but alchemy and provisioning are below lvl 10 *sobbing*

All the required recipes for provisioning writs can be purchased from cooks and brewers - so don't buy them from guild traders, unless you really want to make other players rich.

For alchemy, if you're playing on PC, there's various addons that will let you know in advance whether or not the combination you are going to use will make a potion. If not there's plenty of websites that you can use as a guide. If you run out of the various water grades, don't forget you have the option to make poisons instead (if you haven't sold all your solvents).

Except, most of the plans you need for the daily writs, especially at max level, are purchasable for much, much cheaper at guild stores, than they are are the chefs.

ghastley

tmbrinks wrote: »

Except, most of the plans you need for the daily writs, especially at max level, are purchasable for much, much cheaper at guild stores, than they are are the chefs.

Plus, you'll often get them as payment for the daily writs, so keep them for your alts. That's where the ones in the guild stores came from.

JKorr

Zephiran23 wrote: »

Scion_of_Yggdrasil wrote: »

so...I thought I was being clever in passively leveling my crafting skills but I want to be sure lol:
1. all first passives are 1/10 (for ease of crafting writs)
2. hirelings are maxed based on level, as well as extracting passives to maximize deconstructing

I was planning on continuing this till the crafts reach lvl 50, then spending points to get them at 10/10. The idea is to build up my craft bag until lvl 50 (for those master writs!) so I have an easier time knocking those out quickly. Should I continue at this pace?

Would appreciate any advise from Alchemists/Cooks: how did you max alchemy/provisioning? Because everything else I have steadily leveled from deconstructing dungeon loot, but alchemy and provisioning are below lvl 10 *sobbing*

All the required recipes for provisioning writs can be purchased from cooks and brewers - so don't buy them from guild traders, unless you really want to make other players rich.

For alchemy, if you're playing on PC, there's various addons that will let you know in advance whether or not the combination you are going to use will make a potion. If not there's plenty of websites that you can use as a guide. If you run out of the various water grades, don't forget you have the option to make poisons instead (if you haven't sold all your solvents).

Actually, the normal "need for a writ" recipes are generally cheaper at the guild traders than at the npc vendor. The common recipes that are needed for writs tend to show up a lot, and some players will list them for really low amounts, or give them away. The harder to acquire blue, purple or higher recipes will cost a lot, because they are hard to find.