Crafting alt?

eternalsnows · March 2015

I read that some people use alt characters to do all their crafting. Is this a good idea/something I should try?

Mumnoch · March 2015

eternalsnows wrote: »

I read that some people use alt characters to do all their crafting. Is this a good idea/something I should try?

You can (my alts are my crafting mains for most of the professions) however keep this in mind:

It takes a decent amount of SP's per profession. If you want a alt to handle X number of profession's you will need X number of SP's to cover them which means you will need to spend X amount of time on the alt getting him/her SPs.

I ended up going with my main being my Cook/Alchemy. 1 alt handling woodworking, 1 alt handling blacksmith/clothier, and 1 alt handling enchanting. This way you can spread the mat's out to these classes as well and make 1 alt to hold onto the cooking and alchemy ingredients to keep bank space available.

Ourorboros · March 2015

Decision time. There are several ways to look at who does your crafting. The more crafts on one character, the more skill points will be needed just for crafting. That can make it difficult to level new skills until you gain access to the other two alliances and their skill points. It also means bag space will require more management. On the other hand, having all crafts on one character means this character can support any other alts you create. And you have more freedom to delete up to 7 alts if you want to try something different. Having 2 or 3 crafting alts makes it easier to deal with bag space and skill points, but you will pretty much lock up those character slots, unless you don't mind loosing all the training.

I went the route of all crafting on one character. It was a struggle before getting to Caldwell Silver and Gold. However, I now have the ability to support all crafting needs for seven alts. It works for me. You have to decide for yourself.

stefan.gustavsonb16_ESO · March 2015

I have blacksmithing, clothing and woodworking on one character, which is my VR14 main. That made it possible to learn all styles from one set of motifs, even though it took forever to research everything to 8 traits. Alchemy, provisioning and enchanting are spread across other characters. The enchanter is a dedicated crafter parked at level 10, while the others are characters I play, both currently at low VR ranks.

eternalsnows · March 2015

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

How do you typically go about leveling a crafting alt and getting them SPs? If you're putting most of your points into crafting then that would make the character very weak in other areas, correct?

Silverminken · March 2015

There are two ways of going for crafting alts

1. figure out how many skill points you actually need for crafting and go out and get that amount, then re-spec and put all those points into crafting

2. Get enough skill points for a working character and crafting, this usually means get a character to Level50/VR1 and you can still play the character, while also being a top crafter in any 3 professions

Blacksmithing/Clothing/Woodworking are normaly combined, since then you only need to do research one time, and only find all the motifs one time. And maxing out with Nirnhoned research is going to be easier, since you need far less stones.
Choosing Imperial (if available) is good to have one less rare motif to find!

So that leaves Alchemy/Enchanting/Provisioning as another combination for an crafting alt.

I have two VR1 characters split like this, and then I have my main character that can do everything, but still 297 skill points can only give so much into crafting... so that is why I started on my two other crafters, so that I could free skillpoints.

Rosveen · March 2015

Create an Imperial Blacksmith/Clothier/Woodworker, if you can. Other professions can be distributed as you see fit.

I started with one character with Blacksmithing/Provisioning, one Clothing/Woodworking and one Enchanting/Alchemy. This is a fairly good split as far as skill points are concerned, however there is one problem: motifs. I realized too late that I don't want to use up two sets of them, so I transferred Blacksmithing to my second character. I keep her at VR1 and she's a little short on skill points, her combat effectiveness is subpar. I will need to gather more skyshards. However, I do not actively play her, so it isn't a huge problem.

I prefer this way, but if you want to let your main character be your crafter, you can. On one hand, it's going to be easier because you will likely do all content in the game and so have a large number of skill points. On the other hand, you need to take care of your combat skills first, so it will be a very long time before you manage to max out crafting.

Ourorboros · March 2015

eternalsnows wrote: »

How do you typically go about leveling a crafting alt and getting them SPs? If you're putting most of your points into crafting then that would make the character very weak in other areas, correct?

For starters, a sorcerer may be the wrong class, as they are the weakest class overall. I say may, because I am a VR14 Sorc, and I have done most PVE content solo, except dungeons and end game. But life would have been easier as any other class. I also only leveled equipment crafts before I hit veteran status.

Which is not to say I started at zero for the other 3. You can level in the other 3 three without using many skill points. Learning unknown recipes will level Provisioning. Always look for recipes from day 1. Then, when you are ready, maxing cooking is mostly a matter of getting ingredients and making lots. Alchemy is similar. You can level to max by spending points only to learn the next level water and making potions. They don't have to be useful or sellable, just at the highest level you can do. You get a lot of ISP from learning unknown runes. You get some ISP from deconstructing glyphs. The higher the glyph, the more ISP (hint, VR14s can be bought for 200g or less). The consumable writs are probably a big help too, though I was max before they came out. Stay away from equipment writs unless you have a lot of mats-they use a lot of mats but are stingy with rewards, unlike the consumable writs.

Finally, once you hit level 10, find a guild that does Cyrodil skyshard raids. That will net you about 15 skill points. I did it without that cushion, but why make life hard on yourself.

Surfinginhawaii · March 2015

My V14 is the crafter. Crafting takes a lot of skill points and a lot of time to level so I believe you should have one dedicated character as your crafter, just my 1/2 cent worth.

eternalsnows · March 2015

Hmm, based on the discussion here I think I'm going to stick with the three characters I already have, rather than starting up new dedicated crafting alts. I can potentially respec the two higher-level ones if I need to fill in any gaps.

DeLindsay · March 2015

It's not required at all, my Main has all Crafts maxed (LvL 50) and does PvE Tank/Healer/DPS as well as PvP (1vX spec) and right now I have 5 points left over at 280 SP total. I also have all 7 alts at or higher than LvL 40 in all professions mainly for the Hirelings, even though they're almost useless now after the great ZoS Hireling nerf of 2015.

You will be spending a TON of time searching out Skyshards, main Storyline quests (they give 3 SP per Zone), doing every single Dungeon and Vet Dungeon quest for the SP and Ranking up PvP for even more SP. Skill Points in ESO are like crack to an addict.

eternalsnows · March 2015

DeLindsay wrote: »

It's not required at all, my Main has all Crafts maxed (LvL 50) and does PvE Tank/Healer/DPS as well as PvP (1vX spec) and right now I have 5 points left over at 280 SP total.

That sounds like the perfect way to go for me. I can focus on my favorite character and eventually expect to get my crafting maxed out.

SpAEkus · March 2015

No matter what character/alliance there is a very quick way to get a head start for a crafter alt or any new character.

Buy or have some one craft for you training/exploration gear in the material that you plan on using (Hvy/Med/Light, Staff/Metal/Shield).
Join up to 5 guilds. Then get Luminary Teleporter addon.
Go get ALL the skyshards for ever zone in your alliance including Coldharbour.
[1] Use teleporter to travel to every guild member in each zone. This will open up most if not all of the wayshrines and most will be where you need go to reach all the skyshards. You will gain XP for all that exploration and you will get XP for whatever weapon/skills you have on.
[2] Get all the safe skyshards. DC has 69 for 23 Skill points. AD has 54 for 18. EP has 50 for 16.
[3] If you want the unsafe rest just get naked and sneak-die-sneak your way through the dungeons using soulgems to revive as needed, As soon as you have the shard Teleporter out to a guild member. Don't worry about completing the dungeon if you are too low level.
Apply those Skill Points to the craft skills you need to get started or combat skills to quest and you should be well on your way to finishing out a crafter alt.

A level 1-50 crafter alt doesn't really need much to quest they just need to be strong enough for the level. If that character is going to move beyond alt-crafter then of course different tradeoffs have to be made eventually.

But with ~hour per crafter you could have all 7 or 8 characters with skills points in all crafts or all crafts on one main.

BenevolentBowd · March 2015

I've done both and each methods have their advantages and disadvantages.

Personally, I ended up with two main crafters. One for equipment and one for consumables.

By having one equipment crafter you can save some money on the rarer motif books as you only have to buy them once. Also, you will have one-decon for equipment and one-stop crafting of the rarer crafted sets. For example, if you were making the Hunding's Rage Set, you would have to go to the area once as opposed to once with the armor and once with the weapon maker.

The biggest drawback to multiple crafters, in my opinion, is that they create a commitment to the character's existence. If the game changes and you don't like that class anymore... it's hard to re-roll it. If the unfavored alt is high enough, you could make it your crafter and respec all of the adventuring points to crafting.

Optional:
Depending on the level of your characters, try to get the main crafting line up to the same level of the stuff you highest toon is looting. This will allow you to obtain deconstruction material in addition to inspriation (crafting xp).

eternalsnows · March 2015

BowD wrote: »

By having one equipment crafter you can save some money on the rarer motif books as you only have to buy them once. Also, you will have one-decon for equipment and one-stop crafting of the rarer crafted sets. For example, if you were making the Hunding's Rage Set, you would have to go to the area once as opposed to once with the armor and once with the weapon maker.

Depending on the level of your characters, try to get the main crafting line up to the same level of the stuff you highest toon is looting. This will allow you to obtain deconstruction material in addition to inspriation (crafting xp).

These are really good tips, thanks!