At what point should I allocate skill points?

paulmapp8306 · May 2016

To crafting obviously.

Im still fairly new to this game, and am only at level 26. I have, in all honesty, most of my spells and passive levelled up/allocated to where I want them for now. There are a couple of higher level spells I want but Im not at a high enough level to get them yet. There are also a couple of passives I want - but there only minor IMO (1% spell reduction cost for instance - useful later on I guess).

Up until now I have not allocated any skill points to crafting. Should I have done this earlier, should I be waiting until I level up more, or is now the right time. when I do start, do I spread the points, and level up those I want (for my armour choice, weapon choice and enchantments), or should I concentrate on one. Im guessing if its one, I should choose armour, as that benefits several pieces I can craft v one or two with weapons. Do I need to invest in a hireling early on, or level up abilities first.

Lots of questions, but Ive never really got into crafting/brewing/spell creation on any RPG Ive played. I this ever evolving world though, Im guessing Id save loads in the long run by crafting my own pieces.

Part of me thinks I should have started earlier, as until I can craft the level of gear I need (or one higher to stay ahead of the curve) its kind of pointless - but early on there is that pressure to get, and level, the spells and abilities you need to fight.

Easily_Lost · May 2016

I try to level my crafting skills to keep pace with my character level. I craft all my own Armour & Weapons. As far as Provisioning, Alchemy, and Enchanting; I also try yo keep up with my Character Level.
Hireling, I only use the Clothing ( use lots of light clothing material ), and Enchanting ( Runes are hard to come by ).
If you deconstruct a lot of items that you find I would also start adding points to the skills that offer better chances to get items form deconstruction ( don't know name right off hand ).
I would wait until later to add on the improvement skill ( you will out level your Armour & Weapon level quickly [ again don't know name ] ).
I hope this helps, and remember one thing, enjoy the game, and play the way you want to.

Sunburnt_Penguin · May 2016

As the person above said, there's no need to invest in the improvement or quality until you're:
1. Creating stuff to use - to which IMO its kinda pointless before Vet unless it's something that you really like doing, or
2. Wanting to do writs

The best advice I can give is to decon everything you find to level up the skill lines (you may want to use an alt for some skill lines (e.g. Clothing and Blacksmithing on main due to not requiring duplicate motifs and then Provisioning, Enchanting and Alchemy on an alt) just to share the skill point load. Then when you want to create gear, just invest SPs to your level in bulk.

Hirelings are a bit of a luxury as they provide a steady stream of materials but they're not essential.

As you can only level up Alchemy (and Provisioning as an FYI) by crafting, I'd recommend levelling it enough to put SPs in to the Keen Eye so you can easily spot and collect materials as you're questing. Having a supply of these is extremely helpful when you're wanting to level it. Provisioning materials can just be easily gathered when you're wanting to level it up from delves, Cyrodil and Coldharbour (when you get there).

AntMan100673 · May 2016

I don't think it's worth crafting set gear until vet ranks by which point you'll have more skill points and be able to level up at least a couple of them. Researching takes forever so decon all gear you find to level the skill lines up and put points into the skill to increase the number of items you can research / speed up your research

Jimbullbee85 · May 2016

I'd advise that you rank your crafting skills upto your level so that you can stockpile materials for doing crafting writs from farming and deconstructing items. You dont have to do all of the crafting but id definately focus on the crafts that youre character is going to use. I've got a friend that makes my food and potions and in return I make him armour, weapons and glyphs. Its always a good thing to have a few crafting buddies to trade with.

Writs are very useful as theres a chance to get legendary tempers which in my oponion you should save for when you're max level. I wish I did that instead of selling them. You also get a good bit of gold for completing them too and other rewards such as style motifs (glass motif fragments especially) and crafting surveys. Keep an eye on the raw material nodes in the quest zone you're in and make sure your writs are being made with the materials you can farm and deconstruct. You'll become a skilled and rich crafter at the end of it. So yeah. Start early in my opinion. Especially with enchanting because that's very difficult to level up.

Jimbullbee85 · May 2016

I'd start researching traits early too if I were you. They take forever. Put some perks in researching to reduce research times and increased the amount you can research at once. Every new trait you research for a particular item takes longer than the previous one to finish and even when fully perked up the final trait on each item takes about a month.

Ourorboros · May 2016

I agree with others who recommend points in researching and keen eye. Put points in research as soon as you can. Even with research skills maxed, it takes around a year to research all traits. You only need one SP in Keen Eye, but it is very helpful. At a minimum, put one point into Alchemy Keen Eye so you aren't riding past hard to spot Columbine. You can level all the equipment crafts to max without spending any skill points, but I recommend points in extraction if you are refining raw mats. There is really no need to craft until you are at or near level 50. At that point, you are within reach of many extra skill points from the other alliance zones. In the meantime, don't overlook all sources of skill points: Cyrodiil skyshards and PVP ranks, Public Dungeon group bosses, Group dungeons, Main quest line, Mage and Fighter guild quests, main quest line in each zone. The DLC are available at any level and are also have many skill points to offer.

wayfarerx · May 2016

Ourorboros wrote: »

I agree with others who recommend points in researching and keen eye. Put points in research as soon as you can. Even with research skills maxed, it takes around a year to research all traits. You only need one SP in Keen Eye, but it is very helpful. At a minimum, put one point into Alchemy Keen Eye so you aren't riding past hard to spot Columbine. You can level all the equipment crafts to max without spending any skill points, but I recommend points in extraction if you are refining raw mats.

All this. Research, research, research.

Jayne_Doe · May 2016

wayfarerx wrote: »

Ourorboros wrote: »

I agree with others who recommend points in researching and keen eye. Put points in research as soon as you can. Even with research skills maxed, it takes around a year to research all traits. You only need one SP in Keen Eye, but it is very helpful. At a minimum, put one point into Alchemy Keen Eye so you aren't riding past hard to spot Columbine. You can level all the equipment crafts to max without spending any skill points, but I recommend points in extraction if you are refining raw mats.

All this. Research, research, research.

YES! Also, do all gear research on one character. It used to be that players would split out the gear crafting among several characters, to reduce the amount of skill points spent in crafting on any one character. However, with all the new motifs coming out in pages, it makes it much more difficult/expensive to learn a motif across several gear crafters.

This means that you won't be putting that many points into craft skills until you reach VR/CR levels. Then, as mentioned previously, you'll have access to more skillpoints via skyshards/quests in the other alliance zones.