first character: is crafting going to gimp me?

EternallyMithril · August 2016

Hi all,

Longtime MMO vet here, but only about a week into my ESO experience. I have a Stamina NB, just hit level 24, enjoying the character a lot. But I'm certainly feeling the "pinch" of seemingly not having enough skill points. I've been doing all the zone quests I can find, and certainly the main storyline quests (those give skill points), and I am getting all the skyshards I can find (using the interwebs to help find the ones I don't stumble upon on my own).

But I am also working on crafting, and I am starting to realize how many skill points you have to invest in that to keep it up. Five professions, each with 10 ranks...that's 50 skill points right there, plus however many others you put in to things like the passive to research more than one trait, etc.

So if I continue to craft on this character, am I suddenly going to get to level 50 and find myself really gimped in battle because so many skill points I could have put into battle skills I have instead put into crafting? Or are there so many skill points available by the time you've hit level cap that having sunk 50 or 60 points into crafting will be no big deal?

Stridig · August 2016

My first character is a crafter. I wouldn't say that it hurt me badly, but it did force me to choose skills wisely. Just make sure to do all of the public and group dungeons as you go for the extra skyshards and skill points. That helps.

SirAndy · August 2016

As you already noticed, a new player will struggle with skillpoints if you're trying to master all crafts. This will get better in time as you progress and not be a problem at endgame.

There are several things you can do:

- Only focus on crafting research at the beginning, ignore the actual crafting of items. Research is a tremendous time sink and you can't start early enough.
- Ignore hirelings and "Keen eye". Well, maybe 1 point in keen eye if you can spare it.
- Join a guild (or several) that has a master crafter to give you access to set items and food/drinks while you level.
- Create crafting alts. I know this can be a chore but it does work in the long run. You can split the needed skill points between them and get crafting going early on. Note that this requires you to have multiple of each style book.

Nestor · August 2016

Being a Crafter and Deadly is tricky, it can be done, but your going to have to make choices.

I would decide first which character is going to be my crafter. This is the one who will do all the trait research and learn all the motifs. This maybe your first character or an Alt.

You need 122 points to be a Master Crafter, add about 4 to 12 points for Keen Eyes if you go that route. Add in about 30 more points for basic combat skills and a two skill rotation so you can farm and or get to some of the more dangerous crafting stations. This is how far you need to level a character to be a Master Crafter. Sure, you can take them beyond this and have a deadly crafter, I have one who is a Master Crafter and maxed out in most combat skills.

But, who ever you decide to be your crafter, get a plan in place and research traits. You need 2 to start making Crafted Sets.

RoyalPink06 · August 2016

Crafting is a pig on points in the beginning with your first character. That is if you want to master and use all the different types of crafting. I skipped Alchemy with my first character. Once I maxed a 2nd character, she became my master Enchanter, Alchemist, and Provisioner, while my main guy is my master Blacksmith, Wood, and Clothier.

Another point to remember (although it will be a long time before you can do this), once you have all traits researched, you can respec your skill points and get those points pertaining to researching back.

bebynnag · August 2016

there are a lot of skill points available in the game,

once you reach level 50 the other 2 alliance maps will open up to you giving access to even more skyshards & skill point quests

there is at least one public dungeons that contain a group event (which provides a skill point) on each map, (2 in some DLC maps if you have them)

at least 1 undaunted dungeon on each map (more with DLC's) completing the story quest (for the 1st time) will give you a skill point, some of the dungeons have 2 story modes, which means 2 skill points

participating in PvP will give you skill points as you level you PvP rank

a 'finished' character will have more than enough skill points, to be effective in battle & a crafter,

7 of my characters have all necessary skills & passives unlocked with enough skill points left over for max level hirlings

but as a few other have suggested as a new charter your skill points would be best allocated into research for now, with a view to spending them in other areas as your character progresses

what platform server do you play on? i may be able to help you out in game

spectre303 · August 2016

I think of pre CP game play as a chance to explore the story and level all your skills. I'd suggest using skill points to continuously level every skill in your class tress and your weapon(s) of choice. When you start having extra, then start putting them in to crafting. You will eventually have more skill points then you know what to do with as you make it through all the content. You can respec at your alliance's capital city whenever you want so once you've leveled skills to their max and have settled on a build, you can respec and use some of those skill points you had been using for abilities on crafting.

Having a leveled crafter that can make all the crafted sets is very useful in the long run so i would start researching traits right away, and the first points id put towards crafting passives would be to increase your research slots. It will take a loooong time for you to get 9 traits researched for every armor/weapon type but you'll be happy to have it when you finish. start on that asap. Also decon all the junk you find to start leveling up your crafting levels. it will literally take you months of researching items to get 9 traits so you have plenty of time to level crafting before you'd be a proper master crafter anyway.
.

AntMan100673 · August 2016

I got to the start of my alliances 3rd zone when I really started to notice how much I was gimping myself by trying to level crafting. What I did was to respec and take most of the points out of crafting, I put back the ones to help with researching traits. When I felt able I put some points into extracting and hirelings. I left it like this all the way until I got onto cadwells silver, at this point I had most skills and passives I wanted and with the access to a lot more skyshards I had extra skill points I could put into crafting. I'm now a master crafter in all crafts, have all the skills and passives I need, have some wasted skill points in skills I no longer use and have loads left I haven't even allocated.

EternallyMithril · August 2016

Thanks for the input, all. I feel more at ease now!

Autolycus · August 2016

EternallyMithril wrote: »

Hi all,
So if I continue to craft on this character, am I suddenly going to get to level 50 and find myself really gimped in battle because so many skill points I could have put into battle skills I have instead put into crafting? Or are there so many skill points available by the time you've hit level cap that having sunk 50 or 60 points into crafting will be no big deal?

No, the opposite is true. It's far more likely that you will eventually feel gimped as a result of not having any time or points invested into crafting. The best gear combinations in the game are made up of both dropped and crafted sets, and of those crafted sets, the most valuable/powerful are those that require 9/9 traits researched on every piece you'd like to craft. Get started now and never miss a day. Research and/or decon every piece you find and one day it will pay off.

There are plenty of available skill points in this game. The real question is simply whether or not you want to invest the time. PvP skill points take significantly longer to unlock. You can get over 100 just by collecting skyshards. There are another 40-ish just in the group dungeons, plus many, many more. If you find yourself out of skill points, it usually is a matter of just collecting a few more skyshards. Also, every zone has "main" story quests which award skill points as well.

Don't feel bad about it, because all of us are short on skill points early on. It takes time to build up a diversified sets of skills and professions, but they are worth doing.

Vonovosi · August 2016

There are around 300 skill points attainable in the base game, not counting DLC. That is more than enough to have all the active and passives you use covered and have all the crafting professions mastered as well. Every zone in the base game has 15 skyshards, plus a about 5 skill points as quest rewards, a skill point reward from each group dungeon, and one from doing the group challenge in the public dungeon. Initially you will be short on skill points, but as you advance you will have plenty to spare. My most played alt 332 skill points total, with over 100 points in crafting and still has 50+ skill points unspent.

You do not have to put every skill point into crafting as you level up though. You should make an effort to rank up your crafting skills as you level 9by deconning all drops) and try and research every trait that drops for you. As you start having more skill points free, you will be able to start dumping them into crafting. Make sure to keep research slots filled though, and if you can spare the skill points, take the passives that shorten research times. Each extra trait that you learn on each piece of gear doubles the time required to learn.

Lolssi · August 2016

No. Also don't move into next crafting tier until you're in an area where you find materials for it.

bryanhaas · August 2016

EternallyMithril wrote: »

Hi all,

Longtime MMO vet here, but only about a week into my ESO experience. I have a Stamina NB, just hit level 24, enjoying the character a lot. But I'm certainly feeling the "pinch" of seemingly not having enough skill points. I've been doing all the zone quests I can find, and certainly the main storyline quests (those give skill points), and I am getting all the skyshards I can find (using the interwebs to help find the ones I don't stumble upon on my own).

But I am also working on crafting, and I am starting to realize how many skill points you have to invest in that to keep it up. Five professions, each with 10 ranks...that's 50 skill points right there, plus however many others you put in to things like the passive to research more than one trait, etc.

So if I continue to craft on this character, am I suddenly going to get to level 50 and find myself really gimped in battle because so many skill points I could have put into battle skills I have instead put into crafting? Or are there so many skill points available by the time you've hit level cap that having sunk 50 or 60 points into crafting will be no big deal?

I don't have every skill point but currently I have 299 you will have enough by end game however until then it may be slim pickings but if you are careful you should be able to slip by.