Question about crafting!

therock502002_ESO · February 2017

Hey guys! im a returning player (have not played since launch) and i keep hearing about crafting alts. Is it really just straight up better to make an alt just for crafting skills? also, if that is true, about what lvl would the alt have to be?

Thanks guys!

-your neighborhood noob

Turelus · February 2017

It depends on how you play.

Having a crafting alt means your other characters have more SP free to spend on combat skills so you can run a couple of builds worth of skills at once.

If you're a completionist player you're better crafting on your main because you'll spend millions buying all the motifs twice (for achievements and crafting) otherwise.

If you do get an alt for it you want them max level with at least all your alliance zones open and DLC zones cleared so you can reach work benches for set crafting.

therock502002_ESO · February 2017

Oh so i can still run a main build plus do all the crafting? by main build i mean for both sets when i can swap

thanks for all the info

tenpeir · February 2017

It comes down to the number of skill point that you have. To have your main as a crafter you need to do all of the story lines, pick all of the shards and dungeons (public and group). You need at least 14 per crafting line as well as your weapons and class skills.

Most people run a crafter as a separate character and accumulate points as needed or have a separate character for each skill line eg blacksmith, woodworking ect.

Kevin_of_Devinshire · February 2017

The skill points become a squeeze point when trying to get skill points to put into crafting and working crafting at the same time. I would recommend level a toon to cp and get as many skill points as possible, then go to the Alter and get them back, and then start crafting and ALWAYS do writs. The 280% decons you get from the turn-ins help you level really fast. Also, steal and launder all the armor and weapons you can steal for decon. That will help with getting resources and add towards raising crafting.

Turelus · February 2017

therock502002_ESO wrote: »

Oh so i can still run a main build plus do all the crafting? by main build i mean for both sets when i can swap

thanks for all the info

Yes but it's very SP intensive. You will have to clear all the zones getting Skyshards and quests, maybe some PvP.

I was just able to run a Nightblade as Tank/DPS(PvE & PvP) and have full crafting but was very low on SP. It's got easier over time with more SP added to the game, but there were also more skills added.

therock502002_ESO · February 2017

hmmm ok so basically i should just lvl my main to max b4 i start crafting? how do i deconstruct things? also whats an altar and writ?

Also would i be fine if i just try to do a few of the crafting things first and wait til later or should i just hit max then go back to crafting?

thanks again for all the help and advice

Feric51 · February 2017

Kevin_of_Devinshire wrote: »

The skill points become a squeeze point when trying to get skill points to put into crafting and working crafting at the same time. I would recommend level a toon to cp and get as many skill points as possible, then go to the Alter and get them back, and then start crafting and ALWAYS do writs. The 280% decons you get from the turn-ins help you level really fast. Also, steal and launder all the armor and weapons you can steal for decon. That will help with getting resources and add towards raising crafting.

You do not have to launder stolen armor/weapons to deconstruct it. In fact, that would be an enormous waste of gold to launder it before you decon it. Once deconstructed, any materials, trait gems, etc will not be considered stolen and are the same as any other material gained from deconstructing normal drops.

Edit: Random (white) armor and weapons that you find out in the open with a value of 0 gold give virtually no inspiration gained from deconstructing, nor do they give you any materials for your efforts. The only armor/weapons worth stealing for decon are green quality or better and are usually only found in containers, wardrobes, dressers, etc. All the junk on weapon racks or in the open in dungeons, etc isn't generally worth the time or inventory slots it takes up.

Nestor · February 2017

therock502002_ESO wrote: »

hmmm ok so basically i should just lvl my main to max b4 i start crafting? how do i deconstruct things? also whats an altar and writ?

Also would i be fine if i just try to do a few of the crafting things first and wait til later or should i just hit max then go back to crafting?

thanks again for all the help and advice

You need 122 Skill Points for a fully leveled Master Crafter. But need just a few skill points to level them, so you can prepare your character for crafting, then invest the points later. My Master Crafter is deadly, but I tend to use her only for crafting now.

Here is the thing about Crafting, you don't need it until End Game (post CP160) but you can level it in preparation with few to no skill points invested. Crafting can eat up 122 Skill Points to fully invest, so this will gimp your combat while leveling. Best to invest as few points as possible while levleing your character and crafting.

Equipment Crafting

Decon all mob loot other than what you are using to research traits. Research traits, learn two on all items you would use, then learn 3, etc. Focus on Divines, Infused and Training for your first three for Armor, Sharpened, Precise and Training for your Weapons. Then go for the other ones. Nirn is expensive, and a lot of people suggest putting a priority on that, I can't see why. The Trait is all but useless for Armor or Weapons. Best place to find Mob Loot is Public Dungeons, then over land grind spots. Grind on mobs until your bags are full, then go on a decon fest. Remembering to save the ones you need or want to research. Use the Lock Function and or an Inventory Mule to hang on to those. Only invest Skill points while leveling it into the Research and Extraction Passive, the last really only needing one point.

Enchanting

Ignore all the "advice" on the web about using an enchanting partner. First, use Mob Loot decon to raise this up to a point. Later on as you approach end game have some some gold, then start making Green, Blue or Purple Glyphs on one character and decon them on an Alt. You will level Enchanting faster than trading the glyphs with another player, which is tedious by the way. (like pull out your hair and make a doily tedious). Use Green up to about L15 in the Enchanting Skill, Blue up to about L30/35 and Purple up to about L46/47. Then learn the runes you don't know, you should be at or near 50, if not, make/decon some more Purples.

Provisioning and Alchemy

Don't worry about these, you can level these professions in about an 20 minutes, for both. Just collect the Various Solvents and Reagents and Provisioning Ingredients/Recipes as you go along. Once end game, then you can level it. Use Mushrooms to level Alchemy, or Flowers that make potions you won't use. Make sure you grab solvents (waters) as your leveling as they can be rare to find in the guild stores. For Provisioning, make the highest level Green Recipes you can make. Blue or Purples do not give any more inspiration than Greens, so save those for character use.

Jaeysa · February 2017

So, I run my main as my master crafter. She has the main skill line of each craft maxed and then the majority of the rest(probably about 3/4ths). As long as you've done all three main zones and the Cold Harbor quests, you should easily have enough skill points.

Personally, I'd suggest rushing all lines with the exception of alchemy and provisioning to 12 at least so that you can get 2 points in hirelings(rare materials 1/day? Yes please!).

As a note: Each item for deconstruction has a set amount of inspiration that it can give you, however each level has a cap for however much inspiration you can receive per deconstruction. So if a staff can give 20k inspiration but your crafting is low level, you might want to save it for later. Every time someone uses an intricate ruby ash shield below 40 they make a seagull cry

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Deconstruction: To deconstruct, go to the crafting station and in the upper right hand corner there are a series of icons. Mouse over until you see deconstruct and click. From there, you're in the deconstruction window. Just click on the item you want deconned and hit 'R'.

If you have things that you want to be absolutely certain you don't deconstruct, go to inventory, right click the item and hit 'lock'.
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Crafting as you go vs Crafting at max: You're going to get a lot of gear anyways. You might as well deconstruct what you don't use. If you don't have ESO plus and the craft bag, get yourself a mule for all the materials you're going to receive. Keep ALL of the style stones so you don't have to buy them to do writs. Also, make sure you're researching for your equipment crafts. By where the deconstruct button is is another(should be a triangle of circles), click on that. And it should walk you through researching. Basically you want to make sure you get a trait per item, then two traits per item, et cetera. Training and Divines both sell very well to other crafters ^_^.
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Writs: Do your consumable writs. They'll help level you up and give you awesome stuff(at higher writ levels you tend to get gold tempers, but low levels are still worth it). Personally, I do all of my writs as they give surveys for raw materials.
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Refinement: Don't refine your raw matts until you have the specific craft's refinement maxed. You would do a lot better by selling it on the AH or over zone and then buying refined matts. Raw sells for way more than refined.

ELDARTHVADER · February 2017

therock502002_ESO wrote: »

Hey guys! im a returning player (have not played since launch) and i keep hearing about crafting alts. Is it really just straight up better to make an alt just for crafting skills? also, if that is true, about what lvl would the alt have to be?

Thanks guys!

-your neighborhood noob

My 2 cents, it is best to craft with your Questing Toon, as you pick up the most skill points with that toon.
doing this will not short change you on skill points, as there is more then enough SP to put into max crafting + your passive abilities + active abilities.

therock502002_ESO · February 2017

cool guys thanks for all the info i think i understand now.