Crafting Question:

Mystiqq0099 · July 2018

Ok, so i understand how to gather materials, how to decon materials, and how to improve gear. However, i still do not understand the crafting system. Researching allows me to craft gear with certain traits, that i know. But, how do i get the recipes, aka patterns, to craft the gear and weapons? The only gear i see which i can craft is white meaningless gear with no set bonuses whatsoever. What am i missing? Thanks!!!

TheCyberDruid · July 2018

For set weapons and armor you need to find the proper crafting stations. Refer to the sets here to see where you find those crafting stations: https://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Crafted+Sets

You'll also need to know the proper amount of traits (as in having them researched) for the set. Then you can improve items to green/blue/purple and eventually to yellow/gold.

IsharaMeradin · July 2018

There are no recipes for crafting weapons and armor. All crafted gear will initially be white and can be improved to green, blue, purple, gold. Furthermore, there are crafting stations out in the world which provide a variety of bonuses if the gear is crafted there. These are otherwise known as set crafting stations. Thus in order to craft an item with a particular set bonus you need to locate and travel to that set's crafting station.

It should be noted that some guilds have "guild halls" where they have placed copies of every set station in the game. You can access these stations even if you do not own the DLC / Chapter where the set station originated.

VaranisArano · July 2018

You automatically know how to craft all types of gear and weapons.

Learning how to craft gear and weapons of different appearances, such as Altmer or Dunmer, requires learning motifs and using the appropriate style stone.

Learning to craft gear with different traits requires researching a piece of gear with that trait.

Improving gear and weapons to green, blue, purple and gold requires having the correct number of improvement materials and using the Improvement tab in the crafting station.

davey1107 · July 2018

There are a couple of factors you could be missing.

Sets

These are made at special crafting stations around the world. When you go to one, you’ll have the option to make “plain” gear or set gear...use the slider if you’re not seeing the set attributes pop up on the pieces you’re making.

Sets are referred to by trait number, ie Hundings Rage we call a “six trait set.” What this means is that to make any given piece (like a medium chest) you need to have researched six traits for that piece. If you have not researched six traits on medium chest, you cannot make a Hundings medium chest.

Good sets to start with are Night Silence as a stamina character or Seducer for magic builds. These are two and three trait sets...you can move your research forward enough to craft them in about a week. Just find and research divines, training or infused on the pieces you wear.

Quality

In other words, the white gear issue. Every piece you make is white. You then go into the improvement menu at the craft station and you can upgrade through the color quality tiers...green, blue, purple, gold. The station will show you the before and after stats for a proposed upgrade. You can spend passives in the crafting lines to bring down the cost of improvements.

As a general rule, if you’re a new player or low level you can get by on green or blue gear.

Motifs (recipes?)

The look of the gear is governed by the motif style used to make it. To make an item in a particular style you need to have learned that motif, and then you need a style stone for that item. In other words, if you want an Altmer chest, you need to learn the high elf motif then you need one of the green whatever-they’re-called style stones.

There are a few motifs that come in books...the whole style in one go, like the nine base races. These books come from containers, chests, wardrobes, etc. But most motifs are broken up into 14 chapters, which have to be collected and learned one by one. You have to find and learn chests, and then legs, and then swords, etc.

Outfit system

That is for making gear that has a permanent look. HOWEVER, we now have the outfit system. The outfit system lets you create a “skin” for your character that customizes their gear look. So it doesn’t matter as much what you craft the gear to look like...you can just overwrite that with an outfit.

You do this at an outfit station (which is a bit confusing to use). Each character has one free outfit slot. You can choose from any motif styles you’ve learned...you build the outfit, then pay a gold cost to save it. Once an outfit is built, you can swap between it or your native gear look or a costume as often as you like for free.

To make outfits, you still need to collect and learn motifs. ESO Fashion is a good site to go look at motif appearances to see if you want to go hunt any. The nice thing about the outfit system is that it’s ACCOUNT wide. If you have a crafter who learns, say, Dwemer chests, this unlocks Dwemer chests in the outfit system for all characters on your account.

Hopefully that helps.