I've played IRE games on and off for awhile now. I've been tinkering around with the idea of becoming an artisan/bard. I really just want to make instruments, like a luthier in residence for the guild? Is this feasible? I've never been one for pvp/hunting etc.

Totally feasible, but since crafting instruments is like Virtuoso Fabled Artisan (Denust is an artisan, also.) you may have to do some bashing to get the money for credits or be willing to pay for a few with real money.

EDIT: What Xavius said. And I stand corrected on where Instrument is in Artisan.

Well, it sounds like you understand the basic IRE structure.

Your guild is going to ask some basic things of you.

Then you need the credits to skill up artisan. Our credit market is not all that brutal, but you still need to drop the cash or spend the time hunting to pull it off.

So, can it be done? You bet. It's not something you're going to be able to do right away, though.

You could, but each guild/city has its own artisans, who can make instruments and then other stuff besides. I guess you could make your own cartel (v. expensive though) and design instruments exclusively and hope to have enough unique ones that people would go for your designs, but don't expect it to be easy.

Ah, thank you for the replies. I most likely will do a mix of hunting/RL money over time. I was just curious as to whether or not anyone else had attempted it successfully.

The Harbingers have always been interested in having artisans. The commune artisans are too flaky!

The Harbingers have the best artisan in the Basin.

For the record, I absolutely love being an artisan. It's a useful tradeskill, in my opinion, particularly as artisans are the only people capable of creating bardic instruments. It's difficult to make a lot of money quickly, largely because some of the materials are difficult to obtain or are very expensive and furniture tends to last a very long time, but if you're careful with your fees and have some ability to write descriptively when creating custom designs, it's possible to make a decent wage for yourself. (Or, if you're lucky, you can get a contract with someone who needs a manse furnished and can afford to supply the commodities and gold you need!) It all becomes easier by several magnitudes when you join a cartel or two and gain access to private designs... And artisans have become much, much more useful to their city/commune with the addition of construct and beacon creation to use during weakening conflicts.

I can't think of anyone who crafts instruments exclusively, but I see no reason not to make it your specialty if that's what you really want. It will take a lot of time and a decent credit investment, but if you work hard you should be able to build up a portfolio of designs.

(Oh, and yes, the Harbingers are always looking for more artisans!)

With enough will power and brute force you can accomplish just about anything. How long did Deepnight take to build up and become successful? If you're dedicated to it and especially if you can create your own unique designs, you may just make it.

I'm not entirely convinced that Artisanry is a profitable skill set. I've Jigan say he makes quite a bit from his "flexible pricing" plan, but honestly most of the stuff we make lasts a RL year (literally), and so once you buy a bed for a room, that's...well, it.

If you want to make your own instruments, you'll have to a) learn instruments and b) get a private cartel (1 million gold if you buy a new clan). It's quite expensive. And even then, each private design will cost you 5k gold. It's rewarding to see your stuff go through, though.

Overall, I'd say herbalism or alchemy is the most profitable trade skill (perhaps enchantment too). Tailoring and jewelry are ok. Artisan, though not profitable, I feel is still really cool in the range of stuff you can make and the liberties you have in all the different things you can do.

In other words: take Artisanry because you like it, not cuz of the gold

Yeah, I don't think you can realistically expect to make a profit from Artisan, much less from making only instruments. It would be neat RP if that's your thing, but you'd probably never make back the cost of the credits.

For the record, you automatically join the commune/city cartel and can have private designs submitted there which can only be used by artisans in your city/commune. You don't necessarily have to buy your own cartel.

Thank you all for your replies. I'll consider Harbringer, at the moment I've a character in Serenwilde. But I might remake her. I'm definitely in it for the love of making instruments, not necessarily the money. ^^;

Glomdoring does not really have any active artisans -- and for some reason, I get a lot of Seren's asking me to make them instruments quite often (I have done more than one private design for Serens). But Celest/Seren both have lots of Artisans. Celest has me, Wuylinfe, Zalandrus, and Jigan.

Cartels cost 1 million gold. If you want to design instruments exclusively, either get to know your trademaster very well, or get in control of someone's cartel who needs someone to run it (Richter's cartel, for example).



I am quite a successful artisan. I own a shop that sells artisan wares and get a lot of commission and am currently furnishing two manses, getting ready to furnish a third. It can be slow and busy work, but it's profitable. I don't, however, earn -a lot-. A lot of what I make is from hunting/selling credits/my shop. I only charge people 2k to make something, 4k if it's something like a throne/chandelier. I may raise my prices, since it seems other artisans can get away with a lot more...



I resent that. I work hard! I just... don't have 5 cartels, heh.

Anyway, it's quite possible to be an artisan/bard, but it depends on the org. If in Celest, you might not get any traffic because there are a lot of artisans, but in somewhere like Glomdoring or Mag, you might find yourself with a lot of work. Everyone and their mother takes herbs. Personally, if a bard, I'd take up tailoring for the splendour robes. Everyone needs a tailor! Not everyone needs an artisan.

Yes, they do.

Eh, a lot of times I just make the items, and if the client pays for the comms I don't charge beyond that. Most of them give quite nice tips, but I honestly just enjoy the work.



Who does? ...Richter notwithstanding, heh.



I refuse to take an entire skillset based on the Trans/Near-Trans abilities. It's just not worth that much to me. If you have plenty of money to throw around, I can understand it, but if your ability to buy credits at the drop of a hat is limited, you're better off making sure that the skillset as a whole is something you'd enjoy, something that fits your character concept/RP (if that's important to you), and something you'll use on a regular basis. Besides- aren't you only capable of making one set of splendour robes? If so, it's not as if you could make your fortune doing that for all of your clients.

I hate how long it takes to fill artisan orders, so I don't advertise my skills. I only took up artisan to supply my guild with instruments (well, not so much anymore but maybe if I become active again). So it's very doable and OK =)

I'll go ahead and throw my two cents in because the Cacophony guild did indeed purchase an artisan cartel for just this thing. All of our members are encouraged to use the cartel to submit their instrument ideas and we have a handful of artisans in the guild who craft them for us.

Don't worry. I'm just biased. Said artisan is furnishing my manse and doing an unbelievable job with all the custom work. She's also quite active.

I hadn't meant to imply that the other artisans in Lusternia were bad. I just happen to have a favorite one. And the Harbingers have her. And the her is Amarysse.

Another question, is there a bardic order? And if so, who would I have to contact?

A bardic order like Achaea had Scarlatti? Not really, but there are some artistically-inclined gods.

Winning bardic contests and having things you submit to the in-game library win the prestige contest will add to your displayed honors, but there's no channel or newsboard for them or anything.