Aison has been an Artisan since the tender age of 18.

But I'm sick of having a trade that gives me absolutely nothing back.

Once I've worked with a customer, I pretty much never see them again. This is largely due to the fact that 3/4 the stuff I build goes into manses, and the people I work for are already rich out the wazoo, so they just get stasis gems for their stuff. That, and most popular designs last ridiculous amounts of time (ie thrones last 600 IG months, which is less than 2rl years, but more than 1).

A majority the stuff worth making is too expensive (1000 comms) and it drives off a lot of business.

The trans skill sucks. I've used it once, and that was to test it out. It's too long to be of any use to anyone and the power cost is ridiculous. I already have hermits to get around, and people are more reliable for teleport targets.

I paid 200cr (70 real life dollars), for a crappy artifact that does nothing more than sit in my inventory and give me 50% more leeway on interior designs (when, to begin with, I can/would only use it on normal interiors). This has only come in handy about 10 times, maybe more, during my play time in Lusternia. The way it works now, it's worth maybe 75-100cr. If it gave back a portion of the comms or made it cut comm costs by 1/3 (or even 1/4!), I'd be happy with it and even pay another 100-200cr more for it.

It's rewarding in the fact that I can make kegs for shops and get paid well for it. I supply Celest's pipes, which is definitely worth it. But the cost of commodities is so ridiculous that I can't do bulk orders unless I hoard comms. I can't charge more than 2-3k because the cost of commodities is already so ridiculous, that no one is even willing to give the laborer 5k for doing the job.

And, let's face it, like every Lusternian, I'm greedy and I want to make lots of gold, and I want to make it relatively easily.

Since I doubt the Admin are going to look at the Artisan trade and make it fun/cheaper, I'm considering making a change. Considering because if I let the Artisan trade go for something else, I'm losing 500k from a private cartel I purchased, the Seatimber cartel, and Richter's cartel. So if I ever pick up on being an Artisan again, I'd be stuck with either 1 or no cartels, which is a lot of risk to me because I have enjoyed putting in over 50 designs to the Seatimber cartel, and a few to Craftwork for others to use.

Being a Celestine, Aison can take Enchanting as an 'oo la la' guild-specific trade. Faragan already runs a good portion of the market for this in Celest, but he's an Aquamancer, and supplies not one, but three shops (Celestine's shop, Eventru's shop, and his personal manse shop (PORTAL ENTER TOWER for all your shopping needs!). If Aison became an enchanter (with gloves), she would easily be able to pick up some of the slack on Faragan's end, while being a sole provider for the Celestines (since we don't currently have any enchanters that are often around). I figure, at least this way I can keep my private cartel and turn it into a clan for friends (as if I need one), or some other stupid use without sinking 500k to change the cartel or 1mil to buy a new cartel/change it back in case I want to be an artisan again.

Aside, any suggestions would be nice and welcomed.

Is this where I go come2seren and tell you to take alchemy for the golds?

-insert Seren propoganda-

I'm still shocked that submitting private designs on behalf of public cartels like Seatimber costs you (privately) 5k gold. Positively ridiculous.

But, with regards to your post: it's the trade-off between a trade that lets you design but isn't that profitable and a trade that's profitable but involves no creativity (let's see how many different emotes I can do to simulate enchanting!).

But yea, going enchanting would cut down on the switching-back-to-artisan cost, in terms of the cartel stuff

Nooo!!

How are you supposed to rave about my designs?

Getting elected as trademaster of a public cartel remains the cheapest way to get the privilege to spend that 5k and design things.

So tempting since no alchemists in Seren will fill my kegs for me.

But not a possibility.

Alas:



It was not meant to be.

@Shaddus: Find a new fangirl. I'm sick of fawning over you!

Yep. A lot cheaper than the 1mil for a private cartel+5k per thing I submit, making my cartel worth more than 1mil. gold, but being unable to sell it for more than 800k or so. It is the suck. The price one pays for privacy privileges!

Aww. At least wait until you've refurnished the guildhall, will you? And I'm already the city enchanter of Waterwalk... or at least that is what I always end up enchanting. Ring upon ring upon ring of waterwalk. Enchantment is an incredibly boring trade and you're gonna need to be pretty skilled in it to get the really popular stuff (read mercy and cubes).

I'd love to be able to enchant, personally, but the limited range of choices for High Magic trades makes me sad. Low Magic has Herbs, Poisons, and Alchemy bound to it, whereas High Magic only has Enchanting.

What ever happened to the bardic alchemists/enchanters?

Ya. I switched over to High Magic just cause I was so excited (and Netzach).

Honestly, trades are not that great for making money. Even the most profitable, like herbs or alchemy, requires a lot of time. Your time is more often better spent hunting for gold, or doing other such things. I have an artisan cartel of my own, and I don't mean to make a profit on it by any means. Most trades are meant to just enhance atmosphere and play, I think. Well, design-trades at least.

Alchemy can definitely make money at a faster rate than bashing, provided you know how and when to rip people off.

How: being available, always having herbs on hand, and pretending that your prices are non-negotiable

When: whenever providing refills to a non-herbalist.

Alchemy is awesome gold.

Being an herbalist is awesome, too. I never run out of willpower, and I don't have to try bashing things that will kill me.

Choices have been narrowed down to:

jewelry
tailoring
enchanting

Enchanting, definitely.

Enchanting, Splendours are not all they are cracked up to be and you can easily make due without them. If you want to tank go Bookbinding for the Tome, but not Splendours.