Hey everyone,

I just finished up with the tour, and have since been trying to figure everything out by not only reading the in game files, but also the pages on the website, and of course many of the posts here. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole skill system (coming from Achaea, so things are very different and new to me over here, but I'm just sick to death of the playerbase in Achaea) but I think I'm finally figuring things out.

I had a few questions though:
Is it possible to be a successful merchant here? I've always been focused on combat, but I was thinking of possibly trying to play a merchant, or more diplomatic character, but it looks as if the tradeskills are broken up and divided across everyone. Does that make tradeskills very unprofitable, or can someone become a master forger for instance?

Continuing off that last question, how is forging here? I know in my previous IRE game experience, forging was not very profitable at all.

Also, would it be possible to fulfill a role as a merchant without purchasing credits? Would it be feasible to become a merchant by using the skills gained in game instead of transing out guild skills first?

Any additional information on any and all of the tradeskills would be greatly appreciated too!

Thanks all,
Calcifer

1. It's possible to be a successful merchant...depending on your definition. We had a couple people like Neuf that sold tonnes of jewellery in his manse to everyone for a long time. You would need to not be in an org to do that though, trade bans all over the place. As for profit, though, it's really about alchemy and herbs, for the most part.
2. Forging is pretty sucky. I'll let the forgers storm in here with their furious ranting but just take our word for it.
3. If you want to be a merchant, for most skills you need trans. Alchemy you can get by with just health, though. And it'll take you forever to get trans IG without bashing.

It is quite possible to make a lot of money as a Master Forger. Knights are always seeking out masterweapons and armour which can be very pricey.

Forging generates random stats. Each weapon has a certain range of precision, damage, and speed and there are weapons that specialize in certain stats. Therefore, you may have to reforge a thousand (literally) times to generate a max-speed weapon for example.

Without purchasing credits it is difficult, but not impossible.

For the successful merchant question, go in-game and honours Kharaen. She's probably the best active example of a successful merchant, and in that aspect, an aethershop would probably be quite helpful.

About forging: Link.

If you go warrior, you pick forging for marked plate, to make your own good weapons, then you get the hell out before it becomes too ingrained in you.

Our forging code is pretty much a cut and paste of the Achaea code, except for a few name changes, and we have a 100% smelt instead of a 50%, you -can- make money off forging, for the most part you wont, people want good weapons, they want it fast, you're better off charging by the RL day it takes to make a weapon, and not a set price.

For forging you need the top 4 skills to make any money, which means you pretty much have to trans it.

Haha, too late for me.

Is it sad that in one day (IG) of becoming a jeweller again, I made more gold than I ever made in about a year (RL) of forging?

Sad for forgers, yes.

Happy for you.

Well this scares me a bit! What about enchanting? The dreamweaving skill seems amzingly interesting (Along with astrology) and I notice that mage's get enchanting and dreamweaving. Is it profitable at all?

Dreamweaving's not a tradeskill, and as far as combat is concerned it's better in the hands of a Druid.

Enchanting can be profitable from time to time- everyone needs them. Mediocre, though. You can't be a rogue enchanter, either, or you'll get enemied to both cities.

Astrology is definitely an interesting skillset, with decent combat applications and maybe some marketing capabilities. Don't expect more than small tips for spheres, though.

Ah, thank you

I didn't think dreamweaving or astrology were tradeskills, but rather interesting skills in general. I just noticed that mages had dreamweaving and enchanting, so I thought they might be a decent pick.

As for astrology, who is that better in the hands of? A guardian or wiccan?

Astrology spheres serve as nice bashing buffs, so people will sometimes tip if you offer them some. Can get experience on your endurance and willpower, though!

From my own experience, Astrology is decent in either hands because of the random factor (the planets always shift and do different things).

I just pulled an 80k profit in forging this past week from selling four max speed swords and a shield, but that's like.... once in a year.

Coming from experience, it is quite easy to gain money in Lusternia. I myself, using Influencing, gained two transcendent skills with only just SuperEgo as my highest ability in the Influence skill (around Expert-Virtuoso) Be warned, though, that a lot of people have begun selling in the esteem market, and this pulled down prices by a considerable margin. Paired off with either Alchemy, Herbs, Enchanting, or Jewelry (the gold-making trades), gold can come in easily.

Bashing isn't a terrible way to earn gold either. Better stick with Newton (newbie area) for as long as you can, the gold there can mount up to a considerable amount.

I don't purchase credits. My first transcendent skill was Herbs, which allowed me to earn enough to transcend all the other skills. The artifacts and other miscellaneous stuff comes from what I earn from writing code, but the skills came from Herbs. Just takes a certain amount of dedication to the trade to be a successful merchant.

I keep hearing everyone rant and rave about Newton caverns, but personally I never saw the benefit there. Aside from the obvious one of having a nerf-padded area to learn basic bashing in. For me gold and experience were both much better just doing bard/scholar/pilgrim runs at *checks the time* four or five in the morning. Which has the added benefit of giving you more Karma than donating blood while feeding the needy and rallying the unemployed into work-gangs to build houses for the homeless.

As far as your first statement goes, Mages are just way better off taking Telepathy or Telekinesis. It offers far more in terms of benefit compared to Runes and Dreamweaving. That's not saying you couldn't be good with them, but psychic's have it a lot easier. As for as the differences between the two, Telepathy is far more offensively oriented, while Telekinesis is primarily used for bashing and group combat (Forcefield is godly, as is Barrier in capable hands). Druids are better off with Dreamweaving than Mages are.

As far as Enchanting, it's okay. It's hard to make a lot of money off of it, and some would argue that the MagiCrown is worth it. Though many just Trans it for the Crown, get their enchants, and then take another Trade.

Astrology.. Really depends. In a Celestine's or Shadowdancer's hands, it has the potential to do really good. Moondancers can do alright. Nihilists should not really touch Astrology. I don't see it doing much for them at all. I see more benefit for SD's than Celestines, though. Mainly due to Choke, but I wouldn't rely on Choke much longer, rumour has it that it's finally going away but I'll believe it when I see it. Suffice to say, Astrology does give you very nice defensive perks and you'll be sought out for the bashing buffs that you're capable of giving.

I'm heard that the magicrown doesn't do much :ponder:.

As for forging- If you want to seriously take the thread and maybe make some money, you should consider investing in a mallet of forging (400 credits), and a manse forge. There have been some successful forgers- Exeryte, Sybl, Ekard, Dinoniel, and Asarnil off the top of my head. It just takes a lot of time and even more luck.

Dreamweaving seems like a cool skill but I haven't found much use for it. You can get control though, which is relatively low and an kickass skill.

Astrology is complicated.

Crown reduces mana consumption by 25%. Not bad.