Posted by: Snafzg
On: Apr 03, 2009 at 11:47am
I finally spent some time crafting in WAR and here's what I think about it:
This is easily the most convenient gathering skill because you kill so many humanoids in your WAR travels. Over half the NPCs you kill in PvE and all the people in RvR are scavenge-able, so you can really raise the skill quickly and it will yield a tonne of materials.
You get plenty of containers and curios, which fetch a good price on the AH and you'll even get a fair amount of fragments even though it's more random than Salvaging.
My new Shaman was a Scavenger/Talisman maker for the first bit of T1 and I luckily managed to make a +13 permanent Ballistic gem, which I sold for lots of cash on the AH. This was great because I have no other characters or highbie friends on Iron Rock and therefore no hand-me-down gold. Now I'm pretty much set.
Salvaging is pretty cool but it's much harder to get talisman making materials because you rely on looting or buying lots of gear. This is the best gathering skill to take if you have a bankroll, but it's a bit restrictive otherwise. Another drawback is that there is a lot of some unsalvageable gear out there, whether Mythic inteded it to be that way or not.
The main draw of salvaging is that you can make use out of all your bind-on-pickup and bind-on-equip gear, even after you've outleveled it. I can't recall how many soul-bound items I sold on Snafzg from 1-40, but I assure you, the number was huge. Rather than selling for a minor profit, I would have much rather been able to turn it into useful crafting materials.
This skill is remarkably addictive, I kid you not. It is easily the most grindy and time-consuming gathering skill, but it's also great to raise up while alt-tabbed in online poker tournaments! Finally, it is amazingly self-sufficient.
You really don't need to spend any money beyond your initial plot of seeds because you can always turn grown plants plants into new seeds. It also gives you everything you really need for Apothecary, aside from the container.
I added the Miracle Grow Remix add-on and the crafting window is so small and intuitive I can literally go about my PvE or RvR without paying much attention to it. I think the potions and liniments from Cultivation are better than the ones you'll get from Butchering too.
Snafzg was originally a Scavenger/Apothecary pre 1.2 but with the gathering skill shuffle, they no longer supported each other and I was forced to swap it out for Butchering (it was the only option Mythic gave us). Snooooooooooooore.
The only way for me to gain crafting materials now is to go back out into PvE areas and grind out clusters of non-humanoid mobs. It's also annoying since the main monsters I want to kill to support my Squig Herder (+ballistic, +armor, +damage shield, and healing) aren't easily accessible.
Compounding this accessibility issue is that WarDB's database is brutal if you're trying to find the locations of specific mobs because they have no maps or /locs listed on their site.
As a gathering skill for Apothecary, it's a bit worse than Cultivation because you get so few stabilizers (e.g., gore). I literally have stacks upon stacks of spare resin on my Cultivation alt (on another server - doh) but gore seems to drop too infrequently from mobs when I butcher them.
Considering how much gear has available talisman slots in WAR, I think this crafting skill is pretty useful. I do think it would be more viable if more gear had these slots though (e.g., none of the RvR influence gear has empty slots and neither do many of the quest/public quest rewards). Still though, it's solid.
Scavenging will get you your containers, fragments, and curios. Salvaging will get you your fragments, essenses, and gold dust. I think it would be a lot less expensive and time consuming to go the Scavenging route personally but Salvaging has merits as well (drawing out the exact fragments you want and being able to make any gear go toward something useful).
Talismans fetch a good price on the AH and anyone not using them is gimping themselves imho. The process of crafting them is pretty decent based on what I experienced up to rank 75 before I rerolled my Iron Rock alt to a Cultivator/Apothecary.
Absolutely awesome for temporary stat buffs, augmentations, and quick heals. Cultivation will let you make the best stat enhancing liniments and some pretty good heal over time potions. Butchering will get you decent stat enhancers (that don't stack with liniments btw), insta heals, and +armour/damage shield potions (that do stack with liniments).
Technically, both gathering skills are a pain in the rear to skill up and get ingredients from, but my vote goes to Cultivation as the best gathering skill for this craft because you can skill it up no matter where you are or what you're doing. You aren't reliant on non-humanoid mobs like Butchering is.
In terms of craft vs. craft, I think Apothecary trumps Talisman Making. Talismans are reasonably cheap on the AH and once you slot them, you can forget about them (unless they aren't permanent). I'd much rather be able to make my own cheap potions, even if they are much more temporary (usually 1h duration).
How huge can an Apothecary be? How about 1000 extra HP, +3 to ranged crit (or block, healing, etc.), a big boost to armour, and the ability to chug a potion that heals me over time for 1/3 of my HP. If your opponent isn't prepared for that, he's in for some hurt and you don't get that kind of utility from Talisman Making imho.
......
Those are my current thoughts anyway. I hope Mythic takes a look at Butchering soon because it could use a boost.
Gathering Skills
Scavenging
This is easily the most convenient gathering skill because you kill so many humanoids in your WAR travels. Over half the NPCs you kill in PvE and all the people in RvR are scavenge-able, so you can really raise the skill quickly and it will yield a tonne of materials.
You get plenty of containers and curios, which fetch a good price on the AH and you'll even get a fair amount of fragments even though it's more random than Salvaging.
My new Shaman was a Scavenger/Talisman maker for the first bit of T1 and I luckily managed to make a +13 permanent Ballistic gem, which I sold for lots of cash on the AH. This was great because I have no other characters or highbie friends on Iron Rock and therefore no hand-me-down gold. Now I'm pretty much set.
Salvaging
Salvaging is pretty cool but it's much harder to get talisman making materials because you rely on looting or buying lots of gear. This is the best gathering skill to take if you have a bankroll, but it's a bit restrictive otherwise. Another drawback is that there is a lot of some unsalvageable gear out there, whether Mythic inteded it to be that way or not.
The main draw of salvaging is that you can make use out of all your bind-on-pickup and bind-on-equip gear, even after you've outleveled it. I can't recall how many soul-bound items I sold on Snafzg from 1-40, but I assure you, the number was huge. Rather than selling for a minor profit, I would have much rather been able to turn it into useful crafting materials.
Cultivation
This skill is remarkably addictive, I kid you not. It is easily the most grindy and time-consuming gathering skill, but it's also great to raise up while alt-tabbed in online poker tournaments! Finally, it is amazingly self-sufficient.
You really don't need to spend any money beyond your initial plot of seeds because you can always turn grown plants plants into new seeds. It also gives you everything you really need for Apothecary, aside from the container.
I added the Miracle Grow Remix add-on and the crafting window is so small and intuitive I can literally go about my PvE or RvR without paying much attention to it. I think the potions and liniments from Cultivation are better than the ones you'll get from Butchering too.
Butchering
Snafzg was originally a Scavenger/Apothecary pre 1.2 but with the gathering skill shuffle, they no longer supported each other and I was forced to swap it out for Butchering (it was the only option Mythic gave us). Snooooooooooooore.
The only way for me to gain crafting materials now is to go back out into PvE areas and grind out clusters of non-humanoid mobs. It's also annoying since the main monsters I want to kill to support my Squig Herder (+ballistic, +armor, +damage shield, and healing) aren't easily accessible.
Compounding this accessibility issue is that WarDB's database is brutal if you're trying to find the locations of specific mobs because they have no maps or /locs listed on their site.
As a gathering skill for Apothecary, it's a bit worse than Cultivation because you get so few stabilizers (e.g., gore). I literally have stacks upon stacks of spare resin on my Cultivation alt (on another server - doh) but gore seems to drop too infrequently from mobs when I butcher them.
Crafting Skills
Talisman Making
Considering how much gear has available talisman slots in WAR, I think this crafting skill is pretty useful. I do think it would be more viable if more gear had these slots though (e.g., none of the RvR influence gear has empty slots and neither do many of the quest/public quest rewards). Still though, it's solid.
Scavenging will get you your containers, fragments, and curios. Salvaging will get you your fragments, essenses, and gold dust. I think it would be a lot less expensive and time consuming to go the Scavenging route personally but Salvaging has merits as well (drawing out the exact fragments you want and being able to make any gear go toward something useful).
Talismans fetch a good price on the AH and anyone not using them is gimping themselves imho. The process of crafting them is pretty decent based on what I experienced up to rank 75 before I rerolled my Iron Rock alt to a Cultivator/Apothecary.
Apothecary
Absolutely awesome for temporary stat buffs, augmentations, and quick heals. Cultivation will let you make the best stat enhancing liniments and some pretty good heal over time potions. Butchering will get you decent stat enhancers (that don't stack with liniments btw), insta heals, and +armour/damage shield potions (that do stack with liniments).
Technically, both gathering skills are a pain in the rear to skill up and get ingredients from, but my vote goes to Cultivation as the best gathering skill for this craft because you can skill it up no matter where you are or what you're doing. You aren't reliant on non-humanoid mobs like Butchering is.
In terms of craft vs. craft, I think Apothecary trumps Talisman Making. Talismans are reasonably cheap on the AH and once you slot them, you can forget about them (unless they aren't permanent). I'd much rather be able to make my own cheap potions, even if they are much more temporary (usually 1h duration).
How huge can an Apothecary be? How about 1000 extra HP, +3 to ranged crit (or block, healing, etc.), a big boost to armour, and the ability to chug a potion that heals me over time for 1/3 of my HP. If your opponent isn't prepared for that, he's in for some hurt and you don't get that kind of utility from Talisman Making imho.
......
Those are my current thoughts anyway. I hope Mythic takes a look at Butchering soon because it could use a boost.
