Yesterday was an exciting day for me in EverQuest. First I made the decision that as much as I love my beastlord (and I do, she finally reached level 60) I really enjoy playing my enchanter (level 90). So Oger the shadowknight I’ve been playing with decided he would pick up the pace with his leveling, and I would join him with my enchanter. Level 60 can group with level 90 (it’s your level + 1/2 your level in order to gain experience). There are a few reasons for my preference in playing the enchanter, but I do have to admit that one of the main ones is because I have worked so hard to level her crafting over the years.
EverQuest crafting is a pain in the ass. You constantly fail combines, and the ‘cap’ on your skill is 300 and HAS been 300 for many years now. Of course expansions that release add to recipes below cap, but more often than not their final combines are WELL above cap, typically in the 400-500 skill range leaving you a high chance at failure OR purchasing one of the $10 2 hour craft potions that guarantees if you fail a combine you get your materials returned. You CAN put aa into salvage (and I highly suggest it) but you’ll never get 100% return, and you can also put aa into less failures (which I also suggest). Nothing beats those potions though especially if you’re doing a very rare and difficult combine (prayer shawl, anyone?).
So last night I also managed to FINALLY reach 300 brewing. I stuck to the same method that I had written about 2 years ago. You can use more recent recipes but the components for those combines are far more expensive, especially since current players use those for their food / drink / etc. I do want to be able to make some of the more recent craft goods though, so once I had reached 300 brewing, I logged onto my 73 druid and took a trip out to East Wastes, Zeixshi-Kar’s Awakening to do some foraging. Foraging and crafting go hand in hand together, and I find that the default 50 skill is just simply not enough, hence why I have a druid. I ended the night collecting a handful of planar goo and planar planar energy shards. These are currently selling for 100p in the broker each, so hopefully I can collect a nice surplus.
As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!