1 to 300 Tinkering #EverQuest
stargrace 
Despite what it looks like in the above screenshot, my enchanter is a gnome. I’m usually running around in one illusion or another, for this one it’s a dark elf because the shield I’m wearing tends to clip through my arm otherwise (it’s a player studio item that just recently released and I think it’s really nice). One of my goals was to reach 300 in tinkering, not an overly difficult task, but I didn’t want to spend a lot of money. I ended up spending some, and I’m sure there are easier paths, but this is the method I went.
- From 1-52 visit Matrum Geerlok in Crescent Reach. This is the freebie crafting quest and it will get you started.
- From 1-102 I made stalking probes.
- From 103-148 I made aqualung (keep these, you’ll need them)
- From 149-175 I made rebreather
- From 176-208 I made innovative bow cam
- From 209-232 I made geerlok automated quill
Then things got difficult. I started farming loams to created sacred symbols, but this requires doing a quest to get patterns and I didn’t really want to do that. So I bought a craft potion from the marketplace for 1,000 station cash which gives you a buff for two hours that allows you to salvage 100% of all failed combines.
From 233 to 300 I made a combination of Tick Tock Sticky Bombs, repeating crossbow bolts, and repeating crossbow. The lumber for the crossbow was incredibly cheap and I gained most of my skill ups from this item. It took over 500 combines to get from 250 to 300 but I didn’t mind since I was using the potion and salvaging. There’s a wonderful guide that gives different skill up routs, but I didn’t really like the amount of farming it has you do. Make sure you do the tinkering trophy when you reach 52 so that your tool will level up with you and you won’t be forced to make the artisan’s seal and old trophy before moving on to the new one like I did. In fact it’s pretty important if you want to start crafting to make ALL your beginner trophies before moving up through the tiers, unless you really want to create 7-8 artisan seals and complete the old trophies and then do the master trophies of the new type.
The only craft I have left to get to 300 is research, and this one is a costly endeavor. I’m currently at 260 but each combine costs almost 1,000 plat in vendor sold items and there’s no way around this. The ‘best’ way I’ve seen to get to 300 is to create the Glowing Energeiac Rod, which is by no means cheap and requires a lot of sunshard ore. However if you’ve got the money and the ore it’s not that big of a deal. When I’ve saved up some more supplies I’ll attempt research again but for now I’m taking a slight break from it.
As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!