Crafting an actually useful weapon at low level

[ArgentMage]

The goal of this writeup is to give a low-level player the nuts and bolts necessary to craft their first item. There are lots of good writeups about crafting in general, and you might want to read up on them first, just to prime the pump. But they seem to assume higher-level, experienced players.

Sirgog's FAQ: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=315303

DDO Wiki's crafting overview: http://ddowiki.com/page/Full_Crafting_System

Let's say you're new to DDO and you just step off the boat from Korthos into the Harbor. You're a level 2, you have 250 plat in your pocket, and you're ready to roll. Maybe you're aware of the new crafting system recently introduced, or maybe you're just trying to keep from getting pig-piled by Kobolds. One thing's for sure, you're going to come across a lot of Oozes in the Harbor. What you might not come across is a Muckbane, the glass club that is immune to ooze damage but is also an Ooze Bane weapon. Wouldn't it be nice if we could create a useful weapon to use against Oozes, and do it at a level where it still matters? Oh, wait, now we can!

Here's how you can create a Lesser Ooze Bane weapon. At level 2. For under 100 plat. No, really.
The best choice here is Handwraps. "But Argent", you say, "I'm not a Monk, I'm not proficient with Handwraps!". Actually, you are! Turns out there's no feat for Handwraps, anyone can use them! Now, you could make a Quarterstaff or Greatclub, and most of the time this will work out fine. Yes, those weapons will take damage from oozes, but since the crafting process binds the item, it will never take *permanent* damage, and typically, it won't break during a single quest. Yes, you could just buy a pile of clubs at Hammer and Chain for 1cp each and swap them out as they break, but then you wouldn't have the experience and coolness factor of crafting your own weapon.

First up - inventory management. This crafting stuff can take up a lot of space in your inventory, so let's head over to The Twelve enclave and pick up a free Ingredients Bag. The Twelve is located in the North-West corner of the Marketplace. Go in the gates, go into The Twelve tower, go to the end of the hall, take a right, go through that door, and talk to the patron. He'll give you a free Ingredients bag. So now we have 12 free slots (30 after U9Patch1!) for storing crafting stuff, including Siberys and Khyber dragonshard fragments.

In order to make our weapon, we need 2 things, a "craftable" weapon and a Shard of Lesser Ooze Bane. As you probably read elsewhere, you can't deconstruct named loot (some stuff you buy from vendors works, like the stuff from the Harbor Vendor, some doesn't), so the best thing is to find something "in the wild". That means we need to loot it ourselves (which could happen), or buy it from the Auction House, or buy it from a Broker (like the one in the Marketplace). Unfortunately, the Broker in the Marketplace had nothing less than a +2 weapon for 500 plat. The base item can be just that, a base item - it doesn't even have to be Masterwork, so I checked the Auction House next. Whaddya know? Someone was selling a plain old Quarterstaff for 20 plat buyout. (You have won an auction) Off to a good start.

Next up, we need to craft our shard. This will take a few steps. The recipe for a Lesser Ooze Bane shard is an Arcane Level 10 recipe, and requires 1 Greater Arcane Essence, 4 Lesser Arcane Essences, and 1 Siberys Dragonshard Fragment. Since we have done no crafting, we'd only have a 50% chance to make this shard. Those aren't great odds, and when you fail some of your ingredients are consumed, so we're going to look for some items we can break up to craft some shards we don't actually care about, and increase our crafting level. We also need a few Siberys dragonshard fragments (having some Khyber dragonshard fragments would be a big plus). Now, maybe you already have some dragonshard fragments, even a dozen of each would be enough. If not, make sure you loot every collectible node you come across.

So now it's time to run some quests. Now that you're off Korthos, every time you open a chest there is a chance that some Greater Essences will drop. In particular, we're looking for the Arcane Essences we need for the shard, but we'd also be happy to find some Body or Mind essences, as these are also from the Arcane line of crafting. In addition, keep your eye out for any loot that has any of these properties: Any stat +1 item (STR, CON, CHA, DEX, WIS, INT), Balance, Disabling, Spot, Search, Open Lock, Lesser False Life, Haggle, Concentration, Jump, Efficacy, Spell Penetration, Spell Resistance, Reconstruction. Mostly we're talking about +1 items you'd never actually use - anything that you can use you should certainly keep. Also keep an eye out for any +1 shield, armor, or weapon (you just need 1), in case you want to try putting a +1 on your new weapon.

So, where to run for loot? If you're 2nd level, Defend Haverdasher is a good, quick quest, particularly on Hard since Blacktail is likely to spawn, so that means 2 chests and a collectible node for a couple minutes work. If you're 4th level and have access to the Sharn Syndicate pack, Repossession can be run pretty quickly for 2 chests and 3 collectible nodes.

Once you have a handful of Siberys dragonshards, a few items from the above categories, and maybe a couple of Mind, Body, or Arcane Greater Essences, it's time to head to the craft hall. Make your way to House Kundarak, (North-East corner of the Marketplace) and enter the crafting hall near the main gates. Head on in and go left or right - the two sides are mostly the same except one side has an auctioneer. Find the master craftsman. Buy a half-dozen each of the Leading Dissolver and the Ultimate Dissolver and buy one Dust of Disjunction and one Liquid Knife.

I find it useful to have one inventory bag cleared for puttering around with the materials. Open your Ingredients bag and turn *off* auto-gather. Drag all of your essences, your dragonshards, the dissolvers and the dust of disjunction into your inventory. You can close your ingredients bag - you won't need it again until you're done.

Now we're off to the deconstruction room, the one with the picture of the broken shield over it. All the control boxes for the machines work the same as the barter box from crystal cove, which is really nice - as you add items, the box shows you only what is available to do with those items. Put your Quarterstaff/Greatclub/Handwraps in there with the Dust of Disjunction. Press the button, and now when you examine the item it will say it is "craftable". If you obtained a +1 weapon/shield/armor that you can let go of, put that in the machine with the Liquid Knife. Push the button, and now you'll have a +1 Spirit. This lets you put a +1 on an item. Next, drag your sacrificial items into the machine one at a time. The machine will tell you which dissolver to use to get a certain kind of essence from the item. When an item has both a prefix and suffix, look carefully, we want Arcane, Mind, or Body essences. Even lowly +1 items have a chance to return Greater Essences. After each item is used, you want to press the "Clear" button to get the remaining dissolvers out of the machine, as that will filter what's available and might only tell you part of the story (or tell you nothing is available).

Once you have deconstructed everything, look at what you have. You must have at least 1 Greater and 4 Lesser Arcane essences to proceed. If you have a bunch of Greater Mind and Body essences you can head over to the Master Craftsman again to do some "transmuting". Transmuting is where you can either break up a greater essence into 5 lesser essences, or trade 2 of one kind of greater essence for 1 of another kind. In this case, we can either break up mind and body essences, or maybe change them into a greater arcane essence.

OK, decision time. If you have a bunch of Greater Arcane and nearly four times as many Lesser Arcane Essences, you could just "go for it" and try to craft the Lesser Ooze Bane shard. You've only got a 50% chance of success. If you "fail", it uses up 1 of each essence and 1 dragonshard. If you succeed, then you could skip the craft leveling process. If you ended up with a large pile of Lesser Mind and Body essences, and you have at least 10 Siberys and Khyber dragonshards, then you might as well level up your crafting, anyway, as it forms a foundation for doing more crafting later.

So how do you level up crafting? By making shards. Head over to the Shard machine. "Use" the machine and another barter box appears. Take a stack of Lesser Mind or Body essences and drag it into the machine. In this case, you're looking for a recipe that has the best XP, with the lowest material cost, with a chance of completion of at least 80%. At first, the choice will be easy. There will be something that pays 10-13 XP that takes 4 Lesser Essences and 1 Dragonshard and has an 80% chance of success. Choose that. If you "fail", it uses up 1 essence and 1 dragonshard. If you succeed, it uses up the full recipe of ingredients, and you get a shard in your inventory. If you have enough essences, do it again. And now you're level 2 in Arcane crafting! If you open your character sheet, and choose the crafting tab, you can see where you stand. Now, once you have crafted a particular shard a couple of times, your chance to craft it will go up, but the XP will start to go down. So, if you notice the XP has gone down, look for another recipe. Wash, rinse, repeat. What we're trying to do here is level up our Arcane crafting so that when we go to do the level 10 recipes, we'll have a better chance at success. If you get your Arcane crafting to level 4, your chance at success rises to 70%, at level 6, it's 80%, and of course, if you get to level 10, then it's 100%. If you've used up your essences, you can "recycle" your shards by putting them back into the deconstruction machine. Once you're out of "feeder" essences, and you've disposed of any remaining level-up shards, we're off to the main event.

Here we go: Clear the shard machine and put Ooze into the search bar at the top. Choose Lesser Ooze Bane, and put your essences and dragonshard into the machine. Push the button. If all goes well, you're now the proud owner of a Shard of Lesser Ooze Bane (which is a suffix property, as an aside).

Do you have arcane essences left? OK, then clear the machine (including the search bar), and put that +1 Spirit into the machine. Now add the essences and dragonshard, and push the button. Once again, you hopefully end up with a shard of +1 Enhancement.

Last step - over to the binding machine. This one will attach the shard(s) to your item. Use the machine, put in your item, and Ooze Bane shard, and push the button. Ta-da! You now have a Lesser Ooze Bane item. If you have the +1 shard, do it again (Note: this will make the item ML:3). Now you have a +1 Lesser Ooze Bane item. It's just that easy. Note that the weapon still has the prefix slot available, so you could put another shard in there if you like. Vicious is an excellent choice for an Ooze Bane weapon, and this is a level 6 Divine craft - it will also make the weapon ML:5. So be careful adding shards if you really are low level, as each one raises the ML of the weapon. If you hover your mouse over the "result", it will show you how much the new shard will add (at least, it used to until Patch 1, so be extra careful).

To clean up, open your ingredients bag, gather up the wreckage from your crafting session, and turn auto-gather back on. You're good to go until next time.
If you find you have a large pile of Greater Essences clogging up your ingredients bag (and inventory), you can always head over the crafting hall, break them up, and then make some shards to level up your crafting. This works pretty well until you get to about craft level 10, and then you start needing to use greater essences to continue, but by then you're in striking distance of some other useful items, like Armor or Robe of Invulnerability...

[guimor]

Or you can sell the essences you just aquired and buy a muckbane (maybe even a muckdoom) :D

[vVAnjilaVv]

Uhmmm...I love the helpful attempt at providing a way to make a brand new Ooze bane weapon but you would have done much better if you would have used Kobold or Undead Bane instead.

On normal or casual...ur crafted Ooze Bane might not break during the quest...this depends on how many you encounter.........on hard and elite tho.....some blank from the Harbor store that was made craftable and had Ooze bane put on it probably won't survive a quest as items break much faster...simply because you have to hit stuff more to kill it.

Ooze is such a minor issue, and you will most likely come across an Everbright or Muckbane in short time.

The post is a great example tho of how easily a low level character can make some useful low level items......I just feel making a weapon specifically for killing Ooze is a waste of time for a new player.

BTW.....does the original hardness and durability of an item stay the same when it's stripped for crafting?

[Seikojin]

Nice guide! :)

[Seikojin]

...snip...
BTW.....does the original hardness and durability of an item stay the same when it's stripped for crafting?

It is 'defaulted' to a base value for the items material. If it had enough permenant damage to be below that value when it is stripped, you will have a broken item.

[ArginWarrior]

Great guide and, and even though I don't have any plans at lowbie crafting, it's still a good read from my standpoint as someone who is interested in crafting and has read up and experimented a bit, but still hasn't gotten into leveling it. That said, I'll echo Anjila and say that it would be more useful for a low level character to craft something they'd get more use out of. I never understood why people melee oozes at all at low level; for any character I'd just use a bow, if not spells.

[ArgentMage]

Uhmmm...I love the helpful attempt at providing a way to make a brand new Ooze bane weapon but you would have done much better if you would have used Kobold or Undead Bane instead.


There are lots of easily accessible weapons to use against generic foes.
The Nicked weapons out of Sharn are way, way better than anything you could
craft for some time. Lesser Reptilian Bane is a level 13 Elemental craft, and
Lesser Undead Bane is a level 15 Divine craft, so those are an even higher reach.



On normal or casual...ur crafted Ooze Bane might not break during the quest...this depends on how many you encounter.........on hard and elite tho.....


Elite Durk's has been no problem with the Quarterstaff I crafted for my level 5.
It actually lasts a lot better than a stack of clubs, because the Bane kills
things faster. But I am soloing it.



some blank from the Harbor store that was made craftable and had Ooze bane put on it probably won't survive a quest as items break much faster...simply because you have to hit stuff more to kill it.

Ooze is such a minor issue, and you will most likely come across an Everbright or Muckbane in short time.

The post is a great example tho of how easily a low level character can make some useful low level items......I just feel making a weapon specifically for killing Ooze is a waste of time for a new player.


Ten Durk's runs later - no Muckbane. That's one of the reasons I decided to
try this. But remember, it's as much about learning crafting and getting a few
levels of craft in as making the weapon. But personally, I'm getting a kick out
of it, and I have stopped running Durk's. It's all good.

[ArgentMage]

Great guide and, and even though I don't have any plans at lowbie crafting, it's still a good read from my standpoint as someone who is interested in crafting and has read up and experimented a bit, but still hasn't gotten into leveling it.

When you look in your ingredients bag and find a huge pile of Greater Essences in
there, you can just wander over the crafting hall, break a bunch of them up, and
make some shards to do the leveling. It's easy and free, and if you're in no hurry,
you'll be pulling more essences as time goes on anyway...

[simsiim]

awesome guide for low level crafting .

Kinda long

using the Lesser Ooze bane I see was just an example what a low level could do, I get that . .

I would still try and stress getting crafting schools to level 20 , before getting to involved in crafting. lesser Ooze Bane Hand wraps would be a better choose of something to have to deal with Ooze, then a club .

I liked the Guide, just I was drifting away due to it's length :o;)

[vVAnjilaVv]

There are lots of easily accessible weapons to use against generic foes.
The Nicked weapons out of Sharn are way, way better than anything you could
craft for some time. Lesser Reptilian Bane is a level 13 Elemental craft, and
Lesser Undead Bane is a level 15 Divine craft, so those are an even higher reach.



Elite Durk's has been no problem with the Quarterstaff I crafted for my level 5.
It actually lasts a lot better than a stack of clubs, because the Bane kills
things faster. But I am soloing it.



Ten Durk's runs later - no Muckbane. That's one of the reasons I decided to
try this. But remember, it's as much about learning crafting and getting a few
levels of craft in as making the weapon. But personally, I'm getting a kick out
of it, and I have stopped running Durk's. It's all good.

It's a great guide...I guess I do see the point tho, if your gonna use something that's gonna take damage from Oozes anyways may as well have the extra splash damage on it.

I am gonna go ahead and try this on my first time character on Khyber who is presently at level 5 :)


So TY and +1 btw

[Zachski]

You don't need to buy the base weapon from the auction house. You can get it from a vendor.

I know this because I've got a firetouch warhammer and a firetouch maul sitting in my inventory right now, and I bought the maul and warhammer from the Ball and Chain in the Harbor.

[ImFour20]

sadly you can not craft invulnerability onto a belt :/

[thouston]

+1

thanks for the guide.

[dunklezhan]

Dunno about weapons, but I managed to make a BTA +2 Blood Docent of Invulnerability last night. Its not awesome, but for a level 7 (which is the ML), i can see it being quite useful -


Blood: +10% incoming healing which stacks with healers friend, -10% fortification which is not the end of the world for a WF
Invulnerability: DR5/magic
+2: meh. I put it on because I could. Kinda wish I hadn't now, because it was ML2 or 3 before I did that (and at L2 this would have been an awesome docent), you can't remove a '+' without destroying the item and +2AC is pretty useless by level 7.
I'm actually considering replacing this with a +1 to drop the ML as I think it will simply overwrite. That should make it a +4ML item or so, which I can probably give to any WF melee I roll up straight off the vet boat.
BUT - to make that, I had to get to about L20 across all three schools. Which has taken 300+ items, 150+ shards, and 2 weeks, probably having a crafting session every other day. Interesting that it comes out at roughly 2:1 for items deconstructed vs shards produced though.

BUT BUT - when they allow unbound crafting, I could probably make one of those for a low level guildie, and wouldn't it be nice to have at that level? I've certainly never seen anything like it drop before, I'd never even seen this 'blood' effect, had to look it up to see that it normally drops as a ML2 named item from the Bloody Crypt (L6 quest). If I can make this a ML4ish BTA item rather than a ML7, it probably just trumped the named item for usefulness.


TL; DR - Don't just focus on weapons. There's lots of nice effects to be put on equipment if you're prepared to work for it, don't forget to farm Sharn syndicate for BTA blanks, and roll-on, unbound crafting! :)

[Cardtrick]

TL; DR - Don't just focus on weapons. There's lots of nice effects to be put on equipment if you're prepared to work for it, don't forget to farm Sharn syndicate for BTA blanks, and roll-on, unbound crafting! :)

I've been leveling up a warforged favored soul since U9, and I've actually been crafting quite a bit on him. Things that I've made (and actually used):

ML 3 Blood Docent of Invulnerability with Small Guild Augment slot (slotted with +10% fortification, to counteract the -10% from Blood)

+2 Shock Densewood Quarterstaff of Everbright (needed an ooze beater, there were no everbright qstaffs on the AH -- since stopped using, but it was handy when I made it)

ML 7 Blindness Ward Goggles of Battle Skill with Small Guild Augment Slot (Particularly pleased with these -- +1 competence attack bonus, blindness immunity, and +80 stacking SP)

Superior Brilliance 3 clicky -- almost able to craft a Greater Brilliance 5, which will be great for Divine Punishment.

And two "self-twinked" weapons for at-level Demon Queen raid:
ML 11 +3 Holy Cold Iron Greatsword of Lesser Evil Outsider Bane (for Lailat)
ML 11 +3 Holy Cold Iron Dagger of Lesser Evil Outsider Bane (also for Lailat, to be used when wielding a shield)

I really, really like the new system. I didn't think I would, but it's growing on me.

[ArgentMage]

sadly you can not craft invulnerability onto a belt :/

Oh, drat. That's right, it's an armor thing...

[ArgentMage]

You don't need to buy the base weapon from the auction house. You can get it from a vendor.

I know this because I've got a firetouch warhammer and a firetouch maul sitting in my inventory right now, and I bought the maul and warhammer from the Ball and Chain in the Harbor.

This certainly appears to be true - at least for now. Since the info from Turbine is
that you're not supposed to be able to use the stuff you can buy from a vendor,
it's not entirely clear if this is working-as-intended, or an oversight, so I didn't
want to put it in the writeup and then have it go away.

EDIT - Word is that "base" weapons that can be purchased from vendors are intended to be craftable.

[Forgeborn]

Dunno about weapons, but I managed to make a BTA +2 Blood Docent of Invulnerability last night. Its not awesome, but for a level 7 (which is the ML), i can see it being quite useful -


Blood: +10% incoming healing which stacks with healers friend, -10% fortification which is not the end of the world for a WF
Invulnerability: DR5/magic
+2: meh. I put it on because I could. Kinda wish I hadn't now, because it was ML2 or 3 before I did that (and at L2 this would have been an awesome docent), you can't remove a '+' without destroying the item and +2AC is pretty useless by level 7.
I'm actually considering replacing this with a +1 to drop the ML as I think it will simply overwrite. That should make it a +4ML item or so, which I can probably give to any WF melee I roll up straight off the vet boat.


+1 blood docent of Invulnerability would be ML 5.
Build up

+1: Level required +2, or becomes 1 if it has no level requirement
Blood: Level requirement +2, or becomes 1 if it has no level requirement
Invulnerability: Level requirement +2, or becomes 1 if it has no level requirement

(Level 0 item, becomes 1 from the +1, then adds 2 for blood, and 2 for Invulnerability, 1+2+2=ML 5)

for a new build WF you'd need to drop the +1, the blood effect, or the Invulnerability, regretfully.

Pretty nice guide, but for oozes I'd personally 'craft' a set of ooze bane wraps if anything, since those don't take damage from the oozes themselves. (yes, I know it was an example, but oozes are special.).

[paraplegic]

question, can anyone put a Guide not only to make your first "muckbane" but to level up crafting as smooth as possible?

[Cardtrick]

question, can anyone put a Guide not only to make your first "muckbane" but to level up crafting as smooth as possible?

Fact: Bears eat beets. Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

[paraplegic]

dont get it.. non english speaker

[Ugumagre]

Thank you very much. I was just saying to me "if somebody could give me a crafting example for low level..."

Great job.

[ArgentMage]

Pretty nice guide, but for oozes I'd personally 'craft' a set of ooze bane wraps if anything, since those don't take damage from the oozes themselves. (yes, I know it was an example, but oozes are special.).

Y'know, I didn't realize that wraps never take Ooze damage.
In that case, they would be the preferable option

I'm going to add that to the writeup, thanks for mentioning it.

[ArgentMage]

question, can anyone put a Guide not only to make your first "muckbane" but to level up crafting as smooth as possible?

If you're asking how to level up your crafting as efficiently as possible, that information already exists here: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=316021
Open the spreadsheet linked in the first post and see the "Arcane Plan" and "Divine Plan" sheets. Those show you how to get maximal XP with minimal expenditure of essences. This won't be the least expensive route if you don't have the essences and collectibles required, as it assumes that you have what you need at each step. But for a capped toon with the resources, this will probably be the quickest way to level crafting without reinventing the wheel.

[pjw]

If you're asking how to level up your crafting as quickly as possible, that information
already exists here: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=316021
...
Those show you how to get as much XP as possible as quickly
as possible.
...
If you're asking how to level up inexpensively over time as you level your character,
I actually did a writeup like that for some of my guildies, and I could post that if
there is interest.

Actually its an attempt at getting there as cheaply as possible, wrt essence use. It's not optimal, but it should be among the cheapest routes to take.

If you have a technique for getting there much cheaper, it would be great if you posted it, and I will try to incorporate it. Optimizing crafting levelling is quite hard, so any new heuristic would be fantastic!

[yawumpus]

Adding a lesser ooze bane is level 10, takes 1 greater arcane, 4 lesser arcane essences
Adding a +1 enhancement is level 10, takes 1 greater arcane, 4 lesser arcane essences, and a +1 spirit
(I thought that the enhancement had a slightly worse chance to craft, not sure).
Adding a acid touch is level 3 and takes 4 lesser earth essences.

Overall weapon is ML3, and does 5.5 points more damage than non-magic handwraps.

While I think I could have farmed a muckbane faster, I doubt I could have pulled a second one. TWF and handwraps work well together.

[daydrmrzzz]

You can buy and make craftable any weapon normal weapon, armor, shield etc from vendors. if deconstructed robes from the general vendor, clubs and shields from Hammer and chain, etc. The quote about not being able to craft vendor purchased stuff is based on taking essences from things like +1 weapons from vendors.

[FlyingTurtle]

Uhmmm...I love the helpful attempt at providing a way to make a brand new Ooze bane weapon but you would have done much better if you would have used Kobold or Undead Bane instead.

Lesser Reptilian bane is given away like candy by that Kobold, Dustscuttle, or whatever his name is.

Lesser Undead Bane is a good one, because finding it on a blunt (for skellies) is quite hard at low levels.

[vVAnjilaVv]

Lesser Reptilian bane is given away like candy by that Kobold, Dustscuttle, or whatever his name is.



I was thinking maybe you could put something like Acid or Flame touch on it.......

Getting a Flametouched Iron Maul with Acid touch and lesser Undead Bane would be nice for Delera's.

I'm still a bit fuzzy on how high level you have to be to put on things such as shock, flaming.....etc.....

Flametouched Iron Shock Maul of lesser Undead Bane would rock tho :D

[FlyingTurtle]

I was thinking maybe you could put something like Acid or Flame touch on it.......

Getting a Flametouched Iron Maul with Acid touch and lesser Undead Bane would be nice for Delera's.

I'm still a bit fuzzy on how high level you have to be to put on things such as shock, flaming.....etc.....

Flametouched Iron Shock Maul of lesser Undead Bane would rock tho :D

Acid touch is really easy, like <10 difficulty.

To get actual 1d6 elemental damage the difficulty jumps up immensely to around 33-35, similar to the Holy prefix.

[ArgentMage]

Actually its an attempt at getting there as cheaply as possible, wrt essence use. It's not optimal, but it should be among the cheapest routes to take.

If you have a technique for getting there much cheaper, it would be great if you posted it, and I will try to incorporate it. Optimizing crafting levelling is quite hard, so any new heuristic would be fantastic!

OK, I got you. When I went to use the plans, I found I didn't have the essences
called for in the plan, or the collectibles, to do it in the order presented. That
would have meant buying them from the auction house, which I wasn't really that
interested in doing. But for anyone serious about crafting, that would be the way
to go.

I'm definitely not saying that I have a better or more efficient method. My "plan"
simply involves keeping an eye on what Greaters you loot, and then keeping the
vendor trash that matches them to do some casual crafting leveling as you go
along. The only real thing it has going for it is that it's almost free. :D

[davidolson22]

Some ideas for items:

I'm lazy and don't like switching weapons to fight trash. So for Delera's I would make a ghost touch flametouched (weapon) of lesser undead bane. It wouldn't be the absolute best weapon, but the min level would be pretty low and you'd be able to swat at wraiths and ghostly skeletons (or whatever those skeletons that appear at the end of the first part of Delera are called) alike. You might be able to get a flame touched blank from Chronoscope.

Another nice min level weapon that would fight most trash is a vicious weapon of lesser vampirism. This does require crafting skills of about 20 to make the vampirism, but the weapon would be low level (3 I think), do an extra 7 per hit to just about anything, and the vampirism would counteract (at least partly) the hp damage cause by the vicious.

[ArgentMage]

I'm lazy and don't like switching weapons to fight trash. So for Delera's I would make a ghost touch flametouched (weapon) of lesser undead bane. It wouldn't be the absolute best weapon, but the min level would be pretty low and you'd be able to swat at wraiths and ghostly skeletons (or whatever those skeletons that appear at the end of the first part of Delera are called) alike. You might be able to get a flame touched blank from Chronoscope.


I like this idea - a lot. You could actually make it +1 as well, and with the 3
properties, it should be ML:5. I think I'm gonna try this one. In particular the
suggestion to step into Chronoscope to get the blank is excellent.

[ArgentMage]

Confirmed - the Flametouched weapons from the Chronoscope vendor can be made craftable!

No Quarterstaff or Maul is available, which is too bad - those would have been ideal blanks for a Delera's-specific weapon.
But I grabbed a Heavy Mace and a Greatsword, so I'm going to work those up ahead of my next Delera's run.

[Victorhammer]

Nice guide but for a newbie finding Dragon shards will be the hardest part of making a weapon.
I have run 4 toons up to level 7 grabing every single collectable I ever came across. Granted I did this 2 years ago and things may have changed but I have only assembled 3 siberly dragon shards in all that questing with 4 toons.

Of the khyber variety, I have 5 of them. This is of course after using the stone of change to combine the fragments into shards.

The totaly free find your own stuff route will be very slow.
Assuming you fail a few times this would let you make maybe 2 or 3 starter items. Those starter items would maybe get your crafting skill up to level 3 or 4. Still not high enough to make a muckbane weapon. Or maybe with a 70% probability.
And this would involve 4 toons saving everything in game questing assuming solo everything so you do not have to share these collectables with another person or two up to level 7.
Totally free by finding your own ingredients. You will have a ton more essences maybe sell some of these to buy some dragon shards.

So your biggest cost is obviously going to be buying the type of dragon shards required by the receipe's used to gain skill points in crafting.
To make a muckbane weapon starting at level 1 crafting skill will require you to reach level 6 or 7 crafting skill and get somewhat lucky on your attempt to make the muckbane. Which will require maybe 10 dragon shards to get to that skill level and make the muckbane. 10 dragon shards will take a very long time questing to aquire on your own.
Of course by the time you could make your own you will no longer need the muckbane for Durk's.

Depending upon the server some AH costs for these Dragon shards are beyond making this a viable strategy for a newbie.
I would have to say farming for a muckbane weapon in Durk's got a secret is by far the easier route than trying to quest in the game for enough items to make your own muckbane. Even buying the ingredients will cost many times more than just buying a muckbane weapon in the first place from the AH.

This strategy works best for those that have already played to level 20 and have a large bank of stuff to use and plenty of cash on hand to spend. Then make one for your new low level starter toon. But then this is standard Turbine game design.

Crafting is not something for a true newbie player.
But they should be working on the skill anyway. I suspect that for a first time new player they will always be able to buy or find a weapon as good or better than what they can make on their own (including ingredient costs)
as they progress through the game.

For example making a ghost touch lesser undead bane weapon for delaras will require a skill of around 14 in arcane and 12 in divine crafting and still have about a 30% chance to fail. Needing about 35 dragon shards total (some Siberly and some Khyber) to get to those levels in crafting skill (arcane 14 and divine 12). You should be able to aquire all the rest of the ingredients on your own for this skill training by the time you are ready to tackle Delaras. But you will only have 3 of the 35 dragon shards needed to progress your skill levels in crafting. You will have to buy the other 32+ from the AH. Good luck with that. Advancing your skill in crafting is not always a 100% sure thing so your actual cost in dragon shards could be higher.

I could be off on the drop rates for the dragon shards I have only been playing for a week since the update.
If they do drop often enough then this may be viable but so far this last week I do not see much change in dragon shard drop rates. Remember we are talking about a newbie growing their first toon to go to Delaras. So they will have to find those 35+? dragon shards in level 1 thru 5 quests. And maybe limited to ftp quests.

Again compare the cost of 32+ dragon shards vs the cost of a ghost touch lesser undead bane weapon in the AH.
That is my point.

But do not let this get you down. Grow your toon. Invest in crafting skill it will payoff eventually for your next toon.

I completely forgot to mention that a new ftp player with only 2 toons will not have enough storage space to collect and hang onto everything he will need to use the crafting skill to its fullest potential as well as advance his 2 toons efficiently. He is going to have to buy more bank space.

[Cardtrick]

Nice guide but for a newbie finding Dragon shards will be the hardest part of making a weapon.
I have run 4 toons up to level 7 grabing every single collectable I ever came across. Granted I did this 2 years ago and things may have changed but I have only assembled 3 siberly dragon shards in all that questing with 4 toons.

All you need are the uncombined dragonshard fragments when crafting -- the things that drop like candy in collectables and chests, or sell for about 10 plat a piece on the AH.

[ArgentMage]

Nice guide but for a newbie finding Dragon shards will be the hardest part of making a weapon.
I have run 4 toons up to level 7 grabing every single collectable I ever came across. Granted I did this 2 years ago and things may have changed but I have only assembled 3 siberly dragon shards in all that questing with 4 toons.

Of the khyber variety, I have 5 of them. This is of course after using the stone of change to combine the fragments into shards.


As Cardtrick points out, we're talking about fragments here, not whole shards.
They are not the gating factor.



The totaly free find your own stuff route will be very slow.


And now that you mention it - this is exactly what I wanted to find out. I started over from scratch at level 1, ran Korthos, got to level 2, and stepped into the Harbor. Essences started dropping from Harbor quests. I went and got my free Ingredients bag, and simply split up the greaters to start the craft leveling process. By 5th level, when I wrote this article, I was level 5 in Arcane, level 4 in Divine, and level 3 in Elemental, having spent absolutely 0 plat on essences or collectibles. Granted, I did forego cashing in a bunch of vendor trash that might have added up to maybe 1000 plat, and I spent a couple hundred plat on deconstruction materials and a couple of blanks I bought from the AH. But for the most part, I have looted most of the blanks (belt, ring, greatsword, full plate).

Now at character level 6, I'm at level 8 in Arcane, level 8 in Divine, and level 5 in Elemental. You just need to scrutinize your vendor trash to determine what can be ground up for essences to get the Lesser essences, and what should be sold. The Greater essences will drop over time.

None of the stuff I have crafted is fabulous, but I have been able to free up slots by putting 2 effects on an item, and now I'm really, really close to being able to make my Full Plate of Invulnerability. Just need a couple more essences to drop...

[Victorhammer]

As Cardtrick points out, we're talking about fragments here, not whole shards.
They are not the gating factor.



And now that you mention it - this is exactly what I wanted to find out. I started over from scratch at level 1, ran Korthos, got to level 2, and stepped into the Harbor. Essences started dropping from Harbor quests. I went and got my free Ingredients bag, and simply split up the greaters to start the craft leveling process. By 5th level, when I wrote this article, I was level 5 in Arcane, level 4 in Divine, and level 3 in Elemental, having spent absolutely 0 plat on essences or collectibles. Granted, I did forego cashing in a bunch of vendor trash that might have added up to maybe 1000 plat, and I spent a couple hundred plat on deconstruction materials and a couple of blanks I bought from the AH. But for the most part, I have looted most of the blanks (belt, ring, greatsword, full plate).

Now at character level 6, I'm at level 8 in Arcane, level 8 in Divine, and level 5 in Elemental. You just need to scrutinize your vendor trash to determine what can be ground up for essences to get the Lesser essences, and what should be sold. The Greater essences will drop over time.

None of the stuff I have crafted is fabulous, but I have been able to free up slots by putting 2 effects on an item, and now I'm really, really close to being able to make my Full Plate of Invulnerability. Just need a couple more essences to drop...

Hmm I did not know they only used fragments. I have not tried crafting anything yet because I thought they needed whole shards. Every table even on wiki refers to them as shards not fragements. Even your first post does the same. But it still seems slower not as slow as I had thought but you are toon level 6 and not yet ready to make a Delaras specific weapon. You will need to about double your arcane and divine crafting skills yet to make a Delaras weapon. Space is still an issue as well. Need another shared bank slot.
I count 33 unique collectables plus all the essence types plus the dragon shards. Then you need a lot of space on your toon to do the crafting itself.
Lots of extra book keeping. Or buy larger bags to hold the stuff.

You can not just dump your loot anymore either, need to sort it and deconstruct etc. Lots of book keeping and extra trips to the forge and the bank. Still I believe it is worth it if you can almost keep up with level equivalent
usefull items. Gets new players into buying more storage space from Turbine anyway. Ok I changed my mind from my earlier post this is worth it if you do not mind investing the extra time and effort into learning the crafting trade.

[ArgentMage]

Hmm I did not know they only used fragments. I have not tried crafting anything yet because I thought they needed whole shards. Every table even on wiki refers to them as shards not fragements. Even your first post does the same.

Yup - you're right. Fixed.


But it still seems slower not as slow as I had thought but you are toon level 6 and not yet ready to make a Delaras specific weapon.

Actually, I am tantalizingly close! I want 3 more levels in Arcane, and then the odds will be in my favor. If I can find 2 more Greater Body Essences, I'll be able to finish my Full Plate of Invulnerability, and that should get me another level in Arcane. I'm also looking for 1 more Amber Vial and a couple of Lesser Arcane Essences, and then I can finish my Wizardry I ring of Light Fortification, and that should help with Arcane leveling, too. But the real gate here is the blank. I want to get into a Chrono run to get a Flametouched Iron blank for the weapon, but haven't had any luck.



You will need to about double your arcane and divine crafting skills yet to make a Delaras weapon.

Not really. I have the Lesser Undead Bane shard done and sitting in the bank. If you have (craft level - 7), that's really when you're in a good spot to give it a shot.


Space is still an issue as well. Need another shared bank slot.
I count 33 unique collectables plus all the essence types plus the dragon shards. Then you need a lot of space on your toon to do the crafting itself. Lots of extra book keeping. Or buy larger bags to hold the stuff.

You can not just dump your loot anymore either, need to sort it and deconstruct etc. Lots of book keeping and extra trips to the forge and the bank.

I haven't found it to be that bad. I use up essences as they come in for leveling or making shards. My one bank space is pretty full, but I have shards in there that I "might use" that I could dump if I needed space.

As with anything, if you want to benefit from it, you need to make accommodations to make it work.


Still I believe it is worth it if you can almost keep up with level equivalent

And this is the thing. I think it's actually harder for higher level characters that are trying to catch up to where they can craft something useful. I think if you start out leveling your crafting as you go along from low level, it will be easier to go and craft something that you want along the way, rather than wait until you need an item that requires Holy (Divine 37) and then trying to get your Divine craft into the 30s and not be able to use any of that stuff that was created.

[Cardtrick]

One other nice thing is that you can craft items that fit slots that might not normally be useful to you. I'm mostly leveling crafting on my main character, but I've put a bit into my FvS alt (eventually to craft Sup Brilliancy V clickies for Divine Punishment, but that's a ways off). For characters who don't need intelligence and aren't rogues, there really aren't many great low-level options for the goggles slot. A lot of people just wear the Korthos Goggles of Insight for the +1 to hit. With crafting, it's easy to improve that.

With very low levels of crafting skill, it's possible to make Blindness Immunity Goggles of Battle Skill +1, which keep the +1 to hit of the Goggles of Insight and add the Blindness Immunity. I made mine on a pair with a small guild augment slot, and added a stacking crystal of HP. So from a formerly near-useless slot, I now get a min level 7 item with blindness immunity, stacking +10 to HP, and +1 to hit.

Just be creative and look for gaps in your current equipment, and it's very likely you'll be able to find something useful to craft there with relatively low investment.

[simsiim]

I plan for my Goggles to be my Intel + Item
I can not recall what The Arcane school level needs to be, but intl and Attack bonus will be my Goggles, till my Arcane school is high enough to craft True seeing.
I haven't figured what I was going to do for Wrist yet. I can not find anything for low level that I can not get better from quest same could be said for the belt which will be my +Con Item

maybe will use Cloak for clicky items . . Haven't come up with any good ideas yet for a cloak at any Crafting school levels
Boots, well what I can craft for boots is just like the Wrist, I can get better boots from quest then I could craft, but my Boots will all be Striding and either Jump or Balance
Gloves may be able to craft at low levels, but might be best to save the essence to level up crafting school then craft what I could get from Quest. Gloves will be my +Str item Plus what ever else
I can not get any ideas for a Trinket, even at the higher levels I'm still thinking there
The Helm, well Crystal Cove kinda made my Helms, so I never really looked into what I could do with Helms
Rings, I keep forgetting about them, need to look what I could do for rings at the lo level, but they will be my +Dex and what ever

I never really planned out my low level crafts, but what I did plan actually requires a level 20+ Crafting Schools for like my ML:5-8 items. And most of the School levels for those will need to be at least lvl 35 Minimum

When they add the part where we can Deconstruct shards, that will be a great relief, I'm just running out of space saving the shards to be deconstructed :o.

I play multiple characters but just the one is becoming a Craftsman, So gathering Essence and deconstructing is done by all I play. So it will look like I have made fast progress on the Craftsman, or like I just been buying my Essences , but really it would be at the same pace if I just played the one Character. and he's just now reaching in the area to be called Preteens in his schools.

[ArgentMage]

I play multiple characters but just the one is becoming a Craftsman

I think this makes a lot of sense. The feeling I get is that Bound to Account crafting will be released next. If you concentrate all your crafting on one character, when that happens, you'll be in really good shape.

EDIT - Shards are now Bound to Account, so definitely just have one character that does all your crafting and have your other characters pass over their essences.

[simsiim]

I think Turbine would had a better welcome with the crafting system if they started with the Unbound devices, then add the Bound Devices.
Most of the Complaints are about crafting being Bound and some players just will having nothing doing. If they had used Unbound for Beta testing, they probably would have more beta testers.
Then with added the Bound devices, and the reward or only whining would be the lessor cost to craft items. :D yeah so wait till the Unbound comes out, and you see how much Essences you'll need then :eek:. The Whining will continue :p

Well it has been known that Unbound devices will be added, from day one when placed in Lamannia for Previewing . There was never a need to actually have more then one craftsman, unless you want to have more then one. It was just going to be a wait thing. How long a wait I dunno. Something about beatings will continue till morale improves then they'll add the Un-Bound Devices :p



Originally Posted by Tolero http://cdn.content.turbine.com/sites/forums.ddo.com/images/buttons/green/viewpost.gif (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=3739677#post3739677)
We have every intention of turning it on, but if things are going badly or players are unhappy with the bound versions we very much are going to keep those shards waiting in the wings. This doesn't however mean those things don't exist or aren't part of the U9 Lamannia build.So... the beatings will continue until morale improves?
GJ >_>

[Victorhammer]

A few ideas I have been thinking about. Although this may not be the place to discuss these.
But I have been thinking about dwarf and elf and wizard and Bard's as having some enhancement to crafting.
Elf I was thinking should be able to craft better bows and crossbows. Perhaps they can gain 10% more durability and hardness when they craft a bow type weapon. Maybe also 10% more range for their bows.
I am thinking because of the way the game engine works by default if they did boost the durability by 10% it would also effectively heal the weapon of any damage it had as a side effect that might be too hard to code around.
But that may not be a bad thing for elves to have the ability to reapair a bow in this maner.

For the dwarf give them the same idea 10% more durability and hardness for armor and melee weapons they make.
Also give them something unique for working with mithral and admantium. Perhaps the ability to repair these?

For the Bard a song that boosts crafting skill level while crafting in the presensce of a bard song designed for this purpose.

For the Wizard some abiltiy to make smart weapons like in pen and paper D&D weapons that have an intelligence.
That would be a whole new avenue for DDO smart weapons and abilities. Perhaps also a spell to improve crafting skills.

[XaatXuun]

A few ideas I have been thinking about. Although this may not be the place to discuss these.
But I have been thinking about dwarf and elf and wizard and Bard's as having some enhancement to crafting.
Elf I was thinking should be able to craft better bows and crossbows. Perhaps they can gain 10% more durability and hardness when they craft a bow type weapon. Maybe also 10% more range for their bows.
I am thinking because of the way the game engine works by default if they did boost the durability by 10% it would also effectively heal the weapon of any damage it had as a side effect that might be too hard to code around.
But that may not be a bad thing for elves to have the ability to reapair a bow in this maner.

For the dwarf give them the same idea 10% more durability and hardness for armor and melee weapons they make.
Also give them something unique for working with mithral and admantium. Perhaps the ability to repair these?

For the Bard a song that boosts crafting skill level while crafting in the presensce of a bard song designed for this purpose.

For the Wizard some abiltiy to make smart weapons like in pen and paper D&D weapons that have an intelligence.
That would be a whole new avenue for DDO smart weapons and abilities. Perhaps also a spell to improve crafting skills.

There was a very brief short talk about if things like Attributes should effect crafting results, on the lamannia Section.

[ArgentMage]

Updated for Patch 1:
- Entryway to the Twelve Patron has been fixed.
- Shards are now Bound to Account! (yay!)
- Shards can now be deconstructed so if you're leveling up crafting, you can recycle shards that you're not actually going to use and get some essences back.

[indigokid]

Thanks for posting the guide. The value of muckbane at AH just dropped significantly! Even though I'm playing a monk, I still crafted a set of lesser ooze bane handwraps, so I could finish the oozes off even quicker. I added shock touch for +1 electrical damage, which seems to affect all the oozes I've encountered.