greensteel crafting advice?

[DANTEIL]

I've recently been able to collect some of the ingredients and stuff from the Shroud and the Vale and so have begun trying to figure out the whole crafting process... which is completely new to me! The ddowiki has some great info but it's all a little overwhelming.

but my question is this: What's a good first greensteel item to try to craft as a wizard? That is, what would be most generally useful for me to have? I'm fire/ice specced (of course) so I was looking at some of the fire items, but then I see lots of other people talking about +SP or +HP items too. and is it better to make goggles or weapons or what? Is the goal trying to replace some of the routine stuff I have now or get something completely new? I'm not trying to be an uber complete character -- I just want to get my feet wet exploring this aspect of the game.

thanks!

[Gulnar13]

Googles of wiz 6 (if you don't have one already) OR blind/disease ward (if ya're not a wf) + 50/100 sp (will also get concordant opposition).

[Lehrman]

Concordant opp is a good start because it will also cover the wisdom slot for will saves.

If not a Wf, I recommend
Tier 1: Negative-blindness immunity/disease immunity
Tier 2: Positive Spell points
Tier 3: Negative/Positive spell points.

Final result:
Disease Immunity
Blindness Immunity
Spell points +150
Charisma Skills +5
Wisdom +6
Haggle +10
Diplo +10
2% chance on hit of generating either spell points or a temporary hit point buff.

The reason I do not recommend wizardry 6 for the first tier is that eventually you will get an archmagi item and the first tier will be a waste. This way you will not have to recraft just to have an unwasted effect ont he goggles.

[DANTEIL]

Concordant opp is a good start because it will also cover the wisdom slot for will saves.

If not a Wf, I recommend
Tier 1: Negative-blindness immunity/disease immunity
Tier 2: Positive Spell points
Tier 3: Negative/Positive spell points.

Final result:
Disease Immunity
Blindness Immunity
Spell points +150
Charisma Skills +5
Wisdom +6
Haggle +10
Diplo +10
2% chance on hit of generating either spell points or a temporary hit point buff.

The reason I do not recommend wizardry 6 for the first tier is that eventually you will get an archmagi item and the first tier will be a waste. This way you will not have to recraft just to have an unwasted effect ont he goggles.

Thanks for the info. Yea, I'm not a WF, so that makes a difference I guess. I honestly would not have looked at this combo because I just don't seem to use Charisma/Haggle/Diplo skills all that much, but maybe the other benefits make up for that? I currently have blindness immunity on goggles and disease immunity on a ring, so that would replace those. I'll take a look at the recipe.. thanks.

[Irinis]

As a pure wizard you don't have much else for goggle slot, so crafting goggles is a good plan.

More SP is great, however if you are really squishy you might want to go for an HP item first.

[sephiroth1084]

What you craft also depends on what other raids you plan on running, and what loot you are looking to obtain.

For example, if you plan on running The Hound or VoD for the caster items (or if you plan on wearing the Archmage belt from Amrath) then you wouldn't want Wizardy VI on the first tier of your goggles. If you plan on running Tower of Despair to get one of the wizard rings, then you don't really need to craft a +3 Int scepter in The Shroud.

Do you think you'll be running a lot of epic desert content? Are you going to gun for the Necro/Enchant goggles?

I suppose it also comes down to how much you play and whether you would rather craft something now that may get replaced later, or whether you'd rather make sure to spend your ingredients on something that you'll be using for a long, long time. At some point a lot of the theorizing about loot gets kind of silly, but these are things to consider.

If you are going to end up with one of the other items with Wiz VI, VII or Archmagi on it, then the set of goggles Lerhman posted are pretty good. As a wizard, you don't really want to be spending a slot on a Wis item, but having the extra +3 to Will saves is nice, so tacking that onto something with +150 SP, the chance to regain some SP or some temp HP, and a couple of useful immunities makes for a terrific item.

If you aren't planning on running ToD enough to get a ring and upgrade it, then building a scepter with whatever on the first tier, +1 exceptional Int on tier II and +2 exceptional Int on tier III is a pretty good way to go as well, as the extra Int will give you 25-50 extra SP as well as boosting your DCs by 1-2 points (and probably your Reflex as well). I went with triple fire for a low cost ingredient-wise and the 10 or 15% fire absorption that it has, but there are other possible combos that would also be good. The dual shard for tier III on this just gives you an elemental guard effect (chance to trigger fire, cold, lightning, acid guards, which you don't really need on a wizard, but if you want to spend the ingredients you can certainly pick that up as well).

Making an HP item is also a solid idea. On my wizard I decided to go with a set of Tempered boots: Water/Fire/Earth (no dual shard) for +10 HP/+1 Str skills, +15 HP/+2 Dex skills (balance), +20 HP/+3 Con skills (Concentration), +7 Intimidate and Repair and +10 Concentration. This gives you your +45 HP item and consolidates your Concentration item as well since it basically gives you +13 Concentration, which should be enough for most content. If you still want to wear your normal +13 or 15 Concentration item, then I'd probably go triple Pos gaining +45 HP, +6 Con skills and a Raise Dead clicky.

[DANTEIL]

What you craft also depends on what other raids you plan on running, and what loot you are looking to obtain.

[snip great stuff]

Wow, now I am feeling overwhelmed again

Since this is my first character and I'm leveling for the first time, I have no idea what I'll be doing in the future. I'm not really counting on getting any of the items from any of the other raids because I haven't even done any of those other raids once yet and it is hard to get into groups for those. Likewise, I can't count on being able to run epic content. I've been told that it would be good to boost my HP, so maybe I'll try to do that. For my wizard, I had a +13 Concentration helm that I gave up when I got the Minos Legens, so it'd be nice to get that +13 back. Hrm.. thanks again for the input.

[sephiroth1084]

Wow, now I am feeling overwhelmed again

Sorry about that. It was not my intent.

Since this is my first character and I'm leveling for the first time, I have no idea what I'll be doing in the future. I'm not really counting on getting any of the items from any of the other raids because I haven't even done any of those other raids once yet and it is hard to get into groups for those. Likewise, I can't count on being able to run epic content.

Yeah, that makes it difficult to gauge going forward.

I've been told that it would be good to boost my HP, so maybe I'll try to do that. For my wizard, I had a +13 Concentration helm that I gave up when I got the Minos Legens, so it'd be nice to get that +13 back. Hrm.. thanks again for the input.

I guess it really comes down to what you feel you need more at the moment. Are you dying a lot due to low HP? Failing a lot of Concentration checks? Running out of SP just a little before each shrine? Or do you want your CC spells landing more often?

I went SP goggles, Int scepter, HP boots, but have since replaced the scepter. Now that you are armed with knowledge it is really just a matter of preference and your own priorities.