Tradeskills–Breaking It Down

EQ2 has a very involved crafting system.  It is not like World of Warcraft where you queue up a million combines then go AFK for an hour.  The crafting in EQ2 is a little mini-game unto itself, and if you don’t pay attention to it, you can fail to make the item you want.

Others have all of the in-depth information on the how-tos, the whys and the wherefores.  What we’re after here are the basics: what are the classes and what do they make?  I’ve also listed which type of adventurer is complemented by the tradeskill class.

 Everyone starts out as an Artisan.  This means you can make all types of recipes, presumably in order to see which you like best.  (It’s all pretty much the same in terms of the mini-game.)  You should do the tradeskill tutorial quests to get free recipe books and a nice +tradeskilling chest piece.

Once you’ve hit level 9 as an Artisan, you’re asked to specialize into one of three archetypes – Outfitter, Scholar, or Craftsman.  Once you hit level 19 as one of those three classes, you are then asked to further specialize.  I’ve broken down the options below.

Outfitters may select the following classes at tradeskill level 19:

Class	What They Make	Complements
Armorer	plate, chain, and shields	Fighters, Scouts
Weaponsmith	metal-based weapons	Fighters, Scouts
Tailor	cloth armor	Mages

Scholars may select the following classes at tradeskill level 19:

Class	What They Make	Complements
Alchemist	poisons, potions, fighter combat art upgrades	All
Sage	spell scroll upgrades	Mages, Priests
Jeweler	jewelry, scout combat art upgrades	All

Craftsman may select the following classes at tradeskill level 19:

Class	What They Make	Complements
Provisioner	food and drink	All
Woodworker	wood weapons, totems, small shields, and ammo	All
Carpenter	furniture, strongboxes	All

While we’re talking tradeskills, there’s two other things we want to keep in mind:

• Leveling:  There are two ways to level tradeskills – making new recipes for the first time for the bonus experience and doing tradeskill writs.  The first option is ideal, and you want to always make every item in your book at least once so you get that bonus.  The second way sucks a lot more but is necessary for certain tradeskills that don’t get as many recipes per level.

• Profitability:  One of the most common questions I see is, “Is xyz profitable?”  Also, "“Is xyz in demand?”  The answers are yes and yes for all of the tradeskills, but you have to find your niche.  Crafters in EQ2 mostly find items that will sell well on the broker and produce those as sources of cash.  Are people going to be knocking down your door for your great tradeskill abilities?  Probably not.  Will you sell a steady supply of a particular item on the broker?  Probably so.  What and how much depends upon your tradeskill class and what’s in big demand on your server.  Mastercrafted stuff sells well.  Browse the broker to see what else you should be making for a profit.