Yeah that gown is probably going to be your best bet for, um, maximum boobage. As Rider said, weapons are not dyeable, yet (why this is completely mystifies this one).

What you find in the world is based half on your character's level and half on your character's skill level. So if your character levels up to wearing the next tier in materials; you should then start finding half the nodes you would need for her level; and half the nodes you find should be at her skill level. If she is still doing the lowest level Writs, then she should still be finding the lowest level mats half the time; and the other half the time be finding the high iron ore.

That said, it won't be every other one you see; but will average out to half over your farming. I can send you a ton of the low iron ore; I'll send it the next time I'm in game! I've got so much of it I can't give it away, lol.


** Oh, I see Grits explained this much better! Sorry about that, lol.




This post has been edited by mALX: Jan 4 2018, 05:48 AM

I always kept my characters doing base level Writs right up until their experience level for a type of crafting had reached 50; THEN sank the skill points into raising the skill level for crafting. The reason for that is:

1. Skill points were more needed for combat and building a character's strength via passives. If you spend them all in crafting, your character will end up too weak to go out and gather mats for the writs after a few tier level-ups.

2. If you spend any skill points to raise your crafting level; then your character will only gain experience from items their own level or above that they deconstruct. As long as you keep their skill at the base level then everything they deconstruct gives them experience; so you level up that skill much quicker and easier.

Of course, the down side to that is that someone else has to make that character's armors and weapons for them. You do have a whole guild full of people willing to help you do that; I had a close friend make all mine for me right up till my first character was level CP 130; at which time I knew what skills I needed most = respec'd her and sank the freed up points into crafting.

(either that or you can "skyshard hunt" for the extra skill points needed to spend in combat skills and still have enough to level up your crafting = I think Acadian did this).

** If you plan to have a character become a crafter; you need to "Research" all the "Traits;" to learn them = because it takes a LONG time to learn all the traits. Each piece of armor or weapon can be made with 9 different traits that enhance and make that item more powerful for the wearer.

Each piece means that even if you learn the chest piece for light armor; you still won't know it for heavy or medium armor (only for light armor). So that is a lot to learn; if you want to make a crafter you should start learning that early.

Of the nine traits; each trait you learn for a piece takes a specific amount of time to "absorb" the knowledge and have it be applied to your character. The fewer traits you know for one piece; the quicker your "learning process" will go. (Example: your first trait learned on an item takes 24 hours to learn).

So it is much quicker to learn the traits BY TRAIT instead of by piece of armor or weapon. (Example: Learn all the infused traits for all armor types and weapons before moving on to the next trait; that way each one takes only one day to learn; etc).

Anytime you want research pieces, just ask on here and one of us will make it and stick it into the guild bank for you.

** The only exception to this is for the Nirnhoned trait; which costs way too much to hand out. That is why everyone learns it last; so their character is strong enough to go to Craglorn and farm it so it is free. Otherwise if you have the gold you can buy it from either a member or from Guild Traders.

I'm sure I've seen a gown similar to that in the Crown Store; just maybe a little less low cut in the front.

The Cyrod Patrician Formal Gown is similar in appearance to that dress. Problem is, it’s not in the Crown Store anymore. It’s currently only available through Crown Crates, while the season lasts (probably another month).

Unna is starting to Skyshard hunt now that she's done the Stonefalls quest line. She'll go look for the nine she missed in that zone before moving on. We already went back to complete the sets for Bleakrock and Bal Foyen. She can probably stop crafting now that the others can construct for her.

Blossom and Laurie Craft will take note of the Trait advice. They're starting to pass each other stuff for deconstruction, as a sink for the low-level materials. We can at least convert those to experience. Some of it will also go to my other characters, who are still low-level enough to make use of them.

I'm still trying to work out how to optimize material gathering. The crafting duo are still generating a lot of lower-level mats, and using up the higher ones too fast. Unna gathers all she can find, and the ESO plus sharing does help a lot there. Construct/swap/decostruct will also use up the lower stuff.

Hmm! This is good to know!

Anyone still remember my mats farming path in Stonefalls between Davon's Watch and Ebonheart that can show it to Ghastley? It is a great place for any new character = low level enemies and tons of mats (and the Davon's Watch crafting stations are handy and convenient).

It's not so much where, as who and when.

Unna's level/skill gets her High Iron almost exclusively, whereas Blossom and Laurie get a mix. So do I do all my prospecting with Unna, and before crafting each day? Or do everyone's daily writs first and see what runs short? The Crate/Satchel/Case provides enough lower mats without gathering (I think) and anyway, the low-level characters can get fired up to forage if I need those.

And do my crafters need to go out and level in combat more? There seems to be a penalty for deconstructing items above your own level. That implies, too, that I should keep them even, so they get most benefit from deconning each other's work.

The enemies need to include critters if you need hide of any kind, so maybe there's some need of a path that includes mainly non-NPC enemies, or you're wasting your combat effort. On the other hand, people are a source of deconstruction experience, too, as they drop more equipment.

And things may have changed over the course of time. I gather they decreased the rates of Surveys, and made lower level mats more common, so that crafters could serve all levels. This would change what you need to prospect for, and so change the optimal strategy. It also probably changes with character level, and the gap between the combat player(s) and the crafter(s) in levels.

I took the motifs from the bank for the basic styles, so the crafters can use more of the style mats. The writs are all for "normal" stuff so far, so the trait gems aren't an issue. Unna is progressing fast enough that her needs keep changing, so she'll mainly use what she finds, and send the surplus down for deconstruction.

You gain no XP from deconstructing any items below your character's skill level = that is why I kept my characters all working at the base skill level until their experience level for each equipment crafting reached 50. After they reached 50 in Blacksmithing; Clothier; or Woodworking = then I sank skill points into bringing up their crafting in that.

The reason for that is that if your character is at the base skill level, then Everything they deconstruct is at or above their skill level = so they get full XP for absolutely everything they do. Especially as they level up and are grinding up stuff that is above that first tier.

During the period in between when I'm getting their crafting experience level to 50 I fleshed out their combat skills and gathered any skyshards I could get my hands on so that I would have the extra skill points to spend on their crafting when the time came that they were ready to sink skill points into it.

If all your skill points go into crafting; then when you have to go out and gather materials you will be out there with higher level enemies and no combat skills to protect yourself. And even Blossom = if she is going to be your crafter; there are some places she will need to go personally to get motifs/recipes/etc.

Example: Up till now, you couldn't get Soul Shriven without besting Molag Bal. (Although I hear that changes with the next DLC).

Not to mention that to have a dedicated crafting character takes a lot of skill points; and they will have to level up and gather skyshards or do main questline quests from DLC; Alliances; and the Main quest (the Prophet) to get those skill points to spend.

So imho you should definitely shape your character first; while learning and increasing your experience levels in the crafting = then raise their crafting levels up to match their experience levels in the crafting.

But deconstructing items above skill level reduces material return, if I read the message correctly. Or it could have been character level, I'm not sure.

So your method is basically: go out with the crafters to get combat experience and raise their overall level, and hoard the skill points for later. Main combat characters can feed skill points into combat skills. Everyone forages for mats and runes, and ingredients, as that's pooled. Crafter do writs daily, which stay at low level, so they're easy to do, and mats are plentiful. Presumably those are also low-xp writs?

Once crafters reach 50 in one of Smithing, Clothier, or Woodworking, then use the skill points saved up for that. I presume that allocation has some order to it as well. I was wondering about the deconstruction boost skills, such as Metal Extraction, Unravelling etc. to get more back from decon, but would that be at the expense of XP? Should those be taken before lvl 50?

With the wait for 50 scheme, the combat-only characters won't get any contribution from the crafter(s) until that magic 50 point, as they can't make good stuff. They're reliant on drops and rewards until then. Which is much the same as playing just one character, except that crafting can be ignored (some other character's problem). Once the crafter cut in, everything changes.

Still a bit confused...

Well, you do have a bunch of folks who are willing to outfit you free of cost until you get a crafter where you want them, if you want to take mALX’s advise.

To give you an alternative method, Khajiit decided to make his first character, Mira, his crew’s dedicated gear crafter after he realized how daunting it would be to get motifs for multiple characters (not to mention she also knew the Imperial motif right out of the box, which normally is super rare to find or expensive to buy). What this one did with her was keep her crafting skills even with her character level (each craft level is actually good for several character levels). We worked really hard on writs and grinding up found weapons and armor during the time between craft levels to make sure her gear crafting skills were advancing. Khajiit should mention that her only offense comes from the one hand and shield skill line with heavy armor passives for defense, so it’s not like she is focused on combat (although she does fairly well against numerous baddies and group content like world bosses and dungeons).

You learn more when you're not just given the answers. I don't want my character to use unearned equipment, as that might gimp her ability to learn how to use her skills effectively. A poor swing with an OP weapon might kill the mob, but she needs to make a good swing with a wimpy one first. Then when she has both equipment AND skill, she'll be unstoppable. Some of that skill is character skill, and some is player skill. I'm learning this with her.

Unna raced a bit ahead of herself in the Main quest, and has completed the Five Companions, and did half of the Hollow City stuff before I pulled her back to "reality" to level up some more. She'll go skyshard hunting for a while, to get some more moves in her arsenal, and then start thinking about equipment. Plus, we're waiting to see what Outfits brings. If she can keep the bear-rider look as an effective custom costume, then she'll have more equipment options without affecting her style. She also hasn't really made any use of the weapon/skill bar swapping capability since she got it. Balancing those for different enemy types is on the to-do list.

So a bit of development of the Crafting characters was in order. I could have played Cat Man Dhou, Wizwen, or Spreads more, but doing too many styles at once would just confuse me.

ghastley, I leveled my crafters as their skills increased because I wanted them to make the crew's armor while they leveled instead of waiting. Adventuring and questing brought in materials and gear to deconstruct along with skill points to use on combat and crafts. Elke who did all three equipment crafts got in a bit of a bind with her skill points and had to hunt Skyshards to fill in a few combat passives. Doing it this way may have been slower, but she was able to keep up as the main adventurer/attention hog leveled.

I haven't been able to find a recent chart of xp gains for various gear deconstruction, but I don't recall anyone getting zero xp for decon as they leveled. The lowest tier stuff and the 0 gold value stuff provided so little that the bar barely moved, but it still did something. If memory serves, it is always good to decon higher level gear. Never mind if you can't regain all of the materials, or whatever the message says. It still moves that xp bar to the right.

The only issue I can think of with breaking down gear that is a higher level than your crafting tier is that you will end up with some inventory-clogging materials that you can't use yet. If you subscribe to ESO + and get the associated crafting bag, no worries. The materials just whisk into your magic bag where they wait for you to need them. Otherwise there's the guild bank, trading with other crafters, and of course staring at those 5 ingots of rubedite in your bank until Laura gets to 50.


Which brings me to the thought, I'll stick stuff with the Intricate trait into the bank for decon as I get it. Anyone who is leveling a crafter, help yourself.

I do have ESO Plus, and the shared bag makes a huge difference. Especially with Alchemy, where one character finds one ingredient and another finds the matching one; or with Enchanting, where the pool of Potency Runes does the same thing.

The shared bag is what made me think it was advantageous to level the crafters to match the combat specialists, as the latter would then provide mats at the right level. mALX's method relies on the crafters getting enough low-level mats on their own, which could also be viable, given the preponderance in the supplies returned for writs.

Other opinions are welcome, as this seems to be a fertile area of debate. (Or a load of fertilizer).

Yeah, Khajiit’s crew is feeling the pain of not having advanced alchemy, enchanting, and provisioning along with the the other craft skills. We’ve got two characters over CP160 and can craft awesome weapons and armor, but nobody to make top tier enchants! Brenna is working on it though. She’s currently at 37 in enchant.

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: Jan 11 2018, 01:21 AM

As someone who has bought two toons to top tier in all six crafting lines (and two others not that far behind, just not maxed out on their crafting passives), I can speak to the grind of getting the first toon or two through the mid levels where materials can be quite scarce. Ironically, now that I have four toons doing top tier daily writs (and Maz doing all the motifs, and both her and Alise doing most of the furnishings), we are overflowing with the formerly scarce mid level materials.

Now with the recent influx of new guild members, and being part of a rather large but friendly trading guild, I find myself dipping into those stores more to help out those who are stuck short of the mid tier materials. It makes our own pain all worth it, as we have had help from friends with more advanced toons and more materials to spare when we needed it.

I suspect if you play the game long enough, you will be in the situation where you will be the giver, not the recipient. And it's a good feeling when it's payback time.

I never hoarded skill points; I sank them into combat skills to help my character get the skyshards and skill points needed. As for the armor for that first character getting their crafting skills up to 50 before sinking points into it = I had a friend who crafted whatever armor I needed during the interim; she would just tell me what mats and how many of them she needed and I would give them to her to make the armor with/improve it/etc. (I offered to pay her, but she refused to take any money)

Once Misa reached level 50 in experience from all the deconstructing she did (which really didn't take that long) = I respec'd her to get back some skill points I had spent in things she would never use (points spent trying to figure out what combat style suited her best).

When I respec'd her I kept all her best combat skills intact; kept all her passives; Armor and Class skills; etc. The rest of the skill points all went into crafting.

** Also, I DID spend points in the extractions for the crafting; did spend points in speeding up researching for all the equipment; and did spend points in "Improving Tempers" so I could improve dropped items I picked up and used (like the Viper stuff that you USED to be able to find out in the world).







This post has been edited by mALX: Jan 13 2018, 04:39 AM

No, I only had one character back then = Misa. She went around adventuring, and gathered mats as she went out in the world. I didn't even know about doing Writs until Grits taught me about how much money I could make by doing them. All my leveling up in crafting came from deconstructing the items I got in my travels. When Grits told me about doing Writs, I barely got started doing them before she was at level 50 from the grinding up of items.

Back then (before One Tamriel) = the starter zones all had low level mats; you had to go to higher level zones to get the higher level mats; meaning if you sank skill points into crafting it would put your character into high level zones to gather the mats or deliver the drop-offs.

They don't do it like this anymore; since the One Tamriel patch the mats in the world are all based on your character's level and skill level for that node. So my way of doing it may not be necessary anymore, but when my characters were starting out it was the best plan for any early crafters.

Also, back then you couldn't go to the other Alliance's zones till after you beat Molag Bal, meaning you were blocked from getting 2/3 of the skyshards; so your ability to get enough skill points to sink into crafting and still be a viable character were nill back then. That is why it was done that way before One Tamriel.

So I guess now it doesn't matter how you do it; but that is the way it was done at the time my characters were starting out.

** also, no one here is debating; (or trying to suggest what you should do in your own game) - we are all just sharing our experiences in raising a crafter with you because you asked about it. Each of us has a little different way of doing it; but it all works out in the end. You find the way that suits you the best; of course = just like we all did.







This post has been edited by mALX: Jan 13 2018, 03:17 PM

Any tips on leveling alchemy and provisioning?