The Olde Apothecary

"Q: Since you have made it possible to learn all tradeskills on a single character, you should sell a tradeskill transfer stone. This way Players with Older Craftsmen may put all of their skills onto one character.

A: The Trade Goddess actually had this in her original design document for the crafting overhaul. It turned out that, in terms of time and code required, this one feature would require resources equal to that of multiple features. If you want the whole truth, it's that the phrase "technical nightmare" came up more than once. We retired the idea with regret, as we’re trying to get you the most bang for your programmer buck."

1/23/07 Excerpts from 1.87a release notes:

TRADESKILLS

Tradeskill masters will no longer ask you if you want to join a tradeskill order that you already have set as your primary tradeskill.

• Armorcrafting (Hibernia) - The recipes for superior mistletoe spiked wreaths now match their delves.
• Fixed a bug where characters with a tradeskill title would display an incorrect title to other players.
• Fixed a bug where tradeskill tools used two charges at once.
• Fixed a bug where players received skill gains from grey recipes.
• Fixed a bug where players were able to fail blue, green, or grey con recipes.
• Fixed a bug where the minimum quality bonus (tradeskill tools) affected the chance to receive a masterpiece item.
  
  Tradeskill Tool Adjustment
• Tradeskill tools with the bonus to skill gain will no longer use a charge on every craft attempt. The tool will now only use a charge when the bonus to skill gain was needed to receive the skill up. As a result, this will extend the life of these tradeskill tools.
• Tradeskill tools with the bonus to minimum quality will no longer use a charge on every craft attempt. The tool will now only use a charge when the bonus to minimum quality is needed (i.e. if you naturally make a 98 with a 1 minimum quality bonus tool, then a charge is not used). As a result, this will extend the life of these tradeskill tools.

1/23/07 Due to some email feedback, I had been tossing around an idea a while back  of creating a trade forum for alchemists (by cluster or server) to advertise and players to request their orders a while back. However,  I'd like a general consensus to see if there's enough interest or need overall to set this up.  I'd appreciate it if you could spare a quick second and vote ...thanks!

1/22/07 Excerpts from the latest  grabbag notes notes below:

Q: I am confused about my quality tradeskill tool. How does it work exactly? What the heck did you do to the tool in 1.87h (Pendragon)?

A: This is all, entirely, 100% from the forehead of the Trade Goddess:

The bonus on the tradeskill tool is called a minimum quality bonus. The bonus raises your quality floor (the lowest quality % you can make) by the bonus amount on the tool. So for example, keeping in mind that as of 1.87, the lowest quality you can make naturally (without tools) is 96%:

If you have a +1 min quality tradeskill tool, the lowest quality you can make is 97%.

If you have a +2 min quality tradeskill tool, the lowest quality you can make is 98%.

The minimum quality bonus on tradeskill tools does not (or shouldn’t – see 1.87h for the fix notes) interfere with your chance to make masterpiece items. When it raises the quality floor, it adjusts your % chance to make 99% and below, while leaving the masterpiece chance alone.

In 1.87h, we changed how these tools functioned, to make them longer lasting. Before 1.87h, on each craft attempt a charge on the tool was used. After 1.87h, your natural quality roll is looked at before the bonus from the tool is applied. If you needed help from the tool, a charge is used. If you didn’t need the help, a charge is not used.

Example with the +1 min quality tradeskill tool:

- BobtheCrafter equips his tradeskill tool and crafts a leather helm.

 roll occurs for success/failure (based on recipe con) and then a roll for quality occurs. His natural quality roll is 96%.

- The quality roll is checked against the tool’s adjustment to BobtheCrafter’s quality floor and the bonus is applied to make the item 97% quality. A charge on the tradeskill tool is used.

- BobtheCrafter crafts another leather helm. A roll occurs for success/failure (based on recipe con) and then a roll for quality occurs. His natural quality roll is 97%.

- The quality roll is checked against the tool’s adjustment to BobtheCrafter’s quality floor. Because the floor is 97% and the item’s quality is equal to the range of the floor, a charge on the tradeskill tool is not used.

- BobtheCrafter crafts another leather helm. A roll occurs for success/failure (based on recipe con) and then a roll for quality occurs. His natural quality roll is 98%.

-  The quality roll is checked against the tool’s adjustment to BobtheCrafter’s quality floor. Because the floor is 97% and the item’s quality is greater than the range of the floor, a charge on the tradeskill tool is not used.

As a side note: The only tools that directly adjust the end quality of the item (after all quality rolls are made) are the legacy crafter rewards (the focus items). Those apply the bonus to the quality at the time of item creation, so the item is a master piece item no matter what your natural quality roll was.

Q: If I managed to skill up on gray items before the 1.87H note takes effect, will I lose those skill points?

  A: No.

Q: Does the quality of a crafted proc (alchemy) placed on a player crafted weapon or piece of armor have any affect on the chance for that effect to proc during combat?

  A: No.

Q: Why did you grant a MP charge for crafters that had 400+ skill prior to patch?

A: From the Goddess again:

The reward was chosen just as a small gift, in conjunction with the titles given to legacy crafters. In some trades, it is not useful, but my hopes are that crafters may use them with other trades that they can now pick up, if they so desire.

1/13/07 The following has been added or updated in the Recipes section and downloadable .xml reference sheet:

• Costume potion recipes for both races and monsters

• Recipes for extraordinary behemoth potion and reactives that required a weapon effect tincture in their recipes have been flattened and, in some cases, a little bit cheaper to make due to a change in recipe. Note: the spirit arcanium armor reactive and spirit netherium armor reactive recipes are incorrect and I reported it as an error. I'll update those recipes whenever they are fixed in game - otherwise, I've displayed them "as is".

Also, a couple of relevant hot fixes posted by Mythic in the Herald:

" - The new improved costume potions introduced in 1.87 for Alchemy have been modified so that they only work in Captitol Cities and Housing on Mordred. 

 - The order trainers for each tradeskill will not ask you to join their order if your primary tradeskill is already set to their order." 

1/12/07 There have been some unannounced recipe changes (aside from Costume potions) with patch 1.87 and I'll be working on updating these today. I'll post an update later today as to which ones were impacted to save you the hassle of scanning through the lists yourself.

Also, fair warning that there is a lot of feedback on the VN boards regarding buggy things going on with tradeskills in general, including failure to craft gray items and the crafting tools (including Legacy Crafters Focus) taking charges when it should or shouldn't, equipped or unequipped. So if you're seeing weird things  occurring, please send your feedback to Mythic via the Camelot Herald  or post it on the VN Tradeskill Forum which the Tradeskill/Item Team Lead moderates.

1/11/07 A bunch of  crafting changes  went live today with 1.87 - read on (for full patch notes, click here). This site has been updated to reflect the following changes below.

TRADESKILL CHANGES AND FIXES
General Changes and Fixes

- Crafted item quality is no longer considered when determining the number of imbue points an item has. All crafted items now have the maximum number of imbue points for their level. For example, all level 51 crafted items have 32 imbue points. All level 49 crafted items have 31 imbue points.

- There is now a 30% chance to skill up woodworking by repairing doors that are within 50 points of your skill level to repair. Example: You will gain skill points if you have between 200 and 249 points in woodworking on a wood5 door. 

- All crafted weapons will now have a 5% bonus to their chance to hit. This bonus makes crafted weapons equal to Artifacts and Champion weapons in their ability to hit players or monsters.

- The harp recipes in Fletching for Albion and Hibernia have had their skill requirements upped to fill in gaps, allowing players more options for skilling up at those ranges.

- Tinctured bows (and crossbows) now have appropriate sellback values that take into account the added cost to craft them.

- The Wreath, Crown, Circlet, Steeple Hat patterns have been removed from all hat recipes.

New Recipes

- New specialty shield recipes have been added to Weaponcrafting in all three realms. These new shield recipes feature the predetermined 5th slot bonus.

- Craftable harp recipes have been added to Fletching in all three realms. These harps range from levels 26 to 51 and include versions with the predetermined 5th slot bonus. 

- Roleplay hat recipes are now available for armorcrafting and tailoring in all realms. Recipes range from level 31 to 51, including specialty recipes for hats with the predetermined fifth slot bonus. The available hats are listed below:

Albion: Woodsman’s Cap, Jester Hat, Tarboosh - Available for all armor types.

Midgard: Fur-Trimmed Cap, Wolf-Head Helm – Available for all armor types. Winged-Helm – Available in Chain (Valkyrie only).

Hibernia: Woodsman’s Cap, Leaf Hat, Antlered Helm – Available for all armor types.

- Humanoid and Monstrous costume potions have been added to Alchemy for each realm. Please note that the costume potions cannot be used in any RvR zone.

Titles

- Tradeskill rank titles are now available via the /title window. Once selected, the rank title will display underneath your character's name.

- To switch the rank titles to a different tradeskill, speak to the appropriate tradeskill trainer, and then use /title. For example: If you are currently set as an Armorcrafter and wish to display your Weaponcrafter rank titles instead, speak to the Weaponcrafter trainer to switch the titles.

Legacy Crafter Rewards

- Steward Elirnus, Steward Arva, and Steward Barnas, located in the capital cities, are offering gifts to those who already had significant skill in a tradeskill at the time of the patch. These gifts will allow the crafter to guarantee their chances of creating a masterpiece item. Their charges are limited based on the level of skill the crafter already possessed.

- Crafters with 400 to 999 skill in their primary tradeskill prior to Version 1.87 will receive a Major Crafter's Focus with 5 charges.

- Crafters with 1000 or higher skill in their primary tradeskill prior to Version 1.87 will receive a Perfect Crafter's Focus with 10 charges.

- Crafters that have skilled up in a tradeskill prior to version 1.87 will receive a special title to recognize their achievements. The title "Honored Crafter" will be issued out to any character with 400-999 skill in their primary tradeskill. The title "Revered Crafter" will be issued out to any character with 1000 or higher skill in their primary tradeskill.

Restriction Removal

- Characters can now skill up completely in any tradeskill. The system of primary and secondary tradeskills (where secondary tradeskills were capped according to the current skill amount the primary tradeskill) has been removed.

- Tradeskills no longer have class restrictions. A character can choose any tradeskill.

- Characters can now have multiple tradeskills. To pick up a tradeskill a character does not have, speak to the tradeskill trainer. Please note that there is no limit to the amount of tradeskills a character can have. Your character can now choose and skill up in all of them.

Skill Increase Changes

- Skill increase chances on tradeskills are now standardized according to the recipe's con.

- You will have a 45% chance to receive a skill increase on red con recipes.

- You will have a 55% chance to receive a skill increase on orange con recipes.

- You will have a 45% chance to receive a skill increase on yellow con recipes.

- You will have a 30% chance to receive a skill increase on blue con recipes.

- You will have a 15% chance to receive a skill increase on green con recipes.

- You will not be able to receive skill increases on grey con recipes.

Failure Changes

- Critical failures have been removed from the tradeskill system. You will no longer lose craft ingredients upon failing to craft an object.

- Failure chances on tradeskills are now standardized according to the recipe's con.

- You will have a 32% chance to fail on red con recipes.

- You will have a 16% chance to fail on orange con recipes.

- You will have an 8% chance to fail on yellow con recipes.

- You will not be able to fail on blue, green, or grey con recipes.

Time to Craft Changes

- Craft times on recipes are now standardized according to the recipe's con.

- Grey con recipes will take only 40% of the normal craft time.

- Green con recipes will take only 60% of the normal craft time.

- Blue con recipes will take only 80% of the normal craft time.

- Yellow, Orange, and Red con recipes will take the normal craft time.

Quality Changes

- The minimum crafted quality is now 96%. Crafters will now have, roughly, a 24% chance to craft an item that is 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% quality.

- Masterpiece (100% quality) chance has not been changed.

Overcharging

- The overcharge system has been changed so that the quality of spellcraft gems are no longer used to determine the success or failure of an overcharge. Overcharge success or failure now relies solely upon the quality of the object being spellcrafted, the number of points overcharged, and the skill level of the spellcrafter.

- At 1000 skill, a spellcrafter has a 10% chance to critically fail a 5 point overcharge on a 100% quality item.

- Critical failures are now defined as failures in which the spellcrafter explodes and spellcraft gems used are destroyed. The item being spellcrafted is no longer destroyed with a critical failure.

1/03/07 Hope everyone had a great holiday! There's a lot of buzz going on about the upcoming and much-anticipated "crafter love" 1.87 patch coming up (slated for 1/10/07 according to the Herald). Rather than post the tons of test notes, I'll just link it for your reference here in case you didn't catch it.

Once the changes go live, I will update this site to reflect patch 1.87 (particularly the guide and FAQ pages) as some of the existing info will be no longer relevant.  As always, I really  appreciate the feedback and will incorporate any new info that some of you have sent my way lately after the patch in an ongoing effort to try to keep the site as beneficial and accurate as possible.

One quick note:  Stable Eroding Arcanium Tincture (charge) recipe has been updated to correctly show range as 300 units.