Taking up a Tradeskill

Your character actually has two classes: an Adventure class and a Tradeskill class. Your Tradeskill class has its own experience bar, and earns its own levels. You can see these in your Persona window. You even have a separate section in your Knowledge Book for Tradeskill abilities.

You can choose to develop a tradeskill as a side activity to your adventuring career, or you can focus your character exclusively on tradeskill progression. EQ2 was designed to make the tradeskill career interesting and rewarding in its own right. In this guide, we'll introduce you to the tradeskill classes and the mechanics of crafting items.

How it Works
Initially, you are a generic Artisan. If you choose to develop your tradeskill, then you'll choose a Tradeskill Class later, as you rise in levels.

The general process of creating an item looks like this:
 * 1) Scribe the recipe in your Recipe Book.
 * 2) Get the materials that are specified in the recipe.
 * 3) Find a crafting station for this tradeskill.
 * 4) Start the crafting process.
 * 5) Use your crafting skills to create the item.

We'll discuss these steps in a bit more detail. Then afterward, we'll take a survey of the tradeskill classes that you can choose from.

Your Recipe Book

 * Main Article: List of Recipes

Press B to open your Recipe Book, or choose "Recipes" from the EQII Menu. Your Recipe Book will also open whenever you click on a crafting station. Here you have a list of all recipes that you have scribed.

If you're a new Artisan, then the list of recipes may be short. But after a few levels, the list of recipes will get very long. A filter helps you to narrow down the list to the types of recipes that you're interested in, or if you know the name of the item you want to create, then you can find a recipe by its name. If you have a crafting station targeted, then the list is also filtered to match the crafting station.

Examining Recipes
When you click on a recipe in the Recipe Book, a tooltip popup shows you the ingredients that are required, and whether you currently possess those ingredients in your inventory. If you don't have an ingredient, then it's written in red. The type of crafting station is also listed; you'll need to find one of these crafting stations before you can use this recipe.

Learning New Recipes
To add a recipe to your book, you obtain the recipe on a scroll, right-click it and choose "Scribe". This is the same process that's used to learn a new spell or combat art.

There are two "tiers" of recipes to be found in EQ2:
 * Essential Recipes: these are sold by Crafting Trainer NPCs around Norrath. Each time you gain a level in your tradeskill, you can learn a new book of essential recipes for that level.  These recipes will create Handcrafted items.
 * Advanced Recipes: these are found by other means, usually in treasure chests dropped by monsters, or occasionally from certain quests. The only exception is the first tier (levels 2 through 9), which are sold by Crafting Trainer NPCs.  These recipes will create Mastercrafted items.

Getting Materials

 * Main Articles: Fuel, Harvestables

Crafters need raw materials in order to make their goods. The recipe in your Recipe Book will tell you what materials you need when you examine it. There are two types of materials that you'll need:
 * Fuel and basic materials: purchased from NPC merchants. These are readily available next to almost all crafting stations.
 * Raw materials: harvested from out in the world. You can buy raw materials that other players collect, through the Broker, or you can go out and harvest the raw materials yourself.

As you gain each new tier of tradeskill level, your raw materials will come from the next tier of outdoor zone, which means that it takes better harvesting skills to harvest them, and the harvesting will take place in more dangerous zones. (See the guide to Tiers.) There are three types of raw materials to be found out in the world, that you can use in your recipes:
 * Common materials: these items are used in Essential recipes, and will create Handcrafted items.
 * Uncommon materials: these items are used to create Imbued items (whether handcrafted or mastercrafted).
 * Rare materials: these items are used in Advanced recipes, and will create Mastercrafted items.

Harvesting tools exist that can help in the tedious task of harvesting. The common tools, made by woodworkers, reduce the time to complete a harvesting attempt. The tinkered tools also provide a boost to your harvesting skill, increasing the chance for success and the chance to find rare materials.

Finding a Crafting Station

 * Main Article: Tradeskill Stations

Crafting stations provide artisans with locations at which to make their wares. In order to work on your tradeskill, you must stand near one of these crafting stations. You don't have to target the crafting station, but if you click on it, your Recipe Book will open automatically. Each type of artisan works at a different type of crafting station (there are seven types in all).

You'll find crafting stations scattered around all of the cities and various villages in Norrath. In the old cities, crafting stations can also be found in traditional tradeskill instances. Some special crafting stations are even found in the more dangerous adventuring locations, where you may need the assistance of adventurers to reach and use it. If you belong to a higher-level guild, you may even be able to buy crafting stations for your own house.

The Crafting Process
Select a recipe in your Recipe Book and press "Create". If you have all of the necessary ingredients, then you are taken to a summary page, listing the ingredients that will be consumed. Press the "Begin" button and the crafting process begins. You'll see two bars at the top your crafting window: a blue progress bar, and a green durability bar.

Your goal is to make the blue bar fill up faster than the green bar shrinks.
 * If the blue bar fills up, then you've successfully created the item.
 * If the green bar shrinks below a certain level, then the quality of the item will be lower.
 * If the green bar shrinks all the way, then you've failed to create the item.

The top pair of bars show your overall progress. This is what you want to focus on. The lower four sets of bars show your progress through each sub-step, and you can generally ignore them.

Crafting Events
Every few seconds during the crafting process, an event occurs. This is not too different from combat. These events can lower your durability, or slow your progress. Occasionally you'll even get a beneficial event. If left unchecked, these events might cause you to fail to create the item. You'll use your Crafting Skills to respond to the events.

Each time an event occurs, its name and icon are shown in the bottom left of the crafting window. Click your crafting skill that has the same icon, within four seconds, to respond to the event and reduce its negative effects.

Your Crafting Skills

 * Main Article: Tradeskill Skillsets

Your crafting skills are helpfully included within the Crafting Window, along the bottom, so you don't have to hunt through the Knowledge Book to find them. You can examine them and activate them directly in the Crafting Window.

You have three Crafting Skills for each tradeskill. You'll find them in your Knowledge Book, in the Tradeskill section. Actually, you'll find lots of various crafting skills in the Knowledge Book, but you'll only need three of them for each particular recipe. Every 20 levels, you receive an upgraded version of each ability.

As you get more familiar with your Crafting Skills, you can start using them in between crafting events, to try to hasten the crafting process or to improve the durability. However, notice that there's a cooldown timer on each crafting skill. There's always a chance that you'll need the skill for an event in the next few seconds, so there's inherent risk in using the skill when it's not needed.

''Note: You no longer need to look through your knowledge book for crafting skills. At the bottom of the crafting window, the best skills are automatically updated and available for use. The first 3 will improve your durability and the last 3 will improve your progress.''

Tradeskill Classes

 * Main Article: Tradeskilling

The tradeskill classes are organized in a hierarchical fashion. You begin as a generic Artisan, and then specialize at level 10 and again at level 20.


 * Artisan: At levels 2-9 you are a generic Artisan, and can try all of the tradeskills.
 * Class: At level 9 you must choose one of three classes: Craftsman, Outfitter, or Scholar. You'll belong to your chosen class from levels 10-19.
 * Subclass: At level 19 you must choose one of three subclasses. You will belong to your chosen subclass for the rest of your tradeskilling career.
 * Craftsmen must choose between Provisioner, Woodworker, and Carpenter.
 * Outfitters must choose between Armorer, Tailor, and Weaponsmith.
 * Scholars must choose between Alchemist, Jeweler, and Sage.

Changing Your Mind
You can respecialize your tradeskill whenever you choose - but be warned! Changing your mind means you are converted back into a level 9 Artisan. You lose all of your tradeskill experience and recipes beyond level 9, and must earn all of those levels and recipes from scratch.
 * To respecialize your tradeskill, visit a Tradeskill Career Counselor NPC in any of the cities.

Secondary Tradeskills
In addition to your Tradeskill Class, you can choose to adopt one of the following Secondary Tradeskills:
 * Tinkerer: make a wide variety of gadgets, that cast useful spells, from common harvested items.
 * Transmuter: break down "valuable" items into basic components, then create Adornments with them.

Secondary tradeskill classes are actually skill-based:
 * Your secondary tradeskill is described by a skill number, rather than a level.
 * Your secondary tradeskill is listed in the Skills -> Tradeskills tab of your Persona window.
 * Your secondary tradeskill is limited to 5 times your highest level - either your Adventure level or your Tradeskill level.

Your Tradeskill Career

 * Main Article: Tradeskill Timeline

Much of your advancement will come from creating items and gaining tradeskill experience in doing so. You can advance even faster, and get rewards at the same time, by doing tradeskill quests and tradeskill writs.

Crafting Tutorial

 * Main Article: Crafting Tutorial

You get started on your tradeskill by visiting a Crafting Tutorial NPC. You'll find one of these in each of the starting cities, in the crafting district. The tutorial quests give the artisan experience with the various crafting professions, the first 7 recipe books, and a crafting tunic with bonuses. When done, the artisan will be ready to talk to a Crafting Trainer to choose a crafting class. Assuming no failures, you will need to harvest (or buy) 1 jum jum, 5 rawhide leather, 3 malachite, 5 raw elm, 7 tin clusters, 6 raw root, 5 lead clusters, and 2 leaded loam.

Grandmaster Service Quests

 * Main Article: Craftsman Timeline

At certain levels, you can do special tradeskill quests for the Grandmaster in your home city. These quests earn you tradeskill experience and might earn you a book of advanced recipes.

A Service Quest is available at each tier of levels from the 20's through the 60's. These quests require you to go out and harvest raw materials and/or find certain NPCs, and then craft a few items. As a reward, you get a book of advanced recipes for your current tier, and in some cases, a special cloak that is specific to your tradeskill class.

Work Orders and Rush Orders

 * Main Article: Tradeskill Writs

Tradeskill Writs are a special type of tradeskill based quests that can be taken in order to earn coin, tradeskill experience, Status, and Faction. These are the bread-and-butter quests for advancing your tradeskill. Writs come in 2 types:
 * Work Orders: these are untimed quests. You cannot obtain them until you've fully specialized in a crafting profession, at level 20.
 * Rush Orders: these are timed quests. They require half as many crafts as Work Orders, and reward more faction and status.

In each tradeskilling area you'll find two Foremen that offer writs. All work orders come from one foreman, and rush orders from the other. After talking with the foreman and accepting the quest, the writ does not begin until you "pick up" your invoice. There is a Work Orders Desk near the foremen that is clickable. Clicking the desk will locate your invoice and "begin" the writ. If it is a Rush Order, the timer starts NOW!

While you create your items, they are collected automatically by the shop steward's staff and do not go into your inventory. As each line item of the invoice is completed, the shop steward will check your work for quality and reimburse you for your fuel. When you complete the entire invoice, return to the foreman that gave you the job for a small cut of the sale price of the goods, and the warm feeling that comes from a job well done (the promised coin reward and some faction).

Tradeskilling Faction

 * Main Article: Tradeskilling Factions

Tradeskilling factions are the "5th faction" in each city, representing the hardworking tradeskilling artisans. You improve your standing with these factions each time you complete a Tradeskill Writ.

At each crafting area, a merchant sells standard fuels and the typical faction-based items, such as exclusive house items, titles, and fluff armor. To buy the faction items, you must reach certain tiers of faction with that group (usually at multiples of 10k. i.e., 10k 20k 30k) by doing Tradeskill Writs. The faction merchants also sell crafting stations for your house, but substantial faction is required: 10k for the "Simple" stations (crude craft only, mostly for decoration only) or 30k faction for the "Elaborate" stations (up to pristine).

Higher Level Quests
Here are some rewarding quests to look forward to at the upper levels in your tradeskill:


 * Fallen Dynasty: At level 50 in your tradeskill, you can do a quest on the Isle of Mara which rewards you with a trophy item for your tradeskill class, and a very large bag.
 * Moors of Ykesha: After completing the Ship Out quest series in the Moors of Ykesha, a large set of faction quests open up to you on the Isle of Mara, with both solo and group tradeskill missions. They are not part of the Fallen Dynasty Timeline but progress from the Moors to a more neutral area that can be accessed by characters of all levels safely.
 * Kunark Quests: Two quest lines are available at level 68 and above. The first one rewards you with a sokokar, which is the means of travel on the continent of Kunark.  The second one rewards you by improving your faction with the three major factions in Kunark where crafting can be performed: Riliss, Bathezid's Watch, and Danak Shipyards.  Getting these factions high enough enables you to buy advanced recipes unique to each faction.

The Artisan Epic

 * ''Main Article: Artisan Epic Timeline

At level 80 in your tradeskill, you can undertake your most difficult set of quests yet. The final reward is the valuable, which enables you to see and collect a special set of collection quests (Red Shinies). You also earn a prestigious cloak with a special graphic specific to your tradeskill class, and the title of "Master".

Commissioned Work for Other Players

 * Main Article: Commission System

The Commission System allows you to offer your tradeskill expertise to another player, and optionally to be paid for it. The buyer provides the materials, and watches your progress in a simplified version of the Item Creation screen. When the job is complete, the buyer receives the resulting items automatically.

To begin a commission job, both the crafter and the customer must stand near the crafting station to be used. The crafter opens their recipe book, finds the recipe, targets the customer, and then begins to craft like normal. The crafter and the customer are each presented with a different screen, with the crafter waiting on the customer to proceed. At this point, the customer can add whatever they want to in the window, similar to a normal trade. Much like a trade, both parties must agree on the terms to continue.

Once both people have agreed to the terms, the tradeskill window continues to operate as normal and the commission window stays open to allow the customer to see the overall progress of the crafting process as it occurs. Once the crafting process is complete, the finished product(s) will go into the customer's inventory and the fee will go into the crafter's coin purse.

Looking for Work
You can advertise to other players that you are available to do crafting work. The "Looking for Work" (LFW) flag is similar to the "Looking for Group" flag that adventurers use to find each other. Other players can search for crafters who are Looking for Work. If you want to sell your skills, try typing "/lfw on" and see if business comes your way.

Harvesting

 * ''Main Article: Harvesting

If you're a crafter low on funds, or if you just prefer the feeling of being fully self-sufficient, harvesting your own materials is a good way to go. Maximize your skill level, seek out the less-traveled spots, get harvesting tools to make the task more efficient, and put on some good music. Before you know it, you'll have stacks of materials ready to use, and a lot of gold or platinum still in the bank that you can spend on something else.

And all that stuff you harvested but don't need? Sell it! Not only do you save money, you can get paid back for the time you spent digging in the dirt! ;)

Harvesting Skills

 * ''Main Article: Tiers

Harvesting nodes vary by tier, requiring a higher minimum skill to harvest in each successive tier. View the required minimum skill for a particular node by right-clicking the node and selecting 'Examine'. Or, just try to harvest the node; if you're below the minimum required skill, you'll get a helpful message that lists your skill and the minimum requirement. If your skill is too low, then you must go to a lower tier zone and work on your harvesting skills there.

Harvesting skills have a chance to improve with each harvest attempt. Harvesting skills are capped by your level (either tradeskill or adventure, whichever is higher) times five. Checking your skill levels in the "Persona" window of your user interface is a quick way to get a complete overview of your skill progress.

Certain quests contain harvesting tasks. If you harvest here and there, you'll keep your skills rising so when it's time to get resources in a quest, you won't have hours of make-up chopping and fishing to do.

Harvesting Tools

 * Main Article: Harvesting Tools

Many harvesting tools are available to reduce harvest time by a varying amount and/or provide a bonus to harvesting skills. They are made by woodworkers or tinkerers. These tools reduce the time taken to complete a harvesting attempt. The tinkered items also provide a boost to your harvesting skill, increasing the chance for success and the chance to find rare items.