Basic crafting questions

So I've not had the time or inclination to study "crafting" which appears to require a four-year degree to understand. My attempts to do anything in the crafting hall were completely futile.

So yesterday I happened to acquire a "trinket" from a chest designated as "craftable +5."

This intrigued me since I've never been able to do much of anything with the trinket inventory spot. So I started messing around in the hall. I bought some shards of potential and actually mangaed to get those machines to do something. I increased it to craftable +8, and have the shards to increase it to +10.

So I'm looking at what can be added. +1 to this and that? +1 to hide skill? That's it? I have a cloak that gives me +10 that could probably be had in the auction for 2000pp or less. +1 to move silently? Come on.

My character is a DwS Ranger (lvl 9) /Rogue (lvl 1) so I don't have much use for spellcasting. Is there the ability to enhance character stats (DEX, STR etc) with a trinket? If so, does it stack with other enhancements?

Maybe more open-ended. What could I do with this thing?

First, nice pull on the trinket.

Second, this is a decent place to start for seeing what can go on what.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Cannith_Crafting/Shard_Details

I know there are crafting planners out there but I don't have any urls handy.

http://cannith.cubicleninja.com

Is a great resource. Your crafting levels are low, so you'll have to increase your crafting levels, or acquire unbound shards in order to get many of these crafting shards.

Cool, thanks for the links. I think I have a decent handle on what the shards can do, but not the basics.

For example, if a shard offers +5 to a skill, does that stack with any other enhancements I might already be wearing? I have a modified DEX of 30, so my dexterity-based skills are already very high. Does it make sense to keep adding or am I already "capped out" on those certain skills?

Another question - I have a Striding Ring +25%. When I wear it, I assumed my Longstrider spell (+15) doesn't do anything. When I check my combat chat, it says they don't stack and that my running speed bonus is 20%. Why not 25%?

So, I was thinking, can I "remove" the Striding +25% from the ring and apply it to the trinket instead (so I can use the abundance of rings for something else)?

Ah, I see "Striding" only applies to rings and boots. So I'm guessing the answer is no.

Can you shed light on how the striding modifier works with the +25% ring and the +15% spell?

So I found a "Detect Secret Doors" shard that will auto-detect any secret doors you come near. This would be excellent for my 8 INT character who can't search for anything. So how many "+s" would that consume on the trinket? If the trinket is craftable +10, does that mean I can keep adding shards to it until I reach +10?

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Originally Posted by baccaruda

So I found a "Detect Secret Doors" shard that will auto-detect any secret doors you come near. This would be excellent for my 8 INT character who can't search for anything. So how many "+s" would that consume on the trinket? If the trinket is craftable +10, does that mean I can keep adding shards to it until I reach +10?

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On any given item you can apply one prefix and one suffix (for armor and weapons you can also apply a plus shard - i.e. +1 to +5).

Each shard you'll want to add will be either a prefix OR a suffix, so you'll have to pick and choose which pairing you want for your trinket.

Detect secret doors is a +2 potential shard (suffix), so without increasing the potential on the trinket at all you could add up to a +3 prefix shard (there are approximately 143 different shards that fit the limitations of being a prefix shard, no more than +3 potential and will go on a trinket)


-JJ

For a prefix, since you're a ranger I'm thinking devotion to boost your self-healing.

Thanks for the help, I'm strating to understand this I think. I notice that some of the lower level shards say "no prefix." Does that mean they don't take up a prefix spot and you can add them in addition to a prefix and suffix?

Damn, Devotion would have been ideal since my two characters are a Ranger and a Paladin. I've already gone down the path of Arcane, however, and most my money and resources are now gone. This is outrageously expensive. I'm kinda wishing I'd never found the stupid trinket now.

I still like the Secret Doors thing, so I need an Arcane prefix. Would the Empower Healing shard be good?

One other question - I can wipe these shards off the trinket at any time and apply new shards, right?

Crafting takes a lot of time and money to raise to the higher levels to be able to craft what you want. Might I suggest seeing if any guild mates or friends can craft an unbound for you if you don't want to craft in the end?

If you really do want to craft, best suggestion, save up A LOT of essences, a few hundred of each if possible and sit down and craft til you are empty, then break all the new shards down and start over til you have nothing( of course keep any shards that interest you). That will give you a nice boost to crafting levels and get you to a few decent recipes you can craft. Then just save up and repeat. Those of us that broke 100 crafting in each school spend A LOT of time farming, or more money then I can to contemplate to level it, and many many hours of getting carpal tunnel from repeated clicks of the mouse.

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Originally Posted by baccaruda

One other question - I can wipe these shards off the trinket at any time and apply new shards, right?

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Yes you can, just put in back in the first machine and pick the option that gives you the item back, bam, fresh and new and shiny and clean again!

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Originally Posted by baccaruda

I still like the Secret Doors thing, so I need an Arcane prefix. Would the Empower Healing shard be good?

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Only if you took the empower healing feat. (That shard makes the feat cheaper when you use it.)

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Originally Posted by baccaruda

One other question - I can wipe these shards off the trinket at any time and apply new shards, right?

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Yep.



I'd recommend you get a crafter to make the shards you want for you via unbound crafting. Leveling up your own crafter is a worthy goal, but trying to gain huge chunks to craft something useful now isn't really viable.

If you're on Argo I'd be happy to craft up a couple shards for you.

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Originally Posted by EllisDee37

Only if you took the empower healing feat. (That shard makes the feat cheaper when you use it.)

Yep.



I'd recommend you get a crafter to make the shards you want for you via unbound crafting. Leveling up your own crafter is a worthy goal, but trying to gain huge chunks to craft something useful now isn't really viable.

If you're on Argo I'd be happy to craft up a couple shards for you.

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That'd be awesome.

I didn't realize the expense when I started out on this. I ran through a couple hundred greaters and another 100k pp, but still am only lvl 29 in just Arcane. I pretty much shot the entire bankroll for a novelty trinket that will allow me to loot an extra 100pp per quest.

My payback period is about 10,000 quests now I think (assuming there's a secret door here and there).

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Originally Posted by LordRavnos

Crafting takes a lot of time and money to raise to the higher levels to be able to craft what you want. Might I suggest seeing if any guild mates or friends can craft an unbound for you if you don't want to craft in the end?

If you really do want to craft, best suggestion, save up A LOT of essences, a few hundred of each if possible and sit down and craft til you are empty, then break all the new shards down and start over til you have nothing( of course keep any shards that interest you). That will give you a nice boost to crafting levels and get you to a few decent recipes you can craft. Then just save up and repeat. Those of us that broke 100 crafting in each school spend A LOT of time farming, or more money then I can to contemplate to level it, and many many hours of getting carpal tunnel from repeated clicks of the mouse.

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No question I underestimated this. Good advice.

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Originally Posted by baccaruda

That'd be awesome.

I didn't realize the expense when I started out on this. I ran through a couple hundred greaters and another 100k pp, but still am only lvl 29 in just Arcane. I pretty much shot the entire bankroll for a novelty trinket that will allow me to loot an extra 100pp per quest.

My payback period is about 10,000 quests now I think (assuming there's a secret door here and there).

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Crafting is actually VERY powerful, it lets you have gear you couldn't normally loot, or if you can loot it my be incredibly rare. The ability to say "I'm going to be fighting a lot of undead for the next 6 levels, I think I'll craft a +1 holy maul of undead bane" is very powerful. As an archer you could craft a holy + greater undead bane bow with +1 undead bane arrows. Same for constructs, etc. Being able to have invulnerability armor, detect secret doors (permanent), feather falling at level 1? Melee/ranged alacrity? Invulnerability + life shield armor? It gives you great control over your inventory. Short of very difficult to acquire and rare gear a crafted holy burst silver greater bane weapon is the best DPS for bosses at level 20+. The investment is steep, but worthwhile. BTW, most any item can be deconstructed for crafting, the exception being TRINKETS. Trinkets are all named, so finding a (rare drop) craftable trinket is a VERY nice find BTW.

dont forget you can make shards of potential, then the fun starts. make sure to lookup the shard you want to use and make sure it wont put the lv reg. on the item too high.

I'm figuring out how cool this is. I stripped 2 rapiers and created 2 keen shards. I'm going to make one puncturing and the other enfeebling.

My next question is the +1 through +5 enhancement potions that I've stripped from chest weapons. How do I craft those onto the rapiers? When I try it says they're not compatible.

I'm working on getting those treaters for you, Ellis. Thanks so much for that devotion shard.

After you strip the + from an item, go to the crafting machine. There will be a recipe to craft a shard out of the raw + you stripped, then you can put that new shard into the last machine to add it to an item

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Originally Posted by baccaruda

I'm figuring out how cool this is. I stripped 2 rapiers and created 2 keen shards. I'm going to make one puncturing and the other enfeebling.

My next question is the +1 through +5 enhancement potions that I've stripped from chest weapons. How do I craft those onto the rapiers? When I try it says they're not compatible.

I'm working on getting those treaters for you, Ellis. Thanks so much for that devotion shard.

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No worries at all, take as much time as you like. Just an FYI, while I end each session switching to my crafter to decon, I'm currently running my wizard around trying to epic-xp-cap him. His name is Ellismagi, and if you add him as a friend you can ask any questions if we're both online.

The spirits you stripped are crafting ingredients for the actual shards, which are named "Enhancement Bonus." Those are what you put on weapons, shields and armor, and sadly they still only go up to +5.