Tradeskilling has vitality for bonus experience, just like adventuring does. A new character is created with zero vitality. As a result, you should wait a day or two before starting your tradeskill to build up vitality. This will give you double experience for every combine.

First: claim your free bag by typing /claim and choosing the Veteran Reward Pack - 1 day. This will give you a Bag of Endless Adventure with 12 slots. You get one reward for every new character. I would recommend against using the potions that give a bonus to experience at low levels: you will find these much more useful at the high end when things get slow.

Second: speak to a tradeskill delegate. They tend to hang around in tradeskill areas and you can always ask a guard to show you to “Tutorial” and he should point you straight to one. [More...]

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

So the Las Vegas Fan Faire 2008 was a big success and news is making it onto the community sites. Discussions are quickly getting heated and misinformation is already starting to spread.

In order to keep things on an even keel, here’s a quick collection of eye-witness reports and opinions to get you up to speed quickly on the released information. Feel free to add other links and additional details in the comments.

Fan Faire blog offers quick notes about the new expansion:
The Shadow Odyssey News Rollup

Niami writes about guild halls:
Fan Faire 2008 Guild Hall Preview

Massively interview Bruce Ferguson about the new expansion:
Exploring the Shadow Odyssey

Allakhazam and SOE join up to create EQ2 database on ZAM.com:
Allakhazam announces Zam.com, SOE Partnership

Ogrebear wonders if this will kill community sites:
Disappointed by the Zam.Com Announcement

I have to admit that I’m wondering about the community aspects of this. It doesn’t seem to bode well for sites like mine.

Photographs from the Fan Faire:
Flickr Fan Faire Group

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Tradeskilling in Neriak takes place in the underbelly of the city, in the dark, dank caves of Neriak Down Below. You’ll find cave entrances in the area near the Dockside Markets, either side of Adamant Armor. It may not sound the most appealing location but here the Dark Bargainers offer everything a tradeskiller could desire.

Although the location is a bit odd, the process is the same as in other starter zones. When you begin tradeskilling, you are unskilled and referred to as an artisan. As you progress, you will be asked to choose your subclass (scholar, outfitter, craftsman) and eventually your class which will allow you to progress to level 20 and begin doing tradeskill writs.

• Speak to the trainer or the tradeskill delegate to start as a level two artisan.
• Speak to the delegate to start the tutorial for detailed explanations of the tradeskilling process and fast experience.
• Speak to the trainer to choose your specializations at level 9 and 19

Szinjss X’Vemtor is the delegate offering the Tradeskill Tutorial in Neriak. Speak to him to jump to level 2 and get started with your tradeskill career. He’ll then offer you a set of quests to progress you as an artisan at double-speed.

He is located at -174,-0,302

Dilxena D’Xeep is a Crafting Trainer who can get you started as an artisan by increasing your level to 2 and giving you a copy of Artisan Essentials Volume 2. Speak to Dilxena at level 9 and level 19 to choose your tradeskill specializations.

She is located at -186,0,310

Vier N’vul is a Tradeskill Career Counsellor who will allow you to change your tradeskill class choice. This will reset you to level 9 artisan and you will lose all your sub-class and class recipes. Vier is slightly out of the way, in the cave near the north entrance rather than in the room with the other NPCs.

You can find him at -152,-5,256

There are bankers and brokers above ground in Neriak but you’ll find additional representatives in caves. There are many other NPCs in the area, including fuel merchants and writ givers.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Starting a tradeskill in the world of Norrath is fairly straight-forward but it can be helpful to know where the various NPCs are located for the various starting locations.

New characters beginning in Greater Faydark will find that they start gameplay in the Nursery, which does not have a tradeskilling area at all. You will have to wait until you arrive at the platform city of Kelethin - a safe enough journey if you stick to the path - in order to get your basic teachings and to follow the tutorial. For tier one forages, harvest the nodes around the nursery and at the base of Kelethin. As you move further out, you will find the forages shifting to tier two.

Outside of Tunare’s Pages you will find a trainer and a tradeskill delegate to help you get started.

[More...]

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Game Update 47 has a new live event for players to become shadow assailants and fight off the void tempests still threatening Norrath.

This quest progresses on from the quest in GU46 and is quite similar but there are a few critical differences, including that you must clear a Void Tempest storm which is “level appropriate” in order to get the initial update.

Get the Quest

North Freeport
Go to the Academy of Arcane Science and speak to Librarian Motius Feldarn, who is standing at the book shelves near the lifts. He will give you the quest Becoming a Shadow Assailant for Freeport.

South Qeynos
Go to the Concordium and speak to Librarian Dungil who can be reached by taking the blue portal. He will give you the quest Becoming a Shadow Assailant for Qeynos.

Find a Void Tempest

For this initial phase of the quest, you will need to find a storm within your level range to get the update. Void Tempests which spawn gray mobs will not update your quest and if the mobs are green you may not get an update. I found that green storms that were within one level of being gray to me did not update my quest. [More...]

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Tradeskillers used to be known for their pasty white skin and obsessive discussions about reactives and balance. Domino’s arrival on the scene as the new “tradeskill Dev” changed all that with new quest lines and tradeskill epics tempting the tradeskillers out into the open air and … well, not quite adventuring, perhaps, but not far off!

One of the latest additions has been red shinies: collections that are only visible to Master tradeskillers wearing the Earring of the Solstice, part of the tradeskill epic reward. There are six collections, all of which are accessible at low adventure level, although collecting the items is much much easier if you don’t have to dodge the mobs. Each collection rewards a one-of-a-kind furniture item.

The red shinies are simply ?’s to be gathered, like the standard collections seen in adventure zones, except you must be wearing your Earring of the Solstice in order to see them and the shiny / glowy color around them is red.

Before you start, make sure that your Particle Level of Detail is set to max (Particle Effects can be found under Options → Display) so that you can see the ?’s from as far away as possible.

The collection pieces are lore so you can’t stock up on them. However, you don’t have to take collection items you don’t need - if you choose not to loot the item, the ? will fade in two minutes and a new one will appear in a separate location. However, if you are actively hunting for shinies it is faster to clear them.

You can use Gnomish Divining Rods (made by tinkers) to lead you to the location of a shiny near you although you can’t tell if the node is a standard one or a red tradeskill shiny; the tracking display simply shows a ?. However, as you need to have your Earring of the Solstice equipped for the red shinies to show up on the tracking window, you can check the ?’s that show up by unequipping the earring and seeing which ?’s disappear.

You will find these collections in your journal alphabetically under “Tradeskill:”, below the various Tome collections.

Locations

There is one collection per zone, in the following zones: Down Below and Thieves Way, Enchanted Lands, Barren Sky, Fens of Nathsar, Loping Plains, and Steamfont. [More...]

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Game Update 47 is now on the live servers with lots of new content for everyone. Be sure to read the full Patch Notes to see all the changes.

Meanwhile, here’s a quick start guide for those of you raring to go. We’ll have a more detailed update at the weekend.

• The Storm Break quest is live. Go to the Mage Tower in either North Freeport or South Qeynos in order to speak to the quest giver. Note that you will need to go to a “level appropriate zone” in order to complete as there is a chest drop involved. That means if the mobs in Peat Bog are grey to you, you will not be able to get your void tempest updates there.

  Once you have the quest, find a void tempest in a level-appropriate zone. Kill the mobs that spawn from the storm until you get a quest update. The void tempest is now attackable. Kill it and loot the chest for the update. Return to your quest giver to hand in.

  He will not give you a further quest but if you return to the void tempest you can repeat the sequence to gain more rewards (but no quest experience).



• Speak to a Grandmaster in the primary tradeskill areas in order to to get the new level 60 tradeskilling quest: Senior Crafter Service. There’s a write-up of the quest as it was on Test on Allakhazam’s. Note: Provisioners do not get a new Mastery book for this quest.
• Visit faction merchants in order to see the new faction outfits in a dizzying array of colors. You can gain a purple one as a reward for doing the above Grandmaster quest. There’s also a green version for sale in return for the Void Storm coupons. Paxmar shouldn’t have spent all hers!
• There are two new red shiney collections. Eq2traders reports having found one set in Enchanted Lands. That’s five known zones (Barren Sky, Loping Plains, Steamfont, Fens of Nathsar and now Enchanted Lands). The second location is yet to be found so get your solstice earring on and get searching!

If you want to make sure you get the news as quickly as possible, why not subscribe to our newsfeed so that you are notified as soon as we update?

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Starting a tradeskill in the world of Norrath is fairly straight-forward but it can be helpful to know where the various NPCs are located for the various starting locations. The Sarnak race always starts in Timorous Deep and the neutral races have the option of starting there. To learn a tradeskill in Timorous Deep you will need to travel to Gorowyn.

The crafting and residential district of Gorowyn is known as the Ward.

The Academy of Logistics is the tradeskill organization for Gorowyn. Originally a conglomerate of military support divisions, this organization was responsible for the supply and outfitting of the armies.

From the Handbook of the Academy of Logistics

Rozokal Niba’mok is a tradeskill delegate who will take you through the tutorial. This is a set of mini-quests which offer a substantial amount of tradeskill experience. Even if you know the tradeskilling process, it is worth going through the tutorial as it allows for incredibly fast leveling.

Rozokal is located at 2744,123,1130

Dvarkor Ska’nin is a Crafting Trainer located in the southwest corner area of the Ward, near the forges. He will get you started with Artisan Essentials Volume 2 and a quick bump to level 2. Speak to him at levels 9 and 19 to choose your tradeskill specializations.

Dvarkor is located at 2816, 121, 1240.

Salviln Grau’tuz is a Tradeskill Career Counsellor standing near Rozokal. A counsellor will allow you to change your tradeskill class choice by setting you back to level 9 artisan. Note you will lose your sub-class and class recipes in the process.

Salviln is located at 2742,123,1137

In addition, you’ll find workstations and crafting merchants scattered around the area.

Secondary tradeskills (tinkering and transmuting) can only be trained in Faydark.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Starting a tradeskill in the world of Norrath is fairly straight-forward but it can be helpful to know where the various NPCs are located for the various starting locations.

When you begin tradeskilling, you are unskilled and referred to as an artisan. As you progress, you will be asked to choose your subclass (scholar, outfitter, craftsman) and eventually your class which will allow you to progress to level 20 and begin doing tradeskill writs.

Regardless of zone, the general process is the same:

1. Speak to a trainer or a wholesaler who will give you level two and the level two book
2. Speak to a tradeskill delegate (marked with a title of “Tradeskill Tutorial”) who will step you through a tutorial on crafting. This is a set of mini-quests which offer a substantial amount of tradeskill experience. Even if you know the tradeskilling process, it is worth going through the tutorial as it allows for incredibly fast leveling.
3. Return to the trainer at level 9 and level 19 to confirm your sub-class and tradeskill class.

Tradeskill areas (but not instances) will also have a Tradeskill Career Counsellor who will allow you to change your tradeskill class choice (be aware this will reset you to level nine (artisan) and remove all your sub-class and class recipes).

Here is the list of tradeskill NPCs in Freeport for a quick start:

[More...]

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Starting a tradeskill in the world of Norrath is fairly straight-forward but it can be helpful to know where the various NPCs are located for the various starting locations.

When you begin tradeskilling, you are unskilled and referred to as an artisan. As you progress, you will be asked to choose your subclass (scholar, outfitter, craftsman) and eventually your class which will allow you to progress to level 20 and begin doing tradeskill writs.

Regardless of zone, the general process is the same:

1. Speak to a trainer who will give you level two and the level two book
2. Speak to a tradeskill delegate who will step you through a tutorial on crafting. This is a set of mini-quests which offer a substantial amount of tradeskill experience. Even if you know the tradeskilling process, it is worth going through the tutorial as it allows for incredibly fast leveling.
3. Return to the trainer at level 9 and level 19 to confirm your sub-class and tradeskill class.

Tradeskill areas (but not instances) will also have a Tradeskill Career Counsellor who will allow you to change your tradeskill class choice (be aware this will reset you to level nine (artisan) and remove all your sub-class and class recipes).

Here is the list of tradeskill NPCs for Qeynos for a quick start:

[More...]

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.