Since you're talking about sages, let me chime in: lvl 70 sage here.I can easily work around the chains of failures and if I'm not taking "risks" I never get anything below apprentice 4; for risks I mean when I go berserk with progress buffs during rush orders.My way of crafting spells.I put on a clean hotbar the 3 durability buffs followed by the 3 progress buffs in this order (referring to the icon): 1:head, 2:runes 3:hand (durability), 4:head, 5:runes, 6:hand (progress). 2 and 5 have a power cost (for tier 7 the power cost is 20% for durability 16% for progress so I can't spam them at all.When I click begin, I start using 4 and 3 and keep going with them in between "ticks" (every few seconds): hotkey 4 adds progress and decreases durability, hotkey 3 adds durability and decreases success chance. The amount of durability gained and lost is the same, so on a "normal" tick, I just gain the +progress losing the -10 standard durability. Whenever the rune icon is required by an event I push 2 or 5 depending if I need durability or progress, but, here's the key, most of the time I use the progress one. Sometimes you just need that blue bar to advance instead of trying to gain a little bit of the green one.When durability gets too low (around 15-20% of the 4th bar), I switch to 1+3 and sometimes to 1+2+3 if power permits, then get back to my pattern when durability goes back to 40% or so of the 4th bar.The power using buffs are rarely used unless required to counter an event and even then, sometimes I just don't counter it and keep doing my 4+3 combo.Rarely, if durability is very high, I go with 4+6 to get big progress jumps, even 4+5+6 at times if I'm in a rush.The first thing to learn when crafting is the tempo: you need to time your 4 seconds buffs in between the 3 seconds ticks: every 3 seconds the server advance your crafting, sometimes popping an event (to counter) sometimes not. It goes usually like this: tick-> 4+3 ->tick -> 4+3 -> etc.Buffs last for 4 seconds and recast in less than that, so it's possible to always have them up when the server ticks.I always keep the "head" icon first in my chain, because it can happen that I'm a bit behind the ticks (because of lag etc.) and I push the button the moment an event pops: if "Sage's insight" pops I tend to always counter it succesfully and get the sweet +25 to scribing and the spell I'm doing completed with little effort. Yesterday I missed a flawless scribing (rune icon) because of lag which would have granted me a rare item (oh, the swearing...), but I never missed a Sage's insight.Hope this helps.P.S.: try to get a tinkerer to craft you the "thinghy" for an extra success chance, I have a +2% one and I noticed it definitely helps. Can't remember how it's called tho.P.P.S.: I have several crafters (woodworker, jeweler and soon carpenter) and I use pretty much this "system" with all of them. It allows me to get only pristines in a timely manner. I live and breathe by rush orders since they have been implemented: great exp, couple extra coins and fuel costs covered. This way I get to finish them with always 1:30m to 2m left on the timer.
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"In war it doesn't matter who's right, only who's left..."
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09-13-2007, 12:53 AM
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Especially if you're a spell-making class. It's bee a real prevalent issue lately since XP is so fast.And, just for argument's sake, not everyone finds crafting painful, lol. The good news is you absolutely do not have to do it if you really can't stand it.The other good news is the tradeskill arts will be getting a revamp with Kunark, which may make things less painful.
RESULTAppIV (usually with full durability) AND full power (so I can start right away with the next spell in my rush order - I've never had to put recipes on my hotbar)OTHER TIPSRead the descriptions of your buffs and use the buffs every tick.Use your artisan's tunic that you got for completing the tradeskill quest when you were level 6. Unequip all gear that adds power (I wear the Bloodline stuff because I don't like the long-john look).End all of your buffs that add power or add to a stat that raises your toon's power.Use power totems.Do the tradeskill quest on the Isle of Mara for the cool charm that really helps.Ask a tinkerer to make that "thingy" for your other charm slot.Remember that you usually only have to type the first few letters of a recipe in the box to find it.The recipe you probably want is usually going to be at the bottom of the list - so look there first.If you are a wizard (as many sages are), remember that you have three spells that "refill" your power at the expense of your health.BTWRush orders really do give you the maximum return on your investment (especially if you're out of vitality).Have fun! 
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