Any rangers try making their own arrows?

[Aut0Ki]

Through crafting? I am a a new ranger and havent yet taken up crafting, but i hear all the talk about arrows being really really expensive in the higher levels, has anyone tried making their own? Is it worth it?

[hispu]

I tried it...once.

 

There are SO MANY combines, and after all these combines you only get a few arrows. If anyone remembers the quantity of arrows from the different qualities (crude, shaped, pristine, etc) please paste them here.  I think i got two arrows at crude quality, ten at pristine?  I forget the exact numbers, but I remember being horrified by how few arrows I got.  Not worth it - especially when i can go through 4 STACKS of arrows a night (around 400 arrows).

 

I don't think it's worthwhile to attempt to make your own arrows unless the amount of arrows you get from crafting is changed, or the number of sub combines lessened.

 

I don't know any woodworkers out there that even bother to craft arrows (and i have been looking due to the cost of arrows).  One woodworker told me that with the cost of all the subcombines, it wouldn't be any cheaper than buying them from merchant if they made me some.

 

So, I guess the question is, do any of the woodworkers out there bother with arrows ?

 

ps. keep in mind if you're a ranger and you want to make your own arrows, you'll have to keep your adventurer and artisan class levels fairly close.  If your adventurer class gets, say 10 levels ahead of your artisan class - you'll be making iron arrows when really you need carbonite.

 

 

[Kilendr]

I gathered nearly all of my own  resorces and spent several hours trying to make my own arrows but in the end I had spent something like 5 times as much just on fuel to craft as it would have cost just to by the stack and a half I ended up with. In my opinion its not worth it.

[Talaen]

Crafting arrows really isn't worth it until carbonite, and that depends on the time you have.

 

If you're going to try and craft your own arrows, my advice to you is to start stockpiling the components ahead of time.  It's a lot easier to crank out a few hundred arrows if you already have a couple of stacks of arrowheads, fletchings, and staves in the bank ready to go.

 

It takes some careful planning ahead and bank management, but if you do it right you will always have plenty of arrows when you need them.

 

Generally what I do is devote a good hour or two to crafting every couple of days.  Sometimes this is a harvesting run, other times it's making stuff to sell, or making arrow components, or whatever.  So far, it's worked out well.

 

[Boos]

To be honest, with adept lvl Makeshift Arrows your 'run of the mill' fights will be catered for.  When you get your Rip skill, make sure you use it every fight as this 'tears and arrow from the opponent, doing damage'.  With the 30sec recast on Rip, you should be using it every single fight, it gives you one feyiron arrow per fight and sometimes 2 if the fights lasts longer than 30secs.  Switching between makeshift carbonite, feyiron and merchant bought arrows should keep you going for pretty much every eventuality and quite cheaply.

 

 

[Gavranch]

I have and still do.  I'll use the tier2 as an example for pricing since I haven't calculated out the tier3 Carbonite (and I don't have the recipies yet to try, only a lvl 21 woodworker).  Other posters are correct in that there is a lot of combining you need to do.  To make an arrow, you need: 1 iron arrowhead, 1 maple staff, one burlap fletching, and one fuel.  Fortuantly, a woodworker can make each of these componets, so you don't need to buy them from someone else.

 

1 iron bar, temper, one fuel = 3 arrorheads (if you do pristine).  raw iron, temper, fuel to make the iron bar. Only need one arrowhead for your arrow, so sell the other two for 1s each.  Cost, if you already have the raw iron, is two tempers, two fuels and some time, or 6cx2, 26cx2 = 44c.  You make money doing this, if you sell the other two arrowheads (or just keep then for later).

 

I normally just buy the yarn from the merchant for 48c, then refine it to fletching which takes a resin or wash (I forget), and a fuel.  48 + 26 + 6 = 80c for a sngle fletching.

 

The staves are the second step in refining maple, so it takes two resins, and two fules, or also 44c.  You use to be able to sell your scraps, but now you can't.  Oh well.

 

If you make pristine arrows, then you get a stack of 20.  So the cost of one arrow is: (44 + 44+ 80 + 6) /20 = 174/20 = 8.7c

 

That's more per arrow than buying them off the merchants, but you get traindskill XP and, as mentioned, you can still get 2s for the extra arrowheads.  So the real cost of that stack of 20 arros is 174-200, or... a stack of twenty arrows and 26 copper.  That's for your time, I guess, and you can still break even if you fail to make pristine.

 

Plus, if you don't use them, you can sell them on the market.  I sell Hunting arrows for 5c (1c less than from the merchants).  Selling a stack of those funds my whole next round of crafting.

 

For me, I make a half Bodkin arrows and half Hunting arrows so I can switching them out as needed depending on enemy type.  My normal adventuring uses the Makshift arrows, but when we go up agianst a good mob, or if the mob is a lot higher than my level, I pull out the good stuff.

 

 

So, yeah.  It's worth is.  You make something useful, you don't end up spending any cash (you can, in fact, make money doing it), and you get tradeskill XP.

[Gavranch]

I have and still do.  I'll use the tier2 as an example for pricing since I haven't calculated out the tier3 Carbonite (and I don't have the recipies yet to try, only a lvl 21 woodworker).  Other posters are correct in that there is a lot of combining you need to do.  To make an arrow, you need: 1 iron arrowhead, 1 maple staff, one burlap fletching, and one fuel.  Fortuantly, a woodworker can make each of these componets, so you don't need to buy them from someone else.

 

1 iron bar, temper, one fuel = 3 arrorheads (if you do pristine).  raw iron, temper, fuel to make the iron bar. Only need one arrowhead for your arrow, so sell the other two for 1s each.  Cost, if you already have the raw iron, is two tempers, two fuels and some time, or 6cx2, 26cx2 = 44c.  You make money doing this, if you sell the other two arrowheads (or just keep then for later).

 

I normally just buy the yarn from the merchant for 48c, then refine it to fletching which takes a resin or wash (I forget), and a fuel.  48 + 26 + 6 = 80c for a sngle fletching.

 

The staves are the second step in refining maple, so it takes two resins, and two fules, or also 44c.  You use to be able to sell your scraps, but now you can't.  Oh well.

 

If you make pristine arrows, then you get a stack of 20.  So the cost of one arrow is: (44 + 44+ 80 + 6) /20 = 174/20 = 8.7c

 

That's more per arrow than buying them off the merchants, but you get traindskill XP and, as mentioned, you can still get 2s for the extra arrowheads.  So the real cost of that stack of 20 arros is 174-200, or... a stack of twenty arrows and 26 copper.  That's for your time, I guess, and you can still break even if you fail to make pristine.

 

Plus, if you don't use them, you can sell them on the market.  I sell Hunting arrows for 5c (1c less than from the merchants).  Selling a stack of those funds my whole next round of crafting.

 

For me, I make a half Bodkin arrows and half Hunting arrows so I can switching them out as needed depending on enemy type.  My normal adventuring uses the Makshift arrows, but when we go up agianst a good mob, or if the mob is a lot higher than my level, I pull out the good stuff.

 

 

So, yeah.  It's worth is.  You make something useful, you don't end up spending any cash (you can, in fact, make money doing it), and you get tradeskill XP.

[xandez]

 

tin arrows cost 1c / piece, 99c / stack

iron arrows       5c / piece, 4s 95c / stack

carbonite          dunno, but lvl 21 makeshift arrow adept 1 gives you 30 arrows / 10 mins for free

feyiron              77c / piece, 76s 23c / stack, lvl 30 rip gives 1 feyiron arrow (tradeable btw) in 20 secs (well doesnt always succeed, but... )

 

so... i wouldnt bother to make my own arrows, even thou i planned this when i started playing, maybe feyirons, or atleast fulginates would

be worth doing, dunno...

 

basically i havent payed for my arrows since lvl 21 i got my makeshift arrows skill, considering now to buy some stacks of feyiron, but

on the other hand, i can just melee my way till i have a nice stack of those

 

my 2 cents

 

++Xan

 

oh, the prizes may be a bit off, since offline atm

 

AND i have to say, its not USELESS to make your own arrows, yes, you can make even profit and atleast you still get tradeskill xp out of it  

Message Edited by xandez on 01-27-2005 10:07 AM

Message Edited by xandez on 01-27-2005 10:08 AM

[Ren]

i am starting to think of tradeskills for my Ranger, and wood worker would seem like the obvious choice, however arrows, seem too time consuming, and costly from what I have gathered talking to the other high level woodworkers on the server, so go with what you want, however, a tier5 rare piece bow is pretty damned uber, so i might do woodworker, to make myself an uber bow later on, when i can equip tier5 bows, etc.

[hispu]

Still not worth it really, it's so easy to just buy a very good bow.

I have a rare crafted pristine oakwood long bow which i think will last me to level 40.

 

[Zephy]

Stormfire is a very good bow as well.  I replaced my oakwood with it.  Stormfire's "yellow" to lvl 34.  It's nice, that is, if you dare do the quest from Sir Valinayle in Stormhold.  It can be frustrating to camp. :smileymad:

[Talaen]

A lot of people think of Woodworker as a fletcher - but that's not really true.  I'd caution anyone thinking of choosing woodworker just to make bows and arrows.

 

What woodworkers -really- do, is make brawler weapons and shields.  The monks and pallies I know love me, and even the guardians get excited when i get a new tower shield recipe.

 

Apart from that, yeah we make bows and arrows too

 

I tend to use my "free" carbonite arrows (from Makeshift Arrows) for general fighting, and I keep a couple of stacks of bodkins, blunts, and crafted hunting arrows in a bag for special things and for when I run out.  Overall, I prefer to only have to make arrows every week to 10 days, and if I didn't have Makeshift Arrows, it would be more like every other day that I had to do it.

 

So anyway if you're trying to decide what tradeskill class to go into - really pick the one you think will be most useful.  The best ones for a ranger in terms of making stuff you can use (off the top of my head) are going to be armorer, weaponsmith, provisioner, jeweler, or woodworker.  But the point of tradeskilling really isn't just making things for yourself (you'll advance slow as molasses if you do), but making things for others, whether that's guildmates or friends or just the market in general.

[JynnSilverst]

Yep, the above guy is right.  You might start out planning to be a Woodworker for arrows, but you won't much longer.  At the craftsman level you'll either be dazzled by the cool furniture and strong boxes, or dazzled by Provisioning because it's completely self-sufficient.  If you still continue on to be Woodworker, things like totems and monk sticks will be the main concern.

 

Having said that, starting with iron hunting/bodkin arrows, you will make (tier level x 5) arrows per combine.  I was making my iron arrows (level 20) as a 14 craftsman, which is sort of a good deal.  Hopefully totems will become more useful in the future though, my tier 2 totems only give enduring breath, ultravision, and some stupid bear and rat illusions which do nothing and can't be used by level 20+ adventurers.  I'm thinking along the lines of short-term, full speed invisibility totems in the higher levels.

[BuddhaM]

I am torn as well, I am a lvl 18 craftsman, lvl 24 ranger, and I don't really need the arrows I make from T2. I have heard that provisioner is easier (read self-contained) and carpenter sounds cool, I just don't know what to do with all the furniture I would have to make. I also heard I can't make my own lumber at a certian lvl as carpenter, but I am not sure how that went.....Anywhos, I have heard that WW is good for bucklers, the bigger shields are not as good as drops sometimes, and making your own arrows. Right now I can't give away my pristine maple longbows. Seriously, nobody will take one for free. The totems are usefull to a point, and you can make buckets of them at a time (3x pristine combine), but they don't stack. I basically would go WW myself only because I am afraid no-one else will, and I will be stuck without some higher lvl stuff, but the other two seem fun. Can anyone provide some feedback on experiences as a carpenter? Is there much profit? is it hard to lvl, because it seems there are a lot of finish recipies and a lot of cross-dependancies...