Artisan Archive

Hello.

I've recently been checking around on these boards, and I've noticed a lot of simple questions that could use answering. I'll give my guide on how I got all the way up to Tailor, and how to get money the easy way. Be warned this might be a bit long, but if you are clueless, I promise this will help you beyond belief.

So, to begin this "guide," I will start with the basics. You're an Artisan. You're in your old clothes, you got your melon or two, the few items you have. Okay, so now, where do you begin? Start off by checking your datapad (ctrl+d) and checking out all the draft schematics you have. Choose an item that looks nice to you and then see the resources it requires. Does it require metal? Use the mineral surveying tool! Does it require fiberplast? Use the chemical surveying tool! But before you go off randomly leveling up, look at all of the Elite professions up top. Weaponsmith, Tailor, Armorsmith, Droid Engineer, Architecht, Chef... do these catch your eye? They better, otherwise Artisan isn't gonna be very fun. But anyway, go survey for some stuff right now and get to building.

So wait, you say you can't find any of that resource in the area? Ah. Well here's the catch - You don't get resources by just sitting on your arse all day. Run around, leave the city... Once you find a 10% patch, follow it until you hit the largest spot. Once you do, click sample, or simply type /sample.

Good, so now you have around 50 metal or 50 fiberplast. Make your item! Wow, that was fun. Now you've made a bunch of items and are beginning to run out of resources. Well that sucks, doesn't it? Here's what to do. Go get yourself some money! How? Well, the best way I do it is by doing delivery missions. I do them from Theed to Moenia and back again. For each round trip I net 3500 credits, so that is a bit of money, no? Okay, so once you get over 5000 credits, check on the Bazaar for a wind harvester. Once you find one, buy it and a Wind Survey tool. Then go look for a high pocket of wind. Set your harvester down there!

So now that your harvester is down, here's how they work. You hold click on it and say "Pay Maintainance." For Wind Harvesters, the price for 1 day is 1440 credits, so put in maybe 1600-2000 credits for good measures. So now you've got your wind harvester all payed off, but nothing is happening! Go to "Operate Machinery," then select "Change Resource." Click on the type of wind and then turn the machine on.

Now here's the deal - These do NOT fill up with 5000 wind in a matter of minutes, they collect a lot after 1 day, so just leave it be and go do some surveying and sampling. Then, go level up all your stuff. I suggest getting Engineering first, that way you can make bone armor. Now, to begin with, I always got my own bones and hides, but later, I dropped Marksman. Just buy bones and hide, but don't necessarily always create the item, do a lot of practicing. Why? Well, quite frankly, no one wants to buy bone armor, unless it costs 50 credits.

Okay, so fast forward a few days or so. You're almost to your elite profession. God, this is taking forever! Here's what I did to get that seemingly unreachable number. Just craft Bone Armor like MAD. Chest plates give you a ton of experience, so just keep practicing on those. Then, go train yourself.

So now you're a Novice Whatever all over again. Here is when you start to sell things. You should go buy a small house and place a vendor in it. Then, later, upgrade to Merchant. Why? Well, Merchant = More vendors = More sales = Happy you. Also, Merchant = Advertising = More sales = Happy you.

Now, you should be set, you should understand the basics of Artisan and whatnot, but you might not know the best way to sell things and get your name out there. Well, one thing that is for sure is that you should never spam ads in front of Starports. This just aggrivates people.

Here's how I got myself known:

• Put a tag on the end of your items, such as "Bone Armor Helmet {Dilbert}"


• Be generous, sell things at a fair price


• Know your competition. Before posting an item on the Bazaar, look to see if it is already posted, and try to beat that price!


• Have good business ethics. Remember that you need to bargain with a lot of customers. Though you may not want to, a sale is a sale is a sale.


• Try to get well known in the local Cantina. Get to know the dancers, musicians, and the injury seekers. This way, you can make sales in there, and in the future, provide them with your wares.


• Advertise with your harvesters! "-4301 2250 for Dilbert's Delicious Desserts!"


• Come up with a swanky name for your store. My Tailor store is called "Hanging by a Thread." Make it something people will remember!

I'm certain there's a lot more to say, and a lot I'm leaving out, but this is what I have learned over my time as a Tailor / Master Artisan, and it is something I value very much. I hope this information helped you!

Good guide

My shop is called Armadillo Armor )

One other trick you didn't mention is to make an item of the type you sell (armor inmy case) and make the name Visit Armadillo Armor at 4100 -4379. Just 700m West of Moenia. Then put it up for sale by AUCTION for 3k, put your best sales pitch in the description and it'll stay there all week telling everyone that looks for armor in that town where to go for an alternative.

Flynn -

As true as it may be that a lot of Artisans promote their stores through the Bazaar, I for one never did that.

Why? I feel that it sometimes aggrivates people. Now, don't get me wrong, a lot of people like that, and I completely respect that, but it is just mypolicy that everything I make (save the items on display in my house)is for sale. Furthermore, I depend more on putting the coords in the description on the bazaar, I feel it is more of an honest, heart to heart message.

However, I do digress: It is a very clever form of promotion. Just don't be an idiot and give it some "eye catching color." The bazaar already looks like a friggin' rainbow.

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As true as it may be that a lot of Artisans promote their stores through the Bazaar, I for one never did that.

Why? I feel that it sometimes aggrivates people.

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I mastered pistoleer and creature handler on one server before starting an artisan character on a new server. I have to admit that I loved seeing the items for sale that gave directions to their vendor. The reason? These forums move too fast. I could never keep track of the vendors I needed through the forums. Being able to go to the bazaar and in essence "look someone up", was a great thing. I'm totally in favor of it. Just my 2 cents.

Matchstik (Weaponsmith on Kauri)

Thirl (Pistoleer/Creature Handler on Flurry)

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Londa wrote:

excuse the newbie in me but am i missing something??

Why not sell what you make instead of practicing?

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By all means, if you can find a buyer then I encourage you to sell instead of practice. The problem most novice artisans have is that no one wants to buy the stuff. For example the power ups a novice artisan can make are not even worth 2 credits to someone for the extra wear/tear they do to the weapon, let alone the 20 credits it cost to put an item on the bazaar.

Most people that suggest practice is they know from experience that the items do not sell.

Matchstik/Thirl

So, then from what I gather,practicing boost xp points w/o losing resources crafting things people won't buy --or should I say won't pay enough to even cover the cost of the resources?

Then my next question would be...why not go ahead and put it on the bazaar in hopes that a unknowledgeablenewbie like me will say, "Wow, cool-looking bone armor for only 4,000!" and buy it.

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Londa wrote:

So, then from what I gather,practicing boost xp points w/o losing resources crafting things people won't buy --or should I say won't pay enough to even cover the cost of the resources?

Then my next question would be...why not go ahead and put it on the bazaar in hopes that a unknowledgeablenewbie like me will say, "Wow, cool-looking bone armor for only 4,000!" and buy it.

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Time and Money. Time: It takes my time to put it on the bazaar. When it never sells, that time would have been better spent doing something else. Money: It takes 20 credits of my money to put it on the bazaar. When it never sells, that money would have been better spent doing something else.

By all means if you have the time you do not mind spending, and you have extra cash you dont mind using, then put the items up.

BTW, practicing just gives you a 5% bonus to xp, and does NOT create an item. So people that were never going to sell/use the item anyway, get 2 bonuses, more xp and no item they have to go and delete later on. In all other aspects (using resources, time, etc.) it works the same as normal crafting mode.

Matchstik/Thirl

The fact of the matter is that -

a) Few people want your bone armor
b) Not practising creates a flood of items in your inventory
c) +5% bonus to experience. This may not seem like much, but you do save yourself time and resources in the end.

excuse the newbie in me but am i missing something??

Why not sell what you make instead of practicing?

Londo,

One thing no one has mentioned and I think it's critical to mention in response to your post:

Practicing still uses up resources. Exactly the same number as would be used if you made the item.

Practicing Disadvantage:

Resources are used and no item is made so no money can be made.

Practicing Advantages:

+5% XP for item
No item is made so items you couldn't sell you don't have to take the time to destroy.

Adaral Edulin

Another advantage to practicing (which, curiously, hadn't occrued to me until this exact moment...d'oh!) is that it's a conevenient way to rid yourself of any inventory-cluttering substandard resources you've accumulated (i.e. coppers withlow conductivity, meats with low potential energy, etc.) while still earning XP.

Rork Deetkoh, Master Artisan, Tardy Clue Grabber