Weaponsmith Archive
Thread: The woes of Weaponsmithing...a little rant
Ok, I hit Master WS a few weeks ago, and to be honest, it's been all but a living hell. Now, let me explain. I LOVE to craft. LOVE it. This same char is a Master Architect also, and creating things in this game is something that I absolutely LOVE to do. So, I just want you all to know that I'm not in WSing for the quick buck. I'm in it for the love of crafting.
Now, first big problem is something I'm sure you all already see....Architect and WS just do not fit well together. Arch requires tens of thousands of units of materials to put a single item together. Where most popular Weapons require well under 1000 units of materials. Also, only one item in harvesters requires exp to make customers happy where EVERYTHING in WSing requires experimentation to make customers happy. Balancing both is VERY difficult. But, that said, I still can do it. I've done it for a while now.
Second big problem...competition. I COMPLETELY love and agree with the open player run economy in this game. I really do. And, there will always be bigger companies that will dominate the market on each server. And so be it. I have no problem with that. Thing is, these PA's have been around since the begining and have the best of the best resources and more money than most of us can dream of. I knew all of this before I stared the WS grind, but I still thought that I might be able to sell a few guns here and there. Well, that's just not the case. I've made COUNTLESS guns now, and sold a handful of them. I've probably sold a total of 20 guns out of the hundreds I have made so far. And, I make very popular guns...Scout Blasters, FWG5's, LLC's, Rocket Launchers, Heavy Acid Rifles, Flame Throwers, etc. But, since the other couple of PA's can make them better (even if it's only by a few max damage points), people are more willing to go see them and spend a lot more to get a slightly better weapon. Again, this is something I have NO problem with. But, it's just a bummer when you put a solid hard month of gameplay putting Architect on hold and mining pretty much nothing but WS metals, spending time and money looking for WS resources on resource supplier vendors. It was a hard life to sell nothing. Again, I completely agree with the open player run economy. And, I don't measure my success in money. I do, however, measure my success in how good of a business I can create. And if nothing of mine ever sells, then the business has tanked...which it has for me.
Last big problem and by far the one that is most pressing to me...the customers. Ok, in architect, I occasionally had a few customers that were in a hurry, and I am usually able to help them. But, most people who buy the bigger arch products realize that it takes time to make these since they require so many resources. And, these guys/gals are very good about giving me time to get things done. But, this is not the case in WSing. A good portion (not all, but most) of my customers expect me to drop EVERYTHING I'm doing to make their Krayt weapon for them right now. Thing is, if i can't do it right then, then when i sign back on, they jump all over me again...expecting me to drop everything to make their weapon. So, I make a concession and do it...thing is, those customers are NEVER willing to drop everything they are doing when it is convenient for me to come see me. The WS customers (for the most part) are the most arrogant and self centered group of people on these servers and they are getting on my absolute LAST nerve. The customers alone are making me SERIOUSLY consider hitting that Surrender Skill button 18 times. It would truly make my life in-game QUITE a bit easier.
Thing is that I don't want to give up WSing for a few reasons. First and foremost, I LOVE to craft and WSing is fun to play with. Secondly, there are a few customers (including my PA) that I'd love to make some items for. These people understand that I have other things I need to do (like real life work and 2 other characters on this server that I am managing), and they don't at all mind letting me take a couple of days or even a week to get something to them. And that is very helpful. Lastly, Krayt weapons. My PA can take Krayt lairs now, and the tissues I get back from that keep me quite comfortable money wise. The weapons I can make with those tissues sell like hotcakes. I can make 6 in one day and they'd all be gone a couple of hours later. So, i don't want to give up this side of the business either. I guess my best solution would just be to stop taking custom orders for guns or doing any Krayt Assemblies using other people's tissues (doesn't help that crit fails on Krayt weapons have SKYROCKETED recently).
Has anyone else come across theissues I'm having? Again, handling two other chars on the same server isn't easy either...esp when one is a full combat char. I think my life in-game would just be 10 times better if I was to surrender ALL of my WSing skills. But, I just don't want to have to do that.
Anian
Well,if I had spent60 hoursgrinding straight to MWS, I wouldn't want to surrender my skills in a hurry either. Of course, if you had taken a little time you might have discovered some of the pitfalls of WSing before you got there and could have decided to give it up early, or maybe spent more time stockpiling good resources. Okay my petty little rant is over 
, sonow for more productive advice:
I think instead of trying to be a mass-producer WS, you should try finding a niche market for weapons. The established MWS and PA-supported WS are already going to have a lock on the mass-production weapon market, and it will be very difficult to compete with them head-to-head. You mentioned Krayt weapons and that your guildies can get them for you pretty easily. Perhaps that should be your niche then. Krayt weapons go for insane prices, so you can still make a good living while selling only a few weapons each day. This leaves you more time for other things, especially if you stop taking custom orders. You might also want to hook up with a master smuggler to sell some of them pre-sliced, for the best weapons possible. With a pre-sliced krayt gun, no one is going to notice a couple of points of difference in damage between you and what an established MWS with the best resources can produce.
I'm going for master smuggler myself and will sell only pre-sliced guns (maybe only pre-sliced krayt guns, if I can find a steady supplier of krayt tissues). This is going to be my niche, and I think it will work reasonably well.
If your customers are annoying you (I admit I haven't been put through /tell hell yet myself, so I don't really know what it's like), then simply stop taking custom orders. Just make a few exceptional guns, and only sell what you make. This will free up plenty of time for you, and you can minimize contact with unreasonably demanding customers.
Well, I hope your future WS endeavours go well.
Slim Vargo, Corbantis
Customers will always be annoying. The thing about being a WS is that our customers are...ALL OF THEM. Everybody needs a gun, so everybody's looking for a WS. The trick to dealing with customers is to let them know that YOU are the crafter...not them. You put up your vendors, sell your guns, and answer tells on your own terms, nto theirs. Remember, most customers think of you as a very interactive NPC...especially the guys that begin their tells with "Hey man, how're you doing?"
As for resources, at least on Naritus, some of the best stuff to ever spawn loaded in the last 3 weeks. Carbikago Steel, Omni-something Mythra, and the Quadorasis Phrik Alum. are all top shelf, and it's the stuff I'm switching to, along with just about every other MWS who has (or hasn't) been around since day 1. I wouldn't sweat the resources too much...new stuff will spawn eventually.
Frankly, all the problems you're facing now you'll get over with experience. Just be more confident in yourself and the stuff you're making...even if you're off by 1 or 2 points of max damage, it doesn't matter, you're still making Master quality weapons.
Getting a customer base going is a long hard process. Don't be discouraged. I've been a MWS for about 6 weeks now and business comes in spurts. Being a member of a PA has produced a little business, but a lot of it involves freebee handoffs on the fly. I'm also not tapped into any tissue enhancements supplies at this time and don't really have enough playing time each day to go and hunt it up. So that keeps my business at a trickle as well. Here's my advice looking back on my last six weeks climbing into a pretty saturated market.
1) Use this time to tweak your skills at MWS. There are some subtleties to selecting and combining to make the best Master weapons. Make sure you examine all your schematics, particularly the advanced weapon components. Figure out which ones will pay off for better weapons and which ones will not.
2) Make up a list of the resources you need to keep an eye out for. There's a long list of unique resources needed for all the different components and weps (ranged, melee and munition). I was just sitting down this weekend to make a rocket launcher for the first time and just noticed I need crism ore for part of it. The spawn just came and went and I neglected to grab some.
3) Build up a solid bank of resources. Once the business starts coming, you will go through some of your resources pretty quickly.
4) Advertising is difficult. I set up a macro that can run an announcement of my vendor. DON'T SPAM IT. Mine just runs every 20 minutes or so.
5) Look at unique placement of your vendor. Hopefully youhave novice merchant. That'll give you two merchants without horrendous vendor costs. If you aren't novice merchant and are fighting those huge vendor costs, train.
6) Look for a creative place to put a vendor. I partnered up with someone who sells other wares in a second local and he's allowing me to put my second vendor there. That gives me two outlets.
7) Talk to different PA's about joining. Many have their own MWS (ours has two with a third coming). But some are just starting out and need a few.
Yeah, I really do appreciate all the support from the RAID and ACRID WS's. They are always very kind to me and always willing to give advice.
Anian
dont sweat the arrogant ones is all i can tell you. I still get people who are like that. Somehow they think that buying several weapons from you makes it a big order. I try as best i can to accomodate but if I cant do it I have no problem sending them elsewhere. To be honest 6 rifles is notsuch abig order even when one is a T-21 (which I wont even make below 60k) that I feel that I need to put everyone on hold. Granted 6 rifles is a NICE order, but doing nothing but listing things on my vendor as usual results in sales to customers just as bulky. For example: I made 20 rocket launchers a while back and the time to do it was so time consuming and painful that I wanted them to sell VERY slow. Not to mention I was using my best doonium and duralloy in the final assembly (some 150 unit doonium and 175units durralloy) . I thought by pricing them at 50k they would last me till christmas and for a while their rate of sale seemed to indicate that. Suddenly some guy buys 6 of my last 10 in one day (4 had hit the stockroom so he cleaned me out) then came back the next day and bought 4 more. Now that was a BIG order and I didnt have to stop everything to do it. After spending the long arduous task to remake 20 more rocket launchers I had to borrow a friends house to stack the crates due to item limits on my house. It was when I was looking at 7 crates of feed mechanisms, 2 crates of scopes, 4 crates of power handlers, 4 crates of fusing mechanisms, 4 crates light warheads, 4 crates medium warheads, and 4 crates of warhead stabalizing devices that i realized I dont ever want to make these again so I charge 75k and wouldnt you know 4 to the same guy again?
But I digress back to my point, the person that wanted me to put my life on hold for that 'big' order of 6 rifles picked up TKA and wanted 'THE BEST' vk's possible. Well I had gotten lucky w/ a 30% slice on some +23 enhanced vk's to get 220 max damage that auctioned for 180k and she/he wanted a set just like that. I explained that I am not that great of a fighter and if they would just bring me the enhancers I would make them for 20k no problem and she/he could find a slicer. This person wanted to know how much it would cost of I would go hunting on lok to get the enhancers .. she was willing to pay me for my time. This person really couldnt care less about me or my time and had no respect for me. It was apparent that they felt i could just be bought. I may only have 10 million in my account but its 9 million more than I need in this game and theres nothing someone could offer me to make me do that. I just sent her to a melee smith who I knew had enhancers and told him to charge her atleast 50k for hte VK. I make $150/hr when I bill for consulting in real life, theres just no amount of ingame value that could pay me to hunt nym all day when I have PA orders to fill.
Keep in there, make lots of friends, put 1 or 2 of your best scouts on the bazzar in each town (not enough to flood, just enough to advertise). You will builda loyal customer base eventually. Ones who actually care about your time and your quality of happiness. My loyal customers are always willing to help me get ingame badges etc because if their smith is happy he makes good guns and sometimes throws out freebies.
Hmm....
You should try using your factory input hoppers for extra space. I have 4 factories and a medium house, and thus I have 525 slots to hold things....
BTW, I can't imagine offering a T21 for 60k. I am not berating you, its just amazing to me. I create my adv power handlers by the thousand, so it isn't so bad to put 10 in a gun, I can make 4 crates of T21s at a time. My unsliced unenhanced T21s do 341 maxdmg at 7.7 speed and I sell em for 25k. But then again I try not to pillage my customers. That being said, I have built a 35mill+ net worth selling better quality guns for half what others do, so it doesn't surprise me.
Self-correction:
Make that 550 slots (not including my inv) and my T21s doe 342 dmg
. None of my customers think im gouging them, they are sitting in millions of credits too and ive even had them ask me of a scatter and llc and just tip me 50k for making them w/o even asking me the price. At this point in the game anyone who things 25k vs 60k is even worth debating when everyone is sitting on millions hasnt been playing very well. I saw some master musicians charging 30k for mind buffs and those are only good for 2hrs or till you die wichever comes first.
DToxWeaponsInc wrote:
Remember, most customers think of you as a very interactive NPC...especially the guys that begin their tells with "Hey man, how're you doing?"
Yeah, I hate those bastards
Holy cats! The great D'Tox is now offering presliced weapons! I haven't read these boards lately, so sorry if this about-face was already explained to the inquisitive.
I argued til I was blue in the face about the validity of such an approach, but was given no creedence. I will spare you the thread links. I think I remember something about "the only guy to offer presliced on my server is a laughingstock."
I went to and through Master WS offering almost nothing but presliced, when other smiths on these boards all said it was lame. The funny part is that I don't do presliced anymore, only because I am cutting back on some of my services in order to hunt more. A great number of my customers are very bummed this is the case, but oh well. If you are a new WS, offering presliced is a great niche. I grinded less than 1/3 of my WS XP, and took about 5x longer than most of the other masters on my server to get there. Presliced and great quality mats is what gave me the edge to compete. I am now arguably one of the best known smiths on my server... I built my business on presliced.
So nyah! 