Tradeskill writs - and the motivation to drive to 70.

[UD_Delt]

So, I've spent the past week or so messing around with the writs now that they give experience and have noticed the following:

At level 35ish - The writs provide about 5% experience on turn in. In my opinion they are useful at level 30 and maybe 31 and that's about it. At those levels the writs will give you level 30 items to combine so you'll get max exp + a 5% bonus. By the time you reach level 32 they are marginally useful as the extra exp you get from doing 6 level 32 combines vs 6 level 30 combines is right about 5%. They basically serve to preserve a bit of vitality if you're trying to drive as much exp as possible out of a single long session before burning all your vit. The 34 and 39 writs have too many lower level combines to be worth while. You'll get more exp grinding even con recipes. The status is too low to be worth much and the money doesn't even come close to cover the cost of having to restock on raws if you don't harvest.

Level 45ish - Writs now provide 7% exp roughly. This makes them worthwhile to run throughout now. Even when doing the lower level recipes the exp bonus covers the difference. Plus you get the extra money, status and save on vitality.

Level 53 - 55 - Writs are now giving around 9%. Money and status is much better. VERY useful at these levels and make grinding a lot faster.

Level 65 - Writs give 13% up to a max of 14.5% at level 69. These were a bit ridiculous. Once you hit this level it would be ridiculous to NOT do writs since they are giving 8000+ status each, 5g+ each, and a crazy amount of exp. I probably managed level 65 to 70 in a total of 2-3 hours and made 300,000+ status and 1-2 plat.

[Sky]

Unless you're in a profession that's crafting anything worthwhile, writs are great. They cover the cost of fuel plus a little change. The status adds up, I dinged our guild and earned almost as much status as my SK has from doing city writs. When you only have five active characters in a level 12 guild, every bit of status means alot.

I'm bummed because I thought stealth totems were level 39 and I found out they're level 49. I just hit 30 But it's a fairly easy grind, because my woodworker is only like 11th level or so, naked with a rat totem up he can button mash as much as he wants without denting his power bar, so I was doing the rush orders. I was getting a pretty consistent 10% per writ, not counting experience from making the items.

Not sure where you're going with all the level stuff, there are three writs per tier, so you're always working even or blue combines. By the time one greens out, you can move to the next set of writs in that tier, at least working through tier 3 with a couple crafters, that was the case.

[UD_Delt]

Ahh yeah I should mention that I was also doing rush orders.

I'll have to try one with my level 20 something weaponcrafter but I think you need to look again at the 10% exp bonus. That sounds pretty far off from what I have seen so far.

The point with all the level stuff is that at 30 if you take the highest possible writ you will get a writ for creating 6 level 30 items (12 as a provisioner). At level 33 you will still get a writ for making 6 level 30 items. The point being you could get more exp by creating 6 level 33 items than you could doing 6 level 30 items +writ experience.

At level 34 you will get a writ to create 1 or 2 level 31 items, a couple at 32 and the remainder will be level 34 items, again 6 total. This is almost worthwhile but again you'd get about the same exp just by exclusively making only level 34 items. At level 38 it's even worse since now with the highest available writ you're making level 31,32,33, and/or 34 items when you could be making only level 38 items.

Does that make more sense or am I still explaining that in a weird way?

And the 48s I get per writ at level 37 doesn't really help much when I burn through 20 or so feyiron clusters that each cost 30s to buy on the broker.

[Murgos]

And the 48s I get per writ at level 37 doesn't really help much when I burn through 20 or so feyiron clusters that each cost 30s to buy on the broker.

The feyiron market is, without a doubt, the most profitable straight crafting harvest there is.  The cost of clusters after feyiron drops pretty considerably.  Heck, the tier 7 clusters are practically free on the broker.  Considering the number of zones available for harvesting feyiron you would think there would be a lot of supply.

Is the discrepancy in what Sky is reporting for exp for writs and what you saw have anything to do with rest exp bonuses?  It sounds like you were in heavy grind mode for several days in a row and may have depleted your rest exp.

12 more levels to 70 and then I'll probably level up jewel crafting on my Assassin, seems like a good time for it.  Buff my status for the Kunark guild items and whatnot.

[UD_Delt]

And the 48s I get per writ at level 37 doesn't really help much when I burn through 20 or so feyiron clusters that each cost 30s to buy on the broker.

Is the discrepancy in what Sky is reporting for exp for writs and what you saw have anything to do with rest exp bonuses?  It sounds like you were in heavy grind mode for several days in a row and may have depleted your rest exp.

Nope, I never craft unless I have vitality. Seeing as I'm currently leveling 7 crafters (Alchemist & Carpenter already to 70) it's guaranteed that multiple chars are sitting at 100% vitality that I'll grind on for a while.

Not to mention this is my second go-round of crafter leveling. I already had all crafting skills to 70 at one point before I let a friend/guildmate borrow my account who did something unfavorable that caused me to lose all of them except my main.

[Bandit]

The feyiron market is, without a doubt, the most profitable straight crafting harvest there is.  The cost of clusters after feyiron drops pretty considerably.  Heck, the tier 7 clusters are practically free on the broker.  Considering the number of zones available for harvesting feyiron you would think there would be a lot of supply.

If I remember correctly, in the past, the best way to get feyiron was to get Cove of Decay access (zone in from TS).  You could go in and out of the instance (don't kill anything) and harvest nodes along the beach.  Easiest way to do it.  I had friends who made a fortune doing this on the PvP servers.  The only thing I can't remember (been a while) is whether it was feyiron, but pretty sure.

[Sky]

Well, I can't afford feyiron from the vendor. That's ridiculous pricing. I was suprised how cheap pelts were, given that they are only a 30%ish drop-rate from dens and are also used by a bunch of crafts. I have to hand-harvest my metals, at least I'm getting some collections done and also questing while harvesting (in Zek, I loop from Spirit Lake through Blood Ore Valley over to the Sawmill and back again).

You're probably right about the overall exp, but I don't think doing a few extra combines is a big deal compared to the status I'm getting and not having to dick around with all the crafted items in my inventory. That's one reason I like provisioner, though, no need to grind, just making food & drink for my alts is enough to level easily. I guess the items wouldn't be a big deal if I were more familiar with the broker market.

I'll check the spot Bandit mentions, but TS is tier 2, no?

[Nebu]

You will likely find this funny, but I really enjoyed harvesting and working on collection quests.  Some days I'd spend more time on that than I would leveling/questing.  It's one of those mini-games that I really appreciated about EQ2.

[UD_Delt]

I'll check the spot Bandit mentions, but TS is tier 2, no?

TS is tier 3. Cove of Decay is tier 4. I used to harvest cove of decay but since moved to EL way in the back by where Obelisk of Lost Souls entrance is. There's a really wide flat, open area that no one else ever uses and there are tons of nodes. 

The problem with Cove of Decay is if you're after a particular item there's no respawn so if you get unlucky and there's only 2-3 nodes of that type there you have to leave and zone back in. Now I just strip mine all of EL and I'm sure to get respawns of what I want.

You probably need to be about 50ish though to be able to harvest there unmolested as there are a good number of triple up mobs.

[Bandit]

I just check quickly on eq2.wikia.com (old eq2i site) and the named mobs in Cove of Decay are 31^^^ (Captain Ulssissaris and Octagorgon).

[tazelbain]

Yep, for the manastone HQ

[Sky]

TS is tier 3. Cove of Decay is tier 4.

Oops, that's what I meant. So you mean actually inside the instance? I'd probably get eaten by the ^^^s because I'm a 34 solo SK with ghetto gear (the reason I'm harvesting t4 right now is to get some feysteel and work up through armorcrafting since I am still half in my lvl 20 AQ :(). If it's not too bad to leave and zone back in, CoV could be great because I can zone in 12-15 seconds most of the time, maybe 20s into a crowded zone. Love my new pc.

The Zek loop is usually ok for strip harvesting, only about half the time are people even there, and I've not seen anyone as rabid a stripminer as I am. I'm like Haliburton rolling through that zone.

[Signe]

I still get all tingly when I see a glowing shiny question mark.

[UD_Delt]

TS is tier 3. Cove of Decay is tier 4.

Oops, that's what I meant. So you mean actually inside the instance? I'd probably get eaten by the ^^^s because I'm a 34 solo SK with ghetto gear (the reason I'm harvesting t4 right now is to get some feysteel and work up through armorcrafting since I am still half in my lvl 20 AQ :(). If it's not too bad to leave and zone back in, CoV could be great because I can zone in 12-15 seconds most of the time, maybe 20s into a crowded zone. Love my new pc.

The Zek loop is usually ok for strip harvesting, only about half the time are people even there, and I've not seen anyone as rabid a stripminer as I am. I'm like Haliburton rolling through that zone.

At 34 you'd get eaten alive in Cove of Decay. You wouldn't even be able to make it to the first harvestable node most likely. It's really not useful until it's grayed out which sounds like that would be around 42 or 43.

You may want to check out the area just to the left off the docks in EL. There's usually more people hunting there but there's also a wider harvestable area there that probably has less aggro mobs than Zek. At least it will be useful for the times you don't want to exp as much as just purely harvest. There's also about 20 or so solo quests right in that first area of EL where the highest level mobs is 34/35.

Also, keep an eye on the broker once you find some some feysteel. At least on my server you can often buy feysteel armor cheaper than you can buy feysteel clusters. And keep in mind the two pieces you only really need would be chest and legs. Feyiron will serve just fine in the rest of your slots. After those two pieces I would worry more about getting Adept 3 in all your lifetap type spells.

[Murgos]

And keep in mind the two pieces you only really need would be chest and legs. Feyiron will serve just fine in the rest of your slots. After those two pieces I would worry more about getting Adept 3 in all your lifetap type spells.

I think I disagree with you only really need mastercrafted on your chest and legs.  Yeah, those are the most bang for the buck and should be first priority but the difference in mitigation and stats on the rest of the pieces is what puts you over the top.  I do agree with getting upgrades to your main combat damage dealers and lifetaps asap though.  Being able to stay alive longer really shows it's advantage once you can kill faster also.

[UD_Delt]

I think I disagree with you only really need mastercrafted on your chest and legs.  Yeah, those are the most bang for the buck and should be first priority but the difference in mitigation and stats on the rest of the pieces is what puts you over the top.  I do agree with getting upgrades to your main combat damage dealers and lifetaps asap though.  Being able to stay alive longer really shows it's advantage once you can kill faster also.

I'm not sure it's worth the money. There's such a glut of solo content and quests between 30 and 42ish that those levels should still go by pretty quickly and by the end you'll be killing on green/blue mobs to finish off most of them. You're probably better saving the money to get Ebon or Cobalt armor at 42 or 52, respectively.

Between EL, Zek, a single trip through RoV in the early 30's, a trip or two through RE in the upper 30's/low 40's, feerott for a dozen or so easy quests starting at 38, and then Steamfont in the upper 30's/low 40's you should fly right through to at least 42-45ish.

[Sky]

Well duuuuh :P Of course I Adept III my important spells. The Master II harm touch is luv, I pulled around 2500 dmg against a heroic mob last night. I started my harvest mission for tier 4 in EL, I found it to be more of a pita than Zek. Spirit Lake in Zek can be cleared of all but one stationary aggro mob, you can do about 3/4 of Blood Ore Valley, and the Lumbermill area is half safe zone. I did most of the EL starter quests at 31, I am really good at non-^^^ combat. I usually fight 3 levels above me or so, and can do ^ 2 levels above me, even with my ghetto gear. Delt, I have combat exp turned off, so obviously exp is not a factor for me in EQ2 :)

I have alts like mad (Station Pass), so I have an alt in every craft profession. That's why I'm doing t4 harvesting right now, to push them all through that, they're all 20-30 or so, except my carpenter who I started later (when SOE gave us more slots).

For AAs, I am sunk deep into the Reaver line, but I didn't actually take Reaver. It looks great but I just don't fight enough casters yet. I'll probably go back and take it just to have it on my next AA, though. But all my Reaver line +lifetap stuff is maxed out, so I'm pretty survivable in defensive stance, using my spells for dmg mostly. I'm going with the Int line for some crits and whatnot, plus expanding my pool a bit. Thinking about trying out my offensive stance once I get around to upgrading it.

Dipped into RoV to do the CoD access quest, did fine against the early stuff in there, 24 and 25 ^^^ heroics aren't a problem, but then the stupid escort mobs bugged at the end and didn't give me the second part of the quest chain. Did get a nice plate legs drop from some random spider...but they're ORANGE. I just got rid of my stupid orange chestplate and was grooving on my all grey/black armor. Bah. Also bought a decent helm off the broker for maybe 6g, a hammerhead something or other.

Went to CoD and I got into some green instance, I could handle the mobs in there but I didn't see any harvestables. I exited and tried the other instance option and it said I didn't have access. Said screw it, went back to Zek, got two feysteels on a single harvest loop run. With the amount of harvesting it'll take to get my weapon/armor guys over the t4 hump (given the price of feyiron), I have no problem making feysteel for every slot it's needed. By the time I'm into my 40s, I'll probably have leftover feysteels, I still have almost a dozen steels I'm going to bang out a set of steel armor for an alt, maybe a couple weapons.

[UD_Delt]

I have alts like mad (Station Pass), so I have an alt in every craft profession. That's why I'm doing t4 harvesting right now, to push them all through that, they're all 20-30 or so, except my carpenter who I started later (when SOE gave us more slots).

I understand the alt problem. Between my account and my father's account (both station pass) I probably have around 16 chars I play on a semi-regular basis.

If you have the bank space I would keep an eye out now for cheap t6 and t7 harvestables on the broker. Once T8 cames out with the next expansion there will be less people harvesting those areas so the prices will go up. You can probably get most T7 stuff right now for 1c other than roots and adamantine (feyiron upgrade) which are around 1s usually.

The only other suggestion I have is if you can push your main harvesting character up to 66th tradeskill level. At that point you can use the overclocked (tinkered) harvesting tools. They add +10 to harvesting skill and reduce harvesting time by 2.5 seconds. It makes strip harvesting an area oh so much faster and the extra skill gives you a little extra chance at rares.

[Sky]

Yeah, I'm down with that. I just made the first level of harvesters with my woodworker and made a nifty equip/harvest macro. .5 seconds adds up on a Haliburton night.

I'm vaccilating about which way to go with my SK/armorcrafter/main. Transmuting or tinkering. Tinkering looks more fun. Maybe I'll transmute with an alt while I still have a couple lowbie alts for the grind fodder.

[UD_Delt]

I'm vaccilating about which way to go with my SK/armorcrafter/main. Transmuting or tinkering. Tinkering looks more fun. Maybe I'll transmute with an alt while I still have a couple lowbie alts for the grind fodder.

Just punch yourself directly in the eye now and save yourself the future pain of trying either.

Transmuting was easy to get to 100. All you do is break down items you find based on some algebra and collect the materials. Nothing to it. After 100 you no longer get skill ups from breaking stuff down and you have to start doing combines. All that stuff I broke down to get to 100 earned me an extra 18 points. Got me to 118 skill. Since then in the processing of leveling up oh about 6 chars from 1 to 40 and passing all the treasured books and quest rewards and such to my transmuter I've gotten to around 148 skill. I then took my own advice, rapped myself in the nuts with a ball-peen hammer, and haven't touched transmuting since.

Tinkering was ever so slightly less painful. I harvested t1 loams for about 4 hours which got me to skill level 50. Then all the supplies for t2 were cheap enough on the broker so I bought my way to skill 100 on about 10g. T3 the price of carbonite goes up and you're using about 7-8 carbonite per recipe AND the recipes don't guarantee a skill up. After burning through about 3-4 stacks of carbonite and getting 8-9 points I gave up my tinkering adventure.

Whoever the dev was that decided to put the EQ1, random skill point gain on creation, system in place should be forced to spend his entire 8-9 hour shift harvesting and subsequently destroying everything he harvested without using it. I would say he should be shot but after a few days of that I'm pretty sure he'd just shoot himself.

[Bandit]

Transmuting and Tinkering are indeed painful. *Stabs self in eye*.  I am a glutton for punishment, by around Skill level 150 in transmuting, I gave up....a slave to the RNG is not cool. 

You seem to be content harvesting a night away, so Tinkering would be the better choice right away. 

[Sky]

Hm. Maybe not the best time to post this after talking about shooting the trades dev (not sure it's the same responsible for those systems, though).

Cool post on the boards, fyi:

Just to clarify ... as stated, I'm looking into it this week, and yes, it will be tweaked a bit this week.

The following will change:
yet more pelts than meats (in 100 harvests, look for about 66 pelts and 33 meats)
fewer rares in T2+ -- so overall, a slightly higher rate of rares in T2-T6 than we had before GU37 (by no more than 0.22% at most - that in T2 and T3 - less than 0.1% difference everywhere else - with the exception of 2-rare nodes, see below)
That said it will still FEEL like more rares than before GU37 for three main reasons:
bushes now drop roots, so if you regularly harvest bushes, you'll end up with a lot more roots than you would have when they had no rare
nodes with 2 rares will drop rares more often.  Previously they were dropping rares at the same rate as other nodes which had only one rare.  This meant that they were actually dropping each individual rare type HALF as often as the rare from a single-type node like roots or dens, meaning only half as many rare loam, ore, soft metal, and gems were entering the world as rare roots or pelts.  So yes, these will now drop at the same rate as rare pelts.
the level at which you start using the bonus result table is now lower.  Prior to GU37, none of us could even use the bonus harvest result tables for T7 (OR T6) at all.  Now, we start having a chance to.
For those who don't know what I'm referring to with the bonus result tables, harvesting works as follows.  (If you really don't care about details you can skip this bit.)

For each node in each zone, when you harvest it, there are different result tables set up that tell the game what to give you when you harvest.  Your skill level determines which table you use.

For example, using entirely invented numbers, let's imagine that there is a root node in a level 30-40 zone and you go and harvest it with a gathering skill of 190.

The game sees that the root node points to two result tables.  Let's call them:

T4_roots_base_result  - required skill 140
T4_roots_bonus_result - required skill 189

The "base" table might tell you that you have a 70% chance of getting 1 root, a 20% chance of getting 3 roots, an 8% chance of getting 5 roots, a 1% chance of getting an imbue, a 0.7% chance of getting a rare root, and a 0.3% chance of getting a rare root + 10 common ones.
The "bonus" table might tell you that you have a 60% chance of getting 1 root, a 25% chance of getting 3 roots, an 10% chance of getting 5 roots, a 0.5% chance of getting an imbue, a 0.8% chance of getting a rare root, and a 0.7% chance of getting a rare root + 10 common ones.
(Yes, the numbers probably don't add up to 100%, I just invented them on the spot.)

Now we know that if your skill is under 140, you can't harvest the node at all.  And we know your skill is 190.  So the RNG rolls a number between 140 and 190.  If it gets 140-188, you use the "base" result table.  If it gets 189+, you use the "bonus" result table.  Clearly, as your gathering skill increases, your chance of using the "bonus" result table gets better.  (This is where +harvesting skill items affect your results, they increase your chance of using the bonus table.)

As of GU37, you get to start using the "bonus" table at level _8 (so, 8, 18, 28, 38, etc.)  You're still not guaranteed to use it, but you have a CHANCE to use it.  Previous to GU37, the level at which you could start getting the bonus was much higher, so that you didn't even have a chance to get the bonus table until you had entirely outlevelled the tier.  In T6 and T7 prior to GU37 we still couldn't even start using the bonus level at level 70 with 350 skill, so we've been harvesting off the "base" table all this time.  Now we will begin to have a chance to use the "bonus" level, so yes, we'll get slightly better harvesting results in T6 and T7 than we were before, but it's actually about the same results as we would eventually have got as the level cap raised and we continued to level up.

Incidentally, all nodes within a level range (in this example, all nodes in level 30-40 zones) point to the same result tables, so it makes no difference whether you're harvesting in one zone or another.

This change will be hotfixed in this week if all goes well.  In the mean time consider it a little short-term bonus and enjoy.

So this is also why I'm in harvest mode.

[UD_Delt]

This is actually a pretty new tradeskill dev as of I think the past 2-3 months. So far I wish her (I think it's a her) no Ill will since there's been a lot of tradeskill love in the last few updates.

Looking at the notes wouldn't you want to wait until after this hotfix goes live before going into harvest mode. It sounds like feysteel will be dropping almost twice as much after this goes in, assuming I read that correctly.

[Sky]

It's a confusing post imo. I spent the better part of a half hour kinda scratching my head. I do know I'm getting more rares than I used to. And it sounds to me like they are bumping rares back down to just slightly better than where they were before GU37, but twice as much for dual-harvest nodes (thus loam/hard metal). So...maybe? Dunno, pretty happy with the rares I've been getting, so we'll see.

I need a metric shit-ton of feyiron to get the kids through T4. My weapon and armor guys alone are 30/31. I've got maybe six stacks of feyiron right now (I had been Haliburtonizing Nektulos for T3 up until a couple nights ago, just dipping into Zek occasionally).

[UD_Delt]

It's a confusing post imo. I spent the better part of a half hour kinda scratching my head. I do know I'm getting more rares than I used to. And it sounds to me like they are bumping rares back down to just slightly better than where they were before GU37, but twice as much for dual-harvest nodes (thus loam/hard metal). So...maybe? Dunno, pretty happy with the rares I've been getting, so we'll see.

The way it reads to me would be the following rough example:

Pre GU 37 I spend 4 hours harvesting and get:
5 roots, 6 wood, 6 pelts, 2 loam, 3 ore, 3 gem, 3 softmetal.

Post GU 37 I spend 4 hours harvesting and get:
7 roots, 6 wood, 7 pelts, 3 loam, 3 ore, 4 gem, 3 softmetal.

Post hotfix I spend 4 hours harvesting and get:
5 roots, 6 wood, 6 pelts, 6 loam, 6 ore, 6 gem, and 6 softmetal.

Sounds like the rate of roots, wood, pelts will be back to the same but the rate of metals and such will double. That's how I read it.

[Furiously]

Here Signe:


?                                 ?                                ?                               ?
             

               ?                                 ?                                ?

[Sky]

Sounds like the rate of roots, wood, pelts will be back to the same but the rate of metals and such will double. That's how I read it.

Pelts should double. Right now they are dropping about 33%, the target is 66% (first change listed, it was intended for gu37 but didn't work correctly).

Roots should also double or at least drop more due to them dropping from garden nodes now in addition to root nodes. Or root nodes in addition to garden nodes. I think.

[Signe]

Here Signe:


?                                 ?                                ?                               ?
             

               ?                                 ?                                ?

Those don't glow, no tingle.  Has anyone ever told you that you really are very bad.  (but, Lordy, can you dance!)

Anyway... any of you who are using ProfitUI know if there is a /command or button somewhere that will unequip everything, not just weapons?  (For crafting, not cyb0ring)  (geez... I know you all too well)  (not in a pervy way)  (THANK GOD)

Edit:  Nevermind.  I macro-sized it. 

[Sauced]

FYI ( not exactly relevant, but not worth its own thread)

In order to better combat some lag that joined us in the last update, the reset timer for the broker on the servers listed below is being changed from seven days to two. In plain English, you will need to log in at least once every other day to keep your items active on the broker. The changes to the broker have introduced some unanticipated lag and we are taking this temporary measure to keep things responsive while we work out a solution internally. I'll make another post to let you know when we put the timer back on seven days, or make further adjustments.

[hal]

Well i will chime in. Baby necro scribe barely 20 ts 22 adv and I really wanted to upgrade my spells. none on broker, thats hardly amazing at that low of a level. Tryed rush order twice and could not come close. As in less than half way when time ran out. Took a regular work order and had a good time. My ts grind is to push durability and make each combine last as long as possible. I get more skillups that way but I am thinking thats not the way to do for rush orders. It will probally be easier at tier 3. When the progress buffs are a little more potent.

[Sky]

You don't really need to push skill-ups in tradeskills. They come fast enough as long as you use the newest set of skills in the mix. I am pretty good at tradeskilling, usually fast and always pristing. Here's a mini-guide. You guys probably know this stuff, but what the heck.

I strip (I have non-bonus clothes from my tailor), get good drink, turn off food consumption, grab a stack of totems. Don't forget to cancel any buffs that add to the power pool, too. Reduce that power pool, enhance power regeneration.

I set my hotbar up as follows:

1. + durability, + fail %
2. + durability, - progress
3. + durability, - power

0. + progress, + fail %
-. + progress, - durability
+. + progress, - power

I start out mashing +durability until I'm about 60 over the max. Usually 3 'rounds' (time between results). Then start mashing +progress until I get down to half durability on the pristine bar. Pump +durability again at that point unless there is an event, in which case I use the +progress skill to counter the event then quickly mash the two remaining +progress skills, because when you successfully counter an event, it's an automatic success round, so you'll only dump your normal amount of durability (which is less than half the pristine bar, so you're safe).

That's it, pretty simple. If you get low on power, just use the two skills that don't drain power. So in the above cycle, I push | 1,2,3 | 1,2,3 | 1,2,3 | 0,-,= | 0,-,= | 0,-,= | etc, countering events with +progress where needed, with | being the 'results pulse'.

I used to pump durability like crazy, but it's a big waste of time. Pump it a bit at the start because you'll always need some to counter the fails and the -durability of the - hotkey skill. But mostly just use it to bring it back up from half pristine to near full, I aim to float between 40%-80% pristine. Never get less than pristine, and fast as heck.

[Bandit]

Good guide, I did rush orders after level 20 exclusively and never failed even once...following similarly to what Sky has posted.  Never hit +progress during the first level of progress, it doesn't seem effective till after that point, stick with durability. The +progress really seems effective for the next two bars of progress, and the last bar seems to be hit and miss between +progress and +durability.

[Sky]

Nah, it's totally random imo. I /used/ to do durability the whole first bar. Then I found out it's basically a waste of time, it's better to just bump it up in the beginning, if you get +60ish over a full pristine bar, that will last you for the entire process if you don't roll too many failures. Worst case you'll have to do some more durability toward the end to keep it over 50% pristine. If you end with a full pristine bar, you wasted time.

[UD_Delt]

I actually use the opposite strategy. I do nothing but spam + progress until I get a failure and/or durability drops to about 1/4 of the bar before you lose pristine. At that point I push durability until I either complete or get durability up to 75% of the last bar and switch back to progress. I hardly ever use the -prog +dur buff unless I'm going to lose pristine. The only trick is the last tick. You want to be careful not to lose pristine by a sliver due to a failure but having enough +prog to take you into completion.

It's a little more risky but those combines where you fly through with no failures, or you get enough reactions to guarantee no failures, really help to make up time when doing rush jobs. It also only really works once you have your +20 durability buffs (level 30).

[hal]

OK, this is interesting. I have allways started with 6 pulses of progress to combat the stuck in the starting gate thing at the very beginning of a ts section. I will try your method. I am allways willing to try. But there seems to be a lot of right answers. Still experimentation seems wise.