Top ten reasons that Provisioners...Follow

are like a licence to print money!

OK. So I finally got disgusted with the price of T3 food and drink to the point where I took the alt I had parked as lvl 12 craftsman, (and waiting to become a carpenter), and ground him into a lvl 25 provie.

Over the last two weeks, I have come to believe that it is easier and more profitable to craft food/drink than anything else. Here are the reasons I think that is so...

10) Cheap fuel - cooking fuel is less by level than fuel for any other craft. Cheaper fuel = higher profit margin.

9) High demand - everyone eats and everyone drinks. And they don't do it once or twice per level, they do it every time they play. I craft during the week and put it all out for sale on Friday night. The food and drink are always long gone before Sunday evening.

8) More available subs and interums - The NPC vendors sell 14 interum and sub-combines for cooking. That's more than they offer for any other craft. Heck, it's more than they offer for all other crafts combined! Time saved = profit earned.

7) Everything stacks - can you fit 240 swords or bracers in a single 12 slot backpack? I can fit 240 of anything I make in one!

6) Quality is not an issue - with any other craft you have to offer pristine or it's probably no sale without a substantial discount. Not so with food. Price drop on most less than perfect food items is nill!

5) Lower # of subcombines - most long duration foods/drinks require 3 or 4 combines to make. Many require only two.

4) No damage - OK, it doesn't help me make more money, but not getting hurt for missing a counter while crafting is a pleasure!

3) More rare events - since everything provies craft is within their core skill, they get a lot more chances at the 3 rare events. (One of which will net you a rare harvest and another gives you back the item you were crafting and the ingredients used to make it.)

2) Non-pristine subs & interums can still get you pristine finals - Lots of long duration recipes use a purchased item as a primary ingredient so you can get a pristine final from sub-combines that only went to watery or bland. Greater speed = higher profit.

And the number one reason that Provisioners are like a licence to print money... (drum roll & cymbal crash)

Two words... NO WORTs !!!

(I'd send this list to David Letterman but I don't think he plays!)

There are 3 rare crafting events (events: those icons that pop up on the bottom of your crafting screen that hurt you if you don't counter them properly). These rare events do nice things if you counter them correctly. One, the most common, gives you a 10-minute buff of the crafting skill you're working on. Another lets you craft your item without using up its components. The rarest one gives you a rare harvest that corresponds to your profession. (I think it also automatically pristines the item, but I'm not sure.) Since provisioners don't actually have any rares belonging to their trade, they get a rare root, which is kind of odd, but oh well. Other tradeskill classes get rares corresponding to the kind of rares they work with.

All 3 exist for all tiers. You probably haven't seen the other two yet because they are listed by SOE as "uncommon", "rare" & "super rare".

The 3 events are:

____ insight - (uncommon)

flawless ____ - (rare)

favor of ____ - (super rare)

The uncommon gives you the buff, the rare gives you an instant finished item without using the ingredients, and the super rare gives you a finished item and a rare harvest item. Cha-Ching!

I get plenty of uncommons - usually one or two per crafting session. I have gotten several rares and once... just once, I got a super rare.

I had just begun crafting a bone desk, (T2 rare wood furnature), It gave me insta pristine on the combine, let me keep the piece of bone lumber, (and all the other ingredients), and added a severed bone to my inventory. CHA-CHING!!!

Wow! Nice thread going here. I wish I could add to it but at the moment can only reap the benefits.

good write up. I may change to that. Making arrows is very annoying :(

I got tons of food saved up from gathering foods in antontica.