My reason for making a guide on tradeskill efficiency is that I've found in some professions that require a variety of ingredients to build a particular item can make finding the cheapest path difficult to figure out. Being that my first experiment with trade skills was as a blacksmith where recipes are pretty straightforward -- i.e., get a bunch of metal "X" and make a bunch of metal "X" items, etc -- the whole idea of getting a few of a bunch of different items at once seemed kind of daunting at first. Upon further inspection, however, it can be cheaper in some professions to get started because if you allocate your resources efficiently you can get levels making items consisting of cheaper ingredients allowing you to bypass some of the more expensive recipes.
The following info attempts to find the most cost effective way to level them up by picking the cheapest skill route (in money terms). Since this is a first draft, I've done my analysis using just by figuring out the cheapest recipe for a given skill range and Using the list of ingredients for each item, I’ve approximated the cost of levelling each item based on the median cost of ingredients from http://wow.allakhazam.com .
Prices may vary on your server but hopefully this will give you direction if you just want to level up your skill quickly with as little upfront cost as possible.
Below is the chart of my findings. The "Cost" field is the cost of creating the item, the "From" field is the level at which to start creating that item, "To" is when to stop, "#" is the number of times you make that item, and Total Cost is the total money (silver) spent on creating that item.
Item name Cost From To # Total Cost Bolt of Linen Cloth 2 1 25 24 48 Linen Belt 2.1 25 50 25 52.5 Heavy Linen Gloves 4.1 50 60 10 41 Reinforced Linen Cape 4.3 60 85 25 107.5 Bolt of Woolen Cloth 5.46 85 90 5 27.3 Woolen Cape 6.46 90 100 10 64.6 Woolen Bag 7 100 105 5 35 Heavy Woolen Gloves 7 105 110 5 35 White Woolen Dress 18.38 110 125 15 275.7 Bolt of Silk Cloth 9 125 135 10 90 Bright Yellow Shirt 15 135 145 10 150 Azure Silk Hood 20 145 155 10 200 Dark Silk Shirt 26 155 165 10 260 Silk Headband 29 165 170 5 145 Bolt of Mageweave 25 175 180 5 125 Formal White Shirt 28.5 170 175 5 142.5 Azure Silk Cloak 30 180 195 15 450 Crimson Silk Vest 39 195 205 10 390 Crimson Silk Pantaloons 47 205 215 10 470 White Bandit Mask 45.25 215 220 5 226.25
Figure 1 - Item for each level range
Now for a little background info...
Here's the stuff you need and its cost:
Items needed Cost (in silver) Linen cloth 1 Coarse thread 0.1 Bleach 0.25 Light leather 1.2 Blue Dye 0.5 Red Dye 0.5 Green dye 1 Wool cloth 1.82 Fine Thread 1 Gray Dye 3.5 Sm Lustr Pearl 4.58 silk cloth 2.25 Medium leather 1.2 spider's silk 45.8 Iridescnt pearl 55.25 Elixr of wisdom 4 Heavy Leather 2.25 Shdw Prt Potion 60 Healing Potion 6.12 Silken Thread 5 Mageweave cloth 5 Thk spider silk 11.25 Shadow oil 102.25 Elemental earth 30 Iron buckle 7.5 Elemental water 12.5 Purple dye 25 Fire oil 30 yellow dye 5 mana potion 5.13 naga scale 2.25 elemental fire 98 elemental air 20 black dye 10 frost oil 102.25 citrine 45.33 orange dye 10 Heavy silk thrd 20 shadow silk 15 Globe of water 50
Figure 2 - Bought ingredients and cost
Below is the list of stuff you can make, their costs, and levels prior to going green. The level color data was compiled from info at http://wow.allakhazam.com
Item name Get At Green Grey Cost Bolt of Linen Cloth 1 25 50 2 Linen Cloak 1 35 60 2.1 Simple Linen Pants 1 35 60 2.1 Brown Linen Shirt 1 35 60 2.1 White Linen Shirt 10 35 60 2.35 Brown Linen Vest 10 45 70 2.1 Linen Belt 15 50 85 2.1 Simple Linen Boots 10 50 85 3.3 Brown Linen Pants 30 55 90 4.1 Brown Linen Robe 30 55 90 6.1 White Linen Robe 30 55 90 6.35 Heavy Linen Gloves 35 60 95 4.1 Blue Linen Shirt 40 65 100 4.6 Red Linen Shirt 40 65 100 4.6 Simple Dress 40 65 100 4.85 Red Linen Robe 40 65 100 7.2 Linen Bag 45 70 105 6.3 Red Linen Vest 55 80 115 6.6 Blue Linen Vest 55 80 115 6.6 Reinforced Linen Cape 60 85 120 4.3 Green Linen Bracers 60 85 120 7.2 Bolt of Woolen Cloth 75 90 105 5.46 Linen Boots 65 90 125 7.3 Green Linen Shirt 91 95 130 8 Blue Linen Robe 70 95 130 9.2 Red Linen Bag 70 95 130 9.5 Handstit Linen Britches 91 95 130 10 Barbaric Linen Vest 91 95 130 10.2 Woolen Cape 75 100 135 6.46 Simple Kilt 75 100 135 9 Woolen Bag 80 105 140 7 Soft-soled Linen Boots 80 105 140 13.4 Heavy Woolen Gloves 85 110 145 7 Gray Woolen Shirt 100 110 130 9.5 Green Woolen Vest 85 110 145 13.92 Green Woolen Robe 115 150 19.38 Pearl-clasped Cloak 90 115 150 22.96 Green Woolen Bag 95 120 155 23.84 Red Woolen Boots 95 120 155 26.24 Woolen Boots 95 120 155 26.24 Blue Overalls 100 125 160 24.84 Heavy Woolen Cloak 100 125 160 27.54 Gray Woolen Robe 105 130 165 28.34 Bolt of Silk Cloth 125 135 145 9 White Woolen Dress 110 135 170 18.38 Dbl-stch Woolen Shouldr 110 135 170 18.38 Stylish Red Shirt 110 135 170 18.38 Heavy Woolen Pants 110 135 170 31.3 Red Woolen Bag 115 140 175 23.34 Greater Adept's Robe 115 140 175 31.8 Bright Yellow Shirt 135 145 155 15 Stylish Blue Shirt 120 145 180 27.34 Stylish Green Shirt 120 145 180 28.34 Colorful Kilt 120 145 180 29.8 Reinforced Wool Shlders 120 145 180 37.16 Gloves of Meditation 130 150 180 28.84 Phoenix Gloves 125 150 185 81.59 Phoenix Pants 125 150 185 91.01 Spidersilk Boots 125 150 185 316.5 Azure Silk Hood 145 155 165 20 Lesser Wizard's Robe 135 155 185 111.6 Azure Silk Pants 140 160 190 40 Spider Silk Slippers 140 160 190 74.8 Boots of Darkness 160 190 91.4 Dark Silk Shirt 155 165 175 26 Azure Silk Gloves 145 165 195 34.5 Hands of Darkness 145 165 195 153.5 Silk Headband 160 170 180 29 White Swshbuckler Shirt 160 170 180 32.5 Small Silk Pack 150 170 200 34.5 Azure Silk Vest 150 170 200 47 Truefaith Gloves 150 170 200 56.98 Robes of Arcana 150 170 200 129.6 Bolt of Mageweave 175 180 185 25 Formal White Shirt 170 180 190 28.5 Red Swshbuckler's Shirt 175 185 195 33 Enchanter's Cowl 165 185 215 51.5 Green Silk Armor 165 185 215 52 Earthen Vest 170 190 220 59 Shadow Hood 170 190 220 143.25 Azure Silk Cloak 175 195 225 30 Green Silk Pack 175 195 225 46.75 Crimson Silk Belt 175 195 225 49.5 Boots of the Enchanter 175 195 225 52.25 Azure Silk Belt 175 195 225 59 Rich Purple Silk Shirt 185 195 205 66 Green Holiday Shirt 190 200 210 54 Green Silken Shoulders 180 200 230 55 Spider Belt 180 200 230 66 Crimson Silk Cloak 180 200 230 111 Crimson Silk Vest 185 205 225 39 Long Silken Cloak 185 205 235 46.13 Black Silk Pack 185 205 235 59 Black Swshbuckler Shirt 200 210 220 60 Azure Shoulders 190 210 240 69.5 Crimson Silk Shoulders 190 210 240 116 Robe of Power 190 210 240 381 Crimson Silk Pantaloons 195 215 235 47 Earthen Silk Belt 195 215 245 191.5 White Bandit Mask 215 220 230 45.25
Figure 3 - Made ingredients and cost
By finding the cheapest recipe for each level range we get the chart shown in figure 1. Now there may be some ways to improve the overall efficiency, say perhaps if it's cheaper to make a particular item after its green a couple of times than to make the next yellow item. If anyone figures out any such situation, please let me know.
Edited, Fri Jun 10 18:04:56 2005 by PrayForMojo
Edited, Fri Jun 10 18:09:18 2005 by PrayForMojo
Edited, Wed Jul 27 16:37:50 2005 by PrayForMojo
Edited, Mon Aug 1 11:26:24 2005 by PrayForMojo