User:OM1E5GA/Forging FAQ

When people approach me to make weapons for them, I tend to spend a lot of time answering the same questions. So I don't have to type out the answers every time, I created this little FAQ to answer questions from people that will (probably) never forge themselves. Hopefully others find this useful as well.

Note that I'm mostly creating this for people asking me to forge weapons for them. I'm trying to keep the answers as general as possible so others can make use of it as well if they want to, but there will be some things that are specific to me. I'll try to include indications that this is the case where necessary.

How long would it take to make XXXX?

I'm going to assume you mean to make a perfect XXXX cause no one ever asks anyone to make superior or lower quality weapons.

This depends on several factors: the weapon you're asking about, the metal you want, how much time the person you're asking is willing and able to spend in the forge, and plane 'ol dumb luck.

When working the forge, there's roughly a 10% chance that any given blade/head/etc will come out as a "best" piece that can be combined with a "best" handle/hilt/etc to create a perfect weapon. So, on average, 1 out of every 10 pieces you make in the forge is even capable of becoming a perfect.

When combining a best blade with a best hilt, there's another roughly 10% chance that it will result in a perfect weapon, the rest will be superior quality. This means that, on average, 1 in 100 blades a blacksmith starts will become a perfect weapon.

When I work the forge, I wait until I have 12-15 best blades and hilts that are ready to be combined, then combine them all with a Gift of Eonake active to increase my chances of getting a perfect. Depending on how much time I can spend IG and how much luck I have, this can take from several days up to a week. It's rare that I don't have at least one of them come out perfect, but Lady Luck is fickle and there is a rare occasion where this might happen... but generally speaking a week or less is adequate to produce a perfect.

Prior to late 2020, forging RTs were much longer then they currently are (up to 10 minutes per forging cycle!) and I wouldn't take a forging commission unless the person was willing to wait a month.

How much will it cost?

Different blacksmiths will have different ways of determining the final prices they charge, but in the end there's only so much variance between smiths for popular weapons and metals. If you're looking for a weapon that requires a lot of forging cycles it might be worth shopping around a bit, though.

There are too many variables that I consider to put a price menu here, but when determining what I quote someone commissioning me for a project I'm considering the rarity of the metal, length of the forging cycles, number of forging cycles, general popularity of the weapon/metal, and how much I've been offered for that weapon/metal combination in the past (if it applies). Usually, I'll charge a bit less if I'm being commissioned vrs if it's something I'm making on my own to put in my shop since I've got a guaranteed buyer.

That said, for most weapons, expect to pay between 1m and 4m silver depending on the weapon and metal requested.

Why does it cost so much?

You mean aside from the insane amount of time just staring at the screen when I could be hunting?

Well, if I'm buying my slabs from the forge it's costing me silvers for every weapon I make.

I can prolly sell a couple of the superior morning stars I make to other players eventually, if I have a shop, but realistically the 99 morning stars I'm making on the way to your perfect are going to the pawn shop. The most the pawn will give me for vultite morning stars I made is 20,000... but the cost of the metal and tempering oils to make them is about 40,000 (depending on trading bonuses, citizenship, etc).

So I'm losing 20,000 silver per vultite morning star or almost 2 mil just to make that weapon if the averages hold up. THIS along with the time invested is why I want a so much for that weapon I'm selling.

Also, it takes around 100 hours or more just staring at the screen watching text scroll across it to master each forging skill, so that's about 200 hours to be able to make a perfect (100 for crafting and 100 for whatever weapon type). So, if you have the opportunity to buy a perfect for less then a blacksmith quotes you, snatch that sucker up cause you won't get a better deal.

What if you use slabs you got from the slab generator?

I can't speak for others, but this is actually what I do most of the time. It really doesn't change the above at all though, you're just using Blood Script instead of silvers to purchase the slabs.

The reason I do it this way is to have access to a wider variety of metals as well as rare metals such as razern, vaalorn, and white ora. It also means that I have lockers in four different towns that are full of nothing other then forging slabs and the longer it's been since the last Duskruin, the fewer options I'll be able to give you for metals.

Can you make my weapon have an alternate noun?

Glyphs for both morning stars and spikestars are available, but aside from that there's not any way players to change the nouns for forged weapons. If you want your "perfect maul" to be a "perfect sledgehammer" (for example), you'll need to get a merchant to alter it for you.

Can you customize the appearance?

Not a whole lot. The metal used will be in the description as well as the wood I use for the handle/hilt/etc. A blacksmith can remove the hilt from the description or use a different type of wood for the hilt, but you're prolly choosing the metal based on its properties.

Keep in mind that each town only sells one type of wood, so if you want a type that's not sold in the town the blacksmith is in they're going to have to travel to get it and use 20-50 locker slots storing it while they make your piece... some will do that for free, others will tack on an additional charge. Hilts/etc can also be made with metal instead of wood, but I would definitely expect an up-charge if you want that.

I have recently acquired an alter box that allows me to use gems or critter skins to decorate weapons, however I haven't had a chance to play with it much so it will very much be an "at the buyer's risk" if you wish me to use that. You'll also have to provide any exotic or expensive gems/pelts if you want those used.

Can I dye my forged weapon?

Dying the blade prior to combining it with the hilt will result in the enchant the metal provides being lost, according to everyone I've ever talked to, so I will NOT do this. It is supposedly fine to dye finished forged weapons, though I'm not about to risk a 1+ million silver weapon to test it. What one does with their own weapons is up to them, however.

I have this slab of [insert metal here], will you forge it into a [insert weapon here] for me?

Speaking solely for myself, I will gladly do this as long as we can agree on a price for my time and the tempering oils needed. I will forge it into as many weapons of the type you want as I can get out of that slab, do everything in my power to try to get you a perfect out of it, and all weapons produced from that slab are yours to keep.... but I absolutely will not make any sort of guarantee you'll get a perfect out of that slab (see the first question above for why).

Will you make me a weapon out of golvern/rolaren/eonake/eahnor?

These four metals are exceptionally rare in the slab generator and fresh slabs of them generally sell for around 5 mil silver on the secondary market. If I happen to have one or more of the one you ask about at the time, I may sell you the slab and and forge it into weapons as outlined in the question above... assuming I don't already have plans for it/them.

However, due to the high rarity and cost of these metals I cannot take commissions for perfects made out of these metals. Honestly, perfect weapons made from these metals are purely for showing off and are rarely made other then as personal projects for blacksmiths. If I were to take a commission for one, I would want a minimum of 100 mil silver with half of it up front and it would take at least a year for me to complete it just due to how hard those metals are to come by. You can easily get a perfect made from any other metal available and have it enchanted up to 7x or more in less time and for less silver.

Why don't you enchant the perfects you sell in your shop up to 4x?

I don't have a wizard high enough of a level to enchant is the short answer.

Under the old system of enchanting I had a deal with a couple wizards to enchant them up to 4x for me, but when I tried to price enchanting under the new system every wizard I talked to either wanted more to bring weapons up to 4x then I could mark them up or wanted just enough to do it that I wouldn't be making anything extra. Why go through the extra hassle for the same amount of profit or less then if I don't bother?

Why are there so many perfect lances and mauls compared to other weapons?

Lances and mauls are exceptions in forging in that they're popular bases that only require one forging cycle (because the glyphs are merchant only). As a result, this is what blacksmiths tend to make when they haven't been asked for something specific and are just making things to sell on the open market... especially if they're working with a metal that has a long forging cycle.

Any advice for what metal to use?

All forged weapons have the natural properties of the metal they're made from, so you can get a head start on enchanting and/or crit weighting by choosing a metal that naturally has a higher enchant or natural crit weighting. There are also metals that have natural elemental flares (gornar, drakar, rhimar, and zorchar) if you want one of those flares but don't want to attend a pay event or spend premium points to add them.

Really though, the two main things to look at when choosing the metal are the "Material Gear Difficulty Modifier" (MGDM for the rest of this answer) and how much you like the aesthetics of the metal. Metals with a higher MGDM will be easier to apply professional services to (enchanting, sanctification, ensorcelling, weighting, etc). So, if you're planning on getting a lot of services added to it, those metals should probably take precedence.

Notes on some (but not all) metals that can be used in the forge:

Drakar/rhimar/gornar/zorchar: These metals flare fire/cold/earth/lightning respectively but have the worst MGDM (-50) of any metal weapons can be forged from other than black ora. Not recommended if you're looking get extensive amounts of player services

Razern: Naturally 2 CER crit weighted, but has a fairly bad -20 MGDM. It is the most aesthetically pleasing in my opinion, however

Mithril: Has the best MGDM of any metal (+20) that can be forged.... but boring. Recommended for those wishing to get extensive player services and don't care about aesthetics

Vultite: Starts at +20 and has a better MGDM (0) than the much rarer rolaren (-40). Also, not as boring as mithril

Faenor: MGDM (+15) just below mithril, but starts at +8 enchant

Vaalorn: Starting enchant of +18, slightly higher MGDM (+10) than vultite, more impressive than vultite