Hints and Tips

What the "Retries" field is all about

The purpose of the Retries field is to give you an easy way of determining how much multiple makes of the same item costs, for the purpose of getting a specific qualtity. When you enter a number in the Retries field, the cost of making that item, minus the amount of cash you get from selling that item back to an NPC merchant, is added to the Total Price.

For example: A customer orders a 99% quality Mithril Long Sword. You set to work, and it takes you 5 makes to get a 99% sword. You want to charge for materials for the first make, but the four makes after that you only want to charge for the difference between the material cost and what you'll get back from the merchant by selling the trash swords, so you want to enter "4" in the Retries field. You also have the option of entering a mark-up on those four retries, since it took time to make them, and time is money. The mark-up percentage is based on the sellback loss multiplied by the number of retries you entered.

For Armor, Retries are a bit more complex, since you are dealing with up to six individual items on a single order. You have two options-- you can enter the number of Retries in the main Retry field (just above Total Price), which calculates Retry cost for all checked armor pieces, or you can enter Retries individually for each armor piece. Please note that if you enter a Retry in the main Retry field, it will override anything you may have entered in the individual Retry fields.

There is a way to see how much material it will take to make all the retries you enter by using the checkbox under the material list labeled "Include retries in Material List".

Crowns, Circlets, and leafy things

You may have noticed an absence of crowns, circlets, and Wreaths on the armor calculator. I guess it was laziness on my part, but you need not worry. The answer is very simple. You see, these special helms use the same exact recipes as their normal helm counterparts, with the addition of a pattern that adds 10 silver to the cost of the item (per make). For example, in Midgard if you want to make an Arcanium Heavy Starkakedja Circlet, simlply choose Arcanium Heavy tarkakedja Helm, and add 10 silver per make.

Note that these special helms are only available in the highest Armor Factor rating for each material tier, starting with Fine Alloy (Fossil in Hibernia). Here is a chart of the available special helms:

Midgard

Use recipe for	add	to make
Thick Padded Cloth helm	circlet pattern	Superior Padded Circlet
Thick Padded Cloth helm	pointed steeple hat pattern	Superior Steeple hat
Padded Starklaedar helm	circlet pattern	Leather Circlet
Heavy Starkaskodd helm	circlet pattern	Superior Spiked Circlet
Heavy Starkakedja helm	circlet pattern	Superior Light War Circlet

Hibernia

Use recipe for	add	to make
Thick Woven Cloth helm	wreath pattern	Superior Woven Wreath
Thick WovenCloth helm	pointed steeple hat pattern	Superior Steeple hat
Padded Cruaigh Leather helm	wreath pattern	Superior Suede Wreath
Heavy Cailiocht Reinforced helm	wreath pattern	Superior Spiked Wreath
Heavy Osnadurtha Scale helm	wreath pattern	Superior Light War Wreath

Enchantment Cost Information

Enchantment costs are now provided for your convenience. To view the costs of enchantment for any item, click on the dust icon next to the item. A new pop-up window opens, that shows you the various options for enchanting an item. You must disable pop-up blockers in order for this feature to work! I'm sorry about that. As a shameless plug for Mozilla Firefox, the built-in pop-up window does not block this calculator's enchantment window (but does block all annoying ad pop-ups).

On the enchantment window you can see three cost options. The most expensive option is to get the item enchanted at a town NPC Enchanter. This rip-off artist charges 40% of the sellback value of an item. He has purchased a retirement villa in Rome with the money you've all fed him over the years. (Sellback value means the amount of gold you'd get from selling the item to an NPC merchant.)

You can save a few gold coins by using a housing NPC Enchanter. They charge 30% of the sellback value of an item. You must have access to a house with an Enchanter to take advantage of this cost savings (obviously). These servants cost 100g, and can be returned for 75g.

The cheapest way to get an item enchanted, however, is to find a spellcrafter. The cost of enchanting an item this way is very close to 20% of the sellback value of the item. The way it works is each dust used for an enchantment has a set number of bonus points it will imbue, based on the total number of bonus points an item can receive, and the sellback value of the item. This calculator generates a list of dusts to use, based on these bonus points. Simply tell your spellcrafter-for-hire which dusts he or she should use on an item, put the item in the trade window, and have him use the "craft" button to complete the enchantment (just like imbuing gems). You may even want to buy the dusts yourself to save time.

The amount of bonus points a spellcrafter can enchant depends on the spellcrafter's spellcrafting skill level. Below is a simple chart of what the levels must be:

Caution: This chart has not been personally verified and is second-hand information. Please report any inaccuracies.

On the Armor Calculators, there is also a "Total Cost of Enchantment" feature, which adds the costs together for every piece of armor that is checked, and also lists all dusts needed.

NOTE ON LEGENDARY WEAPONS: At this time, Spellcrafters can only enchant Legendary Weapons that are 99% quality or higher. Lower than that the best you can do is use a housing Enchanter NPC.

I would like to give hearty thanks to Althedwarf of Midgard/Bors for his invaluable input in deciphering the details of enchanting! (He pretty much figured it out and told me about it)

What does enchanting an item do?

When you enchant an item, it applies a bonus to it. This bonus can be anywhere from 5% to 35%, depending on the level of the item. This bonus percentage adds to the chances an item will hit or miss, or, in the case of armor, be hit or be missed. It may not sound like a big deal, but anyone who has forgotten to enchant a brand new weapon, and loses to a blue-con mob because they can't hit the damn thing, knows how important it is.

Incidentally, armor bonus percentage cancels out weapon bonus percentage. So if your weapon has a 15% bonus, and hits a piece of armor with a 10% bonus, you will only receive a 5% bonus to your chance to hit. And of course, in the frontiers, all those level 50s are running around with 35% bonuses on armor and weapon, so if you don't have that bonus, you have a huge disadvantage.

Don't forget to enchant your legendary weapons! :)