I've been curious why my smiths (armor and weapon) are already at level 18, while my other crafters are much lower. All of my crafters have done the same crafting quests and a similar amount of work orders. Well today I noticed a huge experience difference. My level 18 armorsmith had the smith buff and used a bonus potion +50%. For each batch of 5 tin sheets, the experience gain was over 3k! My level 17 mineralogist had the artificer buff and also used a bonus portion +50%. For each batch of 5 slate blocks, the experience gain was less than 1k! Is there some reason why the smith would get over triple experience for doing an equivalent item?
The quality of item you create as well as the number of complications cleared are part of what determine the XP you get. The level of the item/WO also play a part of it.
The quality of both items made was 100%. Tin sheet and slate block should be the same, both are tier 2 refined items.
I have always felt the game was biased against minos, (think brick studies). but seriously, the xp calculation for crafting is pretty complex. As was stated above, the quality is only one factor. The amount of action points left over is another. I tested a pair of low level outfitters on some workorders just to see how much variation I could get between them. They both selected the same workorder and processed them with the same steps, however I was unable to get both of them to finish with the same number of AP and didn't always get the same complications. In the end, the xp varied by 20% between them on any given attempt. When I did the same comparison making cloth, the difference narrowed to 10%. Nothing like the big numbers you saw between smith and mino, but enough to say that the calculation of xp has a lot of room for variation.
I think I have a theory for the tradeskill experience disparity. My theory is that, with all of the changing VG personnel, someone came along with the "bright idea" that tradeskill experience should be similar to adventure experience and cap out at 5 levels above the recipe level. This person did not realize that recipes are available at a much lower level than the recipe actually is. For example, while a few of my crafters are level 18, none of the level 18 recipes are really available and won't be available for use until I've reached level 21 and have completed the next tier quests. I think the tradeskills of mineralogist, carpenter, leatherworker and tailor follow this theory, while the smiths were left unchanged.
My mino has always grumbled a bit about her experience too. At first I thought it was only due to her wood elf nature but later as she progressed into tier 4 I saw she was seriously lacking on a per order basis from either the leathercrafter or the armoursmith. In an attempt to appease her normally sullen mood, I have her make all the other toons' jewelry to make up for the lack. So far, so good.
For what its worth, I think part of the difference may lie in the singular nature of the gem crafting. A jeweler isn't getting any sort of multiplier, assuming they exist, for cranking out x3 or x5 gems. We can hammer away at blocks, then supports, but we're stuck with x1 gems? This from a level 18 viewpoint, so perhaps more levels needed??
I didn't notice the experience difference on the gems. Next time I craft some gems (tier 3 now), I'll look at that too. Finding it extremely annoying that mineralogist has to do timber and tailor has to do hides for apprentice quests - but that's a horse of a whole different color. Also, I thought once you reached tier 2, the recipes offered were supposed to be only those for your craft specialization. All of the recipes are showing up for the apprentice levels.
You will always need a secondary component for stone weapons and that's where wood comes in. Expect to see a lot of generic "artificer" labeled recipes for refining of timbers into boards and into hafts. At least one can make all that sort of thing in batches. As to gems, I'm reserving judgement. Now where did I leave those (individually produced) diamond cut garnets? My weaponsmith needs them....
