Slow Blacksmithing for Newbie?

[Naschuetze]

I just stared playing a couple weeks ago, and can't seem to get my level 15 dwarf pally past the 90ish smithing range. Mining is incredibly easy to train, but smithing is harder. Do I just need to go buy a boatload of copper bars and make a load of copper belts, or what? What is a good way to train up my skill in blacksmith? Any suggestions for the newbie (and yes, I know Pallys "suck" according to some people at high levels - I like mine anyway...)

Thanks
Staupitz

[Konaguyxtr]

im a lvl 43, and my smithing is somewhere around 200 (havent played in about a month cause of computer issues) and i remember a bit of a lull around there. i got through it without buying any copper or anything. smithing increases much slower than mining does (my mining is at about 270) so you shouldnt expect your smithing to keep up with your mining. But i think as long as your mining skill is still increasing (you are mining the right materials) your smithing should increase as well. u may have to buy certain reagents (such as moss agate, types of leather) and stuff to make some of the items, but those can all be found at the AH for decent prices. just keep making what u can and make sure u dont waste your copper/tin on grey items unless u are using them. i always put my skill above money. if i have the choice between making an item that sells for 5 gold and doesnt increase skill, and an item that doesnt sell but increases skill, i will usually choose the one that increases skill.
Also make sure u are buying/learning new plans so u can make yellow/orange items.

[wathombe]

Also make sure u are buying/learning new plans so u can make yellow/orange items.

Yes, the most important part of your post is right there at the end, Kona.

Every time your smithing skill reaches a new multiple of five (i.e., 95, 100, etc.), go to the appropriate level trainer to see if there are any new plans available to purchase (at your level, you need to be going to one of the journeyman trainers, Therum Deepforge in SW or Rotgath Stonebeard in IF, to get plans). Then you should only spend your metal to smith orange items. This guarantees you one skill point for each item smithed. For every 10-20 levels, you should be able to find one item that is cheap (i.e., requires very few reagents) and will stay orange for you for a long time. Once you hit skill 105, you can make Rough Bronze Leggings, which only use 6 bronze bars and will stay orange at least into the 140s.

Hope this helps.

[Naschuetze]

thanks for the help! Any suggestions on where to mine copper?

Thx
Staupitz
(the Father-Confessor to Martin Luther in Wittenburg)

[wathombe]

Best place I've found to mine copper so far (as of lvl 26) is Darkshore. Start at the border of Ashenvale and walk the eastern mountain range all the way to the northern end of the zone. You should net about 100 copper ore and a handful of tin. Good luck!

[Avenstar]

I prefer to mine while I am fighting, so I'll find a cave in an appropriate level zone and do loops. This usually gives you 2-3 types of ore, a chest spawn, a named spawn, regular loot, and a bit of solitude. This, of course, assumes you have kept your mining/blacksmithing up with your leveling.

[Eiger]

Gathering - mining, skinning, herbalism - always levels far faster than the production profession. You should be able to gather plenty of materials along the way in the regular course of playing the game, especially if you solo a lot.

It gets more difficult once you reach 225 skill or so as you need many more materials to make something and will find yourself spending time doing only gathering. The armorsmith quests for blacksmith are a good example where you'll spend hours gathering about 300 mithril all told if I remember correctly. And then gathering thorium is something else entirely - that's a slow process with nodes few and far between and lots of competition for them.

I wouldn't ever buy materials off the AH - with the exception of things you can't gather yourself or say low drop gems like moss agate and the like.

[Zephyr Blue]

i have a dwarf warrior who mines/blacksmiths, and i found Dun Morogh and Loch Modan great areas to get a good amount of copper and tin, tin is rarer but not too hard to find, as soon as you can make bronze, do, one item in particular i found great for a very long time, bronze leggings, or sommat like that, took 6 bronze bars, and made a set of green-level leggins, i found this espcially great as my dwarf gained blacksmith points in making the leggings, and my gnome enchanter got regeants for disenchanting them

as a note, personally, i found duskwood another fairly good location, there are a lot of good quests, copper and tin in abundance, and the odd iron, and very rare gold, mostly good for copper and tin tho

hope i help in some fashion