I am a casual player who enjoys exploring, questing, and trade skills. I have tons of notes and have decided to share some of my secrets with you. As I gain more knowledge I'll update these guides to reflect this. Also note that these are tailored (pun intended!) to THF server - they're designed to use as many vendor items as possible. This means trade skills will be easier but more expensive to master.
A few things I'd like to mention before we get started.
- I assume you have at least basic knowledge of trade skills. There are plenty of 'getting started' guides elsewhere so I won't waste the space here.
- Traditional trade skills on this server are just for fun. The very best crafted items barely compare with the newbie starting equipment. (I have not had a chance to play with custom recipes (Alt-P and high level stuff) but I've heard they are quite nice indeed.) Also, these old school recipes can break at any time. As the devs customize the server more and more items are being changed. So don't freak out if it happens!
- The first 100 or so skillups will be a breeze. From 100-150 slows down a bit, then 150+ is where you start spending a LOT of time on the skill. If you lack patience then break up the crafting sessions.
- You are going to spend a load of cash on skillups. Any skill you take beyond 125 is going to get expensive. Grand mastery (300) will be very, very expensive.
- With all skills there will be a point where you just have to farm the materials.
- When farming please be aware of other people in the zone. Rule of thumb: (s)he who was there first has right-of-claim to a small area. Move farther into the zone, agree to share mobs, or leave entirely.
- There is a slightly higher chance of getting a skill increase when you successfully make an item versus have a failure.
- Technically, you can make a high skill item if you have little or no skill, but chances of success are extremely low. Example: with tailoring skill 88 I attempted 300 Tae Ew Hide Sacks (triv: 295) and only had 5 successes. That's 1.67% success rate.
- And finally, I'm pretty much cutting my own foot by giving away all my secrets. Well, not all of them...
I've already noticed several of my favorite hunting spots gaining popularity. If these guides circulate a bit be sure to expect competition now and then. Just keep it friendly and everyone goes away happy.Oh okay, I'll give one final secret. I call it "Vendor skilling". Any portable trade skill container (sewing kit, fletcher's kit, etc) works while you have the vendor window open. Just open the merchant window, then open your kit. You have to use searched/favorited recipes and the combine/auto inventory buttons to make items but this saves a lot of time - you can buy new materials and sell finished products without having to constantly reopen the vendor. I haven't found any world containers close enough to a merchant to try this method, but I assume it would work also. Edit: yes, it works. Kaleras Darkanvil @ Plane of Knowledge (dwarven smithing buidling) is close enough to the forge to breeze through Banded like there's no tomorrow!
So, on to the guides! If you like them, or have a more efficient method, feel free to leave comments. For now there are a lot of blank spaces but don't worry. I'm practicing everything so I'll have the guides filled out soon.
Quick links in case you hate scrolling.
Baking
Jewelcraft
Tailoring
Smithing
Other Info
You can start with woven mandrake if you haven't farmed tae ew hides yet. The reinforced acrylia is listed as an alternative to the Tae Ew Leather items; Cazic Thule is a popular place to grab materials. Plane of Valor also drops lots of Aged Scales (used in 
