I’ve been asked which is the best trader profession a few times over the past week. I find it an odd question. I’m a tailor because fashion is my passion. I always assumed shipwrights enjoyed crafting spacecraft and weaponsmiths felt strongly about powerful weapons. I guess it’s not always that way.
Which profession is ‘best’?
First, I have to wonder why they think I’d remain a tailor if I didn’t personally feel it was ‘best’. Then to answer their question I have to calculate what ’best’ means to them. Turns out for some it’s how many credits they can bring in and for others it’s how easy it is to master.
I suppose I can understand considering the potential profits. We all need to make a living. But to be honest, if money were my only consideration, I wouldn’t be a tailor. I make enough to take care of myself but I’m not rich.
I’ve only ever been a tailor and I went about mastering it the long way so I’m in no position to offer advice about the easiest profession to master. In general, sewing isn’t difficult and I’m able to craft high quality goods from even the most mediocre materials so I guess in that respect, tailoring is ‘easy’. But like any trader profession, you still need time to the learn the ins and outs of your particular craft. You need to accumulate experience, factories, resources, schematics, vendors and a customer base. There’s no magic formula for any of it. There’s many paths to being happy and successful in a particular trade.
I’ve agreed to mentor and help some wannabe traders. But I think the most valuable advice I can give is to follow your heart and make your own path to success. That’s what makes a trade (and trader) the ‘best’.
I witnessed an act of exceptional generosity today.
It started when someone contacted me late last night. I was busy at the time and asked them to please send me an email with her order and I would fill it over the weekend.
This morning I opened the email. She wanted a Twi’lek noble crest. I’ve never made one before. It called for 10 units of green diamond, a very rare type of gemstone.
I searched vendors across the galaxy but the cheapest I could find was 10,000 credits for a single unit. I’ve never seen any resource cost that much. A further search for information through the crafting network revealed no other potential source. I hate letting customers down, but with little choice I sent word to her about the situation.
As I expected, she was put off by the cost. As a last resort I checked with my guildmates to see if anyone had any ideas about where to find green diamond. I was surprised when Ik’o answered back that she had a stash of it. I informed her of my market research and the potential windfall she had in her hands.
I was shocked when she agreed to simply give my customer what she needed. We needed twenty units total to make the two noble crests she had originally requested. She gave the customer a hundred. That amount of this rare, possibly extinct, resource might have fetched her a million credits had she sold it.
I know a couple of million dollars might not be a big deal to some. But had I offered as much to this customer it would have been 1/7 of all the credits I have.
To add to her act of generosity she then offered some to me! I was touched but politely declined. She gave me some anyway. :) It was an extraordinary act of generosity I won’t soon forget.
Tags: MMORPG, PC game, Star Wars, Star Wars Galaxies, SWG
When I first came back to the galaxy I found that technology had advanced while I was away. The reverse engineering tool had been invented and tailors were using them to deconstruct enhanced clothing items to make new and better clothing.
Joy. One of the main reasons I’d chosen tailoring as my career in the first place was because there was no experimentation involved. None. Experimentation involves luck and skill, neither of which I have. I was approached a few times about making enhanced items early on, prompting me to obtain a tool and make an attempt at figuring out how the whole process works. I took a few notes and played around a bit. But I soon found that although it was less profitable, there was still a market for non-enhanced items. I packed away my reverse engineering tool having only ever made one enhanced item. A shirt, for my son.
Today I was approached by a gentleman looking for an enhanced shirt. He had everything I needed, just wanted me to put it together for him. That didn’t seem too difficult so I agreed. Upon opening the pack he handed me I immediately froze. He had given me three 35 power bits. These are rare. These were nothing I could ever create in my wildest dreams. Not even surrounded by an army of buffing musicians and a yacht full of lucky trinkets.
While trying not to sound too impressed, I casually asked him how much he estimated the pack he had handed me was worth. He replied about 8 million credits.
I tried to look cool as I re-read my notes and carefully proceeded. I checked and re-checked every step. With two of the steps complete I checked the status of the attachment I’d created. It wasn’t what I’d expected.
“Uh oh. Please tell me I did NOT screw this up.”, I said to myself. What had gone wrong. I looked back over my notes. I’d followed the steps why didn’t this look right at all?!
I began calculating the cost of my mistake. I could clean out my whole bank account and still not have enough to reimburse this gentleman for my mistake. How would I even tell him?
I swallowed hard and told him, “Uh, I think there might be a problem.” At that point I’m not sure which of us was more concerned. I told him it looked as if the power had been reduced in the process. “Impossible”, he said. Yet I was staring at the numbers. Only +11 on the first modification and only +7 on the second.
I was prepared for all hell to break loose at this point, hoping only that he wouldn’t insist that I sell my house to cover what my bank account could not.
He sort of laughed at me. Then informed me that indeed, that’s what the finished product should look like. Phew. Never been so shaken, or relieved, in my whole life. I finished the process and handed him back his pack, complete with a perfectly constructed 8 million credit shirt.
I’m just hoping no one else asks me to construct enhanced items for them. It’s emotionally exhausting!
Tags: MMORPG, PC game, Star Wars, Star Wars Galaxies, SWG
From the time I began my work as a tailor, I’ve always taken a lot of pride in my work.
Even back in the days when I was just starting out. I carefully sampled for all my materials and put every item together by hand. I’ve since switched to purchasing my materials in bulk, leaving my survey tools to collect dust in the bank. But I continue to make each item of clothing by hand.
I know many who use ‘automated’ crafting tools and factories who think I’m a bit nuts or at least a little silly for not taking advantage of the technology. I just don’t find that satisfying.
I’d much rather meet my customer in person and make them a shirt to match their favorite pair of pants. Or that jacket in just the right hue to complete their look. Or let them try on several pairs of pants to see which style suits them best.
I prefer working this way so much that I offer a 25% discount off my very reasonable list prices for customers who contact me personally and special order their garments.
Sure, there’ll always be a market for the standard black clothes, but with about 6 million different color and item combinations it’s far more satisfying to craft by hand that perfect item for a specific customer.
