February 7, 2005
Levelling a provisioner from 1-50 (and making a lot of gold while doing it)
Provisioners are one of the easiest and cheapest tradeskill classes to level in Everquest 2. They also produce extremely useful items: food and drink. Food and drink add regeneration to health and power regeneration respectively. The benefits are obvious, and many adventurers will pay a good deal of gold to get their hands on the food and drink that a provisioner can produce.
What follows is a guide for one of the quickest, cheapest, and easiest way I have found to level a provisioner from 1 to 50.
Note: Macros/Scripts are very helpful in your quest to reach level 50, however they are not a necessity. If you choose to use a macro/script, you run the risk of being caught by a GM and having your account banned. Although the chances are slim, it's a risk many people are willing to take. Alternatively, you can choose to run a macro/script while you are near your computer, so you can keep an eye on your crafter. The information here can be used to legitly level a provisioner from 1 to 50, it will just take more patience without an automation program of some sort.
General Tips and Comments:
-Provisioning requires no other tradeskill classes for any combine. All products of this tradeskill require only vendor bought material plus raw harvested material.
-For a complete list of Provisioner recipes, an excellent database is located at:
http://www.recipe-database.com/-Join a guild! If you are not in a guild, you will not be able to complete Writs, and will be unable to purchase a Keg+Stove for your apartment. This is a necessity in later levels for earning a large amount of gold.
-Drinks are MUCH more useful than food. In fact, most provisioners craft ONLY drinks, as they sell for as much as 10x more than drink on the open market. The reason for this is that drinks regen power, and power can heal, so health regeneration is far less important than power regeneration. For this reason, I am suggesting mostly drink recipes to reach level 50.
-Workshop tasks will begin to be of use once you reach tier 4 (levels 30-39). At this tier, you will net over 4gp per task, and tasks can be completed in as little as 15 or 20 minutes. Your net profit will generally be at least 3g after buying components for the recipe.
-You will not require a very high adventure level to reach level 50 as a Provisioner, in fact you could be a level 3 adventurer if you wished. If you choose not to level as an adventurer however, you will be limited to relying on others to harvest all of your ingredients (which is usually not a problem).
-Tradeskill levels allow you access to high level zones. When you reach level 32, you will have automatic access to the Enchanted Lands and Zek, the Orcish wastes. Additionally at level 42, you will gain automatic access to the Feerrott as well as Everfrost. This is a huge help as an adventurer, as all 4 of these zones would otherwise require time-consuming access quests.
-You will rely heavily on other people to harvest items for past level 20. While most times it is easy to find a large amount of resources on the broker, at times you will find yourself with a very low stock of an ingredient. You'll either have to wait for more to come onto the market, switch recipes, or go out harvesting yourself if you are of a high enough level. A simple trick, which I will also mention within my guide, is to check the market often for your rare ingredients, and stock up on them as much as possible. I recommend using the /show_window inventory.Market command from your crafting station to save time.
-You will need a little bit of cash to start out, 50sp should be enough, but the more the better. If you have less than 1g, try and get as far as you can using my guide. You should be able to turn a profit very early on.
-All of my recipe suggestions are just that, suggestions. These are the recipes that, in my experience, can net you the most profit with the least amount of time invested. Of course you may want to try other recipes, both for fun as well as for an extra bit of experience.
-While you are crafting, there are spells you can cast to speed up your progress and increase your durability. Your goal in casting these spells will be to craft a top quality recipe as fast as possible. I will therefore recommend using one buff that increases progress while decreasing durability, one that increases durability while losing chance at success, and the lowest level buff that consumes power in order to increase progress. For maximum results, you should spam these 3 buffs. If this is too hard on your wrists, you can also just click and let the recipe go. Most recipes take upwards of a minute or 2, so this gives you some time to do house chores while crafting. Just return every minute and click the repeat button (macro/scripts are also an obvious solution to this). Without using buffs, you will still craft 2nd and 3rd quality items regularly. Your experience will be a little slower, but it will work.
-I recommending choosing a wholesale society and workshop society that are located in the same suburb. You will need to run between these two very often. Most of your crafting should be done in the wholesale society, but when you level you'll need to run to your workshop to buy recipe books past level 19. At higher levels, you'll also want to be in close distance to your workshop society to get workshop tasks.
With all that said, let's begin!
Levels 3-9(tier 1):
These levels will obviously go by the quickest. Here are the 3 recipes you will mainly want to concentrate on (I have listed the recipe level, the ingredients, and vendor cost if applicable):
Bread(3): dough(36c), yeast(6c), fuel(6c)
Pasta(3): dough(36c), flour(6c), fuel(6c)
Chocolate Bar(3): Cocoa(18c), Cream(6c), fuel(6c)
Why these 3 recipes you may ask. The answer is that level 50 Provisioners have multiple recipes that require these simple food products. Sure they can make it themselves, but that is just wasted time for them. They'd rather buy these on the market and avoid the extra time it takes to produce these. You can easily put each of these on the market for 1sp and sell out. Leve 50 Provisioners will buy them up quickly. Level 50 Provisioners buy these because they need them to work on writs and workshop tasks that make them a lot of money.
These 3 recipes should take you to level 10. If you get bored crafting these, you may also try your hand at:
Fudge(6): Chocolate Bar, Cream(6c), fuel(6c)
Higher level provisioners use these in several recipes as well, so they should sell on the market.
You should be able to reach level 10 within a few hours if not less. Put all of your items up for sale on the market to make your first bit of profit. Choose craftsman as your subclass, and get ready to move into making more food and drink.
Levels 10-19(tier 2):
There are several ways to make it through these levels, and I am going to suggest several *key* recipes to make it through, however there are countless ways to make it through these levels (this applies to all levels hereafter as well).
One direction through the first 2-3 levels is to craft more bread, pasta, chocolate bars, and fudge until they become grey and no longer award experience. You can continue selling these at a profit to level 50 provisioners.
Another suggestion for making it through these first 2-5 levels is to make some store-buyable tier 1 items:
Nutmeg Fizzlepop: Nutmeg(36c), Aerated Mineral Water(6c), fuel(6c)
Nutmeg Cookie(6): Nutmeg(36c), Dough(36c), fuel(6c)
Nutmeg Cake(8): Nutmeg(36c), flour(6c), egg(6c), fuel(6c)
Some lower level adventurers may purchase these items for 1sp - 2sp each, depending on your server economy.
Your goal is to eventually reach level 16, so you can begin crafting Vodka. Vodka is another item similar to Bread and Pasta. Higher level adventurers want it, for one recipe mainly: Meditation on the Beach. This is a tier4 drink that has a 5 hour duration. You will be crafting a lot of it once you reach level 39, but until then, you will be supplying the higher level provisioners with its subcomponent.
Vodka(16): Wheat Malt(36c), Liquid(6c), Yeast(6c), Fuel(6c)
Make as many of these as you can, and sell a good deal on the market. High level provisioners will buy them for anywhere from 1sp to over 5sp. The concept again is the same as with bread and pasta. Save several stacks of this for a recipe I will introduce you to below.
Here is where I will recommend the start of using your own drink. For a change in pace, I recommend crafting a good bit of Vanilla Fizzlepop as well. This drink can be used to craft much longer duration drinks, one of which I will describe below.
Vanilla Fizzlepop(16): Aerated Mineral Water(6c), Vanilla(14c), Fuel(6)
Start drinking this as soon as you make it (NOTE: DO NOT drink while you are in the middle of crafting. You will not receive credit for drinking the drink, but it will be used nonetheless. Never turn on auto drink. Simply drink manually in between crafting items.) Drinking your own drinks will help keep your power up so you can cast you power consuming buff more often.
One final recipe that will take you well into your 20's is:
Refuge Island Iced Tea(19): Vodka, Vanilla Fizzlepop, Sugar(6c), Fuel(6c)
This drink lasts over 3 hours, so you can begin drinking it as well. It will also give excellent experience since it is a final combine using two subcombine recipes. Selling this on the market has mixed results. At times it sells like wildfire for upwards of 10sp, at other times it does not move at 5sp. It is most likely the result of higher level adventurers starting twinks who are in their teens, and buying large quantities of tier 2 drinks. I would recommend starting it at 4-5sp and working your way from there.
Levels 20-29(tier 3):
I'm going to take the time now to describe what you will be doing through your last 3 tiers as a provisioner. This formula does not change between tier 3 and tier 5.
-The first 3-5 levels of a tier are solely for making sub-combine recipes.
-The last 5-7 levels of a tier are a mix of creating profitable drinks and grinding on low-cost meat recipes.
It is as simple as that. I will go into a good bit of detail in this section on this concept so that it makes more sense. By the time you are a level 30 provisioner, it will make perfect sense to you (and perhaps sooner).
Tier 3 are the levels where you will begin to rely heavily on others for harvesting ingredients. There are no recipes in this tier that you can create solely from vendor ingredients.
For the first few levels, unless you have made 2-3 levels from tier 2 recipes, you will need to bite the bullet and do some spending. Hopefully you have saved up enough of your profits from prior recipes. If you run out of gold, you can always make more of your old recipes to earn enough to continue. Your cheapest bet will be the following recipes:
Roasted Rye: Rye(raw, prices varies), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Dark Rye Malt: Roasted Rye, Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Using these two recipes, you can get double the amount of experience off of a single raw ingredient. The components are very cheap (12c per combine) so this keeps costs down quite a bit. You may also want to make some of the following for use in later combines:
Rye Malt: Rye(raw, prices varies, Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Another VERY useful combine is to refine cinammon. This will be used to create Cinammon Fizzlepop among other things in later tier 3 levels.
Refine Cinammon: Cinammon(raw, price varies), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Also, create as many of this as you can:
Tequila(24): Blue Succulent(raw, price varies), Yeast(6c), Fuel(6c)
Refine Oolong Tea Leaf(23): Raw Oolong Tea Leaf(raw, price varies), Yeast(6c), Fuel(6c)
The point in these levels is to refine some raws that will be helpful in crafting drinks in later tier3 recipes.
Your goal in this tier will be to reach 25 so you can begin creating drinks for a huge profit. Once you reach your mid-20's, you will be able to begin crafting the following PROFIT drinks:
Fayberry Juice(25): Fayberry(raw, price varies), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Fayberry Cider(26): Fayberry(raw, price varies), Yeast(6c), Fuel(6c)
Big Fayberry(24): Fayberry Cider, Tequila, Fuel(6c)
Fayberry Fizzlepop(25): Cinnamon Fizzlepop, Fayberry Juice, Fuel(6c)
The Big Fayberry and Fayberry Fizzlepop are 2 more of these long lasting drinks (3hrs) that you can sell on the market for a very large profit. Unfortunately because of this, the raw fayberries often go for more than they should. Generally you should be able to find them for under 5sp a piece. These drinks can easily sell for 15s to 25s a piece on a good day, so that will still net you a good bit of profit. The trick is to check the market often for your raw ingredients, and grab them when they are available at a low price. Use your /show_window inventory.Market command to check the market on a regular basis from your crafting station to save time. Also don't forget to check your black market every once in a while as well.
I want to quickly mention the following drink recipes as well:
Oolong Tea(26): Refined Tea Leaf, Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Mountain Coffee(25): Mountain Coffee Bean(raw, price varies), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Creamed Mountain Coffee(28): Mountain Coffee, Milk(6c), Sugar(6c), Fuel(6c)
These are your backup drinks. If you run out of ingredients to make the big money making drinks, revert to these. You should have some refined oolong tea leaves saved up from earlier levels. Use these up! These drinks don't have nearly the duration of the fayberry drinks, but they still sell quite nicely on the market, and are great for creating in mass quantities. Be sure not to sell mountain coffee plain though, save it and turn it into creamed mountain coffee before putting it on the market. You'll get twice as much experience, and the drink will sell for twice as much as well. Generally these drinks can sell upwards of 10 to 15sp each, but check your market before setting the price.
If you are not having trouble finding enough ingredients to level solely off of drinks, you are extremely lucky. Chances are that you can turn a profit off of these drinks, but there simply aren't enough to grind out those last few levels. If this is the case, use the following recipes to make it to tier 4:
Pork Chop(23): Pork Meat(raw), Packet of Spice(36c), Fuel(6c)
Pork Jerky(25): Pork Chop, Packet of Spice(36c), Fuel(6c)
Lion Chop(23): Lion Meat(raw), Packet of Spice(36c), Fuel(6c)
Boiled Crayfish(23): Thicket Crayfish(raw), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Crayfish Jerky(25): Boiled Crayfish, Packet of Spice(36c), Fuel(6c)
Grilled Octopus(24): Octopus Tentacle(raw), Packet of Spice(36c), Fuel(6c)
Why all these meats? Meats are the KEY to cheap levelling. If you take a look at the market for your raw meats, you can find a LOT for less than 1sp each. Compared to drink ingredients, meats are upwards of 10 times cheaper, and much more plentiful. The reason for this, as I have stated before, is that drink is so much more valuable than food. Additionally, many of these meats can be combined twice using vendor ingredients, which gives you twice as much experience without the hassle. The only downside is that you will be stuck with a lot of leftover meat, since it rarely sells on the market. Stick it in your bank, hand it out to friends, try and sell it. It's not like you spent a whole lot of gold making it, and it got you your level.
Levels 30-39(tier 4):
As of today (Feb 7, 2005) the majority of adventurers are between levels of tier 3 and tier 4. Tier 4 especially is one of the greatest ways to make money by selling to players, but is also a tier when you begin to make quite a bit of extra gold from workshop tasks and writs. Grinding your way through this tier will be quite a lot slower than tier 3, as resources become even more rare. The strategy will be very similar to tier 3, so I won't go into great detail like I did before.
With that said, here is what you need to be refining and creating for your first few levels:
Refine Green Tea Leaf: Green Tea Leaf(raw), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Refine Shallot: Raw Shallots(raw), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Refine Honey: Raw Honey(raw), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Rolled Oat Malt: Rolled Oat(raw), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Roasted Rolled Oat: Rolled Oat(raw), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Dark Rolled Oat Malt: Roasted Rolled Oat, Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Refine honey sparingly, you will need some of it in a raw version for creating drinks later. You'll still need some refined honey for workshop tasks and writs, which I will explain later. Hang onto most of these refined items if you can afford it. You will need them for many later combines. If you are running low on money, you can try and sell these refined items for a profit. Higher level provisioners will probably buy them from you, again to save time for themselves. This is only recommended as a last resort, however.
Once you've made your way into the mid-30's, you are well on your way to some big profit, and tier 5. Here are your big money making drink recipes:
Ice Coffee(34): Everfrost Ice Beans(raw), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Creamed Ice Coffee(38): Ice Coffee, Milk(6c), Sugar(6c), Fuel(6c) (1.5 hours)
Honey Licqueur(37): Raw Honey, Yeast(6c), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Schnapps(35): Wild Apple, Yeast(6c), Fuel(6c)
Green Tea(35): Refined Green Tea Leaf, Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Afternoon Tea(36): Honey Licqueur, Green Tea, Fuel(6c) (3 hours)
Wild Apple Juice(34): Wild Apple(raw), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Wild Apple Tea(35): Wild Apple Juice, Green Tea, Fuel(6c) (3 hours)
Obviously you'll want to make those in that order (Ice Coffee->Creamed Ice Coffee, Refine Green Tea Leaf->Green Tea->Afternoon Tea).
Also in your mid-30's is when workshop tasks begin to play a factor. Workshop tasks from your society at this level will payout 4gp a piece. Make sure you always have one going. All you need to do for these tasks is to craft 10 of a particular recipe, and the recipe only has to be of 3rd grade quality (savory or chilled). Sometimes the task requires rare ingredients and it is not worth it, but come back in an hour and get a different one. Artisan writs have a similar payout, so you can always have 2 tasks going at once.
When you reach your high 30's, artisan writs will begin randomly paying out at 17G! This is as much as a level 50 provisioner can make for artisan writs. Do as many of these as you can to start building up your cash. Not only will you make gold, but you'll also help your guild level up and gain status points. Your guild will love you, and you'll be able to buy a lot of neat things for your house from the city merchants.
The final big money making drink recipe is:
Meditation on the Beach(39): Schnapps, Vodka(remember this?), Wild Apple Juice, Fuel(6c) (5 hours)
Remember you were making all that Vodka? This is the recipe you use it on, and this recipe is a HUGE money maker. I generally sell this drink for at least 75sp on the broker, but it can go up to 1g and people will still buy it. The bottleneck of this recipe is the wild apples, since it requires 2 per combine you will need 40 wild apples to make a stack, and wild apples are not cheap on the market. Using this recipe and workshop tasks/guild writs, you should be able to see your first platinum piece and more. You're on your way to becoming quite rich.
For those last few levels, here are the meat recipes you should stick to:
Bear Steak(33): Bear Meat(raw), Packet of Spice(36c), Fuel(36c)
Bear Jerky(35): Bear Steak, Packet of Spice(36c), Fuel(36c)
Carp Steak(34): Murkwater Carp(raw), Packet of Spice(36c), Fuel(36c)
Carp Jerky(36) Carp Steak, Packet of Spice(36c), Fuel(36c)
Level 40-50(Tier 5):
Congratulations, you've made it to the last tier. You probably have a pretty good idea of how provisioning works now. The formula I described in the tier 3 section still applies to this tier as well. With that said, here are the refine recipes you need to concentrate on during your first 3-5 levels:
Roasted Corn(43): Corn(raw), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Dark Corn Malt(43): Roasted Corn(43), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Corn Malt: Corn(raw), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Refine Cardamon(44): Cardamon(raw), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Refine Pu-erh Tea Leaf(43): Pu-Ehr Tea Leaf(raw), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Refine Saffron(43): Raw Saffron(raw), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Keep in mind as you create these sub-components, that you will be using them all at level 50. You'll want to have as many on hand as possible, so that when you have reached your cap, you can start churning out guild writs and workshop tasks. The more refined items you have on hand, the faster it goes. Otherwise you will spend much of your time doing these refinements at level 50.
Also keep in mind that guild writs and workshop tasks should be your main source of income. Don't waste time combining greys and selling tier 4 drinks, unless you have the sub-components or the recipes are not grey yet. You will make a much greater profit, and much quicker, if you stick to writs and tasks.
As you make it to your mid-40's, you will be able to craft tier 5 profit drinks. As of today (February 7, 2005) these do not sell quite as well as tier 4 drinks, since many adventurers have not yet attained level 50. Therefore, you may actually have a more difficult time selling these than your tier 4 drinks. As adventurers level however, the following drink recipes will become the new money makers to replace tier 4 drinks:
White Peach Juice(44): White Peach(raw), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Pu-erh Tea(45): Pu-erh Tea Leaf, Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
White Peach Tea(46): White Peach Juice, Pu-erh Tea, Fuel(6c) (3 hours)
Robust Coffee(46): Lavastorm Robusta Bean(raw), Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c)
Creamed Robust Coffee(48): Robust Coffee, Liquid(6c), Fuel(6c) (1.5 hours)
Cardamon Fizzlepop(45): Aerated Mineral Water(6c), Cardamon, Fuel(6c)
White Peach Fizzlepop(45): Cardamon Fizzlepop, White Peach Juice, Fuel (3 hours)
For now, you'll probably want to stick to these recipes as they are the easiest, cheapest and fastest. You will make the most profit off of them.
Finally, to get you through those last lingering levels, here are the recommended meat recipes:
Wyrm Steak(43): Wyrm Meat(raw), Packet of Spice(36c), Fuel(6c)
Manticore Steak(43): Manticore Meat(raw), Packet of Spice(36c), Fuel(6c)
Manticore Jerky(45): Manticore Steak, Packet of Spice(36c), Fuel(6c)
Trout Steak(43): Nerius Trout, Packet of Spice(36c), Fuel(6c)
Trout Jerky(45): Trout Steak, Packet of Spice(36c), Fuel(6c)
The raw meats for these still only run about 1sp as of today (February 7, 2005). This is by far the quickest and cheapest way to reach your level cap.
Congratulations if you have reached level 50 as a provisioner! I hope this guide has been informative and useful in your quest. Now that you're level 50 you can concentrate on making money through your workshop tasks, which now give a 23g payout, and your writs which give 17g and status. I personally have made nearly 15 platinum in just over a week as a level 50 provisioner, as well as over 200,000 status points. I was finally able to buy myself the fastest horse, and can own all of the best armor in the game. Good luck to you in your future EQ2 endeavors, I wish you the best of sucess!
Level a provisioner to 50 (and make a lot of money too) : EverQuest 2 Submissions
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