Sorcery III

Today we're going to be talking about the aspect of Aion you either love or hate... the professions. Specifically, the ones that are good for us aether cannons. The three best for us are:


Alchemy

• Orbs and Books
• Manastones
• Potions
• Scrolls

If orbs and books caught your eye... shame on you! That's a single slot and we rarely auto-attack. What alchemy is best at is supplying you with manastones, potions and scrolls. The orbs and books are just icing on the caek. You can craft most types of white manastones... I can't see Magical Accuracy in there for example... which, through quests, can then be exchanged for green quality stones. All classes need potions and ours is no different; mana potions can really come in handy for those of us who find we lose more than we gain and instant-healing potions can only be crafted or awarded through quests. In addition, alchemists can craft flight potions, coveted by all. Cha ching! Finally, scrolls are extremely handy - especially the +running speed ones. If you find yourself slowed you will find yourself unable to glide. The best +running scrolls can push you just fast enough to allow gliding.


Handicrafting

• 2x Ring slots
• 2x Earring slots
• Necklace slot
• Head slot

"Handicrafting, Zot?" I hear you say. Yes, handicrafting. It's not just for rangers and chanters - as the above list shows, it covers a full six of your item slots. Everyone needs jewellery too, so it's a good profession to go with money making in mind. In addition you can craft Bows and Staves, which while useless to you, sell pretty damn well. They also use almost exclusively different materials to jewellery, essentially turning materials that would otherwise be worthless to you into expensive weaponry. And if you're wondering what goes in the head slot, it's glasses. Shades, man! You can make fucking shades!


Tailoring

• 5x Armour slots
  
• Head
• Belt

Looking at this, Sewing Tailoring is clearly a kickass profession for Sorcerers. You can fill all your armour slots using tailored gear, plus your head and belt slots (which are technically accessories, not armour). The side benefit of this profession is that you can craft leather armour equally well, expanding your possible money making avenues, though they use practically the same materials as cloth armour. What really makes this profession stand out is that it is only one of two professions that only requires one crit to create a blue item.

In both Handicrafting and Alchemy, to create a blue item (excluding recipes that require a boss drop or the like), you must first create a white item and have it crit into a green. You then use that green item in another recipe, which creates another green, but can crit into a blue. So you essentially need a double crit. In tailoring, you simply craft green gear and it has a chance to crit into a blue. Armoursmithing is the only other profession which does this.


There's also Cooking, which gives food buffs. The only other thing cooking can make are candies which essentially are just muck-around items that transform you into creatures for shits and giggles. If that sounds like your thing, cook away!

You can get all professions up to 399 if you have the time and inclination, however you can go above 399 in two professions only... so make sure to check out the 400-450 recipes to see what appeals to you most. You can always just start a profession to see if it appeals to you; there's no commitment apart from time if you stay below 400. Another factor of deciding which to level plus 400 are titles; you get special titles when you max a profession. In general most of the Elyos ones are decidedly shit compared to the Asmodian ones, but for sorcerers Elyos titles aren't too bad. In the end it's not really something you can revolve your entire decision around. There are plenty of titles in the game.

• Alchemy Expert
  Elyos: +44 Maximum HP, +2% Atk Speed, +4 Wind Defense
  Asmodian: +36 Maximum MP, +2 Magical Accuracy, +3 Magical Res
  

• Handicrafting Expert
  Elyos: +2 Flight Time
  Asmodian: +8 Accuracy, +3 Evasion, +2% Atk Speed
  

• Expert Tailor
  Elyos: +52 Maximum HP, +3 Flight Time, +3% Flight Speed, +6% Speed
  Asmodian: +8 Magic Boost, +2% Flight Speed, +2 Flight Time
  

• Cooking Expert
  Elyos: +1 Physical Att, +8 Magic Boost
  Asmodian: +36 Maximum HP, +36 Maximum MP, +5% Speed
  

At level 50 you get access to sexy but expensive Daevonian armour quests that reward extremely good items. So good that they aren't even on the armoury at the moment. At one point you'll need a crafted item for the quest... a very expensive Heart of Magic. And not just any old heart -- you need it to crit. Only those of us who bothered with a profession can enjoy this money sink ;). You don't need to worry about which profession if you have this in mind as all professions can craft the Heart of Magic.

I'm currently leveling Handicrafting and yes, it can be quite boring to level. When I hit 170 I made a point of stopping, gathering some actual crafting materials and making some items to sell; the fun of creating your own gear, the tasty possibility of crits and getting lucky blue items makes it all worth while. :)

Come on! Buy my expensive but well crafted stuff!
It won't fit in the TB :(

Finally, a note: nothing is Bind On Pickup with professions. If someone else in your legion has Tailoring, everyone has tailoring (assuming the guy is fine with spending his time on guildies). In addition, all professions can craft siege engines and the item required for the incredible level 50 gear.


Next issue of Sorcery: Level 25-35 ability ins and outs