Well so I am level 31, I bumped my INT down to 151 and my WIS up to 105 to
attempt tinkering. I set out with the intent of 16 flameless lanters (32pp).
bought 16 waters, 16 gnomish spirits (combined to make firewater), 16 lanterns,
and 16 metal twines. I also grabbed some bolts and grease to make cams. I sit
down, and start tinkering.

These are my results:
8 successful Flameless Lanterns
8 failed lanterns
2 failed cams
0 raise in skill

So, I quit. No more tinkering for me. If they are going to be so bold as to
never allow a SINGLE point of skill to raise after 50pp spent and 18 attempts
at mediochre (useless) items, then to hell with this skill.

What are we all getting hyped over anyway? Every other trade skill I have
tried went up after a few attempts/failures when I was doing items of an
acceptable skill level. If you spend 32pp doing bakery, you're close to
master! With smithing, I got into my 40's after about 10pp. But nooooo... we
start at an even 50 so it's up to us to dump 1000's of pp into it to raise it
from 50 to 70ish. What a bunch of crap. The ONLY profitable and worthwhile
trade skill is Jewelcraft, which is limited to Enchanters.

Another thing is, the items we make are pointless. Cams are the only plausable
item we can currently construct that might make tinkering worth it.
Unfortunately BOWS aren't that great, and due to their limited usability cams
are not a viable means of living. Especially when you factor in failure rates
and the amount of money you need to dump into it to get your skill high enough
to make cams reliably. A spyglass? A collapsable fishing pole? And to think
of all the time and effort we have spent TRYING to figure it out.

Here's your hint: Verant doesn't care about tinkering and it's doubtful they
ever will.

How often do you hear someone walk around screaming "HEY! SELLING large jars!
only 1pp!! gimme a tell!" The same addage carries over to tinkering.

Good luck at finding something guys.

-Kryogen Katspaw
31st Gnome Wizard, Bertoxxulous

=====