I think I'm playing the game incorrectly

TLDR: Have plenty of councils on hand before trying to level a bunch of trade skills!

I recently returned to Project Gorgon after a few years away, and started playing Spirit Fox, which I really enjoy! I'm mid-30s now, and (almost completely*) love being a perpetual fox.

Generally, things are well and good. I'm having fun. Got plenty of storage. Favor isn't a problem either as I can generally farm the items I need.

Enjoying Gardening (50), Fishing (50), and Cooking (38). Working on Carpentry (23), and started learning Calligraphy. Want to try out Cheesemaking!

There are a ton of non-combat things to do in the game, and and I wish I could buy all the cooking recipes!

But there are more and more times when I'm broke, so I'll happily go do work orders for a while.

And that's when I think, "I'm doing it wrong." I get the feeling that I should be playing a 60-70ish character in higher-level zones to bring in the councils, instead of puttering around in the 30ish zones with my fox and doing lower-level work orders.

I'm not unhappy with the progression. I know my fox will eventually get into the 40s, 50s, and 60s zones, and unlock more recipes that will let me do better work orders.

But still, it would have probably been better to make lots of councils first, before trying out so many trade skills while on an enjoyable, yet lower-level class.

*Sigil Scripting, I'm looking at you. How am I going to unlock the skill and get it to 25 for gem inscribing without the resentment of having to give up fox for a time?

Honestly. There is no right or wrong way to play the game. Just do what you enjoy.
When i started the game i lvled a dozen combat skills to 50 before deciding on a combination that i lvled further. It may not have been the most efficient way to play the game, but i had fun that way. That was all that mattered to me. Since there is no rush to end game here it is fine to go at your own pace.

I have to agree, everyone plays at their own pace doing what they enjoy.
From my point of view rushing content is just destroying most of the fun.

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Originally Posted by Frei

And that's when I think, "I'm doing it wrong." I get the feeling that I should be playing a 60-70ish character in higher-level zones to bring in the councils, instead of puttering around in the 30ish zones with my fox and doing lower-level work orders.

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From a min-max/optimization pov, you're correct, you're doing things "wrong". Higher level players have multiple ways to make 40-50k/hr or much more reliably. Please note that there are two different kinds of "rich" in the game though. Nominally wealthy people can plan around and afford their combat skills with ease. These nominally rich people still need to collect most of their own materials, save for a few cheap things like maybe rough animal skins. There's a very small class of players in this game with 'fuck you" money and only they can afford all of their materials on the market since, by design, the market prices are intended to be high in this game. You didn't ask about buying all your materials, but I just wanted to confirm/verify that most people will farm their own mats on some level (which the farming build discussed below helps with).

Example:

A decent animal skin is worth 45 councils if you turn it into a leather roll. An amazing skin is worth 225 councils if turned into a leather roll. At 80 on a good farm build, the latter takes no more than double the time to farm than the former.

Also, animals were designed to be a cursed form. While these disadvantages diminish when you're crazy rich and powerful, and animals take some of the "best in role" awards these days, they're still more difficult to make money on than in human form. If you wish to advance at a quicker pace, I recommend you find something that can farm (stares at fire magic) and can interact with all the npc's. When you have a level 70-80 character with good mods and aoe's (for farming), you can then make money at a faster pace and grind your other classes up.

Lastly, you should be doing decent level work orders for armor crafting: leather, tailoring, carpentry, maybe toolcrafting. There's a massive jump from most crude to decent recipes, where the money becomes good.

For some people, the above sounds like a job. To people like me, what you describe just sounds like a waste of time. Definitely make a farming build and do dailies if you want to progress faster.

Just to note, we're still in early access, so ANYTHING you are doing, you are ahead of the curve for when the game releases.
At some point, everyone had a skill they wanted to work on to max out. Usually, not the one they started out with that goal
in mind. It's all about enjoying yourself. If you want to advance faster, find some friends or a guild you can play with. You'll
level up faster, have access to more/better loots. Get into the casino dailies, which are really good coin early on. And later
the AM Dailies, for higher level runs, and of course, more coin. I strongly recommend, for monies sake, continue on with work
orders...focusing on a tradeskill you are currently working on, and do others extraneously. For the most part, they pay really
well....just watch out for the few, where the components are worth MUCH more than the work order is paying; things like
runestone, magic sand, etc, etc. Personally, I like to plan ahead a little...if I know i'm going to do some crafting for work
orders, I'll check my gem stash, and if need be, do some surveying for as long as I can stand it (and gems themselves can be
sold to players for a nice profit!). Doing leatherworking soon? Head to appropriate zone and start farming those for a couple
days play, etc, etc. Some things, like mushroom farming can pay BIG coin, for relatively little effort, once you've skilled that
up some. Check player work orders too! Those who want something NOW, are usually paying premium coin for that item. So
sometimes, being a hoarder can really pay off.

A note on farming for cash:

Fox is excellent for this. With the illusion you have access to all of the vendors and can even milk cows.
You have extra storage in Animal town and a free teleport to get there, and some vendors who buy quite a bit.
Extra storage, best in the game, in the Warden cave in Kur. Kur has the most storage of any zone and even bank access.

I'm not sure what skills you are using, I'm assuming Spirit Fox is one of them. Maybe start the Warden quest in A town and work up the skill. You even start at level 30 once you are done with the quest.


Fox has a great AOE with knockback, and an aoe for armor damage and fire dot.
Warden is great for farming. Highest damage shield in the game, and a fire aoe.

For sigil scripting, if I remember correctly, you can level that by inscribing gems. And of course, you need lapis inscribed with a fox rune to make your own gear.

You are correct that higher level zones will bring in more councils, and make it easier to do crafting, especially as you move crafting further up. If you keep playing casually, I suggest picking up skinning, butchering, and tanning. This brings in considerably more money. Tanning the skins increases their value and gives you experience. Butchering gives you meat for cooking or selling, and sometimes fat for candle making.

A couple of other ways to make money, especially if crafting and looking at cheese:
1) Milking. Use the fox disguise to milk cows whenever in the Casino or Serb. I'd also suggest making an alt to milk cows in serb. Hand the alt some of your meat to raise up Joeh for storage. Pass the milk to the alt using the transfer chest and keep storing it. I also used to store a lot of milk with Mandibles in the Casino, Selexi in Ilmari, and the cook in Rahu. You can't have too much milk.

2) Forage everything, especially mushrooms. You need to raise up your mycology so you can make a dangerous trip to Gazluk and talk to the dwarf in New Prestibule about mushroom farming. Mushroom farming brings in money, helps to raise alchemy by making suspensions, and is needed for Cheesemaking and brewing.