OK so you've got to 187 using my guide to LoY ribbons - now what? Well, if you are Dark Elf, Erudite, Gnome, High Elf, Human, or Iksar, there is more relatively easy skilling up available to you, to avoid the pain of acrylia/velious recipes/solstice robes.

Please note that if you are happy with acrylia/velious recipes/solstice robes, by all means carry on with that. Or if you are not of one of the chosen races, carry on doing those as well.

What we are going to be making are caster robes of various kinds. Note that we are going to be making lots, and none of what we make is going to be too attractive to players, so bring your bankroll and don't be too attached to it (you're used to that though, right?)

The recipes use LoY ribbons, plus patterns handed out to people of the right race by NPCs in your starting cities, plus research swatches.

The way these robe recipes are structured is as follows: Each of the lucky races has SIX robes they can make. I will refer to these recipes as 1 through 6, where 1 is the easiest and 6 the hardest.

Our data on trivials is incomplete BUT it only takes a small leap of faith to arrive at the conclusion that:

Robe 1 is trivial 212
Robe 2 is trivial 222
Robe 3 is trivial 232
Robe 4 is trivial 242
Robe 5 is trivial 252 (conjectured)
Robe 6 is trivial 262 (conjectured)

This conclusion is in agreement with the available evidence for all 36 robes. Highelf-1, -2, and -3 have these numbers confirmed exactly, as do Human-2 and -3, and Erudite-1. It's good enough for me!

I know what you're thinking - you're thinking "Great! An nice staggered progression to 250! This is gonna be easy!". Holdeth thy horses a moment! We need to talk about the research swatches properly...

To make research swatches you'll need to be or have access to a researcher (ie, an INT caster) with research skill a good way over 100. Research is level capped so we're talking level 40 at least (so only a PL project for the truly dedicated. Surely you must have friends or at least acquaintances who have the necessary skills ). The research swatches are made by your friendly INT caster by combining a parchment, a quill, and a research component, in their advanced research container (from Gunthak). The parchment and the quill are standard research bits costing a few gold. The research components involved include both 'old' research bits as well as the 'new' research bits for researching level 51-60 spells.

These recipes were put together in an orderly fashion, it seems, which makes it easier to spot the patterns (no pun intended) involved. For each race:

Robe 1 uses a research component for a level 34 spell
Robe 2 uses a research component for a level 44 spell
Robe 3 uses a research component for a level 49 spell

As you can see, these all use 'old' research components. I'm gonna drop those quote marks now 'cos they are annoying to type! Old research components - runes, words, pages, those weird mage things - are, relatively speaking, plentiful and cheap. They drop off mobs of levels near the relevant spell level, all over the world. You can find them on vendors for a few platinum a go, or in the baz for a few dozen platinum a go (people are mean ).

Why do I go on so about how nice old research components are? Because for each race:

Robe 4 uses a new research component
Robe 5 uses a new research component
Robe 6 uses a new research component that is highly desirable and/or rare

No one said this was gonna be easy! Despite the excellent work done by this site and many others in making available complete lists of what new research components make what spells, there still seems to be a tendency in the public at large to offer all new research components for sale at megabucks. Which is silly, because some - most! - of them simply aren't worth it. Also, new research bits seem to drop a lot less than old research bits. So all in all, there just aren't that many available to us to skill up on.

A special word about the robe 6 bits. We had to wait a long time to even see the stats on the type 6 robes, because the bits used are HIGHLY desirable. In short:

Dark elf-6 uses Words of Abrogation, which is a component for three tasty Necro spells
Erudite-6 uses Rune of Tempest, which is a component for Elnerick's Rending
Gnome-6 uses Yaeth 25 Right, which is a component for Koadic's Endless Intellect
High elf-6 uses Words of Virtue, which is a component for Avatar
Human-6 uses Words of Capacity, which is a component for three mage pet Greater Vocerations
Iksar-6 uses Words of Misery, which is a component for three tasty Necro spells

So don't expect to be skilling on those too much! - although, if you CAN get the necessary research bits, you will have a decent success rate at making the robes, which may sell of a goodly amount of plat. You must make the judgement as to whether the research bit / the spell / the robe will provide the best return.

But going back to robes 1 to 3 - these do provide a nice staggered progression for tailors of the right races. You will have to farm the research components, and you will have to farm the components for the dyes for the ribbons (and the different races have vastly differing availability levels for these dye components) - but depending on your available time and pocketbook, you should almost certainly be considering these as an alternative to acrylia/velious/solstice robes.

A final recap on what dropped / bought items each race needs for robes 1 to 3:

Dark elf:
Robe 1: Silver ribbon / Cursed Clover of Viesar / Rune of the Cyclone
Robe 2: Silver ribbon / Ashweed / Words of Burnishing
Robe 3: Golden ribbon / Cursed Clover of Viesar / Wing of Xegony

Erudite:
Robe 1: Silver ribbon / Seahorse roe / Salil's Writ pg 64 Right
Robe 2: Silver ribbon / Bamboo shoot / Rune of the Inverse
Robe 3: Gold ribbon / Seahorse roe / Words of the Ethereal

Gnome:
Robe 1: Silver ribbon / Steamfont springwater / Words of Neglect
Robe 2: Silver ribbon / Cauldron prawns / Breath of Ro
Robe 3: Gold ribbon / Steamfont springwater / Rune of the Astral

High elf:
Robe 1: Silver ribbon / Sylvan berries / Rune of Sorcery
Robe 2: Silver ribbon / Lichenclover / Nilitim's Grimoire pg 115
Robe 3: Gold ribbon / Sylvan berries / Tears of Prexus

Human:
Robe 1: Silver ribbon / Plains roots / Salil's Writ pg 90 Right
Robe 2: Silver ribbon / Plant shoot / Essence of Rathe
Robe 3: Gold ribbon / Plains roots / Rune of concussion

Iksar:
Robe 1: Silver ribbon / Honey berry / Words of Abatement
Robe 2: Silver ribbon / Maneater bud / Words of Obligation
Robe 3: Gold ribbon / Honey berry / Words of Requisition

Silver ribbons are 15pp a go; Gold are 31. If you get your research bits from an NPC vendor, and forage your dye components, you are looking at no more than 40pp per skill up attempt. Take that, acrylia/velious/solstice skiller-upper!