Re: Thieves and Thievery: The Absolute Guide.
Del area is easily my favorite by far... so many dumb people carry around so many nice weapons
Disarm thieves are the best IMO, I've made over 2 million in a matter of a month or two just stealing weapons (a lot more fun than farming!)
A few tips for aspiring disarm thieves:
1. Always, always, always set the weapon to last target before you check and see what it is. You can generally profile out shitty weapons by what the guy is wearing, what he's riding, etc. if you don't have time but make sure that you get the weapon on LT before you look at it - you may not get another chance!
2. Be patient. The last thing you want is for your mark to figure out you're casing him, so try to conceal yourself. Hide in plain sight -- hiding near your mark is a dead giveaway, so pretend to be casting spells, make conversation, do anything to elude suspicion. The best time to strike is always when your target is preoccupied -- try to wait until he's fighting a monster, chasing a PK, or just straight up talking to someone.
3. When you're ready to strike, make sure you have EVERYTHING in order as well as a clear getaway path. Have his health bar up, be in combat mode, your disarm turned on, and his weapon set to last target. Even if you fail to disarm or fail to steal the first time, the great thing about disarm thieves is that generally speaking, people just don't know how to react to them! Rather than running into town and banking their weapon, generally they just keep coming after you, and I've easily stolen a sizable amount of my weapons from idiots who give me a second chance.
4. Pack lightly, but pack efficiently. The following is my disarm thief's template:
100 Stealing
100 Snooping
100 Hiding
100 Wrestling
100 Arms Lore
70 Magery
70 Healing
60 Anatomy
When I bank to get ready to go on a run, I usually bring - 5 of each recall, 2 refresh, 1 cure, and 10 bandages. I also like to cast a quick MR before I go just to possibly fend off a paralyze in case a bystander catches on and preps it before I do the deed. This setup is perfect for getting away from any pursuers, and allows you to heal, cure, re-juice to disarm again if necessary, and recall out as soon as you turn blue to bank your weapon.
5. Have standards for what you will and will not steal. I don't even bother with anything unless it's Power+ or Bronze+ runic, and stealing anything less not only blows your cover in the area but gains you very little reward for the risk you're taking to get counted if your victim is smart.
6. If you do get counted, don't get pissed; just consider it a chance for everyone to forget who you are for 40 hours so they can feel safe bringing out their nice weapons again.
7. Keep the weapons you steal in the mix. As soon as I steal a weapon, the FIRST thing I do is put it directly on my vendor at the IDC vendor mall (minoc/trinsic moongate) and make it available. I even have a macro that tells people they can reclaim it there if they like. You'd be amazed at the number of times you manage to steal the same weapon from the same person after they've bought it back!
Have fun!