Might it be possible to add tinkered rebreathers to the imbued / enchanted vendor in Baz for the warrior epic, so we aren't required to level up a tinker to complete the quest?
Could talk to people and meet a tinker like in the old days. That is what I did and I got my epics for my warrior no problem. I found getting hand from maestro far more annoying then talking to other players to get a combine done.
For resolution on this topic, tinkering is set to 50 between levels 1 and 25 or so. This skill will auto max after the gnome race actually gets the tinkering skill. So, save your spare warrior gear and keep an extra earthshaker, because you can get a gnome warrior to level 25 pretty quickly for the combines.