I have spent a few days of crafting now and I learnt me a few things, I thought I'd write a short guide for those who are interested in doing some crafting in Guild Wars 2
I got to around 100 in tailoring and 95 in jewelling, so I'm no genius when it comes to crafting, this is just me sharing my experience and thought when I started to craft in GW2.
A warning to anyone who's interested in crafting is that you should be prepared that you are going to have to spend coins in order to level up your crafting. Although I used everything I came across and saved everything that could be use in crafting, I found myself often needed to buy things on the auction house to get further in my crafting professions.
Short guide to crafting in Guild Wars 2.
In the beginning crafting in GW2 looked like in any other MMORPG. It has a base material (e.g. copper) that can be refined into ingots, that you can later craft something with.
To create a dagger for example you then need to create a blade and a handle, and then assemble them.
However, you notice pretty quickly that something more is required in order to continue to gain crafting levels, when around crafting level 30 it starts to require extremely high numbers of material to increase the level.
Experimental Mode
Instead of putting together the blade and handle of a dagger directly you go into experimental mode, add the handle, the blade, and then an optional crafting materials (often stuff that drops from mobs, such as chlorine, bits of
gems,
vials of blood, etc. etc.).
In doing so, we add a magical component and gives its item a bonus. First time to test a certain combination you get extra exp and can often jump 3-4 level up if it is a little more complicated item you created.
When you have created a combination will the recipe be unlocked and added to, among the other recipes, but it will not longer give as much exp.
Therefore it is recommended to start using the experimental feature as soon as possible (often requires level 25 and then 50 for many combinations) to avoid having to spend hundreds of coins for a few levels.
If you have 100 of the base material (eg copper) it is usually enough to refine those to get to approximately level 20-25 so start with that, especially when you stop getting exp pretty quickly for easy recipes (such as copper ingots).
It works very similar for all the different crafting professions, only materials differ between the various crafts.
It is worth to consider is also that you always get exp when you craft, but you can however do sort of like critical hits in crafting that gives you bonus exp. So it's a bit of a gamble, but you can not fail to craft anything and thus wasting material, so you always get something out of crafting.
Things you create in crafting is also quite usable, when I was at level 28 (normal level), I could at level 90 (crafting level) create gear that was better than any I've had in rewards / drops until then.
The Continent of Tyria
Back to Tyria; thus the continent where we will spend most of our gaming time in the near future. In addition to the five playable races is this location also home to several other breeds. Each playable race has its own territory and its capital city.
Kryta
The Humans are living in Kryta. It is a lush land of green forests, green fields and hills and flowing streams. From being a nation wide area to live on, has the humans had been pushed back from the rest of the continent which makes Kryta to the humans only refuge.
Lion's Arch was once the capital, but after a tsunami knocked out the town it was rebuilt by the pirates who made the city a haven, hence the emergence of the new capital city, Divinity's Reach. It is a massive city situated in the north of Kryta with lots of people from different cultures. People used to even stay in Ascalon, past Shiverpeak Mountains. However, this place is now a home for the Charr, a race that has been at war with the people for hundreds of years.
Ascalon
Charr is a industrialised people who have through their stubbornness and magic polluted this beautiful landscape called Ascalon. Remains of human defeat can be seen from east to west where the Great Wall once stretched to keep Charr away from the country. From being a country far more beautiful than in Kryta the nature struggles to take root in these tarnished lands. Charr built their capital, The Black Citadel, on top of an overthrown human city, Rin, as an exemplification of his victory over man.
Shiverpeaks
Shiverpeaks is a mountain range that separates Ascalon from the rest of Tyria. This is where the Norns live. They have fled from Far Shiverpeaks north. Shiverpeaks snowy landscape is a enormous heights and steep cliffs that are very similar to the Nordic winter climate. Despite their nomadic lifestyle, they have a capital, Hoelbrak, which is intended as a place to return to in order to share stories of their own deeds.
Tarnished Coast
Tarnished Coast is home to two of our last playable races. It is a lush jungle area with scattered ruins left behind by an unknown civilization.
Sylvari was born, or rather woke up from the dream 25 years ago by a tree called the Pale Tree. This tree is located on the east coast. Although many Sylvari now travels to gain personal experience in the world it is this place that is their home. The lowest situated parts of the tree is called the Grove and is sylvarins capital.
In the western part of the Tarnished Coast is where the Asura call their home. They have built a floating pyramid in the middle of the jungle called Rata Sum, who acts as their capital. Here asuran spend their time with magic golems and other inventions with little awareness of how the environment is affected by their ingenuity. From the beginning they kept to the underworld but was driven away from this place.
A changing world
The years have worn on Tyria. While the plants cover the scorched lands of Ascalon and the water has retreated from Lion's Arch, awaits new adventure around every crest. Ancient places beneath the surface pushed back and opens doors to hidden secrets.
