Guild Wars 2

I guess you should think of me as a “crafting noob”.
I’m playing a lvl 52 Ranger, doing leather and huntsman.
Here’s an example of what I’m trying to accomplish presently:
1) Make a couple of 8 slot rawhide leather packs.
It tells me I need 10 stretched leather squares. OK.
For those I need 2 Rawhide leather sections each. OK.
Can’t find/get/salvage/loot them. Been playing for a while now,
looking for that item. Zero. Meanwhile I have tons of stuff I can’t use.

2) Level my crafting.
I go to the station.
There’s a couple of things I can make. I craft them.
The progress bar moves one milimeter.

What am I doing wrong?
Sorry for the noobosity.

Andredoob.1807:

I guess you should think of me as a “crafting noob”.
I’m playing a lvl 52 Ranger, doing leather and huntsman.
Here’s an example of what I’m trying to accomplish presently:
1) Make a couple of 8 slot rawhide leather packs.
It tells me I need 10 stretched leather squares. OK.
For those I need 2 Rawhide leather sections each. OK.
Can’t find/get/salvage/loot them. Been playing for a while now,
looking for that item. Zero. Meanwhile I have tons of stuff I can’t use.

2) Level my crafting.
I go to the station.
There’s a couple of things I can make. I craft them.
The progress bar moves one milimeter.

What am I doing wrong?
Sorry for the noobosity.

The way you should craft is by discovery nothing else

you just wasted your material

Go read some guides

The general rule of thumb with salvaging for cloth/leather is to salvage items that are of the level you’d craft them to acquire the mat.

Example: Rawhide leather sections craft (random number, likely wrong) lvl 10-20 gear. If you salvage level 10-20 medium armor, you’re practically guaranteed a few pieces of rawhide leather sections. If you’re level 80, you would have to go back to earlier zones to get such drops.

Same concept applies towards fine materials, where you’d be killing the monsters of the same tier level.

And as Dogblaster said, discovery is the way to go. It gives insane amounts of xp when compared to crafting multiples of the same thing. Also, when it comes to leatherworking/tailoring/armorsmithing, do NOT waste materials on inventory boxes/bags since they give pitiful xp for the amount of mats used. If anything, use leftover mats to make them when you’ve gained access to use the next higher-leveled material.

OK, thanks for the tips.
When I go to the discovery pane and put
things into the “action area” to the right,
I get one, maybe two things to go in there, and that’s it.
In other words I can’t “discover” anything.
Secondly, please understand that, although I would like to
level my crafting, I would also really like some 8 slot bags.
So I will go back to some lower level areas and try that.
About guides; I have read some.
Could you suggest any in particular?

1) You obtain leather by salvaging leather armor you find (which you should currently do for most blue/white gear you find—greens tend to be more profitable if you just vendor them or if they happen to be going for a decent price on the trading post.) It’s all a function of gold though. For example, if you can vendor a pair of leather gloves for 60 copper, or you can salvage those same gloves for 1 or 2 leather scraps, which sell for 12c each on the TP, you’re better of vendoring them and buying 5 leather from the trading post. If you can’t find the leather, just set out farming/playing the game naturally with a money making goal, and once you achieve that, use the money to buy the leather you need.

2) You level crafting by discovering recipes. When you discover a new recipe, you’re level will shoot up significantly, sometimes 3 or 4 levels at a time. Each recipe for the professions you chose will require 1 insignia/inscription and 2 gear components, all of which you learn how to craft naturally when you reach a new tier (levels 75, 150, 225, 300). You make insignias/inscriptions by using the 6 fine materials you gain by killing mobs, the things like vials of blood, fangs or bones. You make the components by using the materials associated with your craft (leather, ore or cloth).

For a super quick summary, each crafting tier basically goes as follows:

*For the first 25 levels, craft as much leather as you can and make all the insignias/inscriptions and armor/weapon components you anticipate needing. You’ll eventually get a feel for how many you’ll need with experience. This can usually get you 21-22 levels. Get your last 3 levels by discovering 3-4 pieces of gear using the components you made.

*For the next 25 levels, you discover a bunch of blue gear. For armor, it’s usually best to discover everything except chest and leg pieces. So make one set of components for helm, shoulders, arms and feet for each of the inscriptions you have. Discovering 12-15 pieces will usually get you through the these 25 levels.

*For the last 25 levels in a tier, you make green gear. These insignias/inscriptions usually have a lot more mats go into them. It can often be cheaper to place buy orders for the insignias themselves on the TP. You usually only need to discover 8 these items to get to cover your 25 levels. So you can make yourself a full set of gear using your desired inscription and then discover one or 2 remaining pieces.

Craft your highest level insignia and combine it with two of your highest level crafting components (like the two glove parts). This is a form of discovery and will teach you a new recipe and grant great crafting EXP. Only use insignia in discovery and for gear you intend to use, the materials are too costly otherwise.

Also only use the insignia discovery when you cannot gain EXP from other means, like refinement of raw materials.

@OP Read what Homitu wrote. That’s the definitive answer for you. As for your 8 slot backpacks, put some buy orders for them on the TP and forget about crafting them. You’ll save yourself a LOT of money.

I fancy gw2wiz.com guildes. Very simple, very easy to follow, very logical(once you get the pattern, you don’t even need to look at the guide any more).

As for bags, you can get 8 slot from spvp reward boxes or just ask in your guild if smb can spare a few. The ones you actually want to have are 15 slot(because the higher runes are just not worth it, imo). And if you are having trouble with the leather, ask an armorsmith to make them for you(those require ores which are easier to obtain).

Here you go pickup from the crafting level your at. You can craft as many bags as you want. They don’t give that much experience anyway. Also the merchant at you crafting station sells items you need to be able to refine your materials so you can add them to the discovery pane.
Good luck.
http://www.guildwars2-crafting.com/crafting-guides/