Guild Wars 2

So, I’ve not taken the time to level up armour smith, weapon smith or anything else because I keep asking myself one question. Does it give me anything nice at the end? Do I get any cool skins that you can only get from smiting, or do I only get to face the fact I could waste all the gold I’ve made since launch just to get it to max for nothing?

It doesn’t give anything. It does have unique skins(they are unique as far as I am aware). For weaponsmithing you won’t see the unique skins unless you are crafting rares or exotics. All the Fine and Masterwork weapons look the same, some just darker than others. Of course you could just buy them from the Trading Post instead. However this is where things can be important, it is usually cheaper to craft rares and exotics than to buy but obviously doesn’t include the cost of leveling crafting.

The other thing to consider is whether or not you’ll be going for a Legendary. If you do then you’ll need to 400 on two crafting, which ones depends on the weapon.

Some people also craft rares to salvage for Globs of Ectoplasm but that is basically gambling.

Self sustainability.
My thief is a Leatherworker/Weaponsmith, I can make both armor and my weapons for characters instead of having to buy it. Also another very nifty thing is being able to refine any/all materials which gives me slightly more then just selling the unrefined materials.

That being said, few Crafting Professions have the long-lasting appeal of Cooking.

I’ve made far more gold from crafting than I ever spent on maxing all the trades.

There’s a reason that the “crafting” forum is almost exclusively gear-grinders talking about their legendary weapons… I’m glad I 400’ed them all but more often than not it’s more appealing to just buy something on the tp than make it.