Guild Wars 2

I’ve been surfing the web to see if I would come across anyone pointing out this very problem I find with the crafting in GW2, alas to no success.

I’ve been scratching my head for years now wondering what the underlying problem with crafting and the lack of profit that can be made from it is, And the answer is No Master Disciplines. Let me explain; In an old MMO I used to play, FFXI, the crafting system, in my opinion, was implemented perfectly.

There were a total of 8 crafts + fishing. The way the levelling worked, was, that all crafts could be taken up to level 60 but the last 40 points to 100 were finite (except fishing which was independent) , meaning one could potentially put 5 points in each craft and become a jack of all trades at lvl 65 but master of none, or even become a master of just one discipline.

This ensured that there was always a good supply and demand of crafted items. I used to fish and sell my fish to the master chefs, which made food that not everyone could make, in turn having their own little sub-market. Master Woodworkers created arrows for ranged weapons of the highest levels etc.

The way GW2 has implemented the system means everyone can do anything, and if everyone is special, then no one is special. The only reason to level a craft in GW2 is if you need to make a Legendary weapon, or gain some levels. That’s about it. The way loot works in GW2 makes it inefficient to try make a profit from crafting.

That in turn is why I think most items are better off bought than crafted in GW2. There are no incentives to create sub-markets, where crafters can benefit each other’s crafts in the economy.

That’s my 2 cents.

What are you suggesting could / should be done about it?

It might be relevant to note that there are a number of items that are time-gated, so that if you want to build the end-product more quickly, you have to buy them from other players, providing the other players with something profitable to craft. There are a number of these in Mawdrey, for instance, as well as ascended weapons and armor.

very few people craft because equivalent or better items can be bought from the TP.

Crafting has a number of issues related to it being a profitable venture.

First, materials needed for low level crafting is also used for highest level crafting. The need for lower tier mats for ascended has made the cost of those mats such that unless you collected them yourself for low level crafting, it simply costs too much.

Next, speed of leveling means that the demand for say a level 27 crafted sword is literally a few hours of gameplay until you want a higher level one. This means there is no market except for crafting it for yourself, except standard drops will provide you with the gear you need while leveling up. So no demand.

Lastly since crafting is also a leveling process and that you need to craft to level in it, the market is flooded with whatever items are the cheapest to craft as everyone is crafting the same few weapon and armor disciplines.

So we have a glut of crafted items and limited demand at lower crafting levels and pricey base materials because the original material tiers as tied to crafting is ignored in an attempt to bring the excessive supply in check, something that worked too well. Those are the underlying issues as to why crafting isn’t a profitable occupation.

That said, Jeweler and Chef are currently the two crafting disciplines that cap at level 400 currently. Food buffs are seriously underused by the vast majority of players and jewelry only provide a minor bump in stats. Maybe if and when they bump it to 500, they could add something compelling to craft that would be high in demand that don’t use mats used in GHs, scribing or ascended gear so they can be profitable but I doubt it.

Redenaz.8631:

What are you suggesting could / should be done about it?

It might be relevant to note that there are a number of items that are time-gated, so that if you want to build the end-product more quickly, you have to buy them from other players, providing the other players with something profitable to craft. There are a number of these in Mawdrey, for instance, as well as ascended weapons and armor.

I never mentioned or suggested solutions. I just mentioned what, to me, is one of the underlying problems with the crafting system. I wasn’t expecting agreement. Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in about the crafting

So in that game you could master 1 or spread out on afew/alot and here you can master 2 up to 4 i belive if you buy extra crafting licenses so how is that diffrent?

Whats really annoying is that jewel/cooking is basicly worthless since they cant craft anything ascended worthy.
Cooking get further devalued by all the seasional food that drop in large quantitys

Crafting ascended stuff to sell on the TP is my main source of income. Anything that involves a time-gated “once per day” thing will make money, even if you need to buy some of the mats.

So, er, crafting seems fine to me.

Linken.6345:

So in that game you could master 1 or spread out on afew/alot and here you can master 2 up to 4 i belive if you buy extra crafting licenses so how is that diffrent?

Whats really annoying is that jewel/cooking is basicly worthless since they cant craft anything ascended worthy.
Cooking get further devalued by all the seasional food that drop in large quantitys

Wrong. In that game you could master to 100 only 1 and take the rest to 60. The last 40 points are finite. In GW2 everyone can take all crafts to full cap, meaning no one relies on anyone on the market or the TP because everyone can make their own everything, which kind of destroys the point of even having a crafting system and a market system. Imagine if that the crafting system was account bound, and after capping there was a certain amount of point that can could only be put in 1 or 2 of the disciplines, thus creating market niches coz people would rely on each other more for certain items they need to progress. Imagine choosing cooking and be part of the sub-market of chefs competing in prices for those “higher” and endgame foods that would help raise stats. This of course can never happen because of megaservers and a global market.

Razi.6031:

Linken.6345:

So in that game you could master 1 or spread out on afew/alot and here you can master 2 up to 4 i belive if you buy extra crafting licenses so how is that diffrent?

Whats really annoying is that jewel/cooking is basicly worthless since they cant craft anything ascended worthy.
Cooking get further devalued by all the seasional food that drop in large quantitys

Wrong. In that game you could master to 100 only 1 and take the rest to 60. The last 40 points are finite. In GW2 everyone can take all crafts to full cap, meaning no one relies on anyone on the market or the TP because everyone can make their own everything, which kind of destroys the point of even having a crafting system and a market system. Imagine if that the crafting system was account bound, and after capping there was a certain amount of point that can could only be put in 1 or 2 of the disciplines, thus creating market niches coz people would rely on each other more for certain items they need to progress. Imagine choosing cooking and be part of the sub-market of chefs competing in prices for those “higher” and endgame foods that would help raise stats. This of course can never happen because of megaservers and a global market.

So in that game all your characters were master crafters of same discipline?

Man way to break immersion.
-Mr mage why are you a master blacksmith.
-Uh I donno my warrior friend did it for me.

Much rather have this system were if I work for it I can do anything, if I dont I can still buy it of the tp if needed.

The GW2 economy differs from other MMOs in a number of ways. It’s global, so there aren’t as many hidden niches. Further, there is value in crafting other than selling stuff (notably: leveling XP, variation promotion recipes, the primary guaranteed source for ascended gear, and required for certain scavenger hunts, including precursors).

In other words, it’s designed so that being a crafter doesn’t give you a major advantage over other players, as it might in other games. In other words, the OP is saying that they don’t like a feature that ANet chose to include in the game.

Still, there are a number of ways to profit from crafting:

• Time-gated items (as noted above) are nearly always profitable: you are selling to those too impatient to wait (which is always worth some coin).
• There are always some recipes that are profitable. Most people can’t be bothered to research them and the specific recipes vary with the daily|weekly market trends (not to mention after game updates or other news).

tl;dr the game is designed so that crafting isn’t trivial source of profit (with the exception of gated items)

Crafting is definitely profitable. It just take time to recoup your investment.

Right now you can make about 10 gold per day from ascended mats and ley-infused tools.

Edit: Actually, it’s 6 gold. At the moment Damask and Spiritwood are barley making a profit.