Guild Wars 2

Hello all.

I have a pretty basic question but would like to know peoples opinions. It’s simply thus: Is crafting worth the investment for a newer/low level player (sub level 40ish)?

I know crafting your own gear can be a boon as RNG on drops can be horribly bad for some people and gold early on seems to be elusive (least for me) and crafting can be seen as a stop gap till something better comes along. However the investment in gold to get it up if you don’t have much to begin with can be hard I’m finding. So what I’m really asking is, is crafting in this game ‘worth it’ in the long run? Outside from exp for leveling and convinience?

Also how is crafting for gold making when it comes to the end game items? Can it be made with crafting or is it just more economical to just sell off all the materials you gather as they sell faster and you loose minimal potential profit on a crafted item that never sells?

Thanks for your time

Equipment acquisition in this game is a bit different to other MMOs I’ve played: it goes from one extreme to the other.

While levelling up many people recommended relying mainly/exclusively on drops to get new equipment, but part of the reason that works is that it doesn’t really matter what stats are on it. As long as the defence/damage rating (for armor and weapons respectively) is higher than what you’ve got equipped it’s an improvement and you should use it.

But then at level 80 the situation changes completely as most people immediately start working on a full set of exotic equipment. And for that relying on drops is a terrible idea. But exotics are relatively cheap on the trading post and there are many options besides drops, gold or crafting to get them. Mainly buying them with karma, badges of honour or dungeon tokens.

All of which leaves crafting in a bit of an odd situation. It’s very hard, and not really worthwhile to keep your 1st characters crafting level equal to their actual level (especially since crafting itself gives a lot of XP) so crafting your own equipment while you level up isn’t a viable option, and it’s not your only, or even best, option to get end-game equipment.

But it is the only option for a few specialist items. The main one being ascended equipment, which is the top tier and only drops from a few places. But also some skins and parts for legendary weapons. This and the XP are probably the main reasons most people level crafting.

You can also make gold from it, but it requires levelling multiple crafts and watching (and to some extent anticipating) the markets. I don’t understand it myself but I’m sure there are people who can explain it.

Crafting is not profitable in this game. Mystic Forge stuff can be done for a profit due to adding in your skill points, but you don’t need a profession for those. The only thing crafting is good for, is burning resources, and making ascended gear since the drop rates of stats you want for your build are... well I would rather play the lottery.

Crafting is good for the following:
You enjoy doing it, nice to have each at max eventually so stick them on relevant chars for some extra levels, leveling chars fast at the cost of gold, crafting gear with on-hand mats can be quick and easy, making ascended weapons to get a decent damage boost, making ascended armor that costs a small fortune.

Basically don’t sweat it til you have a reason to do it or enjoy it.
Ascended weapons are worth it and if you intend to make a legendary weapon multiple professions will need to be at least 400. Also this being your first char it will take a ton of time to gather the mats, getting 400 to 500 is much more difficult than 1-400 as well.

I think crafting benefits players who have farmed/already acquired many mats and have a portion of gold later on. It’s nice to be able to craft your own lvl 80 exotic gear but hence saying that it’s just as easy to buy it off the TP as it’s relatively cheap anyway.

The only reason to get 500 crafting is for ascended gear and/or getting levels extremely fast if it’s on an alt.

In regards to alts – if you have a boatload of gold and don’t mind seeing it disappear then I welcome you to craft new toons to 80 as it is one of thr fastest ways to level and I personally have crafted many toons to 80 this way.

But yeah, it’s expensive and in a bit of an awkward position as others have mentioned above. I do recommend it though in the long run it will benefit you.

Aro.8275:

Crafting is good for the following:
You enjoy doing it, nice to have each at max eventually so stick them on relevant chars for some extra levels, leveling chars fast at the cost of gold, crafting gear with on-hand mats can be quick and easy, making ascended weapons to get a decent damage boost, making ascended armor that costs a small fortune.

Basically don’t sweat it til you have a reason to do it or enjoy it.
Ascended weapons are worth it and if you intend to make a legendary weapon multiple professions will need to be at least 400. Also this being your first char it will take a ton of time to gather the mats, getting 400 to 500 is much more difficult than 1-400 as well.

Don’t forget one reason to at least work on crafting is being able to make a lot of your consumables, tonics, runes and sigils. (Superior Rune of the Scholar goes for nearly 4 gold on TP but if you already have the materials you can make them for next to nothing) Also you can make those sharpening stones, maintenance oils, tuning crystals, and various foods that give boons, magic find etc. for all your toons.

I agree with not doing it until you have a reason or need for it. You will most likely be glad though once you have done it. It took me some time because it certainly is harder at the upper levels mainly getting the quantity of materials needed to get there but it is doable and certainly worth it. Collecting materials now is to fill up my bank and to sell the excess and I have plenty left over to make the odd ascended weapon when I want one. Being able to make my own consumables is pretty handy keeps a ready supply for all my toons as well.

I enjoy creating my own equipment for each character (RAREs on the 20, 35, 50, 65 levels). Beyond that the only reason is to reach 500 to be able to make Ascended gear.

If you delve deeply enough into the TP for crafting COMPONENTS, you can actually make money from it (not on the end crafted items, but the components used to craft end items).

I have some guildmates that craft every night. Me, I’m very meh about it all, at least for now. I’m at 55% world explored so that and dungeon runs are mainly what I’m working on.

To me, the current crafting system is great if you want the Ascended gear or have the alts and gp to spare to level them up that way. Crafting isn’t bad, just not something that’s high on my list.

There are some collections and achievements you can do with crafting. I’m working on the ambrite weapons and the spirit weapons.

I’m levelling all the crafts (2 per character so I don’t have to switch) and I’ve found it useful.

It’s certainly not something I do every day, but there’s often been times when I’ve needed an item and crafting is the best, or only, way to get it. At those times it’s well worth having the option available.

I haven’t attempted to calculate, or even think about, whether the money I’ve saved by crafting my own stuff is more than I’d have gotten from selling the materials, but I don’t think of it that way. I prefer having the option available so I’m happy I did it.

Plus sometimes I enjoy doing it. Although cooking always makes me hungry.

The recent (sort of) addition of the craft-able back items made crafting for leveling alts much more useful.

Now if we could just get similar craft-able breathers