Why gather materials?

Hi. I'm quite a noob as I'v just started playing guild wars.I enjoy more killing mobs then gathering materials. Can someone tell me what's the point of gathering materials and making your own weapons and other stuff that you can use to make your character more powerful, when you can sell those materials and just buy whatever you need?Thanks

For some of us it's more relaxing and there is a sense of achievement when you do make something for yourself. Certain items are actually worth making yourself, the mats are cheaper than the final item, but you have to pick and choose a bit which ones. Ascended armor can only be obtained through crafting (unless that has changed and I haven't noticed) so if i want Ascended for any toons i have to make it.

In the end its a game and different people enjoy different things, if you enjoy killing the mobs and buying what you need there is nothing wrong with that. If you enjoy raids you can get armor that way, or as wvw and pvp rewards. If the game becomes a chore there is no fun in it, so do what you enjoy.

There are items late in the game that must be crafted.

But you're right, at your stage, selling the mats for gold is a more reasonable as many lower level items actually lose money if you craft them.

Benefits of gathering materials include:

• It allows you to level crafting professions, which can be useful as there's some high end items you have to craft yourself if you want them because they're account bound on acquire.
• You can sell them for coin if you don't want to level crafting.
• It gets you a bit of XP.
• Sometimes trying to reach a node gets you exploring and you can find something more - some are hidden along the way to Jumping Puzzles, mini dungeons and other surprises.

So nothing that means you really need to do it or will ruin the game for yourself if you don't, but it can be worthwhile. Especially since you'll get free gathering tools as you level up and many nodes will be along your path to places and take just a few seconds to gather.

Not to mention that there are things that later on you'll be surprised require carrots or onions or truffles or whatever you come across. Guild Halls require things that are gathered and it's nice to not have to buy them by the stack. The same goes for Legendary weapons and dyes that chefs can make. You get XP for gathering as people have mentioned, and there are things for the legendary weapons that will drop from harvesting a certain kind of node too. Also the aforementioned selling of the materials if you don't care to keep them.

When it's literally free at your feet, what's the point in NOT gathering it, is more the question? :) Hope this helps!

Certain stat combinations on non-Ascended gear, such as Viper stats, can only be obtained through crafting them yourself; the items are bound to account when crafted and can't be sold to/bought by others.