Jump to content
  • Sign Up

Question about the benefits of Gathering/Crafting


Recommended Posts

Hello folks, I'm a new player and I wanted some feedback on general game progression and money making.

Basically, I'm trying to figure out how interested or uninterested I am with the whole gather-craft thing. Just from an activity standpoint, I'm more looking forward to PvE or eventually WvW content, mostly battle oriented. I'm not very interested in crafting as an activity in itself.

However, I'm not familiar with the game and I have no idea what I'll need Gold for in the end-game, or how much Gold I'd need, or what I could get with a lot of Gold, etc., so I don't really know if I SHOULD consider dabbling into gather-crafts in order to have a decent flow of gold end-game.

So my question, what's your personal experience? Do you think someone MUST do at least a bit of gather-craft in order to have enough gold to do what they need in end-game.
Do you think someone can totally opt-out of gathering-crafting and still make enough gold through combat and exploration to provide for themselves sufficiently?What are the appeals of being especially rich, roughly? Is the game less enjoyable if you're struggling for gold?
Thanks for any feedback.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you're talking about end-game in the context of combat encounters in PvE and WvW, then no, crafting is not required, nor does it give you any advantages. Further, guides such as GW2Crafts.net offer quick-and-easy instructions to level up crafting professions in as little effort as possible, with little to no gathering required.

Crafting is also not a reliable source of gold-making. Besides Trading Post flipping, most of everybody's gold is obtained from combat-oriented activities, such meta-events and Fractals (aka 5-man dungeon instances).

As far as gold is concerned—again in the context of combat encounters in PvE and WvW—your biggest cost centers are likely to be consumables, such as food and Utility (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Utility_item) items that provide combat buffs. Generally speaking, you'd be spending about 1 to 1.5 gold per hour on these.

Beyond that, large sums of gold are typically spent on unlocking mounts, buying materials for crafting cosmetic-oriented items (mostly legendary weapons), or converting into Gems to purchase items off the Gem Store.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gathering and selling materials can be a good way to make gold, especially if you just do it as you're passing nodes rather than devoting time to it because then it's almost free gold.

Crafting in this game will generally cost you more than you'll make. Because it's relatively easy and doesn't require much commitment to do (compared to other MMOs) most people will have all crafts levelled on at least 1 character and will be able to craft whatever they need themselves (plus a lot of the best items are account bound anyway) so most crafted items aren't worth a lot, often the same or less than the materials required to make them. However there are exceptions - ascended materials like Spiritwood Planks and Elonian Leather are usually worth more than their component materials because one of the items needed to make them is time-gated (you can only make 1 per day) so many people will buy them rather than waiting to make their own. Other items will occasionally jump up in price because a new collection, achievement or item requires them but that requires following the market and new releases to know what's worth making.

The major benefits of crafting are that it's a reliable way to get ascended (top tier) armour and that many nice skins and useful items are crafted, and will be either account bound on creation or potentially expensive to buy from another player. So it's a useful option to have and may save you money (which indirectly is like making money), but it's not essential.

I only use each craft rarely, but I definitely appreciate having the option and since it's relatively quick to level crafting, it doesn't expire if you don't use it and it won't interfere with anything else your character can do (unlike in games where it costs skill points or you can only have so many different abilities or whatever) I think it's worth having for the times it is useful.

But if you're strictly looking at ways to make gold and you don't enjoy crafting you're almost certainly better off focusing on other events like farming meta-events. (Incidentally when people talk about getting gold from meta-events you need to be aware they don't mean as direct drops or even as a result of getting valuable items to sell, the majority of the gold usually comes from salvaging all the "trash" loot - green and blue items and the occasional rare - and selling the materials. Don't be surprised if you finished the event and at first it looks like you've got far less than you were told you could get.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@"Danikat.8537" said:Gathering and selling materials can be a good way to make gold, especially if you just do it as you're passing nodes rather than devoting time to it because then it's almost free gold.

Crafting in this game will generally cost you more than you'll make. Because it's relatively easy and doesn't require much commitment to do (compared to other MMOs) most people will have all crafts levelled on at least 1 character and will be able to craft whatever they need themselves (plus a lot of the best items are account bound anyway) so most crafted items aren't worth a lot, often the same or less than the materials required to make them. However there are exceptions - ascended materials like Spiritwood Planks and Elonian Leather are usually worth more than their component materials because one of the items needed to make them is time-gated (you can only make 1 per day) so many people will buy them rather than waiting to make their own. Other items will occasionally jump up in price because a new collection, achievement or item requires them but that requires following the market and new releases to know what's worth making.

The major benefits of crafting are that it's a reliable way to get ascended (top tier) armour and that many nice skins and useful items are crafted, and will be either account bound on creation or potentially expensive to buy from another player. So it's a useful option to have and may save you money (which indirectly is like making money), but it's not essential.

I only use each craft rarely, but I definitely appreciate having the option and since it's relatively quick to level crafting, it doesn't expire if you don't use it and it won't interfere with anything else your character can do (unlike in games where it costs skill points or you can only have so many different abilities or whatever) I think it's worth having for the times it is useful.

But if you're strictly looking at ways to make gold and you don't enjoy crafting you're almost certainly better off focusing on other events like farming meta-events. (Incidentally when people talk about getting gold from meta-events you need to be aware they don't mean as direct drops or even as a result of getting valuable items to sell, the majority of the gold usually comes from salvaging all the "trash" loot - green and blue items and the occasional rare - and selling the materials. Don't be surprised if you finished the event and at first it looks like you've got far less than you were told you could get.)

Thank you so much for all that info! Yourself and other posters too! I'll deffinitely gather as I play and go through the game for my first time, and craft on a what-do-i-want basis. Thanks especially for gathering, because I was minded to ignore nodes until now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Crafting allows you to make ascended weapons, trinkets, and armor. You can get that stuff from vendors and as achievements rewards but in my opinion, crafting them is easier in the long run.

Also, if you have a level 80 with crafting for weapons/armor used by a new character you created then you can make your leveling process easier by keeping that character in gear upgrades.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@EmmetOtter.8542 said:Crafting allows you to make ascended weapons, trinkets, and armor. You can get that stuff from vendors and as achievements rewards but in my opinion, crafting them is easier in the long run.

Also, if you have a level 80 with crafting for weapons/armor used by a new character you created then you can make your leveling process easier by keeping that character in gear upgrades.

Can we make Ascended trinkets? Jewelry is still locked at 400.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@"Dice Hazard.1458" said:Thank you so much for all that info! Yourself and other posters too! I'll deffinitely gather as I play and go through the game for my first time, and craft on a what-do-i-want basis. Thanks especially for gathering, because I was minded to ignore nodes until now.Just in case (some new players aren't aware of this): there's a cogwheel in the upper right of your inventory view that opens a drop-down list of inventory options . One of those options is "Deposit All Materials". Press that to auto-move all crafting materials you have gained (from gathering, salvaging or simple drops) straight from your inventory to your bank's material storage. You can do this from anywhere in the world, no matter how far away from the next bank you are. Crafting stations (and some vendors that sell stuff for crafting materials) auto-pull materials from your material storage, too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Loosmaster.8263 said:

@EmmetOtter.8542 said:Crafting allows you to make ascended weapons,
trinkets
, and armor. You can get that stuff from vendors and as achievements rewards but in my opinion, crafting them is easier in the long run.

Also, if you have a level 80 with crafting for weapons/armor used by a new character you created then you can make your leveling process easier by keeping that character in gear upgrades.

Can we make Ascended trinkets? Jewelry is still locked at 400.

My bad. Thought you could.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...