Crafting help/guidance

[wardorf.8629]

Not sure how to craft higher level gears for my level 80 characters, and can't find any discussions on crafting. I don't really know how to use the forum either. I'm not new to the game, I've been playing since launch, but I can't figure out the crafting procedure in game. Can someone help?

[Taelac.7036]

There's a good introduction in the wiki: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Crafting

Once you've looked that over, you might have specific questions that we'll be better able to answer. If you need to level a crafting discipline, there are crafting guides elsewhere on the internet that will help you do that efficiently and with a minimum of expense, though a bit of research may help you find items that you can actually sell for a small profit as you level. A couple of tips for leveling your craft: you can usually salvage what you craft, so if you're just a crafting level or two short of the next tier of recipes, you may be able to recover enough mats to finish them out, and you won't need to craft as much to level if you can use the crafting booster available in the guild hall Tavern, the Crafting Booster that sometimes drops from achievement chests, and/or the Item Booster from the gem store, and I believe you can stack all three.

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

Crafting gear always works with the same system. For weapons you need an Inscription and weapon-pieces, for armor you need Insignias and armor-pieces. This is a very short and non-specific discritpion. If you give us a piece of armor/weapon you would like to craft, we can tell you how to get there in detail and what you need to reach that goal. However the list below should give you an overview about how things work and where to look at. The links lead to lists which allow you to make decisions and go further.

Exotic

• Weapons: To create extoic weapons you normally need Orichalcum Inscriptions which are made of Orichalcum Plated Dowels. If you click on the link, you see a list of all possible inscriptions. These Incscriptions can NOT be discovered. To obtain them you have to purchase them from NPCs for karma/currencies or from TP from other players. Click on one of the inscriptions to see, what things you can craft out of them and what you need for a specific weapon. Most of these weapons can be created by discovery. A few of them, mostly the Heart of Thorns ones and a few from the old Living Stories have to be learned from recipes. Special stats require extra work.

• Armor: To create exotic armor, you normally need Gossamer Insignias which are made of Gossamer Patches. Same as with the inscriptions above, see the link for all possible options. Most of the Insignias also can NOT be discovered. You need the recipes. Most of the armors can be discovered as the weapons, by combining parts with insignias. Again, a few of them require pre-purchased recipes to be learned.

• Trinkets: To create exotic trinkets, you normally need a Jewel and trinket parts. The Jewels are crafted from Orichalcum Filingree - have a look on that list as well. All these jewels require pre-purchased recipes.

Ascended

Basics:-Ascended crafting always requires recipes for everything. You need a recipe for the inscription/insignia, a recipe for every armor-part/weapon. There are NO discoverable armors or weapons of ascended rarity.

• Crafting an Ascended Inscription/Insignia always requires an exotic inscription/insignia with the same stats. Which usually means you need recipes for both.
• In order to craft Ascended armors/weapons you need ascended materials. The ability to craft and refine them comes arround crafting level 450.
• Crafting ascended materials always requires one piece time-gated ascended material. That is why it is recommended to start with the gathering before you reach level 500.
• You are not forced to do the entire crafting process to craft your gear. You basically need the recipes and can purchase most of the final ingredients on TP, but that is usually quite expensive. (depends on your wealth)
• In addition to the Inscriptions/Insignias and gear-pieces, you always need <a href"https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Vision_Crystal">Vision Crystals/Lesser Vision Crystals. Those require refinement of Bloodstone Dust, Empyrial Fragments and Dragonite Ore with the use of Obsidian Shards. In addition you need Aguru Stone, which costs 20 spirit shards each at the Mystic Forge NPC.
• Once you have obtained pieces of ascended armors/weapons you can change the stats in the mystic forge. You do not have to craft new gear (see Anthology of Heroes). You do not need the ascended inscription/insignia recipe. All you need is one exotic inscription/insignia of the desired stat.

- Armor: The stat-combinations are actually separated into two types of patches = Damask Patch and Jeweled Damask Patch.

- Weapons: The stat-combinations are also seperated into two types = Deldrimor Steel Plated Dowels and Jeweled Deltrimor Stell Plated Dowels.

If you want to level your craft-jobs easy, cheap and fast: >GW2 Crafts.NET<

[wardorf.8629]

Thank you so very much. I thought I'd have to max my crafting before doing any of that.

[Cuon Alpinus.7645]

@wardorf.8629 said:Thank you so very much. I thought I'd have to max my crafting before doing any of that.

The primary way to level crafting is through item discovery (the two items for a piece of armor/weapon + insignia/inscription), but beyond leveling the skill up, you likely will not want to craft exotics as your main source of gear. It's usually more cost effective to either buy the exotics from the TP or save and craft ascended items (needed for higher tier fractals).

One thing to keep in mind is that the stat mats (ie; blood or effigies) are not priced equally across the same tier (ie; an effigy will usually be more expensive than a venom sack), but the stat combinations they make still give you the same experience through discovery. If you use a guide, make sure to compare the mats they use to other mats in the same tier so you don't spend more money than you have to. And if you have the patience, use buy orders instead of instabuying.

Another, another thing is that ascended weapons and armor can be stat-swapped through the mystic forge, thus it is often much more cost effective to make a set with inexpensive mats for stats no one uses, then transform them in the MF into what you actually want.

[wardorf.8629]

@Cuon Alpinus.7645 said:

@wardorf.8629 said:Thank you so very much. I thought I'd have to max my crafting before doing any of that.

The primary way to level crafting is through item discovery (the two items for a piece of armor/weapon + insignia/inscription), but beyond leveling the skill up, you likely will not want to craft exotics as your main source of gear. It's usually more cost effective to either buy the exotics from the TP or save and craft ascended items (needed for higher tier fractals).

One thing to keep in mind is that the stat mats (ie; blood or effigies) are not priced equally across the same tier (ie; an effigy will usually be more expensive than a venom sack), but the stat combinations they make still give you the same experience through discovery. If you use a guide, make sure to compare the mats they use to other mats in the same tier so you don't spend more money than you have to. And if you have the patience, use buy orders instead of instabuying.

Another, another thing is that ascended weapons and armor can be stat-swapped through the mystic forge, thus it is often much more cost effective to make a set with inexpensive mats for stats no one uses, then transform them in the MF into what you actually want.

Unfortunately I haven't found anyone to do Fractals with. Not that I've ever done a Fractal mind you. Until recently I thought I could once I was in a Guild, but apparently because I'm in North America, I can't join any with my guild mates.

[Taelac.7036]

@"wardorf.8629" said:Unfortunately I haven't found anyone to do Fractals with. Not that I've ever done a Fractal mind you. Until recently I thought I could once I was in a Guild, but apparently because I'm in North America, I can't join any with my guild mates.

You can put up your own LFG with "New to fractals, anyone welcome" and it should fill pretty quickly. The early levels take longer to explain than to learn by trying them, so don't be afraid to just jump in and splash around.