Sage advice from a 50 Crafter!

Often I get asked "What am I doing wrong when it comes to crafting?" by people who are frustrated and ready to give up! What can I say to them?! How do I know?! It's been a year or more since I hit level 50! For crying out loud!

So, after hearing this question so many times and having asked many questions in return here is what I came up with to answer you poor, suffering people who just wanna craft!

1. Make sure you've done the proper quests. While you may be level 50 in adventuring and know what you want to specialize in, start from the beginning! I know it's a pain to do the tutorial, but not only is it worthwhile for training, but it helps fend off other problems later on - specifically quest related problems. I tried a new crafter without doing those startup quests and had no end of trouble for it later on.

2. Stay calm! Crafting even on the best of days is frustrating! Try to keep perspective that it's just a game, it's not inherently evil, honest!

3. Equipment, Equipment, Equipment!!! Crafting is all about the crafting gear! Always try to maintain the best possible gear! If you're having difficulties and can't seem to complete moderate workorders to at least a high-grade B, you probably need new and better gear! (Or you need to balance your stats)

4. Speaking of stats! A lot of people swear by attuning their stats one way or another. My best advice here is to set them in a way that works best for you and try to keep them that way as much as possible throughout your crafting career. For myself I always kept my stats and skills as balanced as possible and was rewarded with very few problems later on.

5. Base Stats > Skills: When it comes to gear, always, always, always choose gear with base stats (ie. Problem Solving, Finesse) over gear with "skills" such as "Station Skills" etc. Improving your base skills will allow you to do a bit better on all crafting steps, whereas skills will only allow you to do a bit better on one or two steps.

6. Having trouble getting gear? This one hurts - especially at low levels when gear isn't readily available. If you're having trouble getting gear, the best advice is to start cranking out easy "Set" or "batch" workorders to grade A. This will give you the yellow supply kits that have a good chance of dropping gear. Remember rule #4 though and don't get all excited when you find a piece of gear that does +150 to station - though it sounds fantastic, it really isn't. Player upgraded gear is the best you can get! Look for blue dropped items that say along the bottom "Can be upgraded" and then look up your favorite tailor or leatherworker and ask what they need to upgrade it. Usually it's one or two rare materials and a handful of gold - well worth the investment!

7. Check the stats - not the color. With the addition of the "Dawns sign" quests in particular, I'd like to warn people that most of the items they drop, while heroic, are junk. This confuses a lot of people, because of the color and the amount of time to get the items vs. the reward has not reached an equitable parity. I remind you again - check the stats - color is misleading! The society quests offer some of the best crafting in-game and are highly recommended!

8. Buffs! If you can get them - get crafting buffs!! Take a trip around Telon before you start crafting - you can go to Aghram, Khal, Tanvu, and NT for free and check to see if any diplomacy crafting buffs are up - or even better, make friends with a high level diplomat. These are especially helpful when you are just starting out as a crafter - these buffs are the bomb! If you have a high level diplomat I strongly suggest that you parley for 1/2 hour or so and buff up those levers wherever you plan on working with your crafter. You can also get a great, permanent crafting buff, by joining a guild that has the buff trophy.

9. Vanguard Crafters is your friend! This is simply the best place for crafting information in Vanguard - also where we get most of our information! Just about every question I've needed an answer too has been found there. It's not perfect, and not always in the place you'd expect - but there's almost always an answer. One bit of extra advice - if a quest seems bugged, check the "Crafting Bugs and Issues" forum there to see if anyone else is having similar problems. There are some bugged quests in-game, no doubt about it - so when you find a brick wall check there to keep from repeatedly hitting your head against it!

10. Google is also your friend! Can't find it on Vanguard Crafters? Looking for answers - don't be afraid of Google! Anytime I've been stuck, I've been able to find the answer - albeit in some strange places (*cough* why we started this site! *cough*) - but it's out there!


Other crafters are invited to add their experiences here too - thoughts, opinions, criticism? It's all welcome here!