Guild Wars 2 Developer Blog Update

Game designer Andrew McLeod offers a first look at the crafting system in ArenaNet’s upcoming MMORPG sequel Guild Wars 2.

Crafting stations can be found in cities and major outposts around the world. A woodworking bench is used to saw logs into planks, while a sword is created at an anvil. When interacting with a crafting station, you are presented with an interface through which you can combine up to four types of materials. When the correct items for crafting an item are added to the interface, the resulting item can be crafted.

If you haven’t previously crafted that item, you discover the recipe for that item, allowing you to easily view the correct combination to recreate the item. Some basic recipes are automatically learned by characters, but the recipes for most items must be discovered by the crafter. A few recipes can only be learned from a trainer or from drops in the world.

We decided to go with a discovery system for learning recipes so as to allow crafters to distinguish themselves. When there is a static list of recipes learned from a trainer, every character with that crafting discipline is the same. However, with a discovery system, players that spend time and effort on their crafting disciplines have a way to distinguish themselves.