In Aion, there are six different crafting skills: Alchemy, Armorsmithing, Cooking, Handicrafting, Tailoring, and Weaponsmithing. Unlike WoW, there are no limitations in Aion on the number of professions you can take up, you can in fact learn them all. That said, you can only become a master in two of them, making the highest/best crafted items pretty much exclusive to the player that created them.
After doing some research, I’ve decided to go Tailoring as my primary profession on my Ranger, and potentially Alchemy as my second major. Tailoring provides me with leather armor, while Alchemy will keep me stocked with potions, scrolls, and Manastones.
While reading numerous discussion threads out there, there is are debates on which is the best combo for a Ranger:
- Tailoring / Handicrafting
- Handicrafting / Alchemy
- Tailoring / Alchemy
- And every now and then a Cooking / one of the above option
As you can see, there tend to be three primary options as a Ranger: Tailoring, Handicrafting and Alchemy. I would have gone Tailoring/Handicrafting, but I’m lucky in that my partner has decided to take up Handicrafting so I will just ask him to make my bows.
While you can only level two professions to master levels, you can take and learn all the other professions and level them up to 399 skill. This won’t give you the best recipe’s those trade skills have to offer, but you will cover your basics. I will be doing this with cooking for example…
It’s also worth noting that while you can learn them all, it takes an insane amount of Kineh to level them up, not to mention time, so unless you are a glutton for punishment, you’re already level 50, have nothing else to do and are allergic to alts, most players won’t level all on a single character.
What each Profession brings to the table…
Just because there are ‘recommended’ options for a certain class, does not by any means you are forced to take them. It is completely up to you what you want to skill up. Before you take my word for it (god forbid =p), let’s have a look at what each profession does…
Alchemy
Alchemy is used for creating potions, scrolls, Manastones, orbs, and spellbooks – Alchemists can craft items that will be sought after by every class in Aion. Whether you want to craft your own potions to avoid paying the high vendor prices or provide them for your guild prior to that big raid, alchemy has something for everyone.
Other than orbs and spellbooks, all of the creations are considered commodities. Thus, they are not very difficult to craft and are not sold for a lot of Kinah. At all times, you can find lots of potions, scrolls, and Manastones through a Trade Broker, private stores or the trade channel. Furthermore, the materials required for crafting these items can be easily found as well and will be picked up by most players as they level through the different areas.
The main perks of Alchemy as a Ranger is having access to your own potions, scrolls, and Manastones, something we all use frequently and may not want to have to buy. Late in the game, potions and scrolls are extremely important when it comes to PVP or PVE, hence having the ability to craft your own potions and scrolls in large amount really comes in handy.
I would not suggest picking Alchemy to simply craft orbs and spellbooks to sell, as there are better crafts for that. One negative for being an Alchemist is that it requires lots of inventory/bank space. There are lots of various materials (lots of herbs, basic materials, and Manastones) required to craft everything, which can fill up inventories fast.
Armorsmithing
Armorsmithing is used for creating shields, chain and plate helmets, chain and plate armor. Armorsmithing is very useful to have if you are of the Priest or Warrior classes, but not really for a Ranger as you can’t wear any of what you create.
As far as using it to make money, it simply requires too much time to be of any real value, but occasionally you will have an extra ‘proc’d item that will sell for a lot.
Cooking
Cooking is only used for creating food. This, more or l
ess, is used for temporarily boosting certain statistics. It is fairly inexpensive to cook and I would suggest it to anyone who uses food on a regular basis. However, there is little money to be made from it if you include the time it takes to gather and cook. Also, you can simply purchase food off of the Trade Broker or from a merchant with near the same benefits for a reasonably cheap price. If you plan on consuming lots of food, as in never being without a buff, then I’d suggest it. However, if you only plan on using food for groups or hard areas, I wouldn’t suggest spending the time raising it up.
Handicrafting
Handicrafting is used for creating rings, earrings, necklaces, glasses (head slot), bows, and staffs. Handicrafting is both expensive and time consuming to craft, but also said to be the best craft for making money. For jewellery, gems are the primary material which unfortunately are fairly uncommon throughout all areas and can only be gathered once per node. Unlike everything else that can be gathered 3 times, the single gathering increases the amount of time required to gather lots of materials for attempts.
On top of the gathering aspect, it is pretty much required to ‘proc*‘ on the initial recipe to make anything of value, both to you or to someone else. Once you do proc, you can then use that for an even better recipe, which in turn also has a chance to proc. Even if the second recipe doesn’t proc, you will still have a very valuable item to use or sell. If it does proc, the value triples. *Proc explained further down…
Overall, Handicrafting is the best craft for making money. You can spend 2 hours gathering and create a few valuable pieces of jewellery that will sell for lots of money. On top of that, good rings, earrings, and necklaces are hard to find other than from Handicrafting. If you choose Handicrafting as your main or secondary craft, you will not be disappointed.
The reason for Rangers leaning towards Handicrafting is the ability to make bows, however, it has been commented some Rangers who made it up in levels during the Beta that it’s really only ‘Handy’ while levelling to make sure you have good bows as you progress, but once you reach the upper levels, there are better options out there.
Tailoring
Tailoring is used for creating belts, cloth helmets, leather helmets, cloth armour, and leather armour – ie, the armor a Ranger wears. For this reason alone, it makes Tailoring (previously known as Sewing, thank god they butched the name up) a front runner option.
While I am chosing this profession as my primary one to concentrate on, I’m doing so with the hopes of better armor at the higher levels. I’ve only been able to find items up to level 28 in the Aion Armory, and so far, I’m disappointed.
All the stats on the pieces focus highly on Physical Defence and Evasion, not really high priorities to a Ranger. I have read around a few threads, and been informed via discussions on Twitter that there are some really nice pieces with lots of attack and crit, so I’m hoping it’s just a case that the database at the armory hasn’t been updated yet.
As of writing this, there is not a big market for making money from this craft and it is just as time consuming and costly as Armorsmithing.
Weaponsmithing
Weaponsmithing is used for creating daggers, swords, maces, greatswords, and polearms. Weaponsmithing is both costly and time consuming to create, but fairly rewarding.
While yes, a Ranger will make use of some of the above weapons, it’s not a high enough reason (in my opinion) to focus on it. If weapons are a concern of yours, you can go without it and purchase similar items from the Trade Broker for similar prices. For instance, if a 100 damage sword can be crafted for roughly 100,000 Kinah in materials and failed attempts, then there’s probably a 90 damage sword for sale through the Trade Broker at 90,000 Kinah.
The real benefit from Weaponsmithing is gathering lots of materials and attempting to get as many proc’s as possible and then selling the ones you don’t use.
Weaponsmithing works similar to Handicrafting where you need to ‘proc’ the regular recipe in order to use in another recipe and then ‘proc’ that to get an even better result. Even if the second proc fails, you still will have a valuable item to use or sell. If it succeeds, you will have a very valuable item. The best results can fetch prices in the millions at the higher levels.
Ok, so what is a ‘proc’?
When you craft an item, most of them have a 25% chance to ‘proc’ into a higher quality version. For example, if you are crafting a white item and, u
pon reaching the end of the meter, you will suddenly hear a ding, the meter resets and now shows the crafted item as a green or higher quality piece of gear with a different name. It’s the exact same item, but with much better stats. The best part is that this extra upgrade doesn’t cost you a thing mats wise!
Of course, the chances are completely random and you can waste quite a few attempts on the hopes of a proc…
Why call it ‘proc’? Well, the term Proc is an abbreviation commonly used in programming to refer to an event – a “procedure” – triggered under particular circumstances. In the gaming world, it generally refers to a weapon or item activating with the “Chance on Hit” or “Chance on Use” effect (an ability or a spell).
Because the upgrade to a higher quality item happens at the end of your attempt to craft, I call it a proc…
If you still need more understanding, watch these two videos. In the first one is a normal creation, however in the second is the ‘proc’ occurring (around 0.7)…
Warning: It has been admitted by many a player that the ability to proc a creation is addictive and much like gambling.
Where to train Professions
Once you have decided on which profession you would like to pursue, it’s time to train up. To make it nice and easy for you, all the trainers are located in the one area, which saves you having to run all over your city to find multiple trainers.
For Asmodians, go to the Temple of Artisans in Pandaemonium and find:
Alchemy: Honir
Armorsmithing: Kinterun
Cooking: Lainita
Handicrafting: Lanse
Sewing: Zyakia
Weaponsmithing: Rogi
For Elyos, go to the Artisans’ Hall in Sanctum and find:
Alchemy: Diana
Armorsmithing: Vulcanus
Cooking: Hestia
Handicrafting: Utsida
Sewing: Daphnis
Weaponsmithing: Anteros
Each trainer has their own room within their respective areas, and above the doors you will find the corresponding banner:
Because I’m Asmodian, you can see their map below…
Now that you have learned a craft, there are a few important guidelines to follow. The first is accessing your craft window. To do this, open up your Skills window (hotkey ‘K’) and select the Crafting tab, then Right-Click on your craft to bring up its window. At the top of the window, under the name of the craft, is your experience bar. If you just learned it, it will say ‘1/99′. As you get closer to 99, just like gaining regular experience, the bar will fill up. However, when you max out at 99, you will need to return to your craft’s expert (the names listed above) and pay to learn the next level. The following are the prices to pay.
Lesser = ~3,500 Kinah
Regular = ~17,000 Kinah
/>Greater = ~115,000 Kinah
Expert = ~460,000 Kinah
Master = ~1,500,000 Kinah?
When you pay the price above to learn the next level, you will gain 1 skill point. For example, if you are at 99 and pay ~17,000 Kinah to become a Regular crafter, your skill will become 100.
The large area below the experience bar in the crafting window is the list of your recipes. They are organized by category and you can hide or show each category by clicking the box to the left of the category name. When you accept a Work Order, they will automatically be the first category.
The two boxes on the right side, called Product and Required Materials, are just that. When you click a specific recipe, the end result will appear in the Product box and the required materials to make that recipe will appear in the Required Materials box.
On the bottom right of the window are two buttons and a box in-between them. The right button is to craft the number in the box of the currently selected recipe. The left button is craft all, which places the maximum number you can craft of the currently selected recipe into that box.
When you are actually crafting, the success or fail rate is dependent on your skill compared to the recipe and chance. If your skill is equal to that of the recipe’s level, your chance of failing is around 33%. If your skill is 3 points higher than that of the recipe’s level, your chance of failing is around 15%. If your skill is between 5 and 10 points higher, your chance of failing is minimal. Once you are above 10, your chance of failing is incredibly low. Once the recipe turns grey, your chance of failing is 0.
Lastly, as you level up, visit the same merchant as you do for supplies to purchase some of your craft’s recipes. The rest of the recipes can be obtained through quests or are dropped.
Actually Crafting
If you just started a craft, go to your craft’s expert and accept the work order for ‘1P’ (stands for a skill level of 1 point) by clicking ‘Work Order’. Now, find a workstation and Right-Click it to bring up your craft window. Select the recipe for the work order. Since the Tailoring quest requires that you make 3 Medical Guaze and you are provided with all the materials needed, simply hit the “craft all’ button.
Once you are done, return to your craft’s expert, select the word order option again and turn in the completed task. Continue this process until you are at a skill of 10 and can receive your first real work order. Repeat this process to level up your skill and enjoy the free experience that accompanies it, as measly as it is, it all adds up. As you start to reach the higher level work orders, you will need to purchase additional components to complete the items.
And that’s it, voila, you are now set to start the dreary (or exciting depending on your level of enjoyment) process of levelling up your professions!!
Titles
Titles are earned by completing specific quests or events in Aion. There are close to 50 different titles for each both the Asmodians and the Elyos. Each title has a small stat bonus associated with it that is applied to the character only while that title is being used. After obtaining multiple titles, you can choose which one is active, and hence, which bonus is applied.
Each profession has it’s own bonus title for making it to master status, and this can influence your decision. The titles for Professions are:
(Please note these may be incorrect, please let me know if they are)
Asmodian
Alchemy: +36 Maximum MP, +2 Magical Accuracy, +3 Magical Res
Armorsmith: +36 Maximum HP, +4 Physical Def, +8 Block
Cooking: +36 Maximum HP, +36 Maximum MP, +5% Speed
Handicrafting: +8 Accuracy, +3 Evasion, +2% Atk Speed
Tailoring: +8 Magic Boosting Power, +2% Flight Speed, +2 Flight Time
Weaponsmith: +3 Physical Critical Hit, +1 Physical Att, +8 Parry
Elyos
Alchemy: +44 Maximum HP, +2% Atk Speed, +4 Wind Defense
Armorsmith: +8 Magic Boosting Power
Cooking: +1 Physical Att, +8 Magic Boosting Power
Handicrafting: +2 Flight Time
Tailoring: +52 Maximum HP, +3 Flight Time, +3% Flight Speed, +6% Speed
Weaponsmith: +11 Magic Boosting Power, +3 Magical Accuracy, +4 Fire Defense
Question and Answer time!
In my quest for knowledge on all things professions, I came across a few interesting questions being asked as well as responses posted. I figured I would share them here as they might help answer any questions you might have. J
Question
How does the gear compare to drop/quests? For example, in WoW, your crafted gear is great until you hit high end, then it’s crap, and the materials you need are often ridiculous, so ridiculous that, by the time you’ve found all the mats, you’re already too high for it to be effective. Is crafted gear viable at the highest levels or end game? I’m assuming Alchemy is well used, everyone needs potions, but what about the rest?
Response
The gear is actually usually better than equal-level drops/quests. If you want to see for yourself, check out the Aion Armory (AionArmory – Aion Database) and search for a certain piece of gear and compare the ones that say ‘Craft’ to the ones that say ‘Drop’ or are quest rewards.
It does take a long time to gather materials, but you do get experience for them. Say for instance you just reached Level 13 (the first level for crafted gear). If you wanted to make an entire set of the ‘proc’d gear for yourself, it would probably take around 5 hours. However, you would also gain at least half a level, if not more (this includes raising your skill level), and you would have about the best gear you’ll be able to find until Level 18 (in which you could go and craft your next set of gear). Having the crafted gear really does help when levelling at higher levels. The content becomes harder at a more rapid pace than at the low levels.
As far as usage, all are used for the most part. If you enter any of the craft rooms, you’ll find quite a few people working there. I would say cooking is the least simply because you can easily just buy food. But even so, it is also the cheapest to do, so people often find themselves becoming a cook.
Question
My question is which adventuring levels coincide with the crafting levels. For example, say I am level 10, what crafting level would I want to be to by that point? And when should I craft myself a whole new set of gear? How long will it last me? I like your concept of crafting sweet gear every time you reach a new tier persay.
Response
Level 10 coincides with a craft skill of 0. Level 15 coincides with a craft skill of 50. Level 20 coincides with a craft skill of 100, etc.
For armor, the required level on the sets you can craft are 13, 18, 23, 28, 33, etc… For weapons, the required levels are 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, etc…
The difference between each required level is 50 skill points. So the Level 15 required weapon is between 0-50 skill points (the recipes are at slightly different points). The Level 20 required weapon is between 51-99, etc.
Usually what I do is work on gathering ore (that’s what’s used for both weaponsmithing and armorsmithing) and Aether as I play. Whenever I see a node, I get it. In addition, I also have to gather other stuff to keep my extraction skill high enough. Every 10 levels the required skill to gather stuff goes up by 100. So once you’re in the Level 20 zone, the minimum required level is on the stuff is 100+.
In other words, you have to gather a lot to keep your extraction skills on par with your level.
So, I crafted a whole new set of armor and a weapon every 5 levels. If you didn’t want to craft that much though, you could probably do it every 10 levels. I’d start with the lvl 18 armor/20 weapon, then 28 armor/30 weapon, etc. You would probably be okay doing that.
Question
Do professions have bind on pick up items – What about the items you can only make when you have mastered a prof(400)?
Response
From what I’ve seen, all of the crafted stuff is tradeable until you equip it, including the master stuff I believe.
Question
I’m confuse about proc’d from reading all post it mean upgrade your gear to next tier green->blue->gold?
Response
Here’s an example… the other day I was crafting the Lvl 13 Plate Chest piece… which is this
Steel Breastplate – Items – Aion
The plain white Steel Breastplate. On my first attempt, it ‘proc’d and became a Shining Steel Breastplate, which is green.
If you check out that link… and look at the “Combo Items” on the right side… that’s what the regular can ‘proc’ into.
As you craft the Steel Breastplate, once the ‘pass’ reaches the maximum there’s just a random
chance the bar will reset and then the Steel Breastplate turns into a Shining Steel Breastplate… and then you continue crafting until you pass or fail.
There aren’t items with the ability to proc twice. At armorsmithing 0-50 and 51-99, the recipes are white only. From 100-150 and 151-199, there are white and green recipes. So if you gather the materials for the green recipe, craft, and it procs, it becomes a blue. Then from 200-250 and 251-299, there are blue recipes… same rule follows. Etc.
For other crafts, it’s slightly different. For Weaponsmithing… 0-50 and 51-99, there are white recipes only that can proc into green. From 100-150 and 151-199, there are white and green recipes. However, the green recipe requires that you proc the white recipe first. Here’s an example:
Titanium Polearm – Items – Aion – You start with this and keep crafting Titanium Polearms until you get one to proc into a Shining Titanium Polearm. So when using that recipe above, you can either craft a Titanium Polearm or Shining Titanium Polearm.
If you get a Shining Titanium Polearm, and then find or buy the green recipe: Craftsman’s Titanium Polearm – Items – Aion – you can craft a Craftsman’s Titanium Polearm. If that procs, it becomes a Craftsman’s Shining Titanium Polearm.
For that tier, that’s it and that’s the best. For higher levels, you can obtain blue recipes and eventually orange recipes – but the same rule follows.
But some crafts, such as armorsmithing, only require special mats, not having to create a white proc, then a green proc, etc.
Like this recipe: Craftsman’s Titanium Breastplate – Items – Aion – The Craftsman’s Titanium Breasplate (which is a crafted green) requires no other piece of armor to craft, only mats, and it can proc into the Craftsman’s Shining Titanium Breastplate.
I hope this clears it up some lol. I know it’s a pretty complicated system until you try it out.
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If there is anything reported wrong, please let me know. 
