Runes of Magic US / AU

Each character can take 1 gather skill and 1 craft skill to cap. Also Planting does not count as either of those, so you can take that to cap as well. So the most you will need is 6 characters (6 craft skills).

Technically, you don't need to level any characters in order to do gathering/crafting. Gathering mats from zones is actually the most inefficient way to level your skills. There are so many other ways to get mats, and you can level your gather skills by refining them, breaking them back down, and repeat. The only reason to level your gather skills in the first place is to refine the mats you have into what you need for your craft.

You can get mats from Planting, Honor Points, Mems, and even from your own guild castle as long as they have the appropriate structures. As for crafting, you will find that most quest gear will be better than anything you craft until level 60 or 70. Even then you will find that instance gear is far better than anything you can make yourself (with very few exceptions).

If that doesn't discourage you, it's entirely possible to be completely self sufficient. Have all your characters take up planting... basically free mats every 24 hours. Refine these mats to level your gather skills, and then use em to craft whatever you feel inclined to make. The only trouble you may have is that you need to visit certain zone/towns in order buy the npc recipes at the higher levels. But even this is possible if you find someone willing to open a transport portal for you.

planting is random and provides limited resources. should only be used to supplement other sources and for the xp/speed pots that they provide.

gathering in a zone IS the fastest way to lvl gathering (refining mats will take way too long even though you can do it while afk). however you don't have to lvl the gatherer and can bring your main along to clear the mobs around the gatherer.

I would recommend lvl'ing your crafters to lvl 50 atleast, that way you can use the ISS from lvl 60 gear to inc the xp/speed of crafting (same for gathering).

As a level 100 Gatherer, the fastest way to level IS by going out and gathering. Refining at higher levels, you would need to refine thousands just to go up one level.....Yes thousands! Whereas, if you just go out into the respective zone and gather, you will gain XP respectively. Not to mention, you get gathering buffs (gathering XP, gathering speed) as well as actual character XP/TP in doing so. I believe it requires you to complete a quest first IOT receive buffs (don't remember how I got it). You can also increase your gathering XP/speed/amount by using either pots from NPC (from Phirius Shells) or from Item Shop potions (when sale is available).

As for crafting, you can do as you stated. Let them sit back and use the resources from your gatherer, or.........you can have ALL skills (gather/craft) on ONE SINGLE CHARACTER. In order to do so, you will have to purchase the craftsman scrolls from the Item Shop (when sale is available). Yes, it may cost diamonds, but everything will be on one character. This saves time considering you have to log in/out to gather/craft. If you forget something, relog in/out again....just a pain to some people.

So, there you have it. Various options to consider, but outcome is still the same.

You can also get gear with setskills that you can extract that will give you +25% gathering speed, +25% XP for gathering, +25% when crafting, +25% crafting speed also plus the NPC in Varanas that sells a 10% XP pots also next to POM's npc.

I had recently gotten the ISS for gathering and have found that if I have the gathering buff active and reach the 100 nodes gathered goal, I do not receive the 3 minute buff that I normally get. Has anyone else seen this? Is that a known issue, or is that how it's supposed to be?

Quoted from "Bigbaddaboom"

I had recently gotten the ISS for gathering and have found that if I have the gathering buff active and reach the 100 nodes gathered goal, I do not receive the 3 minute buff that I normally get. Has anyone else seen this? Is that a known issue, or is that how it's supposed to be?

not sure if that is cuz of the ISS but I do know that if you have unbridled enthusiasm on than you do not get the buff for reaching 100 nodes... couldn't be bothered to write a bug report on it though so if you want go ahead and do it.

Just make sure you only buy the single white recipe needed to level. Don't worry about trying to buy all white recipes (from NPC) for the level you are crafting. If you do buy all the white recipes, look for the one that has the lowest margin of gold loss upon resale to NPC. (In case you haven't done that).....but yes, crafting does require some shiny currency

you also have one recipe type for crafting, in each of the type, that also to craft the item and resell it for more then it costs to make. Blacksmithing is shields, carpentry is staves, and i can't remember the other ones.

Please also note this post if you have an older character:

Changes in the gathering and crafting system (6.0.0)

Oh, good. That was the info I was missing.

Now I just need the crafting certs to go on sale again for my new toon so she can take all gathering skills to Legendary.