Crafting

Besides doing normal quests, you can also develop a crafting vocation for your toon.  There are 7 different vocations to choose from.  Each vocation has some combination of three professions, and there are 10 professions.  Each professions has pros and cons, and some need other professions to build from.  Here's a list of the vocations and the professions they each have.



Armourer - metalsmith, prospector, tailor
Armsman - prospector, weaponsmith, woodworker
Explorer - forester, prospector, tailor
Historian - farmer, scholar, weaponsmith
Yeoman - farmer, cook, tailor
Tinker - cook, jeweler, prospector
Woodsman - farmer, forester, woodworker

I think most of professions give you a general idea of what they entail, and you'll get instructions when you reach level 5 and are able to choose a vocation.  Tas is a yeoman.  Of her three professions, tailoring has been the hardest to level.  Tailors need leather to work with, which is made from hides by foresters.  Hides can be collected as drops from animals like wolves, bears, and boars, but as a tailor, you really need to know someone who can process them for you.  Luckily my friends Kaimelar (Kai) is a forester, but even so, it's hard to collect enough hides for him to make me enough leather to level up as a tailor.  Farming and cooking were much easier to do.  I think I went from apprentice to artisan (tier 1 - tier 4) in a few days of working.  Farming does require having the money to buy seeds and other mats, but other than that it's pretty easy.  Cooking also was easy for me, because mats can be collected from the world and from crops I grew as a farmer.  So my cooking leveled up fairly quickly too.  What has made cooking a challenge is having to do quests to gain access to the next level.

Crafting is fun, and can be really helpful to your Kinship (if you're in one).  You can also get help from your Kinship or other friends.