Crafting is a grind, so how can you maximize the experience gained over time?
I spent some time gathering data on the experience made per make, and per work order turn in.  The results were different then I expected, and definitely changed the way I do the crafting grind. I will be using round numbers for examples, but the experience does vary slightly.  Also, the hard numbers being used in this guide are from level 9-11 Blacksmithing, some of the numbers will vary depending on your crafting level and your trade skill, but the methods outlined in this guide remain to be the fastest route to gaining crafting levels, despite your level or trade.
 
Ok, let me first explain a few things about work orders (WO’s), and let’s set up some acronyms for easy reference. 

3 Standard Work Order Types:
Make an item, make a set, and make a batch. We’ll refer to them as…

1. WO1 - make a… (1 item)
2. WO3 - make a set of… (3 items)
3. WO5 - make a batch of… (5 items)

4 Standard Difficulty Levels:
Very easy, east, moderate and difficult. We’ll refer to them using…

1. VE - Very Easy
2. E - Easy
3. M - Moderate
4. D - Difficult

For example, a MWO5 would be a moderate work order for a batch (5 items). 
When you process a WO, you get experience when you make each item, but you get much more experience when you turn in the completed WO.  For this discussion, a Bonus is the experience gained when you turn in a WO.

Lets talk numbers
[NOTE: see bottom of guide for more information on the numbers; where, what levels, what craft, etc.]

Difficulty changes the experience:
The difficulty of the WO determines how much experience you will receive, but the change is very small. 
VEWO - offer no exp per make, and a negligible bonus
EWO - offer about 100-125 exp per make, and 500-600 exp bonus
MWO - offer about 115-175 exp per make, and 525-675 exp bonus
DWO - offer about 140-200 exp per make, and 575-750 exp bonus
 
WO1-WO3-WO5 differences:
Each item you make in the same WO will give you increased exp.  For example, if you take a WO5 and make all B quality items, your first item would be the lowest exp gained, and each one after would yield more exp. This makes sense, because you have a chance to mess up on every item, meaning the 5th make in a WO5 is the toughest to make. The growth of experience through a WO5 finishes with the 5th item being roughly double the exp of the first make. 

Sample 1: An example of all B quality made items in a MWO5:

1. Item 1 - 115
2. Item 2 - 130
3. Item 3 - 150
4. Item 4 - 175
5. Item 5 - 200

There is only a slight difference between WO1, WO3, and WO5 bonus experience.  So, since the bonus experience is essentially the same for doing a WO1 as it is for doing a WO5, and its much faster and effecient to complete 5 separate WO1’s and cashing in on the 5 separate bonuses, than it is to create 5 items for a single WO5, with only a single bonus - it makes since to focus on completing WO1’s if you’re looking to level up quickly.

Sample 2: Do 1 x MWO5, your XP would go something like this:

1. Item 1 - 115
2. Item 2 - 130
3. Item 3 - 150
4. Item 4 - 175
5. Item 5 - 200
6. Bonus - 700
7. Totaling - 1470

Sample 3: Do 5 x MWO1’s, your XP would go something like this:

1. Item 1 - 120
2. Bonus 1 - 600
     

3. Item 2 - 120
4. Bonus 2 - 600
    

5. Item 3 - 120
6. Bonus 3 - 600
    

7. Item 4 - 120
8. Bonus 4 - 600
    

9. Item 5 - 120
10. Bonus 5 - 600
        

11. Totaling 3600

Quite a bit of difference in time and effort doing 5 x WO1’s rather than 1 x WO5’s. Worse case scenario you find you’re unable to complete a session because of complications - you’ve only wasted the investment into that single item and not potentially 4 other items completed previously.

Exp vs. Reward

My general philosophy is to level up first, then go for reward.  Why spend time doing WO5’s for gear and some extra loot, when you can level quickly and hit up much higher level WO5’s later.  Obviously, if you are in it for loot, then doing WO5’s will get you more, but leveling faster will allow for better rewards and better crafting recipes quicker.

General Strategy for leveling crafting

Each level you gain points within your specific skill sets (view your skills/skill points by opening your character screen selecting the “Crafting” tab on the left, then selecting the “Skills” tab on the bottom). 

At the beginning of a level, I generally do several EWO1’s for Refining and Finishing to max out my skills.  Don’t forget to use the locks and such, so that you can max out what you want. 

Next, I move on to MWO1’s and produce C quality items.  Why C?  C’s are almost a guarantee and require less time & materials to accomplish, so I do C’s constantly throughout the level.  Sometimes, I’ll notice that I’m getting into C pretty easily and push for B’s, but never at the gamble of losing the item. B quality items will get you higher experience and higher rewards, but getting greedy can cause problems completing a WO which slows you down. Aiming for a C quality will always be a safe bet.

I hope this has been helpful.  At the time of my research, I was around level 10, blacksmith.  I am now a much higher weapon smith, and the pattern is still the same.  Experience has grown quite a bit, and the difference between Easy and Moderates has increased as well.  So, the only change that is worth mentioning so far, is that getting to Moderates quickly is important.

Helpful tips:

1. When you level, you get more points to add to your attributes, so do some easy WO’s to get those points maxed out
2. Complications do NOT have to be tended to, near the end of a make, its common to power through them if their affect is “very low” or “low”
3. Other continents do not allow you to train at their trainers until you are level 11 and have completed the main “style” quest on each continent

NOTES ABOUT ABOVE GUIDE:
The research for the numbers above was done mostly during the levels 9-11, blacksmithing.   The numbers are rough estimates for easier discussion, because the data collected varied slightly. As your level increases, all the experience gains grow as well. 
With my own experience, Difficult WO’s proved to be a big gamble, where a good portion of the WO’s had too many complications to complete even C quality items.  If, by some chance, you are able to complete DWO1’s with a very high success rate, that would probably be the best way to level. 

Dungeon:
Stonesmasher Enclave

Location:
Vertically between 3 Rivers and New Targonor but a bit more East
[location 53300, 64500, (-27, 26) ]

There are several outposts around, with this dungeon entrance in the middle of a small crescent cut valley.

Level Range of Mobs:
2 and 3 dot levels 13-19

Overview:

1. All mobs inside the cave give New Targonor faction, including the bears
2. Cave holds a decent amount of Iron and Sandstone spawns
3. Majority of mobs are level 16 and 17, with 3 dots
4. Most pulls are single or double, with a few frightening 4-5 mob pulls scattered about
5. Most pulls are exactly the same, very little variety, and few surprises
6. Respawn rate is relatively fast, and dead ends can have you backtracking through re-pops
7. Wearable loot seemed to drop at a decent rate, but sellable loot was scarce.  Although, most mobs walk upright, which means coin on ever kill
8. Full group of 13’s can handle the dungeon, however, multiple tanks (even 3) is recommended for the scattered 4-5 pulls
9. The last mob was level 19, and had a few double 18 pulls around him. 

Final View:
This is a mining cave, complete with railroad tracks and lots of rock.  If you like caves, then this is heaven, but the general look of it gets old quick.  All mobs are of the same 3 types up to the boss, so variety is lacking here again.  New Targonor faction is very important because of the teleport to other continents, and finding a large spawn of mobs that are around level 16 was a bonus.  The tricky spots are where 4, 5 or 6 mobs are all standing around in a social circle… yep… that can make for a hell of a pull.  The rest of the place is all single or double pulls; which is very easy for a duo or trio to work the entrance for faction or decent experience.

Dungeon:
Gulgrethor Fortress 

Location:
East on the path from Gulkar’s Encampment, a town at the south end of the island with Martok. The path leads right by a holding point for Orcs, and into the Fortress.

Level Range of Mobs:
15-19, 3 and 4 dots

Screenshots:
Gulgrethor Fortress screenshots

Overview:

1. Entrance has 15’s with 3 dots, almost all single pulls.  From there you find increasing levels, double and triple pulls, 4 dots, as well as stealthers all over.
2. Once inside the main cave, several quests are available to your right on a platform, most are chains for more quests.
3. There are lots of different types of mobs: animals, melee’rs, casters, stealthers, flying, wandering guards… very important to look at what you want to attack first on every pull- and expect at least a stealth add every time.
4. With a balanced group averaging level 14, you can get pretty deep and tackle some of the 18 bosses.  But, with a low level group, crowd control strategy is very important to go the distance and save your healers some mana.
5. There are specific undead mobs that die, releasing multiple Cursed Spirits.  These spirits can be devastating with their stacking dots, and because they spawn on top of one another, it’s difficult to grab agro of several quickly.
6. This dungeon is huge compared to the Gardens, so plan to have a way out or recall available.  Getting to the back of the fortress can take about 30-40 minutes, and that is just going around the rim, and avoiding mobs along the way.
7. Re-pop happens at a relatively fast rate.  If you sit around too long, you are going to be popped on, so you have to keep moving forward, or at least staying close together.
8. While it’s great experience for lower levels, it can take a lot of time to kill mobs, so pay close attention to where you stand while fighting exceptionally long battles and avoid the agro from re-pops or roaming guards.

Walk through:

Quests are on your right as you enter the main area of the Fortress.  You can go down the right or left side, both eventually lead down to the ramp allowing ground level access to the dungeon.  Taking the right side is a much shorter distance to the ramp, and also has a shortcut that will be outlined in a minute.  First lets explain how to maneuver around this dungeon.  When you go down the right side you will get to the ramp leading down.  Once on ground level you are facing the main structure, and there are a few directions to go. 

Going inside the structure doesn’t really accomplish much unless you are looking for a lot of the large flying bat eye mobs- there are a bunch in the courtyard.  The ramps to the second level of the structure are all on the outside.  Our group usually headed to the left, avoiding mobs, and staying farther away from the fortress, until we saw a quick path to the ramp.  Once up the ramp, its pretty easy to see how to get around.  Several patrols that spawn regularly can cause additional agro, but other then that its pretty easy double pulls, with the undead and revenants spawning Cursed Spirits (hating these yet?).  The patrols are often named (Soul Seeker and Rampage) which both drop guaranteed loot, so keep looking for them to re-spawn.  Well, now that we know how to get around…

What’s the deal with this big structure in the middle and the 4 corners with orbs, the towers, AND why are there harbringer bosses at every corner… sometimes different bosses— it seems almost random????  Ok, let’s explain the whole ordeal.  First, there are quest chains that you have to go through.  Most are kill quests, some are collection quests.  Eventually you will get to a quest that requires you to go to the 4 orbs, and another quest to gather all 4 harbringer heads.  At each orb there is a harbringer that also has a named rare that can spawn.  The named rare will take a different form (wolf, spider, dragon, etc) and will be able to be pulled alone.  

Each harbringer is different, and some have some nasty abilities like AOE poisons, so be ready with all buffs just incase.  The harbringers will have 2 mobs near them and it’s expected to have a 3 pull, although 2 pulls have been done.  Killing an actual harbringer is the only way to get the head of a harbringer for the quest, but regardless of what is waiting at an orb, you can kill it and finish the orb quest.  Each rare spawn is a guaranteed loot drop, and most of the loot is good for the level.  If the group is good enough, waiting on re-spawns is the worst part about the loot farming or quest completing. 

There is a final quest located in Martok, that asks you to kill a rare form of another harbringer, not 100% sure of his name, possibly Viliconis.  He is the last harbringer boss at the top level of the fortress.  It’s not too difficult to reach him, except for the one mid level room that has several wandering mobs.  When you reach this room, its best to pull as many mobs as you can straight down the middle and when you see a chance- head directly down the middle to the staircase, it’s a safe spot to battle whatever agro you get.  From there you can rest then advance upwards and eventually reach the harbringer.  The last harbringer is supposed to be like the other harbringers, where his rare form has a chance at spawning, but this one is a very low chance at spawning.  For this quest, you need the rare version, so be prepared to camp the room a while.

Final View:

This dungeon is stunning.  There is so much to look at, and all of it looks great.  Huge chains come from different angles… Large Ziggurat-like structures, some with towers… Several staircases, ramps, walkways, walls- almost labyrinth qualities… Walking around the rim, fighting as you make your way to the back of the fortress- you can see bosses on the ground floor- one looks somewhat like a spider, another more like a dragon, several “Soulseekers” which are huge flying mobs resembling bats.

Once you reach the back of the fortress, its difficult to choose a path because there is so much available to you.  Variety of mobs in this dungeon is at it’s best, eye candy all over, increasing difficulty with bosses scattered with no clear cut paths, and roaming patrols keep you looking over your shoulder… Yes, this is what Vanguard is all about. 

Quick Tips:

Fighting on the Ramps:
The fortress is a big place, with lots of ramps and lots of double, triple pulls, even adds.  Its important to make sure you are fighting in safe areas.  Our group found that when you are running around on the 2nd level farming orbs and harbringer pulls, the safest place to pull and fight was the first long ramp up to the orbs in every corner.  The only mobs you will find are patrols that spawn in intervals, and the mobs at top and bottom of ramp, so pulling harbringers to the middle of the ramp is completely safe.

The Short-Cut:
This saved us a TON of time when we got to farming this place.  When you enter the main fortress/cave area and head down the right side, pass the quest givers on your left, you will see a corner stone below you that you can jump to.  It’s a corner stone that is linked to a ramp going up to an orb, so it’s a quick jump to the 2nd level of the fortress.  Look at where you are jumping to, the left side of the corner stone has 2 mobs (when the walker moves to the right side of the corner stone), and make sure there is no big axe patrolman coming… then have your tank jump first.  Have him jump and run through the mobs, carrying them to the ramp that leads down ward to the main 2nd level of the fortress.  Fight on the safe ramp area, then you are ready to pull the harbringer, or move to another orb.

Dungeon:
Gardens of Xia’Liu

Location:
North of Gulkar’s Encampment, a camp at the south end of the Wildgrowth Forest, south of Martok.

Level Range of Mobs:
3 and many 4 dots, Levels 12-16

Screenshots:
Gardens of Xia’Liu Screenshots

Overview:

1. Even spread of mobs from 12 up to 16, most 3 dots, but several 4 dots.
2. 50/50 mix of single and double pulls, very few triples if you watch and wait, timing can help tremendously.
3. Golems hit hard and stun, so agro can be rough at the first pull, especially with doubles.
4. Stealth canine mobs start showing up a few rooms in, and they roam around their rooms, so look before pulling.
5. Dancers (wisps) have AOE attacks, so keep them away from the low HP party members, or you will go down quick.  Double and triple pulls with 1 wisp seem harder then any other pulls in the dungeon if you are clumped together.
6. Respawn rate was average, nothing to amazing, but there are a few twists and turns that can lead you in a full circle.
7. Many quests available in Gulkar’s Encampment, and one in Martok (from the Shaman trainer).
8. Wearable loot drops were common, lots of armor, seemed to get a lot of +wisdom medium items (Monk/Disciple gear).
9. Sellable loot was not as frequent as other dungeons and was not very valuable.
10. Full group of 6, 2 tanks, 2 dps, 2 healers, mixed in levels but 2 highest were only 13, and there was average difficulty if you kept the pulls to only 2 at a time.
11. The end of the dungeon has a large wooden tower structure that you climb.  Before you reach the top, know there are at least 4-5 high level clay golems at the highest level- and they appeared to be all tied to one pull.  Finish the final quest at the base of the last set of stairs before attempting the last pull, or just finish the quest and leave—- because that’s one epic pull for the average group exp’ing in there.

Walk through:
Once you enter the actual ‘garden’ area, you can go left or right.  The right side has 2 smaller wings, a few mobs, and a named which takes a while to respawn. If you & your group are looking to ‘clear’ the area you’ll want to take a few minutes to sweep through the right wing, otherwise its not required to advance. The quests take you to the left.

Following the left path you come to a clay golem guarded pool at the top of a hill.  This pool is your first pond for the “fill up 3 water bottles” quest, the bottles are in your inventory.
At that pond you can go 2 directions:

A) Pass the pond on your rightside, following a path that veers right.  This leads over a bridge and then to a doorway.  Through the doorway you reach a “T” intersection at a shallow stream.  Both directions take you to the 2nd pool, but going left ensures a nice ramp up to the top.  Once you have reached the 2nd pool and filled another water bottle, backtrack to the 1st pond and take path B.

B) From the enterance of the dungeon, you would take a left when you reach the first pond.  If you were back tracking from the 2nd pond, look to take a path on your right.  The path leads toward a shallow water section of the dungeon.  There are several dead ends in this section. but most can be spotted quickly, allowing you to get back on track right away.

Once out of the water, you approach a hill topped with 2 level 15 & 16 4 dot clay golems. This path leads to the final courtyard with 2 pools (complete the water collection quest) and a wooden tower structure in the middle.  The near pool will work for your 3rd water bottle of the quest, and from there you can get to the wooden tower with a few timely mob pulls.  Get to the tower, climb to the platform, but stop BEFORE the top level, and use your Spiriteye talisman for the big quest.  You do not need to get to the very top, where 4-5 deadly clay golems await. If you clear that top level, let us know about it, looked pretty rough up there.

Final View:
Except for the deadly foes at every turn, this ‘eastern orient’ styled dungeon might be a leisurely stroll through lushly appointed gardens adorned with tidy little ponds, ornate bridges, beautiful flowers and simple open air structures. Pulls were challenging enough to really test full groups averaging under level 12. With a higher level group, timing and basic strategy is still necessary to keep AOE damage away and deal with extra adds. 

1. Keep your group tight to avoid unexpected adds and having to fight on multiple fronts
2. Keep light armor classes away from the Dancer wisps (deadly AOE)
3. Watch out for stealthed mobs - foxes, salamanders
4. Watch out for the 4 dots - a few have insane HP & are harder to take down than others
5. Highly recommend 2 tanks to keep clay golems from aggroing casters
6. Expect respawns when exiting - a bind point lies just south of the dungeon entrance, if you prefer to ‘recall’ out

Dungeon:
Karrus Fahrel

Location:
South of Khal, across river, almost directly South of the Eastern side of Khal.

Level Range of Mobs:
3 and 4 dots, level 10-15

Overview:

1. Majority of mobs are level 12, 3 dots with a ton of HP.
2. Majority of pulls are double mob pulls, very close together.
3. Most pulls are exactly the same, very little variety, and few surprises.
4. Respawn rate seems pretty fast, so backtracking is rough.
5. Quests right outside the cave.
6. Loot drops in cave were very nice, some wearables, and sellable loot pretty common.
7. Group of 4 level 12’s had a rough time because of the amount of HP per mob, each pull took a long time to finish off.
8. There are level 14 mobs that are 4 dots down the corridors from the main spiral, which 2 shotted our main tank at level 12 with decent gear, so be careful with what you pull.

Final View:
The dungeon was graphically impressive with giant spinning globes and light reflecting from different angles, but it was lacking in variety of mobs.  The level of difficulty was pretty high for anything less then a balanced 4-5 group of level 12’s.  Respawn rate made any mistakes very costly, but the quests and experience were very decent for the level.  If it’s right for your group’s level, there are lots of mobs to kill and little variety if you get into a rhythm.

Labyrrinth(of Silky Venom) shared this in the SV forum and credits Tagad, Senior Game Designer at Sigil for the original data. Building positive faction for the places where you start out as KoS can be quite important, as its the only way to gain access to area vendors & quest NPC’s. Cyprus of Sinister Guild dropped us a great report on how to check and improve your faction be sure to check that our as well (Kill on Sight : The Vanguard Faction low Down)

Martok
Kills on Sight: Half Elf
Kills on Sight: Kojani Human
Kills on Sight: Raki
Kills on Sight: Wood Elf
Kills on Sight: Gnome
Kills on Sight: Mordebi Human
Kills on Sight: Qaliathari Human
Kills on Sight: Dwarf
Kills on Sight: Halfling
Kills on Sight: High Elf
Kills on Sight: Thestran Human

Tanvu
Kills on Sight: Orc
Kills on Sight: Goblin
Kills on Sight: Dark Elf

Caial Brael
Kills on Sight: Orc
Kills on Sight: Goblin
Kills on Sight: Dark Elf

Hathor Zhi
Kills on Sight: Half Elf
Kills on Sight: Kojani Human
Kills on Sight: Raki
Kills on Sight: Wood Elf
Kills on Sight: Gnome
Kills on Sight: Mordebi Human
Kills on Sight: Qaliathari
Kills on Sight: Dwarf
Kills on Sight: Halfling
Kills on Sight: High Elf
Kills on Sight: Thestran Human

Mekalia
Kills on Sight: Goblin
Kills on Sight: Orc
Kills on Sight: Dark Elf
Kills on Sight: Kurashasa
Kills on Sight: Dwarf
Kills on Sight: Lesser Giant

Qur’xa
Kills on Sight: Raki
Kills on Sight: Gnome
Kills on Sight: Mordebi Human
Kills on Sight: Qaliathari Human
Kills on Sight: Vulmane

Khal (Except for Foreign Quarter)
Kills on Sight: Goblin
Kills on Sight: Orc
Kills on Sight: Dark Elf
Kills on Sight: Kurashasa

Lomshir
Kills on Sight: Gnome

Bordinar’s Cleft
Kills on Sight: Goblin
Kills on Sight: Orc
Kills on Sight: Dark Elf
Kills on Sight: Gnome
Kills on Sight: Varanthari
Kills on Sight: Lesser Giant
Kills on Sight: Varanjar
Kills on Sight: Vulmane

Rindol Field
Kills on Sight: Orc
Kills on Sight: Goblin
Kills on Sight: Dark Elf

Leth Nurae
Kills on Sight: Goblin
Kills on Sight: Orc
Kills on Sight: Dark Elf
Kills on Sight: Vulmane

Halgarad
Kills on Sight: Gnome
Kills on Sight: Dwarf

Tursh
Kills on Sight: Goblin
Kills on Sight: Orc
Kills on Sight: Dark Elf

Dahknarg
Kills on Sight: Half Elf
Kills on Sight: Wood Elf
Kills on Sight: Gnome
Kills on Sight: High Elf

Ahgram
Kills on Sight: Goblin
Kills on Sight: Orc
Kills on Sight: Dark Elf
Kills on Sight: Kurashasa

New Targonor
Tursh
Kills on Sight: Goblin
Kills on Sight: Orc
Kills on Sight: Dark Elf

Cyprus & Draedus of Sinister Guild

There are many unique factions at work with-in the vast lands of Telon, and a players reputation with these factions can play a pretty big role in the opportunities that are available to them, as well as the dangers that await them when traveling.

What is my faction rating?
Each race begins with ‘default’ faction ratings based on the lore of the game. For example, if you are an Orc, you are hated by High Elves, Qalian Humans and Thestran Humans. An Orc player would be unable to visit Leth Nurae, Khal, or Tursh with-out being attacked and killed by guards and NPCs from those areas.

***Use /showfactions to see all your faction information.  Sometimes, you will be unable to see certain factions until you fight something that has an affect on that specific faction, or you enter a town and encounter that faction head on.

The /showfactions displays 2 numbers:

1. Dynamic Rating = how much you have changed your faction
2. Full Rating = what your faction rating is right now

What is Kill on Sight (KoS)?
Kill on Sight or KoS as it is often referred to as, is a faction rating so low that any NPC from that faction will kill you on sight, with-out provocation. Kill on Sight faction ratings are -8001 and below. At start some races have a predisposition to be hated by certain factions. To follow our original example Orcs begin with -8200 faction with Threstran Humans, Qalian Humans and High Elves (among others).

Having a Kill On Sight(KoS) faction rating can be dangerous, and perhaps even more importantly it can be quite restrictive.

1. attacked and killed by guards & NPCs
2. miss out on quests
3. cannot buy/sell/repair with area vendors

Changing faction ratings
Don’t worry, a character doesn’t have to remain hated by certain factions. Faction ratings can be improved by killing hostile mobs in the area near the faction where you want to improve your faction ratings.

An Orc character can kill mobs outside of Leth Nurae and gain faction points for each kill. The math is pretty simple- the Orc starts at -8200, and you generally get a single point per kill. Orcs would have to kill around 200 faction point awarding mobs to be recognized by Leth Nurae NPCs, vendors and quest givers.

Group faction farming
Each player in a group will recieve faction for kills by anyone in their group, as long as the group members are nearby. It pays to farm faction in a group. Together you each gain faction much more quickly, and you reduce the danger and cost of repairs.

Reference
Vanguard Kill on Sight list - a list of KoS information for each race, see where you’re hated, and avoid these factions until you’ve improved your faction ratings