Unable to find a comprehensive mid-level player guide, only beginner and end game; got questions!

LGWD5KTL44

So I've played TERA off and on for little over a year, we've quit and come back multiple times, mostly due to boredom brought on by not understanding the game very much. We've been able to get a good handle on the game from quality community beginner guides and youtube videos, but we'd eventually get stumped trying to branch out of continuous loop of constant questing.

We'd dabble into PvP, crafting, and dungeons, but without really understanding how it works past beginner and below end game, we have no idea what to do. I for one, am stuck trying to level my crafting.

Question 1 - Gold farming: We would like to know a suitable area(s) or dungeon(s) that is ideal for gold farming in the 35-45 level range. Did some googling and youtube searching, only found talks of BAM's or something, but never explained what they were and haven't been able to find an explanation. We're not looking for the best or most efficient method, we're okay with anything that actually works.

Question 2 - (Armor)crafting leveling (Kinda long, will add a TL;DR at the bottom): I've read a lot of people saying to wait to end-game to craft, but that would be a bit boring, I'd like to get started early and actually enjoy the items I craft before I drastically out level everything. I start getting into armor crafting (after getting my gathering to like 200-215 in all 3 stats), start crafting different recipes that I bought from the vendor over and over, go watch a video or two or play a game while waiting for it to finish. Until, everything I bought from the armorcrafting design shopkeep no longer provides any levels.

Alright, go back to google, see talks about farming boss's for drops or buying them from other players in the broker. I find boss raids to be quite fun, I wasn't opposed to it, but could not find /anywhere/, not on the wiki or anything, a list, table, or even mentioning what boss drops what (though I'm not the best at searching for things). Plan B, I go to the broker... but everything is over like 500+ gold, and level 60, nothing I could use.

Question 2 TL;DR: Need bosses (lvls 35-45 range) to farm for efficient armorcrafting recipes or some other way to procure efficient armorcrafting recipies (or good ones too)

Question 3 - Feedstock & Alkahest: I assume I'll get a decent amount from questing/dungeon farming, but still struggle to acquire masterwork versions. Any good ways of getting them?

Sorry for typing so much and asking so many questions, but love the game and trying to get a good grasp of the game, pls and thank you for anyone who takes the time to help me out. Very appreciated!

Eleynn

Although obviously not the answer you'd like, the honest answer to all of your questions is get to 65. The below 65 experience of Tera is... lacking, at best. If you run dungeons and kill BAMs or do the story while waiting in que, you'll get to 65 quite fast.

//BAMs - big ass monsters in the open world, you can find the level appropriate ones if you open the vanguard tab (H by default) and look for the green quest that requires you to kill 5 of something
IM - you can use instance matching by pressing Y (by default) and clicking on the red button in the bottom left corner and selecting the instance you want//

That said, I'll try to answer your questions more in depth:
1. BAMs or instances would probably be a relatively reliable means of income to keep yourselves afloat until endgame, but I believe there isn't a way to make a fortune until you actually get to 65.
2. The reason everyone says not to craft until endgame is because it's mostly a loss until then. You outlevel items super fast, and like you've seen, after a certain point you can only progress your crafting skill with materials and recipes that you can't use below 60 or 65. If you want to prepare for it in advance, you could check the recipes for 65 and possibly save the runes that drop (tbh I don't actually know if they still drop or if you can only buy them at a merchant, haven't paid too much attention), or you could gather materials if they'll be needed later.
3. Masterwork is a depleted material from a
the previous version of the enchanting system. You could masterwork/awaken your gear up to +12/+15. Now, in the endgame you level up the set of gear you get as you hit 65. Masterworking (if it's still possible, although I think it shouldn't be) is a non-thing at this point of the game, getting your gear to +9 is more than enough. (I usually only +9 my weapons when I level, since I outlevel the gear too fast to waste materials on it.) If you do come across MWA, dismantle it for emblems, which you can exchange for useful materials on 65.

Berogi

To add onto Eleynn's 2nd point: Crafting has been made into more or less a late game progression system. In order to go above the 3rd tier of level 65 gear (Frostmetal), you are practically required to craft, or have others craft for you, as upgrades from Frostmetal +0 and Daylight Accessories will need you to have Emeralds (Obtained rarely through dungeons or by crafting 10 Rubies into Sapphires and them Emeralds) and Golden Darics (Can only be obtained by crafting 2 Gold talents).

You will still need the materials, so since you're on a low level still, my advice would be to gather as many nodes as you find, as they'll be useful for when you need to master these professions. (Don't forget 1 mastered profession per character)

If you have any questions from that feel free to ask ^^

LGWD5KTL44

I figured the answer would be to get to level 65, but honestly, I find that to be quite boring. I generally find early game/late game of MMO's to be quite boring, as early you don't have much unlock in terms of abilities, places or things you can do and without gold. While late game, you've got access to anything you want with the gold to to so, but without the fun of progressing, staying at the max level and just finding some way to entertain yourself until something new gets released.

Mid-game is fun for me, unlocking things, gaining more gold, more levels, feeling like you've actually accomplished something.

From playing the game early, I could tell you out level the gear you just got in no time at all, especially relic weapons. I get that crafting is meant for late game, but I'd like to have with it before I max out the game and run out of things to do. I'd like to enjoy what I craft, before everything balances out.

Dunno if that helps in any way, but hey, everyone has their own tastes.

I kinda want to do the hard work of gathering the information to make a mid-level *for fun* guide myself.

Thank you for the answers, it helped to know where I am and what I need to, will still have with it along the way though!

Greatly appreciate it.

TJKat

To be honest, since you level so quickly, there really is no mid-game in Tera. Just level 65 and before level 65.

Earning gold before level 65 is an exercise in futility. Can it be done? Yeah. Is it worth the time/effort? No. Odds are you will earn more gold in your first two or three level 65 dungeon runs than you will from levels 1-64.

Crafting is also a complete waste of time before level 65. There's is literally nothing worth crafting until you reach level 65. Weapons? Only if you deliberately want to do terrible damage. Even if you can craft something with better stats, an Avatar weapon will ALWAYS be better because of it's massive boost to crit factor. Armour? Dungeon loot is much better than anything you can craft and it drops like candy.

Masterworking should also be completely ignored. You go through gear so fast that there's almost no point even enchanting it at all, certainly not to +9, and definitely not to +12. It was one thing when you could dismantle gear and get some of your feedstock back, but now, going beyond +3 (or +6 at most) on your armour while leveling is a waste of resources.

UnitedStrafes

Mid level? When's that the 2 hours you have to spend between lvl 50 and 65?

Piltover

1-65 is more of an entry level tutorial if anything, the real game starts at 65

LGWD5KTL44

Would any of you also know why one of my friends has a minus to one of his stats? We some times go over and compare character stats for fun and he's currently got his defense at "2364 -147", he's a warrior and has a full set of armor from the lvl 44 token and undergarments from a quest in the elf city, which he says goes away when he unequips his armor, dunno or whatnot, but is there something he's doing wrong?

Edit: Obligatory Grammar fix