Gathering
From Guild Wars 2 Wiki
Gathering is the act of collecting crafting materials from resource nodes which are randomly found throughout the world. Resources are marked on the compass. General types of harvesting resources include ore veins.png){kind=small}
, wood .png){kind=small}
, and other plants.png){kind=small}
. Gathering from a resource node exhausts it only for the character which harvests it; the resource node remains for other characters to harvest. Harvested nodes will be renewed after a short amount of time.
Harvesting requires a gathering tool. There are mining picks for gathering ore, logging axes for wood, and harvesting sickles for plants. Stacks of tools are equipped in the Hero panel to allow harvesting and stack size decreases per use. The tools can be bought from merchants outside of the city or from some Heart NPCs after completing their respective Heart. Higher tier harvesting nodes require higher quality tools. If using an inferior tool, you will usually receive ruined resources instead of the desired ones.
New characters may purchase basic harvesting tools from the following merchants:
- In Queensdale (human starting area), talk to Horatio in the Shaemoor pub.
- In Plains of Ashford (charr starting area), talk to Kaladrian the Greedy in the Village of Smokestead.
- In Wayfarer Foothills (norn starting area), talk to Odgrim near the Horncall Waypoint.
Many other merchants sell harvesting tools as well. Merchants in towns large and small as well as some karma vendors sell tools of various quality.
Gathering is not tied to any particular skill or discipline so any player can collect any resource as long as the appropriate tool is equipped.
