Talent

Overview
Talent is the name of the crafting skills that a player can learn from certain NPCs after reaching level 22. They can either be learned for a self-sufficient equipment crafting or for the benefit of other players. It is one of two possible ways to craft exquisite equipment (the other being crafting by NPCs). After reaching level 22, the Strange Traveler will ask the player some questions (during Learn expertise quest), which are supposed to advise in Talent choice but the result of this conversation does not have a binding force. Crafting via expertise has the advantage of randomly crafting items in different quality compared to NPCs, ranging from 1 to 4 stars. The chances of a quality through expertise are: 2 stars being the most frequent, 3 stars being less common, 1 star being uncommon, and 4 stars being rare.

The Player is allowed to learn Cooking, Gathering and ONE main type of Talent. When a player decides to learn a particular type of Talent, the corresponding crafting stall becomes tagged as such and coming near it will cause the recipe list to pop out.

There are three ranks in Talent: Crafting results in an increase of 1 to 3 points of proficiency. Once you reach the maximum amount of Proficiency for a Talent rank, you can purchase a Story Quest to unlock the next rank. The time it takes you to craft an item decreases with every proficiency point earned.
 * Beginner (0-99),
 * Apprentice (100-199),
 * Journeyman (200-350).
 * Professional (350-399)

You can also unlearn a Talent by going to the NPC you learned the skill from and learn another skill. This however, will reset your current progress and if you want to return to your previous talent you’ll have to start from the beginning.

With the September Content Update a lot of requirements for advancing in a talent have been reduced or removed (including Recipe Books, Proofs and Finishes).

Many items used to be bugged and could not craft in quality other than 2 star. This included all of Evie's Spell Books, Karok's Emblem of Ancient Strength and the gloves/boots that use materials from Titan. These items have been patched to allow the proper chances of quality variance other expertise items have.

Types of Talents Available

 * Weaponsmithing - taught by Krunk - includes: Longswords, Long Hammers, Twin Swords, Twin Spears, Battle Scythes, Pillars, Cestuses, Twin chainblades, Spellswords, Dragonspines, and Katamadhars.
 * Goldsmithing - taught by Jarlath - includes: Bows, Cross Guns, Staves, Phantom Daggers, Spellwhips, Mana Revolvers, Focuses,Rings, Belts and Earrings.
 * Tailoring - taught by Nel - includes: Cloth Armors, Light armor, and Heavy armor.
 * Armorsmithing - taught by Brakis - includes: Light armor, Heavy armor, Plate armor, Shields and Giant shields.
 * Cooking - taught by Caryl - allows making food that gives you various buffs.
 * Dismantling - taught by Krunk, Jarlath, Nel and Brakis - sub-talent; lets you destroy equipment types related to your Talent to get materials necessary for Element Stones; dismantled equipment is destroyed. Both crafted items and drop items can be dismantled.
 * Element Stones - taught by Krunk, Jarlath, Nel and Brakis - sub-talent; allows crafting of Element Stones, which can be infused into equipment.
 * Gathering - taught by Old Meb - allows gathering from Luminary Trees.

Platesmithing has been removed from the game and existing recipes merged into Armorsmithing.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Learning a Talent
PROS:
 * Players can craft items normally available from merchants for less gold and (in some cases) fewer materials.
 * Items that are crafted by the player can be higher in quality compared to items crafted by NPCs. This is indicated by the number of stars in the item's description. Normal quality (i.e. merchant quality) items have two stars, while player-crafted equipment can range from 1 to 4 stars.

CONS:
 * Unless there is a special event going, it can take a lot of time to increase a player's proficiency in a talent. Many items crafted will take up to 5 minutes each to make.
 * Advancing a talent ultimately takes a good bit of gold. Although items crafted by the player cost less than having them crafted by an NPC, there will still be a lot of gold spent on obtaining recipe ingredients (especially if they are obtained from the Marketplace, rather than from dungeon runs).