Getting crafting materials

I've been looking up information on crafting, but maybe there's just something I'm not understanding. If I need, say, bolts of cloth, then it seems that the only consistent way of getting them is to spend 100 gold (which took me a fair amount of time to build up while I was playing, unless there's some money-making secret I haven't heard about) on a salvage kit and then go around killing monsters--none of which I had encountered by the time I was level 6 and the BWE ended--and salvaging the drops.

Being level 6 and still using the starter armor seems kind of odd to me, though that might just be the norm for Guild Wars--I don't know. I've also heard something about a material vendor, but the inventory is apparently determined by what people buy and sell from him, so it sounds somewhat unreliable; also, he's not in any of the earlier towns.

Am I supposed to be at least about level 10 before crafting new armor (as the gold for salvage kits isn't the easiest thing to accrue, and the crafting vendor is nowhere to be found early on), or am I just missing something?

with my current experience...i think you can get bolt of cloth thru salvaging things with a kit....or trade.

i hear you can also sell salvage kit when only 1 left; and get 50% of your gold back.

i might be wrong. so it would be nice if someone who is more experienced could confirm this.

most of people say dont upgrade in every single level. people suggest to upgrade once every 5 levels i think.

I don't see why you had any trouble aquiring gold. The easiest way to get gold is to sell things that you don't need and then buy the salvage kit and once you've got all the materials, sell those that are useless to you to other players (for slightly more than the outfitter or materials seller would) in bulk. You should only really worry about upgrading your armour at around Yak's Bend. But that's your decision.

OK well it's not surprising for you to still be using starter armor as a crafter, and it's pretty normal. The way things are is that for the caster classes (necro mesmer elementalist monk) you don't rely on your armor or weapon very much, so you don't really need to get better ones as often. For warriors and rangers, you rely on your armor much more (especially for warrior) so you need to make sure your armor is up-to-date. Even for a warrior though, you might use your starting armor till around level 5, and then a second set till you get to lions (worked for me). The reason is that the game is not focused on who has the best armor or who is highest level, and is designed to focus on the skill of the player. This means there will be no "uber item" that you need to be competitive in PvP. As for the materials, it does take a while to get them for most classes, but the thing is, you really don't need them that much, unless you're going to be a IW mes main who need the extra armor to survive in melee range, in which case you should go out and farm those monsters. I recommend just going through the missions and getting those salvaging kits and getting armor as you get enough materials. As for money, you will probably get most of it from selling to other players, and when you get a salvage kit down to 1 use, sell it to the vendor and you have 50g back, enough to pay for half of your next one.

The easiest way to get gold:

Start in Ascalon
Go out the south enterance
Turn right
Kill all the gargoyles in the cemetary
Turn left
Kill all the Elementals
Head back towards Ascalon
Kill all the scorpion dohickeys
Take all the Items you just picked up to the outfitter and Sell them.

the materials vendor isnt untill you get to Lions Arch ... so dont sweat it, i used beginner armor on one of my chars up till lvl 11.

some things to keep in mind, pick up EVERYTHING.
over time you'll realize salvaging what types of items give you what type of raw materials, then you dont have to waste salvage uses on things you dont need.
sell anything you dont need to either people or outfitters

and just for reference, if youre looking for that materials vendor, its at lions arch, once you reach Yaks bend, your about halfway to lions

Heres a good guide you might wanna check out, its explains how to go through the game up till lions arch http://www.guildwarsguru.com/content...-10-id1195.php