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Cooking Guide 2.0: No karma ingredients, fast and (relatively) cheap

January 20, 2013 in Uncategorized

Edit: To be clear, since I can’t change the title and some people complained, it’s technically not “No karma”, it’s “no expensive karma items from renown heart NPCs in high level zones” but that seemed a bit wordy. 110 karma is required and is used at the cooking merchant in town.

 

Also, it appears that the prices of Cayenne Pepper and Bowl of Blackberry Pie Filling are spiking and Bowl of Dilled Cream Sauce has sold out is through the roof. That will probably settle down in a day or two.

 

Edit 2: Prices have changed significantly due to this guide. I’m appending the prices I paid at the bottom so you can compare them to market prices at the moment to identify anything that may be out of whack before you spend your money.

 

Edit 3: The prices of many of the items on this shopping list have increased dramatically and following this guide would cost you much, much more than 2g. I recommend not using it until the market settles down.

 

I didn’t start cooking before the infamous nerf and ever since then I’ve then been looking for an updated guide. There are a few out there but none of them had everything I was looking for so I made my own.Because there are so many paths to take when leveling cooking you need to prioritize. Here are the goals I set and met for my guide:

 

  • No need to run to high-level karma vendors for any ingredients (like cherries, peaches)
  • Avoid items that the market can put a stranglehold on (though there are a couple)
  • Include a complete shopping list so you can buy everything at once, in advance
  • Be able to go to the Trading Post, buy your materials, go the cooking station and go 0-400 with no additional running around
  • Keep cost to a reasonable minimum

I understand that not everyone wants to powerlevel. Some people like figuring things out and getting all the recipes. This guide is not for those people. This is for someone who has money to burn and wants to quickly and easily add 10 levels to an alt. I also know that leveling via discovery may be more efficient in terms of money (I’m not sure), but it’s more complex and takes more time and more bag space. I consciously chose to avoid a discovery-focused guide but would enjoy seeing someone else provide one.

This guide has been tested on four different characters. It makes sense given current market conditions but I recognize those may change over time, including if this guide gets significant attention. I did not use any crafting boosters.

The cost for me was under 2g, as low as 1.7-1.8 if I planned ahead and used buy orders. You can sell the things you create on the TP to recoup a few silver but don’t expect much. Since most people will have a lot of these materials already the out-of-pocket cost will be even lower for them. You will also need to spend 110 karma at the cooking merchant.

Note that the cooking merchant sells most things in stacks of 10 so you will have to overbuy a few things.

I also want to say in advance in case anyone asks, I may do a similar guide for Artificing but for the other professions I don’t currently see a way to improve on the guides on http://www.gw2wiz.com/.

SHOPPING LIST

From Cooking Merchant

  • 150 Flour
  • 125 Water
  • 100 Salt
  • 25 Vinegar
  • 25 Vegetable Oil
  • 25 Sugar
  • 25 Buttermilk (35 karma)
  • 25 Yeast (35 karma)
  • 25 Cheese Wedge (35 karma)

From Trading Post (or collected yourself)

 

  • 175 Stick of Butter
  • 100 Black Peppercorn
  • 50 Slab of Poultry Meat
  • 100 Carrot
  • 125 Onion
  • 75 Egg
  • 25 Clam
  • 50 Chocolate
  • 25 Portobello Mushroom
  • 25 Orange
  • 25 Cauliflower
  • 100 Slab of Red Meat
  • 25 Tarragon Leaves
  • 25 Asparagus Spear
  • 25 Cayenne Pepper
  • 25 Bowl of Dilled Cream Sauce
  • 25 Pasta Noodles
  • 25 Slice of Garlic Bread
  • 25 Bowl of Peach Pie Filling
  • 25 Bowl of Blackberry Pie Filling

 

CRAFTING LIST

 

0-100

 

  • Make 50 Ball of Dough
  • Make 100 Salt and Pepper
  • Make 50 Bowl of Poultry Stock
  • Make 25 Bottle of Simple Dressing
  • Make 25 Ball of Cookie Dough
  • Make 25 Bowl of Roux

 

100-200

 

  • Discover Meatball with Slice of Garlic Bread, Slab of Red Meat, Egg, Cheese Wedge
  • Make 24 Meatball
  • Make 25 Bowl of Cream Soup Base
  • Discover Clam Cake with Clam, Egg, Flour, Poultry Stock
  • Make 24 Clam Cake
  • Discover Chocolate Chip Cookie with Chocolate, Ball of Cookie Dough
  • Make 24 Chocolate Chip Cookie
  • Discover Portobello Soup with Portobello Mushroom, Cream Soup Base, Onion
  • Make 24 Portobello Soup

 

200-300

 

  • Discover Bowl of Krytan Meatball Dinner with Meatball, Bowl of Dilled Cream Sauce, Pasta Noodles
  • Make 24 Bowl of Krytan Meatball Dinner
  • Discover Chocolate Orange with Orange, Chocolate
  • Make 24 Chocolate Orange
  • Discover Cauliflower Saute with Cauliflower, Butter, Salt and Pepper
  • Make 24 Cauliflower Saute
  • Discover Blackberry Pie with Blackberry Pie Filling, Ball of Dough, Stick of Butter
  • Make 24 Blackberry Pie

 

300-400

 

  • Discover Loaf of Tarragon Bread with Tarragon, Yeast, Flour, Water
  • Make 24 Loaf of Tarragon Bread
  • Discover Steak and Asparagus with Asparagus, Slab of Red Meat, Butter, Salt and Pepper
  • Make 24 Steak and Asparagus
  • Discover Spicier Flank Steak with Slab of Red Meat, Cayenne Pepper
  • Make 24 Spicier Flank Steak
  • Discover Peach Pie with Ball of Dough and Peach Pie Filling
  • Make 24 Peach Pie

 

PRICING

 

These were the prices paid, in copper, prior to publishing the guide.

 

  • Butter 2
  • Pepper 18
  • Poultry Meat 6
  • Carrot 18
  • Onion 10
  • Egg 6
  • Clam 4
  • Chocolate 3
  • Portobello Mushroom 6
  • Orange 60
  • Cauliflower 14
  • Slab of Red Meat 4
  • Tarragon 32
  • Asparagus 23
  • Cayenne Pepper 89
  • Pasta Noodles 1
  • Slice of Garlic Bread 3
  • Bowl of Peach Pie Filling 8
  • Bowl of Blackberry Pie Filling 50
  • Bowl of Dilled Cream Sauce 32