Hi guys,

I would expect that the game is designed with a fair and even approach with respect to race, classes, skills, etc... so no single Alliance, Race or Class has an unfair advantage. What I was wondering about is the three different Faction regions and how they might differ.

I've heard the Ebonheart Pact region is suppose to be the biggest in area ??

I want to do a lot of crafting of different types and I was wondering if all craft materials will be abundant in all three regions, or will certain materials only be available in certain areas, (for example a plant that only grows in a hot desert area).

Would love to hear insight from beta testers, thanks

Bear in mind that I am a stress tester, and as such only have access during tests to zones up to lvl 17, so only the lowest tier crafting mats - I cannot give any info on higher level areas. Also bear in mind that some of the goals for the 2 beta sessions I have been part of have included testing out crafting, so it's possible that things may have been tweaked to encourage us to craft, and may change for launch. With that in mind...

I have run through the starter areas in all 3 alliances, love crafting so was concentrating on gathering materials, and I found no shortage (at least of the low level tiers of mats we could gather) in any of the starting areas. They all seem pretty even in that regard. Bear in mind that if you find yourself in a crowded area at the start, the nodes will be snapped up by a lot of other people competing for materials, but I found the best solution was to go back later when the initial charge had died down, then I found it easy to gather materials for all crafts in all alliance starter areas - the respawn time (at least in the beta sessions I have been in so far) is fairly fast.

Edit to add: You can also get some materials by breaking down items you find as loot or get as quest rewards, in fact I think breaking down items might be the only way to get certain materials for improving gear to the next tier up (such as honing stones and pitch). So that's also an alternative (or worthwhile addition) to gathering from nodes.

thanks for the info

What I wonder is are those special crafting areas (see recent crafting vid on TESO page) going to be in each faction area, or will there be faction unique stations? e.g., can the Magnus set only be crafted from that Aldermeri location or will there be a Magnus location for EP and DF as well?

Actually that's a really good point. A really really good point. One of the ones I found in Glenumbra (DC) was very suited to stealth playstyle, and I found some in the other alliance areas (I have found 2 so far in each alliance area) but didn't make a note of what the set bonuses were - but I think they might all be different. If that is the case, then there may well be a 'best' start area for crafting different sets, depending upon which set you want. I will have a look at the ones I have found in each alliance and take notes on the set bonuses for each when the next beta comes up if I am able to do so.

I only played AD and EP (a little). One thing I noticed was that harvestable materials were MUCH easier to see in EP. They really stand out against snow. But with the AD lowbie areas are more lush with undergrowth and whatnot.

Once you get to know how each of the nodes look you can spot them in either environment regardless. But most of them don't scream "I'm a harvesting node". Ores and runes yes, but the plants (for potions and tailoring) and wood I had mistakenly assumed were just part of the landscape until I picked up one the passives to make them glow. After that (even on new characters without the passive) I was fine.

And thankfully they changed the way jute looks between the 2 sessions I have been in - first session in January I found one by accident because my cursor changed when I was looking around practically standing on top of one, it just looked like grass - the latest session they were much easier to see.

I was also wondering if there would be special crafting station benefits for each faction.

Though, once we are 50+ we can go to the other factions atleast.