Levels 2-9 - Sample Everything

Decisions, Decisions

The crafstman makes food and drink, as well as all sorts of things with wood (wooden weapons, furniture, totems, bucklers, ammo, etc.)

Outfitter

Outfitters focus on gearing up players by use of blacksmithing and tailoring - metal, cloth and leather armor, as well as an array of metal weapons and metal (tower, kite) shields.

Scholar

Scholars create jewelry, potions and poisons, as well as all spells, skills and combat art upgrades.

Levels 10-19 - Refining Your Skills

By the time you are level 19 in your chosen tradeskill class, hopefully you will have managed to narrow down exactly which subclass you would like to be. As with your class choice for level 10, in order to progress to tradeskill level 20, you must seek out the proper NPC*, and inform them of your choice. Once you have chosen, you cannot change your mind, so make sure to give this some thought.

Level 20 - The SubClasses

Outfitters, too, have three choices - Armorer, Tailor, and Weaponsmith. The Armorer specializes in chain and plate armor, as well as tower and kite shields, spending hours working in front of a hot forge while making protective gear for the more combat-oriented sorts. A Tailor works on protective gear for those who are a bit more delicate - creating an assortment of cloth and leather armor sets, as well as bags, quivers and hex dolls. Then, of course, there's the Weaponsmith, who makes metal implements of destruction (weapons) in a wide variety of styles.

The Scholars choose from Alchemist, Sage and Jeweler. If chemistry experiments that create useful potions and dangerous poisons are up your alley, or you like making combat art upgrades for the fighter classes, then Alchemist is a good choice for you. If you prefer working with precious metals and gems to make lovely (and useful) jewelry, or you like making skill upgrade runes for scouts, then, naturally, Jeweler is more your style. For the more bookish sorts, who tend to have permanently ink-stained fingers from making spell scrolls, the obvious choice will be Sage.

Choose Wisely

Levels 3-9 in artisan go very quickly, so be sure to sample a bit of this and that, making at least one item on every piece of tradeskill equipment, if you're having problems making your level 10 choice. Once you make that choice, you have basically locked yourself out of 6 of the 9 possible tradeskill professions, so think carefully before you choose.

*When you are ready to make your level 10 and level 20 profession choices, you should speak with the tradeskill trainers outside the various village crafting instances.