Mason Guide

by June

In my opinion, Masons are probably the most in-demand of all the crafting classes.  It's true that there are a good deal of masons both in the guild and on the server, but most construction jobs require a lot (and I do mean a lot) of masonry blocks and keystones.  It is harder to level as a mason than it is to level in other classes, but there will be demand for your skills for quite some time.

To start as a Mason, you need to have 150 base stoneworking, which is 18+ levels in either scholar, spellcrafter, or a couple other classes, or 15 miner.  You might actually consider taking enough levels in whatever previous class you were to have at least 200 quarrying and stoneworking skill.  That way, you will be able to make slate bricks and you will be at maximum efficiency with sandstone.  When you switch over to Mason, make sure you buy 'beginner keystones' from the trainer and get yourself a masonry trowel. 

As a Mason, you can gain experience in only 3 ways - using stoneworking to turn slabs into bricks, using masonry to turn bricks into blocks or keystones, and adding blocks or keystones to a building.  Leveling through your first few levels will be easy, especially if you make slate bricks instead of sandstone. Once you hit level 10 or so, you might want to consider making keystones instead of just slate bricks.  Although you won't get much experience from making bricks, the experience from making keystones is pretty good, as is the experience from adding keystones to buildings.  Since you are no doubt much better at quarrying sandstone than slate, the process will be faster too.