This is a very quick guide to how criticals and mastery items work..

You have a small percentage chance of creating either a superior item, or a multiple quantity of a single item, depending on the recipe. This is known as a "critical success". Usually your chance is approx 2-3%, but this can be increased by skills and improved equipment.

When you MASTER a tier in your chosen profession, you can use the "mastery tab" on your crafting window. This will allow you to select a check-box, and assuming you have the correct "mastery item", add quite a decent possibility to your critical chance.


Here's an example.

I am a low level jeweller, but I HAVE mastered Apprentice Jewellery. This means a couple of things. No longer do I get experience for creating Apprentice level items, but I also get the chance to use a mastery item when I create a recipe, hoping for a nice improvement.

I select the recipe "Copper Ring".

I click on the tab at the bottom that says "mastery". I can see that my percentage chance to create a "FINE copper ring" is 5%. That's only a 1 in 20 chance. I want to improve my odds. Luckily, I do have a small barrow wight treasure or two on me, having just returned from a trip to the Barrow Downs.

I select the box next to where it tells me what the mastery item is (I'll sort out some screenshots in a day or so!). Now, the percentage changes to 52%. Still not a given, but I now have a better than 1 in 2 chance of creating the upgrade. I have enough ingredients to try two. I hold my breath, and start to make the first ring (click "make"). I examine my final product. Looks the same as the last one I made. I either need more practice, or that was a duff treaure! Time to try again. I hold my breath and get to work. On examining my work afterword, I'm amazed at the utter shine of the copper, the fine craftsmanship (even if I say so myself), and I realise I have suceeded in making a Fine Copper Ring. This will look lovely on my finger.

Some items don't have mastery components. This means you have to stick with the lower chance. Often this will mean it's a recipe where if you get a "critical" result, you will get multiple items, but check the recipe listing to be sure.