Required To Craft?

Hello everyone!

I'm fairly new to the Economy update and I was wondering if armor and weapon drops have changed due to the ability to craft them.

I've noticed (I think) a decrease in armor and weapon drop rates as I kill enemies. When creating a new character, this is somewhat alarming, especially when I haven't spent much time gathering resources to craft my own items.

What I'm asking is: is crafting, essentially or even almost essentially, required in order to consistently acquire new weapons, armors, and other items? I'm sure certain drops are still available and quests will continue to award items, but I want to know if crafting is a necessity that you must keep up with from the creation of your character. I don't want to ignore crafting altogether, level my character fairly far, only to discover that I should have been focusing on crafting the entire time.

Thank you!

 

No, you should be able to progress just fine without gaining a single point of experience in any professions (aside from during the tutorial).

As far as I know, weapon/armor drop rates haven't been changed, but I could be wrong.

 

Loot chests are still a thing, and even though most t3 or t4 chests before the update have been moved they're still out there and drop items

 

There's little to no change in mob drop rates. However, T3/T4 loot chests are rarer now so accessories are noticeably harder to find.