Primers

Flasks of Metabolic Primer and Utility Primer

Two items in GW2 that are very helpful are the Metabolic Primer and the Utility Primer which extend your food buff out to 12 hours and your utility buff for 12 hours. But these two items are expensive, having to be bought with gems in the gem store or with Black Lion Statuettes. You can occasionally get one as a rare drop but they’re just that – rare.

There is however a “Lite” version of these two items called the Flask of Metabolic Primer and the Flask of Utility Primer. These items last 2 hours instead of 12 but the good news is they are craftable in game. It will however, require a little work and yes, some real money or gold to be exchanged for gems.

OK, so what do we need to craft these items? First, you’ll need a garden plot in your homestead. You can earn this as part of the “Gourmet Training” which requires that you have a Chef of level 425 to start. You can find info on that here:  Gourmet Training

That garden plot will allow you to plant 4 plants to harvest once a day but you’re also going to have to buy a Black Lion Garden Plot Deed from the gem store and they’re not exactly cheap – 1000 gems each. I’m not sure if they ever go on sale or not but it’s something to keep an eye on. You can buy 2 of these plots so that you can have a total of 12 plants in your homestead that you can harvest each day.

When you purchase the Garden Plot from the gem store, it will unlock the “Dedicated Gardener” collection achievement which you will also have to complete. This will basically run you all across Tyria, which Arenanet is fond of making us do, to collect plantable seeds. Info is here: Gardener

Once you complete the collection and earn the achievement, the reward will be a Pack of Home Recipes which include Recipe: Flask of Metabolic Primer and Recipe: Flask of Utility Primer … since these recipes are account bound, this is the only way to get them.

Once you have completed this part you’ll need to plant 4 specific items in your homestead garden plots:

For the Flask of Metabolic Primer:

Koda’s Blossom Petal

Krytan Spiderwort Blossom

For the Flask of Utility Primer:

Ascalonian Royal Iris

Shing Jea Orchid Petal

You’re going to need 8 of each of each in your inventory along with 2 Piles of Crystalline Dust and 2 Jugs of Water to craft the two Flasks.

Also, once you learn these recipes, you will not craft them with your chef but with your Artificer. I find that strange since you have to be a Chef to even start this process but whatever.

Is this process a pain in the behind? Yep. It takes a while, and either real money or gold you can trade for gems to learn how to craft these.

Is it worth it? Yes, I think it is. Extending the buff period of  your food and utility items to 2 hours is awesome. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had my buffs run out after 30 minutes while in the middle of an intense meta event, fractal, etc, and didn’t realize it only to wind up dead. Having 2 hours instead of 30 minutes is one less thing you need to worry about.

Good luck and have fun!