Research Notes have become increasingly important in Guild Wars 2 with the release of the Secrets of the Obscure by ArenaNet. They serve as GW2 vital currency for various crafting components, including ritualist armour, jadebot cores, and Generation 3 legendaries, and most notably, they are indispensable for Rift hunting, where you'll need a substantial quantity of these notes to craft Cryptic's Motivations. In this guide, we will explore different methods to acquire research notes efficiently, balancing cost and convenience.

• Convenient Methods
• Cost-Efficient Strategies
• Alternative Methods
• Extractor Method

↖ Convenient Methods

Before diving into cost-efficient strategies, let's explore some convenient ways to obtain research notes:

• Salvaging Crafted Items: While not the most cost-effective method, you can salvage research notes from crafted items. Whenever you're levelling up one of your crafting disciplines, you can choose to salvage the resulting craft into research notes at a crafting station. This is a straightforward way to accumulate research notes while levelling your crafting skills.
• Salvaging Ascended Crafted Items: A more convenient but relatively expensive method is to salvage ascended crafted items. However, you should only craft these items indirectly. Instead, wait until you obtain an ascended item as a drop. These items aren't directly salvageable for research notes, but if you stat-swap them in the Mystic Forge, you can then salvage them. This method yields the highest number of research notes per salvage, but it involves losing an ascended item in the process.

↖ Cost-Efficient Strategies

If cost-efficiency is your priority, there are specific strategies to consider:

↖ Alternative Methods

If you're not keen on spending gold or prefer gathering items to salvage instead, consider the following alternatives:

• Gathering Rings and Earrings: Levelling up dual crafting, which remains at level 400, is notably cheap. Gather materials in the open world, and while gathering, collect the shards, crystals, and orbs required to craft rings and earrings. This approach might be more cost-effective in terms of gold spent but requires a significant time investment.
• Gathering for Cooking: Similarly, gather ingredients directly for cooking. This may result in lower gold expenditure but will require your time and effort. It's important to acknowledge the opportunity cost, as some farming methods can be more profitable than gathering items.

↖ Extractor Method

For those fortunate enough to own an endless upgrade extractor (a valuable item in itself), there's a shortcut:

• Craft material rings and earrings.
  
• Instead of instantly salvaging them, extract the gem insides.
  
• Salvage the empty ring.
  

This method yields the same number of research notes but saves a considerable portion of the costs, as you can repeatedly reuse the gems. However, using the endless extractor can be cumbersome, so consider the trade-off between cost efficiency and convenience. If you don't own an endless upgrade extractor, refrain from purchasing regular extractors; they are only worthwhile if you possess the endless version.

Conclusion:

These are the most common methods for acquiring research notes in Guild Wars 2. Keep in mind that niche cases may arise, and the meta can change over time. Always stay updated on the latest methods and prices to maximize your efficiency. If you have any questions or need further assistance, feel free to leave them in the comments. Remember to like and subscribe for more Guild Wars 2 guides and updates!