Armour
The Tier 2 and Tier 3 weapons will require the Artisan crafting skills, the components to craft them will be found in various quests or dropped as loot from monsters or treasure chests, fishing, etc.
In order to craft the weapons and armour you will first need to learn the [Recipe]. These recipes drop all over the shard, on a variety of monsters. You will have to find them and learn them to craft the item. Then you will require a runic tool to craft the tier'd armour and weapons.
The tiered armour can be mixed and matched, however, if you craft a full set and wear a full set then you will get a set bonus.