Take a look at the Wiki on the page Mystic Forge. It will tell you where the forge is, how it is used, and some predictable recipes. The forge lets you do two things. First you can create recipes to craft other items like consumables, weapons, or armor. Second, the forge can be used to create better crafting materials of one type higher.
The examples the wiki gives are as follows:
Common Crafting Material Promotion
Common crafting materials can be promoted to a small pile of higher
tier materials with the following formula. The tier of dust needed is equivalent to the tier of the wanted product. So, if you are hoping to create Orichalcum, a tier 6 common material, you need to use Crystalline Dust, a tier 6 dust. If common crafting material B is one tier higher than common crafting material A, then:
10-50 Crafting Material B = 250 Common Crafting Material A (i.e. 250 Mithril Ores) + 1 Common Crafting Material B (i.e. 1 Orichalcum Ores) + 2-5 Dust A (i.e. 5 Pile of Crystalline Dust) + 5 Philosopher's stone
In that example: That recipe will produce 10-50 Orichalcum Ores
Armor boxes and armor satchels
Recipes can be created using the Mystic Forge. They will allow you to
craft armor boxes and armor satchels, which will in turn give you
every piece of an armor set.
Armor set recipe
Ingredients
5 Bottle of Elonian Wine
20 Arcane Crystal
50 Mystic Coin
1 Armor item
Mystic coins seem to be a common item needed for Food Trays, Weapons and Armor. Also look at this page for current recipe research.
You can see this in action with this video on how to make a Giant Chocolate Cake. Details are in the video summary.
In my experience, trying to stay at range means you'll likely be ineffective and die soon enough. Getting in close, I managed to stay alive longer (though still eventually die) -- of course, there's pretty much no hope for a rez there. I'm not sure if this was simply because most people were at range and thus that's where he directed his fury or not, though.
I've run this event multiple times (glutton for punishment) and I haven't seen any better strategy than zerging and spawn rushing.
Edit in response to a comment: By at range, I meant the maximum distance for bow fire, so for me that was 1200m. That's where a great majority of people were dying, right past the bridge. By in close, I mean touching the mob practically.
Best Answer
There are a number valid reasons to join a party, none of which make it absolutely necessary to do so. Being in a party never directly influences your loot (but see 2.)
1. Protection against disconnects
When in a party, chances are you will be able to rejoin the same map instance as them after a disconnect.
2. Easier tagging/event contribution
To get the full participation credit (the gold medal) for an event, or loot from a specific mob, you have to deal a specific amount of damage. This number is shared in a group, and makes it easier to get tag the mobs before they are killed.
This can be easily observed with the pre-boss champs at the Great Jungle Wurm or Moodnir Ulgoth, where it can be hard to get gold participation without a party.
3. Boon/Buff Priority
Effects that affect a certain number of allies prioritize party members over non-party members, making it easier to buff up in a controlled manner.
However, IMO, the most common reason to join a party is "Monkey See, Monkey Do." If a new player sees someone do it, they usually assume that it's really important for something, without knowing why it makes sense. It's how I started doing it.