Here's a really good article about the Mystic Forge, including some stuff that I don't think many people noticed about it.

http://www.guildwarsinsider.com/mystic-vendor-skill-points-currency/

Sure enough, I found something next to the Mystic Forge that was even more interesting – Myani, the Mystic Forge vendor NPC.
Myani has two tabs in her store panel. The first one is a “recipes” tab that contains Mystic-quality recipes for every crafting profession, and these are sold for gold. These recipes, presumably, can only be crafted at the Mystic Forge. This gave me pause and got me thinking that perhaps the Mystic Forge is also sort of like a “super” discovery station for all crafting skills.

The second tab in Myani’s store is even more intriguing. This tab lists Mystic “items” for sale that can be used as an ingredient in the Mystic Forge.  There were four items:

The Siege Master’s Guide: Used by the Mystic Forge to upgrade siege weapons.
Philosopher’s Stones: Used by the Mystic Forge to change one material into another.
Crystals: Zommoros loves crystals.
Orb of Power: An orb of pure power used to create legendary weapons (even though the color is purple, and legendary items will be red!)

That really got my mind racing as to the possibilities! What does this all mean?

Perhaps the most interesting part about these Mystic Items is how you acquire them. As you can see in the screenshots, these items are sold for Skill Points. Yep, the very same Skill Points you earn from the various Skill Challenges around the world.