Should I save up for End of Dragons Expansion or Runecrafter's and Silver-Fed Salvage Kits?

[AyunaAni.5071]

For context, I'm still half way in Heart of Thorns, Path of Fire, and Living World expansions. Is it worth buying the Salvage Kits first as I finish through the stories first? Or is End of Dragons more worth it as it opens new content such as those new mounts, and especially since I really want to play a Mechanist specialization?

Bonus question if I may: Which is better to buy first, Silver-Fed or Runecrafter's?  

Thanks in advance! 🤗

[sylmatyr.1485]

If you are going to play through the rest of the story before doing EOD it might be worth getting a salvage-o-matic now.  I assume you already have the copper-fed.  Silver-fed is purely a QOL-only buy.  If you have the Mystic Forge Stones to create Mystic Salvage Kits, they are identical to Silver-fed.  I would only get it if you are tired of making the MSKs or you don't have, or want to use, the MFS.  Runecrafter's salvage kit does not have an equivalent non-gem store item.  Using it on green gear can net you charms which can be worth a fair amount of silver.  So, if you are going to get one I would get the Runecrafter's first.  But even then there are probably better gen-store buys like unbreakable tools, bag slots, bank slots, etc.  If you don't already have them.

[AyunaAni.5071]

1 minute ago, sylmatyr.1485 said:

If you are going to play through the rest of the story before doing EOD it might be worth getting a salvage-o-matic now.  I assume you already have the copper-fed.  Silver-fed is purely a QOL-only buy.  If you have the Mystic Forge Stones to create Mystic Salvage Kits, they are identical to Silver-fed.  I would only get it if you are tired of making the MSKs or you don't have, or want to use, the MFS.  Runecrafter's salvage kit does not have an equivalent non-gem store item.  Using it on green gear can net you charms which can be worth a fair amount of silver.  So, if you are going to get one I would get the Runecrafter's first.  But even then there are probably better gen-store buys like unbreakable tools, bag slots, bank slots, etc.  If you don't already have them.

Alrighty, thanks a lot for your input. Personally, I'm still not in the phase where I'd need bank slots, bag slots, etc., since they can be really expensive. What do you guys store in your banks slots? 

Compared to Runecrafter's Salvage Kit, you almost always have a use for it which I think is worth the money. Bank slots and bag slots can be replaced with alt account slots, so I think I'd buy them last. 

[sylmatyr.1485]

2 minutes ago, AyunaAni.5071 said:

Compared to Runecrafter's Salvage Kit, you almost always have a use for it which I think is worth the money. Bank slots and bag slots can be replaced with alt account slots, so I think I'd buy them last. 

Good point.  I am a bit of a pack rat and too lazy to swap to an alt to access something:  😁 

[costepj.5120]

I have 17 bank tabs, 24 shared inventory slots, storage expanders. two guild banks and several characters serving as mules. You can never have too much storage in this game!

[AyunaAni.5071]

How did you even get that many banks tabs and shared inventory slots? Gold conversion? That's amazing! 

I've been watching many gold farming videos and I just can't seem to fully grasp it. But I believe it is essentially getting the best materials from farming locations and selling them for profit? Or am I missing something? 

Edited August 13, 2022 by AyunaAni.5071

[costepj.5120]

Everything I have purchased from the gem store has been funded by gold. I have been playing for nearly ten years, which helps! There are many ways you can increase your gold income when you are starting out. Look out for banners, often dropped at boss events. You can pick up a gold boost at a guild hall (but you might want the XP boost instead). Every 28 days you login, you get a 2% account wide boost to gold drops. (My account bonus is currently 212%). Do three dailies each day and you earn 2G plus other stuff. But mostly you need to target certain maps or events that give good rewards. If you are already playing HoT and PoF expansions, then spend some time doing the metas in Silverwastes, Auric Basin, Dragonfall and Drizzlewood. Do Dragonstorn and Tequatl once a day if you have time. After a while you'll feel like the game is throwing gold at you 🙂

[Silent.6137]

If you're going to save up and buy with real cash, get the EoD xpac.

Unlimited salvage tools are great to have but they're just for convenience. You can always get them later with ingame gold farming. And as mentioned above, when you're ready to buy them, just get Runecrafter and Copper-fed.

[Buran.3796]

10 hours ago, AyunaAni.5071 said:

 Or is End of Dragons more worth it as it opens new content such as those new mounts, and especially since I really want to play a Mechanist specialization?

Bonus question if I may: Which is better to buy first, Silver-Fed or Runecrafter's?  

Thanks in advance! 🤗

   Three things:

* If you really want to play the Mechanist I guess that purchasing EoD should be prioritary; being said that:

* It will take you a looong way to finish all the story between HoT, PoF, the seasons and to arrive to EoD. I think that EoD has less value in terms of than other expansions in terms of content since the rewards aren't particulary magnificent (in terms of farming), the new mount is arguably the worst (yeas, even worse than the Warbeast), sailing and fishing aren't as impactful as the HoT masteries or the mounts from PoF, and talking about masteries, the EoD ones are character-based and not shared.

* For most of players the salvaging machines aren't a must;: the game rewards you with enough with mystic forge stones to craft packs of salvaging tools and monthly black lion salvaging kits to cover your needs. Bank spaces and extra bag slots aren't as valuable as having extra characters and being good at maneaging your inventory. So, my top items from the gem store:

* Extra character slots, probably until having 9-10 covering each profession and a male and female for each race.

*Unbreakable gathering tools. For me the best combos are getting the unbound magic gathering tools + 2 molten sickles, one glyph of Volatility, one glyph of Reaping and  two glyphs of Industry. A Molten sickle with Reaping glyph to farm winterberries in Bitterfrost, a Molten sickle with Volatility to gather crops in high density nodes for Volatile Magic (gold farming) and the unbound magic axe and pick with Industry Glyphs for maximum speed.

* A permanant pass to the Sanctuary, Bastion or PvP private hall (call one based on your preferences).

* Enough shared inventory slots to place those gathering tools and permanent pass.

 

    ...That's pretty much all. The characters gives you extra space, room to try the classes and can serve as mules or for earning gold alt parking. The gathering tools are both a quality of life items AND provides you extra gold while cutting time spent at gathering (they end paying themselves). The pass is super convenient, for a plethora of reasons... 

 

 

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

12 hours ago, AyunaAni.5071 said:

For context, I'm still half way in Heart of Thorns, Path of Fire, and Living World expansions. Is it worth buying the Salvage Kits first as I finish through the stories first? Or is End of Dragons more worth it as it opens new content such as those new mounts, and especially since I really want to play a Mechanist specialization?

Bonus question if I may: Which is better to buy first, Silver-Fed or Runecrafter's?  

Thanks in advance! 🤗

You can only buy the expansion with real money, while you can buy the salvage kits with gold. Also you gain immediate access to elite specialisations when buying an expansion (i.e, you can level Machinist using HoT hero points or wherever you are right now in story).

 

Also if you have alot of Mystic Forge Stones you don't need a Silver-Fed as every 3 stones is a 250x use Mystic Salvage Kit which is also cheaper to use (plus no up-front cost).

Edited August 14, 2022 by Mariyuuna.6508

[Silent.6137]

5 hours ago, Buran.3796 said:

* It will take you a looong way to finish all the story between HoT, PoF, the seasons and to arrive to EoD. I think that EoD has less value in terms of than other expansions in terms of content since the rewards aren't particulary magnificent (in terms of farming), the new mount is arguably the worst (yeas, even worse than the Warbeast), sailing and fishing aren't as impactful as the HoT masteries or the mounts from PoF, and talking about masteries, the EoD ones are character-based and not shared.

 

Not really the thread to debate this but the rewards from EoD maps are among the best. Check Farmtrain website. They may not be exact but they are a true reflection of how lucrative each events/maps are.

Fishing is a very profitable gold farm as well. In addition, parking alts at JP chests for Jade Runestones (50s+ on TP) and ambergris (2g+) farming are very easy gold farms.

As for Turtle, it may not be used much outside of EoD maps, but the 50% boost to all mounts' HP alone from the mastery make it better than many of the other mounts.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Silent.6137

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

1 hour ago, Silent.6137 said:

As for Turtle, it may not be used much outside of EoD maps, but the 50% boost to all mounts' HP alone from the mastery make it better than many of the other mounts.

Turtle is also heavily used by guilds to taxi new players around since they don't have access to mounts.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Mariyuuna.6508

[AyunaAni.5071]

8 hours ago, Buran.3796 said:

   Three things:

* If you really want to play the Mechanist I guess that purchasing EoD should be prioritary; being said that:

* It will take you a looong way to finish all the story between HoT, PoF, the seasons and to arrive to EoD. I think that EoD has less value in terms of than other expansions in terms of content since the rewards aren't particulary magnificent (in terms of farming), the new mount is arguably the worst (yeas, even worse than the Warbeast), sailing and fishing aren't as impactful as the HoT masteries or the mounts from PoF, and talking about masteries, the EoD ones are character-based and not shared.

(and on going)

 

Thank you so much, your list is literally the thing I was thinking about. Also, good points on the tips as they verified some of the things I've learned from videos I've watched. You've both convinced me to buy EoD and it's true that I can grind the gold in the future for the qualify-of-life items. You've given me a great deal to think about.

However, question: I have a copper-fed salvage kit, should I use it on green (Masterwork) gears? Or is there better alternatives out there? I've heard that green gears have runes and I'm worried I might be losing much when grinding for gold, or is the profit loss not that significant?  

Edited August 14, 2022 by AyunaAni.5071

[Cyninja.2954]

9 minutes ago, AyunaAni.5071 said:

However, question: I have a copper-fed salvage kit, should I use it on green (Masterwork) gears? Or is there better alternatives out there? I've heard that green gears have runes and I'm worried I might be losing much when grinding for gold, or is the profit loss not that significant?  

 

Any profit you might lose out on versus say buying a Runecrafters and spending the extra effort to jiggle 1 more savage kit would take YEARS if not decades to recuperate. We are talking coppers in added gain here at best (not counting the time increase in salvaging). This is even worse if you get the silver-fed and runecrafters (from a pure wealth management perspective).

 

Simple guideline:

- copper-fed is pretty much the biggest quality of life upgrade you can get

- silver-fed is convenience but will never recuperate the investment made, also contested by the mystic salvage kit if you have access to a lot of stones

- runecrafter is similar to silver-fed and to own both is just min-maxing to an extent to justify an ocd

 

If your goal is to play Mechanist, get EoD first. Get the copper-fed before if possible to reduce hassle with regular salvage kits. Decide on either the silver-fed or runcrafters and get one of both. If you want to min-max get the runecrafter and then use a mystic salvage kit instead of the silver-fed.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Cyninja.2954

[Buran.3796]

4 hours ago, Silent.6137 said:

Not really the thread to debate this but the rewards from EoD maps are among the best. Check Farmtrain website. They may not be exact but they are a true reflection of how lucrative each events/maps are.

   Thanks for the input and the link (always trying to look ahead to improve my earnings). My experience with Echovald/Dragon's End have been maps relatively empty that when are populated for event farming take a notable hit on framerrate which encourages me to move to ranged builds. Personally I prefer maps I can farm solo without that handicap (as farming volatile magic in Dragonfall).

   Not fan of the Jade Runestone alt parking, tho: you need to either eat the first chapter or EoD story to get a character there (plus completing a long jump puzzle) or using a teleport to friend device (I'm not in a guild currently) just to get ~50 silver a day x character (with prices fastly dropping and only going down). By contrast, before the 4 Wind Festival I was alt parking in the rich quartz node (very easy to reach for alts) for ~35 silver coins a day and now I'm alt parking those in a rich orichalcum ore for ~25 silver coins a day.

[Silent.6137]

8 hours ago, Buran.3796 said:

   Thanks for the input and the link (always trying to look ahead to improve my earnings). My experience with Echovald/Dragon's End have been maps relatively empty that when are populated for event farming take a notable hit on framerrate which encourages me to move to ranged builds. Personally I prefer maps I can farm solo without that handicap (as farming volatile magic in Dragonfall).

   Not fan of the Jade Runestone alt parking, tho: you need to either eat the first chapter or EoD story to get a character there (plus completing a long jump puzzle) or using a teleport to friend device (I'm not in a guild currently) just to get ~50 silver a day x character (with prices fastly dropping and only going down). By contrast, before the 4 Wind Festival I was alt parking in the rich quartz node (very easy to reach for alts) for ~35 silver coins a day and now I'm alt parking those in a rich orichalcum ore for ~25 silver coins a day.

A tip on farming certain items to maximize profit: Do not fight mobs. Ignore them while gathering and run to next node. Also using tools with glyphs such as Industry and Reaping will speed up harvesting, including using Mount Stealth when needed. When I do Bitterfrost chest and berry farming, I can do the whole circuit without being hit by a single mob.

• 5 minutes to farm the daily chunks of jades in DE for 1g 53s 60c.
• 6~7 mins to farm 40 Echovald resins (no daily limit) for 2g+/run.

As for parking alts at the JP, there's always tags there listed on LFG. A one-time investment (TP to friend + tips) will not cost much. Runestones will not drop in prices much as they're very much in demand. The prices will increase every time a new Legendary variant is released and then come back down to about 50s.

[Buran.3796]

2 hours ago, Silent.6137 said:

A tip on farming certain items to maximize profit: Do not fight mobs. Ignore them while gathering and run to next node. Also using tools with glyphs such as Industry and Reaping will speed up harvesting, including using Mount Stealth when needed.

  Yep, that's pretty much my modus operandi. When I farm nodes or places with high concentration of crops I follow some rules, based in two categories:

A) Farms in which the goal is mainly the material, so the key aspect is the speed.

B) Farms in which the goal is the extra proc (mainly volatile magic, due how profitable is).

   For the first type, the best tools are a sickle with the "golf swing" animation, due is the fastest at gathering, and the unbound axe and unbound mining pick due the same reason. As for glyphs, for the sickle the best choices are either industry (if the crops are sparse) or reaping (if they are together or in pairs as in Dry Top or Bitterfrost, respectively), whereas for logging and mining the industry glyph works the best.

   For the second kind of farming (volatile magic) the best tool is just a molten sickle (or similar) with the volatile glyph: harvesting plants is much faster than choping woods or mining ore and delivers way better vm x time, specially since almost every map in the game has a high density are for crops, with 8 to 20 plants in a small area (volatile magic sickles bought with karma in Dragonfall and other maps can work, albeit at way slower pace and less convenience). Then there's the "rules" for optimizing that farming:

1) Larger nodes, as Sweptsand Isles (20), Drizzlewood (15), Drytop (13-15) or Echovald Forest (12) are prioritized.

2) Nodes which are located pretty close to a teleport and with no foes or events that obstacle the farming have preference, as the Itzel crops in Verdant Brink (8), Beetletun (8-13) or the floating octogonal crop field in Metrica (8).

3) Crops with high value in the current market have preference as targets for a run, as happens with the seaweed at Ember's Bay or Thunderpeaks, carrots, lettuce, flax, etc.

4) Then I optimize teleport patterns to spent the less possible using the seasonal tomes.

   I usually do a volatile farming run from Sandswept Isles > Beetletun Fields (using Doric Lake tp) > Verdant Brink (using Bloodstone fen tp) > Dry Top > Metrica and Ember's Bay (sometimes I skip Metrica due the crops have low value). That using 5 characters (the ones which aren't lat parked) at 6 min x run gives me 1800-200 VM  which means 8 leader/trophy chest, aka 7,5 gold coins once you count the benefits from both the VM and the crops sold.

   Another run I used to do was the rich orichalcum ore in PoF maps, focused in the five ones which were fastest to get; delivered ~2 gold coins x run (6 minutes) when the prices were higher.

   Usually I play ~1 hour a day so I got ~15/20 gc a day (between daily, alt parking, VM farming and a bit of PvP) but at weekends I have more time. As example: yesterday got ~50 gold coins in 3 hours and half and now I'm around 40 in 3 hours and half. All solo: no need for fractals, raids, strikes or even OW events.

[Chips.7968]

On 8/13/2022 at 1:04 PM, AyunaAni.5071 said:

For context, I'm still half way in Heart of Thorns, Path of Fire, and Living World expansions. Is it worth buying the Salvage Kits first as I finish through the stories first? Or is End of Dragons more worth it as it opens new content such as those new mounts, and especially since I really want to play a Mechanist specialization?

Bonus question if I may: Which is better to buy first, Silver-Fed or Runecrafter's?  

Thanks in advance! 🤗

If you want to know what account upgrades/items to buy are best, think it was Teapot who covered it.

Personally, forget saving up for the EoD expansion -- just play through what you have and then ask yourself if you want to get it then. Play for what you have *now* as you never know, you may hate it in 3 months, you may find another game, you may indeed change game mode and never touch PvE again.

So save that decision until it's necessary.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Chips.7968

[Silent.6137]

7 minutes ago, Buran.3796 said:

 Another run I used to do was the rich orichalcum ore in PoF maps, focused in the five ones which were fastest to get; delivered ~2 gold coins x run (6 minutes) when the prices were higher.

I used to farm all the rich nodes when the price was about 5s each. Using the fastest tools, waypoints and stealth, I usually complete a run in about 12 to 15 mins per character. That's 100 orichalcum ores, orbs and a few selected nearby chests each run. With the routes memorized, map open to waypoint to next area as you do the last mining strikes, it can be done very fast.

Your list will help newer players immensely on how to farm for gold.

[Silent.6137]

2 hours ago, Chips.7968 said:

Personally, forget saving up for the EoD expansion -- just play through what you have and then ask yourself if you want to get it then. Play for what you have *now* as you never know, you may hate it in 3 months, you may find another game, you may indeed change game mode and never touch PvE again.

So save that decision until it's necessary.

Why not save now and decide when you reach that point, so there's no waiting? At least you'll have the money to buy something else, if you so choose

Edited August 14, 2022 by Silent.6137

[Buran.3796]

3 hours ago, Chips.7968 said:

If you want to know what account upgrades/items to buy are best, think it was Teapot who covered it.

 

  Is nice to see the think process but outside the S tier (and some of those don't even qualify) everything else is just useless.

   I'll summarize:

* Expansions and episodes are excellent due bring up content and new ways to play and to get value (farmable maps, etc.).

* Character slots have insane value, at least untill you have 1 of each class (my advice is to mix gender and race because there's only 10 voice actors for them, so while in theory you have a favourite combo if you make 6 with the same voice it will be end being very annoying).

* Shared inventory slots are excellent but you only need a very few ones, less than 10 (I have 6 but with 4-5 I still would be fine).

*Gathering tools are excellent but very expensive, I already explained what I find out as the best combos. Is important to known that albeit expensive, some of those not only inproves your quality of life but also end paying for themselves very soon. My latest adquisition was a volatility glyph (faro 204 gold coins) and it will pay itself in less than 50 days at my current pace of use.

* One permament pass of the preferred choice is extremely convenient.

   The globbers for buffs are the only one gem store items I didn't consider; seems to have a good value due their low cost, but I don't think they are mandatory. An spending gems in buying gold is just bad. 

  Play the game and have fun, find out the way to make gold while having that fun. If you don't have fun then isntead play "the real life" and try to make more money and fun out there.

[Silent.6137]

16 hours ago, Buran.3796 said:

* Shared inventory slots are excellent but you only need a very few ones, less than 10 (I have 6 but with 4-5 I still would be fine).

Again, good summarization....but....this I would have to disagree with you.

I have the maximum of 28, and I WANT MORE.  It's extremely useful when you have lots of alts. There are many items that will be used by various of your different characters and it will save you huge amount of time from having to log onto the one holding the item. In addition, you'll have to remember where you put the item needed.

Although I have a few sets of unlimited farming tools, there is 1 set of tools with my prefered glyphs that I share amongst a few of my characters. So 3 shared spots are reserved for them. All characters will have either other unlimited tools or limited glyph tools. I just need to double-click to equip. And do it again before I log off that character so another can use them.

Edited August 15, 2022 by Silent.6137