Gen1 precursor crafting costs should be reduced after the vault kit

[Leablo.2651]

Even before the vault kit trivialized precursor obtainment, their market value had been steadily declining, making it historically unreasonable to pursue them via crafting. Zap, a reasonably high-demand precursor, has fallen to a -290 gold proposition to craft, which is to say, it costs 4x as much to craft as it does to buy off the TP. Even some precursors which are not part of the vault kit saw a precipitous drop at the same time, solely because of the wide expectation that they will eventually rotate into a vault handout. I won't argue the merits of the kit itself, as the damage to the precursor market has already been done and unlikely to be reversible in any meaningful time frame, but an adjustment should be made for pursuing crafting collections so that they remain a viable alternative to buying precursors off the TP.

[Sobx.1758]

Disagreed, if the goal is just having a cheaper access to precursors then it's already available through tp.

[Solvar.7953]

I think the goal is to have a reason to do the collection/gathering.  Maybe it doesn't have to be cheaper, but one also should not be taking a significant hit to ones gold doing a fairly long collection vs just buying it off the trading post.  I've done the first stage collection for most of the precursors, as it was interesting and didn't really cost much, but stopped there, as next step is just a massive material sink, costing a bunch of gold.

Of course, if the material costs for crafting, this would likely bring more downward pressure on the value of those precursors, as there would be less demand to buy them if doing the collection was about the same price.

 

[Lucy.3728]

6 hours ago, Leablo.2651 said:

which is to say, it costs 4x as much to craft as it does to buy off the TP.

That's the case of many craftable items too.
It is cheaper to buy them from the tp than to actually craft them. Which is sad. Crafting is only needed when you're forced to use it and not to support yourself.

[Lucy.3728]

5 hours ago, Sobx.1758 said:

Disagreed, if the goal is just having a cheaper access to precursors then it's already available through tp.

Isn't that the reason for such achievements?

To do the hassle to get something cheaper than just to buy it immediately with no effort?

I bought all my precursors. I don't do hassle. Unless it really pays off.

[Danikat.8537]

I agree that they should revise the cost of gen 1 precursor collections. Apparently the costs were originally based on the average cost of crafting exotics to throw into the Mystic Forge to get a precursor (which was the main source of precursors before crafting came in). I think the intention was that crafting would become the most expensive way to get them because it caps the price - people who get a precursor as a random drop can still get a nice chunk of gold for it, but they're never going to sell for much more than it costs to craft (and therefore never be prohibitively expensive to most players) because anyone who doesn't want to pay the TP cost can craft them. I actually like that and I was happy to craft precursors even knowing it cost a bit more because I like the process (I even did the collections for one I already had because I felt like I'd missed out by not doing it).

But recently, even before the legendary kit came in, it was getting to the point where the gap makes it discouraging to craft them even for me, because it feels like a waste of money. But then I don't want to just buy one because I like the collections and it would be a shame to skip it, so I end up just not making them.

It doesn't have to be a dramatic change to the process either, they could slightly reduce the amounts required for some of the most frequently occuring materials and it would add up to a big change overall. Bring them more in line with the gen 3 precursor collections.

[Arianth Moonlight.6453]

precursor crafting was a mistake (a big one). That's why it was abandoned pretty much immediately.

[Cyninja.2954]

8 minutes ago, Arianth Moonlight.6453 said:

precursor crafting was a mistake (a big one). That's why it was abandoned pretty much immediately.

How come? Do gen2 and gen3 legendary weapons not count?

[Arianth Moonlight.6453]

3 minutes ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

How come? Do gen2 and gen3 legendary weapons not count?

nvm, I confused the scavenger hunt with the crafting (it's after 3 in the morning and I'm sleepy but still can't go to sleep yet) but still kinda applies since both are tied for gen1 and some gen2.

[Brandolf.6048]

The problem you are highlighting there is the fact that ANet and GW2 haven't had a chief economist for about 7 or 8 years now. The role of this person when they had one was to balance this stuff at both a macro and micro level. Since the elimination of that position (or a competent person to fill it) the markets have suffered over the years. You are trying to apply logic to a now illogical system. 

[Cuks.8241]

Perhaps the collection should also reward a choice of either gift of exploration or gift of battle. I think this should not impact economy. Maybe could have detrimental effect on population of vanilla maps. Maybe just gift of battle.

[Sobx.1758]

10 hours ago, Solvar.7953 said:

I think the goal is to have a reason to do the collection/gathering.  Maybe it doesn't have to be cheaper, but one also should not be taking a significant hit to ones gold doing a fairly long collection vs just buying it off the trading post.  I've done the first stage collection for most of the precursors, as it was interesting and didn't really cost much, but stopped there, as next step is just a massive material sink, costing a bunch of gold.

Of course, if the material costs for crafting, this would likely bring more downward pressure on the value of those precursors, as there would be less demand to buy them if doing the collection was about the same price.

Well, if the goal is just to experience the collection then you can still do it to experience the collection.