What to do with Bloodstone Dust, Dragonite Ore and Empyreal_Fragment?

[Annihilator.2617]

I have lots of the from wvw and they are taking space in my bag. What to with them?

[windbliss.3158]

With 450 in all except Chef, Jewleler and Scribe, bloodstone dust can be turned into bloodstone bricks; dragonite ore becomes dragonite ingot; empyreal fragment becomes empyreal stars. These three can then be turned into vision crystals and/or lesser vision crystals, components in Ascended equipment. Some of these are also required upgrade items for the Guild Hall.

If you do the Karka scavenger hunt in Lion's Arch, you can get Princess that consumes 50 dragonite ore for a gift, 3-6 times a day.If you complete the Mawdrey pack (Living World S2), you can get Mawdrey II that consumes 50 bloodstone dust for a gift, 3-6 times a day.If you finish the Wintersday chain involving Grawnk and the lost children's presents, you can get the Star of Gratitude that consumes 50 empyreal fragments.

If you complete "A Study in Gold" in Auric Basin, you can get "Herta" that consumes 250 bloodstone dust a day for an Auric Basin buff and a gift + aurillium.

There's also other items that can consume various amounts of either of the above.

TL;DR: The primary purpose of the three you mentioned is to upgrade them into their refined versions, which then are either used in ascended crafting or upgrades for the Guild Hall.

[starlinvf.1358]

Living story season 3 also has a series of achievements which create 3 more material eaters, plus a Final form which combines all 3, plus adds the ability to consume extra unbound magic.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

In my opinion, most people should just delete excess Bloodstone Dust, Dragonite Ore and Empyreal Fragments. While it's true that there are eaters and some uses for the materials for many players, if you're already making use of those, you aren't missing much.

Using an eater generates some coin, but it takes about two months to generate a stack of containers worth about 12-20 gold (probably much less these days; my numbers are from a few years ago). To generate that stack, you have to remember to use the eater every day; for all but one eater, that means moving at least a stack of each mat from storage so the eater can see it.

Similarly, while there are a few foods/utilities that make use of these mats, presumably you'd already be using such buffs if buffs were important to you.

For my friends who have inventory management concerns, my recommendation is to refine 20-50 of each (whatever amount of thermocatalytic reagents you feel like spending on) and once done, delete all but a few of each of the base mats whenever you run out of material storage (e.g. once a week or every few days). In this way, you spend the least effort on managing inventory, more time playing the game, and you forgo at most a small amount of silver per day.

[Elva.6372]

I delete it, I find it stupid that I can't even vendor the crap and hiding a "solution" behind some achievements I will never do really doesn't work for me.

[Blocki.4931]

Sadly the gobblers don't eat enough of the useless materials to ever be a reliable dump for them. Just delete

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@"Elva.6372" said:I delete it, I find it stupid that I can't even vendor the crap and hiding a "solution" behind some achievements I will never do really doesn't work for me.

I'd like to see stuff like this with a vendor value of a copper — it would have a negligible economic effect, but make it easier for people to choose to get rid of it.

[Elva.6372]

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

I'd like to see stuff like this with a vendor value of a copper — it would have a negligible economic effect, but make it easier for people to choose to get rid of it.

Yeah, I'm not asking to become rich off this stuff, just want to vendor it , and the solutions ANet has given us are annoyingly anemic at best.

[crashburntoo.7431]

Another useful sink would be a vendor similar to the Guild Trader that uses Guild Commendations. The potential rewards could rotate, but perhaps more of them would be available at any given time. The items available would be account bound and have no economic value/impact, and they could help people fill in gaps in their crafting recipes or pick up smaller amounts of another, wallet-based currency that they actually could use... like geodes...

Destroying is quick, but it eliminates any value. Feeding it to "eaters" takes more time and organization, but it provides a small value (very small). Selling it for a copper would have no real impact on the economy, be quick and provide a similar, small value, so I agree that it would be preferable. Trading it for something useful to you but of no value elsewhere advances your "account or character progress" while having little impact on the economy (any time/money spent in pursuit of the things you can now trade for would decrease).

Destroying will always be an option, and "eaters" are gated behind achievements. Neither is bad, but adding vendors to buy or trade would really increase options and provide more value to this material, so often responsible for inventory issues.

[Annihilator.2617]

As I understand eaters generate low income. So there is no way to make g with them?

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@"Annihilator.2617" said:As I understand eaters generate low income. So there is no way to make g with them?

You can process 150-300 units per day with most of the units. Something around 4.5 "gifts" daily. A stack of gifts used to be worth 12-20g back before mat prices tanked, so I'd guess (and have to verify) closer to 8-14g these days. Around 55 days to earn a stack of gifts, so that translates to 14s/day worst case and 36s/day fantasy-level best case. It's far better than "nothing" but it's a lot of effort for just 20 silver: collect the stuff, move it out of mat storage into a character with the eater in inventory, eat, and then open the container, salvage and decide to vendor or TP.

All of that is time spent managing inventory rather than playing the game. It's therefore valuable for a fraction of players and probably a waste for most. Only you can decide whether it's worth it for you.

[Curunen.8729]

Yeah I also find the time spent using the eaters to be a waste compared with throwing out of the inventory and deleting.

To eat you have to double click several times on the eater, then right click and another left click to open all the bags (repeat 3 times for each ascended mat and corresponding eater), then right click the copper fed som and another left click to salvage, then even more clicking to deposit/sell/consume luck/vendor junk and minor runes, etc. If you get any rares there's an additional amount of clicking to use a mystic salvage kit.

To delete it's one click and drag out (or right click) and a second click to confirm deletion of a stack. I gladly forfeit the pitiful silver gain for this approach that requires far less effort.

Overall it's a stupid amount of clicking and effort for pitiful amounts lf silver. I've even been tempted to delete MawdreyII/Princess/StarofGratitude because the inventory space would be more useful than these things which are not worth the hassle to use.

I keep around 40 bricks/ingots/stars in storage although I doubt I'll ever need to use them.

[Plautze.6290]

Here I am, having finally completed Mawdrey and always forget to use the darn thing =)And even if I use it, it is hardly worth it to relog into a char that stands at a bank to grab the mats to be eaten.Still, there's always that tiny, irrational sliver of hope that Dawn might actually drop for me... the best thing I got from the gifts was Eir's bow, so there's still room for improvement B)

[Ziooo.8932]

Just delete, they’re totally useless, easy to get and the gobblers fill your inv with useless trash, which is exactly what we are trying to get rid of.

[Martimus.6027]

Everything I see here is all alien to me. I don't know what an eater is, I have tons of that stuff in my bags already across my 80's. I don't know how to find any eaters to even get these 'gifts' and i don't even know what they are. It is frustrating to be a returning player and have so much crap in your bags you have no idea what to do with unless you read page after page after page...after PAGE...of WIKI, which means you're not playing the game while you read that stuff.

[Samnang.1879]

HASSLE ANET TO DELETE THESE STUPID ITEMS THAT DROP NONSTOP and literally have no practical use for vet players

[Steve The Cynic.3217]

@altermaven.7385 said:With 450 in all except Chef and Scribe,

And Jeweller. That one doesn't go to 450 either.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@"Martimus.6027" said:Everything I see here is all alien to me.Then just delete the stuff. You aren't missing much.

I don't know what an eater is,An eater is the affectionate, unofficial name for "gizmos" (the official name for game items that have a special function) that consume limited amounts of specific items.

I have tons of that stuff in my bags already across my 80's.You're not alone.

I don't know how to find any eaters to even get these 'gifts' and i don't even know what they are.

If you don't know, you aren't missing much. When you have time, you can do further research and make an informed decision. Until then, just delete the stuff.

It is frustrating to be a returning player and have so much crap in your bags you have no idea what to do with unless you read page after page after page...after PAGE...of WIKI, which means you're not playing the game while you read that stuff.Returning players are always going to be behind on whatever the latest and greatest tools, techniques, builds, events, stories, whatever. It's nigh-impossible to figure out a way to communicate everything a returning player wants to know because (a) the details constantly evolve, (b) each returning player has differing interests, and © each veteran has a different idea of what is critical.

Focus on enjoying what's in front of you and catch up as you have time, more or less what we did when the game launched (and none of us had any idea of what was important or why).

---

Further Reading

In game, type /wiki, which brings up the following article:

Eater

Converters (commonly referred to as Eaters) are a type of gizmo that provides bonus rewards in exchange for a currency or item. Many converters have a maximum limit for uses or transactions per day. Once used up, players must wait until the server reset to obtain more rewards. Using multiple copies of the item will not allow access to additional rewards, since all copies of an item share the same limit for an account.

The article has the full list of Eaters, the item it eats, the daily consumption limits, and the source of the gizmo. It doesn't link to a "potential profit per day", but I can guarantee you that the average value is unlikely more than 10-20 silver (and the actual value is usually less). The article also doesn't clarify that it's basically a form of laborious inventory management.

---

tl;dr if you're not sure what to do with the excess mats, delete them; you aren't missing much.

[Martimus.6027]

Ok, thank you very much guys and gals.

[Biff.5312]

I still need tons of the stuff, because I have lots of alts and I need them for ascended gear. But when I find it starts building up I delete anything over a few stacks.

[Ardenwolfe.8590]

Eaters. I had three pages worth in my vault. Over time . . . now I have none save for those in my inventory. It's worth it. Once in a great while? You'll get a unique item.

[windbliss.3158]

@Steve The Cynic.3217 said:

@altermaven.7385 said:With 450 in all except Chef and Scribe,

And Jeweller. That one doesn't go to 450 either.

Thank you. I knew I forgot something. Post updated. Skritt needs more caffeine.

[Elva.6372]

@"Martimus.6027" said:Everything I see here is all alien to me. I don't know what an eater is, I have tons of that stuff in my bags already across my 80's. I don't know how to find any eaters to even get these 'gifts' and i don't even know what they are. It is frustrating to be a returning player and have so much crap in your bags you have no idea what to do with unless you read page after page after page...after PAGE...of WIKI, which means you're not playing the game while you read that stuff.

Yeah, while I like the "joy of discovery" in games a lot of stuff in GW2 is hidden behind things and honestly just a PITA considering what you will get for the effort when all is said and done.

The "Eaters" originally gave me hope a few years back but I was immensely underwhelmed when I saw how much of this trash they could process - yeah, no thanks.

This is somewhat the issue with the Quivers discussion as well, a simple thing is hidden behind Ascended crafting and mats for the Mystic Toilet.

[Samnang.1879]

the problem with eaters is that it takes equal amount of "x"... but u get bloodstone dusts 10 times faster than the other dusts... so eaters become useless

[Gudy.3607]

@"Samnang.1879" said:the problem with eaters is that it takes equal amount of "x"... but u get bloodstone dusts 10 times faster than the other dusts... so eaters become useless

For one, this is a question of what content you play. WvW tends towards Empyreal Fragments and Dragonite Ore, while PvE drowns you in Bloodstone Dust. Also, this depends on the eaters: the Sentient eaters all take equal amounts of two of the three materials. Herta and Mawdrey II eat Bloodstone Dust only (up to about 250 and 200 per day, respectively).