Infinite Gathering Tools: in need of advice

[Harfang.1507]

I am steadily converting gold to build up a gem reserve so as to have most of what I need to buy a set of infinite gathering tools at the next aniversay sale. I am also willing to wait for the holiday specials to have a good deal. The big question is: which ones? Beside the quality of life of never having to buy gathering tools again, I am looking for something that provides either extra basic crafting material (especially leather and cloth) or making extra gold off the TP. Here are my top contenders and I'd like to hear your opinions on them.

• Thunderstrike Harvesting Tool because of the Glyph of the Leatherworker.
• Earthshaker Mining Tool because of the Glyph of the Tailor
• Watchwork Mining Pick because of the Glyph of the Watchnight.
• Infinite Unbound Magic Gathering Tools. I found Unbound Magic is a great currency for Obsidian Shards, but I am not sure it is worth it beyond that.
• Infinite Volatile Magic Gathering Tools. I believe these are popular, but I am much less familiar with the advantages of Volatile Magic over Unbound Magic.
• Unbreakable Gathering Tools + TP-bought Glyphs of the Leatherworker/Tailor. More cost-efficient?

What would you recommend?

 

[Infusion.7149]

Infinite Unbound Magic Gathering Tools : because they're the fastest mining + logging tools
Pair it with a consortium sickle or molten alliance sickle and you'll be set.

If you're just after gold just use volatile magic tools.

[Veprovina.4876]

You can buy theese with unbound magic:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Magic-Warped_Bundle

 

Or theese with volatile magic:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Trophy_Shipment

 

Unbound magic ones have the cheaper gold version for more unbound magic, and volatile magic ones supposedly give you more gold returns in materials.

 

If you want more "bang for the buck" go with volatile magic tools because you can buy metal, cloth and leather shipments as well for when you need them.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

I have a Watchwork Gathering Tool.  Just sold a stack of Watchwork Sprockets for ~7.5 Gold.  I probably get a stack once a month, or so?

I, also, have a set of Unbound Magic Tools.  And  a few others.  I really like the Glyph of Industry for my Home Instance character (only use it there, as I don't pass them around, like many do). 

 

Remember, as well, you can buy special Gathering Tools for Karma.  (If you want to try them out, or anything else.)

[Danikat.8537]

If you just want gold I'd get the Unbound or Volatile tools because you can buy the other glyphs relatively cheaply when they're in black lion chests.

 

For what it's worth my best experience has been buying tools where I like the animations and then buying glyphs with gold to put in them. I got the consortium sickle, chop-it-all axe and molten alliance pick back when they were the only options. I really didn't like the animation on the pick so I replaced it with a watchwork one because at the time it was one of the few which had an extra effect that would off-set the cost, and got glyphs for the other two when they became available. That was ok and I used that set up for years. Then I finally gave in and got the 3 flutes and for me that's been a big improvement, gathering has gone from something I do strictly for the materials with animations I can tolerate or ignore, to something I enjoy doing and want to do.

 

(I still use the other set of tools on my charr thief, partially because he's in charge of dailies at the moment so I'm very likely to forget to put them back after playing him and partially because a huge black and white ominous looking charr playing a colourful magic flute would look absurd.)

[JustTrogdor.7892]

Here is some info on glyphs and profit per strike according to the fast farming website that you might find interesting:

 

https://fast.farming-community.eu/gathering/glyphs

 

Now I don't know how accurate that info is but I have seen that website referenced many times when people ask questions about farming and such.

 

 

Edited June 11, 2021 by JustTrogdor.7892

[Boh.4568]

Unfortunately you just missed the gem sale for the volatile gathering tools, those are the best IMO if your objective is gold.

Unbound magic isn't as profitable as volatile, you make way less gold with warped bundles compared to leather/trophy shipments, but you could always go for ascended trinkets to salvage in LW3 maps (especially amulets which can drop those rare essences).

 

Out of the non-magic ones My best picks would be bounty and alchemy glyphs. Bounty is always good, alchemy is great if you don't do a lot of daily gathering and you can stay below the mats promotion threshold for the more common mithril/elder/thick.

 

Then there's the leather glyph, way better than the tailor and ore glyph because leather is much more valuable to resell.

 

Then there are the QOL glyphs, i.e. gather faster, gather all nodes around you at once, etc. I don't like those because I don't go for max gathering efficiency, but if you do a daily farming path of 1000 nodes you may want to consider fast glyphs.

 

Edit: I'd add the sprocket glyph above the leather glyph, but below bounty/alchemy.

Edited June 11, 2021 by Boh.4568

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

FWIW I find the glyph of alchemy to be REALLY useful for things like flax farming, or farming coral orbs to transmute into Amalgamated Gemstones, or if you REALLY need more ore/wood and don't want to buy it off the TP. 

[LuRkEr.9462]

Yea, get the fastest gathering tools available (fastest animations) that were mentioned above (unbound and consoritorium) 

 

Something people forget is you can transmute your tools in the wardrobe so any infinite tool you acquire will have the fastest animation of the tool you previously unlocked. I probably have 4-5 different types but they are all transmuted to the speed tools. 

 

The rest is just getting a glyph that makes most gold per strike. Typically volatile magic or watchwork glyphs.

Edited June 11, 2021 by LuRkEr.9462

[Veprovina.4876]

2 hours ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

FWIW I find the glyph of alchemy to be REALLY useful for things like flax farming, or farming coral orbs to transmute into Amalgamated Gemstones, or if you REALLY need more ore/wood and don't want to buy it off the TP. 

That one is probably useful for farming orichalcum and ancient wood as the nodes it converts from are all over everywhere lol.

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

3 minutes ago, Veprovina.4876 said:

That one is probably useful for farming orichalcum and ancient wood as the nodes it converts from are all over everywhere lol.

That and Glyph of Bounty. Which is what I meant in my original post instead of Alchemy ><. Alchemy is another one I have though, and it is very good at rich veins and the abundant elder wood trees.

[Veprovina.4876]

2 hours ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

That and Glyph of Bounty. Which is what I meant in my original post instead of Alchemy ><. Alchemy is another one I have though, and it is very good at rich veins and the abundant elder wood trees.

Yeah. Though it's 150 a day for the Alchemy ones right? At that point, you can buy them at the gathering tools vendor when you need it for karma. Kinda to fill up on some mats when needed, i don't know if i'd personally buy that one for gold or gems. I'll probably go with Volatile tools myself.

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

37 minutes ago, Veprovina.4876 said:

Yeah. Though it's 150 a day for the Alchemy ones right? At that point, you can buy them at the gathering tools vendor when you need it for karma. Kinda to fill up on some mats when needed, i don't know if i'd personally buy that one for gold or gems. I'll probably go with Volatile tools myself.

 I got my alchemy from a black lion chest.

[Firebeard.1746]

In the end, the economy will decide what's most valuable. Watchworks sprockets are REALLY expensive right now because of the torment rework and everyone and their mom wanting SUperior sigils of torment and/or condi sigils. I bet at some point the Unbound magic ones were valuable and yielded more cash per unit of magic. For now,  VM are the most valuable I believe. But just know they could completely change the economy in EoD, so really the main thing you're looking at is convenience in terms of long-term progression. In fact the amount of mining you'd have to do with your infinite gathering tools is insane in order for them to pay for themselves, so if you're REALLY averse to spending money for gems, you're just farming gold for convenience. Also note, you're probably not farming gold at a better rate than buying gems for minimum wage, you might get them way faster if you can find even a small hustle, not even a job. Like mow a few lawns if you have neighbors that need help.

Edited June 11, 2021 by Firebeard.1746

[Veprovina.4876]

1 hour ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

 I got my alchemy from a black lion chest.

Cool! 🙂 Yeah, then no worries about it's efficiency and whatever, you can just use yours whenever you feel like it.

For me, that doesn't own any glyphs, it would probably be more efficient to ust sometimes buy the karma tools with that glyph instead of the permanent one. Maybe not idk... But it will definitely not be my first unbreakable gathering purchase, that's for sure. 😛

[Infusion.7149]

1 hour ago, Firebeard.1746 said:

In the end, the economy will decide what's most valuable. Watchworks sprockets are REALLY expensive right now because of the torment rework and everyone and their mom wanting SUperior sigils of torment and/or condi sigils. I bet at some point the Unbound magic ones were valuable and yielded more cash per unit of magic. For now,  VM are the most valuable I believe. But just know they could completely change the economy in EoD, so really the main thing you're looking at is convenience in terms of long-term progression. In fact the amount of mining you'd have to do with your infinite gathering tools is insane in order for them to pay for themselves, so if you're REALLY averse to spending money for gems, you're just farming gold for convenience. Also note, you're probably not farming gold at a better rate than buying gems for minimum wage, you might get them way faster if you can find even a small hustle, not even a job. Like mow a few lawns if you have neighbors that need help.

The unbound magic ones have faster animation time , they will hold non-monetary value until something happens with animation standardization or if there's faster tools that come out. Also volatile magic can be obtained in Dragonfall or from converting eternal ice shards. Unless you farm a ton of winterberries you will be short on unbound magic. Since until legendary armory happens you can only have one set of legendary trinket (no WVW accessories yet) and backpieces from WvW are the only way to get more than 3 legendary backpieces, unbound tools have more non-monetary value because of the time savings.

Volatile magic is still more profit than watchwork sprocket right now since watchwork sprocket glyph is 1 in 3 chance.
https://fast.farming-community.eu/gathering/glyphs
https://www.peuresearchcenter.com/gathering.html

[Firebeard.1746]

52 minutes ago, Infusion.7149 said:

The unbound magic ones have faster animation time , they will hold non-monetary value until something happens with animation standardization or if there's faster tools that come out. Also volatile magic can be obtained in Dragonfall or from converting eternal ice shards. Unless you farm a ton of winterberries you will be short on unbound magic. Since until legendary armory happens you can only have one set of legendary trinket (no WVW accessories yet) and backpieces from WvW are the only way to get more than 3 legendary backpieces, unbound tools have more non-monetary value because of the time savings.

Well LA is coming out very soon, so that value is very Tenuous both for those trinkets and back pieces. Interesting analysis though. Didn't know the sprocket was such a small proc chance.

Though for back pieces, I'd be tempted to tell people to just farm Orrian pearls and use Karma. It feels way faster, and after I bought my last one, I could buy it from the same vendor again.

When i care about Winterberry trinkets, the magic tends to not be an issue as I have a full HI instance and can scrap the other mats.

Really though, the most valuable season 3 items are the back and aquabreather. With a VM tool and a home instance with all season 4 nodes, it feels like it's way faster to farm the trinkets that way. I have both UM and VM tools.

Edited June 11, 2021 by Firebeard.1746

[Infusion.7149]

You can't really "just farm Orrian pearls" as it's limited per day per account, unlike Winterberries which are per character.

[Harfang.1507]

5 hours ago, Firebeard.1746 said:

In the end, the economy will decide what's most valuable. Watchworks sprockets are REALLY expensive right now because of the torment rework and everyone and their mom wanting SUperior sigils of torment and/or condi sigils. I bet at some point the Unbound magic ones were valuable and yielded more cash per unit of magic. For now,  VM are the most valuable I believe. But just know they could completely change the economy in EoD, so really the main thing you're looking at is convenience in terms of long-term progression. In fact the amount of mining you'd have to do with your infinite gathering tools is insane in order for them to pay for themselves, so if you're REALLY averse to spending money for gems, you're just farming gold for convenience. Also note, you're probably not farming gold at a better rate than buying gems for minimum wage, you might get them way faster if you can find even a small hustle, not even a job. Like mow a few lawns if you have neighbors that need help.

Thank you all for your insights. Good point about the economy's evolution, especially with a new expansion over the horizon.

Regarding how I acquire gems, I can easily shell out the money to buy these tools. What I want is never to see again "ERROR: OUT OF TOOLS". That's worth GW2 gold, not CA$40. That real cash I'd rather give to AyinMaiden, Dulfy or Mukluk!

I do not expect the tools to ever pay for themselves, but I'd like them to at least improve either my cash flow, or give me what I am always short of: leather and cloth. Animation speed or aesthetics are not part of the equation.

From what I have been able to gather from you all, Volatile Magic appears to be currently the top dog. If there is an economic shift with EoD, I might just shell out gold to buy the glyphs of my choice off the TP.

 

[mikansei.5742]

If you can wait a while, the no-frills Unbreakable set is usually discounted to 1200 gems during the anniversary sale, but you'd have to get glyphs separately off the TP. Still, 1200 gems + TP glyphs might end up cheaper gold-wise than the Volatile/Unbound ones, because I've only ever seen the V/U tools discounted to ~2100 gems or so.

[Harfang.1507]

On 6/11/2021 at 11:23 PM, mikansei.5742 said:

If you can wait a while, the no-frills Unbreakable set is usually discounted to 1200 gems during the anniversary sale, but you'd have to get glyphs separately off the TP. Still, 1200 gems + TP glyphs might end up cheaper gold-wise than the Volatile/Unbound ones, because I've only ever seen the V/U tools discounted to ~2100 gems or so.

That is great help. I did not realize how much more substantial these could get discounted. Let me see, counting historical discounts and a 32 g / 100 gems average exchange rate . . .

Infinite G. T. cost = (2,400 gems * 32 g / 100 gems) - 50% = 384 gold, roughly

Inifinite Volatile Magic G. T. cost = (2,700 * 32 g / 100 gems) - 20% = 691 gold, roughly

That leaves me we about 300 g to buy three glyphs. Given current rates, that would be about enough for three Glyphs of the Tailor, the cheapest ones of interest to me. No leather, nor versatility of volatile magic conversion. It was certainly worth checking, but not quite as competitive as it initially sounded. 🙁 Thank you for making me check though.

[mikansei.5742]

13 hours ago, Harfang.1507 said:

That is great help. I did not realize how much more substantial these could get discounted. Let me see, counting historical discounts and a 32 g / 100 gems average exchange rate . . .

Infinite G. T. cost = (2,400 gems * 32 g / 100 gems) - 50% = 384 gold, roughly

Inifinite Volatile Magic G. T. cost = (2,700 * 32 g / 100 gems) - 20% = 691 gold, roughly

That leaves me we about 300 g to buy three glyphs. Given current rates, that would be about enough for three Glyphs of the Tailor, the cheapest ones of interest to me. No leather, nor versatility of volatile magic conversion. It was certainly worth checking, but not quite as competitive as it initially sounded. 🙁 Thank you for making me check though.

No problem!

 

Another thing to keep in mind: try not to convert gold to gems immediately after something shiny goes on sale, because you won't be the only person buying gems with gold and the exchange rate will not be in your favor. If you know you want to save up for something wait for the lulls between sales when the rate per 100 gems is closer to 30g than 40g. FWIW, 32g/100gems is pretty good.

 

Idk if anyone's linked GW2 Efficiency yet, but they have a graph of gold-gem exchange rates over time and (if I did the link right) that should be the setting to show how much gold 100 gems cost rather than how many gems 100g will get you.

Edited June 14, 2021 by mikansei.5742

[Harfang.1507]

3 hours ago, mikansei.5742 said:

No problem!

 

Another thing to keep in mind: try not to convert gold to gems immediately after something shiny goes on sale, because you won't be the only person buying gems with gold and the exchange rate will not be in your favor. If you know you want to save up for something wait for the lulls between sales when the rate per 100 gems is closer to 30g than 40g. FWIW, 32g/100gems is pretty good.

 

Idk if anyone's linked GW2 Efficiency yet, but they have a graph of gold-gem exchange rates over time and (if I did the link right) that should be the setting to show how much gold 100 gems cost rather than how many gems 100g will get you.

That is exactly what I am doing. Every time my gold reaches a set value, it is time to monitor gem prices. 35 g/100 gems: mediocre. 32 g/100 gems: acceptable. 30 g/100 gems: buy buy buy!