Guild Wars 2

While Tailoring I’ve had issues where Trade Post values between material cost and crafted components are in a mess.

Server: Stormbluff Isle
Material costs:
Bolt of Cotton – 1.75s|Cured Coarse Leather Square – 60c
Spool of Cotton Thread (NPC, 2.4s per 10)

[Component – Resources (Cost of Materials vs. Component Cost)]

Example 1:
Cotton Coat Lining – 1 bolt (1.75s vs. 68c)
Cotton Coat Panel – 4 bolt + 1 leather + 3 spool (8.32s vs. 10.38s)

Here one component is sold for well below material value while the other, its mate, costs far more than material value.

Example 2:
Cotton Epaulet Panel – 1 leather (60c vs. 14c)
Cotton Epaulet Padding – 2 bolt + 1 spool ( 3.74s vs. 3.10s)

The shoulder is more costly to craft from materials, but there’s a stark difference when components are compared. Leather components don’t appear to hold value while cotton-made components are competitive or held at premium. This is curious when it seems to me they are both required to make the same item.

Example 3:
Cotton Pants Lining – 1 bolt (1.75s vs. 1.89s)
Cotton Pants Panel – 4 bolt + 3 spool (7.72s vs. 9.97s)

Look again in #1 and compare linings, as well as leather in #2. Also note the simple calculation of the lining above has a narrow margin while the pants panel, which requires a bit of mental math to calculate, is valued much higher than its materials.

To summarize the current tier I’m on:
It’s more expensive to craft your own coat lining, shoes and shoulders.
It’s more expensive to buy coat panel, gloves, pants, helm components.

Are there reasons why this is so complicated? The tedium needed to combat this, on top of the actual process of crafting, turns me off.

If you are trying to level a craft, might I suggest following one of my guides? It will make the decisions for you.

If you are merely trying to craft specific items http://www.gw2spidy.com/ (search by recipe) is a great resource for that.

I ended up ignoring the cost comparison and just making anything I could. Probably why I am always poor but like you said I got tired of trying to compare it all and just played the game.

That’s not at all unusual. Nor is it logical, I admit. . .

xanthic.9478:

If you are trying to level a craft, might I suggest following one of my guides? It will make the decisions for you.

If you are merely trying to craft specific items http://www.gw2spidy.com/ (search by recipe) is a great resource for that.

I see your guide is updated frequently which could be very useful indeed. I’ve tried a guide in the past but when I stopped and did the math it was clearly obsolete.

Going item by item lately, it has been a toss-up as to what is an efficient way to craft and I would wager time-savings is a bigger factor to most people than wasting a few gold which they will earn back.

I would hope for changes to come that bring in management tools, cost analysis or streamlining purchases, but those are words just about the exact opposite of things that rhyme with “fun”.

Good point, I was just about to create a thread asking why is crafting so broken. I recently decided to make my first alt, I know…I’m slow. I leveled up 2 crafting skills on my first toon during the first 2 months of the game, and have not really played with crafting too much because it seemed like the raw materials were worth far more than any finished components or final pieces. On my new toon, I decided to level crafting as I gain levels, ie. make my own gear at each stage. This was a great idea for about 3 1/2 minutes until I realized that even at level 10, crafting is a money sink and quite pointless. For example, to make a level 10 weapon, I need 1 insignia which require 3 tier 1 mats. The tier 1 mats (tiny claws maybe) cost 31 copper per, and 3 are needed. The insignia they make sells for 18 copper. Thats right, 18 copper. So that means if I wanted to make my own gear, I would spend at least 5 times as much to do so. Based on this, I ask…why bother? What is the point of crafting?

One idea I have had to make crafting more fun might be to allow the crafters to custom name the items they make. If this cost issue can not be resolved, and I don’t know if I have ever seen a crafting system which places the highest value on raw materials and the value of the materials decreases at each stage of further refinement, then allowing us to put custom names on the gear we make might give crafters a reason to pay more money to make the gear. Until then, its just a waste of money, for no benefit.

I really don’t know where the issues lie but it is a pay-to-play system, or else you need a good trade network, otherwise grind.

I would have liked to see crafted components made account bound. I know that doesn’t make sense but the entire point of crafting is that your character learns how to craft, not slap together some pre-made parts.

The other problem is on items that need to come from salvage or as drops, but I digress to the issue that the Trade Post is just a mess of pricing that makes no sense.

You still get crafting experience from combining an insignia and the parts to make the item. Every step of crafting an item grants experience as long as each recipe isn’t red or grey.

There is no “costs issue.” The TP is in a natural state from having people wanting to dump items that they made(probably in error) which increases supply, which fills and then decreases demand and drives down prices. Prior to my guides there wasn’t any guides out there telling you to buy insignia or parts of an item, thus only people that wanted to spend the extra time knew about buying insignia directly.

If you really want to be confused:
Check Chrysocola
http://www.gw2spidy.com/search/Embellished%20Brilliant?recipes=

Also you can tell when my cooking guide was released at the beginning of January
http://www.gw2spidy.com/item/12521

There is an issue when two different items that need the same materials are priced differently. How does this make sense?

There’s no consistency when half the insignias I’m working with are cheaper to buy than to craft. Material costs are way out of balance, too, with iron/steel/leather being way cheaper than wood (seasoned wood log = 75c, 3 per plank!).

It wouldn’t be an issue if costs weren’t so high but from my data it appears the greater the value and complexity the bigger the variance.

OrianZeta.1537:

There is an issue when two different items that need the same materials are priced differently. How does this make sense?

There’s no consistency when half the insignias I’m working with are cheaper to buy than to craft. Material costs are way out of balance, too, with iron/steel/leather being way cheaper than wood (seasoned wood log = 75c, 3 per plank!).

It wouldn’t be an issue if costs weren’t so high but from my data it appears the greater the value and complexity the bigger the variance.

Not necessarily THE reason but judging from some forum posts and in game chat some people still try to level crafting like they’ve learned to do in other games. Make piles of the same thing which they then have no use for. Then they are left with trying to sell the result on the TP.

As for Seasoned Logs … Dredgehaunt Cliffs is a great place for them but it doesn’t seem like a very popular place. There are also no trees to harvest near the Sorrow’s Embrace entrance.

It’s the one big failing of the crafting system is that it is not made more obvious to newbies that discovering recipes is far better for craft xp than making an item you already know the recipe for.

Though for some people you might need a bright flashing neon sign to clue them in.

Actually it makes perfect sense when you remember that only leatherworking and tailoring need leather but armorsmithing does not whereas all 3 need cottonish materials.

So those who started with armorsmithing would have a glut of unused leather pieces lying around. Their tailoring alt therefore probably has access to a ton of leather but not much cotton and so can level up their tailoring just by making the pieces that require leather. Well that’s how I did it.

Then I started leveling leatherworking and I still had more leather than cotton. Cotton seems to be required for everything but also the most scarce resource after the blue items which you never get enough of.