Guild Wars 2

In recent posts, there’s a lot of confuzzlement about whether it’s better to open champion bags on a mid-level character or on a max level character. This is completely understandable, because (a) the value of mid-tier mats has dropped since people started doing this (making it less worthwhile); (b) we have better data to compare what’s really going on; (c.) the data isn’t as good as people think it is, making it difficult to draw clear conclusions.

The tl;dr is:

• When opening fewer than 1,000 bags, RNG is more important than other factors right now; use whatever character is most convenient for you rather than sweating this decision.
• For those opening in bulk:
  • Use a mid-tier toon to avoid dealing with bloodstone dust.
  • Use an L80 if you want the dust or the remote chance of a precursor.

Your mileage will vary considerably and will be affected by the markets. When the markets change due to HoT (or anything else), keep an eye on the relative value of the different tiers of mats; that could change these recommendations drastically.

Here’s the gorier details:

The value of the drops from champ bags can be divided into a couple of categories, only some of which are affected by the level of the character opening:
Not Affected By Level

• Fine mats. In theory, drop rates for these should be identical. (In practice, even for 1,000 bags, the rate varies.)
• Rare Crafting materials; same as above.
• Bag-specific exotics. These are named and drop regardless of level. However, see below. Example: Truth.
• Miscellaneous: karma, luck don’t seem to be affected by level.

Affected by Level

• Common mats, which drop from salvaging masterwork gear.
• Other exotics: these do not drop for lower-level characters (the cutoff is ~L60, since L62 is lowest-level exotic). For named exotics — including precursors — the cutoff is probably L75. Example: Deathwish.
• Bloodstone dust. Obviously only drops for L80s.
• Rares: see below. Hard to compare due to how data is reported.

In theory, we should be able to ignore the top list (not affected by level) and compare just the bottom list. It turns out, that’s difficult to do, due to RNG and problems with data collection. Rares are especially confusing: most people posting data tend to salvage or TP the rares and then report on the money; they don’t necessarily keep track of how many rares at what level. Further, they don’t always track the value of rates separately from that of other things sold.

What we can see by observation is that some L53-55 rares are worth far more than an ecto and some worth far less. We can also see that rares make up a significant portion of the level-variable value of the bag. This makes it more challenging to compare “true” value. Again, because a lot of people sell/salvage rares before reporting, it’s hard to compare what’s going on with drop rates.

I’ve entered data from several users into a spreadsheet to track the comparative values across different levels of characters. It’s pretty clear to me that RNG plays as big a factor right now as character level. For example, getting a few extra charged lodestones jumps the value of a set of bags, as well as getting even one L80 exotic that isn’t part of the bag’s special loot.

So to reiterate my conclusions at the top:

• RNG matters more than your level, at least for the last few months.
• Decide which character to open based on your convenience: do you want bloodstone or not, do you want a chance for low-drop exotics, do you want to just salvage without thinking about it too much.

It’s a waste to open on a level 55. Do you or do you not want ectos? If you are after mats from level 55 just use the green bags from Silverwastes. You get 2-3 per event containing 3 items which all salvage to mats worth more than the t5. Champ bags at 55 is throwing away rares and ectos, which, staffs, GS’s, Daggers, sell for 65-85s each.

I’m pretty sure you open the bags on a lvl 80 and salvage on a lvl 55 if you want to be optimal….. and if i’m not mistaken.

I’m not sure if its the level of the gear that determines the salvage or the level of the player doing the salvaging tbh.

Level of gear is what matters, not level of character.

To be clear: A green light armor level 80 is gonna salvage into silk (level 80 material) (not linen – lvl55).

I used to open my Champ bags on a level 60 (for linen). But now I’m after silk (oh, why did I sell all those stacks of silk before?? lol), so I open them on a L80. /shrug

Wait does that mean opening them on a low level character deletes your chances of getting a precursor from the bags? And are you absolutely sure?

Zetsumei.4975:

Wait does that mean opening them on a low level character deletes your chances of getting a precursor from the bags? And are you absolutely sure?

If you’re not high enough level to get exotic drops from corpses, you won’t get a precursor as a drop from anything. You’ll still have a chance of getting the Champ Bag Exotics (Lord Taeres Shadow, Crustacea, Anton’s Boot Blade, Bonetti’s Rapier, Genesis, etc.) from Champ Bags because those can drop for any character level. But precursor won’t happen.

RoseofGilead.8907:

Zetsumei.4975:

Wait does that mean opening them on a low level character deletes your chances of getting a precursor from the bags? And are you absolutely sure?

If you’re not high enough level to get exotic drops from corpses, you won’t get a precursor as a drop from anything. You’ll still have a chance of getting the Champ Bag Exotics (Lord Taeres Shadow, Crustacea, Anton’s Boot Blade, Bonetti’s Rapier, Genesis, etc.) from Champ Bags because those can drop for any character level. But precursor won’t happen.

Yes, I’m absolutely sure. Rose’s notes are well documented by various different players opening 1,000s of bags: you can get the special exotics associated with a particular bag, but not any of the others, including random armor (with or without good runes).

Ty . I’m still working on the space to open my bags and report =)

Grover.8753:

It’s a waste to open on a level 55. Do you or do you not want ectos? If you are after mats from level 55 just use the green bags from Silverwastes. You get 2-3 per event containing 3 items which all salvage to mats worth more than the t5. Champ bags at 55 is throwing away rares and ectos, which, staffs, GS’s, Daggers, sell for 65-85s each.

The green bags have a much higher chance of yielding rares and exotics than the champ bags, so it is a huge waste to open them on a low level character. The reason why it’s like this is that they always drop 3 pieces of equipment instead of 1 piece + mats. The only difference in the equipment is that the champ bags have named exotics included in their drop table. The chances that each piece may be rare or exotic is the same.

Khristophoros.7194:

Grover.8753:

It’s a waste to open on a level 55. Do you or do you not want ectos? If you are after mats from level 55 just use the green bags from Silverwastes. You get 2-3 per event containing 3 items which all salvage to mats worth more than the t5. Champ bags at 55 is throwing away rares and ectos, which, staffs, GS’s, Daggers, sell for 65-85s each.

The green bags have a much higher chance of yielding rares and exotics than the champ bags, so it is a huge waste to open them on a low level character. The reason why it’s like this is that they always drop 3 pieces of equipment instead of 1 piece + mats. The only difference in the equipment is that the champ bags have named exotics included in their drop table. The chances that each piece may be rare or exotic is the same.

If that’s the case, you should still be opening both on a toon of the same level. It just means the ‘uncommon gear’ bag is equivalent to opening 3 champ bags.

You should, on average, get 3x the rares/exotics from a bag of gear as from a single champ bag, but you will also get 3x as many common mats. so if a lower level common mat has an edge in value over a higher tier one, it’s still more profitable to open on a low level.

Since I have nothing better to do, I am going to put this to the test.

I know that 300 bags nets me about 40g if I open and salvage everything on a level 51.

So I’ll try doing 300 on a level 80

Sube Dai.8496:

Since I have nothing better to do, I am going to put this to the test.

I know that 300 bags nets me about 40g if I open and salvage everything on a level 51.

So I’ll try doing 300 on a level 80

Too small a sample to be remotely certain, sorry. You’d need thousands at least to draw much of a conclusion here, given how many possibilities there are and how rare some of them are.

Unholy Pillager.3791:

Sube Dai.8496:

Since I have nothing better to do, I am going to put this to the test.

I know that 300 bags nets me about 40g if I open and salvage everything on a level 51.

So I’ll try doing 300 on a level 80

Too small a sample to be remotely certain, sorry. You’d need thousands at least to draw much of a conclusion here, given how many possibilities there are and how rare some of them are.

Maybe for the types of drops but not for the gold returned.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3idext/level_52_vs_level_80_champ_bags/
per bag, there is less than 80c difference between level 52 and 80 (if anything, 80 gives more due to more karma and SS).
Personally, I recommend opening them on the level that you would use the materials more of (if you use a lot of T4 mats, open on 55, if you use a lot of ecto, open on 80. If you’re just going to sell everything, doesn’t matter)

Zetsumei.4975:

Wait does that mean opening them on a low level character deletes your chances of getting a precursor from the bags? And are you absolutely sure?

20,000 bags opened on level 55, no precursor.
10,401 bags opened on a level 80, no precursor.
I have yet to meet anyone who has got a precursor from a level 80 champ bag, much less a level 55 champ bag.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3l6o54/7045_bags_of_gear_961_bags_of_rare_gear_and_560/