Guild Wars 2

The purpose of this test was to see which of the two Salvage-o-Matics would yield higher returns on salvaging Bloodstone-Warped Hides, with the ultimate goal of acquiring mats for ascended armor. I spent an hour each evening this past week farming the Lake Doric Leather Farm with the goal of attaining 2000 hides.

Today when I reached my goal I transferred the 8 stacks of hide to a character with ample “Invisible Bag” space so I could control how many hides were salvaged per test. I then moved 1 stack at a time into a bag in which I could then salvage and record the output of each Salvage-o-Matic.

I did this on a level 80 toon with base Magic Find of 167% with no buffs, for those who may wonder. I believe that MF does not affect salvage outcomes, but for the history of the test I kept track of that figure.

I did 8 tests, salvaging the first stack on Copper-Fed, and the switching to Silver-Fed, and then alternating back and forth until all 8 stacks were burnt.

I recorded the output of each stack separately, and had a friend witness this whole process via Skype shared screen.

During each stack salvaging we noticed that numbers fluctuated greatly and it did not appear that there were any patterns; that is until I made a spreadsheet and input all the figures.

The first thing I noticed was the total number of sections per salvage were slightly higher with the Silver-Fed by ~10%. The Silver-Fed increased the number of sections output in the tier 2 – 6 leather range minus the tier 4 rugged leather.

For the purposes of calculating profit, I checked GW2TP for the history of the leather sell prices at 12 PM EST USA/CANADA which was approximately when I did all the salvaging.

Since the number of sections was greater with the Silver-Fed Salvage-o-Matic, the calculated gold output was greater. However when you factor in the added cost of Salvaging with the Silver-Fed over the Copper-Fed you get the funny result of the Silver-Fed generating ~57 less silver.

One of my brain dead “Stream TV and movies on the second monitor” money generators is what I call the Ironman. I call it that as it’s the “Triathlon” of farming; Ore, Wood, and High Value Foraging.

I know that with an Ironman of just 8 permanent Iron nodes and 2 permanent Platinum nodes and maybe a Flax, I can generate ~4 gold in 20 minutes (~11-12 gold/hour). As I spent in the range of ~8-10 hours on the leather farm (more down time waiting for a squad) the gold per hour output may be less in the end farming leather over iron.

The main difference between iron farming and leather farming is that iron has a measured time/gold output, while the leather farm is RNG based returns. Not to mention the Diminishing Returns on farming leather in any given day.

So while gold output may be different, the fun of slaughtering centaurs may exceed that of farming iron. And the main point to gleam from this test is that with the Silver-Fed I was able to attain more higher tier leathers, albeit at a greater salvage cost. Since my ultimate goal is a set of ascended heavy armor, I don’t have to fork over gold now to buy the required leather squares.

-Ahnah-

TL/DR

Silver-Fed could be worth it if you just want more higher tier leathers.

Except… isn’t the silver salvage-o-matic not in the store any more?

Thanks for the data. Here’s my take-away:

• If you own both salvage-o-matics, it’s worth it to use the Silver-Fed on this particular item.
• If you own only Copper-Fed and you have lots of mystic forge stones, it’s worth substituting Mystic.
• Otherwise, it’s probably fine using just Copper-Fed; it’s not a big enough difference to make it worth buying the Silver-Fed (unless there’s some other reason you want it).

I have found that 1000 units isn’t really enough data for testing salvage items, such as the bloodstone-warped hides. I think last time I checked, I found a 10% difference between maximum & minimum, which is close to the difference in numbers you’re seeing. Still, it’s more likely than not that Silver-Fed is giving a bit more leather.

GW2profits.com also has lots of data on drop rates from salvage items, although the dev hasn’t always compared across different kits.

Rognik.2579:

Except… isn’t the silver salvage-o-matic not in the store any more?

Sure, but it’ll come back again. gw2timer.com has a widget to alert you about it being available anyway. Plus, some non-trivial number of players already own both copper and silver unlimited salvage tools…

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Thanks for the data. Here’s my take-away:

• If you own both salvage-o-matics, it’s worth it to use the Silver-Fed on this particular item.
• If you own only Copper-Fed and you have lots of mystic forge stones, it’s worth substituting Mystic.
• Otherwise, it’s probably fine using just Copper-Fed; it’s not a big enough difference to make it worth buying the Silver-Fed (unless there’s some other reason you want it).

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I have found that 1000 units isn’t really enough data for testing salvage items, such as the bloodstone-warped hides. I think last time I checked, I found a 10% difference between maximum & minimum, which is close to the difference in numbers you’re seeing. Still, it’s more likely than not that Silver-Fed is giving a bit more leather.

GW2profits.com also has lots of data on drop rates from salvage items, although the dev hasn’t always compared across different kits.

I totally agree, the sample size was rather small at only 4 tests per kit. When I get the energy to do so again I think I will go for more hides. I still need more leather anyway :/

But yes the main point was, you can eek out a bit more leather with silver fed.

Leather is quite valuable so it might actually be of value to use the silver-fed. Otherwise the method I go by is and always has been as follows:

Is the sigil/rune worth keeping?

Y – use Black Lion Salvage kit
N – Is the item of exotic or rare quality (rare above level 68)?
Y – use Mystic salavage kit (if value of m.f. stones is = 0) > silver-fed > Master’s
N – use copper-fed

Don’t think much has changed. This method accounts for the price per use of the different salvage kits while realising that Black Lion Kits hold the highest value and Mystic Forge Stones are valued with 0 as long as people don’t consume more than they gain via achievements, dailies, fractals, etc.