Acquiring T6 mats
First, start making clovers via the Mystic Forge, as it will spit out lots of T6 mats. Once you get your 77 clovers, you should have a handful of T6 mats.
The most efficient method currently is simply running the Frostgorge train nonstop, and using the profit from that to directly buy the mats on the TP. If your server is low like mine, guest to a higher population server and run with them. As an alternative, use Laurels to buy T6 bags for 3 random mats each.
I, surprisingly, had good luck with clovers and didn’t get many t6 mats. I’ve started promoting all the t5 mats I have stocked up for a small boost.
Also, while I don’t run any champ trains, I did get a lot of t6 mats (more than 2-3 weeks worth of my normal play) by running around in WvW after server reset. I’m still trying to decide if it’s worth spending my laurels on t6 mats.
I, surprisingly, had good luck with clovers and didn’t get many t6 mats. I’ve started promoting all the t5 mats I have stocked up for a small boost.
Wish I had that kind of luck. I’m at a <20% return rate on clovers. While I’m getting lots of T6 mats in return that I don’t have to worry about as much later, I’m losing a lot of money/karma on the inputs.
Alright thanks for the suggestions guys, much appreciated.
A quick note on promoting T5 mats to T6—it’s only worth it for the more expensive T6 mats. A good rule of thumb is never promote totems and always promote bloods.
For your excess T5 mats that you don’t promote, you have two choices: 1. crafting rares and salvaging them for ectos or 2. selling them directly on the TP. Check prices to be on the safe side, and assume that you will get 0.9 ectos/salvage. But don’t craft rares out of bloods—you’ll almost always come out ahead by promoting them.
As for other methods, I would second the frostgorge train. Make sure to check with the zerg as to what their order is, because it varies by server. Open enough champion boxes and you’re bound to get a handful of T6, maybe a core or two, and possibly even a lodestone. You’ll also get more than 5s/box on average in hard cash, on top of a guaranteed green item (that could also be a rare or exotic). One lap around frostgorge will net you a six boxes (assuming no champion quaggan spawn), or a little more than 30s from the money reward alone. Even after subtracting waypoint fees, you can purchase about one T6 mat/lap, and that’s assuming terrible drops from the boxes (one silk scrap + one cloth green that you salvage for luck instead of selling).
My server has the frostgorge run going on whenever I’m on (Sea of Sorrows), but we are oceanic heavy. I’m quite sure that you could find a run at any time of the day on the three mega-servers: blackgate, jade quarry, and tarnished coast.
I also want to add that the level 75+ explorable dungeons are good sources of T6 too. That means COF, COE, HOTW, and Arah. In addition to them dropping as-is from mobs, you can also get them from their loot bags. COF and COE in particular are nice to do, because boss chests have a chance at dropping high value lodestones (molten and charged, respectively—and destroyer if you do CoE 3). The gold reward alone means you can purchase three T6 (more from Arah) and still have some silver left over.
Any of these methods are reliable and recommended. If you’d rather go it alone, you can farm things like skelk in southsun or trolls near jormag. Just keep in mind that you will get very poor returns for doing so.
The best way to get your T6 materials is by farming gold in your favorite manner and purchasing them off the trading post.
They are extrememly inefficient to farm directly any more thanks to nerfs.
I would make sure to do daily Ori/Ancient wood runs on each level 80 toon you have. A full run on all four maps usually yields ~4G per toon (when sold on TP) in just about 20 minutes. Good source of income right now.
Also, don’t forget about the Heavy Crafting Bags bought with 1 laurel that contains 3 T6 materials. This is a pretty good investment, if you have already acquired the ascended gear you desire.