Q:
Opening champ bags
That would depend on what you want from the bags. If you want the mid tier stuffs or the higher value from them, go with your level 52 character. If you want Ectoplasm and Bloodstone Dust, go with your level 80 character. Exotics are the only things that don’t just directly translate into “Salvage this for materials,” and they come from any level of character.
Im looking at the best way to maximize gold from those bags
The amount and type of mats will be the same no matter who opens the bags. Named exotics drop at the same rate. The only thing that changes is the level of the gear that drops; that is dependent on the level of the toon you use when clicking.
By my calculations, each masterwork weapon and non-torso armor is worth about 1-2s more, when opening with L5x vs L80, with the notable except that cloth armor is worth about 10+ silver more, due to the difference in the price of linen from silk. This presumes you salvage everything green.
L80 rares are worth significantly more than L50 rares (10s to 40s per), but there aren’t that many that drop, so it probably doesn’t influence the outcome much. Also, I haven’t found anyone that keeps good track of the coin that drops from L50 vs L80 (it might be different). However, since the value of cloth salvaged from masterwork armor is so substantial, I doubt that it matters much even if you lose 50% of the direct coin.
tl;dr L51-59 will normally generate more value if you salvage all masterwork, sell rares, and sell trinkets of any kind. There are variations, depending on whether you have other interests.
John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”
The loot table for bags depends MORE on the target/enemy you got it off of. This is why sometimes you can’t stack the same time of bags/boxes even though they’re the same named boxes/bags and same rarity (i.e. exotic champion boxes from SEp1 and 3 don’t stack-up)
Boxes from a L50 champion will give you loot starting around L50 (you won’t be able to get loot lower than that from that box) but those boxes loot table will cap around the level of the player opening it. So if you open a box from a L50 champion with a L60 character, you’re likely to get gear/loot between L50-60, if you open it with a L80 character then L50-80 loot. Exotics USED to be an exception, but a while back they made low level exotics more prevalent, when they used to always be at L75+ now they’ll start as low as the champion you got the drop from. L80 Exotics are available in every champion box, regardless of the box’s rarity, these exotics are the ones you find the the exotic collection and precursors.
GL hunting