Guild Wars 2

My ele has 3 soulbound exotics which I don’t need. 2 are salvageable, 1 is not.

So my options are:

1) Throw all 3 in the Mystic Forge with a MF Stone and hope for a cool skin.

2) Salvage the two which are salvageable and wait for other exotics to throw in the forge with the 3rd.

Assuming I won’t get a precursor or other-super valuable exotic back from the forge what do you think is the best choice? I rarely salvage exotics so other than Dark Matter, which I don’t currently need, I can’t remember what I might get from it.

If they are cheap and you don’t need the gold, I would put them in the mystic forge. For myself I would rather have the chance getting a new skin than the ectos or dark matter. It’s what I’ve been doing lately with soulbound and/or cheap exotics I get.

Check their Runes/Sigils, first. If the salvageable ones have valuable Runes or Sigils, then definitely salvage them with a Black Lion kit.

Beyond the Dark Matter, you get Globs of Ectoplasm from salvaging Exotics, a greater amount on average than from rares. So beyond the Rune/Sigil mentioned above, it just comes down to your personal needs and how much you like gambling. If you’re short on Ectoplasm or gold, then salvaging the Exotics that you can salvage will get you those. If you aren’t in need of Ectoplasm or gold, and you don’t mind gambling, then you can toss them into the forge and see what happens. You might get a new skin, you might get a valuable Rune/Sigil on the new item, you might get a precursor, or (most likely) you might be left with something 1/4 the value of what you threw in.

Assuming the runes and sigils are worth no more than a few silver and assuming they don’t have a potentially salvageable inscription or insignia, each exotic salvaged using mystic/masters yields an average of an ecto or about 40s.

So the math is something like:

• 2 salvaged exotics ~80s in ecto, a few silver in mats.
• 3 forged (with a stone) exotics yields 1 exotic, worth 50s to 10g or more (with 1-2 g being the most likely). This number is much less if you are talking about armor and much less still for trinkets.

So my rule of thumb is:

• Always BL Kit salvage exotics, if they have a valued rune/sigil.
• Always Mystic/Master salvage them, if they have a salvageable inscription/insignia.
• If none of the above is true:
  • Forge if 3+ weapons
  • Salvage if trinkets
  • Usually salvage if armor.

Then again, sometimes I decide to forget about the math and just gamble on the forge. Getting a fancy exotic is a lot more fun than getting a few ecto, even if the odds favor salvaging.

I’m 2/2 with forging soul bound exos
1) low lvl exos from level up rewards > Exo with Rune of Strength
2) 4 lvl 80 GS > Dawn

skyhawk.5149:

I’m 2/2 with forging soul bound exos
1) low lvl exos from level up rewards > Exo with Rune of Strength
2) 4 lvl 80 GS > Dawn

Oooh! Awesome, gz.

(PS to others: don’t try this at home; your mileage will vary considerably.)