I had an idea that would make high-level blue materials more valuable. But I'm not sure if this is a good idea or a bad one. I was curious what others thought.

The largest market for purple gear has always been at max level. And (understandably) the purple materials are the most sought-after. Resulting in a circumstance whereby the blue materials become such a glut that many players simply vendor them, rather than using them.

Anyway, my idea is this:

What if the artifact level gear required a significant amount of blue materials, in addition to the purples?

For example, an Advanced Might Augment 36 currently requires:

4 Zoosha Solutions

4 Enigmatic Artifact Fragments

4 Ruusan Crystals

4 Biocell Memory Core

2 Adaptive Circuity

What if, leave everything else the same, but raise the Biocell Memory Core requirement to 10 Or 12. Or perhaps even 16?

The idea being, that suddenly all these blue materials have an actual value. They could be traded on the GTN.

Whaddya think?

Edit: This would only apply to the purple schematics, not the blues.

This would also increase the price on said augments, even if money is easy to get in this game, prices need to stay within a reasonable limit.

If you have to many blue materials, sell them to the NPCs

I general, prices have increased for the average player - and remember that in PvE, F2P players or even "Preferred Status" players pay more that subscribers. Often far more. And get even much less when selling things.

The Fortresses alone are currently HUGE money sinks.

Who doesn't want to have a Tatooine Fortress ?

And, remember, I said AVERAGE player. Not you.

If you have to many blue materials, sell them to the NPCs

This is what I was trying to address. Most people just sell them to NPCs, as they have no actual value.

This would also increase the price on said augments, even if money is easy to get in this game, prices need to stay within a reasonable limit.

I guess the question is, how much would it increase the price of augments?

The players that are running the crew missions to get slicing materials have excess blue materials anyway.

And, remember, I said AVERAGE player. Not you.

I understand.

I general, prices have increased for the average player

But have they? For crafted gear, I mean.

Crafted 186 purples and augment kits are selling for a comparable price as the crafted 156 purples were when 2.0 first dropped. They've also dropped quite a bit as more people get into the market.

Personally, I do not think this is a systemic problem that can be fixed systemically. IMO this is a mentality problem - too many crafters believe that the only valuable crafted goods are purple. And so they run mission after mission after mission seeking the purple materials and completely ignoring the blues. They are too busy making stuff instead of focusing on making credits (DarthTHC "Make credits not stuff"). If they shifted focus to making credits they would learn that crafted blues have MUCH higher profit margins than purples.

But I am glad most don't because that means more credits for me

Personally, I do not think this is a systemic problem that can be fixed systemically. IMO this is a mentality problem - too many crafters believe that the only valuable crafted goods are purple. And so they run mission after mission after mission seeking the purple materials and completely ignoring the blues. They are too busy making stuff instead of focusing on making credits (DarthTHC "Make credits not stuff"). If they shifted focus to making credits they would learn that crafted blues have MUCH higher profit margins than purples.

 

But I am glad most don't because that means more credits for me

That is wrong, you need 2 purple mats for an augment, you need 13 augments for a full set.

I did not buy any purple mats and crafted all my own augments, that means for the 13 augments i needed 26 purple mats.

To get the 26 purple mats i have at least 700 blue mats.

It took me 2 weeks to get all 26 purple mats.

If i people would focus on credits like you say and craft blue augments and sell those, then i would be able to supply 300 +- blue augments...

There is no chance i am ever selling 300 blue augments.

The ratio of getting blue mats vs purple mats is just to big a difference.

Even if you would add 20 blue mats to craft a purple augment, i would need (13x20) 260 blue mats, and i would still have 400+ blue mats left that i would have to sell or dump.

Here are a couple of ideas about dealing with the excess number of blue crafting items.

1) Nothing. They're the cost of doing business.

2) Increase their vendor price so they're not so worthless to cash in for credits.

3) Have a Jawa Exchange where you can turn in 10 or 99 or whatever number for raw mats of the same level.

4) Have an exchange where you can turn them in for purples of lower grades.

5) Allow them to be donated to LS/DS causes (c.f., war effort) to obtain points in these or some other rep.

6) Increase the number of interesting schematics that use the mats. A good example would be having more schematics for 11th level fabrics. There are only a handful of recipes that use veda cloth and the purple cloth, thus an excess of both.

Crafting blue items can be highly profitable - but it is a bit of a grind and requires selling in large quantities. Sure, a blue crafted item may have a very large profit margin, but the absolute profit per item is still low which is why a lot of people ignore those markets.

One thing they could do, and I was personally surprised they didn't, is to add schematics for conquest items that required blue materials, either as extra materials for the existing conquest items, or as stand alone schematics that used blues instead of greens.

"Ideas" like this can be divided into two categories.

1. Ideas that players can work with and discuss what the best course of action is, learning a lot from each other in the process, and

2. Ideas that would require a programming change from the developers.

The second kind is going to take awhile, if it is implemented at all. The first kind at least has the potential of being immediately applicable.

If they shifted focus to making credits they would learn that crafted blues have MUCH higher profit margins than purples.

Are you talking about leveling blues? Or the new level 60 stuff?

A grade 36 blue augment requires 8 green and 4 blue mats. Based on the analysis I did, that's approximately 7200cr worth of gathering. On my server (BG), blue augments are selling between 25k-40k. That's about ~25k profit per blue augment, which comes out to 350%.

A purple augment requires the same mats as the blue, plus 2 purple mats, bringing the total cost to 15200cr worth of gathering. On my server, purple augments are selling between 175k-240k. That's about ~192k profit per blue augment, which comes out to 1265%.

So, when you say that crafted blues have a MUCH higher profit margin, how exactly are you figuring that?

Are you talking about leveling blues? Or the new level 60 stuff?

 

A grade 36 blue augment requires 8 green and 4 blue mats. Based on the analysis I did, that's approximately 7200cr worth of gathering. On my server (BG), blue augments are selling between 25k-40k. That's about ~25k profit per blue augment, which comes out to 350%.

 

A purple augment requires the same mats as the blue, plus 2 purple mats, bringing the total cost to 15200cr worth of gathering. On my server, purple augments are selling between 175k-240k. That's about ~192k profit per blue augment, which comes out to 1265%.

 

So, when you say that crafted blues have a MUCH higher profit margin, how exactly are you figuring that?

Do you really think those prices are going to remain constant? I am talking about after the initial rush to get schematics and materials calms down and the market stabilizes. Right now purples are generally inflated in value because relatively few players have the schematics AND the "extra" materials to craft and sell to others. Add to that right now there are mass quantities of crafted blues being dumped on the GTN at depressed values because many (if not most) crafters do not care about blues; they just want something...anything back from their investment.

Taking a look at older augment markets... In BOTH 1.x and 2.x the best blue augments (grade 22 and 28 respectively) could be crafted for about 4k credits and sold for 10k each. that's 150% margin. Again in both grade 22 and 28 purple augments could be crafted for 60k and sold for 80k. that's 33% margin.

Give it a month or two and grade 36 will be the same way. I'll bet on it.

Lastly, the majority of players do not have the resources to deck out in purples right away. With this in mind, blues are a quality option: one can deck out in blue augments or augment two or three pieces (out of 14) with purple. Many players will choose to deck out and get the significantly better stat bump and then move to purple over time.

Lastly, the majority of players do not have the resources to deck out in purples right away. With this in mind, blues are a quality option: one can deck out in blue augments or augment two or three pieces (out of 14) with purple. Many players will choose to deck out and get the significantly better stat bump and then move to purple over time.

Just so you know, I'm not trying to say the blue market isn't a good investment. I've made plenty of credits over the years doing as you describe. I'm merely disputing the idea of the profit margins being better.

Taking a look at older augment markets... In BOTH 1.x and 2.x the best blue augments (grade 22 and 28 respectively) could be crafted for about 4k credits and sold for 10k each. that's 150% margin. Again in both grade 22 and 28 purple augments could be crafted for 60k and sold for 80k. that's 33% margin.

I didn't track gathering / crew missions as effectively as I did for 3.0, so I don't have hard numbers to dispute your statement. But it really doesn't make sense that you're putting the purple augment crafting cost at 60k.

The mission costs for the grade 11s are pretty similar to what they were for grade 9s (between 3k-4k each). And the crit percentage is likely to be the same (20% for full affection). Wouldn't this make the crafting costs for purples closer to 16k? Putting the profit margin 400% instead of 33%?

Just so you know, I'm not trying to say the blue market isn't a good investment. I've made plenty of credits over the years doing as you describe. I'm merely disputing the idea of the profit margins being better.

 

I didn't track gathering / crew missions as effectively as I did for 3.0, so I don't have hard numbers to dispute your statement. But it really doesn't make sense that you're putting the purple augment crafting cost at 60k.

 

The mission costs for the grade 11s are pretty similar to what they were for grade 9s (between 3k-4k each). And the crit percentage is likely to be the same (20% for full affection). Wouldn't this make the crafting costs for purples closer to 16k? Putting the profit margin 400% instead of 33%?

Thermal Regulators (grade 9 purple sliced parts) - using idealized statistics (perfect distribution of crits and failure over the course of 100 runs of the Rich sliced part mission) - cost just under 6k credits. however, basing value on cost to acquire is shortsighted. I typically base material costs one what they are worth on the GTN. On The Harbinger TRs averaged 15k each. 4x15=60. Because the other materials were incidental compared to the TRs, their value was rarely accounted for.

Yes, if one ran his/her own missions and never bought a single material off the GTN, profits are that much higher. But to maintain that kind of flow is difficult. Furthermore, if given the choice:

acquire TRs for 6k and sell directly them for 15k

or

acquire TRs for 6k crafted them into augments that then sell for 60k

it makes more sense to sell the TRs directly because the profit strictly speaking higher (augments do have other materials required to craft and while trivial compared to TRs their costs are not zero).

I typically base material costs one what they are worth on the GTN. On The Harbinger TRs averaged 15k each. 4x15=60. Because the other materials were incidental compared to the TRs, their value was rarely accounted for.

Interesting. I rarely purchase materials for crafting/resale. I'd mainly do it to craft stuff for my own toons.

Furthermore, if given the choice:

 

acquire TRs for 6k and sell directly them for 15k

or

acquire TRs for 6k crafted them into augments that then sell for 60k

And this ^^^ is the exact reason why.

Gathering / crew missions to get the raw materials offer the greatest flexibility. Depending on which way the wind blows in a particular week, it may be better to craft and sell, or to just sell the raw materials.

Last week, for example, Adaptive Circuity became scarce on BG and climbed up to 150k each. But the actual augments were around 220k+. So I sold mats. Over the weekend, the mats dropped to 75k, but the augments only dropped to 180k. So I sold augments.

Interesting. I rarely purchase materials for crafting/resale. I'd mainly do it to craft stuff for my own toons.

 

And this ^^^ is the exact reason why.

 

Gathering / crew missions to get the raw materials offer the greatest flexibility. Depending on which way the wind blows in a particular week, it may be better to craft and sell, or to just sell the raw materials.

 

Last week, for example, Adaptive Circuity became scarce on BG and climbed up to 150k each. But the actual augments were around 220k+. So I sold mats. Over the weekend, the mats dropped to 75k, but the augments only dropped to 180k. So I sold augments.

Don't get me wrong, 90% of the time I acquire all the materials I use to craft through myself, but there are times when I cannot keep up with demand for something and to wait on my own "gathering" is counterproductive. As an example: I made lots of Black/Red and Black/Blue dye modules for sale. They each require one Mytag crystal (grade 9 purple TH mat). I would watch that market closely and whenever prices were 8k or less I would buy (which btw was most of the time). The reason is simple: that 2k extra to acquire is a small price to pay when I can sell those dye modules faster than I can produce them.

I also find that all too frequently when I buy materials off the GTN, my crit rate goes up

Yes, if one ran his/her own missions and never bought a single material off the GTN, profits are that much higher. But to maintain that kind of flow is difficult. Furthermore, if given the choice:

 

acquire TRs for 6k and sell directly them for 15k

or

acquire TRs for 6k crafted them into augments that then sell for 60k

 

it makes more sense to sell the TRs directly because the profit strictly speaking higher (augments do have other materials required to craft and while trivial compared to TRs their costs are not zero).

Actually, crafting augments is still the better option in your scenario. Assuming a 20% crit rate, you get 1.2 augments per 4 TRs, so you make 72K, which is more than 60K + other mats.

The main "problem" with purple augments (and augment kits) is that they are the obvious "big ticket items" for their crafters, and it is trivially easy to get the schematics, so there is no substantial barrier to entry for the market, which means that it quickly becomes a commodity market, and the prices tend to converge *below* the mat cost (because the crits boost the net value of each sale).

So, when the market is flooded with purples priced at crit-adjusted-mat price, it makes sense to look at other markets, such as blues. Or items for characters not at max level. Since the time to gather mats is the same whether or not I sell the mats or carft an item and then sell it, I won't craft and sell items unless I am making *more* than just selling the mats and the profit I could make crafting another product.

Another way to look at is, I only sell mats. Sometimes I sell them directly, and sometimes I sell them "preconfigured".

A few days ago I thought :

"Blue items are the only way fopr F2P players to be effective without having to buy the Artifact Unlock."

And they are not that much able to pay high prices because they have a so much lower cap of owning monedy. They are even paying more when buying from NPCs and getting less when selling to them.