I have been pretty much indulged in the new Crafting system since the expansion came out.
I spend alot of time in Trade Chat spamming my Crafts, I have built a huge customer base and network of crafters on my server and spend alot of my playtime chatting explaining how this complicated system works.
Most players tend to understand how the recrafting system works and are willing to go for inspiration procs. Where as some players are willing to pay the extra for guaranteed where either I use and insight or recraft with my own materials and they then get the guaranteed Max Rank item.
However then it comes to Epic Gems. These are something I only tend to sell if I’m asked because:
I hate explaining that they can’t be recrafted and they need to buy fresh materials each time. This way they end up with a stack of Rank 2 Gems they can’t use because they’re Unique.
Or
I have to use an insight to guarantee it, which I don’t want to do because I was to keep a surplus of Mettle (especially considering Season 2 is on the way).
This has also made Gems incredibly difficult to price up. Because 1 Gem aren’t really valuable enough to charge the premium extra that I would usually do for an Insight in other crafts. But the alternative is the Buyer keeps buying expensive Materials to recraft the gem and then pays that amount anyway.
What’s the most cost-effective way to make a Q2/Q3 gem without using insight? What I mean by this is what quality of source materials does the customer need to provide in order for your inspiration proc to guarantee a Q3 and non-inspired craft produce a Q2?
My guess would be that part of the problem is that customers buy the Q3 raw materials in order to improve the chances of a Q3 result, but in reality they would have the exact same chance to get Q3 if they used cheaper materials and that Q3 materials only matter if you want to guarantee a Q3 result using insight.
Given the price difference between Q2 and Q3 raw materials, I wouldn’t be surprised if crafting three gems from Q2 materials was cheaper than crafting one from Q3 materials + tip of 5k for insight.
I assume it works this way, but I don’t have JC, so I can’t check… I think it’s intended design. Personally, I would be willing to gamble a bit and would accept a Q2 result. Problem is though, you have to trust the crafter to use their inspiration tool when it’s in fact more profitable for them to use resourcefulness tools… And that’s not a good situation for either the customer or the honest, but unlucky crafter who fails to proc Q3 after multiple attempts.
You cannot guarantee a Rank 3 without using an Insight.
You can Inspire a Rank 3 using Rank 2 Materials, however you have a slightly higher chance using Rank 3 materials, because you’ll be within the Bonus Skill range (probably round about an extra 5%).
You won’t be able to use an Insight with Rank 2 materials.
Well customers buy Rank 3 mats and expect a Rank 3 Gem. This does seem like an unnecessary complication for something that should be so simple.
People don’t want to pay 10k for an insight, and I don’t blame them. But Insights/Mettle is scarce and has value.
It would make more sense if these gems used Lesser Insights, rather than the normal ones, as it would make it so much cheaper.
Yes, I often tell people it will work out cheaper using rank 2 materials. And charging 5k, and then I stack all Inspiration Buffs until it procs. But even then, with 42% unbuffed, it’s no uncommon to craft upto 7 times or more to get a proc, and that feels really bad for everyone involved.
If they want to use an Insight I charge 10k. At the start of Season 2, I plan to charge 15-20k per insight because of the demand. Which is why I’m sitting on my insights at the moment.