Should I deconstruct or sale to vendors weapons/armor I won't use?

JasonSilverSpring · April 2014

Hello,

I am a Sorcerer relying on staffs and light armor. So far I am at level 11 but I have been torn with how to handle the many heavy armor and steel weapons I get as loot and quest rewards.

So far I have been deconstructing them to build some blacksmithing experience (currently at 5) and then selling the raw materials. I also have been harvesting ore as I find it and refining that and then selling that. By selling I mean to vendors. At this point I am not interested in the time/effort to sale to other players.

Would I build up gold better by just outright selling these items to vendors? Between trying to build up gold for a second bank upgrade and feeding my imperial horse daily my gold level is not very high. I have about 4,000 gold at the moment, but I only started feeding my horse a day ago. I fear that will quickly deplete my gold.

My focus for crafting has been on clothing for light armor, woodworking for staffs and provisioning. Is there a better way to approach this. I have also been hoarding rawhides just in case I even need to dabble in medium armor but might start selling some of that as once I crossed 100 there went another darn bank slot.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

PBpsy · April 2014

You will not make much money by crafting weapons or armor unless you max your crafting out and researche enough stuff to do some of the cool sets.Not selling will of course reduce your income. I deconstructed almost everything I found but sometimes sold just to get my respecs and bank/inv space faster.

Ulvich · April 2014

I would either deconstruct or research it. You could always sell the mats.

Greydog · April 2014

Most crafting materials have zero value to a vendor. In the case of armor classes you don't use I would simply sell and not decon. Weapons are another issue I would start researching some of those in case you change your mind later.

A point to remember though, deconstructing is a good way to gain trait gems no matter what you get them from.

Natjur · April 2014

To level crafting I deconstruct everything and got the skills to 50 without making any armor (ok, made about 10 items)

Now that I have got the trade skills to 50, I sell all whites to the NPC, break down all greens and sell the 'green' crafting resources I get from them 90% of the time. White crafting resources I just NPC vendor.

Blues and purples items I sell on the auction house.

JasonSilverSpring · April 2014

@Greydog‌, it may not be too much but selling iron so far has at least fetched a little gold. I find far more ore out in the world than I do jute. I typically refine it and sell the ingot. When I deconstruct I do keep the trait gems and style material.

If I don't really plan to ever use swords/daggers/etc, is there really any benefit to researching? I would likely start another character with a very different build if I went to such weapons.

Lazarus_Long · April 2014

Well, it in the end it is totally up to you, but I would say making another character to be a dedicated blacksmith and yet another to be a dedicated woodworker might server you better in the long run be cause of the amount of time it takes to research traits on items.

I am using this set up and when I find an item that I want to research I toss it in the bank play till I get to stopping point, log to the toon that I want to research it, and pull it out the bank and start the research as soon as I can.

Everything that I can't fit into my research schedule or that I have already researched gets deconstructed and once I have a 100 stack of the mats in the bank I vendor any more that I get.

Clothing, blacksmithing, and woodworking each have two very useful skills in them. One for resource extraction and the other for speeding up research.

But like I said, in the end it's up to you. Play the game in the way that is the most fun for you.

JasonSilverSpring · April 2014

First, thanks to you all for some good information for me to think on. I appreciate it.

@Lazarus_Long‌, I am curious about the idea of having alts to focus on various crafting. For those characters do you actively quest to build up skill points and focus mostly on crafting when using skill points? Or do you rely on skyshards to build up skill points? Repeating a lot of quests just to build up skill points might get old for me. If I am missing something on how people use alts for crafting, please enlighten me. I read about a fair number of people doing it but I am not sure how it best works.

I did create one alt which I only have used so far to store all the stuff that came with the explorer pack and the vanity pets, etc. They use up way too much bank space. But that alt is just sitting outside the bank at Auridon with only what one gets when they skip the tutorial.

As to the research time, it is a bit of a pain but given that I typically get only 1-2 hours playtime in daily it is not a huge issue for me so far.

Lazarus_Long · April 2014

My alt for blacksmithing is level 22 and my alt for woodworking is level 21. When they need a new skill point I go questing, farming, and leveling to get it. Skyshards are great, but their limited numbers can mean some hard slogging against higher level mobs in the next zone if you rely on them too much. It can be much easier (and faster) to move the main story of the current zone forward a notch. At times I have even payed the price for a respec to get my skill points where I want them but that is so expensive I don't do it lightly.

cjmarsh725b14_ESO · April 2014

If you are short on gold and want to make some in the early levels, try saving your unrefined materials (like ores and rough woods) and selling those directly to other players. The reason selling the unrefined mats is better has to do with the resource extraction skills in each crafting line. At level 32 of the craft you can have 3/3 in the skill and the improvement materials you gain from refining raw materials are worth much more than the raw materials. As a result, you can sell these raw mats for 10-14 gold each or, if you plan on leveling your crafting and can afford to do it, keep these raw mats and refine them yourself. This is a good way to earn gold, both by selling and refining, and is much more lucrative than trying to sell the refined materials.

Morthur · April 2014

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Turial · April 2014

Since you are only 11 and I remember this overwhelming feeling at that stage I would suggest to you that just research what you can right now and flat out sell the items up until around 30, by then you will have a firm hand in how to manage your bank and what you do and do not want to keep. The low level mats won't sell that well so you will only be adding more work by deconstructing right now, You can worry about decon experience from 30+ since you will still get tons of weapons and armor along the way, selling will just give you that boost for now while you work on your character. I also suggest upgrading bank space over bag since it is account based.

Lalai · April 2014

I use all the items I find for crafting stuff. I either decon them for experience, or use them to research traits. If you've got a few points in the improved extraction skills you'll regularly get improvement mats from the stuff you break down too.

If you're leveling crafting and need the improvement mats, or need the levels that deconstructing helps with.. go that route. If you're not worried about those things then I'd go ahead and sell them.

Shimond · April 2014

I typically deconstruct until I hit level 9 in the various crafts. That gives me the option of getting 2 ranks in the "spot harvestable nodes" skills later on. After that I'll only deconstruct greens+ for the upgrade mats. Rest get vendored.

fougerec99b16_ESO · April 2014

I focus on what I need for the character. My Templar is a blacksmith. I decon/research those items and sell everything else either to a vendor or through my guild store. I don't keep things for alts, I don't hang on to things "just in case". If it's not made of metal then she has no use for it other than to generate gold. Keeps my cash fairly flush and my inventory very manageable.

jpp · April 2014

I'm not yet doing weapon/armor crafting (doing alchemy, provisioning and echanching) so may be not an expert, but when you deconstruct then you got some materials that can be also used to construct. Raw materials have no value and you also need some gold in the mean time so it is better to construct something if you can.
I plan to concentrate on one profession (bag space!, also I completed provisioning and a lot of materials went to trash). In the mean time I choose most interesting traits in all three professions and now I'm at 4 days research limit at many items.
Also do not forget to visit each station before selling items to vendor.

Svann · April 2014

Im working smithing and clothing and here is what I do
1. Decon stuff for the 2 crafts until I get enough skill to buy the next tier of crafting ability. If Im still in iron content/levels then that means enough to buy the steel crafting ability when I need it.
2. After that decon the greens and blues and sell the whites, unless I need more mats to make gear.
3. Sell all gear for crafts Im not working on.

Dont work crafts that you dont really have an interest in. If you change your mind later you can always start them up, but deconning everything will leave you short of cash when you want storage upgrades.

psychounz · April 2014

I tend to deconstruct those items that I know I'm going to use on a particular character (say, medium armors and blades/daggers on my NB) and when my research slots are now filled up for the next 6hrs-4days, I sell the rest XD I assume that I will get more pieces with the traits I will need at some point in the future. I may also deconstruct items that I know will yield me the current material that my character can wear.

FrauPerchta · April 2014

I always deconstruct or research. I get enough gold in loot feed my horse, buy glyphs and the like. Plus have gold left over.

LadyInTheWater · April 2014

A lot of people will have a lot of different systems on how they handle the loot drops they get, so I'll chime in with mine too.

When I return to town, the first thing I do is set up whichever new research I can. I try to always have something being researched for each of the crafting skills. If there's no research going on a skill, and I don't happen to have an item for it, I'll swing by the guild store and pick something up for research. If I want something specific, I'll ask in chat for someone to craft a lvl 1 version for me.

After that, I tend to deconstruct anything that'll have a chance of giving me an improvement material (greens or higher). Then I'll usually offer to trade the improvement materials I'm not using to other players, in exchange for the materials I want.

I vendor off any white items I have left over, and I post the raw materials I don't need onto the guild store, pretty cheap. They usually sell before I've gotten to my next questing area.

karmamule · April 2014

My cycle is simple and I get a fair amount of gold from it. Not as much as selling things etc., but enough for my gameplay's sake:

For each craft that character is doing I do Keen Eye so I have plenty of raw mats. Then when in town:

Double-check for items I actually want to use
Check for research opportunities and use any items needed for that
Sell white items
Deconstruct green or blue items for the improvement materials

Selling white items (except those used for research) gives a decent income, and after I hit tier 2 I still harvest tier 1 raw materials when in those zones and refine them, and sell the refining results because that can add up quickly too. I'm usually too lazy to sell to other people, just to vendors.

Overall that strategy has kept me supplied, and lets me upgrade bag or bank space on a regular basis (though not too frequently because I like having it be a big deal when I do it!

)

TheCookisMonstar · April 2014

JasonSilverSpring wrote: »

Hello,

I am a Sorcerer relying on staffs and light armor. So far I am at level 11 but I have been torn with how to handle the many heavy armor and steel weapons I get as loot and quest rewards.

So far I have been deconstructing them to build some blacksmithing experience (currently at 5) and then selling the raw materials. I also have been harvesting ore as I find it and refining that and then selling that. By selling I mean to vendors. At this point I am not interested in the time/effort to sale to other players.

Would I build up gold better by just outright selling these items to vendors? Between trying to build up gold for a second bank upgrade and feeding my imperial horse daily my gold level is not very high. I have about 4,000 gold at the moment, but I only started feeding my horse a day ago. I fear that will quickly deplete my gold.

My focus for crafting has been on clothing for light armor, woodworking for staffs and provisioning. Is there a better way to approach this. I have also been hoarding rawhides just in case I even need to dabble in medium armor but might start selling some of that as once I crossed 100 there went another darn bank slot.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

From someone who maxed everything and was broke to the end doing so...

Going back if I did it all again which I wont...

Sell everything on your way to VR ... at VR then deconstruct and your levels will go super fast for crafting with deconstruct. If you also want to craft and deconstruct...find a friend and trade crafted items for 800% exp deconstruct bonus.

Enjoy your wealth and learn to use Quickslot pots.

AreoHotah · April 2014

Easy...

1.You like crafting your own gear? deconstruct, lvl up your profession and save mats.

2.You don't care about step 1?? sell everything and buy gear with the gold.

Easy...

Laerian · April 2014

whites: research / sale
greens: research / decon for tempers
blues: use/ decon for tempers (or sell to players)

The "skip and sell everything until VR" advice is efficient and less annoying way to do it (Pretty lame, by design) but you'll miss tempers and researching times unless you get VR in few days.

You can combine both methods: research and sell all until VR.

Also, use research assistant.

RianaTheBosmer · April 2014

I sell to vendors whatever I can't learn a trait from. I make some pretty decent coin, not enough for my painted horse. My people need to work harder, lol.

JasonSilverSpring · April 2014

Thanks again to everyone for your help, I believe I will stop deconstructing whites and focus on research and deconstructing greens/blues (not seen many blues yet though). @Laerian‌ you summed it up very well.

I enjoy crafting and at my slow rate, VR is way away so I will keep on this path. I will focus mostly on clothing and woodworking though.

Thanks again to all!

cabbageub17_ESO · May 2014

Does crafting really level faster at VR? Or just that you have more time to spend and higher level things to deconstruct?

I decon or research everything or send it to my alt (I'm an altoholic) I ignore provisioning so I don't bother with that stuff. I had one alt using it but decided it was just too bank and bag slot intensive.

I create/deconstruct loop to level my crafting.