About transmute crystals and decon/recon-struct

kalunte · October 2020

i just tested it and found it desapointing that you're getting your transmute crystals back (100% of them) when deconing a reconstructed item but not when deconing a transmuted item, not even 1 whenever the price was 50.

this is probably intended just like it was with jewelry release back in the days (former jewerly isnt decon-able) but well. it hurts my feelings (and plans).

simple thought.

starkerealm · October 2020

Worth noting: You get 25 crystals back when you decon an item, not 100%. If you have that set completed, then it will be equivalent, and you could potentially just use reconstructed items to, "bank," crystals, but, if you're missing parts, you'll lose crystals in the processes.

kalunte · October 2020

oh, thanks, did not have enough crystals on my toon to transmute for more than 25crystals >.>

still, i'd like some crystal back for already transmuted and bag/bank-space-eaters items when i decon them

idk · October 2020

kalunte wrote: »

oh, thanks, did not have enough crystals on my toon to transmute for more than 25crystals >.>

still, i'd like some crystal back for already transmuted and bag/bank-space-eaters items when i decon them

It just so happens if you have added a complete set to your collections that the cost is 25 crytals to construct a piece. If you only have one piece of that set in your collection the cost is 75 crystals. That is why the 25 crystal return is does not mean the system is setup to return all the crystals required to contrast a piece.

Also worth noting, any upgrade matts used to construct the piece are returned the same way they are normally, a chance to get one upgrade matt.

richo262 · October 2020

Its fine, this is how the play style will be.

Found an item you want, but trait is garbage?
Do you have enough items to reduce the cost below 50?
YES > Reconstruct
NO > Transmute (if you don't care about getting the transmutes back)

Found a purple / gold jewelry piece but you want to change the trait, should you transmute?
Purple > Maybe, depends on if your swimming in purple plates or transmutes
Gold > Yes, to reconstruct will cost you the 4 plates this already has.

Transmuting will serve this function in the future.
Jewelry
Sets where the collection is nearly bare and recon cost is higher
Transmute sink, make Nirnhoned weapons and decon them.
(Reconstructed items don't drop nirn traits, transmuted items can)

starkerealm · October 2020

@richo262, the other thing we're going to see (long term) is:

Farming for an item.
Get other items from different sets. Decon/vendor those items.
Some time later. Realize you want to use one of those sets due to new patch changes, a desire to try a new build, or because you've leveled an alt.
Consider if the gem cost for reconstruction will be significant than the time cost for farming that gear.
Reconstruct items you wouldn't have saved before.

virtus753 · October 2020

The way I think about it is that the transmute crystals are the “base mat” + “trait mat” + “style mat” + “upgrade mats” (to the lowest possible quality) of a reconstructed piece. When you decon any item currently, you have a chance at recovering any of those. It wouldn’t make sense to get them from a reconstructed item, since we never put them in in the first place. (Instead we get 25 crystals to cover it.) Vice versa, it wouldn’t make sense to get crystals out of a non-transmuted non-reconstructed item, since those never had crystals put in.

I will say that investing 50 crystals to change one trait seems high to me by comparison when we can use 25 (assuming a full collection) to reconstruct in any trait, and it suggests to me that the transmute and recon systems weren’t designed at the same time. But I wouldn’t want recon to be pegged at 50, and I’m glad they allowed the scale to go down to 25. As for deconning transmuted items, I wouldn’t mind in theory seeing a chance at getting a couple crystals back, since we invested them, but that would presumably replace the trait mat drop chance, removing the ability to farm transmute crystals for gold. I’d rather have the ability to do that, even though it means transmutation is fundamentally a different system than reconstruction, despite using the same currency.