Michaleo
Composting Legendary Items for Relics and Shards
A Very Short Description of Legendary Items
Legendary Items (LIs) are complicated. There are a lot of details and things to be figured out. This note will address one aspect of them.
LIs accumulate Item Experience (IXP) as you defeat mobs and perform quests. They go up levels until they reach level 60. For the LIs you equip, each level gives you more Legacy Points to spend to improve the bonuses they confer. You can use a scroll of delving to increase the max to 70, giving you more Legacy Points. When you deconstruct a LI, you get relics as well as some IXP back and a legacy scroll you can use to replace a legacy on another LI.
There are many details to consider for the LIs you equip and use. For this note, only IXP and the relics produced when LIs are deconstructed are important.
Composting Legendary Items
“Compost LIs” is the term I use for the garbage LIs that you pick up as mob drops (or perhaps buy from the AH from people who got dropped a LI for a different class) or craft from common mats. The goal is to produce relics and shards that can be used to improve other LIs. By “composting” LIs, you turn “garbage” LIs into “fertilizer” for the LIs you use. (End of analogy)
All LIs of the same equip level (the level needed to equip or slot it) and IXP level (level based on IXP in the LI) produce the same relics, shards, and IXP when deconstructed. (The amounts for any particular deconstruction vary randomly, so they may be more or less than the averages.) It doesn’t matter what kind of LI (weapon, class LI, bridle). (I don’t have enough data to be conclusive, but it appears that Second Age LIs do not produce more relics than Third Age, nor do LIs that you use a scroll of delving on and level to 70).
Although the first LI you are given as a quest reward will only accumulate IXP when equipped, other LIs that are slotted earn IXP whether they are equipped or not. You start with 6 LI slots, but can buy more slots with TP.
The more slots you have with LIs accumulating IXP, the more total IXP you will accumulate. For two, you get 120%; for four, you get 160%; for six (or more) slots, you accumulate 216% of the amount you get from only one slot. The total is evenly distributed among the LIs that are earning IXP.
Deconstructing at IXP level 60/60 produces much more than even 59/60. For a level 100 LI, you get on average: 1.2 T7 relics, 7.9 T6 relics, and 5.3 T5 relics. It also returns 83% (5/6) of the IXP needed to reach 60/60. If refined, those relics would produce about 2,500 shards. These numbers will vary by the equip level of the LI, so lower level LIs will produce less. LIs 95-100 produce the same relics. LIs over level 76 return the same amount of IXP.
There is an often-repeated myth that deconstructing at 31/60 is good. Although 31/60 is better than 30/60, spending the extra IXP to get to 60/60 pays off. In fact, at level 76+, considering the IXP refund, it takes less net IXP to get to 60/60 than to stop at 31/60.
The relics and IXP refund are less at lower levels, but it is still worthwhile to go to 60/60. For a level 60 LI, you get back 35% of the IXP and 5.5 T4, 4 T3, 7.5 T2, and 1 T1 relics on average. To compare the relics produced, you have to weight them, for example, you have to forge 24 T1 relics to get one T4. At level 60, going to 31/60 produces half the total units of relics for about half the net IXP, but the relics are lower-tier (only 1 T4) so they will need the time and expense to forge them to useful.
[Note: The devs have tinkered with the numbers from time to time. The above numbers are for Update 18-19.]
Once you get the composting process going, if you have a steady supply of garbage LIs, you’ll be generating relics from fully-levelled LIs with only a fraction of the IXP needed to reach the max.
Example
Here is how I run my composting:
I start with however many empty slots I have for composting. (On Michaleo, I bought extra slots so I always have 6 going.) I keep the compost LIs together in my bag. I identify them, then drag each one to an empty tab in the LI panel, keeping them separate from the LIs that I equip. For convenience, I use IXP runes that I have in my vault to put the same amount of IXP into each one. That way, they will all need reforges at the same time, and will be ready to deconstruct at the same time. If I don’t have enough large IXP runes, or if I don’t want to be deconstructing for a while, I’ll put in a smaller amount or none and wait until they get to 60/60. Those 26,800 runes are handy because they get me past the first reforge.
At the first reforge, I rename the compost LIs. I want to keep them separate from my real LIs so I don’t accidentally deconstruct a useful one. I use “Slot IV” for slot 4, “Slot V” for slot 5, etc. (It won’t let me use digits, so I use Roman numerals, ain’t I smart!) Later, when I am deconstructing or pumping in IXP, the compost LIs will stand out.. You can now rename a LI at any time by clicking on the pencil icon to the right of the name on the LI panel.
Subsequent reforges are quick. When it’s a compost LI, it doesn’t matter which legacy I choose to add or upgrade. I click reforge, pick a legacy, and I’m soon back on the road.
If you start with a 902500 or 938000 IXP rune, you’ll finish all your reforges at the beginning. An 837500 rune will only need one reforge before you deconstruct. If you use 867000, add in one of those 1000 runes to trigger the last reforge before you go. (The 50/60 reforge happens at 867828.)
Starting with the LI over 50/60 means I’ll be deconstructing relatively soon. The more decons, the more relics, and that’s what we want.
Some tips
If you didn’t place a LI in the slot you wanted when you first slotted it, you can reorder the LIs. Bring up the LI display (shift I) and select the tab where you want to put the LI. Drag the LI from your bag (even if it’s already slotted) onto the LI square. If there’s already a LI there, it will move that one to a different tab (it will swap, if the one you’re dragging is already slotted). If you want to move one you have equipped, you can drag it from the character display to the tab or put it in your bag, drag it where you want it, then reequip it.
It doesn’t matter if you assign points to compost LIs, so don’t bother. You’ll be generating a legacy scroll on each deconstruction, so if there are some you like to have on the LIs you equip, add it when you’re reforging and extract it when you deconstruct. You’ll quickly have scrolls for your favourite legacies to use when you build a LI to equip.
It is not necessary to do the reforge at 60/60. It costs a little silver, but does not change the resulting relics or shards. (It doesn’t hurt to do it.) The reforges up to and including 50/60 are necessary.
When you get to a reforge point with a LI, it will stop accumulating IXP from quests or mob defeats until you do a reforge. However, you can use an IXP rune to put IXP into a LI that carries you past the next reforge. It will save the extra until you do a reforge. When you pump a large IXP rune into a LI, it will trigger several reforges.
Deconstructing LIs
You must be careful when you deconstruct LIs. It is just as easy to deconstruct a First Ager that was so hard to get as it is one of your compost LIs. All LIs are locked when slotted. In the relic master, it won’t show you locked LIs in the deconstruct tab. Rather than checking the box to show locked LIs (which may also show you LIs you want to keep), I unlock a compost LI one at a time. The inventory improvement in Update 13 made this safer. Click on the lock icon on Bag 1, then click on the LI you want to deconstruct in your inventory. Notice the name will be what you chose for your compost LIs. Select it and deconstruct it.
If you need a particular legacy scroll, select it. If you don’t need any, pick anything and vendor it. You will get some large IXP runes. I save them until I have enough of the same value to evenly load into the LIs I am composting.
Take a deep breath and repeat the process for the other compost LIs that have reach 60/60. Then load up a new set, start them off with some IXP and continue.
It’s easiest if the vault and relic master and forge master are near each other, since you’ll deconstruct the compost LIs, then sort your IXP runes and start a new set.
You’ll soon find you have a lot of relics and IXP runes.
by Michaleo on 2014-05-19 07:27:25