I decided to give it a try, and honestly I don't know if its better or not than just doing the Opal Encrusted Steins. The skill-up rate seemed comparable...roughly 40-60 combines on average per skill-up. But the Opal Encrusted Steins seem to sell pretty well in the bazaar for 20pp each (approx cost) as compared to the planar ones which don't sell nearly as well.
As far as speed, with buying Tainted Planar Essence from vendors, I could get 200 combines done much quicker than the same amount with the steins.
As far as cost, Opal Encrusted Steins cost much less overall if I sold the successes at combine cost. Less of a loss is better than a total loss, and I only seemed to fail about 10% of the time.
Just my observations.
As far as speed, with buying Tainted Planar Essence from vendors, I could get 200 combines done much quicker than the same amount with the steins.
As far as cost, Opal Encrusted Steins cost much less overall if I sold the successes at combine cost. Less of a loss is better than a total loss, and I only seemed to fail about 10% of the time.
Just my observations.
Comment