AAAAs still worth making?

[lemonade]

I'm imagining that making these for any sort of a profit has taken a big dive with the onset of TSS (or at least will sometime soon). Since the focus effects from bazu and last blood augs don't scale, they really have lost their luster as end-game gear.....meaning that raiders are less likely to shell out 150k to complete an obsolete item.

[Zacatac]

While many of the top end guilds will probably see them as less and less important, there are usually still mid-level guilds working towards even seeing Anguish.

My guild is still in GoD right now, working towards Tacvi. We do Shyra for Bazu stones. So for us, the Last Blood ones would still be an upgrade.

I sell the finished mechanoinstructions. So while I have noticed a bit of a slow down in sales, I still sell at least 1 a week.

[Mattius]

All guilds progress just depends on how fast they want to move. So there will always be demand for the 4A, how heavy that demand will remain to be seen. On Quellious they are down to 150k in the bazaar, and people in buyer wanting to buy for 110k.

I make for the alliance but I dont make any to just sell. Its a pain to make 1 for them let alone to make 1 to sell.

[Wyora]

I still see a demand (although somewhat smaller) for AAAAs. Guilds that couldn't do Anguish or Demiplane at level 70 will be able to do it at 75. Even without level 75 focus effects, Last Blood gear still has very good stats and will be upgrades for people. As an added bonus, not all guilds charge dkp for last bloods, so GM/Last Blood gear is essentiall a "free" upgrade.

[Xislaben]

I do tinkering combines for guildies who want them. The number of subcombines, the number of items, and the time it takes to make an AAAA even for a profit is just not worth it to me, so I don't make them to sell.

We're only seeing the beginning of itemization coming out of TSS, and I've yet to see good foci on anything. There's lots of 30% foci to level 75, but I'd not want to replace a 40% @ 70 or better foci for that. I'd rather just use my 70 and under spells rather than downgrade.

I expect the lack of scaling of foci to significantly hurt the sales of the AAAA's in the long run.

[olhoss]

I don't honestly think it will change all that much. While TSS Foci will make those from the Bazu/Last Blood augs less of a factor, the other numbers on these seals make them well worth the trouble/investment. They still have terrific numbers as well as avoidance, etc. In addition, the effects of the combat foci (dodge/bash) do not degrade like some of the spell foci.

I would say that until raid drops from TSS replace these, the foci will still be the best most of us will get, and for most of us these will be the best gear we own until the Demi gear etc. comes rolling our way.

[Kahmon]

AAAA sales have actually picked up for me recently. Besides, even if sales slow down it's still 5 trivial 351 combines towards maxing my trophy + a nice profit for each one I make.

[Beetem]

I would say that until raid drops from TSS replace these, the foci will still be the best most of us will get, and for most of us these will be the best gear we own until the Demi gear etc. comes rolling our way.

I have to agree.

However, I wouldn't hold your breath for Demiplane gear trumping DoN GM Cultural with a Bazu or Last Blood Augment; at least not from a melee perspective. Let's look at a Last Blood of the Berzerker Augment in the Grandmaster's Warborn Boots when compared to the Demplane-Saint Boots.

The GM Boots exceed the Demi in AC 90 to 77.
Demi exceeds GM Boots in HP by 20.
The GM Boots have 45 more ATK.
The GM Boots have shielding (this is probably capped at this point).

Stats and resists are at a point where if you are achieving this gear, you don't care.

The real advantage is the focus. With Demi it is Wurine Guard a 35% spell duration for buffs, which begins to decay at L73.

As a warrior or a knight, do you really care? This effect in the GM boots can be whatever you'd like, in this case it is Ferocity V, which does not decay and is actually useful.

I haven't seen a great deal of raid gear out of TSS yet, but as a tank you are really going to have to show me something that makes me believe I should begin to abandon my Last Blood / Bazu Augments and the holy grail that is the AAAA box.

Now take into the account the difficulty of a Demiplane clearing versus say Shyra and you'll understand why I wouldn't stop making those AAAA boxes just yet.

[Taushar]

BTW, what kind of success rate people are having with sub combines and final combines? I am doing all the smithing, JC and fletching myself. My alt is a gnome necro with 253 in tinkering with level 5 trophy. I only tried to make two of them so far but I have failed one sub-combine so far (of course it had to be the one with Shadowmane Pelt I purchased for 10k).

Am I being extremely lucky or these with high trivial are actually easy to succeed? If I am extremely lucky, then I am not going make unless really needed but if they have high success rate, I may make a few for others.

Thanks in advance.

[Mattius]

I started making them around skill 270ish with the 8% mod. My failure rate was about 1 subcome per 5, and about every 5th set of subcombines I would fail 2 subcombines. Once I have hit skill level of about 285 failure rate on subcombines dropped to maybe 1 every 5 sets.

At 253 expect a lot of failures.

[Taushar]

I started making them around skill 270ish with the 8% mod. My failure rate was about 1 subcome per 5, and about every 5th set of subcombines I would fail 2 subcombines. Once I have hit skill level of about 285 failure rate on subcombines dropped to maybe 1 every 5 sets.

At 253 expect a lot of failures.

Hmm, that's what my instict has told me. However, I made two complete AAAAs, I believe that is 8 sub combines or is it 10 sub combines. I only failed one sub combine. I guess I have been extremely lucky. Thanks for the info.