I agree with this. There are some intricacies to add in, but that’s merely clarification on proper crafting. The reason I myself didn’t go into specific details is that there is a LOT of different ways to craft on an item properly, depending on how that item starts off. I was hoping it would be assumed that I am crafting optimally, since there is no reason to have the discussion assuming the opposite. And we all know that the argument remains valid if we assumed everyone is crafting properly.
That does lead us to the next question, which is more valid of a QUESTION than the previous one of asking if we craft properly: “What are your final goals for a LP fodder item?”
I think it’s pretty obvious and universal; you want 4 good affixes. Depending on the rarity of the LP#, you may give more “gamble” leeway since you won’t mind giving it multiple attempts. For example, if an item is commonly LP2, you might slam some items with “perfect” double ideal affixes, and up to LITERALLY ANYTHING as the other two affixes. But we can put this over to the side, since we are clearly not complaining about things that are so easy to obtain that we don’t mind missing some gambles before landing what we want.
“Our” criteria (if I may be bold enough to speak for everyone) for rare LP# crafts is that we would like all 4 affixes to be something we at least get benefit from (even if it’s something we don’t need, maybe getting it here lets us take it off of some other slot, and gain something in return over there), and the roll ranges will be ideally around 80+%. (And sometimes, we may need a specific range, like in the case of reduced crit damage taken, where we may need a near-max roll.)
So let’s try to wing an actual specific example off the top of my head…
Let’s say I collected a ring that’s t7 intel, t2 cold dmg, t1 ward per sec, and t1 fire res.
Well, what if the intel is min rolled? Maybe the first thing I wanna do is reroll that. By taking this path, I can use Glyph of Order on any of the other affixes at any point during their tier-ups to maintain any good rolls they may get during that phase. This means I’m not using Glyph of Hope, so my Forge might tank immediately. But at the same time, that has greater odds of giving me good affix rolls than just getting 4x t5+'s and shoving range rerolls at it, where all 4 affixes are getting rerolled.
So is that the path I take? Or do I indeed get my 4 ideal affixes first, and then indeed start force-feeding it range rerolls, ALL in the name of being able to have Glyph of Hope attached to as many stages as possible?
The problem is that it’s a trick question; both paths are doomed.
The starting item has 3 affixes I like, and 1 that I don’t (fire res). I can luckily seal that fire res (good thing it wasn’t any higher than t1, or I may get unlucky in this). But then I now have to get my 4th affix in there, starting all the way at t1.
This ring can start with something like 48 Forge. But it’s almost certainly bricking. Despite having THREE of four affixes, and a guaranteed seal, this thing still bricks. ELEVEN tier-ups is just too much.
The bottom line is that you have to get LUCKY to get a craft to work out, rather than UNLUCKY for a craft to not work out. And the problem with this is that it’s just one layer of the crafting. You still need that rare LP unique in the first place, and you still need it to pick the right affixes unless it’s an LP4 (which it isn’t). The fact that you can brick 99.9% of your items on the craft phase, and that one golden item that actually makes it through that filter might STILL brick at the Julra step, is totally insane.
We know what the runes and glyphs do, we know what items MIGHT get lucky enough to survive the crafting, and we know very basic mathematics to determine the best course of action for the crafts. The problem is that it still sucks, lol.
Crafting LP1’s was so peaceful. Just reroll the affix until it’s 100%.
Once I hit the LP2’s, I lost motivation. Character progression effectively won’t happen anymore. And even worse, THREE of my uniques are timeline boss uniques, so LP2’s themselves are already rare - let alone having THOSE even be a GOOD BASE ITEM! (Last Steps below 15% ward generation or even 200 threshold, or Undying Heart having low Health, Strength, and Cast… Or that belt I use, that has an Intel range of like 4 to 25?!? Come the frick on, now…)
Uhhh, so yeah. I dunno if that clarifies anything, but yeah. The final result of the craft needs to be 1 affix that’s great (the one I can pick on the merge), and then 3 affixes that I can utilize well if they get picked. And those ranges need to be roughly above 80% each, because in most cases, a min rolled tier X is almost the same thing as a max rolled tier X - 1. And you wouldn’t merge your LP2 or LP3 with an item with t4 affixes, would you?