I'm wondering if I should start craft 3*+ armors or just buy them.
I have 2* items at the moment and although I crafted these armors, I find that getting to 3* is a lot more expensive if crafting.
For example, I see tempered calibur recipes for around 4k but to make it the materials are relatively cheap, but 1000 crowns and 200 CE is quite expensive. Nowadays I see 100 CE going for 5k. Meaning in ideal situations, I have 100 mist energy and 100 CE and the total cost to make a tempered calibur would be around 10k (4k recipe+1k craft cost+ 5k for 100CE). In this situation, it means I would save perhaps 5-6k if I just bought a normal tempered calibur.
So for now 3* is not too bad to craft. However do you believe that when I go beyond 3* is it cheaper to buy the item already made or should I still continue to craft.
So basically, will crafting ever be more expensive than buying the item itself?
-PS: I have a magic hood with low sleep resistance as UV and also Calibur with low dmg to slimes as well. Do you think I should keep these UVs if I'm going to upgrade these?
First, I never consider mist free : if I don't use it to craft then I can get (at least) 5k out of it from running the clockworks, so basically, unless I have no choice [e.g. no time], I *do* factor the price of mist into crafting.
Thus you'd get 4k + 1k + 10k... that's 15k... and if you don't intend to reuse the recipe [craft again to sell, look for UV, ...] then it's definitely cheaper to buy premade (e.g. from AH) especially if you're looking for a common object (like Cali's line).
Note, however, that to craft a 4* or 5* item, the source item needs to be level 5+ (resp. 10) and thus is bound, so until we get the unbinding house, you'll see very few of those items in the AH (mostly random drops [yes you can get a 4* item drop from a treasure box...] or items that have been held from before the binding patch). The only solution thus becomes to craft.
P.S. Currently sleep resistance = useless, but you never know if it might not change soon. For the Cali, low slime is not very interesting, but the chances to get better are not enough to risk losing it. I'd say keep this UV and when you're all in 5* and looking for a CTR VH Levi blade, then you can start crafting for a better UV.