The exception is 0-2 star items, where the energy cost is covered by mist energy of the crafter.

WindOwl mentioned that 0-2-star items can be cheaper to buy than to craft. I'd also add 3-star items to the list. They can be crafted without equipping them, so there is no unbinding cost. The crafting cost is
* craft 2-star from nothing: 50 energy + 400 crowns + 1,000 crowns for recipe + materials
* craft 3-star from 2-star: 200 energy + 1,000 crowns + 4,000 crowns for recipe + materials
which sum to 6,400 crowns + 250 energy + materials. If energy costs are 6000 crowns per 100 CE (recently they're been cheaper, but often they're at least that) then we're talking 21,400 crowns + materials. You can often find them on the AH for cheaper than that --- say, 16,000-20,000. Of course, the calculation changes a bit, if you know someone with the recipes, or if energy prices diverge significantly from 6,000.

Wrs1864 writes, "If you are a broke kid that can't even imagine making that kind of money, craft as much as you can." I just wanted to emphasize that s/he is talking about 4- and 5-star gear (I hope). For 2- and 3-star gear, buying is often cheaper than crafting.

Yes everyone here is right.

....but i find it REALLY annoying that people keep asking this question in game when me and my guildies already told them twice.
CRAFT 4*-5*
DO WHATEVER WITH 3*-1*

I can't tell you how many times....
But if it costs...
For example on a Divine Avenger:
1200ce to craft (4-5*) + materials etc.
then why would you buy this:
1200ce to craft (4-5*) + materials etc. + 4000ce EXTRA THAT YOU PAY IN CR INSTEAD OF CRAFTING
ok not exactly 4kce total price but you get the point. You're paying more than its worth.

That would only make sense if
1. You won't EVER have time to grind that much
2. If its a token item that you dont wanna get tokens for a.k.a Sealed sword, Antigua, Pulsar, Catalyzer, FoV, CoA etc.

ok i get it if new recruits are asking but even 4* people have asked me .__.

lolwut

/endrage

Yeah have fun crafting that perfectly UV'd DA/GF you want in one try. As rates are looking, you only need to try 10 times before you get one random UV.

I don't see how people can say you pay more than an item is worth to buy it. True you pay more than it would cost you to make it, but that's a different issue entirely. But you have to realize that there is some benefit to playing the game how you want to play it, and some benefit to spending your time playing with the items that you want. If you have no desire to spend a lot of time grinding out heat, then by all means buy the weapon at the market rate, and be happy about the wonderful deal that you got. I'm surprised more people don't value their time more than their crowns. O.o

They probably refer to the people with good paying hourly jobs who are unlikely to be hardcore players and even less likely to be hardcore enough to frequent these forums. These people can probably afford to "buy" a premade DA/GF with some UV's using their $$$ which they just exchanged for some CE.

Naturally, people posting in these forums (like me) value crowns and CE more than time. :D

Okay as i said if you dont have the time to grind then buy the weapon. If you do have the time then its much better to just craft it since you gain all that cr and heat in addition to heating up the weapon and then crafting it.
Profit
If you can payout real money to pay for it then go ahead. Maybe you see it as the worth of the item. Maybe you dont.
But If some people do not have 100$/h paying job then they should craft it. Thats half the challenge of the game.
I guess just do what you want and learn from it. Wether buying a 5* is better or not is for your decision and not to be based off of " OMG I GOT ONE FOR 200kcr with CTR VH ASI VH and DMG vs EVERYTHING VH OMG!!!"

yea...not on one deal.

Sweet UVs can be bought after the fact. If you can start with a 3* and a decent UV, do it. Heck, start with a 2* if you can. Good bombs come from small beginnings.

As far as the DA/GF, just build it and buy UVs later. Jelly Castle is a fun run, and it still pays really high. If you dedicate a certain amount of ME, and keep track of your cr expenditures, you'll probably find that the Sealed Swords are some of the cheapest elite weapons to build. 100ME in a good team will get you through JK. You'll also earn 6.5 to 7.5k. You'll also be getting mats to sell or use. By the time you build up 20 coins (and I got both of my sealed swords and antiguas when they were 30), you won't be all that far in the hole.

if you earn what...8K from all of T2? that's 100CE and change. You'll get probably 3 tokens. 7 runs will net you enough to get a sealed sword. You'll also have earned 56K, give or take. That's 1100CE and change.

We're talking about 2 hrs a day for a week, and you have a Sealed Sword, 1100CE, a bucketload of mats, and the possibility of finding an Avenger recipe at T13.

THen, you get 2 more craftings on it, so 2 more UV rolls. After that, they're 20K a pop.

I'm trying to get a Blackened Crest and a FOV the hard way, and I suck at FSC. I'm literally building a new pile of 5* stuff just to do the run to get a couple of items. That's part of the fun; I'd have never EVER built an autogun if I didn't want to shoot Vanaduke in the butt with it. Nor the bombing rig and the half-dozen bombs, the divine gear...meh.

You don't have to make $100/hr to justify spending 5 bucks on a game lol

I make only 12.50 an hour and easily spend 150 a month on games, dlc, and gaming equipment (and netflix lol)

I don't blow my budget on it, but I do decide which games I want to put my money towards. If I wanted to drop even 100 dollars on ce to get some uber uv'd item that I really want I could do it. It would mean I wouldn't have that money for other things, but I could afford it.

Not 100/hour, just 12.50 ^_~

I also imagine some ppl who make less than me spend more than I do because they have fewer bills or fewer other interests as well. I'm not feeling a hate vibe from this thread, so I mean no one any offense, but don't hate on the ppl that drop cash on this game, it keeps ce on the market for the freebie players (Like me, I've only spent 15 on this game and am rolling in 5* gear XD)