What's the reason for linking un-attuned and attuned enhancements on the AH?

[tanglin]

Attuned enhancements are so much more useful than the un-attuned ones, so why are they linked on the AH? This makes it so that if I have crafted an enhancement and I want to attune it, the rational way is to sell list it on the AH and then buy a similar attuned one. The one I listed would in turn become attuned if the buyer buys it from the attuned section. So the AH becomes an attunement laundering service.

[Yomo Kimyata]

Until you want to sell your attuned for a fixed level you can boost.  I don’t know why they did it since they made catalysts basically free, but that’s how it is and I’m down with that.

[Rigged]

12 hours ago, tanglin said:

Attuned enhancements are so much more useful than the un-attuned ones, so why are they linked on the AH? This makes it so that if I have crafted an enhancement and I want to attune it, the rational way is to sell list it on the AH and then buy a similar attuned one. The one I listed would in turn become attuned if the buyer buys it from the attuned section. So the AH becomes an attunement laundering service.

 

1. The real, proper reason is because without the pooling mechanic there would likely be a severe shortage of IOs because of our small player population. This is the main rationale for all the pooling in the HC AH. Without the pooling mechanic, either the non-attuned or the attuned market would regularly end up short.
2. On live, the massive scarcity gave marketeers a huge advantage over buyers - not quite enough to control the market, but the regular players found it that much more difficult to afford good builds. It also meant that getting some very low-supply-high-demand IOs was more of a luck thing than offering enough inf (based on whether you happened to find one on sale on any given day).
3. There actually is an example of IOs on the HC AH that are separated based on whether you catalyzed them. These are the Winter sets and the ATOs, separated between the rare and very rare versions. If you check the AH, this does not actually produce a logical price difference between them. The rare ones often sell for the same amount or more than the very rares, because some people are not aware of how it works or perhaps even the existence of the VRs. Occasionally the lack of an available VR will force impatient players to spend dramatically on the rare version. Separating them does not produce a substantial benefit for these, so why bother doing it for everything else?
4. The attuning pooling actually has a very happy side effect: It encourages people to sell crafted enhancements and buy attuned ones from the AH. This keeps stock available and reduces the power of marketeers further. If I find, for instance, a proc recipe in a good set I want to use, my best bet is to craft and sell it on the AH and then buy the attuned version. This creates one seller (me) and one customer (also me). Two transactions also means that the market takes a cut from both, which keeps inflation down. So much win!
5. Attuned enhancement are not more useful than unattuned ones. Top end builds often use a mix of the two. There are several sets whose bonuses are not particularly vital except in the top end lvl 50 content, so we use +5 boosted IOs for the enhancement bonuses and enjoy the set bonuses in lvl 50 content. For content we exemplar down for, we attune and use only the more important set bonuses (LOTGs, +recharge, +defense). I spend around 100 million or so on a top end build solely on boosters, which is around 20 or so non-attuned IOs.

Edited March 23, 2023 by Rigged

[UltraAlt]

58 minutes ago, Rigged said:

Attuned enhancement are not more useful than unattuned ones. Top end builds often use a mix of the two. There are several sets whose bonuses are not particularly vital except in the top end lvl 50 content, so we use +5 boosted IOs for the enhancement bonuses and enjoy the set bonuses in lvl 50 content. For content we exemplar down for, we attune and use only the more important set bonuses (LOTGs, +recharge, +defense). I spend around 100 million or so on a top end build solely on boosters, which is around 20 or so non-attuned IOs.

 

I don't play post 50, so the attuned ones are definitely more useful to me than unattuned ones.

Sometimes, it is a matter of perspective.

[Rigged]

1 hour ago, UltraAlt said:

 

I don't play post 50, so the attuned ones are definitely more useful to me than unattuned ones.

Sometimes, it is a matter of perspective.

OK, and I am providing the perspective that they are in fact useful to a whole section of players.

 

The question is why they are pooled together on the AH despite the attuned ones being so much more useful. That they are useful to a whole bunch of people is a completely relevant answer.

[DoctorDitko]

Y'all are missing one vital thing: Attunement means you can have all your enh icons nice and round.

It's an OCD thing, but I don't apologize for it.

[tidge]

In case it wasn't made obvious: The AH's pooling means that a crafted Enhancement at Level X can be bought as the same enhancement at any other non-attuned level (the enhancement could exist at), not just as an attuned version of the enhancement.... level 25s can become level 50s for example.

 

There are many places in my builds where I don't want (or would not otherwise get) a set bonus, so I want the highest level version of the piece (to boost). It's also a good strategy for PVP pieces, since they will scale without needing to be attuned.

[Yomo Kimyata]

3 hours ago, tidge said:

In case it wasn't made obvious: The AH's pooling means that a crafted Enhancement at Level X can be bought as the same enhancement at any other non-attuned level (the enhancement could exist at), not just as an attuned version of the enhancement.... level 25s can become level 50s for example.

 

There are many places in my builds where I don't want (or would not otherwise get) a set bonus, so I want the highest level version of the piece (to boost). It's also a good strategy for PVP pieces, since they will scale without needing to be attuned.

 

This becomes useful in any number of inf-producing antics.  I will buy lvl 10 recipes and craft them into level 10 IOs, then transform them.  Some I may sell on the market to one of my alts at say, level 41 due to the better odds of converting into what I want, and then transform them again and put them up for sale.  And I may end up buying the same IO for that alt in attuned flavor, partly because they are still levelling, and partly because they are purty.  And at level 50, I may end up selling attuned IOs and buying lvl 50 versions (I'm looking at PvP IOs here) and +5 boosting them.