Do You Craft or Buy Phys Bows With Moderate-Average Playtime?

I guess same can be said with fractured +2 arrow bows if trying to make a +3 gem level bow.

All the skills I'm looking at this upcoming league pretty much need a good phys bow (Ice Shot/TS/Frenzy/Lighting Arrow).

Keep hearing that the average player with limited playtime is better off saving to buy their dream bow instead of going through 100's/1000's of alts and dozens beast imprints to craft?
The issue I find with this approach is that the cost of items tend to rise faster than being able to stockpile currency.

I try to sell in bulk since apparently people will pay a slightly higher premium to save on time and for convenience.

There is the divination card I think it's called imperial or something that drops in foothills that gives you a 6 link bow you could craft.

However yeah the cost of bows is one thing that keeps me from playing bow builds at the start of a league.

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CalamityAOE wrote:

divination card I think it's called imperial or something that drops in foothills that gives you a 6 link bow you could craft.

The base isn't the issue; those are real cheap compared to the final crafting cost. Even an i.lvl 84-86 Citadel to make a good phys bow doesn't cost much, aside from the fuses to link it.

You're right with the Imperial Bow being a cheap 6-link however. I grab one of those if I am making a +3 gem lvl bow to start.

The reason people craft for profit is, surprise, it's cheaper on average to craft than to buy. Often with crafting you can use something long before the final product as well.

Crafting is, however, a very knowledge intensive process and often RGN gated. If you can find a guide for a specific piece, then you can do it with limited knowledge, but if crafting, I strongly encourage you to understand every single step and why. Craftofexile.com is your friend!

Also, purchasing "good" gear is often cheaper than crafting mid-late league. People sell good gear once they have end game gear, and as a casual, you'll likely find yourself in the position where purchasing is cheaper than crafting. Granted, "moderate-average" could mean anywhere from 2-3 hours per week to 2-3 hours per day depending on your point of view.

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Aldonés wrote:

The reason people craft for profit is, surprise, it's cheaper on average to craft than to buy. I strongly encourage you to understand every single step and why. Craftofexile.com is your friend!

"moderate-average" could mean anywhere from 2-3 hours per week to 2-3 hours per day depending on your point of view.

Sometimes I wonder if it's cheaper to buy or craft. Hard to deduce sometimes, esp when prices fluctuate from 5-10ex for certain bows in a matter of hours or day.

I use CoE and I more or less know how to make a phys bow. It's just that it's massively time-consuming and expensive, of course.

I guess I should clarify my playtime. I'd say about 15h/week which I know isn't a lot when it comes to PoE.

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CalamityAOE wrote:

However yeah the cost of bows is one thing that keeps me from playing bow builds at the start of a league.

They were completely busted in 3.15. This is with Arborix and from when I first put the build together with much worse gear and still levelling gems: https://streamable.com/kdpb6z

@OP: I haven't played all of those bow skills but generally speaking there are a few uniques to choose from, i.e. Chin Sol, Death's Opus and Arborix which are all really strong. If you want +3 gem levels on your bow, thats dirt cheap to obtain with fossils and you can just bench craft attack speed and be done with it. Even essence crafting on fractured bases for +gems is easy because of how accessible essences are and how easy it is to force +1 socketed gems onto the bow.

For higher end crafts you can look at guides from people like Elesshar. PathofMatth also had an ele hit bow crafting guide earlier in the league.

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BrettLee wrote:

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CalamityAOE wrote:

However yeah the cost of bows is one thing that keeps me from playing bow builds at the start of a league.

If you want +3 gem levels on your bow, thats dirt cheap to obtain with fossils and you can just bench craft attack speed and be done with it. Even essence crafting on fractured bases for +gems is easy because of how accessible essences are and how easy it is to force +1 socketed gems onto the bow.

The fracture is what makes buying the bows tack on the insane price tag (for +2 arrows I mean) usually on making a +3 gem lvl bow. The T1/T2 fracture phys also puts an insane price on bows and crafting these days seems next to impossible without a good fracture to begin with.

I think I might just end up trying to save and buy a phys bow this time, or if I go for something that scales gem lvl just forget about a +2 arrow fracture and go Deadeye.

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Slavpocalypse wrote:

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BrettLee wrote:

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CalamityAOE wrote:

However yeah the cost of bows is one thing that keeps me from playing bow builds at the start of a league.

If you want +3 gem levels on your bow, thats dirt cheap to obtain with fossils and you can just bench craft attack speed and be done with it. Even essence crafting on fractured bases for +gems is easy because of how accessible essences are and how easy it is to force +1 socketed gems onto the bow.

The fracture is what makes buying the bows tack on the insane price tag (for +2 arrows I mean) usually on making a +3 gem lvl bow. The T1/T2 fracture phys also puts an insane price on bows and crafting these days seems next to impossible without a good fracture to begin with.

I think I might just end up trying to save and buy a phys bow this time, or if I go for something that scales gem lvl just forget about a +2 arrow fracture and go Deadeye.

I don't really get what you are trying to say?

I already pointed out that cheap phys bows exist in the form of unique weapons that are already strong enough to do all content.

If you want a high phys bow% bow and don't care about the arrows, then you can either buy a fractured base with hybrid and use essence + veiled chaos orb to roll. You don't need T1 or T2 hybrid fracture to get a good bow.

I still don't understand the point of your posts, you severely underestimate the strength of unique bows (all content viable) and seem to want mirror tier bows for like 5ex.

Also consider that due to new Scourge enchant system, there will be much higher demand for endgame items.