They drop all the time, can’t be dismantled, can’t repair Epic level gear, can’t be upgraded to Master.
Aside from spoiled gruel, it is the only thing I immediately drop if included in the harvest of a mini or world boss.
Even a stone weapon can be dismantled and used to make brick, which makes it 100% more desirable than and Advanced armor or weapon repair kits.
Perhaps when normal play would get you to 60 in a month or so, they had a place, now, if it takes a week to level to 60, I’ve not been trying, so they are just useless weight.
Altho it makes me cry inside, I tend to drop most alcohol immediately.
Heavy, often a glass of wine outweighs my weapons, and of questionable utility at best.
I also drop Tulwars of Amir Khurum. Is there a greater waste of a skeleton key?
However, yes, agreed, the mediocre repair kits serve little purpose for the majority of the time I play.
I keep a chest full of alcohol and Scorpion Harness. Before heading out I chug x5 for str/vit buff, put Scorpion Harness on to clear alc poisoning, put harness back in chest.
The reason I started this thread is not, merely, to complain. Along with complaining, I wanted to highlight where the otherwise awesome integration of resources just falls apart.
I can turn meat into food or compost which can be used to grow plants, which reduces my need for farming, which frees me up to adventure and build and I love how the game intertwines resources, most of the time.
When they brought in the dismantling bench, I didn’t see a lot of use, but that’s because I was sticking to mid range area where the dismantled drops were commonplace items. Now I keep a dismantling bench at every maproom and every base to process higher end items I do not need. It’s a reason I never go hunting for obsidian or make composite obsidian. Thrall hunting in the Volcano region gives me all the composite obsidian I need to give leveled thralls an obsidian greatsword and guard my assets.
It’s why I never make steel and rarely make hardened steel anymore, what with the New Asagard and above steel drops and the hardened steel weapons I pick up like candy.
Things like the Advanced Repair kits do not fit in this dynamic and are wasted space and weight.
As @Talyna indicated, I dismantle items for steel or get steel as loot drops.
What I never do, once I get past that initial hump is convert 2 iron ore into an iron bar and then 5 iron bars and a steelfire into a steel bar.
If I run into a situation where my loot drop and dismantled steel revisor is not sufficient, I smelt ore to iron bars, turn the iron bars to iron reinforcements, then turn the iron reinforcements into steel reinforcements with a T3+ BS and steelfire I made from the alchemical base I got from T3 bearers and gathered brimstone, then turn the steel reinforcements into steel bars at a cost of 1-1.
I keep around 10K iron bars in reserve for emergencies and 1K steel bars on all benches that might use them so when I want to make something, I make it and replenish the items used.
How you get metals depends on your playstyle I guess. I play only PvE and I farm UC a lot for Sword of Crom and other drops, also Frost Temple for XP. I end up with more iron/steel/hardened steel than I can use. When I get ~5k stashed I just stop picking it up anymore. If I have a construction burst and blow through my stash I resume collecting until I build up reserves again. But the only time I ever make my own metal bars is early game. Once I’ve got some good thralls and gear and am in full swing hunting I loot more than I can use.
