2:1 Arc Prints

[DeletedUser36326]

While leveling the Arc someone told me to avoid doing the 2:1 trade thing to get more prints because it messes things up. They couldn’t articulate the “why” of this so I was wondering, does doing the 2:1 print trade mess you up somehow? Other than the piss-poor odds of getting the print you want?

 

[RazorbackPirate]

Other than the piss-poor odds of getting the print you want?

Nope, that's pretty much it, the piss poor chance of getting the print you want. You need so many prints to take it to 80, if you're lacking on a space, just hit a few more mid level Arcs. Clumping is just the nature of the beast, you just have to wait for the 'clump' to move to square you need.

 

[DeletedUser36705]

While leveling the Arc someone told me to avoid doing the 2:1 trade thing to get more prints because it messes things up. They couldn’t articulate the “why” of this so I was wondering, does doing the 2:1 print trade mess you up somehow? Other than the piss-poor odds of getting the print you want?

What they probably meant is that you shouldn't trade 2:1 until you are trying to fill your last empty spot, even then its debatable. If you have several spots open it is better just to wait and try to fill them from prints from locking spots on someone else's arc. The likelihood of randomly filling up several spots by trading 2:1 to get a complete set is small unless you have many multiples of extras, so you may as well wait and see if they come from locking rewards otherwise you are wasting prints you will want later.

 

[DeletedUser]

What they probably meant is that you shouldn't trade 2:1 until you are trying to fill your last empty spot. If you have several spots open it is better just to wait and try to fill them from prints from locking spots on someone else's arc. The likelihood of randomly filling up several spots by trading 2:1 to get a complete set is small unless you have many multiples of extras, so you may as well wait and see if they come from locking rewards otherwise you are wasting prints you will want later.

And I would advise the exact opposite. Trading 2:1 when the odds are better of getting a non-duplicate. I will usually only trade prints if I have 4 or more open slots. Once there are 3 or fewer open slots, the odds are heavily against you.

 

[Kranyar the Mysterious]

otherwise you are wasting prints you will want later.

This!

 

[DeletedUser29726]

The main point to emphasize since the earlier response was mixed was in the case of arc you're trying to take it to say level 80 eventually - by the time you make it there getting more prints will be no big deal, but up until at least level 40 or 50 say you're going to be really scraping for prints - potentially paying for them without swap backs and what not. As such unless 2 slots are WAY ahead of the others and the others are HIGHLY unlikely to catch up, you generally want to avoid 2:1 because it destroys total blueprints (potentially ones you need a level or four down the road). You ultimately want 71 total copies of a print in each slot (less ones already used). So the fact that you have 4 of this one, 6 of that one, and are missing a print is not that big a deal - just go win more prints because you need more in *every* slot.

The situation is different when you're dealing with a building where your medium-term goal is just 1 set of prints and taking it to level 10 maybe. Then absolutely keep trying the 2:1.

 

[DeletedUser36705]

And I would advise the exact opposite. Trading 2:1 when the odds are better of getting a non-duplicate. I will usually only trade prints if I have 4 or more open slots. Once there are 3 or fewer open slots, the odds are heavily against you.

I see your point, but all I'm saying is the only time I would trade prints personally is if I had 1 blank spot left and I desperately wanted my arc now and couldn't wait for some reason. I think it would be even more of a waste to do this if you have many blank spaces, you may get more hits in the blank spots, but its useless because you still have to lock rewards on more arcs and those BPs may just make more duplicates on the spots you've just filled in so you've just wasted BPs completely trading 2:1. So why bother? I think the main point for the OP though is that you will want all those prints later on so just be patient. ​

 

[DeletedUser]

I see your point, but all I'm saying is the only time I would trade prints personally is if I had 1 blank spot left and I desperately wanted my arc now and couldn't wait for some reason. I think it would be even more of a waste to do this if you have many blank spaces, you may get more hits in the blank spots, but its useless because you still have to lock rewards on more arcs and those BPs may just make more duplicates on the spots you've just filled in so you've just wasted BPs completely trading 2:1. So why bother? I think the main point for the OP though is that you will want all those prints later on so just be patient. ​

I don't disagree, I was just addressing the statement about not trading until you have one spot left. I understand the frustration in not getting that last print in a timely manner, but that is also when you have the absolute worst odds in trading. When I've gotten to the point of total frustration with that last print on a GB I really wanted, I usually just fork over the 200 Diamonds for it. Haven't done that for a while, though.

 

[RazorbackPirate]

The only time I've traded 2:1 was to complete the first set faster. If I got a lot of duplicates early I'd do a few trades when the odds of getting e new print were good, then would trade again if there was one square remaining and I had 3 - 4 duplicates on 3 - 4 squares. Yes, I'd lose a few prints, but that was usually all it took, so it was well worth it for me. I've yet to hit the issue raising my Arc, but I stay focused on grabbing prints whenever I can and try to stay 10 - 20 levels ahead of the level that's open.