Very Unusual Salvage...

OK, so yesterday morning I got a blue unidentified armor. Nothing odd there, right. And I made the sometimes common mistake of salvaging it instead of identifying it, yeah, sucks sometimes. Thing is, instead of crafting materials, I actually got a rune! What's even weirder, it was an unidentified Mesmer Rune!

Question is, is this normal? Can't really call it a glitch, cause ya know, you're supposed to get runes from unidentified armors, but still, it is odd, right? Does this happen? Sorry no screenshot, simply forgot to take one and had already identified the rune after showing it to my wife, then realised I hadn't SS.

I'm wondering if this is a normal thing, but maybe really low chance of getting something good if you don't identify it. Cause I know I've done this mistake many times before and only gotten materials, just not this one time.

This is normal. If you superior or expert salvage a non-white armour you'll get an unidentified rune. This can then be identified to unlock for PVP - it's why you see people selling unidentified superior vigor runes (they are the only rune with their artwork).

Whoa, interesting. Yeah never happened to me before. Well good to know, might salvage before Id'ing from now on. Just got a Major Vigor earlier today and I could've sold it (since I've already unlocked). Coolness, thanks!

Uh, I guess you people are unaware. Check here:

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Rune

Thats not very good idea.

Note that you only have 100% Salvages of runes that are ID'ed.

If you Salvage it before IDing it, you have a good chance of getting crafting materials.

Hasn't happened to me ever. Expert salvage on unid'd armor gives me unid'd rune. Good for selling, actually, as you can see what class rune it is, and if it is minor, major or superior.

In other words, it's a very good idea.

when ppl where buying unid gold armors for 7K each back in the day... I use to salvage unid purples n gold armors and sell in LA D1 and sell UNID major and sup runes...

ppl complained about Armor rating of gold armors so much I just salvaged them instead of selling them.... anyhow this USE to be the thing to do but since gaining faction has been buffed its been forgotton.

3 faction a kill or buy unid runes....

When I try to salvage unid things theres like a 10-30% chance I dont get the rune.

Thats too high IMO to warrent potentially losing a Sup Rune.

Ogg is correct, I've salvaged over 300 runes before ID'ing and have salvaged every rune without getting crafting material.

and as mentioned, it is a good idea for selling especially gold armors.. or to have one of your guild mates ID to unlock if you have everything of that class.

btw... Runes unidentified with just the name "Rune" are Vigor runes. depending on the Shape and Color you can tell if its Minor / Major / or Superior. and can usually sell a vigor at the same price as the NPC if its unidentified so the person can unlock for PvP.

The ONLY chance of losing runes from salvaging from armors is if the armor is a peice of ARMOR that's been crafted.. If you guys are saying that you've had Crafting materials come from BLUE / PURPLE / GOLD Armor's from Enemy Drops.. using a Expert or Superior Salvage Kit... then you're either have a.. mistaken it for a white... or b.. don't know what the hell you're doing lol..

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Salvage_Item
To salvage a rune from a Salvage Item you must use an Expert Salvage Kit or Superior Salvage Kit. The chance to retreive a rune with such a kit is 100%.
Warning: Using a (Basic) Salvage Kit will destroy the rune and you will only get common crafting material as the salvage result.

I always salvage blue armors without the id. I use the regular salvage kit though and not the expert. The expert will ALWAYS get you the rune. The Non-expert will NEVER get you the rune. The reason I do this is that a magic armor will salvage for vastly more crafting material then a non-magic and since I have all minor runes unlocked I don't bother to waste ID kits on these.

Identified armors are most of the times worth more than the rune that is on it. If you are not planning to sell the armors unidentified, you should always ID the blue ones and then decide whether you salvage the runes off it (minor warrior runes for example) or sell the armor with the rune on it to the merchant.

That is some craziness! I could swear I've [accidently] salvaged unidentified armors before and got materials... I'm thinking I'm wrong now. Definately need to do this from now on. Thanks for the info.

(I do check Wiki all the time, I just figured this was a fluke, though I don't know why)

I used to go to LA or Ascalon and give out free minor un-id's. Was pretty nice when people thanked you for giving them a rune of thier primary class.
I quit doing it after people started calling me names if they said they wanted all of them.

Some of you are funny.. to think that if I used expert salveage on a purple or gold armor and not get a rune...lol. Whatever you are on, can I have some too?

I always Id the armor as I get them although a few times I have salvalged UnID armor thinking it was IDed and not once did it turn into salvage. Blue will not only give minor, it will give major as well. Purple will give all three and not just minor or major. Gold will give superior and major. Never use Gamewikis as a reference. They are very inaccurate. If I get it right you should be able to see a screen of all the runes I got after three straight hours of passing through the same area (after a couple of runs the drop rate dropped but I kept at it and two runs later it jumped back up). The blue at the bottom has a major and quite a few purple has superior. From this I was able to give one monk rune away to a Guild Mate, kept a sup vigor and put it on my ranger's 15k armor that I bought from the profit. Also unlocked a bunch for when or if I play any PvsP.

So, you kept those buggy blues and purples from when the game was glitched-up after the update prior to the FPE, eh?. I can let you have my Gold Armor of Nothingness, if you are into using those in misleading screenshots.

Guildwiki is very accurate, thank you. It is constantly being updated and corrected by numerous people. Unlike the post I am quoting right now.

I have NEVER received crafting materials when salvaging an unidentified armor. And I've salvaged hundreds of blue, purple and golds.

I'm adding to others where I say that I never got crafting material salveging Unided rune.
I did that for a while to unlock the runes on my other account.

Weird I always expert salavage all UN'identified runes, dont bother identifying em for PVP seeing I unlocked them all, and I never once got materials, always the rune.

This weekend I'll fill my inventory again and see if it was a glitch or not.