Why does buying Jade/Amber consume your faction with the other side?

Like it says above. I bought 10 jade yesterday and not only did it consume all my faction with the Kurziks (which is perfectly fine) but it also consumed the 10k faction I had with the Luxons. So now, I can't have Jade if I want Amber? That's very awkward. I hope it's some sort of a glitch. Afterall Jade/Amber are ridiculously expensive atm (granted things will settle down in a month or so) and obtaining the amounts needed for 15k armor is a pain in itself... It shouldn't be like this: I don't see why my purchase of a material with one side should affect my faction value with the other. I might just not like the armor of my side. (Luxon Necro is horrible, impo, whereas Kurzik Necro is stunning; but then Luxon Monk is 10x better looking than Kurzik monk, again impo)

Did you miss the part where they're at war?

What would you think if your ally went to the other side to gain reputation, then turned it in to get rewarded? You have to think about it from a roleplaying perspective.

"Hey, what's he doing with our sworn enemy!?"
Obviously your reputation with them would sink a little.

Using the faction you've acquired with one side, either by purchasing materials or signing it over to your guild, is seen as a public show of support for that side. This displeases the other side so you lose faction with them.

At least that's the role-playing answer. As far as game mechanics go, if you want both materials then use up the faction you earned with one side before accumulating faction with the other.

I have no problem with them being at war. I have no problem with them not talking to me. I have a problem with me losing ALL faction with one side because I purchased material from the other. I lost 10K faction... that's not anyhow justified by them being at war. Concepts I don't have a problem with, implementation is where it becomes dumb.

what does buying jade and amber actually do?

It's used as crafting material for Cantha "FOW" like armor made using those materials. But you can get it from spending Lux or Kuz faction points (instead of ecto/shard drops in hard to get locations).

bzzzt. not fow-like armor, just needed for the 1.5 and 15k Kuz/Lux armor types.

Factions used for one = factions lost for the other, its clearly stated somewhere

This is a role-playing game, not an arcade game. Some things have to be restricted based upon this and what's happening in the game world. Faction/reputation between two warring sides who hate each other is one of them.

If you took part in the "Can't we get along?" quests around Lion's Arch, did you see how fast the parents disowned their own children? If someone from one side shows their affection/support for someone on the other, they are disowned. Their reputation goes down the drain. Faction loss is definitely justified.

If you're going to play a role-playing game, you'll have to deal with restrictions like this, and not just be thinking solely of looking nice and getting upset when "concepts" get in the way.

Only if they find out -what if I disguise myself, say by wearing my Tengu mask?

You're thinking about faction as a tangible entity.. like coinage. Instead, view faction from either side in more of an existential sense.

For example: let's say you've done a multitude of luxon and kurzick quests and have plenty of faction with each side. Then you go to the luxon trader and you tell him that you'd like to cash in on this favor that you've gained with the luxons and be rewarded with a few chunks of jade. Now ofcourse, when you walk back into house zu heltzer with your shiny new jade.. you're logically going to lose some clout with the kurzicks as you've obviousy been fraternizing with those dirty luxons.

it' simple, really.

Also, there's another issue. Let's say I've got 10k kurzick factions and 5.5k luxon. I want to get Amber for my new armor so I trade in my kurzick factions. This way, I would only be able to get 5 Amber, since then I'd have 5k kurzick but 5.5k luxon, thus the NPCs wouldn't talk to me.

Is it possible to get jade/amber without having to farm faction points by thoe stupid PvP minigames?

Challenge missions and Kurz/Lux Sidequests net you some easy factions without the "wait"

So the answer is "No, you have to farm Faction in addition to materials, gold and XP."

that doesn't make any sense.

if you don't have a problem with them not talking to you, then how in hell will you be able to talk to their crafters and get them to make stuff for you anyway? the implementation makes perfect sense with the concepts.

If you don't want to farm factions then just sit in kurz or lux capitol and just buy amber/jade. Now you only have to farm Mats, gold and xp.

Great... they still have this effect then. I remember when i was trying to get my full Sentinel armour for my warrior during the FPE weekend getting annoyed at this. I found Luxon first so ended up buying the Luxon Sentinel, then found out later on that there was nobody at the Kurzick side of the battles so i could get matches within minutes. Every frigging time i traded the faction in for some Amber/Jade (forgot which) i'd lose every single damn point i had with the Luxons so none of the twats would speak to me so i'd then have to go do some tedious repeatable mission a few times till they would.

This is the most annoying thing i have ever met in this game... i earned the frigging faction so stop taking it away for no reason!

Thing which puzzles me, is some npc's (the 'big cheese' ones I think for both sides) specifically say you can buy faction off people.

..well alright, they say there's a rumour you can, but it's a rpg cliche that any rumour, ledgend or mystical hoo-haa story is 100% true.