ID kits, salvage and runes

I've searched under 'identify', 'salvage', and read throught the first 8 pages of posts here, looking for an answer. No dice. So...

Do you have to identify a rare item to be able to salvage a rune from it?

Or... does identifying the item merely tell you it's 'value' and whatever upgrades it may have, but have no affect on it's salvageability or the results of salvaging it?

edit: Also, since there is little to no chance (correct me if I am wrong) of salvageing anything but crafting materials from non-rare drops, is it ever worth ID'ing unidentified non-rare's?

i am not 100% on this but im preety sure that you do not have to identify it to salvage it. but i could never find an expert salvage kit so i couldnt salvage my rares :/

While I can't answer the rune question specifically, I was able to salvage other rare components from weapons without identifying them beforehand.

I did get runes from rare unidentified Battered Armors.

As for non-rare identification, I nearly never did it, as there are few chances that you'll use the item, and 8 (or 5)gp is probably more than the increase in selling price if ID'ed, and won't change a thing in the salvaging.

the ID thing was just introduced in the last BWE. there are some things they are working out so the system might change a bit by retail..

I'm sure you can salvage it without IDing it and you can still get some good stuff, but i'm almost certain that you will not get the hidden thing which IDing reveals. Salvaging items reveals hidden attributes.

What is this salvaging I am seeing alot? What is salvaging in Guild Wars? Sorry, once again, I have never played, could ya guys inform me of this? I owuld like to know as much about the game as I can befor playing. Can you guys tell me all about salvaging pelase? Thanks.

IDing an item does nothing except reveal the hidden bonuses. You can still salavage those hidden mods, you can still get runes, you'll even get the effects of an un-ided item if you wield it.

i am assuming something can be id at any time including its finished form ie a rune?

where can you find an expert salvage kit anyways?? i never saw one

Most of the outfitters in the higher-level areas sell them.

Rofl!!! I played last 3 beta event (not much), I've found 3-4 rare weapons but I never identified them. (now my caracters got deleted 2 beta ago...)

Where do you identify and item and how can you tell if it has been identified or needs to be identified?

The need to ID items was only added on the last BWE.

Here is some info for you in case you havn't dug them out of the dozens of pages of threads here. Sometimes we don't have the time.

You can salvage just about any item (Quest items are out). The way you do that is purchasing a salvage kit from a vendor where ever you find them. There are basic salvage kits and expert salvage kits. The bonus of the expert kit (although it costs more) is that you can get some nifty rare stuff from certain drops. You should always use the expert kit on anything dropped by a boss. Some items have said 'highly salvageable' as well. Also, that isn't saying you should consider keeping the items that are useful to you. But if you get some 'battered armor' or whatever, or some item that you will never use, open your inventory, click on the appropriate salvage kit, and then finally click on the item to salvage. What you got from the salvage is displayed in the text interface at the bottom left of your screen. Of course anything you get is automatically dumped into your inventory. So thats it. When in doubt, expert salvage. You never know what you will get.

Hope that helps.

In short, salvaging an item breaks it down into whatever it's made of. If you salvage a sword, you'll get iron and some other stuff. Salvage a bow, and you'll get wood and some other stuff. Once you have a bunch of different materials, you can take them to a crafter NPC in town and have him make you something new out of them, such as armor.

Can't remember quite where I found that information at but.......and I am quoting some little notes I took for my own usage...

"Expert kits become readily available once a character has reached amid level area..and has come into the shiver peaks area"

And nope..never been there either

Just gonna pick a few nits here okay.....

Salvage kits and ID kits were available from any Outfitter in any town or outpost as of last BWE (ID kits may change completely). Expert salvage kits are found in towns that you basically need to be a higher level to reach....such as Lion's Arch, D'Alessio Seaboard and such.

ID kit icons looked identical to salvage kits (this SHOULD change in next bwe)but cost 40gp as oppposed to the 10gp of a salvage kit. And had a very low number of uses.

To salvage an item, you double-click on the kit, you will then see either a key (salvagable) or a red circle with line thru middle (not salvagable) when you hover your cursor over an item in inventory. Click on the item to salvage.

i believe expert kits are available from yaks bend and forwards.

just to clarify, you need to use an expert kit to salvage upgrades. if you use a regular salvage kit, you will only get raw materials.
highly salvageable items tend to give more raw materials when salvaged. sometimes you may get rare crafting materials, but i think you need to use an expert kit for a chance at those. the weapon needs to have a prefix or a suffix, ie Godly Blade of Uberness, in order to be able to salvage and upgrade from it. even then, there is a probability that you may not get the upgrade, although that probability is relatively low. rare weapons tend to have these prefixes/suffixes and thus often yield upgrade components when salvaged with an expert kit, although if they dont, they tend to give you a whole bunch of raw materials. at the moment, you can upgrade most weapons with 2 components although you can only get 1 when you salvage it. i also believe one of those components is often more easily salvageable than the other.
rare armor drops tend to yield runes when salvaged with an expert kit. i have not had enough experience to tell whether or not certain types of runes are tied to certain types of armor. but i can tell you that you have the rare chance to salvage a minor rune from regular armor if you use an expert kit. you can also recover runes from your own armor using expert kits.

Actualy you can get expert kits from Lions Arch forward.

Actually, the previous poster was correct- you can buy Expert Salvage Kits in Yak's Bend, though they aren't available from the outfitters in the shiverpeak missions- only from the guy in Yak's Bend. After you reach LA, every Outfitter should offer both normal and expert kits.

my mistake then...

Thanks for all teh useful information, sounds liek I will havealotta fun salvaging and creating new things! Thanks Halfy, Davion, necrotic, and Bgnome for answering my question.