TOPIC: Orange Token Transmuting - Not for casual players?

So I've been playing True Dungeon since 2009. I usually do about 1-2 runs each year at GenCon. In all that time, I've pulled 1 UR piece. I've recently starting getting in to transmuting tokens, and now I typically transmute the common and uncommon token each year. However, I've noticed that is about all I can do. I browse through the site and see the orange tokens and when I realize what goes in to transmuting those, I realize someone has to buy tons of tokens to be able to send those in for trade tokens. Given my play level, should I just accept that it is beyond my capabilities to make those tokens?

If you are building up your trade goods through just the tokens you get from signing up and treasure, it's going to take a long time. If you want an Orange Transmute faster, there are 3 options.

1. Work with a group to pool resources.
2. Buy trade goods at auction.
3. Buy the token outright.

Buying the Orange outright might be the cheapest way, if you can afford paying in full up front. It really comes down to how fast you want the token.

When I was a casual player, I transmuted nothing.

I wouldn't expect someone to make oranges from just treasure. Transmuting oranges comes about when getting significant portions of 8k bundles. Though treasure is vastly more common now than it used to be, oranges have been the hardest to make, so it's not a particularly effective way to acquire them. Less than 20% of my oranges were ones I transmuted.

Corey Pressler wrote: So I've been playing True Dungeon since 2009. I usually do about 1-2 runs each year at GenCon. In all that time, I've pulled 1 UR piece. I've recently starting getting in to transmuting tokens, and now I typically transmute the common and uncommon token each year. However, I've noticed that is about all I can do. I browse through the site and see the orange tokens and when I realize what goes in to transmuting those, I realize someone has to buy tons of tokens to be able to send those in for trade tokens. Given my play level, should I just accept that it is beyond my capabilities to make those tokens?

I went through a similar realization after playing for several years when I went through all my loot and realized I was less than halfway to the ingredients for a single Draco-Lich Claw Charm.

Orange tokens (Legendary rarity) mostly (with the exception of tokendb.com/token/totem-of-heroism/ and Charm of Avarice Recipe #1), require dozens of trade tokens. Trade tokens themselves require several tokens to be made.

Looking at this year's Boaz's Bead of Whispers, its recipe calls for:

129 trade 1 category trade items
3 aragonite
15 dwarven steel
3 elven bismuth
10 minotaur hide
3 oil of enchatment
2 golden fleece
40,000 GP

Put another way, that's:

375 common weapons
250 common armor
75 uncommon weapons
75 uncommon armor
75 rare weapons or armor
20 monster trophies
3,225 "points" worth of other items where a common is worth 1 point, an uncommon 3 points, and a rare 6 points
40,000 GP

Each run nets you a token 10 pack (or maybe 2), and some amount of treasure pulls, at least 3.

Unless you have numerous Ultrarare or better treasure boosting tokens, it's safe to say it would take you at least 100 runs to gather the ingredients needed (to say nothing of the 2 specific Ultra Rares required by the recipe) for this recipe.

I think the main ways to get legendaries are:

1. Be buying at least $2,000, and probably closer to $4-8000 worth of tokens from True Dungeon in sealed packs for the purposes of getting specific UltraRares that come with each $250 purchase, and then transmuting all the common/uncommon/rares that would come with that for the legendary trade goods.

2. Buy it outright on the secondary market for $600-1,000 (Charm of Avarice costs more).

I concur but I'll add this -- if you want to make better progress towards big tokens simply by playing the game, consider investing in some treasure enhancers so that you get more treasure each time that you play. Of course, the best one (Charm of Avarice) is also an Orange token... :-/

One thing to keep in mind is that orange tokens are more for bragging rights and collection addiction than anything. They are in no way cost effective. In general they give a minor bump in power over relic (dark blue) tokens for an exponential increase in cost. You can run in nightmare and even epic difficulty for the most part without them. They aren't a requirement to have a good time or make an effective character.

If you want to dip your toes more into transmuting focus on the multi-year and the relic tokens. They'll give you far more bang for your buck.

Lots of good thought. Thanks everyone!

I think I’m going to try for the Safehold. Seems semi-doable. I just bought the ultra rare pack set from the TD store. I’ll turn in all my doubles and see how close that gets me!

I mostly DM/NPC and don’t play a whole lot. But I do meet a whole lot of players. A substantial number of players buy their legendaries outright. Grinding for transmutes takes a long time - years in some cases. It is supposed to be a long game, but it is also pay to play. So many just buy in.

I am debating foregoing Safehold after completing Safehold V (I already have the under construction one) and using the trade goods I have accumulated to make the Boaz’s Bead. +5 to saves is nothing to sneeze at. And I pulled the relic bead at Gen Con so that saves me a lot of goods!

Though I may need some gold. I wish I had been half as lucky as someone I spoke to at a run; he pulled several 25K bars over the weekend! I did get 2 5K ones so that helps a lot.

Welcome!

I'll be honest that effort to transmute orange tokens is certainly... aspirational, to put it politely. I've personally only done one, and it involved supplemental trade good purchases and some luck with good treasure draws, most notably a 25k GP bar.

It also doesn't help that requirements have more than doubled (by number of tokens) over the past few years.

My first few transmutes were all light blue. I came in on a really good year for those, since they had some pretty clutch tokens: Enchanter's Whetstone, Charm of Treasure Boosting and Belt of Ogre Mage Power.

As others have noted, many people just outright buy orange tokens rather than engage with the crafting system. While it's certainly more cost efficient, I find it less fun personally

I will agree that the transmute system is in many respects a loyalty reward program for large purchasers. If you want to start down that path, I'd recommend setting your sight on something specific that really appeals to you. For me, it was the legendary lute. Seems like Safehold V may be your first "big" transmute, and it's a good one because it unlocks some great new areas of the game.

The crafting system is one of my favorite elements of this game, so hopefully you can get engaged with it like the rest of us crazies!

Marc D wrote: Welcome!

I'll be honest that effort to transmute orange tokens is certainly... aspirational, to put it politely. I've personally only done one, and it involved supplemental trade good purchases and some luck with good treasure draws, most notably a 25k GP bar.

It also doesn't help that requirements have more than doubled (by number of tokens) over the past few years.

My first few transmutes were all light blue. I came in on a really good year for those, since they had some pretty clutch tokens: Enchanter's Whetstone, Charm of Treasure Boosting and Belt of Ogre Mage Power.

As others have noted, many people just outright buy orange tokens rather than engage with the crafting system. While it's certainly more cost efficient, I find it less fun personally

I will agree that the transmute system is in many respects a loyalty reward program for large purchasers. If you want to start down that path, I'd recommend setting your sight on something specific that really appeals to you. For me, it was the legendary lute. Seems like Safehold V may be your first "big" transmute, and it's a good one because it unlocks some great new areas of the game.

The crafting system is one of my favorite elements of this game, so hopefully you can get engaged with it like the rest of us crazies!

The very first token I transmuted was the Ogre Mage Belt. That +3 strength is pretty nice. I do like the fact that most casual players can at least transmute the yearly common token pretty easily, so its available to all players.

I'm going for the Stronghold V at least. Let's see how it goes.