Repair locations: some cost more, some have less chance of perm damage. How to test?

[Backley]

The Guild General Vendor in house K costs 5x more for repairs than normal vendors. Is there a reduced chance of perm damage when using this vendor for repairs? Or is this price just bugged and it is supposed to be cheaper than normal vendors?

Is it the same reduced chance as the other Expert Repair vendors (ie, summoned Efreeti Forgemaster and Yugoloth Ferryman that charge 10x normal, and Jaidene Forgemaiden that charges 5x normal)?

What about the Expert Accessory Repair 'apprentice' in the Erstwhile Emporium in house J and Jaidene Forgemaiden's 'apprentice'? They charge 2x normal price: is it the same Expert chance as Efreeti and Ferryman?

Also, some other vendors charge slightly different rates:
General Vendors charge 1.25x normal: Hargrun in Gianthold, Belline Toulia in Meridia, and Manar'ak in Reaver's Refuge.
Ostler Caulstone in Restless Isles charges 1.25x normal, but gives you some flavor text to explain it (hard for him to get supplies out there).
Steppy in Threnal charges 1.20x normal.
Sorvile Smythe (Free Agent Vendor in The Harbor) and Tarvin d'Deneith (House Deneith Vendor in house D) charge 0.90x normal.
Do all of these have the same (non-Expert) chance of permanent damage as normal vendors?

Are these all are working as intended?

Any chance we can learn what the percent chance of permanent damage is at these locations?

Some of these questions were raised in this thread: Why repair price at Guild vendor is 5 times bigger? but not answered.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Repair_(equipment) claims some formulas for chance of permanent damage and amount of permanent damage, but doesn't have any variance for location you are repairing at. Anyone know (a) how these formulas were found or (b) if they are currently accurate or (c) how we can verify them and find the factors at special locations?

[FluffyCalico]

1) There is 1 repair place that helps prevent perm damage, could be more but 1 that I remember.
2) Some places are more out of the way for the vendor or have tarvelers more in need of repair. Those places charge extra. And yes its intentional.

[Aurora1979]

i think theres a guy in....... menachtarun desert...... maybe.... i think its zwabis refuge..... or maybe artixias haven that repairs with no perma damage.

I have noticed that the gianthold tavern dude charges a fortune for repairs.

[Backley]

i think theres a guy in....... menachtarun desert...... maybe.... i think its zwabis refuge..... or maybe artixias haven that repairs with no perma damage.

I have noticed that the gianthold tavern dude charges a fortune for repairs.

Yes, as mentioned Jaidene Forgemaiden (in Zawabi's Refuge) is listed as Expert Equipment Repair and only accessible if you have 400 Free Agent favor. She charges charges 5x normal price and only repairs weapons and armor. Her 'apprentice' will repair all item types and charges 2x normal price. We don't know for a fact if either of these actually do have a reduced chance of permanent damage or by how much the chance is reduced.

Also as mentioned, Hargrun (General Vendor) in Gianthold costs 1.25x of normal. The barkeep and potion vendors charge normal rate though (so use them instead).

[Backley]

Did some testing. Wiki page is updated.

Method:
Buy 60 Robes from the Marketplace General Vendor and a few Daggers and cheap equipment for the other slots. Enter Durk's Got a Secret on Casual. Gather the first 8 oozes back to the entrance (you only need to kill 3 Kobolds). Stand in oozes, equiping new items as things break. When down to ~5hp, step out, get healed by party member standing outside, step back in to the pile of oozes. When all items are broken, go repair/record/run again. Airship Acid Resist buff helps.

Results:
Normal repair quality, 100% chance of permanent damage for a Broken item:

Location		Broken	PermD	Percent Permanent Damage
Sully van Grog		27	27	100.00%
Guild General Vendor	105	105	100.00%
Free Agent Vendor	25	25	100.00%
House Deneith Vendor	11	11	100.00%

Apprentice repair quality, 90% chance of permanent damage for a Broken item:

Location			Broken	PermD	Percent Permanent Damage
House J repair apprentice	115	103	89.57%
Sands repair apprentice		436	383	87.84%

Expert repair quality, 50% chance of permanent damage for a Broken item:

Location				Broken	PermD	Percent Permanent Damage
Efreeti Forgemaster (10x cost)		86	45	52.33%
Sands Jaidene Forgemaiden (4x cost)	103	50	48.54%
Yugoloth Ferryman (10x cost)		20	11	55.00%

So, don't use the Guild General Vendor for repairs (at least until they reduce the repair costs there as planned for Update 7: "Eldin Thestral, general guild vendor, has been instructed to lower his prices a bit (other guild vendors will also charge less for repairs as well)." dev - MadFloyed)

[Backley]

Did another batch at the Shroud Ferryman. Looks like all the Expert repair locations are 50% perm damage chance for broken items.

[Camarde]

Did some testing. Wiki page is updated.

Method:
Buy 60 Robes from the Marketplace General Vendor and a few Daggers and cheap equipment for the other slots. Enter Durk's Got a Secret on Casual. Gather the first 8 oozes back to the entrance (you only need to kill 3 Kobolds). Stand in oozes, equiping new items as things break. When down to ~5hp, step out, get healed by party member standing outside, step back in to the pile of oozes. When all items are broken, go repair/record/run again. Airship Acid Resist buff helps.

Results:
Normal repair quality, 100% chance of permanent damage for a Broken item:

Location		Broken	PermD	Percent Permanent Damage
Sully van Grog		27	27	100.00%
Guild General Vendor	105	105	100.00%
Free Agent Vendor	25	25	100.00%
House Deneith Vendor	11	11	100.00%

Apprentice repair quality, 90% chance of permanent damage for a Broken item:

Location			Broken	PermD	Percent Permanent Damage
House J repair apprentice	115	103	89.57%
Sands repair apprentice		436	383	87.84%

Expert repair quality, 50% chance of permanent damage for a Broken item:

Location				Broken	PermD	Percent Permanent Damage
Efreeti Forgemaster (10x cost)		86	45	52.33%
Sands Jaidene Forgemaiden (4x cost)	103	50	48.54%
Yugoloth Ferryman (10x cost)		20	11	55.00%

So, don't use the Guild General Vendor for repairs (at least until they reduce the repair costs there as planned for Update 7: "Eldin Thestral, general guild vendor, has been instructed to lower his prices a bit (other guild vendors will also charge less for repairs as well)." dev - MadFloyed)

Nice work ty.

[Lithic]

In case anyone wants to do further testing, I wonder if using heavy shields while being hit by rust monsters would be faster than breaking robes with oozes? In any case, very nice testing OP.

[Backley]

FYI: Guild General Vendor still costs 5x more for normal repairs.

Also, they just stealth-nerfed the Sell rate (again). Was originally 16.5% when Update 5 came out, then 14% with Update 5.1, now 10% with Update 7.

It is now better to sell to a barkeep in the Harbor (or anywhere else you have done the favor reward).

DON'T SELL OR REPAIR AT THE GUILD GENERAL VENDOR IN HOUSE K.