Curious, you said you're paranoid but didn't get HQ aether sand which would have salvaged that synth. On my first few 2star I was bloody paranoid and wouldn't touch a 2star without HQ sand, the way I saw it, with 10 mil on the line an extra 1 or 2 mil was a small price to pay. I'm a bit more greedy now that I have 50+ 2star synths. Yeah I know this doesn't help to hear now, I feel awful for ya, that NQ must have been devestating.

As for people in this thread saying 170 is a waste/is glamour/will be replaced by new artisan gear I say that your claims are groundless. We have no idea what's SE's plan this expansion, it's entirely possible given the heavy grind and difficulty of these crafts that they will last until 4.0, then again maybe they wont. Point is nobody knows, so discouraging people from gearing up to justify you not doing it is rather silly.