What to and not to refine?

[Carryonnaire]

Lets say, I have big enough supply of gems and ashes to refine everything I want. What should I refine and what to ignore?
I know max qi and lifespan elixirs should be refined. But what else and when (at which stage of production)?

[zoncxs]

items to turn into artifacts. Thats the only other thing I can think of, don't know if refining clothing works too, have to try that out today.

[Carryonnaire]

Is there a reason to refine artifacts themselves?

[WinterCreation]

Originally posted by Carryonnaire:

Is there a reason to refine artifacts themselves?

No, does not change exisiting artifact effects. Same for clothing.

Refining talisman paper to 12 is always worth it(not premade talismans, but paper before drawing)

Refining items before making artifacts out of them allows for t12 poop artifacts!

Refining Divine powder gives about 700k qi restoration. Did not test with soul perls yet.

Eternity and bane pills = more stat gain, t12 bane pill reduce lifaspan by about 120y

All qi increasing items. T12 Sun pill require more than 160k qi to survive eating.

Poems of sadness at T12 is valued at about 19k by merchants.

[Carryonnaire]

Refined eternity pill is awesome. Without any manuals and other items core shaping disciple suddenly gets over 1000 lifespan.
What about materials to craft clothes from? Should I refine demon beast hides to 12 to craft uniforms for combat characters? If yes, how can I prioritize them over normal materials?
Will wearing refined poems give any benefit over default version?

[Carryonnaire]

Is there a reason to refine materials in cultivation rooms?

[iguana]

Specter and Tao Refinement have two effects that need to be looked at separately, the increase of Tier, and the increase of Specter/Tao Refinement Count.
Things that are affected by the Specter/Tao Refinement Count:

• Amount of Qi restored from consumables by eating
  
• Scale of the Modifier applied from consumables by eating

Things that are affected by the increase in Tier:

• Increase in Price
  
• Increase in Stats for Sentient Beings
  
• Base Material into Artifact Refining (increasing cost, increasing tier of the resulting artifact, has no effect on existing artifacts)
  
• Vessel HP and Movement Speed
  
• Talisman stats (the paper, not after the fact)
  
• Legacy Artifact Incubations
  
• Weapon Damage (regular gear, not artifacts)
  
• Quality of a Room from Items in the Room

That's pretty much it.
Increasing the Tier of materials for regular crafting processes (Alchemy, Crafting, Tailoring, etc.) has no effect.
Increasing the Tier of Tools (Pickaxe, Poem of Sadness, Yaoguai drops, etc.) has no effect.
You can increase the Tier of materials in cultivation rooms for added room Quality, but there's no additional effect.