By LeminaAusa at 2012-03-12 20:04:13
One of the rather screwed up things about this item (and UT in general) is that, besides the difficulty of obtaining it without the use of 340 epic UT missions, is that it is used by cybertech, armormech and scythweaving heavy/medium crafting, THREE professions whereas no other mission skill is required by 3 professions (Treasure hunting by artifice only, diplomacy by biochem and investigation by armstech). Not only that, but armormech and cybertech only require the metals, and 2/3 of the scythweaving crafted items require metal (only light armor requires silk), meaning that for most people the fabric UT missions are useless (and results in you often relogging many times just to get the metal missions). This drives up the price of the iron and pretty much makes selling any item crafted with it pointless - you're better off just selling the iron.
The surest way to gather Mandalorian Iron is from Crafting Missions like Hijack and Intellectual Property. Those return 9 out of 10 times for 4 to 5 pieces of iron. Regular missions like Well-Earned Rest or A Volatile Gift return less than 1 out of 10 runs with iron.
Mandalorian Iron is not a sustainable metal and should be treated as such. This is a rare metal people! Selling a level 22 mod or armor modification for 40,000 credits is only a .5% to 2% profit, assuming you obtain iron for around 8000 credits. If you buy a level 340 Mission Discovery for 30,000 credits you're in the same profit margin.