Enchanted Elite Sling: investment vs reward

[three wolf moon]

The Enchanted Elite Sling is distinctly inferior to any of the top-tier ranged crafting recipes, but it is just as much of a pain to make, if not more.

Currently, its stats are the following:

AB+3
Mighty+5
DEX+2

And no runic.

Compare this to the materials required:

4 Greater Catalysts (4 Gold Ingots)
2 Ashwood Stabilizers (that's 2 Adamantine chunks)
1 Dragon Oil
1 Elite Sling (Sapphire, GMW, lots of tanning acid, leather)
over 1k crafting points.

I would rather it be on par with the other ranged weapons, but that's whatever-- the fact of it now that I am concerned with is that the investment is far greater than what you get. The recipe should be toned down to require less materials and less crafting points if you're getting a mediocre end product.

[AstralUniverse]

My character was helping another tailor finish that dreadful thing. When it was finished I looked at the properties and I was like... "really? that's it?". Maybe slings are balanced and in a good place but the amount of crafting points is absurd.

[Wuthering]

It's barely an improvement over the Sling of Force which is a pretty common loot drop.

I know the E.E. Sling was heavily nerfed because some hin figured out how to get great numbers with the original model but it really hurt everyone else who uses a sling and isn't a specifically built divine might halfling. Reducing the requirements would be nice but giving the top sling a little oomph would be nice too.

[Scraps]

It use to be stronger, but at the end of the day Slings are balanced around the fact they're a simple ranged weapon and usable with a Shield. That's Six extra AC on demand.

Crossbows are simple weapons too, but they've got an entire feat required to pull them out of 1/2 Attacks per Round, so they're effectively Exotic-lite.

[three wolf moon]

It use to be stronger, but at the end of the day Slings are balanced around the fact they're a simple ranged weapon and usable with a Shield. That's Six extra AC on demand.

Crossbows are simple weapons too, but they've got an entire feat required to pull them out of 1/2 Attacks per Round, so they're effectively Exotic-lite.

right, but that's not really what my thread is about at all.

To reiterate my beef is specifically with the inordinate cp/gold value required to produce a very (and perhaps necessarily) mediocre item.