Sell or deconstruct? Which one gets me better gear?
When I get gear from drops should I sell or deconstruct the items I don't plan on using? Is it a viable strategy to deconstruct everything in case I get a good blueprint or should I sell my gear and get whatever's best from the vendors at that time?
Patch 1.8
- Optimization Station
- Normalized PVP
Optimization Station & Division Tech
When deconstructing gear/weapons you have a chance of getting division tech now. It takes 50 to improve the stats on your gear via the Optimization Station.
Normalized PVP
The values of your stats are normalized in the two matchmade PVP modes (LastStand and Skirmish). This means you can have crafted lower tier gear with the right stat types but with bad values for these modes.
Money vs Gear
Ultimately it comes down to a choice between money and crafting materials. I would suggest going with crafting materials (deconstruct) unless you need money (which usually is only needed for re-rolling the stats on a piece of gear). One thing to note is that money can be converted indirectly to phoenix credits by purchasing the crates at regular vendors for 400K each which yields somewhere in the vicinity of 10-20 (not exact numbers; going from memory) phoenix credits.
Summary
Deconstruct unless you need Money or Phoenix Credits.
P.S. Always deconstruct Mods and Attachments. They don't have a high sell-value and electronic and tool parts are more likely to be used than the other two types of crafting materials.
I haven't played The Division in a while, but when I was playing crafting wasn't really a thing at all - it is better to just run missions to get better gear.
What I did was to deconstruct blue and purple gear, and sell yellow gear I didn't want. This gave me a good balance of materials (useful for some of the daily and weekly missions) and money to buy better items from the vendors.