Do any items break down/refine into cooking materials

Thanks to some work with the Mystic Forge, we now have a decent understanding of how to craft Legendary Weapons.

As Brian mentions above (and as was true in the Beta), Legendary Weapons are created in the Mystic Forge in a complicated, multi-step process. Let's break it down.

1. Level 80 Exotic "Precursor" Weapon. (e.g., Zap for Bolt, or Dusk for Twilight) These can be randomly dropped by enemies in the world, randomly created with 4 high level rares of the same type (70+) in the mystic forge (some folk are assuming there's a Non-Random recipe as well), or bought off the Trading Post.
2. Gift of Mastery. This component is created in the Mystic Forge with Gift of Exploration, A Bloodstone Shard, Gift of Battle, and 250 Obsidian Shards.
   • Gift of Exploration: Receive 2 when you 100% the World Map.
   • Gift of Battle: Bought from WvWvW vendor for 500 Badges of Honor (earned from WvWvW and the 4 jumping puzzles).
   • Bloodstone Shard: Bought from Miyani for 200 Skillpoints.
   • 250 Obsidian Shards: 2100 Karma each. Bought from the Temple of Balthazar in Straits of Devastation. (525,000 total Karma!)
3. Gift of [Legendary Weapon Name]. This component is created in the Mystic Forge with a Gift of Gathering, a Gift of Dungeons, Icy Runestones, and a Superior Sigil unique to the Precursor Weapon.
   • Gift of "Gathering": Dependent on the legendary in question. This is always a Gift of Energy, Metal, or Wood. Requires max level crafting, and a 10g recipe bought from Miyani.
   • Gift of "Dungeons": Also dependent on the legendary in question. This is a different Miyani-bought recipe that will always include Dungeon Tokens from explorable mode dungeons (or items bought with tokens) either 250 or 500, again, depending on the exact recipe. Will also require lots of materials as well, though the exact recipes run the gamut from Steel Ingots to Unidentified Dyes (not from cooking!).
   • 100 Icy Runestones: High-end Crafting mat. Sold by Rojan the Penitent in Frostgorge Sound.
   • Superior Sigil: The exact superior sigil depends on the Legendary.
4. Gift of Fortune: This component is created in the Mystic Forge with Gift of Might, Gift of Magic, Mystic Clovers, and Globs of Ectoplasm.
   • Gift of Magic: Combine 250 each of grade 6 Bones, Scales, Claws, and Fangs
   • Gift of Might: Combine 250 each of grade 6 Blood, Venom, Totems, and Dust.
   • 77 Mystic Clovers: Mystic Clovers can be randomly created in the mystic forge with a non-random recipe that will give random results.
   • 250 Globs of Ectoplasm: Rarely Obtained by salvaging Level 70+ Rare and Exotic Equipment.

Finally, combine the 4 items above in the Mystic Forge.

Voila. Legendary. Easy, right? (On everything but your time and your wallet!)

There is no direct way to convert the karma into coins as all the items you trade with karma are immediately soulbound on acquire. However there are some important uses for karma.

If you ever want to level your cooking you will need to save some to buy recipe items. Although the cooking items aren't worth much on the trading post, the magic find bonus will give you better drops and the stat bonuses could effectively keep you alive when otherwise you wouldn't have. In this way you indirectly make money by not having to fix your armor. A copper saved is a copper earned.

Another important use for karma is to obtain recipes for crafting. With the exception of cooking, you need to buy recipes from all the master crafters in order to reach level 400 crafting. The crafting only reveal insignia/inscriptions up to level 350. Once you reach about level 380, all the recipes are grayed out and you can't earn any experience unless you use the recipes from the master crafter that you need karma to buy.

You can use it to buy armor and weapons and accessories from karma traders around the world to supplement your gear if any of them fall behind.

Please note that you should not use your karma to buy cultural weapons. The cultural weapons do not go towards any title and is only rare not exotic so it is not max stat. Since they cost 63k each, it is not an effective way to spend karma.

However outside the Gate of Arah, you are able to buy maxed Exotic Armor pieces for 42k karma a piece. I find this the most effective way to spend your karma. As of now, a piece of Exotic armor is equivalent to about 2.5g gold coins. If you save up the karma you can buy a complete exotic armor set and save about 15g you would otherwise have to directly spend.