Armor - a thought or two

[Anordil]

<p>Hi,</p><p>I've been playing EQ2 since January of this year or so and have lurked a bit on the forums but have not actively participated thus far. Please excuse me if this isn't the right area or if this has been brought up before.</p><p>Onward.</p><p>Before coming to EQ2, I played DAoC for several years. While I don't intend to go through a song and dance comparing the games, one thing that I have noticed (and really wish we had) was intermediate crafted armor. </p><p>As it currently stands, the armor we can craft progresses every 10 levels - 10, 20, 30, 40, etc. Same with the masterpiece stuff - 12, 22, 32, etc. The problem is that when you're level 19, the level 10 gear doesn't seem to hold up as well as before? Am I just dreaming this? </p><p>Operating on the premise that, yes, the armor is less effective, would it be possible to have the armor progress every five levels instead? Same crafting materials (slightly different quantity used or something, dunno) and prehaps a different visual style? </p><p>Am I nuts? Just curious...</p><p>Anordil</p>

[Borias]

While the armorers and weaponsmiths would love you for having 2x the recipes/business, I don't think it would happen.  Generally as you level and quest most of your gear is replaced by treasured/legendary stuff along the way to the next tier.  With some big exceptions (dumb chain pants <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/1cfd6e2a9a2c0cf8e74b49b35e2e46c7.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />&nbsp<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Anordil]

<p>Borias, </p><p>I know we're supposed to find stuff as we barge about, but so far (and my main is a level 53 Templar), I've only rarely found anything I'd use. Either it is visually unappealing (I hate running around looking all raspy and a mishmash of styles) or it doesn't work for my character. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> </p>

[Bramwe]

They did add the Mastercrafted/Common armor from Deathfist Citadel at lvl 37 but that is only one Tier.  It would be nice if this was brought to all tiers but probably won't happen...at least not for a long time.

[Novusod]

There are a couple of places where there are some rather large gaps in armor. Being stuck at level 19 with level 10 armor is one of the worst.  There are also some rather large holes in the item progession in the upper 40s and upper 50s.

[Anordil]

<p>*nods* </p><p>That's what I thought, too. :-/ </p><p>I really think that gear for 15, 25, 35 etc. would be nice. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> </p>

[Cathars]

The crafted stuff is there to get you started on a tier.  As you progress through it, it was designed that you'd fill in with quested, dropped, and mastercrafted pieces.

[Zard]

<p>Originally, player-crafted gear had a different Magic Affinity (an obsolete skill that was, effectively, minimum level) based on its quality: Crude, Fashioned, (normal) and Pristine. Pristine items, for example, could be used at level x0 (10, 20, etc.) but Crude items could be used at x8 (8, 18, etc.); those numbers may not be right but the idea is the same. This meant that Non-Pristine items were actually desirable by the few that could afford to replace them with Pristine in a few levels.</p>

[Scottishla]

<cite>Borias wrote:</cite><blockquote>While the armorers and weaponsmiths would love you for having 2x the recipes/business, I don't think it would happen.  Generally as you level and quest most of your gear is replaced by treasured/legendary stuff along the way to the next tier.  With some big exceptions (dumb chain pants <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/1cfd6e2a9a2c0cf8e74b49b35e2e46c7.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /> <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" /></blockquote><p>Funny you mention the chain pants.  My Troub was lucky enough to grab the Fabled chain pants in Fallen Gate.  They are tagged level 18.  Now, she is 33, the pants are grayed out and I still cannot find a comparable replacement.  So, she continues to roam the world in pants that she's outgrown, but can't really upgrade.</p><p>And while we're giving chain a hard time.....Where is the chain love for the mystic/defiler?  My mystic has always been forced to wear leather, because every chain piece I see drop caters to AGI/STA/STR, when we mystic really want WIS/INT.  I would like to wear chain, but not at the cost of reducing my effectiveness by giving up those all important stats.</p>

[Anordil]

<cite>Scottishlass wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Borias wrote:</cite><blockquote>While the armorers and weaponsmiths would love you for having 2x the recipes/business, I don't think it would happen.  Generally as you level and quest most of your gear is replaced by treasured/legendary stuff along the way to the next tier.  With some big exceptions (dumb chain pants <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/1cfd6e2a9a2c0cf8e74b49b35e2e46c7.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /> <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" />" width="15" height="15"></blockquote><p>Funny you mention the chain pants.  My Troub was lucky enough to grab the Fabled chain pants in Fallen Gate.  They are tagged level 18.  Now, she is 33, the pants are grayed out and I still cannot find a comparable replacement.  So, she continues to roam the world in pants that she's outgrown, but can't really upgrade.</p><p>And while we're giving chain a hard time.....Where is the chain love for the mystic/defiler?  My mystic has always been forced to wear leather, because every chain piece I see drop caters to AGI/STA/STR, when we mystic really want WIS/INT.  I would like to wear chain, but not at the cost of reducing my effectiveness by giving up those all important stats.</p></blockquote>That's the same problem I'm finding with my Templar. The plate I find is all str/sta and suchlike and not all that useful for a healer extraordinaire. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> As for purchasing things off the broker, I hate doing it since often the prices are enough to give one a fit of the vapours. I'd much, much rather support a crafter.

[Mildavyn]

Borias was most likely talking about level 70. Chain pants are about as common as hen's teeth at level 70. I must have worn mastercrafted chain legs for a good 3-4 months before something better dropped for me.

[Anordil]

<p>I guess part of what bugs me is that I feel crafted gear <u>should</u> be much better than the majority of dropped stuff - but it isn't. :-/  And part of this feeling is due to the every-ten-levels tier system.</p><p>One of th' things that was super great about the crafted stuff in DAoC was that you could tailor it (hurr hurr) to meet your needs and that with very few exceptions (until ToA came along and ruined the game), you went to the crafters for the best and brightest gear. Granted, it could be a colossal pain to make that masterpiece set of gear (and very expensive), but you wound up with some very, very nice stuff.</p><p>Mind you, I am aware that these are two different games produced by two different companies and I know that the likelihood of anyone at SOE looking at this thread and going 'Hm, not a bad idea' is about on par with me waking up in Tir na nOg to-morrow morning. Perhaps I'll stop with the discursive rambling and go ask about it in the Tradeskill area. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Illmarr]

<cite>Scottishlass wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Borias wrote:</cite><blockquote>While the armorers and weaponsmiths would love you for having 2x the recipes/business, I don't think it would happen.  Generally as you level and quest most of your gear is replaced by treasured/legendary stuff along the way to the next tier.  With some big exceptions (dumb chain pants <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/1cfd6e2a9a2c0cf8e74b49b35e2e46c7.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /> <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" />" width="15" height="15"></blockquote><p>Funny you mention the chain pants.  My Troub was lucky enough to grab the Fabled chain pants in Fallen Gate.  They are tagged level 18.  Now, she is 33, the pants are grayed out and I still cannot find a comparable replacement.  So, she continues to roam the world in pants that she's outgrown, but can't really upgrade.</p><p>And while we're giving chain a hard time.....Where is the chain love for the mystic/defiler?  My mystic has always been forced to wear leather, because every chain piece I see drop caters to AGI/STA/STR, when we mystic really want WIS/INT.  I would like to wear chain, but not at the cost of reducing my effectiveness by giving up those all important stats.</p></blockquote>Not sure what level your Mystic is. There is a great set of Shaman-centric chain from Acadechism, but it's a level 62 set

[Illmarr]

<cite>Anordil@Lucan DLere wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I guess part of what bugs me is that I feel crafted gear <u>should</u> be much better than the majority of dropped stuff - but it isn't. :-/  And part of this feeling is due to the every-ten-levels tier system.</p><p>One of th' things that was super great about the crafted stuff in DAoC was that you could tailor it (hurr hurr) to meet your needs and that with very few exceptions (until ToA came along and ruined the game), you went to the crafters for the best and brightest gear. Granted, it could be a colossal pain to make that masterpiece set of gear (and very expensive), but you wound up with some very, very nice stuff.</p><p>Mind you, I am aware that these are two different games produced by two different companies and I know that the likelihood of anyone at SOE looking at this thread and going 'Hm, not a bad idea' is about on par with me waking up in Tir na nOg to-morrow morning. Perhaps I'll stop with the discursive rambling and go ask about it in the Tradeskill area. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" /></p></blockquote><p>Personally I think (Master)Crafted gear is better than drops up through the 50s. You may get somehting slightly better that's level x9, but by that time you're only a couple of levels away from the next Tier MC. Being a still leveling transmuter, I will usually break the drop instead of it going on someone.I never got lucky enough to get any dropped upgrade to armor the entire time I was leveling my Guardian before T7. My Swashbuckler is severely lacking in the gear department aside from weapons and rings because I have not harvested enough rares. For my Warden's armor, I have not seen anything yet drop I'd take off the T6 leather she made herself for, and she's been level locked at 55 for a month waiting to finish up a couple of HQs before they go grey at 56. Her jewelery is starting to show age though. And my g/f's Templar did fine in MC up to her 60s, though she wore chain instead of plate for fashion reasons. Curiously, she's gotten several upgrades to the MC cloth armors I've sewn for her over the levels for her Conjuror and Necromancer</p><p>Gather up your rares while harvesting and then ask for the services of whatever you need in the server crafting channels. Someone is always quick to respond. </p>

[Scottishla]

<cite>Ilmaaaaah@Lucan DLere wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Scottishlass wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Borias wrote:</cite><blockquote>While the armorers and weaponsmiths would love you for having 2x the recipes/business, I don't think it would happen.  Generally as you level and quest most of your gear is replaced by treasured/legendary stuff along the way to the next tier.  With some big exceptions (dumb chain pants <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/1cfd6e2a9a2c0cf8e74b49b35e2e46c7.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /> <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" />" width="15" height="15"></blockquote><p>Funny you mention the chain pants.  My Troub was lucky enough to grab the Fabled chain pants in Fallen Gate.  They are tagged level 18.  Now, she is 33, the pants are grayed out and I still cannot find a comparable replacement.  So, she continues to roam the world in pants that she's outgrown, but can't really upgrade.</p><p>And while we're giving chain a hard time.....Where is the chain love for the mystic/defiler?  My mystic has always been forced to wear leather, because every chain piece I see drop caters to AGI/STA/STR, when we mystic really want WIS/INT.  I would like to wear chain, but not at the cost of reducing my effectiveness by giving up those all important stats.</p></blockquote>Not sure what level your Mystic is. There is a great set of Shaman-centric chain from Acadechism, but it's a level 62 set</blockquote><p>See? Therein lies the problem with gear, as I see it.  At lvl 62 there is ONE decent set of mystic centric armor.  Oh yippee....what do I do those other 61 levels?  </p><p>Same with my monk...she has been sitting at 33 for months simply because I can't stand to look at her.....I did not create a monk so I could look like a scout...But there are no crafted gi's whatsoever and very few gi's at all between lvls 30-52.  Currently, I am trying to get her the Blood Drenched Gi from Bloodlines, but that's a long process of zone in, kill named, no drop (none at all...not even a small chest), zone out, zone back in, kill named, no drop at all, and on and on and on...</p><p>I'm just hoping SOE will take a long hard look at armor in the near future and make some changes.  Not only is it mostly cookie cutter and hideous to look at, but the stats need to be looked at in terms of who can use what type. </p>

[Femke]

<cite>Scottishlass wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite></cite>Funny you mention the chain pants.  My Troub was lucky enough to grab the Fabled chain pants in Fallen Gate.  They are tagged level 18.  Now, she is 33, the pants are grayed out and I still cannot find a comparable replacement.  So, she continues to roam the world in pants that she's outgrown, but can't really upgrade.</blockquote>You may give it a shot at Zek. I gathered there for my daughters Troubadour a almost complete set (only no helmet). It is level 30 and each piece was a quest-reward in a serie of (simple) quests.Femke.

[Tae]

<cite>Scottishlass wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite></cite>I'm just hoping SOE will take a long hard look at armor in the near future and make some changes.  Not only is it mostly cookie cutter and hideous to look at, but the stats need to be looked at in terms of who can use what type.  </blockquote>They did, next patch you can put whatever you want on and have that display instead of your actual armour in a totally seperate group of slots. Problem solved. Also I would absolutely hate another tier of crafted armour. It's already enough of a chore gathering the rares to make armour for each tier, let alone having to do it half way through each tier too. Don't force us to do that just because of cosmetics, please.