Has LU49 killed the need for Mastercrafted gear?

[Oridon]

Hello All, Since LU49 went into place I've noticed a few significant shifts on my server (the other RP server D'L). There appears to be a significant buildup of Mastercrafted items (mid level) on the broker as well as the associated raw materials. Prices haven't adjusted yet but as inventories rise prices surely will come down. I have a couple characters in the 50's (started in July) and have in the past taken the time to upgrade each with MC gear. While I've really enjoyed picking up all those rocks & sticks along the way it doesn't seem necassary any longer. Before the change I split time 70/30 solo / group play and typcially targetted even con or yellow content. Against this content the MC gear was helpful. However since LU49 I can't continue this as my skills just don't stay up with my level. Now I'm pretty much targetting green/blue content so MC gear really is pointless. To compound this grouping opportunities have even worsened but this may be a short term issue. One of my characters is a tank so I felt it important to keep armor up to MC level but again, no group, no need. Spending the time to harvest mats for MC gear was questionable before LU49. From my persepctive it's virtually a waste of time now given how fast you can burn through 10 levels. Thoughts?

[Xethren]

MC gear isnt pointless.But yes with the fast leveling it makes it hard to buy a new set all the time. Thats why i tend to only get a new set every 20 levels.

[Killerbee3000]

<p>currently there are also too many rares in the economy due to the harvesting live event, that part will normalize and supply will be reduced to previous levels meaning less crafters will have hundreds of mc items premade.</p><p>but yes, faster exp = lower demand for crafted gear.</p>

[Drakosani]

<cite>Killerbee3000 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>currently there are also too many rares in the economy due to the harvesting live event, that part will normalize and supply will be reduced to previous levels meaning less crafters will have hundreds of mc items premade.</p><p>but yes, faster exp = lower demand for crafted gear.</p></blockquote>Too many rares?  Hmnn...prices seems to indicate the opposite at least for some MC stuff like spells.  I f anything, with the accelerated leveling rares need to be more common so that prices come down and players can justify usiing them.  Oh, the so called adjustment to adept I drop rates wont matter either because players will level more quickly and aquire less adept I to sell.  The game economy will likely take the biggest hit from the increased XP.  Adjusting an economy is not easy either.

[Thunndar316]

Whats wrong with the economy is a T5 rare costs just as much, or more than a T8 rare.

[rosie01]

<p>I also am finding rares hard to come by.</p><p>When I first started harvesting in TS, rares were dropping all the time, how I hardly get any and I have two crafters in their 30s.</p>

[Oh]

<cite>Oridon wrote:</cite><blockquote>Hello All,Since LU49 went into place I've noticed a few significant shifts on my server (the other RP server D'L). There appears to be a significant buildup of Mastercrafted items (mid level) on the broker as well as the associated raw materials. Prices haven't adjusted yet but as inventories rise prices surely will come down.I have a couple characters in the 50's (started in July) and have in the past taken the time to upgrade each with MC gear. While I've really enjoyed picking up all those rocks & sticks along the way it doesn't seem necassary any longer. Before the change I split time 70/30 solo / group play and typcially targetted even con or yellow content. Against this content the MC gear was helpful. However since LU49 I can't continue this as my skills just don't stay up with my level. Now I'm pretty much targetting green/blue content so MC gear really is pointless.To compound this grouping opportunities have even worsened but this may be a short term issue. One of my characters is a tank so I felt it important to keep armor up to MC level but again, no group, no need. Spending the time to harvest mats for MC gear was questionable before LU49. From my persepctive it's virtually a waste of time now given how fast you can burn through 10 levels. Thoughts?</blockquote><p>Well first off the game updates are now called GU's and not LU's I have no idea when they changed the naming of these, just commenting.</p><p>As to needing MC gear, even before you seriously didn't need to upgrade every tier well maybe fighters did but everyone else could easly skip a tier or more (my warlock skipped 4 tiers at a time and didn't have a problem). Personally I think the stake that really killed off needing MC gear was when they updated the treasured gear to be more/less onpar with the level of gear you get from TD. That to me is what really killed off that market, now the excelerated leveling just drives that point more to home in that you are only going to be in a given tier for so long so then the choice is either a) using those few rares you get for your spells to be upgraded or b) using those few rares for gear and not updating your spells. Personally I would rather update my spells, although even with that said frankly for leveling AP4/AD1 spells are seriously good enough for leveling which don't require any rares. Of course this is fully a PvE perspective, from PvP perspective i'm sure it is completly different.</p>

[Zutan]

In the past I never purchased MC gear until lvl 42.  All the levels prior go so fast that the cost isnt worth the benefit.  The normal crafted gear for each tier always did me just fine. Not to mention that my characters could not afford to by MC gear due to the costs (without twinking, which I dont do)..Now, with the new changes, I may just skip the MC gear a bit longer, perhaps 52 or 62 will be the first set I get.

[Dareena]

I always start using MC gear at 32nd on my characters.  Even with the accelerated leveling curve, I still plan on acquiring a MC set every tier.  There will always be people who want to be the most possibly effective for their level.  So there will always be a market for Adept III's and MC gear.  It will just be a smaller market now (based on the responses above).

[Kior]

MC gear is largely a wast sub 50ish.If you crank up spell damage, or combat arts it will allow you to xp much much much faster, and the treasured items are much cheaper also.My level 50 inquisitor bot has roughly +200ish combat arts damage, and blows through even con normal mobs in roughly 10-13ish seconds, no reason atm to switch to mastercrafted gear with that kill rate

[Odys]

<cite>Kioras wrote:</cite><blockquote>MC gear is largely a wast sub 50ish.If you crank up spell damage, or combat arts it will allow you to xp much much much faster, and the treasured items are much cheaper also.My level 50 inquisitor bot has roughly +200ish combat arts damage, and blows through even con normal mobs in roughly 10-13ish seconds, no reason atm to switch to mastercrafted gear with that kill rate</blockquote>Beware of potential lie here, Kioras only inquisitor alt is level 4. I m nost saying that carefull picked level non MC  45 gear cannot push you to +200 Ca (especially with new everfrost gear in mind) but i have doubts. I still have many fabled pieces from all tiers that are vastly inferior to mastercraft. The current MC quality trivializes the low level game. Skipping one tier each two or using regular crafted gear is quite possible for most classe. Nevertheless i would suggest not suggest to go in rok with t3-t5 MC, I personnaly used 7 till 77.To make crafter happy and dungeon attractive one would  need an orthogonal gearsystem. Either crafter would attune and adapt dungeon drop to adventurers or they would userare from dungeon. Another possibility would be to have crafter making let's say underwear while quest dungeon would provideother pieces.What teaches us Eq2,Eq1,Wow is simple crafting gear and dungeon gear should be orthogonal otherwise either crafters are useless or dungeons get empty.

[Ama]

Master Crafted gear as said isn't pointless, but as far as master crafted armor itself goes that's a tough call.  The problem is balancing MC gear vs legendary gear.  After that it becomes a problem of me as an adventurer do I stick through it using last tier gear that is better then MC gear or use MC gear that has some minor beneficial stats. 

[Firecracker]

<p>This may be a rumor or fact but I heard that soon all armor worn after ten levels will lose stats the more you out level it, so soon not having to buy armor upgrades every 20* levels will change if your losing stats after 10 levels don't you think? At least if that is true then upgrading armor will need to be done more so then before if your losing stats with each level after 10.</p><p><span style="font-size: xx-small;">* (The number 20 is just example for even I have armor way past 30 levels or even 40 levels myself on few characters only because I have been power leveling them.)</span></p>

[Thunndar316]

<p>I have compared T8 mastercrafted gear with the available Legendary gear on the broker and I find the stats to be very comparable and in some cases the MC is better as far as resists and overall stats.  The Legendary will have better mitigation but for the most part I use mastercrafted until I get something better.  </p><p>I made 70 last night and I was getting smoked in Kunark because I was still wearing Cobalt.  I bought a set of handcrafted armor to hold me over till 72 and that level 70 on the armor fixed the problem even though the stats on the armor were lower than the level; 52 Cobalt.</p><p>It does matter as far as the level of your gear.</p>

[bleap]

My assassin was level 34 when LU49 went live. He was wearing feysteel chain. He is now level 48 still wearing the feysteel. When he hits 52 I will get him cobalt, but I will skip the T7 and wait until level 72 for T8....Why waste the money when these levels are flying past?

[Full_Metal_Mage]

<cite>bleap wrote:</cite><blockquote>My assassin was level 34 when LU49 went live. He was wearing feysteel chain. He is now level 48 still wearing the feysteel. When he hits 52 I will get him cobalt, but I will skip the T7 and wait until level 72 for T8....Why waste the money when these levels are flying past?</blockquote>T7 MC chain has never has been a must have upgrade over T6. While ebon is definately better than feysteel, the problem is that mastercrafted armor below T6 has not yet been reitemized. But many players have leveled up from 1 to 80 without ever once obtaining even a single piece of mastercrafted gear. Mastercrafted is still nice, but is not and never has been an absolute must have (tanks excepted).

[Rahatmattata]

Full mastercrafted, adorned, and masters/ad3 for me from level 12 to end game. But I level slow and have enough crafters to make stuff myself.

[hellfire]

Since day one  everything in game can be done witghout master crafted gear...just the way it is where  treasured is more then good enough.Now of corse  things might be  a bit easier in MC but in reality  there is some weight to the whole MC is pointless opion...cause well for most part it is pointless.

[Frijoles]

<p><b><i><span style="color: #ffff00;">"Has LU49 killed the need for Mastercrafted gear?"</span></i></b></p><p>No.</p>

[Davngr1]

the fact that you are seeing more MC gear on the broker is probly do to the fact that more and more people are crafting these days.    this leads to more people selling and more people having Mc gear for alts crafted for them in house instead of buying them from the broker.      

[Odys]

Well i just rechecked drops from Klak nnovation on my old 50ish illusionistand it's far inferior to level 52 MC, and not better than 42 one. The only quested rewards (and drop) that are decent come from everforst. Lot of insanely  rich people will reroll and they won't bother to annoy their guildmate doing MC gear, i jus sold a full set of dragon tranquil fr mage.The effect of the fast levelling curve may be simply a general raiseof the rare/mc prices. When yo make 20pp a day without farming getting the best for your new toon is natural. I foresee rocketing prices especially for scout/warrior adept or rare. Most t3-t7 rare price should soar, people won't get time to harvest enough rare.The current excess in offer is mainly due to the harvesting quests effect combined withthe guild ressource bank. 

[Drewx]

<p>Has GU *cough* 49 killed the need for Mastercrafted Gear?</p><p>Yes.....and no!</p><p>Yes it's severely lessened the need for Mastercraft as players won't be trapped in a specific tier for a large amount of time.But to those who need the best of the best, or who group alot, or who solo heroic content...they will definately need it.To be honest it's only made it easier on most people imo. Seeing as alot of people think and i personally agree...that mastercraft is overpriced under lvl 52.I STILL am pretty sure ebon is so pricey because it gives the ever so cool black armor look. *shrug*Hell I saw some level 32 MC the other day running at 2p. Sure some alts, and mules can afford it but it's overpriced to most people, heaven forbid the new players.</p><p>I've always gotten by until 52 without MC on all of my toons minus my main who has always been in MC (times were different back then) so *shrug* I guess it depends on playstyle...Although with this increased leveling speed they may want to well...increase the drop rate of rares for the sake of the economy. With peopel leveling faster rares may become even more rare...and prices will just go up up up.</p>