Guardian Armor Question - Vanguard vs AQ

[talbert]

<DIV>Question about Guardian armor. Specifically Pristine Forged Carbonite Vanguard vs the Armor you receive from doing the AQ? Which one is better and by how much? I havent see any AQ stats for guardians?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have a guardian and am just about ready to do the AQ's. I also have enough gold to buy most if not all of the Vanguard set. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Feedback appreciated,</DIV><p>Message Edited by talbert on <span class=date_text>12-06-2004</span> <span class=time_text>01:37 PM</span>

[TulsaTi]

<DIV>Finda another player doing the Armor Quest and ask to buy his or her pieces that he's replacing such as the bracers, then the gloves etc.   before you go and buy the whole suit up.  You will just end up reselling the Vanguard I would think.  </DIV>

[Wasuna]

<DIV>Freeport Plate quest armor is Cold Hammered. Do a search for that and see.</DIV>

[Ainm]

Qeynos quest is "Hearth Forged"

[Siggy]

<DIV>The armor quests reward you with better armor than anything an armorer can make for you at that stage. This applies to each and every piece cept for the helmet of course since there is no helmet armor quest.  </DIV>

[Azry]

<DIV>The uncommon (or common if you hunt there alot) plate helm from Nek mobs at the beach is also better than the crafted one! So there is no reason to buy armorer gear.  Overall, at least so far, armoring is a serious bust. Im glad I waited to level up in artisan as I knew from EQ1 there were some rotten eggs in the bunch.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[benba]

<DIV>yea, that Steel Helm that is better than Pristine Carbonite helm drops from crabs in Nek Forest.  I looted 3 in 4 hours.</DIV>

[Jenlaana]

<DIV>I find myself in this position now.  I was having some serious issues w/ tanking at lvl 21-22 so I went out and purchased a set of vanguard armor.  (yay for my luck harvesting rares!)  For me atleast, it was a sweet upgrade, and the look is unbelievablely hot.  Compared to the AQ stuff, the stats are very similar.  On most pieces, the difference is marginally about 5ac +/- and the rest are comprable.  I've gotten 4 pieces so far and thats about where I'm at.  Personally, I like the look of vanguard MUCH MUCH better, so may just leave it at that.  I'm still undecided.  If you like to quest, I would do the AQ, but if you're a grinder, carbonite is just about as good for none of the work.</DIV>

[SirNicholo]

<DIV>I got a few pieces of the quest armour(Qeynos) and after realizing just how **mods 4 teh win!!1!** ugly it was, and it only lasted till level 26 before it started conning useless, I went and bought a full set of Carbonite Vanguard and I couldnt be happier.  The stats are similar, you dont look like a stupid gold goof, it doesnt con white until level 30 AND you can resell it, unlike the quest stuff.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I say if you have the money, screw the quest stuff and buy the Carbonite Vanguard stuff, much better overall.  I think you will be much happier.  And you can even still do the quests and sell the quest armour on the broker.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>*EDIT* btw here is a pic of Me in My Vanguard for anyone who is interested.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><A href="http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=f8keq2000018.jpg" target=_blank>http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=f8keq2000018.jpg</A></DIV><p>Message Edited by SirNicholous on <span class=date_text>12-08-2004</span> <span class=time_text>08:03 AM</span>

[Headspace]

<DIV>After the 2nd one the Armor quests are really just a way to slow your progress.  If you spend all that time just grinding exp you will end up with enough loot to buy decent amor and be at a lvl where the AQ crap would be useless anyways. </DIV>

[PMontyMontMo]

That's somewhat true...I finished my last AQ and the level cap on the breastplate is 30 and the caps on the other peices are around 25 so I bet the quest armor will last quite a long time. It all depends on how long you spend doing the quests...I did them all within 4 levels (20-24) in a little over a week.

[Cott]

<DIV>This applies to each and every piece cept for the helmet of course since there is no helmet armor quest. Incorrect.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>There is a quest for a helmet from a very nice gentleman in Baubleshire (yes, this is for Qeynos guadians, I'm sure something equivalent exists for Freeport.) I'm not going to say where, but you'll need to speak his language to get it.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm wearing it now if you'd like to see it's stats.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>-Camulus</DIV> <DIV>-23 Guardian</DIV> <DIV>-Unrest</DIV>

[Siggy]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Cott wrote:<BR> <DIV>This applies to each and every piece cept for the helmet of course since there is no helmet armor quest. Incorrect.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>There is a quest for a helmet from a very nice gentleman in Baubleshire (yes, this is for Qeynos guadians, I'm sure something equivalent exists for Freeport.) I'm not going to say where, but you'll need to speak his language to get it.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm wearing it now if you'd like to see it's stats.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>-Camulus</DIV> <DIV>-23 Guardian</DIV> <DIV>-Unrest</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>I was only taking into account the quests commonly labeled as armor quests...basically, the series of quests given from that same NPC that give hearth forged armor. </P> <P>As far as comparing hearth forged and player forged armor, there are several pieces where the player forged armor have better stats once you near level 30. For instance, the AQ bracers and gloves become blue once you hit level 27, whereas the crafted armor has a higher max level if it was made pristine. </P> <P><BR> </P>

[Cott]

Not as an argument to what you said, because I'm well aware that tradeskilled items are very often GREAT compared to drops/merchant loot. However, we saw an armor quest on the Isle that gives you a full set, we saw another quest at level 20 that gives you a full set. I'm willing to bet that around 40 or so there's going to be another quest that will, once again, give you a full set of yellow/orange (at the time) armor. Probably again at 60 to "finish you off". I may be wrong, but it does seem to be a trend.We'll have to wait and see what Sony has up its sleeve <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />-Camulus-23 Guardian-Unrest

[Erronn]

<DIV>If it's helpfull, I have links to all the level 20 guardian AQ armor on my guardian site, specifically here</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><A href="http://p196.ezboard.com/feq2guardians46530frm10.showMessage?topicID=1.topi c" target=_blank>http://p196.ezboard.com/feq2guardians46530frm10.showMessage?topicID=1.topi c</A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Also have purchaseable armor (freeport for now) here</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><A href="http://p196.ezboard.com/feq2guardians46530frm12.showMessage?topicID=5.topi c" target=_blank>http://p196.ezboard.com/feq2guardians46530frm12.showMessage?topicID=5.topi c</A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm working on adding artisan-made also....</DIV>

[Siggy]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <P> <HR> Cott wrote:<BR>Not as an argument to what you said, because I'm well aware that tradeskilled items are very often GREAT compared to drops/merchant loot. However, we saw an armor quest on the Isle that gives you a full set, we saw another quest at level 20 that gives you a full set. I'm willing to bet that around 40 or so there's going to be another quest that will, once again, give you a full set of yellow/orange (at the time) armor. Probably again at 60 to "finish you off". I may be wrong, but it does seem to be a trend.<BR><BR>We'll have to wait and see what Sony has up its sleeve <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><BR><BR>-Camulus<BR>-23 Guardian<BR>-Unrest<BR> <HR> <P></P> <P>I'm not saying there are no more armor quests at higher levels, but if what you said would be true, you'd see all the armorsmiths up in arms. Having simple quests reward better armor than player crafted armor would pretty much destroy the entire profession. The armor they reward you on the IoR isn't very good and I'm hoping they have the level 20 armor quests only because that is when we choose our final subclass, but other than that, there shouldn't be anymore complete set armor quests in the game....at least not better than what an armorsmith can make. </P></BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <p>Message Edited by Siggy12 on <span class=date_text>12-09-2004</span> <span class=time_text>01:20 PM</span>

[TunaBoo]

No look how spells work.Crap crap - App1 for freeSemi Crap - Vendor Bought app2Decent - Player Made App3Good - Dropped Adept1Great - Rare droped then player crafted Adpet 3Uber - MastersNow look how armor worksCrap crap - the junk dropped off mobsSemi Crap - Vendor Bought generic armorDecent - Player Crafted (for tier 3 carbonite)Good - Quested ArmorGreat - Rare droped item (steel) then player craftedUber - Super rare drops off raids or whateverSo there you go - same progression as spells. Quested often beats player crafted by a little, but player quested RARE drop is about as good as you can get. Only a few uber drops surpass it.

[Errar]

<DIV>Does this lead us to the old  HP v. AC disucussion?  I for one would love to see the thoughts of other guardian on this issue.  I have read the posts of some guardians that their armor does essentially nothing for them (the tanked almost as well naked as with full set of vanguard...or so they posted).  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>We can purchase all the Vanguard and strive to push our AC higher, but it is better to give up a few AC and go for the big HP?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Draegger</DIV> <DIV>22 Guardian</DIV>

[TunaBoo]

Well.. in 99% of armor I found the higher AC piece also had more HP.To me the issue is AC vs stats. I can trade say shoes for lose 10 ac to gain 2 agi. How much does agi help parry? Does it help more then 10ac? I have no idea <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />