Armour question

[Owa]

<DIV>Hello,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>As some of you may know, my grasp of the mechanics of the game is somewhat rubbish, so I was hoping some of the clever monks could help me out on an armour question...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I've had a full set of enchanted thicket armour which I've adored - partly because it looks spiffy, but mainly because of the outrageous STR and AGI bonuses. However, now I'm 42 it cons blue and I bought a ragtag assortment of pristine tailored strengthened, ten gallon boots etc which all con orange. (The pristine imbued augmented gear is sadly out of my price range)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Anyway, here's the question: is it better to have my blue con armour with 139 STR 144 AGI or orange con armour with 110 STR 138 AGI? </DIV> <DIV> I've kept my old armour for comparison and I seem to be getting hit less and doing more damage with the blue con stuff - although this could just be wishful thinking as a result of looking cool in it.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>(both figures include hex dolls, rings, belts etc)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks for any advice,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Annaspider xxx</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>ps. Nerf, Gage, Archetype, Balance, Morons etc etc</DIV>

[Nemi]

<DIV>Once your armour becomes blue, you start to lose your mitigation against mobs even conned and up.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Remember the displayed values are for an average mob your level.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If you had 38% mitigation at level 35 and all your armour was white, when you dinged 36 (and all your armour is now blue) your mitigation will now show a value lower than 38, say 35%. That is because an average mob your level is now 36, whereas your armour only scales to 35.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Make sense?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Basically, if you want to tank, then your armour should be always be white or better, otherwise you're taking a hit to your mitigation and we have precious little of it to begin with.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>AFAIK, stat bonus will always give the full bonus, regardless of the con of the armour. It would have to pretty good stat boost in agi to offset the mitgation hit for me to wear blue armour.</DIV>

[Bladewind]

The one bad thing about the enchanted thicket suit is it has very low mitigation relative to other armors of the tier.  You might want to hunt around for a t5 pelt equivalent item (torn augmented bag, gashed augmented belt etc).  If you are patient, you can usually find one for about 20-25g on the broker.  If you can then find a tailor to do the combine (start with the chest piece) for 5-10g, you have a very nice boost in mitigation (and +8 agi and +12 str).  If you happen to have it crafted with a luminous extract, the self-heal proc makes for a greatly-improved solo experience <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  You can generate the cash for this fairly quickly  in the solo parts of the feerrott or the harder solo areas in EL/zek.  As you are 42, I'd guess LS and EF also have nice solo spots too.  When sell loot out of chests goes for 2-4 g, you can save up 40g in an hour or two with a little luck <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />