Armor questions...

[Hammer]

I'm at 31 now and some of my armor is blue. I have some orange but the quality is low. At this level can I expect to get armor drops or is it time to buy some more player made stuff? I have enough gold to buy some armor but would rather not if there are drops available. Especially since those tend to have stat bonuses too. I hear there are good armor drops in TC, but our trip there the other night didn't yield a single piece. Also the exp there was not too hot. Or, should I not worry about armor and just play till it's grey. Levels seem to mean more than gear anyway.

[Boom]

They lowered the drop rate for stuffs a few patches back. I think they did it to increase demand for crafted items. I think Boomy bought only one crafted item in his entire life, and he always had yellow or orange con stuff. Mostly Malkovich handmedowns. I miss Malk. :(

There are killer drops in TC and the Mine Pit, but you don't want to be wearing blue stuff while you wait for those drops. Its not so bad for a sorc to wear blue stuff, but you are a tank, you are getting bapped. Crafted items are so much better than drops it sorta makes up for the lack of bonuses (unless the bonus is superb). Af 40 armor with 95% quality gives 6af more defence than af 40 armor with 80% quality. Monster drops are all 80%. Crafted stuff ranges from 90% to 100%. If all your stuff is crafted, you are getting a lot more defense overall.

Here is a little tip in buying crafted armor. There are three levels for each type of metal with scale armor. For example, the fourth metal is Dolomite. You can get...
Dolomite Cruanch (af 30)
Dolomite Diangean (af 34)
Dolomite Osanadurtha (af 38).
Then it goes up to the next metal which is Cobalt.
Cobalt Cruanch (af 40)
Cobalt Diangean (af 44)
Cobalt Osandurtha (af 48).
Now here is the tip. Never ever get the Osandurtha. If you get the cruanch of the next level it has a higher af and ITS CHEAPER at the higher levels!!! At the highest levels its ridiculous. A full set of Sapphire Osandurtha (af 68) costs 414 gold. A full set of Diamond Cruanch (af 70) costs 212 gold. That's at a 20% profit margin, and most crafters charge way more than 20% when they get to the high level stuff. Its not that the crafter is ripping you off, its just that Osandurtha stuff requires an incredible amount of materials to make.

On the crafter forum, someone asked why the heck a set of armor that has lower af can cost so much more. Apparently Mythic's stance is that its a matter of buyer beware. If a customer buys af 68 stuff, not realizing that af 70 is cheaper, its his fault for not asking about the prices. An honorable crafter will make a point of letting his customer's know. A dishonorable crafter will sell the Osandurtha. 20% of 414 is a lot more profit than 20% of 212. If the crafter is charging 30 or 40% which is common with that high level stuff, the profit difference is even greater.

The Daingean is also a ripoff. Daingean Sapphire is af 64 and a full set at 20% profit is 243 gold. Diamond Cruanch is af 70 and 212 gold.

So for the most part you always want Cruanch. However, as of now there is no metal after Diamond. So if your af 70 Diamond Cruanch turns blue, you have no choice but to buy af 74 Diamond Daingean, or af 78 Diamond Osandurtha (the last scale an AC can make, a full set costs 621 gold at 20% profit, if you are lucky enough to find a crafter who will make it for that).

Same basic principle applies to reinforced items, but its nowhere near as bad. Reinforced comes in Tacuil, Nadurtha, and Cailioch for each type of reinforcement. You always want the Tacuil.
Full set of Coral Tacuil (af 60) is 77g
Full set of Coral Nadurtha (af 62) is 108 gold.
Full set of Coral Cailioch (af 66) is 217 gold.
Full set of Chitlin Tacuil (af 70) is 116 gold.
I made Bangin, Crusayder, and Mullethead Vine Cailiocht (af 26) because it only cost 8 gold per set and the Shell Tacuil (af 30) would have been purple to them for too long. The Shell Tacuil also cost 8 gold a set. So I sorta ripped myself off by making them the Vine Cailiocht, but since it only cost me 8 gold each and its stuff they can actually use soon, I thought it was worth it. :)

[Hammer]

Thanks for the detailed reply. Some of the stuff I got as hand me downs has 80%qual, but some has 89%. I have also heard that some armor is AF98?? I think Malky is decked out in AF98 gear. But the crafting sight doesn't list anything over af78? Are these super duper quest items that only apply to level 40's and up?

[spyder913]

thanks for the armor boom! my guy is so stylish now!

[Mulletious]

im having the same problems, and lets just say its near impossible to find an armorcrafter able to make a diamond cruanach vest. i need to go live in the mines or something

[Grundy]

Same philosophy applies for you Nightshades wearing leather armor. I always give this tip to any customer looking to buy armor. As long as it still cons orange, buy Brea!

1) The 8 Tiers of leather material: 1. Rawhide, 2. Tanned, 3. Curred, 4. Hard, 5. Rigid, 6. Embossed, 7. Imbued and 8. Runed.
2) There are 3 recipes for each of the 8 Tiers: Brea, Constaic and Cruaigh.

Tip: The higher tier Brea uses far less quantity of material and is always cheaper/better AF than the lower tier Cruaigh.

For example:

Tier 5: Suit of Rigid Cruaigh is AF 46 and cost 40g
Tier 6: Suit of Embossed Brea is AF 52 and cost 28g

....and you make the call.

On a side note:

Mythic is in the process of defining material and recipes for the new uber high level Tiers 9 and 10 (currently only 1 thru 8 are defined). This material will be available thru mob drops only out in the environment and won't be available from a merchant.

The material Tiers correspond to min crafter skill level. So to make one of these Tier 9 or 10 items you need a 40 to 50 level char to get the material and a skill 900 to 1000 crafter to do something with it.