36 replies to this topic

[Jeremiah12LGeek]

If you're building your manifest, you're going to want to build those armours that unlock new characters, as well as improve on the armour value of your existing characters. Here are just a few tips on comparing items, and how to salvage effectively while building up your inventory.

 

Things to avoid salvaging (mostly)

 

Armour Upgrades

 

You can't craft these in MP, so it's not a bad idea to hang on to them, unless you're quite certain that you won't need them.

 

Accessories

 

These are pretty rare, so it's a good idea to hang on to the best one of any bonus you have. They also stack, so combining two of the same bonus can be helpful, as well (I will update this upon confirmation of whether two identical rings stack with each other.)

 

Your best weapon of any type

 

This doesn't just mean single-handed, or two-handed, but also the sub-category, such as "maul," "sword," or "Axe." Weekend Challenges can be lucrative when building a manifest, so keeping your best of any weapon type on hand is a good idea, just in case. We don't yet know what form these will take going forward, so I even hang on to my best Staff of each element type.

 

Two categories you can pretty safely just keep your best in are shields and bows. There aren't any sub-categories of those, so it's unlikely you would need more than one or a few of your best.

 

This you Can (almost always) Safely Salvage

 

Low level common weapons

 

You'll replace these at the drop of a hat.

 

Weapons with the berzerk attribute

 

These don't tend to work out so well for most players (hi Dragonracer.) They return a high damage penalty against the character using them.

 

Comparing Weapons

 

Don't just rely on a single stat, such as DPS, when comparing weapons. Try to take the whole weapon into account.

 

While one weapon may have a higher DPS than another, the second weapon may offer highly beneficial bonuses, especially if it is Rare or Unique. A high critical damage bonus on a weapon being used by an Assassin with guaranteed criticals from Stealth could benefit them more than extra raw damage. Heal on kill, having a percentage chance of creating an extra effect on hit or kill, these are abilities that can elevate a weapon's value, and you should take them into account when deciding what to keep, what to upgrade, and what to use.

 

Crafting Armour

 

When first crafting a set of armour, the actual tier of the crafting material has no effect. Try to use your Tier 1 Common crafting materials when making an armour set, and save your higher-tier and rarer materials for when you are crafting upgrades.

 

 

 

I'll update this post with new information.

[Saboteur-6]

Nice guide, should be helpful to new players. Two things I'd add:

 

• Salvage Runes that you don't need as they grant 3 mats per salvage. There's 4 Rune tiers: Lesser, Common, Master, and Superb. Salvage as you accumulate more and move up.
• Cloth is hard to come by so be conscious of how you spend it.

[UnearthlyCheese]

Nice thread. I'm quite new to DAMP, so this is pretty useful!

A couple things I've notived myself:


• Lesser Runes are great to Salvage. You get excited the first time you get one, but then you realize they're not that rare, and they're only worth an extra 5 DPS. I've been getting enough regular and greater runes to have a few saved for slapping on new weapons that I don't ever need the lesser ones. And Salvaging them results in 3-4 crafting mats per rune, as opposed to the 1-2 mats you usually get from weapons.


•You mentioned that you should always use tier 1 mats for crafting new armor sets, which I agree with. I would take it one step further and say you should only craft armor from tier 1 mats which have the "undesirable stats". Or in other words, you should save your mats which have the good stats on them for making weapon attachments.

This means paying attention to the Utility and Offense attributes of each crafting mat. In my limited experience, these are the stats I try to go for:

+ Willpower (increases attack & magic defends for all classes)
+ Cunning (increases critical strike chance and ranged defense for all classes)
+ Constitution (increases HP and melee defense for all classes)

+ Dexterity (increases critical strike damage for all classes, increases attack for rogues)

The other two stats, +Strength and +Magic, I don't find very useful. They add Gaurd Damage and Barrier Damage respectively, which I don't find very useful (too situational). They also add attack for Warriors and Mages respectively, but that can be achieved by other means.

For my personal preference, and time I have a Metal Utility slot, I'll go for +Constitution. Any time I have a Cloth Utility slot, I'll go for +Willpower. That applies to any class. For a Leather Utility slot, I'll go for +Cunning, except sometimes on a rogue, I'll switch it up and put some +Dex if I feel my AP is low (or use the +Dex, +1/2 Cun leather). The only time I could see myself deviating from this is once I have promoted several characters several times, and perhaps a certain base stat is high enough that I can pick up some additional stats to be more well rounded. But for me starting out, it's a about maxing survivability and pew pew (or in the case of my lego, increasing +crit to reduce cooldowns).


Next is Offense slots. For these, I focus on strictly on +Attack and +Crit Chance. The Attack comes from cloth and metal, while Crit chance comes from leather.



So, with all that said, here are the mats I save for making weapon upgrades:


Cotton - 1.0 Willpower
Lustrous Cotton - 1.5 Willpower
Tier 3 Cotton - 1.75 Willpower

Plaideweave - 1% attack
Highever Weave - 1.5% attack
Tier 3 "Weave" - 1 75% attack


Bronto Hide - 1.0 Cunning
Rough Hide - 1.5 Cunning
Tier 3 - 1.75 Cunning

Druffalo Hide - 1% Crit chance
Bear Hide - 1.5% Crit chance
Great Bear Hide - 1.75% Crit chance

Phoenix Scales - 1.0 Dex, 0.5 Cun
Tier 2
Tier 3


Drakestone - 1.0 Const
Bloodstone - 1.5 Const
Tier 3 - 1.75 Const

Iron - 1% attack
Paragon's Luster - 1.5% attack
Everite - 1.75% attack


Anything not listed is what I use for crafting armor. For metal slots in armor, I typically use Iron, as it seems to be very very common compared to any other metal (usually have 2-3 times as much iron as anything else)

[J. Peterman]

Great information. I'll add this to my thread and give you credit.

[BraveLToaster]

Crafting Armour

 

When first crafting a set of armour, the actual tier of the crafting material has no effect. Try to use your Tier 1 Common crafting materials when making an armour set, and save your higher-tier and rarer materials for when you are crafting upgrades.

Be more concerned about the bonuses than the tier.  Doesn't matter if something is a tier 3 rare material if it has upgrade stats that are less useful than some of the tier 1s.

 

I've no issue using high tier +magic/barrier cloths because those stats are objectively inferior to cotton or even the magic/willpower line.

[ALTBOULI]

Great information. I'll add this to my thread and give you credit.

Damn it you beat me again

[Shadohz]

A few minor (major) corrections:
1. Armor upgrades really are useless unless they are iLvl/23/Rare. iLvl19 Rares give out the same or better stats than iLvl 23/Common. In other words, salvage all AU's that aren't iLvl 19 or higher Rares. I have uncrafted Tier 3 Armor on some of my kits and I get by just fine on Perilous and Threatening without AUs. Craft your most played kits first.

2. Belts and Amulets are rare®. Rings are not. I don't keep Enhanced Skill rings for one, since I'm constantly promoting I rarely have the skill(s) long enough to benefit wearing them without having to constantly change them and two stat boosting/HoK/Crit accessories>skill accessories. Having all those rings is a waste of Inv space. Some rings do stack, others do not because they are bugged (or so I've been told).

3. Keep best version of each weapon type is correct, except for staves. You can dish out cold, fire, or elec damage with base abilities on any of the mage kits, especially with barrage. I completed each of the elemental challenges easily using Pyre of the Forgotten (fire) staff. All you have to do is respec your mage (most like Necro or Ele) for fire/cold or elec (Keeper or AW). Just like with AU's, crafting weapons isn't necessary to be proficient on Threaten/Perilous. Use a RUNE on whatever your weapon is until you get a Top Flight Security^tm weapon, iLvl20 or higher. Whatever your sub-20 weapon is, you still get salvage credit for the Rune, but not for the other WU components. Don't waste your material on subpar weapons. It'll make sense in about 15 secs. 

What I'm about to say now is going to make you crap your iPants.

4. USE ALL OF YOUR MATERIAL TO UNLOCKS ARMOR FIRST EXCEPT FOR IMPERIAL VESTMENT COTTON!!!! Let me repeat that again... EXCEPT FOR IMPERIAL VESTMENT COTTON!!!!

 

Here's why:

1. There are 196 pieces of armor to unlock. That is effing up your RNG pool to get better Uni/Rare weapons and accessories faster. For those who have a hard time understanding the word math: Would you rather use your gold trying to randomly unlock from 677 possibilities (total number of weapons, accessories, and armor) or 481 (without armor in pool)?

2. The mages are the only kits that benefit from HoK weapons. The best material is obviously IVC. IVC is also rare as hell IF you're not salvaging everything. There is not need to hang on to the cloths other than IVC. Spend those lesser cloths on getting better Tier 3 armor (and unlocking them as well). Should you use your Tier 2/3 of other material for Armor Crafting? Yes (see previous comment about using Rune only weapons).

 

As I tried to explain to one "Perilous" player, the reason I have every possible high-tier weapon (except Caliban) and great accessories while you're still unlocking Tier 3 armor and only have two good +20 iLvl weapons even though we spent roughly the same amount of time playing is because I used a strategy that gave me much better odds than you.

 

l2salvage
 

[Torkelight]

Two categories you can pretty safely just keep your best in are shields, bows and daggers. There aren't any sub-categories of those, so it's unlikely you would need more than one or a few of your best.

 

Corrected

[Jeffro0050]

A few minor (major) corrections:
1. Armor upgrades really are useless unless they are iLvl/23/Rare. iLvl19 Rares give out the same or better stats than iLvl 23/Common. In other words, salvage all AU's that aren't iLvl 19 or higher Rares. I have uncrafted Tier 3 Armor on some of my kits and I get by just fine on Perilous and Threatening without AUs. Craft your most played kits first.

2. Belts and Amulets are rare®. Rings are not. I don't keep Enhanced Skill rings for one, since I'm constantly promoting I rarely have the skill(s) long enough to benefit wearing them without having to constantly change them and two stat boosting/HoK/Crit accessories>skill accessories. Having all those rings is a waste of Inv space. Some rings do stack, others do not because they are bugged (or so I've been told).

3. Keep best version of each weapon type is correct, except for staves. You can dish out cold, fire, or elec damage with base abilities on any of the mage kits, especially with barrage. I completed each of the elemental challenges easily using Pyre of the Forgotten (fire) staff. All you have to do is respec your mage (most like Necro or Ele) for fire/cold or elec (Keeper or AW). Just like with AU's, crafting weapons isn't necessary to be proficient on Threaten/Perilous. Use a RUNE on whatever your weapon is until you get a Top Flight Security^tm weapon, iLvl20 or higher. Whatever your sub-20 weapon is, you still get salvage credit for the Rune, but not for the other WU components. Don't waste your material on subpar weapons. It'll make sense in about 15 secs.

What I'm about to say now is going to make you crap your iPants.

4. USE ALL OF YOUR MATERIAL TO UNLOCKS ARMOR FIRST EXCEPT FOR IMPERIAL VESTMENT COTTON!!!! Let me repeat that again... EXCEPT FOR IMPERIAL VESTMENT COTTON!!!!

Here's why:

1. There are 196 pieces of armor to unlock. That is effing up your RNG pool to get better Uni/Rare weapons and accessories faster. For those who have a hard time understanding the word math: Would you rather use your gold trying to randomly unlock from 677 possibilities (total number of weapons, accessories, and armor) or 481 (without armor in pool)?

2. The mages are the only kits that benefit from HoK weapons. The best material is obviously IVC. IVC is also rare as hell IF you're not salvaging everything. There is not need to hang on to the cloths other than IVC. Spend those lesser cloths on getting better Tier 3 armor (and unlocking them as well). Should you use your Tier 2/3 of other material for Armor Crafting? Yes (see previous comment about using Rune only weapons).

As I tried to explain to one "Perilous" player, the reason I have every possible high-tier weapon (except Caliban) and great accessories while you're still unlocking Tier 3 armor and only have two good +20 iLvl weapons even though we spent roughly the same amount of time playing is because I used a strategy that gave me much better odds than you.

l2salvage

.

Fascinating point on the loot table and armor crafting. It deserves repeating! I have about a billion crafting mats. Do you have any input on saving up thousands to buy chests as opposed to one at a time? Does it really work?

[stysiaq]

I wish this guide was up before I salvaged my Caliban and Red Birth :/

[Jeremiah12LGeek]

1. Armor upgrades really are useless unless they are iLvl/23/Rare. 

 

This is not true for newer players. They are useful if you have no high level ones.

 

 

2. Belts and Amulets are rare®. Rings are not.

 

 

Accessories in general are rare compared to weapons, armour, and upgrades. That was the point that I was making. Newer players are not going to have an abundance of any accessories, rings or otherwise.

 

 

 

3. Keep best version of each weapon type is correct, except for staves. You can dish out cold, fire, or elec damage with base abilities on any of the mage kits, especially with barrage. I completed each of the elemental challenges easily using Pyre of the Forgotten (fire) staff.

 

I specifically mentioned that I hang on to the best elemental damage type because we do not know what Weekend Challenges will be going forward, and neither do you.

 

If two weeks from now, the next Weekend Challenge is "Get 100 kills with Fire Element Damage," people will be glad they hung on to their best fire damage staff. It was a suggestion, just in case.

 

 

l2salvage

 

I think the advice is valid, and applies to new players pretty well. No one's salvage strategy is going to be perfect, but I avoided speaking in absolutes for that reason.

[Torkelight]

2. I don't keep Enhanced Skill rings for one, since I'm constantly promoting I rarely have the skill(s) long enough to benefit wearing them without having to constantly change them and two stat boosting/HoK/Crit accessories>skill accessories. Having all those rings is a waste of Inv space. Some rings do stack, others do not because they are bugged (or so I've been told).

Really, you dont keep skill rings? Well, thats your loss... many of them help quite a lot. I wouldnt recommend it.

[Shadohz]

This is not true for newer players. They are useful if you have no high level ones.

It's true for newer players as well. I've used this strategy since I first started playing. You're better off getting the Tier 3 armor as early as possible instead of trying to craft up Tier 1/2. That's a waste of material. The subpar UAs are better used as salvage. I used subpar UAs once while still a noobie on my Keeper, then I realized pretty quick that it was better to use those to get better armor. That's how I was able to populate the MP EQ doc so fast (not because I was speed-unlocking but b/c I was geared up alot quicker than other players).

Accessories as a whole are rare, true. BSN messed up the formatting. I was saying belts and amulets are rare( r ) (much more rare than rings). Rings are going to make up +50% of your accessory drops. For me rings made 65% of accessories drops  but I was also tracking the statistics much earlier than other players and there were more unknown equipment at the time. Clearing out the Armor increases the rates for Acc and you don't really need those for Routine. Once you have OP armor for Rt, then it's just a matter of beating the heck out of everything... as a team. By the time the player(s) are ready to step to Threatening they should have a stock of Acc to choose from.

I'll concede the staff suggestion, but add holding on to that spare EQ too long and you'll probably end up accidentally salvaging it anyway and it's best to keep your Inv is clean as possible so you can bulk buy.

I'm willing to stand behind my salvage suggestions as an absolute. The curve to "max manifest" is much shorter long-term and isn't as arduous as some may think about using craft-less EQ (doesn't apply to runed-weapons obviously). I pug quite frequently so I had gear that was as "bad" or worse than other puggers. The reason most find it so horrendous is because they are playing above their difficulty vs the gear (i.e. AW players on Perilous and Archers on Threatening).

... and how the heck do you work that MQ. I always end up butchering the comment and having to do each one manually.
 

Really, you dont keep skill rings? Well, thats your loss... many of them help quite a lot. I wouldnt recommend it.

I should've pointed out that is a personal preference. I wrote that consensus thread on Skilled rings because I was curious if other were using the same strategy or come to the same conclusion as I did. I've tried various skill rings, even before I got my Unis. I didn't notice a HUGE difference in output. It became more of a hassle than a benefit. Results and opinions may vary obviously: http://forum.bioware...ill-ring-usage/
 

.

Fascinating point on the loot table and armor crafting. It deserves repeating! I have about a billion crafting mats. Do you have any input on saving up thousands to buy chests as opposed to one at a time? Does it really work?

 

 

 

 

[Jeremiah12LGeek]

It's true for newer players as well. I've used this strategy since I first started playing. You're better off getting the Tier 3 armor as early as possible instead of trying to craft up Tier 1/2. That's a waste of material. The subpar UAs are better used as salvage. I used subpar UAs once while still a noobie on my Keeper, then I realized pretty quick that it was better to use those to get better armor. That's how I was able to populate the MP EQ doc so fast (not because I was speed-unlocking but b/c I was geared up alot quicker than other players).

 

Edit: I removed what I wrote here, because I was essentially being defensive, and I'm starting to realize that this argument is going to go in circles.

[Shadohz]

 

C/P from MP EQ doc:
11.30.2014 All armor sets are now complete. There are various armors on Armor crafting sheet with stats need. New rare, uni, and common weapons and accessories added. For those of you interested, it took me exactly 203,766 Gold to unlock on at least one copy of each tier armor (either via crafting or random chest). I will be locking the sheets and working on a new project for DAMP.

 

I got my gear through a combination of random chests and crafting. My advice is not a matter of opinion but based on the math. I also inquired with other players (LB'rs and noobies) about their strategy. Most did not account for crafting armor to reduce their possibilities. The more DLCs that are released (armors, weapons, accessories) the deeper the pool becomes. Armor crafting is the only thing players have control over to tilt the odds.

[Jeremiah12LGeek]

C/P from MP EQ doc:
11.30.2014 All armor sets are now complete. There are various armors on Armor crafting sheet with stats need. New rare, uni, and common weapons and accessories added. For those of you interested, it took me exactly 203,766 Gold to unlock on at least one copy of each tier armor (either via crafting or random chest). I will be locking the sheets and working on a new project for DAMP.

 

I got my gear through a combination of random chests and crafting. My advice is not a matter of opinion but based on the math. I also inquired with other players (LB'rs and noobies) about their strategy. Most did not account for crafting armor to reduce their possibilities. The more DLCs that are released (armors, weapons, accessories) the deeper the pool becomes. Armor crafting is the only thing players have control over to til

t the odds.

 

I don't know what you are quoting there.

 

I unlocked half of my armours through the purchase of large chests. I don't assume what payers are looking for. I assume nothing about what new players are looking for. I don't know why you would suggest that every new player's goal is to unlock all armours as quickly as possible, nor why you would suggest that out of context quote would somehow accomplish their long-term personal goals for DAMP.

 

I only assume that new players are looking to avoid screwing themselves into a corner, and I'm confident that my advice serves them in that regard.

[UnearthlyCheese]

I don't know what you are quoting there.

I unlocked half of my armours through the purchase of large chests. I don't assume what payers are looking for. I assume nothing about what new players are looking for. I don't know why you would suggest that every new player's goal is to unlock all armours as quickly as possible, nor why you would suggest that out of context quote would somehow accomplish their long-term personal goals for DAMP.

I only assume that new players are looking to avoid screwing themselves into a corner, and I'm confident that my advice serves them in that regard.

You pointed out the very problem with your strategy, and didn't even notice lol.

You say you got about half your armors from buying chests, or from drops. Cool.


Here's the problem. New armor sets count as Rare/Unique items in chests. So, every time you got a new armor set in a chest, you could have recieved a weapon, gem, accessory, or arm/leg upgrade.

You can craft armor with salvaged materials. You can not craft any weapons, gems, accessories, or upgrades.

So why would you want to waste those potentential "chest RNG slots" on armor (which can be acquired by other means, ie crafting) instead of on Rare and Unique items which cannot be crafted?


I'm new to DAMP, have crap gear, no accessories...and this strategy makes perfect sense to me.

[Shadohz]

I don't know what you are quoting there.

 

The MP equipment document: http://forum.bioware...pment-document/

 

The "things to note", TL;DR and "Updates" were all done while I was still a noobie. You can practically track my progression from Day 3 (after the game was released) on up just by reading the Update section and the first 3 pages of comments. I was only a noobie 2 mths ago to this very day. It's not like it was 6mths or so ago and I've lost all perspective. I still remember not being able to even complete my first 10 or so games because of how bad everybody was at the time. My recommendations in that thread came from trial-and-error of speedruns, hardcore looting, and tracking behavior all while dealing the MP bugs. TBH if it weren't for the bugs I probably never would've thought outside the box so much. You have to step back, connect the dots and look at the bigger picture. All I really did was borrow some common shortcut elements from ME3MP RNG, crunched some numbers around and devised a new system around it. 

 

How I came to the conclusion of "rune-only" weapon was trial and error by salvaging 4 similar weapons and runes and tracking their salvage given (tested once for behavior and again for confirmation). That was not a simple task considering my limited gold supply at the time. I didn't take any play shortcuts like other players using glitched AW on Perilous or leeching Threatening. The majority of my plays were done on Rt or Th. You know what my Ops Comp is for Perilous currently? 11 games. I was unlocking Tier 3 armor sets at about 1 set a day and got my first iLvl 20 staff in 5 days (all while still being a Rt scrub). My suggestions aren't going to get players painted into a corner, because I've already done the thinking and testing for them. By the time Destruction hit I had more than enough material to craft the entire Armor catalog from the DLC and I already had at least one of each type of iLvl 20 weapon at that point (12.18.2014). Before the Destruction DLC I was already salvaging sub-20 Unis/Rares and duplicate high-level weapons. That either makes me the luckiest person with BW RNG, I haxed the system, or I devised a strategy that didn't require me to grind as hard as others. Using up your UAs on Tier 1/2 armor is counter-productive because you could be using that to get Tier 3 armor early, especially considering how scarce they are initially. Better armor=higher survivability. You will get to completing games faster and more reliably. With the armor removed as an available random you up your chances for a better weapon. You don't have to take my word for it. Try it yourself. I'm just trying to help you (the player) out. Anyone can duplicate what I've done. I'll leave that decision up to you.

 

 

I'm new to DAMP, have crap gear, no accessories...and this strategy makes perfect sense to me.

I've just been  by a new guy. The Spirit Mark is strong with this one.

 

 

Do you have any input on saving up thousands to buy chests as opposed to one at a time? Does it really work?

Are you better off buying in rotation/bulk, yes. Spend what you can early on to get a better weapon than default. Start doing 5K rotations and gradually increase to 40K rotations (in roughly 10K increments).

[Jeremiah12LGeek]

You pointed out the very problem with your strategy, and didn't even notice lol.

You say you got about half your armors from buying chests, or from drops. Cool.


Here's the problem. New armor sets count as Rare/Unique items in chests. So, every time you got a new armor set in a chest, you could have recieved a weapon, gem, accessory, or arm/leg upgrade.

You can craft armor with salvaged materials. You can not craft any weapons, gems, accessories, or upgrades.

So why would you want to waste those potentential "chest RNG slots" on armor (which can be acquired by other means, ie crafting) instead of on Rare and Unique items which cannot be crafted?


I'm new to DAMP, have crap gear, no accessories...and this strategy makes perfect sense to me.

 

I believe you are identifying both a problem and a strategy where none exists. The fact that I unlocked armours through the purchase of chests is not a strategy. It happened as a consequence of purchasing chests going back to when I first started playing the game. There was no way to prevent it. You cannot buy a chest that has a "don't give me an armour" caveat.

 

If it is a genuine problem then you need to take that issue to BioWare. I have no control over that.

 

The point of my post that you quoted was that I didn't make any assumptions about a new players' long-term goals regarding what kind of equipment that they were specifically looking for. I don't see how you could interpret that as a "strategy."

[Jeremiah12LGeek]

The MP equipment document: http://forum.bioware...pment-document/

 

The "things to note", TL;DR and "Updates" were all done while I was still a noobie. You can practically track my progression from Day 3 (after the game was released) on up just by reading the Update section and the first 3 pages of comments. I was only a noobie 2 mths ago to this very day. It's not like it was 6mths or so ago and I've lost all perspective. I still remember not being able to even complete my first 10 or so games because of how bad everybody was at the time. My recommendations in that thread came from trial-and-error of speedruns, hardcore looting, and tracking behavior all while dealing the MP bugs. TBH if it weren't for the bugs I probably never would've thought outside the box so much. You have to step back, connect the dots and look at the bigger picture. All I really did was borrow some common shortcut elements from ME3MP RNG, crunched some numbers around and devised a new system around it. 

 

How I came to the conclusion of "rune-only" weapon was trial and error by salvaging 4 similar weapons and runes and tracking their salvage given (tested once for behavior and again for confirmation). That was not a simple task considering my limited gold supply at the time. I didn't take any play shortcuts like other players using glitched AW on Perilous or leeching Threatening. The majority of my plays were done on Rt or Th. You know what my Ops Comp is for Perilous currently? 11 games. I was unlocking Tier 3 armor sets at about 1 set a day and got my first iLvl 20 staff in 5 days (all while still being a Rt scrub). My suggestions aren't going to get players painted into a corner, because I've already done the thinking and testing for them. By the time Destruction hit I had more than enough material to craft the entire Armor catalog from the DLC and I already had at least one of each type of iLvl 20 weapon at that point (12.18.2014). Before the Destruction DLC I was already salvaging sub-20 Unis/Rares and duplicate high-level weapons. That either makes me the luckiest person with BW RNG, I haxed the system, or I devised a strategy that didn't require me to grind as hard as others. Using up your UAs on Tier 1/2 armor is counter-productive because you could be using that to get Tier 3 armor early, especially considering how scarce they are initially. Better armor=higher survivability. You will get to completing games faster and more reliably. With the armor removed as an available random you up your chances for a better weapon. You don't have to take my word for it. Try it yourself. I'm just trying to help you (the player) out. Anyone can duplicate what I've done. I'll leave that decision up to you.

 

 

I really have no idea what any of that has to do with anything that I said, to be honest. I was referring to armour upgrades, and how they cannot be crafted. You told me that I was wrong to suggest that people consider whether they would use them before salvaging them. I pointed out that new players would acquire new armours through early pack purchases, and that they could use the upgrades on those new armours that they acquired.

 

I've just been  by a new guy. The Spirit Mark is strong with this one.

 

I don't really know what it had to do with what he said, either.

[Torkelight]

I should've pointed out that is a personal preference. I wrote that consensus thread on Skilled rings because I was curious if other were using the same strategy or come to the same conclusion as I did. I've tried various skill rings, even before I got my Unis. I didn't notice a HUGE difference in output. It became more of a hassle than a benefit. Results and opinions may vary obviously: http://forum.bioware...ill-ring-usage/

 

Now I havent done the math here at all, but I can see a noticable difference on a lot of rings, while some obviously dont work atm. The barrier ring is claimed to not work but it should probably be quite good once they get it fixed. Wouldnt you regret it if they fix this and the output of many others that may or may not have been broken? My favorite being the long shot ring as my archer spam the skill, and I have yet to see an archer score more points than mine. Also, using charing bull ring is quite fun as well.

Anyway, I'm a collector. I keep a lot of stuff. It gives me satisfaction.

[Torkelight]

Are you better off buying in rotation/bulk, yes. Spend what you can early on to get a better weapon than default. Start doing 5K rotations and gradually increase to 40K rotations (in roughly 10K increments).

Opening chests for 40k = boooooring.

A new guy should open a chest every chance he gets. Personally, I just spend all my money when I choose to end for the evening.

I have also been wondering if I should save up all my money from now on. For what I know there might be new items and different chests coming in when they update this game and at that point it would be nice to have saved up a nice slump to spend on that new stuff.... no?

[Sidney]

Why would bulk buying be better? Random is random right? Rather you take 5 random chances over 5 days or 5 over 5 minutes doesn't change anything?

 

That said, I am pretty much salvaging everything at this point other than one weapon per type and once the weekend challenge has gone I salvage that thing too. The problem isn't knowing what to salvage it is that the salvaging is grossly inefficient. Cloth appears to be a major issue but finding decent weapons of certain types continues to be bothersome - although much like SP daggers are in no short supply.

 

I will say I dislike this system compared to the ME3 system where almost every weapon was useful if you were good - heck you could run with the avenger even on gold for example. Here, there are plenty of weapons that are just statistically crap and therefore useless. Plus the I, II, III system of ME3 gave you some sense of progress even if gun X wasn't your favorite. Here most things you find are trash and while salvaging is a path towards better armor that armor doesn't seem to be all that useful.

[CaoSlayer]

A note I would add it is to keep any unique weapon just in case bioware decides to overhaul the system and make all uniques useful or introduce a level up equipment system.

 

Unless it has berserker.

[Sidney]

Question, is there ever a reason not to craft the top of the line armor for any class. It looks like the difference between the materials required is small enough it is worth waiting...or is the difference so small it doesn't matter?