Is upgrading weapons and clothing worth the effort?

[Jakobb]

I seem to run out of the common and uncommon upgrading components in the entire universe REALLY quickly. There's just not enough junk to grind into pieces and not enough supply comes through the stores, it seems. The stores have plenty of the rare, epic and legendary components, but not the basics.

I know you can "do the grind" of making mods, like a million armadillo mods, and then break them down and gain a whole ONE bonus uncommon component -- yes, yes, you make them for 8 common and 3 uncommon and break them down into 4 and 4 respectively, which trades 4 common for one uncommon -- but since you cannot mass produce them, this just seems like wasteful busy-work.

Is there a trick I am missing?

[BlazeD]

If you are doing crafting it is better to simply build a new one as you level up.

Some cloths that I like i'll keep and upgrade. I found a sword once that had 6 attacks / second vs the 3 /s that I could craft. I upgraded that 'till i was able to craft a faster blade.

I went for XP / click vs saving components as I leveled up my crafting.

[MULTIPASS]

No, upgrading is a useless mechanic due to the material costs - just make new items. The base stats of clothing are fairly meaningless, too, besides upgrade slots - useful amounts of armor only comes from stacking high-quality armadillo mods. To do this you need to either learn the tech skills for crafting rare/epic items, or constantly visit clothing shops looking for mods. When you craft an upgrade, you have a chance to get a rare or epic version if you know the skill to unlock those rarities.

I wouldn't bother learning any of the crafting skills other than unlocking rarity levels, either.

[Roderick]

Weapons: A bit. Just check whether upgrading or crafting anew costs less resources.
Clothing: No - if you slot in Armadillos the armor value of the armadillo will exceed the armor of the clothings by far.

[talemore]

Only if you want the 2% advantage

[Rabidnid]

Originally posted by orksmith:

No, upgrading is a useless mechanic due to the material costs - just make new items. The base stats of clothing are fairly meaningless, too, besides upgrade slots - useful amounts of armor only comes from stacking high-quality armadillo mods. To do this you need to either learn the tech skills for crafting rare/epic items, or constantly visit clothing shops looking for mods. When you craft an upgrade, you have a chance to get a rare or epic version if you know the skill to unlock those rarities.

I wouldn't bother learning any of the crafting skills other than unlocking rarity levels, either.

Pretty much. At lower levels it can be worth an upgrade or two because they are cheaper now, but for the most part making a new weapon from the blueprint will be a better option.

Last playthrough I bought all the cars so you can make upwards of 2 million even if you scrap everything less than $50.

I also managed close to max armour of 5900. level 50 with 20x240 armour armadillo mods the 200 armour subdermal mod and about 900 armour on the clothes.

[Wisp Cat]

This is something you should mostly be judging for yourself.

If your play style has you taking too much damage from combat you should focus on any improvements you have available. Especially in the early game.

If your play style has you breezing through encounters, just leave yourself occasional saves (for if you get in over your head) and have fun.

[Malkor2]

I can't believe no one has said it yet. Yes, you're missing a trick and a simple one too. Just wait 24 hours and the shop will restock it's inventory with crafting material. As long as you have money to buy it you can't run out of crafting material. All you need is an easy way to make lots of money and that can be done through...crafting. There is a perk which reduces the crafting cost of items. I don't remember the name of it but you can put two perk points into it. Leveling up your crafting skill will also reduce the crafting cost a bit further. There is also a perk that reduces the cost of upgrading items. You can put two perk points into that one as well if you want to.

If you can't craft legendary items just craft the uncommon Nekomata Tech Sniper Rifle and sell it. With a reduction to the crafting cost you will make a plus of 100-150 eddies per rifle. The rifle only needs common and uncommon crafting components which makes this one a no brainer once you can make a profit crafting and selling it. But if you want to make some real money you need the ability to craft legendary items. Get the crafting spec for the legendary Ashura Smart Sniper Rifle and start crafting and selling it. You will be making 2k eddies of profit per Ashura sold. You can find plenty of videos on youtube that will show you where you can find it for free.

If you can't craft legendary items yet fear not. One of the weapon vendors sells the crafting spec for a rare Nekomata. Just check every gun store and wait 24 hours 3-4 times to see if it is there. Buy it and then start crafting and selling it. You will make more money with that than with the uncommon Nekomata. It won't be much more but still better than what you were doing before.