Why are the rewards in the Altis arena so garbage?

[Ichthyic]

For example, the "legendary" armor you can win for fighting the first HARD combat mode are... slightly better armor values than you can make yourself? with ZERO abilities or bonuses added. I found better armor on bandits in Tiltren. Come on devs, I want a reward fitting the combats of that arena, not a bunch of junk.

[Spawnling]

It's upgradeable and you can use alterations to increase the quality.
The stuff you get is 0 stars.

Alterations to 3 stars add 3 guard and 30% armor.

This gives it the highest armor in the game, but I think it uses the same guard as common armor (so 2-3 points less than rare armor)

[Arctuhris]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Spawnling:

It's upgradeable and you can use alterations to increase the quality.
The stuff you get is 0 stars.

Alterations to 3 stars add 3 guard and 30% armor.

This gives it the highest armor in the game, but I think it uses the same guard as common armor (so 2-3 points less than rare armor)

Your service to the forum questions is appreciated. I keep hopping into these help threads to offer answers/help, and you're almost always already posted up with super thorough answers XD

[Ichthyic]

"This gives it the highest armor in the game, but I think it uses the same guard as common armor (so 2-3 points less than rare armor) "

sorry, but the loss of abilities make the armor WAY less useful than much lower tier armor with abilities and bonuses. So my point still stands, in fact, you just reinforced it, since I already mentioned the armor value is indeed *slightly* better than stuff you can make yourself.

wait... I'm repeating myself. did you not actually READ what I wrote in the OP?

[Spawnling]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Ichthyic:

"This gives it the highest armor in the game, but I think it uses the same guard as common armor (so 2-3 points less than rare armor) "

sorry, but the loss of abilities make the armor WAY less useful than much lower tier armor with abilities and bonuses. So my point still stands, in fact, you just reinforced it, since I already mentioned the armor value is indeed *slightly* better than stuff you can make yourself.

wait... I'm repeating myself. did you not actually READ what I wrote in the OP?

It depends on what you want.
A rare light armor set gives 7% crit hit and 2 willpower. if you don't need these two you might want to have more flat armor to increase survivability.

Most medium rare armors only increase attack of opportunity or crit damage (and +2 will).

I think legendary armor isn't good, but if you are not after the +2 Willpower or Critical hits, they are quite decent.

So its usefulness depends on your playstyle.

To your earlier question:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Ichthyic:

For example, the "legendary" armor you can win for fighting the first HARD combat mode are... slightly better armor values than you can make yourself?

This is not true, as the legendary armor is upgardeable. The max level you can smith is 12, while legendary armor has level 14.
The last few levels are major increases: e.g. medium armor level 12 has 225 armor, while level 14 has 377 and legendary armor is above that.

[Kai-ron]

It's useful if you don't have a master blacksmith or you have a very large troop that is very expensive to fully outfit.

The 'legendary' armors provide a good set of stats for little effort that can help bulk up newer and poorer members of your troop.

[w.f.schepel]

I am with the OP on this one, the rewards are, for the most part, garbage. There is a nice helm in there, though, IIRC.

[Arctuhris]

Endgame, all my units have 18-30 Willpower, and routing enemies still almost never triggers until it's a moot point, so I don't think a few extra points of Willpower on armor really makes a noticeable difference.

The legendary hunter light armor is really great on a cutthroat (who doesn't need any help on Crit), as it gives him medium armor level armor points.

And, don't sleep on the best belt item in the game, which gives you a second base attack on round one of each fight.

I also use both legendary medium armors, because most of my party uses medium armor, and I prefer my units to look different from each other, and there are only a few really good gold medium armors (and several of them actually have less armor points than normal medium armors, making the delta with the legendaries even bigger).

I don't care for Smot's armor (I think it's ugly), and I don't run enough heavy armor users to need the champion's plate (which I'm also don't really like the look of). I also don't use the shield, but I only have 2 out of 11 mercs that uses a shield, so . . . *shrug*.

All in all, though, I think the Arena of Champion rewards are pretty good. My endgame optimal build uses 3 of the armors and the champion's GOAT belt trophy. I think it's okay that there are options in this game. I mean, I have over a dozen legendary weapons collecting dust in my trade posts. There are lots of ways to build your team, and not everything is going to be for everybody's preferred builds.

[Ichthyic]

so, other than agreeing/disagreeing... nobody can tell me why the rewards are so poor.

got it. My guess is the devs made the arena long before, and didn't bother to think about game balance when it was finally released, which is certainly their prerogative. Could use an update IMO. These fights are WAY harder than any of the other arenas after all.

[Kai-ron]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Ichthyic:

so, other than agreeing/disagreeing... nobody can tell me why the rewards are so poor.

got it.

but they did.
Several times actually.
You just wanted to hear others agree with your own opinion i guess?

Here, I'll TL:DR it for you ---

-The Legendary armors have higher base guard and armor values over ANY OTHER PIECE IN THE GAME.

--They lack the random stat bonuses, but at end game, most characters can trade those for higher armor and survivability.
*Example, cutthroat with 60% crit, doesnt care about armor giving +4% crit, they prefer the +80 armor and 5 guard from the legendary*

---The Legendary armor can be boosted to level 14, (normal max is 12 for crafted gear.)

----The legendary pieces are great upgrades if your troop is very large, or very poor, as the pieces are free, and can be upgraded.

-----If you have the 'Matching Set' (w/e its called) Talent, the legendary armors will increase their stats even further when matched.

------Your Blacksmith can do ALTERATIONS on the legendary gear. Bringing them from 0 stars (default) to 3 stars (max), which will ALSO significantly raise the armor and guard values.