Upgrade Gear Or Find New

[Kodiak412]

For any of the people that have moved along in the game which is better?

Is it worth the resources to upgrade or do you just find better as you advance the main story?

Any incite is appreciated.

[MaSeKind]

Depends on what you are using. I'm using a wand and upgraded the common one till I found a unique which I've been upgrading since. But if you're just using normal weapons it might be easier and cheaper to just buy a next level one and then upgrade that going forward.

Also unless you are going to try out different weapons, dismantle all the uniques you find. You get a lot of good upgrade materials like that.
Basically you want to get to the next tier asap as soon as you enter a new region, and unless you've been clearing each map before moving it might take a while to get those materials.

[RickyRockFish]

either is viable! I prefer to save my upgrade mats for Rare\unique equipment. Materials cant really be farmed in a traditional sense, I find myself not selling alot of the loot I find, instead choosing to breakdown for materials instead. I'm still in second zone [tier 2] and have had enough mats to upgrade a handful of equipment items to tier 3 which really makes you OP. Not only can you break down items, you can also upgrade mats to tier higher at a cost. conversion is not 1 to 1. The game mechanics around gear level has grown on me, I think it well done.

[archonsod]

Originally posted by Kodiak412:

Is it worth the resources to upgrade or do you just find better as you advance the main story?

When you transition to a new map the baseline goes up. So on the first map most of the gear you find is common, occasionally you'll find fine in stores or certain loot chests. On map two most of the gear you find is fine, with exceptional being available from stores or certain loot chests (the raw resources similarly upgrade between maps).

So the rule of thumb is if it's not a unique weapon or armour don't upgrade past the +3. Going up a tier costs Adra, and it's both expensive and relatively rare, so save that for your unique gear. For non-unique gear you're better off just buying the next tier up when it becomes available.

[dustin1280]

General rule of thumb, do NOT upgrade mundane items...
Only upgrade uniques that you find valuable.

[Kodiak412]

Wonderfully detailed answers Gentlemen/Ladies! Every one is very valuable. Thank you for taking the time to post with detail.

On another note it is a pity to come to forums like this and read the "12 year olds, momma's basement dweller" garbage that get posted for just about every game these days.

I am having a blast with this game. I look forward to any updates and polish that the game may get. I had early access and did not have a single issue at start. On the third day I did get a loading crash but saw a nVidia driver update and downloaded that. Smooth sailing ever since. Also if you take the time to work through all the dialog options you can get some great responses. I hope this game is a major hit for Obsidian. Thanks again and good luck out there.

[Primal Feed]

You can dismantle older upgraded weapons and armor and get back some of the upgrade resources.