How often do you upgrade your gear?

[InfestedAdam]

Given the big difference of gear just one or two levels apart, how often do you buy your upgrades? Do you only upgrade to keep your gear up-to-date with the enemies you fight, do you only buy gear every two levels, or do you simply rely on the gear obtain from defeated enemies?

My friend and I are co-oping through with the Lone Wolf trait so money isn't really a concern and with the ability to respec at will, it is easy to stack my Barter skill.

So far we've just been running through with level 12 gear and haven't had much issues against level 13 enemies. I figure I personally can just wait till level 14 but at the same time, with how much money we have, holding on buying upgrades doesn't seem necessary either once we have the spells/skills we need.


Comments and opinions are appreciated,

Thank you

[Hoshikudaki]

It should be ok to have a few pieces behind but you generally want to keep it relatively upto date as the armor difference between levels ramps up as you up.
Money isn't really an issue if you've invested into bartering and thievery.

Then again if you aren't taken that much damage its better to keep your old gear if it better offensively.(I've kept a level 14 piece at level 19 since stats were pretty good for increasing my damage.

I'm playing on classic so it could be different for tactician.

[corisai]

Check vendors on every chance... but you should be sure that this is upgrade :)

For example - keeping armor up to lvl is quite important to melee chars (whom get hit back) and not so for ranged chars (who killing enemies before they able to retaliate).

In same time jewelry - it's insanely hard to roll good jewelry (at least : + main skill & + scoundrel).

[Ocsabat]

My party's gear is in constant rotation. I replace it as I find it. If another party member can use an item that is replaced on another, I put it on them and sell what ever is not needed.

It doesn't matter what difficulty you are playing. Constant rotation, all the time. It's a big pain in the ass if you wait and upgrade everything at once.

Keep whatever gives an ability or bonus that you feel is important. Replace it when you find better. You may end up keeping a couple items like that for a long time.

[Chaoslink]

Me? I upgrade every level. And every vendor restock. But then, I do that for entirely different reasons too. Vendors are not allowed to have gold. And I have to make sure they give it to me. I am Godwoken after all. I could smite them all in an instant to they have to pay protection fees.

But yes, upgrade often. Weapons take priority, but most gear should get upgraded every level, not letting pieces fall more than 2 behind.

[Lupin The Wolf]

Originally posted by Chaoslink:

Me? I upgrade every level. And every vendor restock. But then, I do that for entirely different reasons too. Vendors are not allowed to have gold. And I have to make sure they give it to me. I am Godwoken after all. I could smite them all in an instant to they have to pay protection fees.

But yes, upgrade often. Weapons take priority, but most gear should get upgraded every level, not letting pieces fall more than 2 behind.

Does the vendors still restock every hour like DOS?

[Chaoslink]

Originally posted by Lupin The Wolf:

Does the vendors still restock every hour like DOS?

Every hour and every level up. So you have plenty of opportunities to upgrade as long as you check back often.

[InfestedAdam]

Thank you for the responses everyone. Of course with Murphy's Law, my friend and I quickly reached level 14 tonight from 13.5 with just the Black Pit cave. Still, being in level 13 geared helped against Aetera, and money still isn't a concern yet. Time to upgrade again.

Originally posted by Chaoslink:

Every hour and every level up. So you have plenty of opportunities to upgrade as long as you check back often.

Every real life hour? If I save and quit after 30 minutes, does the hour reset when I return or just need to wait another 30 minutes? Some of the gear being sold by the vendors could have better stats on them.

[Damashi The Kaotic]

Same as ChaosLink. Escpecially in early game where you don't have the respec mirror to compensate for noting getting good gear combos.

[corisai]

Originally posted by InfestedAdam:

Every real life hour? If I save and quit after 30 minutes, does the hour reset when I return or just need to wait another 30 minutes? Some of the gear being sold by the vendors could have better stats on them.

100% worked waiting while in game (helped a bit when my friend slacked our games and I forced to wait him).

Unsure about closed game. I think it shouldn't work (because if it work, then you can easily change your system time and get as many restocks as you want easily).

[Serendipitous]

Before Act II you can wait for 2-3 levels before proper upgrade. In Act II you should upgrade at least every 2 levels or so (still it pays to check vendors on each lvl up and every now and then). Later you should strive to keep your gear at your level, even at cost of good buffs from old gear.

[NotSure]

Originally posted by InfestedAdam:

Given the big difference of gear just one or two levels apart, how often do you buy your upgrades? Do you only upgrade to keep your gear up-to-date with the enemies you fight, do you only buy gear every two levels, or do you simply rely on the gear obtain from defeated enemies?

My friend and I are co-oping through with the Lone Wolf trait so money isn't really a concern and with the ability to respec at will, it is easy to stack my Barter skill.

So far we've just been running through with level 12 gear and haven't had much issues against level 13 enemies. I figure I personally can just wait till level 14 but at the same time, with how much money we have, holding on buying upgrades doesn't seem necessary either once we have the spells/skills we need.


Comments and opinions are appreciated,

Thank you

Whenever I can, having good gear makes the game way easier

[BloodCat]

So buying gear is mandatory? Or you can get by on random loot drops?

[corisai]

Originally posted by carashi:

Later you should strive to keep your gear at your level, even at cost of good buffs from old gear.

Mandatory only for melees. Ranged chars prefer great stats over armor (especially in late-game) : who caress about enemies attack when they're killed by one-shots?

BTW. Stack Larger Resist All potion for last fight in game. Help a lot.

Originally posted by BloodCat:

So buying gear is mandatory? Or you can get by on random loot drops?

Mandatory. Random loot in 99% events are trash.

[Chaoslink]

Originally posted by BloodCat:

So buying gear is mandatory? Or you can get by on random loot drops?

Mostly, but with a lucky charm skill at 5, you have a chance to get random legendary gear from containers and with it level 6 and an area that drops level 16 items that upgrades to a chance to find divine gear. Raise lucky charm higher for a better chance of better quality drops. With a good bartering, this can also help gold stocks as the gear can be worth a decent amount. By level 16 you should be able to get barter to 6-7 and by offering free stuff to your commonly used vendors, a 100 attitude can get the modifiers to over 50% markup for sold items and discount on bought items.