Where should a new level 40 go to gear up?

arizoko

Not there yet, but I'm pretty close. I was thinking saving up my questionite and/or buying some drifter salvage to get some of the "Heirloom" gear.

roughbearmattach

Heirloom Gear is really lousy for level 40. That gear is meant to be given to level 6, and then kept up until level 40, whereupon you switch out.

Mercenary Gear is fairly cheap in the Auction House, and is a good start. You could also play level 40 lairs, like Andrith and Vikorin, and get some nice gear drops that way. You should team up with 1 or 2 more heroes for such missions.

decorumfriends

Merc gear is my usual pick, too. I haven't really dipped my toe into the endgame stuff much, but I'm told it's usually good enough to participate and work towards higher gear if you're looking for that. Heroic gear (primary) isn't really worth the higher price in the AH, and purple secondaries are available at the Recognition vendor for 15 Silver a piece (a steal, especially for getting to pick exactly what you want) and it doesn't take but a few Alert dailies to amass 45 Silver.

pantagruel01

Qliphotic gear is slightly better than mercenary, slightly worse than heroics, so it's also an option. In general, though, I'd start by just browsing the AH, looking at blue and purple options, as well as appropriate mods, and find something that looks good. You should have at least 100-200G by the time you hit level 40, which is plenty for a basic set of gear (blues, r5 mods).

aesica

Don't use heirloom gear at 40. Don't get me wrong, it's a good buy, but only if you plan on leveling alts because you can transfer it to them via hideout if you have one. Anyway, my normal gear-up pattern is this:

1) Buy cheap mercenary gear (or the knockoffs with one fixed stat and 2 mod slots) and some cheap 4-5 rank mods. Make sure you're buying the level 40 versions because sometimes, there's lower-level versions up for sale as well. Don't spend too much on this because you won't be keeping it for long, hopefully.

2) If you can find a friend to help, or if you're tough enough to solo it, do the Q-zone dailies. If you're lucky, you'll find a (competent) group trying to kill eidolon--tag along. If you like the idea of killing the same giant animals all day, you can try to get in on those groups, too. Supplement with daily alerts. Replace junk blues with heroic gear as you gain enough SCR, or the really good stuff with GCR if you find yourself getting enough of it.

Personally, my priorities for which pieces to get are helmet > gloves > body armor.

Edit: Also, if able (yaay gated behind the subscription/freeform slot paywall!) you can do onslaught dailies for some great secondary pieces.​​

biffsmackwell

Yup, like everyone said, start off with Mercenary gear. It's cheap and plentiful. If you don't have the cash for it, run a bunch of Smash alerts with a Resource Boost on; you'll get about 4g per run. They're both quick and easy.

Then, my preferred route is fighting Cosmics. Learn the fights, let people know you're new, ask questions, and people will be happy to help you out. Save up your Champions Recognition (Gold and Silver) to buy Distinguished gear (it'll take a long time, but it's good gear) and hope to get Cosmic secondary gear from the Cosmic fights. They're rare, but I've gotten like 2.5 sets so far.

And yeah the Onslaught secondary gear is good too, but really best if you have a subscription.

spinnytop

Telios Ascendant is the easiest endgame content, so that's a good place to go to get some endgame gear. The bosses randomly drop secondaries.

arizoko

decorumfriends said:

and purple secondaries are available at the Recognition vendor for 15 Silver a piece (a steal, especially for getting to pick exactly what you want) and it doesn't take but a few Alert dailies to amass 45 Silver.

Which vendor would that be? I can think of at least 5 different vendors who fit that description

roughbearmattach

The Gold Recognition Vendor -- I know it sounds confusing, but this type of vendor sells the Silver Recognition items, too.

In the RenCen, this vendor has the Doctor Ka costume (gold wings).

decorumfriends

Thanks, yes, what roughbear said.

riverocean

aesica said:

1) Buy cheap mercenary gear (or the knockoffs with one fixed stat and 2 mod slots) and some cheap 4-5 rank mods. Make sure you're buying the level 40 versions because sometimes, there's lower-level versions up for sale as well. Don't spend too much on this because you won't be keeping it for long, hopefully.

​​

If you need gear right away this is your best bet. Look for "Blue Level" gear with one fixed stat (that you need) and then slot in mods to bring the stat up. This is a fairly cheap way to get started - and works quite well. Also, there is a mission "Most Evil of Elder Worms" that drops a nice piece of utility gear. Don't be fooled by the green uncommon quality -- the gear has decent stats.

I believe the contact is Michael Perkins who is located near by the Humidity Tower near Qwijobo's spawn area.

You can also farm mods and gear from lvl 39-40 mobs in Vibora Bay, Lemuria, and the QWZ. I've had poor luck with getting the QWZ mobs to drop any Qlipthopthic gear . Good Luck


Oooh just saw this in patch notes.. the updated Nemesis Confrontation has new drops including gear...

Has a chance to drop the following items: (Mythic Rare) Armor Gladiator 2 Bracers, (Mythic Rare) Armor Spiked 2 shoulders, (Mythic Rare) Gladiator belt, Nemesis Gear (similar to Bronze King gear), 7 or 10% Catalyst, Questionite Bag, R4 Mods.

magpieuk2014

What the man said above - the Slug/Perkins story line has a good piece of Primary Utility gear with a three stat boost. You can get a similar one from Caliburn in the Vibora Bay Apocalypse story line. VB itself is also worth opening up, as the missions are quite fun for a low-gear level 40 and they offer regular R4 mod drops, decent primary drops and rare costumes (esp. the New Shadows) which you can sell to buy Mercenary gear packs off the AH. Having said that, do bear in mind that some of the regular Blue gear drops in VB have bonuses which are better than Merc Gear... the other advantage is that they the drops are cheap and plentiful, so you can experiment with builds, boosting different stats and playing with roles/builds until you find the one that works best.