Buying Gear From Vendors...do you?

starkman · August 2016

Hey all,

Okay, so I'm one of those players who's always scouting vendors for gear that's not expensive but gives me a bit more boosts all around — no, I don't buy any piece just because it has a tiny bit of increase; it has to have something to make it worth while. I've just always done that, and it works for me.

Being brand new to this game, however, I don't know if that will bite me in the butt, in that I should have saved the money. Is that the case here, or is there leeway to spend a bit of copper and a silver or two for a bit of better gear here and there?

Thanks.

nathan · August 2016

Hey! Welcome to the game!

I'm not certain that you'll find better gear on merchants than you will on drops, atleast at the stage of the game that I'm assuming you're at.

Generally speaking, I think most players use the coin drops for consumables like potions, or injury kits, maybe a low level mount. Occasionally people will be looking to trade stockpiles of coin for whatever reason that I haven't unearthed yet.

Have you discovered the in-game auction house ? Eventually most of your purchases will be through astral diamonds which is the currency of the AH.

As for gearing up, the stuff you'll be able to buy for coin won't last you very long. You'll quickly grow out of item drops as well. If it were me I would not buy gear with gold.

starkman · August 2016

Gotcha, nathan.
I did buy an off-hand (I'm an DC) for, like, 18 copper. I figured it would be worth a try to see if I can hold it. Other than that, I got a piece of jewelry for 6 copper. And I think I got a vest or something really cheap.

It's not much of a boost, but I'm experimenting too.

Otherwise, thanks much!

sameriker · August 2016

In the beginning, when just running a character up to level 70, I grab the stuff off the ground. Saves gold and AD, but this is not for all. Recently they changed the dungeons to automatically drop seals of the Adventurer. They can be used to get armor as you level up to 60. Once at 60 you can take the elemental quest line from Archdruid Morningdawn the 2 quests; No Crevice Untouched and Hard to Reach Places gives you some green armor that should see you through to level 70. After that, across from the Seal of the Adventure Trader is the Seal of the Elements with some Blue and Purple Armors you can get. So instead of using AD or gold just collect seals instead.

Hope this was of help to you.

kvet · August 2016

I bought the vendor gear long ago to see if it had unique visuals - it doesn't. Other that that, no. The gear you can get from those vendors aren't worth the cost. Early on, when it might have been beneficial, the cost is too expensive vs using drop gear with is basically just as good, allowing you to spend gold on heals or kits, and later when you have plenty of gold, the items are obsolete compared to what you get from drops. Protector seals from T2 DD runs is the first time vendor-bought gear is worth anything, but the gold and AD vendor gear is worthless.

starkman · August 2016

Thanks much, sameriker and kvet. Fortunately, I haven't spent much at all, so I'll start holding on to the gold!

durynte · August 2016

kvet said:
I bought the vendor gear long ago to see if it had unique visuals - it doesn't.

I bought gear from the vendor in Seven Suns for transmutes for some characters, didn't drop elsewhere. I prefer the more simple looks supporting class characteristics, whereas a lot of higher level gear looks stiff and too much of a high phantasy, in my opinion.

Stats on gear don't really matter, until level 70. As for leveling, I'd suggest to just go with the drops, until you reach some level where the character is to stay for a while, and start transmuting then. Elemental Evil rewards some nice looks, for example.

starkman · August 2016

What's tough here, at the moment at least, is determining just how much a given stat helps. For instance, I'm level 5 DC now (woo-hoo!) and I have this armor that offers 7 recovery but subtracts 21 hit points. Now, the question is how do I know just how much 7 recovery helps and if that's worth loosing the HP (really, the loss of HP at the moment is no big deal, but you get the point)?

At my lower level, I just took the chance of buying a few vendor items that upped some stats, but I really have no idea what it takes to really make a stat difference.

greywynd · August 2016

When I first started the only gear I bought was the Ilyanbruen set for the CW. Everything prior to that was found or rewarded.

starkman · August 2016

Yeah, I think that's what I'll be doing.

greywynd · August 2016

Bounty caches are nice, but by the time you get enough bounty items to buy with, you've leveled past the use of the gear in the cache.

beckylunatic · August 2016

kvet said:
I bought the vendor gear long ago to see if it had unique visuals - it doesn't.

Actually, in many cases it does have unique visuals now, since it uses appearances that were otherwise phased out. And this is why I do sometimes buy gear from the vendors.

Additionally, most classes have rare equipment for level 10 and level 20 that can be bought for silver/copper and are very likely better than anything you'd find at that stage. These are a little easier to manage on second+ characters where you can send them some gold though.

two30 · August 2016

I bought my paladin's sword transmute from a vendor for a few silver.

starkman · August 2016

Beckylunatic -- good point. Thanks.

Two30 -- I sold that sword to that vendor for 1.5 silver...I want my money back!!!
(Ha!)

Buying Gear From Vendors...do you?

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