Cultural vs Defiant, justification for player made low power type 12 augments

[wayshaper]

In my opinion, (ps. i been in iraq for past year, so am still catching up if this has been discussed , i have not seen it)

there are different tiers of armor

Raid armor being the most powerful
Player made armor and Armor acquired via quest being tied for second most powerful
Generic world dropped armor (ie Defiant) being the base line from which all others are ballanced.

With that being said, player made armor and armor acquired from quests require a significant upgrade (or defiant armor requires a significant downgrade), this being eqtraders, i will focus on player made armor.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Intricate Moonglade
MAGIC ITEM ATTUNEABLE
Slot: CHEST
AC: 51
STR: +10 STA: +11 WIS: +11 INT: +11 AGI: +9 DEX: +7 CHA: +8
HP: +95 MANA: +95 ENDUR: +95
SV FIRE: +9 SV COLD: +9 SV MAGIC: +6 SV DISEASE: +5 SV POISON: +5
Mana Regeneration: +1
Damage Shield: +1

Recommended level of 60. Required level of 55.
Class: CLR PAL
Race: HIE
Slot 1, Type 7 (General: Group)
Slot 2, Type 11 Sacred Chest Symbol of Growth
Slot 3, Type 12 (Cultural: Raid)


Compared to

Intricate Defiant Breastplate
Purity: 30
AC: 70
STR: +16 DEX: +13 STA: +16 CHA: +13 WIS: +26 INT: +8 AGI: +19
HP: +161 MANA: +147 ENDUR: +145
SV FIRE: +13 SV DISEASE: +13 SV COLD: +15 SV MAGIC: +11 SV POISON: +14
Combat Effects: +2 Shielding: +1% Spell Shield: +2% Avoidance: +1 DoT Shielding: +2% Attack: +15 HP Regen: +5 Mana Regeneration: +4 Damage Shield: +3 Spell Dmg: 1 Heal Amount: 1
Recommended level of 60. Required level of 48.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stats for both shown at level 60

Thus the type 12 player made augment would need the following to make the player made armor EQUAL to world dropped armor

Type 12: Player made chest symbol of growth AC: 19, Str +6, Stam +5, Dex +6, Agi +10, Int -3, Wis +15, Cha +5, Sv Fire +4, Sv Cold +6, Sv Poison +9, Sv Disease +8, Sv Magic +5, HP +66, Mana +52, End +50
Combat effects +2, Shielding 1%, Spell Shield 2%, Avoidance 1, Dot Shielding 2%, Attack 15, Hp regen +5, Mana Regen +3, Damage Shield +2, Spell Dmg +1, Heal amount +1

[Roanne]

Welcome back, and it has been discussed.

To paraphrase , the answer was "no change."

The devs have pretty much been passive aggressive against any improvement to cultural armor at all. There are a million excuses why such upgrades haven't been done including time, coding, balance, and personal preference.

Defiant armor was thrown together as part of a promotion to lure "retired" players back to the game and help them catch up to a reasonable progression point in short order. That progression point was set a little above the point of group only cultural armor (when you consider foci). Cultural armor was a dead horse before that happened.

The evidence is overwhelmingly in support of what you are asking, but desire to act on the evidence is underwhelming. Cultural armor is being written off as an obsolete progression path waiting to die in favor of new gimmicks.

For better or worse, my recommendation to new players and alts is to gear up on Defiant armor then upgrade as you find improvements to that. Unless you are a pure melee class and can obtain raid augmentations for cultural armor and can make the armor yourself (or have a friend who will do it for free) , it just isn't worth the effort.

[Xulan]

The intricate (lvl 60) stuff is goofy, but the elaborate (lvl 70) and elegant (80) player-made armors surpass the defiant armors even without a chronal+ type 12 aug.

I think just adding more Chronal and Discordant stone drops to single group encounters would help quite a bit and would be an easy solution. It is easier to get Bazu augs with a single group (Shyra) than it is to get Chronal and Discordant augs. The focii won't generally be useful, but the stats would be a welcomed addition.

[Aldier]

I think just adding more Chronal and Discordant stone drops to single group encounters would help quite a bit and would be an easy solution. It is easier to get Bazu augs with a single group (Shyra) than it is to get Chronal and Discordant augs. The focii won't generally be useful, but the stats would be a welcomed addition.

Except that defeats the entire purpose of the Chronal and Discordant being RAID augs if they are on GROUP encounters.


Defiant armor is much easier to find and gives a solid base to start from for anyone returning from a long absence. Cultural armor was designed as a set of interchangeable parts, however, because of mudflation became overpowered in the minds of the developers too quickly by using newer armor/symbols with older raid augs and it was discontinued. There is a group type 12 aug available from drops in Crystallos and it is designed to provide a stat boost to take the Elegant/Sublime up to the level of Crystallos group gear.

Current group gear is also getting up to and passing the stats on some of the cultural + bazu/LB augs and has current focus effects so there are good alternatives now as well.

[wayshaper]

then add chronal stones to pop raid mobs (any mob that considers "this would take an army to defeat")

add discordant stones to same mobs in gates of discord, and bazu stones to same mobs in omens of war

btw, what type 12 augs in crystalos that are groupable? ive searched, and not found any, could anyone direct me to what /where so i can further research said items

Shyra is still a raid encounter, just because levels and gear have progressed beyond that expansion and it is now groupable by lv 85s, does not mean its no longer a raid encounter

[GrimwoodCT]

btw, what type 12 augs in crystalos that are groupable? ive searched, and not found any, could anyone direct me to what /where so i can further research said itemsr

Seal of Captured Air/Earth/Fire/Ice

Made from a nd Essence from an Elder Wyvern/Drake and a smithed Elemental Seal Mount.

We were 4 manning (w/ 2 cleric mercs added) the Squires and Elders with little difficulty and my two toons are by no means uber in the least. As for my partner, well she is a rock n'rolla.