Can anyone explain the relative disparate in cultural armor?

[ElDrago]

Could be worse.... you could be Troll or Iksar smiths

[Flabbo McFattyfatfat]

My point wasnt to act like my smithing was the worst in all of norrath, but to educate about the problems I see with my smithing. I am aware of the splintery shaft delivered to iksar/troll smiths, and have already adressed it in an earlier post. If you want to create a succinct list of problems, feel free. I would say this is the best spot to post. I urge all to cut, paste, and foraward to the dev's

[Angelsyn]

Hmmm...

Wood Elven Warriors can follow Rallos Zek, Tunare, Karana or be Agnostic (I don't think I missed anything, please correct me if I'm wrong).

Rallos followers must buy Human crafted if they want Imbued.

Tunare follower must buy High Elf Crafted if they want Imbued... and they get:
Sta: 5
Dex: 15
Agl: 10
Int: 5
Wis: 80
Cha: 15
HP: 425
Mana: 425
AC: 329

Total Stats: 130 (100 useless Int, Wis & Cha. Only 20 useless if you're a Cleric/Paladin)

Dwarven Warriors can worship Brell... or be Agnostic. They can't even worship Rallos. Brell worshipping Dwarves get:
Str: 10
Sta: 5
Dex: 15
Agl: 10
Int: 5
Wis: 60
HP: 425
Mana: 425
AC: 329

Total Stats: 105 (65 useless Int/Wis. Only 5 useless if you're a Cleric/Paladin)

Need I go on?

The BD cultural is a mess... but then, so is "old-style" cultural. Enchanted Dwarven Plate is so much better than Enchanted Mithril, Enchanted Adamantite & Enchanted Full Plate that it's rediculous.

[Quinner Sparrowhawk]

Make Armor Combo's Viable

Perhaps a solution to increasing the worth of smithed armor is to grant cumulative bonuses for similar pieces worn. It would make more sense that a complete set of an armor type or at least several pieces of an armor type would grant better bonuses than a crazy patchwork of several armor types. How exactly does one attach a fungused covered tunic to a pair of brown chitin leggings?

[Angelsyn]

Re: Make Armor Combo's Viable

Perhaps a solution to increasing the worth of smithed armor is to grant cumulative bonuses for similar pieces worn. It would make more sense that a complete set of an armor type or at least several pieces of an armor type would grant better bonuses than a crazy patchwork of several armor types. How exactly does one attach a fungused covered tunic to a pair of brown chitin leggings?

While this is something that could be implemented in EQ2, I don't see how it would be possible to implement in the current EQ.

You're talking alot of back-and-forth checking of equipment... The Greaves check if you've got the BP, Belt & Boots; the BP checks if you've got the Greaves, Belt, Collar & Vambraces; the Vambraces check if you've got the Pauldrons, BP, & Bracers...

Ugh... And how do you ensure it only checks the stuff you're wearing? I mean, I don't want someone getting a bonus on their BP if they've got the Belt & Collar in the bank after all...

Also, what about races like Dark Elves? Their Plate has to have stats that are good for both Clerics (Wis) and ShadowKnights (Int)... when you compare that to High Elves, who only have to worry about Wis (unless you consider Tunarian Bards), the Dark Elves are going to come up short.

Personally, I think all Plate-class armours should have exactly equal amounts of Int & Wis, if they can be worn by SKs, Bards, Clerics or Paladins. If they can't be worn by Clerics or Paladins, they should only have +Int (Rallos Zek & Tribunal are the only ones I can think of here, though various culturals would be checked individually). There is no set that cannot be worn by either Bards or SKs (Any deity that an SK can't worship, a Bard can... and vice-versa), so they should all have +Int.

[Kaysha Soulsinger]

Angel, I think they can solve the class disparity (Clerics needing WIS, Shadowknights needing INT) easily. As far as I know, each recipe for Plate only requires up to 9 components. They could add a tenth, similar to what we see in the PoP armors: add an emblem to determine class.

For instance, we could see three versions of Inkie Breastplates. One having WIS (for Clerics mainly), the other having INT (for Shadowknights mainly), one featuring STR and STA (for Warriors mainly). I realise this refines the market a bit more (i.e. more consumer specific), but it can really flatten out the huge disparities we see currently.

[Flabbo McFattyfatfat]

Really though, why not just add in the all the stats? Rather than have a sk belt that adds 5 int and a cleric belt that adds 5 wis, why not just have the belt add 5 to both. It saves programming effort, it allows superior resale, and it doesnt affect game balance in the least. So what if the sk gets 60 wisdom out of a suit? Its not like they can do anything with it. Clerics get an extra 15 dex and sta? Wheee! Unnoticable proc difference on their hammer at 56 and a miniscule amount of hit points (less than a 10th of a hit against average pop mob).

[Mardark]

They pretty much blended desired stats on certain cultural, and ended up making alot of pieces so that none of the classes listed will actually wear them.

You don't downblend, it makes stuff junk. And its a good point, that who cares about wis/int. A cleric doesn't care about extra int, as long as the wis is there. A shadowknight does not care about extra wis, as long as the int is there.

With the resist system changes, and the fact that some cultural armor is basically garbage, they need to go reevaluate the stats. Some resists need added, and stats balanced for what classes can use.

Looking at the Dark Prince Regent stuff specifically, there is very little str/sta, but more int. As a race, the DE's are smart, so shouldn't they be smart enough so that the armor they make has some of the best stats? Not according to this, they made blue diamond cultural armor that does not compliment the race much at all.