Question about crafted gear - item mods or crafted armour

[Jazulfi]

I always say I'm not a kit-hound in games but there is a tiny part of me that wants my characters to have the best gear I can get them, without doing grouped content.

 

I also find wading through stat tables very difficult. Maths is *not* my strong point and the numbers start to swim.

 

So, below lvl 56, am I better gearing my characters with adaptive orange gear with purple item modifications OR am I better giving them the purple armor/weapons I can make through RE-ing trainable schematics?

 

Hope this isn't a really stoopid question.

 

Ta

[Mithros]

You are better off using whatever is better.

 

It's not hard to enable comparative tooltips or to look at the numbers on one thing and figure if they are higher than what the stats are ont he other thing.

Sorry if trying to figure out whether 200 is higher than 180 makes your brain hurt, but that's pretty much what it takes.

 

Even without tring to decide if +X armor and +Y mastery is worth -X endurance and -Y power, you can just look at the gear rating and choose whatever is highest.

As long as the stats are relevant for the role it should be "better" even if not all of the numbers are.

 

If it has a set bonus then that will complicate things, but there's no easy way to factor that into any comparison.

[Jazulfi]

You are better off using whatever is better.

 

It's not hard to enable comparative tooltips or to look at the numbers on one thing and figure if they are higher than what the stats are ont he other thing.

Sorry if trying to figure out whether 200 is higher than 180 makes your brain hurt, but that's pretty much what it takes.

 

Even without tring to decide if +X armor and +Y mastery is worth -X endurance and -Y power, you can just look at the gear rating and choose whatever is highest.

As long as the stats are relevant for the role it should be "better" even if not all of the numbers are.

 

If it has a set bonus then that will complicate things, but there's no easy way to factor that into any comparison.

 

Hrm...it's not that I can't understand in-game gear comparisons - although if I couldn't, I think your post is a little unsympathetic, but never mind. It's that I don't have a comparison in-game about my person.

 

So, I don't have a level 24 purple crafted jacket to compare with an orange adaptive jacket filled with purple level-appropriate items mods. I could make both options, I suppose, but purple crafting mats aren't that cheap/easy to come by, and I'd rather save the to craft the right thing.

 

Hope that explains.

 

Anyway, I just thought someone might know and kindly share their knowledge.

Edited November 24, 2015 by Jazulfi

[Sprackle]

I'm a junkie for keeping my characters in the best gear I can. For me, currently, it's crafted. I have a maxed synthweaver, and 2 force characters and I found my crafted blue gear really good for non-raid/OP content. I'm in full 208, blue crafted (purple mats are insane and only 212 grade). I have my kit fully augmented, I have a drop saber and a custom shield that i buy parts for.

 

If you're into crafting, crafted gear is great, except from 54-59. For me, there is no non--orange gear for that entire range.

I did buy some recipes on the GTN and found some amazing looking orange gear. Once I hit 60, I bought just a few mods for orange gear until 64, and then right back to crafted.

 

Hope this helps =)

[Jazulfi]

I'm a junkie for keeping my characters in the best gear I can. For me, currently, it's crafted. I have a maxed synthweaver, and 2 force characters and I found my crafted blue gear really good for non-raid/OP content. I'm in full 208, blue crafted (purple mats are insane and only 212 grade). I have my kit fully augmented, I have a drop saber and a custom shield that i buy parts for.

 

If you're into crafting, crafted gear is great, except from 54-59. For me, there is no non--orange gear for that entire range.

I did buy some recipes on the GTN and found some amazing looking orange gear. Once I hit 60, I bought just a few mods for orange gear until 64, and then right back to crafted.

 

Hope this helps =)

 

Sprackle - thank you!! Just the kind of info I was after. *hugs* Although, not looking forward to 54 and above. We shall see!

 

In reality, I suspect the difference isn't *that* significant for PvE but you never know.

[eartharioch]

Short answer for leveling: modifiable gear can be BiS while static gear can't, so (at equivalent item levels), modifiable gear is better. That said, it's not usually by much (especially at lower levels where you likely to need more frequent upgrades as you blow through the game), and you can get the equivalent item level gear (with inferior stat distribution) a couple of levels before the BiS modifiable gear.

 

The long answer is lots of math and theorycrafting.

[MaximilianPower]

I'm a junkie for keeping my characters in the best gear I can. For me, currently, it's crafted. I have a maxed synthweaver, and 2 force characters and I found my crafted blue gear really good for non-raid/OP content. I'm in full 208, blue crafted (purple mats are insane and only 212 grade). I have my kit fully augmented, I have a drop saber and a custom shield that i buy parts for.

 

If you're into crafting, crafted gear is great, except from 54-59. For me, there is no non--orange gear for that entire range.

I did buy some recipes on the GTN and found some amazing looking orange gear. Once I hit 60, I bought just a few mods for orange gear until 64, and then right back to crafted.

 

Hope this helps =)

 

Your post is on target, but just to correct the bolded: the gear you can make if you RE those 208s is going to be 216, and you can then further RE that gear to 220. So it will actually be considerably better than the 208s - but each piece of that 220 gear requires THREE of the insane purple conquest mats (only one for the 216s).

 

208 is pretty good, and you find it acceptable for the content you're playing - so unless you do conquest a lot or have excessive disposable in-game income, there's little sense in bothering with the 216s or 220s. Particularly since you'd have to re-augment everything.

Edited November 25, 2015 by MaximilianPower

[Jazulfi]

You're all so kind to reply. Again, exactly the kind of info I was after. Thanks so much!

[SteveTheCynic]

Your post is on target, but just to correct the bolded: the gear you can make if you RE those 208s is going to be 216, and you can then further RE that gear to 220. So it will actually be considerably better than the 208s - but each piece of that 220 gear requires THREE of the insane purple conquest mats (only one for the 216s).

So if I make a second 216-rated cannon for my commando, I can RE it to get a 220-rated schematic?

[Jazulfi]

So if I make a second 216-rated cannon for my commando, I can RE it to get a 220-rated schematic?

 

Y'know I've asked a couple of questions about 'elder game' crafting and I *still* don't really understand, but then, I am a dribbling idiot. *blushes* I think I need to get there to see how it works.

 

I'm also a bit sad that getting a lot of the blues I need to RE requires running OPs or HM FPs? I think I'm right about that? Because that essentially means my crafting stops at...er...whatever the equivalent model number is at for level 56 gear.

 

Nvm! \o/

[MaximilianPower]

So if I make a second 216-rated cannon for my commando, I can RE it to get a 220-rated schematic?

 

Correct. Haven't actually done this myself with a cannon, but I did it with a pistol and it worked just fine (blue 208 -> purple 216 -> purple 220). My armstech has a blue 208 schematic for a cannon from the trainer, so I imagine it would work exactly the same way for that weapon.

Edited November 26, 2015 by MaximilianPower

[SteveTheCynic]

Correct. Haven't actually done this myself with a cannon, but I did it with a pistol and it worked just fine (blue 208 -> purple 216 -> purple 220). My armstech has a blue 208 schematic for a cannon from the trainer, so I imagine it would work exactly the same way for that weapon.

Cool, thanks.