So last night I finished my Eagle War Shield and became a transcendent crafter. Excited, I went to central to look at the new and fantastic gear that I can now craft. I looked at the gear side by side with my crafted Avalon gear and it was only marginally better. Like maybe a block increase of 6, less life, and one more resist (boots). Still nothing on power pips. (for death at least) So I have my level 88 spell, but nowhere near the power pip chance to be able to use it in game strategically while carrying the block needed to keep me alive.
I looked at the wands and they are nowhere near as good as one I picked up in the bazaar the night before. And forget comparing the gear to card pack gear. Not even close.
I can craft a deck which gives life, but even that seems like a chore for an extra 37 life. And I will have to craft two decks to not lose the life when switching between a mob deck and a boss deck.
So now armed with a new badge and crafting capability I sit here utterly dejected and wondering why I even undertook this quest. Are all the new gear updates going to go the way of Pirate 101? Where upgraded gear is basically the same as before but maybe 1% better than the gear from the previous world? I might just don my WW gear, get a card pack wand for block, and call it a day.
Yup. The Azteca gear is minutely better than Avalon gear, except for Ice, which ends up actually being worse overall (especially in regards to universal resist).
Working for the Transcendent Crafter's badge is quite a task, only to find out that the gear you can craft is sub-standard. Not only that, but you practically finish the game (and hit level 90) before you're able to get to some of the places where the recipe vendors are, AND you have to do quests to open up the vendors.
A little too much effort, in my opinion.
I'll stick with my Avalon gear and pack/bazaar wands. They have gotten me this far into the game, and I expect, it may get me through the next world when it comes out, if crafting ends up being such a chore like it is in Azteca.
So last night I finished my Eagle War Shield and became a transcendent crafter. Excited, I went to central to look at the new and fantastic gear that I can now craft. I looked at the gear side by side with my crafted Avalon gear and it was only marginally better. Like maybe a block increase of 6, less life, and one more resist (boots). Still nothing on power pips. (for death at least) So I have my level 88 spell, but nowhere near the power pip chance to be able to use it in game strategically while carrying the block needed to keep me alive.
I looked at the wands and they are nowhere near as good as one I picked up in the bazaar the night before. And forget comparing the gear to card pack gear. Not even close.
I can craft a deck which gives life, but even that seems like a chore for an extra 37 life. And I will have to craft two decks to not lose the life when switching between a mob deck and a boss deck.
So now armed with a new badge and crafting capability I sit here utterly dejected and wondering why I even undertook this quest. Are all the new gear updates going to go the way of Pirate 101? Where upgraded gear is basically the same as before but maybe 1% better than the gear from the previous world? I might just don my WW gear, get a card pack wand for block, and call it a day.
We actually have gotten drops of a lot of decks that give extra life but as you say minor amt. and we farmed for the Wyrd Oak Ice wand for the 73% critical block.
If you're looking at pvp, some schools get a minor boost to block and crit that are worth having. Every little increment helps.
That said, if you care about incremental improvements that much where pvp is concerned, you're probably already buying packs by the boatload searching for the 144 crit blocking wand and the full jade armor set.
Agree that AZ gear is at best MARGINALLY worth the horrid grinding you have to do to collect reagents, and only for some schools. Ice's offerings are a write-off. The ring and athame MIGHT be worth a look, if you're having trouble boosting your block or your damage.
In ZF ring/athame pip chance and damage output took a nosedive, and in each successive world they get steadily worse.
Pods, that is why I stopped trying to get the Potent Trap. After looking at some posts made by Brynn and a few others, the gear in Az is not worth the effort at this point. IF I do manage to get the Potent trap, I will complete the Crafting quest but I am not going to stress on it.
Those of my wizards that have the WW gear will use it as long as possible with a few changes here and there, mainly the boots at the moment. My fire (lvl 77) is at the moment wearing boots that give 79 block across the board. I believe I crafted those from ZF along with a matching Robe. Her weakest stat is resist but only because I have not found anything since ZF that increases resist without losing her block.
