Returning noob questions

Hey y'all. I have been away for about a year and finally have a little bit of free time. Trying to decide if I want to get back into this mess, so I've been reading up. A couple of questions:

1) From what I understand, armor is the way to go? I used to hunt naked w/resto, but it seems like I'm reading that now you just want to throw on some good armor, and even over-protection is fine now; is this true?

2) I'm reading there's a looter profession now, but not totally clear on how it works. Is it a general profession or mob-specific? Does the game reward you for sticking with one particular mob now?

3) Is eco-hunting still a thing? Should I look for a max efficiency setup, or does it matter any more? I'm seeing mixed results in the forums.

Cheers

Detritus said:

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1) From what I understand, armor is the way to go? I used to hunt naked w/resto, but it seems like I'm reading that now you just want to throw on some good armor, and even over-protection is fine now; is this true?
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Click to expand...

Decay for "overprotection" is basically eliminated. Also no more -1 hits if you have enough protection for the damage given. If you can hunt naked with resto there's no need to waste PED but you do have the option if you prefer the time spent not healing.

Detritus said:

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2) I'm reading there's a looter profession now, but not totally clear on how it works. Is it a general profession or mob-specific? Does the game reward you for sticking with one particular mob now?
...

Click to expand...

It's the usual animal/robot/mutant breakdown. Inter-related skills to each profession - normal EU.

Detritus said:

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3) Is eco-hunting still a thing? Should I look for a max efficiency setup, or does it matter any more? I'm seeing mixed results in the forums.

Cheers

Click to expand...

It's never bad to minimize your expenses.

There is more argument for every than overloading on old school gear and blasting PED around. But "more than ever" is still not much The system is compensating for overkill and waste a little more than it used to, but wasting PED is still wasting PED.

Confirmed several times with my clericdaggers, and backed up by the fact that I've been pulling out a frean-d delta every time I'm frustrated by a busted ar-matrix.

Detritus said:

Hey y'all. I have been away for about a year and finally have a little bit of free time. Trying to decide if I want to get back into this mess, so I've been reading up. A couple of questions:

1) From what I understand, armor is the way to go? I used to hunt naked w/resto, but it seems like I'm reading that now you just want to throw on some good armor, and even over-protection is fine now; is this true?

2) I'm reading there's a looter profession now, but not totally clear on how it works. Is it a general profession or mob-specific? Does the game reward you for sticking with one particular mob now?

3) Is eco-hunting still a thing? Should I look for a max efficiency setup, or does it matter any more? I'm seeing mixed results in the forums.

Cheers

Click to expand...

1) Naked with resto is still the better, using armor is a lot cheaper than it used to be and is a pretty viable option

2) Looter professions increase your tt return on that mob type, which rewards grinding. So yes picking one type and sticking to it can be beneficial

3) Yes eco hunting is still a thing, the sum of your looter profession and efficiency determines your average TT return, DPP (which is in no way connected to efficiency) determines loot composition I.e the higher DPP you have the less shrapnel you will get compared to non shrapnel loot. And of course you pay less per kill for missions or rares like ESI,Mushrooms etc..

Mathilda said:

3) Yes eco hunting is still a thing, the sum of your looter profession and efficiency determines your average TT return, DPP (which is in no way connected to efficiency) determines loot composition I.e the higher DPP you have the less shrapnel you will get compared to non shrapnel loot. And of course you pay less per kill for missions or rares like ESI,Mushrooms etc..

Click to expand...

Hmm interesting. So with a higher efficiency setup I'll see higher overall TT return; but if I ignore that focus on DPP I'll have a better chance at rare drops?

Detritus said:

Hmm interesting. So with a higher efficiency setup I'll see higher overall TT return; but if I ignore that focus on DPP I'll have a better chance at rare drops?

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I have seen no evidence that points to DPP increasing chance at rare drops, just that you pay less getting there.
In my opinion the chance at rares per mob is the same for all DPP as long as you are within optimal loot I.e not trolling around with Swine DLX on punies or whatever, but if you look at it from ped cycled perspective then it increases your chance on rares per ped cycled yeah.

I have not seen any weapons with high efficiency and low DPP yet so it shouldnt be anything to worry about, and neither something you would want to do

Ok thanks for the replies, guys.