Legends
Elite
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2006
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- Dirty Dingos
- Avatar Name
- Inherent Marxus Legends
March 2020 EDIT: Although I am really tempted to go ahead and re-write this entire thing, I am going to try and leave it alone as much as possible, otherwise the rest of the thread just doesn't make any sense... But readers should be aware that at the time I wrote this essay I was not taking into consideration one key point which is that the loot system is apparently compensating for armor decay in the loot of the mob now. Although this had been confirmed by MindArk somewhere in this forum a month or two before I wrote this, I had completely missed it somehow. There was no ill intent with this as some try to imply later in the thread, it was just born out of a lack of knowledge at the time (although it should also be understood that research on this is far from complete and we still don't know exactly how much that compensation actually is). For a fresh new look at things, please check out my 2020 Armor Guide.
Note: This Essay is intended for the average Entropia player, not for ubers or professional hunters who focus on winning events or achieving the greatest economy possible for a specific activity.
It always makes me laugh whenever someone tells me that they will only use Unlimited Armor. I can't help but feel a bit sorry for the poor guy or gal, because it is about as logical as only using Unlimited weapons.
Most (looted) Limited Armor is actually cheaper to use and I'm going to attempt to lay out the main reasons why I think so below.
1. Durability:
I'm sure that most of you have already noticed that the Limited variant of any Armor always has 10,000 more points of Durability than it's Unlimited version, but what does that translate to in terms of PED economy?
When the changes to Armor decay costs were rolled out along with Loot 2.0, some testing was done using very cheap armor pieces in an effort to determine exactly what the new decay costs were. It was found that Limited Armor protects the same amount for ~10% less decay.
So if an Armor set was made available through the Trade Terminal and you could pick between the Limited version or Unlimited version, which one is the better buy and why? Obviously the Limited version would have more value wouldn't it.
2. The total amount of PED tied up into your Armor set:
Let me list some real examples here so that a straight comparison can be made for actual Armors in the game. I'll only use actual sets that have both a Limited and Unlimited version for this. These numbers are crude numbers from my recent observations of the auction and forum sales threads, many of you are likely to disagree with some of the prices given but this is not a price check thread, I'm just listing these for the sake of some examples:
Rascal (M) will cost TT+50 PED = 110.60 PED
Rascal (M,L) is approx 122% of TT = 73.93 PED
Ghost (M) will cost TT+360 PED = 708 PED
Ghost (M,L) is approx 119% of TT = 414.12 PED
Bear (M) will cost TT+1300 PED = 1,802 PED
Bear (M,L) is approx 106% of TT = 532.12 PED
Jarhead (M) will cost TT+1100 PED = 1,479 PED
Jarhead (M,L) is approx 107% of TT = 413.02 PED
Jaguar (M) will cost TT+4,500 PED = 5,106.40 PED
Jaguar (M,L) is approx 111% of TT = 673.10 PED
Angel (M) will cost TT+13,000 PED = 13,363 PED
Angel (M,L) is approx 155% of TT = 562.65 PED
It is so unbelievable to me that great mid-level limited armor sets such as Bear (L), Jarhead (L) and Jaguar (L) can sell for so little! Whenever you can buy a limited piece of Armor for less than 110%, realize that there is greater value in that limited piece of armor then there is in it's Unlimited version, in other words, you will get more protection for your money, because remember, that 10,000 points of Durability difference means the protection costs 10% less decay.
But I digress. The point I was trying to make by comparing the costs of Limited versus Unlimited is that a lot more PED winds up getting tied up into 1 suit of Armor when the Unlimited version is purchased. Aside from the fact that there is no guarantee this Unlimited set will still be worth as much once you decide to sell it (which is very unlikely btw), you have fewer PEDs left over with which to hunt or do other activities in the game, which means you are limiting what activities you can do in the game.
To illustrate this another way, for the cost of 1 Unlimited Jaguar Armor set, I can own a full TT Limited set of Rascal (L), Ghost (L), Bear (L), Jarhead (L), Jaguar (L) and Angel (L), and still have almost 2,500 PED left over to hunt or play with. Which brings me to my next point.
3. Freedom:
When your Unlimited Armor deteriorates, the only thing you can do is repair it. Once repaired, you have a set of Armor which is usable again for a period of time, but it's the same set, and you'll be limited to hunting the same mobs again.
When your Limited armor deteriorates, you can only TT it. But doing so now leaves you without armor and opens up a world of possibilities. Do you get the exact same armor again or do you try something else? It's up to you to decide what you want to do, you are no longer limited to what can be hunted with that specific set of armor, or burdened with the task now of selling that Unlimited Armor (which can sometimes require a bit of time and effort) to get your PED back so you can move on to something else.
4. A zero-sum game:
Let's say a person bought a set of Bear (M) Armor in 2014 and paid +1.4k PED for it at the time and now, 3 years later decides to sell it and gets +1.3k PED for it.
Let's assume that in the 3 years that this player owned the Armor, he/she spent a total of 5k PEDs repairing the armor. If this player had bought Limited parts from the Auction at an average price of 109% of their TT, the increase of cost for the same protection:
109% cost, minus 110% protection value = -1%
Which means the Limited Bear would have provided him with an additional 50 PED worth of protection over 3 years.
Because he sold his Bear set for 100 PED less then what he paid for it in 2014, the player would have actually saved 150 PEDs over 3 years had he opted to use Limited Bear armor parts instead, and would not have tied up 1,400 PEDs into 1 set of Armor and instead would've been able to enjoy greater freedom of action in the game.
5. Conclusion:
The most economical way to go right now when it comes to armors is to look for and use Looted Limited armor parts which are listed on the auction for prices between 100% and 108%. Notably, here's what's typically available on the Auction House:
- Jaguar (L) parts can often be bought from 102% to 111%
- Martial (L) parts are quite abundant and parts typically go from 100% to 110%
- Tiger (L) parts range from 103% to 112%
- Polaris (L) parts usually fill an entire Auction page, costs between 100% and 108%
- Thunderbird (L) parts are very cheap, 100% to 107% but not always available
Some other examples would include Aurora (L), Boar (L), Bear (L), Jarhead (L) and Ozpyn Beetle (L). These are not quite as available as the others I just mentioned but they are cheap whenever they appear on the Auction, typically, they range from 100% to 108% and are quite useful, i.e. most of them will allow a player to hunt a wide variety of mobs on almost any planet.
Cheers o/
Inherent Legends
Note: This Essay is intended for the average Entropia player, not for ubers or professional hunters who focus on winning events or achieving the greatest economy possible for a specific activity.
It always makes me laugh whenever someone tells me that they will only use Unlimited Armor. I can't help but feel a bit sorry for the poor guy or gal, because it is about as logical as only using Unlimited weapons.
Most (looted) Limited Armor is actually cheaper to use and I'm going to attempt to lay out the main reasons why I think so below.
1. Durability:
I'm sure that most of you have already noticed that the Limited variant of any Armor always has 10,000 more points of Durability than it's Unlimited version, but what does that translate to in terms of PED economy?
When the changes to Armor decay costs were rolled out along with Loot 2.0, some testing was done using very cheap armor pieces in an effort to determine exactly what the new decay costs were. It was found that Limited Armor protects the same amount for ~10% less decay.
So if an Armor set was made available through the Trade Terminal and you could pick between the Limited version or Unlimited version, which one is the better buy and why? Obviously the Limited version would have more value wouldn't it.
2. The total amount of PED tied up into your Armor set:
Let me list some real examples here so that a straight comparison can be made for actual Armors in the game. I'll only use actual sets that have both a Limited and Unlimited version for this. These numbers are crude numbers from my recent observations of the auction and forum sales threads, many of you are likely to disagree with some of the prices given but this is not a price check thread, I'm just listing these for the sake of some examples:
Rascal (M) will cost TT+50 PED = 110.60 PED
Rascal (M,L) is approx 122% of TT = 73.93 PED
Ghost (M) will cost TT+360 PED = 708 PED
Ghost (M,L) is approx 119% of TT = 414.12 PED
Bear (M) will cost TT+1300 PED = 1,802 PED
Bear (M,L) is approx 106% of TT = 532.12 PED
Jarhead (M) will cost TT+1100 PED = 1,479 PED
Jarhead (M,L) is approx 107% of TT = 413.02 PED
Jaguar (M) will cost TT+4,500 PED = 5,106.40 PED
Jaguar (M,L) is approx 111% of TT = 673.10 PED
Angel (M) will cost TT+13,000 PED = 13,363 PED
Angel (M,L) is approx 155% of TT = 562.65 PED
It is so unbelievable to me that great mid-level limited armor sets such as Bear (L), Jarhead (L) and Jaguar (L) can sell for so little! Whenever you can buy a limited piece of Armor for less than 110%, realize that there is greater value in that limited piece of armor then there is in it's Unlimited version, in other words, you will get more protection for your money, because remember, that 10,000 points of Durability difference means the protection costs 10% less decay.
But I digress. The point I was trying to make by comparing the costs of Limited versus Unlimited is that a lot more PED winds up getting tied up into 1 suit of Armor when the Unlimited version is purchased. Aside from the fact that there is no guarantee this Unlimited set will still be worth as much once you decide to sell it (which is very unlikely btw), you have fewer PEDs left over with which to hunt or do other activities in the game, which means you are limiting what activities you can do in the game.
To illustrate this another way, for the cost of 1 Unlimited Jaguar Armor set, I can own a full TT Limited set of Rascal (L), Ghost (L), Bear (L), Jarhead (L), Jaguar (L) and Angel (L), and still have almost 2,500 PED left over to hunt or play with. Which brings me to my next point.
3. Freedom:
When your Unlimited Armor deteriorates, the only thing you can do is repair it. Once repaired, you have a set of Armor which is usable again for a period of time, but it's the same set, and you'll be limited to hunting the same mobs again.
When your Limited armor deteriorates, you can only TT it. But doing so now leaves you without armor and opens up a world of possibilities. Do you get the exact same armor again or do you try something else? It's up to you to decide what you want to do, you are no longer limited to what can be hunted with that specific set of armor, or burdened with the task now of selling that Unlimited Armor (which can sometimes require a bit of time and effort) to get your PED back so you can move on to something else.
4. A zero-sum game:
Let's say a person bought a set of Bear (M) Armor in 2014 and paid +1.4k PED for it at the time and now, 3 years later decides to sell it and gets +1.3k PED for it.
Let's assume that in the 3 years that this player owned the Armor, he/she spent a total of 5k PEDs repairing the armor. If this player had bought Limited parts from the Auction at an average price of 109% of their TT, the increase of cost for the same protection:
109% cost, minus 110% protection value = -1%
Which means the Limited Bear would have provided him with an additional 50 PED worth of protection over 3 years.
Because he sold his Bear set for 100 PED less then what he paid for it in 2014, the player would have actually saved 150 PEDs over 3 years had he opted to use Limited Bear armor parts instead, and would not have tied up 1,400 PEDs into 1 set of Armor and instead would've been able to enjoy greater freedom of action in the game.
5. Conclusion:
The most economical way to go right now when it comes to armors is to look for and use Looted Limited armor parts which are listed on the auction for prices between 100% and 108%. Notably, here's what's typically available on the Auction House:
- Jaguar (L) parts can often be bought from 102% to 111%
- Martial (L) parts are quite abundant and parts typically go from 100% to 110%
- Tiger (L) parts range from 103% to 112%
- Polaris (L) parts usually fill an entire Auction page, costs between 100% and 108%
- Thunderbird (L) parts are very cheap, 100% to 107% but not always available
Some other examples would include Aurora (L), Boar (L), Bear (L), Jarhead (L) and Ozpyn Beetle (L). These are not quite as available as the others I just mentioned but they are cheap whenever they appear on the Auction, typically, they range from 100% to 108% and are quite useful, i.e. most of them will allow a player to hunt a wide variety of mobs on almost any planet.
Cheers o/
Inherent Legends
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