Warrior General Games

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I usually start at level 41. I always shop for my first piece, and usually the 2nd one as well, depending on position.

Some people start at 31, some at 41, some at 51. The longer you wait, the more choices, but for some positions that won't really help.

I would strongly advise rolling for your first 1-2 pieces, as lexden above said. When you still have plenty of options open, rolling is better. I always create my last pieces, cause the chance of getting exactly what we need is much lower.

it also depends on how picky you are.

Most of the time, I stack two pieces of % gear, and then the other 2 pieces are mostly for the +13 (and sometimes I don't even bother with the 4th piece so I can train harder, longer).

If you have 4 very specific pieces you want, I'd suggest starting at L41. That's when you see a lot of +3 attribute pieces with nothing else, and also quite a few 5% pieces with nothing. That way you can build exactly what you're looking for by enhancing a cheaper item. You still save a bunch of BTs, without having to play the odds game of getting the "ultimate" piece.

If you don't care what your 3rd and 4th pieces really do (most of the time I just get a semi-relevant SA) then just keep rolling. However, the odds of getting exactly what you're looking for in the remaining 2 slots are pretty slim. If you have to spend the 20 BTs to convert an item, you usually don't end up saving enough BTs to make a difference in your training regimen.

Originally posted by TJ Spikes
it also depends on how picky you are.

Most of the time, I stack two pieces of % gear, and then the other 2 pieces are mostly for the +13 (and sometimes I don't even bother with the 4th piece so I can train harder, longer).

If you have 4 very specific pieces you want, I'd suggest starting at L41. That's when you see a lot of +3 attribute pieces with nothing else, and also quite a few 5% pieces with nothing. That way you can build exactly what you're looking for by enhancing a cheaper item. You still save a bunch of BTs, without having to play the odds game of getting the "ultimate" piece.

If you don't care what your 3rd and 4th pieces really do (most of the time I just get a semi-relevant SA) then just keep rolling. However, the odds of getting exactly what you're looking for in the remaining 2 slots are pretty slim. If you have to spend the 20 BTs to convert an item, you usually don't end up saving enough BTs to make a difference in your training regimen.



agree with all of this except it usually not being worth 20 BTs to convert an item--often it is definitely worth it

Originally posted by fogie55
agree with all of this except it usually not being worth 20 BTs to convert an item--often it is definitely worth it
remember the whole point of this exercise is to do more with fewer BTs, so that you can train more. At high attribute levels it takes a few training sessions to raise an attribute point, so shaving a couple BTs won't do a lot of good, so it really depends on the luck with shopping. If you have to shop 10 times, and then convert the item, how much training have you actually gained--and is it enough to raise your attributes?

all depends on the luck of the draw

Originally posted by TJ Spikes

remember the whole point of this exercise is to do more with fewer BTs, so that you can train more. At high attribute levels it takes a few training sessions to raise an attribute point, so shaving a couple BTs won't do a lot of good, so it really depends on the luck with shopping. If you have to shop 10 times, and then convert the item, how much training have you actually gained--and is it enough to raise your attributes?



There's really no good arguement to support your case. +3 attribute is very cheap, 7 BT + 2 for shopping. Conversion is 15 BT. Compare that to having to pay 50 BT for buying it. 26 BT saved.

5% piece is 19 or 20 BT iirc + conversion of 15, but ofc costs 75 to add. 35-36 BT saved.

If you can save 50 BT on the first 3 pieces and then 25 on the last one, that's 175 BT saved. Even with horrible rolling luck you'll easily save 100 BT. And that definitely matters for a build.

don't need a good argument just facts,

it's 3 tokens for every shopping trip, plus the 15 to convert, plus whatever the item costs

say you get lucky and only have to do 5 shopping trips. that's 15 BTs. then say you score the 5% piece you're looking for that's 19 BTs more. but it's for the wrong slot, so you have to convert it for 15 BTs more. That's 49 BTs. so with some pretty good luck you've saved, 26 BTs.

so the best training regimen is 4 attribute multi-training which will yield 12 BTs every 4 days--or 3 BTs per day on average. The most BTs you can get comes from doing light training which nets you 6 BTs per day.

The difference is 3 BTs per day, between max training gains and max BT gains.

So if you have saved 26 BTs, you have saved 9 Days worth of BTs. You do 4 attribute multi-training once every 4 days. So that's 2 training sessions.

To look at it another way... If you had built the item in question, you would have had to do light training for 13 days {6 BTs x 13 days = 78}. But since the cost of the item is only 49 BTs, you can do light training for a mere 5 days and then resume the 4 attribute multi-training--so in the same 13 day span of time, you've gained an extra 2 training sessions {6 BTs x 5 days = 30, 12 BTs x 2 = 24 => 54}. Depending on where your attributes are, those 2 training sessions might turn out to be significant, but probably not so much--for 1 piece.

The trick is saving enough tokens on all 4 pieces combined to make a difference in your attributes.

so again...

it all comes down to luck with shopping




edit: Yeah... I didn't even know they had reduced the cost of converting an item. When conversion was 1st invented, it cost 20 BTs. I decided it wasn't worth it, and never looked into it again. Now that it's 15 BTs it's feasible to convert an item if you get lucky shopping.

One thing not mentioned here is plotting your build to the end. In doing so, you can estimate (and often exactly) how many BT's you will have gathered by the end of your build. Some build styles are done to gather max amount of BT's so as to simply purchase their AEQ (3 or 4 pieces) without dealing with the AEQ lottery. (Always remember to account for the BT's you plan on spending on multi-training and unlocking training upgrades.) Others know they plan of "shopping" at the AEQ mall and also plan accordingly.
Myself, I currently do the latter suggestion. But I also still know how many BT's I'll have gathered by build's end and carefully keep track of each BT spent. With that in mind, I put limits on just how many times I'm willing to "pull the slot machine handle" for AEQ for each piece I purchase. As stated above, it costs 3 BT's for each refresh... plus cost of the piece. Yes, you can convert pieces... but I find it much easier to keep track of each piece and not buy the same piece twice unless it's so damn good it's worth the conversion cost. I also am willing to accept a slightly less than ULTIMATE piece if the cost of refreshing the AEQ bin gets out of hand (sorry... but refreshing 10 times just to try for that 5% piece is, IMO, stupid. You just spent 30 BT's just to TRY for it?!?!?!?). And remember, if you see a AEQ piece that only gives you a +3 to a skill you need, go ahead and buy it. You can upgrade the piece after purchase with whatever bonus you desire... or vice versa (if you find a 5% piece with NO skill bump, you can buy that skill bump with BT's after you purchase the AEQ.
If you are willing to spend the time to plan out the build... and keep track of what you're doing, it's not hard to "shop" for AEQ at all and be quite satisfied with what you accomplish. If you DON'T want to get that into the numbers, then simply figure out how much 3 or 4 BUILT AEQ's is gonna cost ya and plan on having that many BT's by end of build.
Hope this helps.

once you have your 3 or 4 AE lined up then you know exactly the BT you need to finish off a build

shopping at level 31 has always worked well for me

I recently shopped once on all my level 40-something players and came up with squat. The important thing is to have a limit in mind beforehand so you don't blow through a lot of bonus tokens on a streak of unlucky rolls.

I tend to like to shop for my first 2 pieces earlier (level 25-32) rather than later. Once you unlock that next pool you add a lot of trash to your possible rolls.

If you shop earlier you can pickup +3% or +5% pretty easily.

Originally posted by InRomoWeTrust
I tend to like to shop for my first 2 pieces earlier (level 25-32) rather than later. Once you unlock that next pool you add a lot of trash to your possible rolls.

If you shop earlier you can pickup +3% or +5% pretty easily.

I've noticed the same thing.

Originally posted by InRomoWeTrust
I tend to like to shop for my first 2 pieces earlier (level 25-32) rather than later. Once you unlock that next pool you add a lot of trash to your possible rolls.

If you shop earlier you can pickup +3% or +5% pretty easily.

Originally posted by TheBear
I've noticed the same thing.

Agreed. Just started doing that with my current crop of DOT's and am enjoying the benefits. Still, you need to know or have a good idea of how many BT's your dot will need over the entire course of it's build so that you don't end up spending too much early on and blowing up your plans later in the build.

I wait until my dot is lvl 79 to do anything with aeq, this gives me a bunch of stuff:
1) exactly how many BT's I have to work with
2) I get to wait as long as possible to see the state of the SIM and can modify my build pretty well to match it
3) I know exactly where I'm weakest/what equipment I need to round out my build

I usually then figure out what I'm looking for in the aeq and I shop as long as it makes sense to mathematically to reach my goal.