Returning player, need help spending my budget

[nosrek]

I decided to come back to p99. I have a lvl 29 shaman from my first time here, but I wanted to play a warrior this time.

I have a set of banded and some 5/55 rings and about 600 plat to work with. I'm wondering where I can best spend my plat for smooth leveling (currently the warrior is lvl 9).

I also have a number of items I can sell to make some additional plat.

2x Runed Mithril Bracer
2x Forest Loop
Charred Guardian Shield
Ivory Imbued Collar

Slime coated harpoon (currently using as warrior weapon)

Thanks for the help

[Naethyn]

Jarsath Trident & Crustacean Shell Armor

[Jimjam]

To be honest I think you are doing okay for weapons and armour. The offhand is of limited value until duel wield/double attack exceed 150 skill so don't sweat that slot too much for now, just fill it with something cheap.

The biggest boost you are going to get next is a haste item, I suggest saving all your plat for that (silver chitin hand wraps, flowing black silk sash, maybe even rot-quest a hangman's noose). You can get all your plat back from your haste item at level 46 by tagging along with plane of sky raids and picking up a belt of contention (/who all airplane). This will increase your dps (so xp rate) and aggro (making groups more efficient, but really you want groupmates to be rooting the mobs you are fighting so you can stand on their toes and ensure you are the one getting hit).

To begin with returns on stamina are pretty poor and AC is capped by level so I don't think there is much benefit from switching up to crustacean shell armor immediately, but once you get your haste item this will definitely be a wise next step as you will probably be approaching the cheal levels.

By the way, which race did you choose?

[Pyrion]

I would buy one of the several cheap one handed weapons that are close to ratio 2 (sword of skyfire is a good cheap one), so you can dual wield later. you can consult http://wiki.project1999.com/Category:Warrior_Equipment to find out whats good. You can sort by ratio. Then you can consult http://www.p99auctions.com/ for recent prices.

[nosrek]

I rolled ogre (always play ogre, troll, or iksar). I found a skyfire sword for 75pp so I guess I'll just use that and offhand the spear i have.

Looking at the p99 auctions it seems haste items are much cheaper these days. I may actually be able to swing that price if I can spend some time in EC.

The crustacean armor looks new, is there a reason this is recommended over the warrior armor quest set?

[Naethyn]

AC is not capped per level. Defensive skill is capped per level. I'd argue that AC is more relevant the lower level you are. High AC at low levels makes a huge difference as mobs will hardly touch you before 30 with high AC. Yes, haste is immensely more important, but with the budget described above it is not as obtainable.

[nosrek]

So I sold some leather padding my sham had, farmed over 200 spiderling silks, and raided everything I had in the bank to sell.

Now I've got 2200 pp, and about 800 plat in other items I am still trying to sell. The gear I'm currently working with is,

Cougar Claw Earring x 2,
Lumberjack cap,
5/55 rings,
Azure sleeves,
Iksar scaled gloves,
Brigandine Tunic,
Sword of Skyfire,
Banded in the remaining slots

I was thinking I could buy some silver chitin hand wraps soon, then I'd just need to buy an offhand weapon (I'm thinkin green jade broadsword for stats and price).

Any advice on what to work towards next or do different is appreciated.

[Jimjam]

I think you should have focused on getting the haste item first to maximise your budget for it. Banded was perfectly adequate for where you were at the moment. Regardless, get that haste. You'll be able to find a decent enough off hand (such as the one you are looking for) for 50ppAC is not capped per level. Defensive skill is capped per level. I'd argue that AC is more relevant the lower level you are. High AC at low levels makes a huge difference as mobs will hardly touch you before 30 with high AC. Yes, haste is immensely more important, but with the budget described above it is not as obtainable.

My mistake, on live each level before 50 was subject to a hidden worn ac cap (I think what these were changed a few times too). Didn't realise it was different here.

[nosrek]

I was able to get the haste item this earlier this morning. I've got about 350 pp on hand and 200pp in items to sell still. I've got my offhand weapon as well.

Now I was thinking a pair of magic boots would be good so I can kick things like the mummies and elementals I'm fighting in EC. At that point I figured I'd be good until I need some proc/aggro weapons.

[Samoht]

Cobalt boots.

[Jimjam]

Don't worry too much about proc/aggro weapons. Get a group member to root the mob and stand on it's toes. Fast DPS weapons more consistent aggro and better dps.

Cobalt boots is a good call; magic, nice AC, Str clicky if you need it (self only).

[Sage Truthbearer]

AC is not capped per level. Defensive skill is capped per level. I'd argue that AC is more relevant the lower level you are. High AC at low levels makes a huge difference as mobs will hardly touch you before 30 with high AC. Yes, haste is immensely more important, but with the budget described above it is not as obtainable.

Not true, there actually is an AC cap.

It is a "softcap" and it works exactly the same as when a Druid has so much WIS that begins to get less mana per 1 WIS point past a certain amount of WIS. Once your Worn AC (the AC you get from equipping items) gets to a certain point, any extra amount over the cap will be severely penalized.

The penalty is about 33% - 50%. So if you are already above the softcap in Worn AC, and put on a breastplate with 20 AC on it you will only actually get about 33-50% of that in AC. The softcap changes depending on what class you are, and what level you are, and other factors. It is actually fairly easy to reach the softcap at lower levels.

[Naethyn]

AC soft cap is a myth. Real AC is a calculated value based on a percentage for each class, but it has nothing to do with levels.

[Yuuvy The Destroyer]

There certainly was an ac soft cap on live.
Assuming there is one here as well

[Naethyn]

On live the formula was this:

RealAC = SoftCap + Shield + IksarAC + [ WornAC - (SoftCap + Shield) ]*OvercapReturn

Overcap Returns:
Warrior: 0.45
SK/Pal/Monk: 0.33
Rang: 0.17

The thing is soft cap still had absolutely nothing to do with levels. AA's are the only modifier outside class type that changed it. But here, it doesn't seem to exist. Load up a level 10 alt with a ton of AC and you won't see any max hits and mostly misses until late 20's.

[Sage Truthbearer]

On live, there was an AC hardcap and it was in fact based on your level.

During Velious, it was changed to a softcap and no longer based on your level.

Here is a quote from an original EQ developer that worked on core mechanics (Kavhok):

Your AC cap was lowered. That was absolutely and unequivocally a nerf. I didn't mean in any way to imply otherwise.

Let me give a more full explanation of what happened, though. Here's how the AC formula used to work before the patch immediately preceding PoP:

The AC from your items was added up, but the value used for it was hard capped based on your level. This was the same for all classes. Once you had 289 raw AC from items (or 385 as a cloth class, since they get less effect from item AC), that was it. More AC from items wouldn't do anything.

After this, it added your class bonuses (including the monk bonus, which is equivalent to your level + 5 in raw item AC), defense skill bonus, agility bonus, and the AC from spell buffs.

Total AC at this point was capped again, this time based on class. In the Kunark-era code, this was a hard cap, but sometime during Velious it was changed to a soft cap for melee classes only. The return was fairly small, though.

[Jimjam]

The interesting thing about that quote is it implies there are class bonuses other than the monk bonus...

The only other two class bonuses I know of are beast lord and rogue, which get 16 and 12 AC for having their agility at 100, but I only read about them way, way after classic so assumed rogue got added in later, but maybe it was in from the start? That's what the quote seems to imply...