Puzzled by economy and equipment

Hello all!

Long time fan of Ultima here, and started playing SotA two days ago.

I'm trying to get a general understanding on a few aspects of the economy and equipment. If anybody has any advice on my questions below I really appreciate it!

I'm questing in tier 2/3 areas right now and still have the same basic cloth armor I started with. I am developing a pure mage so I want to stick with light armor. I visited the town Aerie and only found two "better" pieces of cloth armor available.

One piece was at a player owned merchant, some kind of special Robes of sorcery which was clearly better than what I have and cost 10,000 gold (just for the robes, boots, gloves etc were more). Something to save up for (I have around 3,000 gold). This was all I found after chatting with a half dozen or some player owned merchants.

The other piece was at the Obsidian Crown Merchant in the Aerie marketplace. He's selling "Elven Elite Mage Robes" for 4 obsidian crowns.

I have two specific questions I'm hoping somebody can offer insights on:

1) In a town like Aerie, should I be finding cloth armor somewhere in between the starter set and specialty gear in the 10,000 gold range?

2) The Eleven Elite Mages Robes at the Obsidian Crown Merchant appear to be worse than the cloth robes I started with. Each has a damage resistance of 1, and the Elven robes have no buffs. The cloth robes I started with have a "+3 focus" buff listed. Is there some value to the Elven robes that I'm missing? My understanding is obsidian crowns are very valuable, so I can't figure out why anybody would pay 4 crowns for those robes, which makes me wonder if I'm misunderstanding something very fundamental about the economy and equipment.

If helpful (and permissible) I could send a link to a screen with the specs of the Elven robes I'm referring to.

Thanks much for any insights anyone has.

Nox Ffred

 

1 I would most deffinatyl not pay more than 10 k for mediocre items

2 some things are gotten for the esthetics, you salvage the items for a pattern to change the look

 

Hi Nox, welcome aboard!

Player made gear is the best, with a few very specific artifact exceptions. Those are out of your price range anyway, so we'll focus on player made gear.

Aerie is under staffed at the moment, so your selection there is going to be small. Watch the Public Vendor, but probably you're going to want to look elsewhere. In your area, there are player owned towns that probably have gear for sale, and one that I know does. Go back up to Blood River and enter Veritas Sanctuary. There is a gear merchant right out front with a good selection of player made gear. I have a few pieces on there still, 1/2 crafting cost because they aren't exceptional.

Re: whether you should buy that piece, yes, a screenshot would be helpful. It might be totally worth it, depending on what it is.

But judging by the price I would say it needs to be made out of something better than cotton, probably carpacian, but at least fustian. You can hold CTRL while mousing over to see. It would also need to have some pretty nice enhancements to make me look twice at 10,000g. I would also want it to be exceptional for that price.

If you're out roaming the maps, there are towns that are overflowing with gear. I have a bunch priced at 1/2 price in Outlander Welcome Center and S Mart Factorium. The public vendors in Resolute, Ardoris, and Owl's Head frequently have gear put on there that is well below what it cost the maker to create. And the market towns around Central Brittany are fairly loaded to bursting with gear.

All that being said, until you start dying, you might just keep using what you've got. If you're doing fine keep saving and buy something awesome.

Re: the Elven Mage Robes. Those are decorative only (for the most part, they also don't get stolen in PvP). You buy those when you feel like looking fancy, then you put them on your real cloth chest piece and it looks like the Elven Mage Robe.

Now, if you want to buy the mage robes and wear them until you find something awesome, you can do that. Then, when you do find that great piece, you salvage the mage robes, thus getting an Eternal Pattern, and then apply that pattern to your new gear at the Tailoring Station. That way you can look spiffy while you look for something powerful.

The above advice does not work with patterns. If you buy the normal, not eternal, patterns. They can only be applied to one piece of gear, and you can't wear it until it is.

 

Hi and welcome!

1. I will suggest you check out the player owned towns north of aerie, when you mouse over these town, it tells you the number of player vendors, check out those higher populated town. There should be better gear available.

2. The items from coto vendors are vanity stuff. It cannot be looted unless salvaged. Once it has been salvaged, it gives an eternal pattern which can be use as a skin for your armour. This however also makes the item vulnerable to being looted or pickpocketed if you pvp.

*edit*

I see it has been answered. What’s your in game name? If you like, I can make a set basic armour for you.

 

Start harvesting cotton save it and any beetle carapace in your bank. Save animal skins and suet. Learn textiles, tanning and tailoring. It's a lot of fun making your outfit too.

 

Thanks everyone for your help! I have a much better idea now on how to approach this aspect of the game.

 

On Discord, there is a trade and igg channel, where people ask about pricing, and vendors can post their little hearts away about their gear and prices.
It is a good place to look, and ask about gear prices and locations.
https://discord.gg/C6xHDb

 

Nick,

Thanks for your offer to craft some basic armor for me! my in-game name is Nox Ffred.

I have some of what I'm looking for now, and could still use cloth gloves, cloth chest armor and cloth headpiece. If you're up for crafting some that would be appropriate for tier 2/3 area that would be much appreciated. I don't anything too overpowered for now, just something better than the stuff I started the game with.