Repair Kits, and why they feel like a gold sink (to me) *RESOLVED*

Benie

This has probably been known for years, but now I see it with my own two eyes. I see repair kits being nothing more than a reason to waste excess gold. They don't repair all of your gear in one go. Better off just seeing a merchant that repairs completely.
I just feel like it's cheaper to repair everything via a merchant than spend 2k on repair kits with a one time, one gear piece use.

But that's just how I see it. How do you guys see repair kits? As a possible (will cost less in the long run to repair expensive gear) thing? I'm very curious if you guys buy them, or see them as I do.

Magdalina

They're not there to replace the vendor repair. They're there to save you the time of porting out of an instance, finding a vendor then porting back in and running all the instance again back to where your group is waiting (or better yet, if you're soloing they're pretty much your only option because porting out of the instance will reset it in that case)

That aside, never bought them, I have plenty from writs. Admittedly less so lately that I've been 4-7 manning Sanctum with some friends

MissBizz

The crown store merchant doesn't do repairs.

If it did I'd have one. There's no cooldown on using your assistant either.

Benie

MissBizz wrote: »

The crown store merchant doesn't do repairs.

I heard rumors she does, if you have an auto repair addon when talking to a merchant. Unless this has been patched.

MissBizz

Benie wrote: »

MissBizz wrote: »

The crown store merchant doesn't do repairs.

I heard rumors she does, if you have an auto repair addon when talking to a merchant. Unless this has been patched.

I also heard that rumor, but I also heard it doesn't (but maybe it's only a specific add-on?). Either way I'm betting it will get patched if it's true...

code65536

On PC/NA, the market value of a Grand Repair Kit is about 150g.

The cost to vendor-repair a VR16 gold item at 0% is somewhere around 250g. (Repair costs are based on level, color quality, and amount of damage).

Repair kits are worth it if you use them on low-health items. Using them on something that's at 60% health is a waste. Since an item is still 100% effective even at 1% durability, it makes no sense to use a repair kit until the item is quite low. (I usually use it once it hits 10-20% health.)

And, of course, there's the matter of convenience.

Magdalina wrote: »

if you're soloing they're pretty much your only option because porting out of the instance will reset it in that case

Instances reset 5 minutes after the last person leaves. This applies to all instanced content: vMA, group dungeons, and trials. If you don't dawdle, porting out to merchant-repair should not be a problem.

Benie

code65536 wrote: »

Since an item is still 100% effective even at 1% durability

Um... what? Then why even repair, if durability doesn't seem to affect the effectiveness of armor? You might want to re-check what you said here.

Danksta

Benie wrote: »

code65536 wrote: »

Since an item is still 100% effective even at 1% durability

Um... what? Then why even repair, if durability doesn't seem to affect the effectiveness of armor? You might want to re-check what you said here.

I think he/she meant set bonus wise.

ForlornBeliever

You get repair kits free for completing writs so I don't see a point in wasting gold on them.

Benie wrote: »

code65536 wrote: »

Since an item is still 100% effective even at 1% durability

Um... what? Then why even repair, if durability doesn't seem to affect the effectiveness of armor? You might want to re-check what you said here.

I was told that the item reaching 0% durability prevents you from using it until it's repaired. As for effectiveness, I never saw a drop in my gears' stats when it's been damaged.

Ilsabet

I've been wondering if partial damage affects your actual defense at all (as in makes you squishier if it's not fully repaired) because I've seen conflicting things. The actual stat numbers don't seem to change as long as it's not down to 0%, but I've seen people say you should repair your armor whenever you're in town or before you start a dungeon run, as if you'll be weaker if your armor isn't at 100%. And my death recaps sometimes point out that some of my armor is badly damaged, suggesting that partially-damaged gear contributed to my death. But if that's the case then repair kits are a pretty big waste since you'll be topping off partial damage frequently.

I've been carrying around a stack of repair kits from my writs, and just using them in the field when a piece gets down to 0%. I know that the armor rating of a piece of gear drops to 0 when it's fully broken, but if you don't lose any defense when it's only partially broken then that's the most cost-effective way to do it.

Ilsabet

Whoops, I hit quote instead of edit on that first post.

code65536

Benie wrote: »

code65536 wrote: »

Since an item is still 100% effective even at 1% durability

Um... what? Then why even repair, if durability doesn't seem to affect the effectiveness of armor? You might want to re-check what you said here.

No, it is you who must re-check your initial assumptions.

Why even repair? Because it loses all effectiveness when it hits zero. Ideally, you want the armor repaired before it reaches zero.

But the gear is 100% effective in every way until it reaches 0% durability. There is no loss in mitigation, no loss in bonuses, nothing.

Your confusion likely comes from the way in which durability used to work a long time ago. In the past, you lost armor mitigation as the armor deteriorated. But this mechanic was changed quite a while ago (in the IC patch last year, if my memory serves) to the current system where it maintains full effectiveness until zero.

In any case, armor deteriorates under two conditions:

1. You suffer a PvE death. A random piece of gear will suffer a 10% durability loss.
2. You gain XP from PvE combat. A random piece of gear will suffer a small durability loss.

The armor durability system is meant to serve as a gold sink, to offset the gold that you earn from PvE kills.

The implications of the durability system is that you do not actually have to be hit or take damage to suffer armor durability loss; a healer who stands in the back, taking no damage, but gaining XP from the group's kills will suffer the same durability loss as the tank taking a beating. It also means that your armor deteriorates rapidly when XP grinding, and that there is zero loss of armor if you are fighting enemies that are so underleveled that you earn zero XP.

It also means that you should repair your armor before it reaches 0%. Let's say that your armor is at 10% before you start a boss fight. During the boss fight, you die and are combat-rezzed. Your armor will deteriorate substantially from that death, and since you cannot repair mid-fight you might end up with a piece of gear at 0% for the rest of that fight.

Merchant-repairing a piece of gear at 50% twice has the same cost as merchant-repairing a piece of gear at 0%, so when it comes to merchant-repairing, there is no disadvantage in repairing early--the cost is proportional to the amount of damage repaired. If I'm near a merchant, I always repair my gear so that I won't have to worry about it getting too low later on. (But I won't go out of my way to find a merchant to repair if I'm not low.)

For repair kits, since you expend the same one repair kit regardless of whether you repair from 1% to 100% or from 99% to 100%, it makes sense to hold off on repairs until your gear is low. But this is a hassle and requires more micro-managing.

OrphanHelgen

You get repair kits from writs.
I have many full stacks of repair kits and I have never bought one.
They are good in trials, specially if you are stuck at a boss with some first timers.

Ilsabet

code65536 wrote: »

In any case, armor deteriorates under two conditions:

1. You suffer a PvE death. A random piece of gear will suffer a 10% durability loss.
2. You gain XP from PvE combat. A random piece of gear will suffer a small durability loss.

Oho, is that why it seemed like I had to repair more often during cake week?

NativeJoe

code65536 wrote: »

Benie wrote: »

code65536 wrote: »

Since an item is still 100% effective even at 1% durability

Um... what? Then why even repair, if durability doesn't seem to affect the effectiveness of armor? You might want to re-check what you said here.

No, it is you who must re-check your initial assumptions.

Why even repair? Because it loses all effectiveness when it hits zero. Ideally, you want the armor repaired before it reaches zero.

But the gear is 100% effective in every way until it reaches 0% durability. There is no loss in mitigation, no loss in bonuses, nothing.

Your confusion likely comes from the way in which durability used to work a long time ago. In the past, you lost armor mitigation as the armor deteriorated. But this mechanic was changed quite a while ago (in the IC patch last year, if my memory serves) to the current system where it maintains full effectiveness until zero.

In any case, armor deteriorates under two conditions:

1. You suffer a PvE death. A random piece of gear will suffer a 10% durability loss.
2. You gain XP from PvE combat. A random piece of gear will suffer a small durability loss.

The armor durability system is meant to serve as a gold sink, to offset the gold that you earn from PvE kills.

The implications of the durability system is that you do not actually have to be hit or take damage to suffer armor durability loss; a healer who stands in the back, taking no damage, but gaining XP from the group's kills will suffer the same durability loss as the tank taking a beating. It also means that your armor deteriorates rapidly when XP grinding, and that there is zero loss of armor if you are fighting enemies that are so underleveled that you earn zero XP.

It also means that you should repair your armor before it reaches 0%. Let's say that your armor is at 10% before you start a boss fight. During the boss fight, you die and are combat-rezzed. Your armor will deteriorate from substantially from that death, and since you cannot repair mid-fight you might end up with a piece of gear at 0% for the rest of that fight.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Still think my gear shouldn't have to be repaired. im always running behind a shield. and got trusty Dragon knights to face tank all the damage for me.

code65536

Ilsabet wrote: »

code65536 wrote: »

In any case, armor deteriorates under two conditions:

1. You suffer a PvE death. A random piece of gear will suffer a 10% durability loss.
2. You gain XP from PvE combat. A random piece of gear will suffer a small durability loss.

Oho, is that why it seemed like I had to repair more often during cake week?

Correct.

Fruitmass

It's always a good idea keep your gear in good condition with periodic visits to your local merchants when you've got the time but sometimes getting to a merchant can be problematic (like halfway through a dungeon or miles away from a friendly keep in Cyrodiil). That's where it's nice to have some repair kits on hand. I wouldn't say you need to go and stock up on them by the hundreds (though if your doing writs regularly you'll probably have a ton of them) but having some in your inventory would not be unwise.

Benie

Thank you all very much for your kind opinions. I see now why they're viable.
Also, forgive my stupidity for the "gear stays at 100% efficiently until 0% durability" thing. In typical RPGs (even WoW), durability affects the efficiency, and repairing regularly is recommended to make sure your DPS is high. At least, that's what I was raised up on.

It's good to hear that this one (even though it's also an MMO) doesn't use that standard rule of '20% durability = 20% efficiency'. I don't have to worry about dying as much, thinking my DPS is going to tank with so much damage to my gear.