How Frequently Should You Upgrade Gear at Veteran Ranks?

Smitch_59 · December 2015

So how often should a VR character upgrade gear? I'm still learning this game, so please bear with me. My main is a VR7 NB. I used dropped gear until VR3, when I finally crafted a set. Made a huge difference. I recently upgraded to a VR7 crafted set (mostly green and blue since I don't have the tempers to do better). Realistically, how long can I continue to use my VR7 gear before upgrading again? I'm exclusively PvE, and I often struggle with dolmans and bosses. I should also mention that my main is also my crafter, and I've allocated a lot of skill points to crafting at the expense of combat skills.

AntMan100673 · December 2015

Well I guess the answer is it depends on how many resources you collect on your travels, if you're collecting enough to upgrade every level then there's no reason not to.

I'm VR4 and currently using VR1 gear, my current plan is to upgrade my gear at VR5, VR10, VR14 & VR16

ThePonzzz · December 2015

Wear drop sets until V10, upgrade them or add new enchants where needed. If you can craft, feel free to do that instead, you'll get exactly what you want that way. Craft some blue gear at V10, V12, and V14. Also keep in mind, this is before they dropped the exp requirements. Don't waste any money on gear until V15/V16.

qwyksylver · December 2015

If you have mats go ahead and craft yourself a new set now, otherwise I agree with ThePonzzz, V10, V12 and V14 are good times to upgrade but I wouldn't buy anything until V15, at that point get the sets you want crafted in V15 and upgrade to blue or purple then slowlly acquire mats/set drops for V16 as the increase in stats isn't worth spending mounds of gold on imo

terrordactyl1971 · December 2015

I craft a new full set (5 Julianos + 2 Turogs) to purple every 3 vet levels. I find I have plenty of mats to do that without any issues. Don't craft to gold level though as the mats are too rare, save them all for Vet 16

Vonovosi · December 2015

One suggestion I have is to make sure you have all the skill points that you can attain, There are 15 skyshards in each zone along with a skill point to be gotten from the public dungeon for the group challenge. There are addons for PC that show you where they are and if you are on console there are maps available showing their location. Look in the achievement tab of your journal to see if you are missing any. You might also want to respec your skill points if you have points allocated in abilities you are not actively using.

As far as set gear there are many combos that work good for NB's. Hunding's Rage is very popular crafted set with stamina MB's and Law of Julianos is a new crafted set basically a magicka version of Hundings, I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but look forward to crafting a set. Go to the following site for a listing of all sets available in game and lots of other great game info:

http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Elder+Scrolls+Online+Wiki

I would recommend if you have the matts craft a new set every 2-3 vet levels. Don't bother upgrading past green or blue til you get to end game content, you are just going to be getting rid of the old gear. Decon everything that drops, and refine all matts you pick up (pick up everything) this will give you lots of tempers to use to craft new gear. If you can spare the skill points putting 1 in keen eye, and getting the hireling passive also will max your crafting. You will also want to make sure that you are doing research to learn all the traits you can especially on the gear that you are using.

Lastly I would recommend that you join a big guild or two. Guilds are a great place to get help from more experiences players. Trade guilds (at least on PC can't vouch for consoles) are actually very good for this. I am in 4 and can tell you that they are full of active, veteran, helpful players. if you ever need to get a piece of gear for research it is usually just a question of shouting out in guild chat to get the needed item for free or in exchange for the matts required to create it. As an extra benefit they are best place to sell any unneeded inventory you have.

Lastly if you can't get the answers you need in-game keep coming here to the forums. This game has the most respectful, mature, helpful playerbase of any MMO I have ever played.

myrrrorb14_ESO · December 2015

I usually do it at every crafting tier. But if I have the mats to spare, I sometimes do an extra set.

Every 3-4 levels is fine. As long as you are still effective and don't die too much, you don't really need to upgrade your armor. I have a friend who kept his vr6 stuff till vr16.

Upgrading weapons can make a big difference. So if you are borderline thinking whether or not, you can just invest in new weapons.

Nestor · December 2015

I am now doing gear every 4 Vet Levels. No reason to do them any more frequently. The difference between two VR Ranks is minuscule as far as gear goes.

Krainor1974 · December 2015

A guild buddy and my self did every three levels

Danksta · December 2015

It also may depend on the level of the zone you're currently playing. I'm VR7 with VR6 blue gear, but the zone I'm in now is only VR4 so I pretty much destroy anything without much problem. I don't anticipate making any new gear for at least a couple more zones. In hindsight, upgrading to blue was overkill, but on the other hand I have the mats to do it. What will ultimately decide when it's to for me to craft a new set is when my health begins depleting at higher rate than I think it should.

Royal_Kitsune · December 2015

It mostly depends on if you plan to grind the lvls or quest them. If you grind I usually get a set at v1, v10, then since the update get a guildie to craft v15 at this point I mostly keep every thing green until the v15 set which I will make purple. This is due to the time it will take to grind enough telvar to get the mats for v16 which I will make gold. If you plan to quest the lvls drop/quest items are decent until v10ish then get a green or (if you have a over abundance of the mats) blue. Then keep that till v15 which I again make purple and do the same to v16 set gold. Hope this helps