Are 9-trait crafting sets worth it?

Pixel_Zealot · January 2017

I'm following Deltia's Magicka Templar build which recommends I use Twice-Born Star.

Prior to this I didn't know what 9 Trait gear was. I didn't know that I needed to unlock all 9 traits on each piece of gear I wanted to craft, before being able to do just that.
For those who don't know what that means, it means I'll be researching gear pieces until Vvardenfell is released.

And I've started researching items I need, but I read earlier that 9-trait crafting sets aren't as good as dropping sets.

I know it's going to take months, but is it worth it?

Waseem · January 2017

other people can craft those sets for you they're tradable

redspecter23 · January 2017

Yes. Twice Born Star is a very solid set. Besides, why not research items when you have time? The next best set could come out any update and you'll be happy you have your trait research done ahead of time when it does. Sure, you could get someone to craft it for you, but who wants to bother others when you could just do it yourself.

Qbiken · January 2017

It´s nice to have 9 traits but it will take a long time (as you might have realised). Join some guild or ask in zonechat if someone can craft you what you need. Usually it´s not that expensive (as long as you got the materials for the gear you want). The avarage price I see (at least on PC EU) is 2-3 gold /piece.

Regarding if 9 trait is worth it I would say yes. Time passes by whether you but something on research or not, so why not just do it?? Who knows, ZOS migth actually add som decent craftable sets in the future (as they did with Julianos in the Orsinium update).

Defilted · January 2017

Depends I what "worth it" means.

I myself like being a crafter so getting the ability to craft 9 trait was worth it to me.

The armor sets like twice born star is still a good set for certain builds on this game.

Would you like to be dependent on yourself or someone else?

Pixel_Zealot · January 2017

@Qbiken @redspecter23 thanks guys. I guess I'll push forward. It'll be worth it in the future.

Pixel_Zealot · January 2017

Defilted wrote: »

Depends I what "worth it" means.

I myself like being a crafter so getting the ability to craft 9 trait was worth it to me.

The armor sets like twice born star is still a good set for certain builds on this game.

Would you like to be dependent on yourself or someone else?

As mentioned in the original post, I read earlier that 9-trait crafting sets aren't as good as dropping sets.

No matter. @Qbiken and @redspecter23 are right. Whether the set's better or not, being able to craft 9-trait sets has it's own rewards.

GilGalad · January 2017

With the changes to warhorn with update 13 TBS will be worse than for example julianos. BSW would be the better option if you get an uptime arround 50%.

Tyrion87 · January 2017

Knowing 9 traits is really worth it in a long run so invest some time in it. But for now, just join a nice guild and ask someone to craft TBS for you. For free. In my guilds nobody charges anyone for crafting gear as long as you provide all the mats and a warm 'thank you' at the end.

If you're on PC/EU, I can craft it for you for free ofc. Just send me all the mats and write what do you want. I'm still researching my last nirn traits on some blacksmithing weapons but the rest I know.

danno8 · January 2017

Just do it. The sooner the better.

ZoS changes set strengths all the time. Nerfing some and buffing others. You never know if a 9 trait set will suddenly become flavor of the month.

rotaugen454 · January 2017

I have 8 things total left to research to have 9 traits on everything. It is a long process, and I stopped at 8 for a long time and would have finished far earlier. I wish that I had kept going, but I'm almost there anyway. I figure it might just be a matter of time until a 9 trait is Best in Slot, so I might as well be ready.

GreenhaloX · January 2017

I don't find any of the 9-traits craftable sets desirable. Although not the best set, I think the lower traits craftable Hunding's Rage fair better than any of the 9-traits ones.

kylewwefan · January 2017

Crafted sets are still very strong no matter what anyone says or what you read. Armor Master is an incredibly strong tanking set, TBS is solid set to build around. The 6~8 trait sets are quite strong as well. Even 3 trait seducer still has a place for many a healer. Hundings, Night Mother, julianos are all still used quite frequently.

billp_ESO · January 2017

Since it costs nothing to research traits, sure it's worth it.

However, ZoS does not really consider crafting an integral part of the game; it is more of a sideline. So if you are a dedicated crafter who wants to be able to make the best gear in the game, forget it. ZoS will have dropped sets more valuable than anything you could ever make. Prepare to be disappointed.

Dawnblade · January 2017

Do the research - you'll thank yourself later.

Oh and btw - I know I'm beating a dead horse, but seriously, research is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen in a game.

It is just a hard time gate (and I HATE hard time gates that cannot be bypassed through actual effort), it has nothing to do with effort / work / skill, just click a few buttons every day / week / month / etc.

It is even more ridiculous now that the game is B2P, and no longer requires paying a monthly sub fee to access the game (at launch it could be argued research was designed to try and keep people paying a monthly sub).

Baconfat79 · January 2017

kylewwefan wrote: »

Armor Master is an incredibly strong tanking set

No serious tank that knows what they are doing uses armor master.

IronCrystal · January 2017

Baconfat79 wrote: »

kylewwefan wrote: »

Armor Master is an incredibly strong tanking set

No serious tank that knows what they are doing uses armor master.

Is it BiS? No. Is it a bad set? No.

Sigtric · January 2017

TBS is probably the best (due to being useful for stam and mag) of the small handful of crafted sets that actually currently make crafting almost useful.

Riejael · January 2017

I personally think research times should be cut in half for members. Its merely a time gate and imagine how many would member up just to get the research done and out of the way. And having the perks of membership for 3-4 months might make some peeps not want to give it up, making for more revenue.

Its a bit of a sneaky strat to garner more support of the game, but why not? Everyone would benefit, cept for those done with their research of course. But hell more money means more DLC which means possibility of more crafting sets being available (making previous research a sound investment) so they even win in the long run.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · January 2017

TBS is really the only useful set that is 9-trait. It is really good DPS in a raid with good warhorn uptime. Most serious raiders I know have a set or 3 of this stuff. Warhorn and therefore TBS is getting a solid nerf next patch. Hard to know how that will play out. But dont believe the lies in the patch notes that suggest the change to major force comes to the same thing. It absolutely does not.

It is really not hard to find someone to craft for you. If you are expecting your research to be lucrative in some way, I wouldnt count on it as its easy to find a free crafter.

I think the biggest benefit to being a 9 trait crafter (next patch) will be the master writs that are being released.

exeeter702 · January 2017

IronCrystal wrote: »

Baconfat79 wrote: »

kylewwefan wrote: »

Armor Master is an incredibly strong tanking set

No serious tank that knows what they are doing uses armor master.

Is it BiS? No. Is it a bad set? No.

It is below mediocre

Flaminir · January 2017

Tyrion87 wrote: »

Knowing 9 traits is really worth it in a long run so invest some time in it. But for now, just join a nice guild and ask someone to craft TBS for you. For free. In my guilds nobody charges anyone for crafting gear as long as you provide all the mats and a warm 'thank you' at the end.

If you're on PC/EU, I can craft it for you for free ofc. Just send me all the mats and write what do you want. I'm still researching my last nirn traits on some blacksmithing weapons but the rest I know.

Nice guilds will also sometimes send you the traits you need for the research for free as well!

driosketch · January 2017

There are 5 9-trait sets. Twice-born star from upper Craglorn, already mentioned, and 1 for each DLC zone added since.

Their 5 piece bonuses in order or release are TBS-two mundus boons, Armor Master-increased health and spell/physical resistance with armor skill, Morkuldin-proc summon, Eternal Hunt-leaves ground trap on dodge roll, and Pelinal's Aptitude-matches base weapon and spell damage based on which is higher.

The last four aren't bad sets, but they are somewhat niche. I wouldn't do the research just for them if I didn't have a need. Also, from personal experience, aside from TBS and EH, which are relatively wayshrine adjacent, the other three are time consuming to reach.

That said, the next DLC zone will likely also have a 9 trait set. You have at least 4 months or so to be ready and researched for it.

Jeremy · January 2017

Pixel_Zealot wrote: »

I'm following Deltia's Magicka Templar build which recommends I use Twice-Born Star.

Prior to this I didn't know what 9 Trait gear was. I didn't know that I needed to unlock all 9 traits on each piece of gear I wanted to craft, before being able to do just that.
For those who don't know what that means, it means I'll be researching gear pieces until Vvardenfell is released.

And I've started researching items I need, but I read earlier that 9-trait crafting sets aren't as good as dropping sets.

I know it's going to take months, but is it worth it?

I think it's worth it.

THEDKEXPERIENCE · January 2017

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

I think the biggest benefit to being a 9 trait crafter (next patch) will be the master writs that are being released.

100% this.

Everyone should read the patchnotes. "Master Crafters" will be seperated from MASTER CRAFTERS very soon mostly based on the master writs.

Also, never underestimate what will change in the future. What stinks today might be awesome in the near future. Always keep this in mind whenever someone is trying to badger you into changing your gear to get 0.04% more DPS.

Personally I still use Julianos in both PVE and PVP because, while it's not "BIS" it's good enough and I've never worried about it getting the nerf hammer.

WalksonGraves · January 2017

IronCrystal wrote: »

Baconfat79 wrote: »

kylewwefan wrote: »

Armor Master is an incredibly strong tanking set

No serious tank that knows what they are doing uses armor master.

Is it BiS? No. Is it a bad set? No.

It's pretty crap, you can pick almost any boe tank set and do better. Unstoppable is the most expensive way to get major ward and the extra defense should get lost over the cap unless you ran non hvy gear.

kylewwefan · January 2017

You guys are nuts. Armor Master is crazy strong.

Brrrofski · January 2017

No, armor master is useless.

Anyway, worth what? Pressing a button every few days and leaving it do it all itself? It's hardly work. It does it in the background while you play. So just research everything.

Asardes · January 2017

I started researching as soon as I joined the game, and did it back to back for all 3 professions, although I didn't have all the passives until about 3 months later. It took me almost 15 months to finish researching all 9 traits on all items. Fastest was of course woodworking, because there are only 6 items, while in the other professions there are 14 so that one was finished after about 8 months. Frankly, I did it more for the sake of completeness then anything else. I never crafted 9 trait sets. I've found the 5-6 traits the most effective: I currently use on different characters:

Hunding's Rage (6 traits) - Stamina DD
Night Mother's Gaze (6 traits) - Stamina DD
Law of Julianos (6 traits) - Magicka DD
Willow's Path (6 traits) - Tank
Tava's Blessing (5 traits) - Tank
Alessia's Bullwark (5 traits) - Tank - only for the 2 piece bonus

The only 9 trait set that it's worth anything is Twice Born Star, and that's only marginally more effective than Hunging or NMG on stamina characters, or Julianos on magicka characters even in a trial environment, where you have all the buffs and debuffs. Solo or in dungeons the former are more effective. The only situation where TBS may be worth using is as stamina DD when you wear 7/7 medium and you don't have a race with health bonus to get that one from the set instead - 16K health is a bit low for any content.

Danksta · January 2017

IronCrystal wrote: »

Baconfat79 wrote: »

kylewwefan wrote: »

Armor Master is an incredibly strong tanking set

No serious tank that knows what they are doing uses armor master.

Is it BiS? No. Is it a bad set? No.

But Tava's is BiS and is only 5 traits compaed to 9.

THEDKEXPERIENCE · January 2017

Brrrofski wrote: »

No, armor master is useless.

Anyway, worth what? Pressing a button every few days and leaving it do it all itself? It's hardly work. It does it in the background while you play. So just research everything.

It might be useless to you, but there are plenty of good options that can be made out of it. Not every build needs to be YouTube streamer approved to be relevant.