Equipment Hunting

From Project Bob

Hey, how come players like Septe, Aubrey, Tyrain, or Pyure get great eq? They're always showing off some item they've found in this GID thing.

Ok...you can show off your items by using GID. GID is nothing more than Global ID. Just type gid itemname and it'll go up on the net. Want to see something that's on gid net? Type gid # and it'll display the item in full glory. Don't know what the number is? Type gid list and a listing will be given. You'll never have to worry about losing the item as this is the best way to show someone your item without having to give it to someone, thus, risking the chance of having it taken. (Not that anyone would do that, right?)

Ok...on to finding eq. Let's get one thing straight, everyone has the same chance of finding something. Eq comes in randomly so it basically comes down to a numbers game. Get the most eq in the least amount of time. Let's get started then.

You need to do a bit of prep work before you start killing and getting eq. There's two essential commands that I use in looking for good eq. Those are findrand and quicksort. Create an alias fr, either in the mud or your mud client. Do the same for qs. The following is the exact command to attach to the two aliases.

fr - findrand all
qs - quicksort epic elite supply smelt bin

Every item has a random(s) on it, almost always rare to epic items (common never has any randoms). Randoms are stats that help your abilities. Which randoms you want depends on the character you are. Here's a view of what I see when I use fr:

Num Lvl  Value Item Name                       Offe  Def-  Ener  Spee  Atta  Forc  Fine  Stea  Magi  Surg  Affi  Myst

The reason why I use findrand all is that I look for all pieces, even if my current char can't use the item. I save the good items by typing stor put itemname and it get saved into my account. You can pick and choose specific randoms with findrand for a shorter list. Example -->findrand attack force finesse. Really quickly, the random stats are: Offense Def-All Energy Speed Attack Force Finesse Stealth Magic-attack, Surge, Affinity, and Mystic. These stats helps the character the most. Other stats include: Mana, Health Points, Stamina, Regen. These stats do help, just not nearly as much as the above stats. Note: type findrand ? to see acceptable names.

Quicksort is the command I use to quickly clean up my inventory and sort them in different places, usually my bin, which I then clean out using research bag bin. Never use empty unless you got worthless items that can't be fed to your pet or researched. In the above alias, basically I have epic and elite items go into my backpack, potions/quest items into my pouch, items with materials/orbs into my smelter, and everything else into the bin. Check out help quicksort for other options.

Ok, here's my technique: kill mobs for eq, build up your inventory, then fr my inventory. Here's an example:

findrand  all
- Scanning items in your base inventory...
Num Lvl  Value Item Name                       Offe  Forc  Fine  Magi  Myst 
  1 283  40.7% Hornet's Crystal Bracer of the  ---   ---   ---   ---   229   
  3 283  61.0% Meteoric Lionheart Breastplate  ---   343   ---   ---   ---   
  5 283  19.9% Hornet's Shadow Leggings of Et  ---   ---   112   ---   ---   
  7 283  60.0% --[Malevolent]-- Crescent Moon  135   ---   ---   ---   ---   
 12 283  19.9% Feral Elven Chain Boots of the  ---   ---   112   ---   ---   
 13 283  60.0% Dragon Fang Spellblade of the   ---   337   ---   ---   ---   
 19 283  40.0% Feral Magician's Gloves of the  ---   ---   ---   225   ---   
 20 283  19.6% Hornet's Magician's Robe of Et  ---   ---   ---   110   ---   
 25 283  19.9% Vampiric Lance of Water Master  ---   ---   ---   ---   112   
 30 283  40.0% (Haloed) Ninja Cowl of Unholy   ---   ---   225   ---   ---   
 35 283  40.0% Paladin's Shadowknight Arms of  ---   ---   225   ---   ---   

Note:  For brevity's sake, I've specifically typed findrand offense force finesse magic mystic.  
Normally, I type findrand all but it makes it very crowded on the webpage. 

That seems like a lot of information and it is but it's so nicely laid out that you can quickly see what you want at a glance. For my char, I'm looking for two randoms, Force and Attack, but I don't look at force or attack column yet. The very first column I look at is the value column. What value tells me is the percentage of random is for the eq level, higher is better. I look at the value column and look for anything that's 80% or better. Players starting out should pick a lower threshold. I recommend 40 or 60%. Either percentage is fairly easy to come by. I started with 60% and worked my way up til all of my eq was 60% or better then I raised my threshold to 80%. Trying for 100% doesn't make sense because how rare it is to find them. 80%+ is really the best of the best eq and you really have to go through a lot of eq to find them, about 1 out of 200+ items. Let's say my threshold is 60%. I scan down the fr list and find 3 items at 60%+. They are breastplate, sword, and an axe. The breastplate and sword have one of the randoms I'm looking for, force. The axe has offense which is a good stat but not what I really want so I'll store it in my account inventory. If you don't use a sword, don't worry because we can change it to any type of weapon we want provide we have an orb of design. We pull out the breastplate and sword and put it in a backpack to work with later or wear it immediately if we need it. Now that you've gone through the list, type qs and clean out your inventory. Check score every once in a while to keep track of how much you're carrying. Type research bag bin or pet feed bin to clean it out. You don't have to follow the above instructions exactly but it is a tried and true procedure to quickly check out your inventory and getting the best of your eq and getting rid of the garbage. I hope this helps you.

FAQs

1. Why bother with creating an alias for findrand and quicksort? 

It's quick to type fr or qs. Also, fr has an advantage where you can type fr bagname or fr eq. Here's a look at my eq:

findrand eq all
- Scanning items in you have equipped...
Num Lvl  Value Item Name                       Offe  Forc  Fine  Magi  Myst 
 48 283  81.7% [+] Warmonger's Shadowknight B  ---   459   ---   ---   ---   
 48 283 100.0% [+] Godly Lionheart Bracer of   ---   562   ---   ---   ---   
 48 283  81.0% Immortal's Lionheart Breastpla  ---   455   ---   ---   ---   
 48 280  80.1% [+] Godly Lionheart Gorget of   ---   450   ---   ---   ---   
 48 283  61.0% [+] Godly Lionheart Leggings o  ---   343   ---   ---   ---   
 48 283  46.6% [+] Gryphon Wing Silky Cloak o  ---   262   ---   ---   ---   
 48 283 101.1% Bladed Lionheart Boots of Unho  ---   568   ---   ---   ---   
 48 280  81.7% [+] Spiked Lionheart Armplates  ---   459   ---   ---   ---   
 48 282  81.7% [+] Slayer God's Lionheart Gau  ---   ---   459   ---   ---   
 48 283  20.3% Shadow Hunter's Lionheart Shou  ---   ---   114   ---   ---   
 48   0  13.3% [+] a Rejuvenating Ring         ---   ---   ---   ---   75   
 48   0  13.3% [+] the Fighter's Circle        30    ---   ---   ---   ---   
 52   0  13.3% an aggravating amulet           30    ---   ---   ---   ---   
 52 281  39.1% Dancing Crescent Moon of the F  ---   ---   220   ---   ---   
 52 283  80.8% Dancing Crescent Moon of the B  ---   454   ---   ---   ---   

Note:  Same brevity as above.  This is by no means the complete listing of my eq. 

As you can see, I've been looking for the best of the best eq and I'm still looking for better eq as an ongoing process.

2. Why do you look at all of those randoms? 

I look at all of the randoms because I'll create alts that will use the other stats and what better way to find them by storing them in my account inventory. My alt will have a head start on having great eq. As I said above, you can narrow down to the stats you want to look for.

3. I'm a spellcaster, what stats do I look for? 

The two stats you want to look for is magic-attack and surge. Affinity is used for boosting aura damage attacks and Mystics is for healing.

4. Ok but I'm a backstabber, what do I look at? 

Attack is still good, but you want to boost stealth and finesse. Speed is good as well. Note: speed as random are very, very rare. I've yet to even see a speed item past 80% level. The highest speed I've personally seen and found is 81, which is a 72% item.

5. Man, that sounds a lot of work. Do I have to follow the above procedure? 

Nope, it's entirely up to you. You can take all of it, some of it, or none of it. I'm only sharing the information to help you with the game. The above procedure is something that I've found that's down to a science and fast. Much faster than stopping and identifying each of the items and sorting each one individually.

6. Why are those numbers not sequential in the first column? 

Glad you asked. Those numbers correspond to the the item in your inventory. Want to store the spellblade we found in above? Type "store put 13." Note: you need that period at the end. Same thing if you want to show an item off. Type "gid 13."

7. I'm a newbie! Is this still good for me? 

Sure. This will help you. I will say that it's more suited for the high end players who've gotten to the wear level 283.

8. What about Ancient eq? Do I search for those? 

You can, however, I'll point this out, imagine how often you get epic eq. Take 10% of those epic eq you get, that's how often Ancient flags come. In my opinion, it's not worth the effort of obtaining. If I get one, I enjoy that I have one but I won't make it an end-all, be-all thing. Same for Shadow stats. Shadow stat eq are even more rare.

9. Where do I go for the best eq? 

Well, there is no "best" place to go. Eq comes in randomly. Just kill mobs that's comparable to your level. If you're looking for lower level eq but already high level, just go to an area in the level range you want and kill there. Those should be giving you eq comparable to the lvel of the area. If not, pick another area or use another alt. Smile

Thanks for reading this help. If you have any questions that you want to add to the F.A.Q., feel free to go to the [Official Forum Topic] and I'll add it to the F.A.Q. Thanks.

(originally written by Penumbra)