Because leveling is so accelerated in Factions, my girls upgraded their armor each time possible. (Shing Jea, Ran Masu, Beknur Harbor and finally Kaineng). After Kaineng, it's all about vanity
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For Prophecies, once you're in the Crystal Desert, you can obtain the collector's armor quite easily - and while it's the plain jane variety without any extra perks such as +10AL vs. XXX damage - it *is* max and will get you through until you touch down at Droknar's Forge.
Nightfall - some of the collector's armor is easily obtained if you know what you're doing. For instance, at the Astrolarium, for three skale teeth, you pick up the next leggings upgrade. Not all are so easy to get to or the body parts so easy to collect, but a few make life a lot nicer and less expensive [img]smile.gif[/img] .
Re weapon choice: I'd suggest trying them all. Husband loves wielding axes but I really don't care for them. Middle son equips his tiny monk with a huge arse hammer when he's in the smiting mood - and, if nothing else, you'd think the foe would run screaming from an itty bitty girl with a mallet bigger than she is!. As I said, I prefer swords. I have, however, wielded all three weapons and unlocked nearly every skill while I was at it.
Some of the most fun I've had (solo with only pet and henches) was trying out the "Bunny Thumper" build with my ranger. As long as you keep pertinent skills activated (I modified the original approved skillbar to my own liking), you do awesome damage, take little yourself and have fun at the same time.
[ 01-23-2007, 02:33 PM: Message edited by: Garnet FalconDance ]