Dragon Scale Armor questions

[Missing_Minds]

• Can I keep my existing black dragonhide armor or is it going to be automatically upgraded to the new version like it or not?

Apparently I can. Which I suspect will get weird over time for Turbine as this means that I can also keep my original bluescale armors with Improved Potency VII which no longer even exists?

See post #15 for how blue dragon is converting potency.

[Zzevel]

There was no reports of new helmets in closed beta, and still no set bonus to be applied.

Also they wouldn't change the graphics of the helms, and the black helm "black" clashes with the "black" of the dragon scale.

It would be awesome if the helm/armor combo had a set bonus....

[Missing_Minds]

It would be awesome if the helm/armor combo had a set bonus....

Agreed, I've asked, as have others, to have a set bonus to them for quite some time. Feather decided it wasn't needed during this pass, so given Turbine history, they never will.

To quote the challenge Archon: "Sadness...."

[Chai]

I think you're mistaking "utility" for where you clearly mean "laziness". Not that there is anything wrong with being too lazy to swap gear. But if you're going to gimp yourself by wearing your trapping gear all the time you might as well pick gear that is closer to end game. The +13 competence bonus to each of the skills is 7 points short of what current end game gear provides.

The entire point of upgrading gear in this game is consolidation of gear slots. This started eons ago with the first raids where stuff with 2 maxed out stats dropped and had lower ML. It has since increased to the point where someone with 4 epic items on can have as many stats and skills slotted as someone with no epic gear but gear in every slot. In that case, we are all "being lazy".

What are the beta stats on the black dragonhide armor? I dont have any toons copied over that has it.

[WruntJunior]

The entire point of upgrading gear in this game is consolidation of gear slots. This started eons ago with the first raids where stuff with 2 maxed out stats dropped and had lower ML. It has since increased to the point where someone with 4 epic items on can have as many stats and skills slotted as someone with no epic gear but gear in every slot. In that case, we are all "being lazy".

What are the beta stats on the black dragonhide armor? I dont have any toons copied over that has it.

Here's the entire info block for them from the u14 item thread:

[*]Dragonscale Armors

• Base Statistics
  
  • Heavy Armor: Armor Bonus 22, MDB 2, ACP -3, ASF 35%
  • Medium Armor - Armor Bonus 17, MDB 6, ACP -1, ASF 25%
  • Light Armor - Armor Bonus 11, MDB 12, ACP 0, ASF 10%
  • Robe - Armor Bonus 8
  • Docent - Armor Bonus 6/12/17 (Composite/Mithril/Adamantine)
• White (Defensive Melee)
  
  • +5, Protection +5, Heavy Fortification, Cold Resistance 30, Shield Bonus to AC: 4
• Blue (Arcane DPS/Healer)
  
  • +5, Potency 52, Greater Arcane Lore, Spell Penetration VII, Electricity Resistance 30
• Black (Melee DPS)
  
  • +5, Haste Guard, Armor Piercing 10%, Acid Resistance 30, Relentless Fury

New Redscale and Greenscale screenshot for you, as well.

[Missing_Minds]

... I thought red dragon was supposed to give your weapons flaming/flaming burst, and I don't recall seeker being on it.

Am I just remembering wrong? Or did it actually get upgraded even though we never got any answer about such in closed beta?

[WruntJunior]

... I thought red dragon was supposed to give your weapons flaming/flaming burst, and I don't recall seeker being on it.

Am I just remembering wrong? Or did it actually get upgraded even though we never got any answer about such in closed beta?

New version you can get from the PDK vendor, apparently...possibly can still make the old one, too. However, the new one is delicious...and I think I'll be remaking my black scale robe back into new black scale to swap between black/red/whatever other awesome armor depending on which would give me more damage.

[RS-Makk]

Do any of you folks have screenies of what this new blackscale armor looks like? Also, the damage buff, how much damage increase do you get?

Thanks

[destiny4405]

i never got why would people use blackdragon armor or epic utility vest for DD and OL. it's not hard to switch gloves with those, but switching any armor that isn't robe/outfit is PITA and to have it always on is waste of a armor slot.

black dragonscale is much better now.

[Ryiah]

Funny how so many assume that non lvl 20 characters can wear ML 20 gear. So because I'm unable to wear lvl 20 gear I'm SOOOOOOOOOO lazy. *rolls eyes*

Also for that level range, I can think of only 1 or 2 regions where 2 points could actually make a difference. And NONE AT ALL where it means quest completion or not.

By the time you actually get the black scale light armor, the numbers are already out of date. You can get a +13 to each at level 11, that's three levels earlier than the armor. At level 13, you can get +15. That small difference can help on Elite.

While it doesn't mean quest completion is impossible, it can make it a lot easier and provide additional sources of XP. A Cabal for One is the obvious example you're probably thinking of, but Lords of Dust has a spot where you either disable the traps or you hope your party is tough enough to survive making it through two sets of slash traps (not going to count the fire, sonic, etc as those can be timed).

The entire point of upgrading gear in this game is consolidation of gear slots. This started eons ago with the first raids where stuff with 2 maxed out stats dropped and had lower ML. It has since increased to the point where someone with 4 epic items on can have as many stats and skills slotted as someone with no epic gear but gear in every slot. In that case, we are all "being lazy".

You know very well what I mean. You mention consolidation. Nothing is more wasteful than keeping equipped a piece of gear which only provides additional utility a small portion of the time. Do you disable traps non-stop in the majority of quests? No. Unless your gear is providing additional benefits (Ranged Alacrity does not stack with Haste and is available from crafting at level 1), then you are wasting a slot.

When all that is involved in swapping gear is putting it on a hotbar and clicking it, not doing so just because you don't want to be bothered is not "utility" but "laziness".

[Forzah]

I've heard you need to grind a new red armor if you want the upgraded version, is this true? Can't believe I have to go through getting another shard and 20 FRDS again...

[Missing_Minds]

i never got why would people use blackdragon armor or epic utility vest for DD and OL. it's not hard to switch gloves with those, but switching any armor that isn't robe/outfit is PITA and to have it always on is waste of a armor slot.

black dragonscale is much better now.

EUV is the only item to have +20 DD and OL. (Unless that changed in the last year. I don't think it did.)

You use it for the same reason people use a +15 item at lvl 13. They want the most they can get vs. good enough for most all of it.

Do any of you folks have screenies of what this new blackscale armor looks like? Also, the damage buff, how much damage increase do you get?
Thanks

Unless it changed from open beta... it is a 5% increase to physical damage that lasts for 30 seconds, with a proc rate of 100% if you are going up against equal or stronger mobs, with less of a chance if you are picking on weaker mobs.

[Miow]

New version you can get from the PDK vendor, apparently...possibly can still make the old one, too. However, the new one is delicious...and I think I'll be remaking my black scale robe back into new black scale to swap between black/red/whatever other awesome armor depending on which would give me more damage.

umm does that mean i'm going to have to farm another shard of the dragon?

[Miow]

I've heard you need to grind a new red armor if you want the upgraded version, is this true? Can't believe I have to go through getting another shard and 20 FRDS again...

This is my concern for the red armor especially....a couple extra scales i can stomach to upgrade the existing one but having to re-farm everything...well...

[WruntJunior]

umm does that mean i'm going to have to farm another shard of the dragon?

No, new turn in seems to be 20 red scales and various commendations depending on which armor you make: look through the U14 item thread for more info. As for red scales, I'm hoping for red scale deconstruction for those that need it, but hopefully scales will generally be much easier to get (hopefully they'll do such changes as minimum 1 red scale per person on epic elite von6 and other stuff...but that may be too hopeful). Either way, I'm thinking scales will all take a price cut when the update hits regardless.

[Alcedes]

I examined my wizard's blue scale robe (the old version) and compared it to the new UI listing. The new blue scale is much better. The old version had Greater Arcane Lore, +4 AC, Spell Pen 7, and Potency 7. The new version has Greater Arcane Lore, +8 AC (much better), Spell Pen 7, and Spell Power +52 (much better--it's Superior Potency 7, basically).

actually, technically, it is Superior Potency IX