So, this is mostly so that I don't lose my progress and (hopefully) get some feedback whenever I get lost in the process.....
The plan is to create a complete CC Gearsets, regardless of named items.
Problem? Can't have just 1 set, as it would be unequippable at low levels and underpowered later on.
There's a nice thread that foresees this leveling issue, but I find the split 2/6/10/14/18 as..... too many sets.
So, the first step I'm going through is finding the best ML steps to craft the sets for.
Step 1.1: Setting Ability levels
If the Gear Set will need to raise our base Abilities anyway, let's use this table to determine MLs.
The MLs where we get Ability increases would be:
Lvl Enh Ins 1 1 - 2 2 - 4 3 - 5 4 - 7 5 - 10 6 2 13 7 3 15 8 3 18 9 4 21 10 4 23 11 5 26 12 5 29 13 6 31 14 6 34 15 7
The Insightful progression does give 5-6 Level steps and match the Enhancement MLs, so let's take those.
We're missing a sub-10 set, though.
ML1 is too low. And we get an increase 1 level above that.
ML2 is lowish, but promising. The next increase is 2 levels above, but the jump to 10 would mean 8 Levels without switching gear, and providing a jump from +2 to +6.
ML 4 is getting a little high. Marketplace-Quests-high. Still, it's 6 Levels away from 10 (a 3-points jump), which keeps the progression laid above. Its greatest problem is.....
ML 5 may be Deneith/Kundarak-Quest-high, but it's so close to Level 4 and provides a nice +4 Ability boost.....
In any case, the spread would be one of these:
Alternative 1: ML 2, 10, 13, 18, 23, 29, 34
Alternative 2: ML 4, 10, 13, 18, 23, 29, 34
Alternative 3: ML 5, 10, 13, 18, 23, 29, 34
Still 7 sets... too many..... We need another filter to select the levels.
Step 1.2: Yellow Slots?
Yellow Augments come in levels 1, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 and 28
Yellow Slots are good for effects (Underwater, Blindness proof, etc), as well as Elemental Resistances. We can get more effects if we select the correct Augments, so......
And for the record, I'm not using any of the named Augments. Too expensive.
So, if we slot Augments without increasing the CC MLs, the table would now be.....
Lvl Enh Ins Topaz Resistance Poison/Disease Effects 1 1 - 1 5 - - 2 2 - 1 5 - - 4 3 - 4 10 2 Underwater/Feather 5 4 - 4 10 2 Underwater/Feather 7 5 - 4 10 2 Underwater/Feather 10 6 2 8 15 4 Underwater/Feather/Blind/Fear 13 7 3 12 20 6 Underwater/Feather/Blind/Fear/Deathblock 15 8 3 12 20 6 Underwater/Feather/Blind/Fear/Deathblock 18 9 4 16 25 8 Underwater/Feather/Blind/Fear/Deathblock 21 10 4 20 30 10 Underwater/Feather/Blind/Fear/Deathblock 23 11 5 20 30 10 Underwater/Feather/Blind/Fear/Deathblock 26 12 5 24 35 10 Underwater/Feather/Blind/Fear/Deathblock 29 13 6 28 40 10 Underwater/Feather/Blind/Fear/Deathblock 31 14 6 28 40 10 Underwater/Feather/Blind/Fear/Deathblock 34 15 7 28 40 10 Underwater/Feather/Blind/Fear/Deathblock
It looks a lot more comprehensive.
ML4 provides the lowest level where we can slot both Underwater and Elemental Resistances 10.
ML10 provides a nice jump for Abilities and slots for Blindness and Fear Immunity.
ML13 provides only Deathblock, +1 Enhancement and +1 Insight Ability increase. Switching only a single item would be neat.
ML18 grants the next significative Ability upgrade before Epic levels.
ML23 may be a good early-Epic gear shift. +4 on Abilities is nice, but it's 1 level below ML24 Augments (35-pt Resistances).
ML29 gives a near-cap set with amazing +13/+6 for Abilities and slots for ML28 Augments (highest available Topazes).
So, we would be left with 4 sets: MLs 4, 10, 18, 29.
At Level 13 we swap whatever is holding Deathblock to take advantage of the Yellow Slot, but keep the ML10 set.
And an optional ML 23 set upgrade. I'd rather keep 4 instead of 5 sets, though.
This is all I have for the moment. I'll return to read feedback and to start panning out the sets themselves.