What is rare? (in General)

Taking a look at some of the 'high end' weaponry and armoury in auction, you'll see that they're pretty affordable these days. So why are they still considered rare? I mean, I'd prefer using them over the equipment in store, but I don't think they are rare anymore.

Thoughts?

rare has pretty much come to mean "does not spawn in stores" and that they spawn in auctions instead. it really doesn't have anything to do with the numbers of items.

supporter items are pretty much the only ones truly rare at least until a re-release.

I think the true rares are the ones that are actually rare, as in hard to come by. I would make a shortlist of the TSA, MgS, AoF, AoI, RoE and maybe EB.

Lets face it, the MC is considered a rare but I've seen HLA cost more then them!

For ages I've been asking where there as so many weapons.

I was told that I was missing the feeling of upgrading thorugh the ranks.

I then mentioned the low cost of Kat's and any new player would be better off saving for a couple of fights and purchasing one from the AH.

Currently, Katanas can't even sell for 10K.

With a NUB, how long does it take to build up 10K?

After purchasing your Dagger/Whip for your first couple of fights, why bother spending over 10K on a x6 +3 Tulwar in the shop, when you can pick up a much better Katana, that will last you (and even tempt you to upgrade it) until you get your hands on a 'real' weapon.

As an aside, can a Katana be disenchanted? If so, then there's no reason to waste money on upgrading any of the lower wepaons, when you can hold out ofr a Kat, and at least get a partial amount of cash back from it when you do finally get your end game weapon of choice.

My feelings on the matter mirror Gentleman Loser's. With so many "rares" in the game, the current damage upgrade system, and NUB cash, there are way, way too many pointless weapons in the game right now. Body armor is almost as bad.

The only real rare items are supporter items.

"supporter items are pretty much the only ones truly rare at least until a re-release."

VBs are the most common "big 5" weapon, with 78 more extant than the 2nd place MH.AoI is the most common amulet, with 32 more extant than the 2nd place AoF. Fluted Steel Ciurass, Ring Mail, hard leather, and soft leather armor are the only body armors more common than the TSA. NCS come in 2nd place for most common "rare" gloves, with AGs taking first. There are more HoCs than HoEs and HoDs combined. 10 more MgSs than BoMs, and of non-lesser tats, JKF comes in first with 418 extant, with ToA in 2nd at 300, and the RoE right behind that at 285...

Sure, nobody sells them... But interesting to think that the items selling for5-15m base value are the most common in their armor type, eh? :P

Cogent, simple, elegant, non-whining posts.

can I add boring to that list :P

Only if you can do it with proper grammar ;P

"VBs are the most common "big 5" weapon, with 78 more extant than the 2nd place MH"

I'm very curious as to how many of this number are on characters that are no longer active.


"JKF comes in first with 418 extant, with ToA in 2nd at 300, and the RoE right behind that at 285... "
See above. I KNOW I ran across tons, yes TONS (I weighed them) of characters down low that have been abandoned with Jiggys.

What an interesting statistic possibility, "abandoned rares"

Since any item but supporter items spawn at a regular rate, I would not really classify them as "rare". Uncommon perhaps but not a rare item.

Supporter items are rare as their supply generally is not increasing. The amount of players are. As stated above, a fair number of these items are left on abandoned characters and/or users.

But some supporter items are much rarer than others. This is due to their exceptional usefulness.

IE:

The TSA is the only real tank armor to use if you do not use a TOA. It is also needed on PL/HP minions.

The AoF is essential for evasion, and also very useful for PL/HP sinks (in conjunction with the TSA). It has plenty of other uses as well, such as boosting the DD level of the Jiggy.

The ROE is essential for character building.

The HoC is essential for any mage and any archer.

The NSC is, IMO, the only gloves to use on a mage with a few exceptions.

The MgS is yet another. Less overall usefulness due to restrictions but quite valuable.

However,

There are supporter items that really suck, and I mean badly.

FIrst is the AoL, Perhaps it is good for 1 or 2 rounds of boosted damage but that is about it.

The VB is another in this class as it does poor damage and is only useful vs high AC + TOE minions. There are not that many in the game, so the MH is far superior in day to day use.

"I'm very curious as to how many of this number are on characters that are no longer active. "

I'm sure the difference in that number to the relative number of inactive MHs is fairly close :P

"The VB is another in this class as it does poor damage and is only useful vs high AC + TOE minions. There are not that many in the game, so the MH is far superior in day to day use."

I will definitely give the MH credit as the most multi-purpose weapon, as it is the most powerful in most situations. But I stand firmly behind my belief that the VB is the most *reliable* melee weapon in CB. It's one-handedness helps make acchieving DX advantage easier, while it has a cheaper pth upgrade than the other weapons in the big 5 (not by much at all, but cheaper is cheaper). This makes it (Again, not by much at all) the most accurate weapon in CB. Also, If you run into heavy AC and/or ToE, a MH/BoNE are reduced to crap (95% reduction sounds outrageous, but is not all that difficult to obtain with combined layers :P), and while the AC necessary to make a VB better than a BoNE or MH damage-wise isn't all too common, especially when spread across the whole of a team, a ToE alone can cap most melee damage, and reduce it enough to where the VB could do more...

So yes, a MH might beat a VB in the drag race, but the VB never breaks down (and gets better gas mileage in bumpy situations!):P