When to repair Armour?

[Eyres]

Just wondering when people find it best to repair there item in relation to:

Cost
Effectiveness (get hit for more etc )
Making it last longer

Over 95%
90%-95%
75%-90%
Just Before 70%
When its DEAD!

Posts reasons why if you heard from steve or testing has been done or whatever and class

 

[Tualatin]

Hm.. there was some old info's on this.. if i remember correctly:

repairing at 98% and 99% will wear it down faster (each time it costs a certain amount of dur anyway)

below 95% the effects are too 'high'.. so between 95% and 97% i would repair it.. which means not too often and your items will last for a while.

Anyway, what to repear?
Armour: ALL
Weapons: ALL
Items: ONLY ones with +skill on them, that's the only bonus you will loose @ 70%, so other items are ok @ 70% con

 

[Lomme]

always repaired armor etc as soon as it hits 99%, because i'm worried about taking more damage. but if what Tualatin says is true, maybe i should chill a bit before repairing from now on

 

[old.Whoodoo]

Armour - usually I dont let it drop below 97%

Weapons: staffs at 97% mellee at 99%

Items - when i cba.

 

[chretien]

You lose an amount of dur equal to the con restored +1% everytime you repair. This means that if you repair at 99% you lose 2% dur each time. If you let it drop to 96% and repair you'd lose 5% dur however in the same amount of time you'd have lost 8% dur if you'd repaired it at 99% each time.
I always repair armour at 96% and weapons and staves at 97%. Con affects focus so it is definitely worth treating your staff the same as you'd treat the sword on your melee character.

 

[Karl]

IIRC 97% was the optimum for making the items last the longest....

 

[Darzil]

Armour - 95/96% on any tank, 90% on any caster who doesn't expect to get hit, never on necro !

Darzil

 

[Boni]

98% on my mages (durability isnt really an issue).
96% on tanks (a balance between good AF and not destroying dur).

As chretien already mentioned basically you lose something like (repaired con+1) dur when repairing, so frequent repairs on high con will mean more dur loss.

 

[Elitestoner]

when i remember, any time between 98% and 70% xd

 

[Andrilyn]

Alot of people I've been talking to say between 96% and 90% as below 90% it decays twice as fast.
Then again nobody ever had a clear reason at what exact percentage it was best to repair (Money and duration of your item wise).

 

[Wazkyr]

I normaly repair on like 93-94%, on caster. Staff i repair at like 80-90, drops so freaking fast. Focus is minimal tbh, from 99 to eg 90%, its 9% of the focus you lose... thats like 0.05 power per cast or something.
Melee weapons i try to keep at 100 all the time, armor i repair on 97. All my jewlery is at 70, only the ones with +skill is repaired
I also use my fully toa temp on in pve, witch normaly takes alot off them

 

[Raven]

99% accross the board (except rings, bracers, belt etc ofc)

 

[Argyle_Avendale]

when i remember, any time between 98% and 70% xd

Elite you noob

On topic, been some testing on this, and between 95-97% was optimal.

 

[Lejemorder]

no need to repair cloth unless it got +skill on it, as con only affect the arbsorb of you armor (mean 70% con plate will have 0% arbsorb just like cloth), i belive seeing that 91% was the perfect stop as under 90% you lose con twice as fast

 

[xxManiacxx]

I repair when I cba. Saw that my SB gear was on 78-83% and never noticed any difference

 

[chretien]

no need to repair cloth unless it got +skill on it, as con only affect the arbsorb of you armor (mean 70% con plate will have 0% arbsorb just like cloth)

Not true. Con affects the AF not the absorb. MP AF100 armour at 70% con is effectively AF70 armour. On weapons con affects the DPS in the same way.

 

[Boni]

Then again nobody ever had a clear reason at what exact percentage it was best to repair (Money and duration of your item wise).

Theres is no exact answer, and anyone who says 'x is right for all' is probably wrong.

Its a simple balance of duration, cost and effective AF.

If your rich, dont mind burning items, then the ideal value is 99% as you will never be rvring in less than 100% optimal AF gear.

If you want to save duration, cash and deal with lower AF then the lower you take con before you repair the more you will save (but the more you will penailse yourself). Some might argue that you dont repair till 90% as they are being the most efficient on gold/durability even if their AF is weak.

Theres really no scientific way to demonstrate at what point from 99->90% you should repair, it depends how much you personally value gold, AF, durability of items yourself. For most this is probably 95->98% as most people dont like dropping more than 5% AF and most want to save a few bucks/are too lazy to repair all the time.

 

[Lejemorder]

Not true. Con affects the AF not the absorb. MP AF100 armour at 70% con is effectively AF70 armour. On weapons con affects the DPS in the same way.

hmm i always thought it was like that because the UI never showed a decrease in AF (or increase in AF when repaired) when i have checked, but on the other hand, i have never killed my armor down to 70% con.

 

[Gear]

Everything at 98% apart from my ML10 leggings I do them at 93.

 

[Ballard]

hmm i always thought it was like that because the UI never showed a decrease in AF (or increase in AF when repaired) when i have checked, but on the other hand, i have never killed my armor down to 70% con.

If you check the delve info on your armour pieces you will see both an AF score and an effective AF score. The effective AF score will drop as cloth gets damaged, hence you do need to repair cloth. The total AF shown on your character tab is not your effective AF but rather just a total AF score.

 

[Dr_Evil]

Q: What exactly is the system for durability and condition, and how those two factors work together?

A: Those of you who have been reading the Grab Bag since the old days will find this familiar, but it's been years, so I figured we'd take this golden oldie back out for a ride. Remember, y'all - a MMORPG is a living, evolving creature. This answer is different in some small ways from past answers on the same topic. New information almost always overrides the old. Now, I'm going to get out of the way and give the floor to Code Ed.

"A level 50 item will take one point of durability loss per point of condition over 90%. It will take one point of durability loss for every two points of condition below 90%. These are rounded up, so the loss will always be at least one. Items, in general, start with durability above 100, hence the reason they stay at 100 for so long. Some items have a built in durability modifier that causes a slower rate of durability loss. Also, keep in mind that lower level items take higher durability hits due to their materials generally being weaker."

Astute readers will notice that I didn't post the exact system as requested. The reason for this is simple - the exact formula is long, complex, and uses parts of the code that players can't in any way see because we don't communicate that information to the player's interface.

So, please bear in mind that Code Ed described a standard level 50 item, and the basic system. You can't extrapolate that exact system to every item in the game, because some will lose durability slower and some will lose it faster. Having a system like this, where there are multiple categories, is a good thing - as you will see in the next patch or two.





Q: How do bonuses and condition work together?

A: (Edited reply) Generally, an item with a condition below 70% is not effective in terms of its armor value or its damage. Other item bonuses, as most people know, are not affected by condition. Items that follow this rule include armor, weapons, focus staffs, and instruments. Of course, as with everything else in a MMOG, there are exceptions.

More from this Grab Bag
This is one of the latest answers about this in the grab bags. I have some earlier answers too that you can combine to get a bigger picture:

Q: Do you lose more durability if you wait to repair your items as opposed to repairing them often, vice versa, or neither?

A: Neither. Durability points are converted to condition points by a ratio formula. You may lose a percentage point of durability to our system rounding up if you happen to hit it at the wrong moment, but that is the only exception. You basically need to keep your stuff at 90% condition or better, as there is a noticeable difference in the damage you take or give at that point. It’s an exponential drop – you won’t notice much of a difference anywhere in the 90s, but you’ll really feel it as you go below that point.

More from this Grab Bag

Although this came in later to explain a little more:

Q: There seems to be a lot of confusion about durability loss from armor and weapon repairs. You answered this question in a previous grab bag awhile back and stated that durability loss is only affected by the amount of con repaired.

However, many experienced players state that there is an ADDITIONAL cost for the repair itself. In other words: All items will lose 1% DUR for every 1% CON repaired, and they will lose 1% more DUR for the repair itself. Thus, an item repaired at 99% CON will lose 2% DUR.

A: In this case, the players are quite right. My old answer is wrong. Thanks for writing – and a gentle reminder to all my loyal Friday night readers: If the Herald kicks back two answers, always use the one with the most recent date.

So this is how I look at it:

You don't need to repair before it hits below 90%, as that's when you will notice it. Everything between 90-99% are not noticable, might not even be a difference at all. Same goes for 80-89% and 71-79%. So there's about 5 stages:

100% con = No difference.
90-99% = Tiny un-noticable difference. Repair cost 1% dur per 1% con, +1% dur for the repair.
80-89% = Big difference in damage just as it went below 90%, but no difference until you hit 79%. Repair cost 1% dur per 2% con, +1% dur for the repair.
71%-79% = Huge difference in damage, no noticable difference before it hits 70%.
70% = Rock bottom, your lvl51 weapon acts as if it were a lvl35 weapon, and your armour has stopped protecting.

You actually get messages in your status window indicating when your equipment reaches a new stage, the first as it hits 90%, then as it hits 80% and the last one at 70%.

Myself I repair all my armour parts as they hit 90%, have yet to notice any difference on damage taken from con 90-100%. I have tested it under and at 89% it was horrible as lvl50, and in Thid not much difference - so at lvl24 I wait until it's 80% before I repair so it lasts longer.

Weapons however I actually repair just as they hit 99-98%, as they're generally much cheaper than armour (I wear chain) so I can afford to get a new weapon when it's broken; and I actually think I can notice it unless it's just superstition - I feel like my weapon is jinxed when it's 99%, as if it leaves my enemy alive at 1% HP left when it really should've killed him.

In pve I wait until 90% or below, as I really don't care much then. As for jewellery etc I don't repair unless it has a +skill on it that stops working at 70%.

 

[Ardas Nails]

ta for info, usually repair at 97% but think I'll wait til 90% now.

 

[xxManiacxx]

just just base af buff to get the last AF from not repairing...

 

[Darzil]

Loss of con has a big hit on power consumption. I recall Chretien and I trying to work out why he could cast about 8 pets per bar of power, whereas my almost identically outfitted Theurg could cast 12.

The answer was the loss of con on his Theurg's staff. He could also cast 12 when that was fixed.

(Note that they were low level at the time, so no 'omg, only 12 pets' comments please)

Darzil

 

[sxx]

When i can afford it

 

[Karl]

just just base af buff to get the last AF from not repairing...

yup there is that

 

[Cemeterygates]

kinda depends on the qual aswell really....if all mp then u prob got a bit more room to let it drop a lil lower....but personally i dont let my weaps an armor drop below 98%

 

[chretien]

So this is how I look at it:

You don't need to repair before it hits below 90%, as that's when you will notice it. Everything between 90-99% are not noticable, might not even be a difference at all. Same goes for 80-89% and 71-79%. So there's about 5 stages:

100% con = No difference.
90-99% = Tiny un-noticable difference. Repair cost 1% dur per 1% con, +1% dur for the repair.
80-89% = Big difference in damage just as it went below 90%, but no difference until you hit 79%. Repair cost 1% dur per 2% con, +1% dur for the repair.
71%-79% = Huge difference in damage, no noticable difference before it hits 70%.
70% = Rock bottom, your lvl51 weapon acts as if it were a lvl35 weapon, and your armour has stopped protecting.

You actually get messages in your status window indicating when your equipment reaches a new stage, the first as it hits 90%, then as it hits 80% and the last one at 70%.

Myself I repair all my armour parts as they hit 90%, have yet to notice any difference on damage taken from con 90-100%. I have tested it under and at 89% it was horrible as lvl50, and in Thid not much difference - so at lvl24 I wait until it's 80% before I repair so it lasts longer.

Weapons however I actually repair just as they hit 99-98%, as they're generally much cheaper than armour (I wear chain) so I can afford to get a new weapon when it's broken; and I actually think I can notice it unless it's just superstition - I feel like my weapon is jinxed when it's 99%, as if it leaves my enemy alive at 1% HP left when it really should've killed him.

In pve I wait until 90% or below, as I really don't care much then. As for jewellery etc I don't repair unless it has a +skill on it that stops working at 70%.

There was another grab bag which explained exactly what con means for your weapon/armour:

Q: You posted some information a few weeks back on how Quality and Condition affect the AF and DPS of items. But months ago you posted something on Quality somehow "double dipping" when dealing with AF and it was a different equation. Which is correct?

A: For a quick rule of thumb, to find the effective AF or effective
DPS of an item it is simply AF/DPS*Quality*Condition. Side note: If you are using something that is above your level, any level caps that come into play are applied first, then quality and condition kick in.

 

[Zdeath]

Loss of con has a big hit on power consumption. I recall Chretien and I trying to work out why he could cast about 8 pets per bar of power, whereas my almost identically outfitted Theurg could cast 12.

The answer was the loss of con on his Theurg's staff. He could also cast 12 when that was fixed.

(Note that they were low level at the time, so no 'omg, only 12 pets' comments please)

Darzil

Omg, only 12 pets :|

 

[Dr_Evil]

There was another grab bag which explained exactly what con means for your weapon/armour:

First of all that grab bag is from 26th of April 2002, most of the information you find in that old grab bags are outdated. Second, it doesn't explain anything really it just says that quality and condition is important wich is true. That formula AF*con*qua, if it is that simple, you're just guessing that 'con' in the formula = 'con' on your armour. That can't be true if you read the later grab bags.

You basically need to keep your stuff at 90% condition or better, as there is a noticeable difference in the damage you take or give at that point. It’s an exponential drop – you won’t notice much of a difference anywhere in the 90s, but you’ll really feel it as you go below that point.

Most likely 'con' in the formula is a variable that relies on multiple factors, but it doesn't vary that much (if at all) unless it reaches a new stage. Here's another hint towards this:

Condition also plays a role - when you get messages saying such and such could use repairs, you're losing effectiveness.

This message you get everytime your con has dropped by 10%, so perhaps the variable in the formula hasn't changed until it's 0.9 instead of 1.0 - most of formulas the game use behave like this, places where it would be mathematically correct (according to what we learned at school) to round up, the game machine rounds down instead. All the numbers between 90-99% con is most likely treated as the same number, possibly 1.0 (as 100%), while 80-89% is treated like 0.9 (as 90%), 71-79% like 0.8 or 0.7, and 70% like 0.1 or 0.

'Qua' in the formula is something entirely different, and probably has a more important role in it aswell. While there's no difference between 96 and 97% con armour piece, there's a big difference between 96 and 97% qua for a lvl50. When you meet an enemy in combat and your stats meet his stats to determine what's gonna happen, all the stats have been multiplied and divided with different numbers and variables before they are put up against eachother, and then the highest number wins. If the numbers are equal to eachother more factors come into play. 'Con' and 'Qua' are not treated equally in these formulas.