Picking Paladin Pants

[Brandonian10]

So, I'm a 54 paladin trying to decide which pants to wear.

I currently have Valorium Greaves:
http://wiki.project1999.com/Valorium_Greaves

However, I recently came in to some Crustacean Shell Greaves:
https://wiki.project1999.com/Crustacean_Shell_Greaves

I'm trying to decide which is better from a min/max tanking perspective. The drop in AC is concerning, but my character is already stacked with decent AC gear (Deepwater, Valorium, etc.) but kind of lacking in stamina/hp. I'm leaning towards the Crustacean as a compromise.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

[jarlerop]

Whats your AC at? I would pick crusty almost regardless. I mean int and agi is pretty worthless, and i would trade 4str 16sta for 5AC 10svf any day of the week. Sucks to lose that charisma for the few times you need to lull, but meh.

[Jimjam]

By my reckoning you want to aim for 200 worn AC at level 54, adding around 13 worn every level, with 289 at 60.

I do this as these were the hard caps in early velious on live. P99 is under a soft cap system, so it doesn't matter if you go a lil over the caps as there should be minimal returns for this, but if you go lower than the cap I anticipate you might take a substantial increase in dps from some targets.

As you get to the very top levels you require substantial AC to cap, and greaves tend to be a high AC item. Fortunately many of these high AC legs will also provide good stamina. Due to this, crusty make good interim greaves from the 40s to low 50s; they provide sufficient AC to cap early on, but you are also high enough level to get decent hp from the stamina. When you eventually replace the crusty you will have decent buffed stamina anyway and you probably won't lose too much sta when you upgrade.

Armour-wise, after reaching 'sufficient' AC for a level I think hp (defensive versatility) and resists are the next two things to chase. Magic I like most, followed by cold (when levelling, for ice comets... also useful for some velious dragons) and fire.


Considering you can't liquidate the valorium I suggest you pump the plat into another slot (if you have one that needs it), because you can add the value of that slot to the upgrade you purchase (and hopefully get more stats over all).

[Thanakos]

Are you doing Kael at all? If so I would just hold out for your Thurgadin greaves.

[Brandonian10]

Thanks for all the responses and info guys. I just went ahead and made a Magelo to show my gear:

https://wiki.project1999.com/Magelo_Blue:Exadar

The total AC calculation on the Magelo must be a little off.. in game I have 963 total AC with this exact gear equipped. The Crustacean Shell Greaves actually net me 69 hitpoints at this level.

By the looks of Jimjam's info I definitely exceed the AC cap for this level so I will probably just wear the Crustacean for the most part but still carry the Valorium around for when I need the resists or am frequently lulling.

I have not done too much in Kael but I am definitely looking to do so. It's a ways off (I mainly group with slightly lower level real life friends) but I'll seek that armor set as soon as I can. It looks like the gems for that slot aren't even expensive. On a side note, does anyone know what color the Thurg paladin armor is? Like fine steel?

[Vallanor]

On a side note, does anyone know what color the Thurg paladin armor is? Like fine steel?

The Thurgadin paladin armor looks like undyed Velious plate armor. You can look up the color and texture of stuff on ZAM which is extremely useful to the avid fashionquester.

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=4370

In this example, the color is 0,0,0 which means it is undyed. If there's a dye, the actual color will show up in the box. It's Velious Plate 2 which means it's the Velious plate as opposed to scale (which is Velious Plate 1 on ZAM.) You can use the fashion guide on the wiki to see the difference between the two.

http://wiki.project1999.com/Players:Fashion

[RDawg816]

By the looks of Jimjam's info I definitely exceed the AC cap for this level so I will probably just wear the Crustacean for the most part but still carry the Valorium around for when I need the resists or am frequently lulling.
When he talks about AC, he means adding up all the individual pieces. The number on your character screen is different.

[Brandonian10]

The Thurgadin paladin armor looks like undyed Velious plate armor. You can look up the color and texture of stuff on ZAM which is extremely useful to the avid fashionquester.

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=4370

In this example, the color is 0,0,0 which means it is undyed. If there's a dye, the actual color will show up in the box. It's Velious Plate 2 which means it's the Velious plate as opposed to scale (which is Velious Plate 1 on ZAM.) You can use the fashion guide on the wiki to see the difference between the two.

http://wiki.project1999.com/Players:Fashion

I did not know about this. Awesome, thanks.

When he talks about AC, he means adding up all the individual pieces. The number on your character screen is different.

Oh yeah I meant worn AC but forgot to mention it in my post.. I'm sitting at 246 worn, Jimjam mentioned the cap at 54 should be around 200. My AC does include my shield though if that makes any difference.

[Danth]

Crustacean legs are much superior to Valorium and will last you till you acquire Velious quested legs or something similar. Your equipment set on the link you provided looks pretty standard for mid/upper level Paladins. Any good tank type wants an instant click junk buff item (jboots can work for this when outdoors) due to the significant number of spellcasting monsters which like casting dispells.

Danth

[Siberious]

Also for your reference the AC on your shield doesn't count towards soft cap, so don't include it when checking if you're at the soft cap for your level.

[Danth]

Also for your reference the AC on your shield doesn't count towards soft cap, so don't include it when checking if you're at the soft cap for your level.

Of course it should be counted, with the caveat that shield AC may allow a player to exceed the softcap. I do not regard this as 100% certain on P1999, and indeed we as a community are not 100% certain that the softcap is set to 289 at all because the developers have never said for certain how they implemented it. Point being you want as much AC as you can realistically obtain without excessively sacrificing other stats. You'll find that reaching 289 without a shield on is a rather difficult task for lower- or mid-range hybrid tank.

Danth

[Siberious]

Of course it should be counted, with the caveat that shield AC may allow a player to exceed the softcap. I do not regard this as 100% certain on P1999, and indeed we as a community are not 100% certain that the softcap is set to 289 at all because the developers have never said for certain how they implemented it. Point being you want as much AC as you can realistically obtain without excessively sacrificing other stats. You'll find that reaching 289 without a shield on is a rather difficult task for lower- or mid-range hybrid tank.

Danth

Guess I could have worded is better, but my reply was to OP's comment that he was exceeding softcap for his level including his shield. So I was stating that you don't need to include shield in checking if you still have more AC to reach softcap for level.