Originally posted by Karanya -- God rest her soul
Reposted to newbie tips thread by request:
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Okay - let's cut to the chase here. If you're considering GA, the first thing you need to do is determine whether or not you actually want to go that route.. You do NOT need grid armor, it is not a must, and it has both benefits and detriments. Regardless, I wouldn't worry too much about getting it until you are a bit higher level and can actually use it.. somewhere around level 55 if you don't want to EXCESSIVELY gimp yourself in the process.
Con's of using GA at low levels:
Serious ip investment. This will cause you to be unable to raise some of your skills as high as you normally would - as a GA user I have always been able to max the skills I want to max (all abilities minus psychic, body dev, SMG, burst, treatment, all three evades (duck is only needed high for pvp)). My nano skills were gimped a fair bit, hell, still are, as a result of raising MC to use GA. My RI was gimped for a while, not too big of a deal because I use a Sol Chironis, not an MCS. All my misc. skills like first aid, comp lit, run speed are heavily gimped.
Need for outside buffs - to get the full benefit of GA you're going to have to get masteries/infuses/mocham's every 6 hours until you can self-cast it. I wouldn't bother even buffing into it until you are within the OE limit (20%) because GA turning red on you, really, really sucks. If you can get it not red by casting expertises, go for it.
Low AC - can't wear anything else - GA is considered a social armor - this means, you can't wear much of anything with it - no armor, no shoulder pieces, no bracers.. you can wear your token board and two rings, and that's it. GA by itself has low AC's which means when you do get hit, you're going to get hit HARD. Maxxing evades is a must, imho, due to the fact you need to evade as much as possible to avoid getting smacked around with your low AC's.
Debuffs - trader/MP/NT players (and mobs!) are much, much more deadly to you as a fixer in GA - if you get drained, or hit with nano shutdown/dominate/etc, you're going to be in for a world of hurt as your GA turns red and often 0% effective. This means you are fighting NAKED when this happens. Ouch. Nukes, DoT's, damage shields, etc slice right through GA like a hot knife through butter. Keep that in mind.
6 hours Once you've summoned your GA it lasts six hours before you have to summon a new suit.. nothing quite like being in the middle of a mission, fighting 4 deep red enforcer mobs, to see yourself suddenly become naked! Hellllo, reclaim.. and time to go look for a friendly MP to give you mocham's so you can make a new suit.
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Pro's of wearing GA at low levels:
PvM I'm not sure about teaming, but I do know you'll easily be able to solo deep red mobs.. you'll scoff at them, in fact, as they miss you 95% or more. I was running 100% missions at level 55 in GA MKI, that tapered down to 75% missions after a bit. Level 111 now, in GA MKII, and soloing 75% team missions, boss & all, no problems.. can still tank numerous deep red mobs at a time.. traders are a bit of a problem, but other than that, it's very easy.
PvP - While you will be pathetically weak to certain professions as a result of wearing GA (MPs, NTs, and traders come to mind), you'll gain a serious advantage against some other professions - enforcers, soldiers, etc - those who just shoot at/whack you.
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Now, having read that, you need to ask yourself a very serious question - Do you still want Grid Armor? If so, how bad do you want it? IF, and only if, the answer is REALLY REALLY BAD, then you have two choices.
1> Camp it. I think the easiest way to do this is by soloing a whole lot of QL 55-60 bosses for GA MKI. Remember you're going to have to do this all over again around level 90 when you outgrow GA MKI, and again when you outgrow MKII, and again when you outgrow MKIII... how long will this method take? Who knows? The drop is totally random. I have found 2 GA discs by camping it, and I've bought 4. Sometimes it is easier to earn the credits and just buy the darn thing. There are also a few outdoor hunting spots you can get it at, but these are often heavily camped, and again.. the drop is random - you may be there for days or weeks before you find it. I've found GA MKII on the 28th QL 90-93 boss I killed, but I've also killed 87 bosses in a row looking for GA MKIII with no luck. It will eventually drop for you, but it may be on the 1000th boss, you never know. Might also be on the first.
2> Buy it. This is a daunting task for a low level fixer - if you're on RK2, GA MKI runs around 30 million, GA MKII runs around 60 million, unsure about the other two. If you're on RK1, you can probably double those prices. Yes, raising that kind of money at a level when you can actually make full use of the GA is difficult. It is NOT impossible. It's boring. It's not much fun. It may take a full week or longer of nothing but money runs, nonstop, for 10 hours a day. But it can be done. Is it worth it? Only you can answer that question.
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All that said, I looked into this before I made the decision and I decided to use GA. The main reason is because I much, much prefer to solo, and GA makes soloing infinitely easier. My personal method of getting GA works like this:
Level 1-45 - solo team mission bosses for cash, make as much money as possible, blitz for money, etc etc.
Starting at level 45 - begin soloing QL 55-60 team missions. Cut pretty much straight to the boss, but stop to loot and get chests on the way. Continue until either 1> GA drops, or 2> you have enough money to buy it.
Starting when GA MKI is equipped (level 55 for me) - start soloing QL 80-93 bosses. Continue until either 1> GA drops, or 2> you have enough money to buy it.
Starting when GA MKII is equipped (level 91 for me) - start soloing QL 105-116 bosses. Continue until either 1> GA drops, or 2> you have enough money to buy it.
Starting when GA MKIII is equipped (not yet) - start soloing QL 125-140 bosses. Continue until 1> GA drops, or 2> You have enough money to buy it.
If the bosses turn grey on you in the process, it's time to either skip to looking for the next version of GA, or else just do a ton of blitzing for cash and buy. I flat out bought my GA MKI. GA MKII, I've found twice, the second time I found it I kept it for myself and that was using the above method.. took 28 bosses to get it, and by the time I had gotten that far, I'd already earned close to 50 million credits. I was level 85 when I found it (gained 30 levels in the process). I decided to skip over GA MKIII because the bosses were getting yellow and green on me, and I'm looking for MKIV now. In the process of looking for MKIII/MKIV, I have gained 26 levels, and earned around 120 million credits so far. By the time my MKIV bosses turn grey, I should be able to come up with 500+ mil and just buy it if I have not found it by then.
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Side note: Yes, all the time I spend playing revolves around finding bigger, better GA. You can call that lame all you want, but I'm having fun. Are you?
--K
__________________
Karen "Karanya" Vel
Founder of The Order of the Lamp
224 dead bosses and countless hours of enigmas -- I give up.
Lame alts: Eyesandy | Stickdeath | Sianthe
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