Gear or ASH

[riain]

So yeah... trying to determine Gear or ASH first via atones (and yes, the gear is that hard to get).  My thoughts are that there currently are 3 ASH holders that I know of.  At least two of whom offer services for free IF you have valorite AND socket hammer.  Third one I'm unsure of since I haven't used their service.  So would an ASH wouldn't give any benefit?  Whereas GEAR on the other hand let's my char get out there...ish... XD  Thoughts?  Advice?  Note:  Gear will take 120 VS, ASH is 125.

[Foray]

I'd say it depends, although some might say get the ASH since then you can charge people for the use of it and get the vs to get your gear that way but think about it...you said it yourself there are a number of players who will socket for very low or no cost provided you bring the val and/ or socket hammer yourself which means your services will be lost to them as people will rather seek them out as it is a better offer. However having your own ASH means you are not bound by other peoples costs or schedules thus bringing your socketing costs down to just the val needed (if you do things properly the ASH should last years or until the end of the shard if you only use it for socketing and nothing else).

As for the gear, what sort are we talking about here? Doom arties? Runic kit/ hammer made items? as you know there are easier and cheaper (although potentially time consuming) ways to hunt for Runic Fletching/ Sewing kits/ hammers. Doom arty can be problematic, it may be pertinent to investigate (not using ingame global chat) around there may or may not be something ingame that drops that same piece as part of the sets (If by this latter claim you need further clarification...I have a tunic of the Fallen King, part of the Fallen king set based around the arty "Voice of the Fallen King) there are a few sets like this that drop in Fel, but not all of them (how the previous groups of staff decided which ones to put out there and which ones not to doesn't make sense to me and because of that I don't know exactly which ones are out there except for 3 specific sets but that is only because one or more players have found parts of it).

I think this is a case of short term gain vs long term gain, the ASH is not that great in the short term, it's value is in it's long term nature..however what if most or all the current ASH owners disappear or lose their ASH...that means those without them have lost the ability to reliably socket things (meaning higher chances of item obliteration). Where as the gear you get on the VS system might be a pain to get in the short term but even once you have it you still have to socket item but chances are if we ignore VS system your more likely to get that Doom arty within the next month or two than that ASH (through non vs ingame means that is in other-words bods and hunting).

I would lean towards getting the +60 ASH, because arties are peculiar things there might be a period of a month or two when no Doom arty drop and then within a week doom hunters might get lucky and walk out with many gauntlet drops. I would advise that you do your best to check with as many players as possible as to whether they have the gear your looking for and willing to sell or trade them this should shift the vs requirements quite a bit and make your decision easier to make.

[riain]

The two gears are Ornament of the Magician and Armor of Fortune.  I know of 2 others looking for Armor, and to the date I've only met one person who has an Ornament of the Magician, but they aren't interested in selling it to my knowledge.

[Rocks Silivan]

Let me check I have had both before gotta check my houses if I got them still.