Is it better to buy enchanted items in various shops, or to manually make them yourself?

[superluccix]

So Im in Defiance Bay and I see this shop that has a bunch of better than average items, and I was just wondering.....is it better to buy enchanted weapons, or to enchant weapons yourself? Didnt know if enchanting yourself meant more of a complete enchanted weapon or something.

 

Also, why Im on the subject, if I DONT buy these weapons and or armor, is it still worth saving up money? I have 8k right now, and the only thing I seem to have been spending it on are these Keep Upgrades.

 

Thanks

[Volourn]

You can buy equipment and then enchant them further (if theya rne't at max). This allows you to get that fine weapon with a special property that cna't be enchanted by the player and then make it superb. Best of both worlds. Plus, only weapons and armour can be enchanted so if you see nice rings, helms, or others for sell definitely buy those.

[Achilles]

Depends. To upgrade from normal to Fine, or Fine to Exceptional, it's probably cheaper to enchant them yourself. Fine items become somewhat common later in act 2.

[Xosmi]

Buy, then enchant. there's several items with unique effects you can't enchant onto them yourself.

[kaiki]

Enchant the items that have unique effects for sure.

 

For weapons enchant the unique named weapons. For armor, enchant the armor you know you'll be wearing for the rest of the game. I've enchanted the heaviest armor as I didn't find unique versions.

[Nakia]

You also will get enchanted armour and weapons in loot.  I seldom buy item of that type but look for gloves, bootes, capes, helms.  As said above fine items become readily available in Act 2.

[Eos]

The crafting system is very straightforward: every weapon is a base weapon plus some optional enchantments. And every weapon of the same base weapon type is identical. There are no hidden stats or anything. The only thing you really care about are special modificators like +1.2 attack speed on weapons, which you cannot enchant yourself. If you find a weapon with that, take it and fill the rest of its enchantment points with your own enchantments. Otherwise there's no difference between a fine, burning lash weapon from a shop and one you crafted yourself

[Sedrefilos]

If you see a weapon or armor that you think it'll make a difference, buy it (you can still enchant it). After all, you won't have financial problems after a while so you'd be able to afford whatever else you are saving the money for.

[Crucis]

I don't think that it's a great idea to enchant a LOT of things, mostly because the ingredients are a limited resource.  From my experience, the best things to enchant of unique items that need an upgrade, followed by early on, it's not a bad thing to enchant an occasional weapon to fine.  For example, enchanting a regular arqabuss to Fine can be worth it.  I just wouldn't do it for every single regular arqabuss you need to fully outfit your party with Fine versions.  This can also be true for unique armors and shields, though the upgrades to those items are much more limited.

 

Also, I'm not so sure that it's worth spending a lot of money on generic enchanted weapons from merchants, with the possible exception of guns, if you really have your heart set on getting a blunderbuss and you haven't seen one yet i your travels.  Also, I'm not sure that buying Fine items is worth the cost because the cost to enchant in terms of gold and ingredients is fairly low.  OTOH, if you want an exceptional item, let's say an exception leather armor, that may be more worth the cost because those items may be rarer to find as loot and the ingredient cost higher as the ingredients required to make them yourself are rarer and harder to come by, whereas at some point in the game, your supply of money isn't nearly as limited.  Of course, once you reach a point where your money seems fairly unlimited, you can afford to buy whatever you want in the stores, and rest in the best rooms any inn has to offer (which is actually well worth the price).

[Poddmeister]

If you have enchanted something to fine, can you then upgrade the enchantment later on?

[Eos]

If you have enchanted something to fine, can you then upgrade the enchantment later on?

 

Yes

[Xosmi]

If you have enchanted something to fine, can you then upgrade the enchantment later on?

 

If the item has free slots left, yeah.

you can only upgrade items up to a score of 12, different type of enchantments take up different amount of points. so if with a fine enchantment you're already at 12/12 you can't enchant it to superb because there is no room for it on the item.

Edited April 25, 2015 by Xosmi