Should I be investing much in equips before Empress?

Ive recently came back to the game after a couple years and have managed to catch myself up pretty well. However, still having my starter shirt and pants on my level 77 aran is confusing me. My damage range is fine and I fly through jesters. I have 6% str earrings right now, but is there much else that I should be buying before my empress items? Any info is appreciated!

Personally, I don't invest too much in anything unless it's end-game.
I mean, I do pick up good fm deals when I see them to help training go by faster, but it's certainly not a necessity.

You really don't need gear until like 14x-15x.
You could buy the Tempest set from the shop and that would probably hold you over just fine until you were able to buy Empress.

If you do monster park you can easily get some decent gear. Just npc the equips you dont need and reveal the ones for your class. I was easily able to get 6% stat equips buy doing monster park (lv60-90s)

If you do monster park you can easily get some decent gear. Just npc the equips you dont need and reveal the ones for your class. I was easily able to get 6% stat equips buy doing monster park (lv60-90s)

I'd have to go along with this, I've been doing monster park 5 times a day daily to get charm and insight EXP, and some of the equips I reveal have really cool stats, and can come with additional potential, one of them was a warrior top with 3% str and +10 weapon attack additional potential, this is a fairly nice equip for the unfunded

Yeah I wasn't planning on buying much; I didn't really want to even buy the earrings but they were wicked cheap so I snatched them up.

I didn't know about Monster Park, so i'll give that a shot!

Thanks everyone!

Continuing off what i had said before about monster park, it can also be a great way to make some money. You can reveal and sell any equips with over 6% main stat, and npc the rest (From npcing alone i make a few hundred k a day) It is especially good during 2x if training maps are full. If you dont have the time to kill monsters for tickets, you can buy them and the cost should be covered buy drops.

The tempest set is not too bad if you have an abundance of coins, but empress is better. Getting the empress set with Elite Helsium belt from Tempest shop is a good combo.

The tempest set is not too bad if you have an abundance of coins, but empress is better. Getting the empress set with Elite Helsium belt from Tempest shop is a good combo.

I thought empress with Helsium Cape was the better combo for that?

I thought empress with Helsium Cape was the better combo for that?

not until the shoulderpads kick in. one would still need a set in order to get that 30% boss damage

I thought empress with Helsium Cape was the better combo for that?

I think it is only worth it if you can get a nova or tyrant cape. At least for my class, having that 7th set effect of 15% hp/mp and some attack would be better than having a smaller boost from a helsium cape.

Then again, empress capes for some classes are extremely expensive, so it really depends on several factors.

I don't think it's necessary. 1-140 go by pretty quickly anyway.

You can get everything not covered by Empress, like %stat accessories.

You can also buy the silent crusade items (mainly level 115) for a decent set bonus. I believe its somewhere around 20-30 all stat 20 w.att for having belt, earring, pendant, eye & face items.

Medal-wise, the Class fight thing event is pretty good.

The way the game's set up you basically don't need anything extremely good before Empress items. What I'd actually recommend is to focus on your pottable accessories such as the Tempest Ring before the events are over and considering if you're going for any other set effects or items that might complement your Empress equips. If you need a bit of a range boost still Monster Park and crafting are good options.

I think leveling to 140 is remarkably easy now compared to what it used to be, especially with Aliens and LHC. You should probably just save your money for other things (earrings, rings and belts especially, which aren't part of the Empress set) till then. c:

Just a note that if you are capable of doing daily Azwan Hard mode runs during the Time bonus period, that nets you over 250 Emperor's coins equivalents. Craft yourself an Imperial weapon if you're that poor. FTR other modes will net you less Emperor's coins equivalents, but not extremely less to the point that you can't craft weapons. Similarly for the other equipment. That said, the set effects are pretty lacklustre...

Hadriel