Carapace Armor...

[WovenDarkness]

I've been doing a bit of browsing for armor for the next many levels, trying to cover not only my charm, melee, and WS equipment, but possible equipment to cover those "oh crap..." moments as well.

The latents on the Carapace head, body, and hands are quite intriguing to this soloist. I figured that I could macro this stuff in if I'm out of MP and the fight isn't going as well as I'd hoped, or when I'm running to the ZL in order to prevent a face up condition.... I see a possibility in this armor when going after BST pets as well.

I'd like to hear from those that have played with this equipment and what your experiences with it were. Thanks in advance.


~W

[LilithAngel]

I would say they'd be good if the latents all kicked in at the same time, but they don't. The first to kick in are the hands at 75%, then the Helm at 50%, and finally the body at 25% remaining HP. While you're getting hit, you're defense is skyrocketing, but you're still in danger of getting wiped out by a stray critical or TP move if you're sitting at anything below 25%.

It'd be good for making a manual escape, like you said, but otherwise, staying at that dangerous of an HP level is highly ill-advised, for almost any reason (unless, for some strange and awesome reason, you have a metric ton of HP-dependent latent gear that, together, makes you something of an invincible god at 25% HP or something ).

[Satori]

It's a sad fact that beastmasters die alot, Even the good ones. By the time you are eligable to wear it you should be aware of your limits and judge when to throw a pet on a mob and run like a child from michael jackson.
Take into account that the price on them doesn't really justify how often the latents kick in, That said even if they did all it would take is a good Tp move or a critical to land you face down so ask yourself was it really worth the gil?

The only thing I'd say is to use the gil on some form of reraise item until lvl 66 when you can use whm for it. but then again saying that I'm not sure if it leaves you weakend I've never used them myself, I'd rather die with honour brush the dirt of me and run back making back the lost exp, 2400 is a fair amount if you are at the max point, but our advantage is we can make that back easily.
I personally will never say no to a raise and use the weakness time to make a coffee and have a smoke but even still I'd rather just get back out there.

[Ziero]

The only thing I'd say is to use the gil on some form of reraise item until lvl 66 when you can use whm for it. but then again saying that I'm not sure if it leaves you weakend I've never used them myself, I'd rather die with honour brush the dirt of me and run back making back the lost exp, 2400 is a fair amount if you are at the max point, but our advantage is we can make that back easily.
I personally will never say no to a raise and use the weakness time to make a coffee and have a smoke but even still I'd rather just get back out there.

RR items do indeed inflict you with raise sickness, the effects are no different from the actual Raise spell itself. That being said, EXP loss in this game just isn't that bad, especially not anymore. With 2400 being the max EXP lost on a Homepoint death, it's just not that hard to make up the exp. And by that point you should have access to RR2 items as well as free access to the spell when subbed. And of course with all the numerous different ways to make EXP besides the usual pt/solo grind, it's just all the more easier to gain back anything lost.

Long story short, carapace armor pretty much sucks...

[Esoa]

RR items do indeed inflict you with raise sickness, the effects are no different from the actual Raise spell itself. That being said, EXP loss in this game just isn't that bad, especially not anymore. With 2400 being the max EXP lost on a Homepoint death, it's just not that hard to make up the exp. And by that point you should have access to RR2 items as well as free access to the spell when subbed. And of course with all the numerous different ways to make EXP besides the usual pt/solo grind, it's just all the more easier to gain back anything lost.

Long story short, carapace armor pretty much sucks...

The real benefit to the reraise items are not the xp return but saving yourself the often ridiculous run back. Some camps can take 20 minutes to get to and often cost a teleport fee. And if you're HP is in the wrong spot....ugh.

[LyonheartLakshmi]

To survive while running away from a mob, you have to be far enough away that the mob isn't even able to swing at you. If the mob is close enough to be swinging and you're more than 3 steps from the zone, no amount of defense is going to save you.

If you're anything like me, your pack is close to being full already from different pieces of gear and various supplies, and your macro palette is already used up. Save yourself the 3 pack slots and the macro it would take to swap the Carapace gear in.

[eticket109]

As DRG, I looked at the armor for soloing use, but the only piece that seemed somewhat useful were the hands. In the end, even after buying the hands and body pieces, I never ended up using them and eventually sold them off again. In the end I don't think they make enough of a difference to be worth it.

[little ninja]

Really there is no point to buying it. You can always buy a RR item or later on use a spell.

We now have Snarl which is basically a provoke for pets. Its allot easier to manage hate with that now. An if all else fails throw another pet at it and 2hr. Or better yet depending on the mob your fighting just charm it.

No matter your def or what the latent is. A mob we exp on only needs to hit us with 1 or 2 crits to drop us.

[WovenDarkness]

Thanks for the replies all. You've made some good points and I appreciate your advice. I'll take that money and put it toward my Hauberk.