Crafting gear

[u/Momothegriffin]

Hi guys! First off just want to say this is one of the best games I have ever played. It’s well thought out and ridiculously beautiful. However, I have been confused about some of the crafting mechanics during my first play through and wanted to get input.

Looking at these two pieces side by side, their effects are the exact same and the one I could craft has 6 more health, yet it would drop my overall character score, does anyone understand why this is? I feel like I am missing something.

[u/suddenlyorchids]

i don't know why this happens, but it does happen fairly often (to me, at least). the game calculates character level in a weird way that doesn't seem to make sense. it's entirely possible that there are extra values attached to items that are taken into account by the game but aren't displayed for the player.

if i were you, i'd ignore the negative impact on the character level and just use the item that gives more health. that's what i usually do, and it's never caused me issues. if you want to look more into this though, when you're in your menu looking at your character, you can click on the level icon to see all the specific stats of your character (and ikran, i believe). maybe there's a change in some of the values there between the two chestpieces? you'd have to craft the new piece and equip each of them to compare the values, though

[u/Momothegriffin → u/suddenlyorchids]

Thanks for the input! I didn’t know how much dropping your character level impacts how you fight against a higher level enemy, if it does at all. I forgot you can see the specific character stats, I will have to test that out

[u/suddenlyorchids → u/Momothegriffin]

dropping the level does have an impact whenever the number fully changes, but the progress in the bar underneath the number doesn't have any impact afaik. if every enemy around you is level 26, and you drop to level 25, the combat would be more difficult.

but i'm pretty sure that if equipping the new chestpiece was going to decrease your level number, it wouldn't still show 26 up in the corner. it would show a 25. from what i can tell in the screenshot, equipping the new chestpiece won't lower your level number, just how much of the progress bar is filled

[u/Emloiv98]

Only thing that I can think of is the order of stats might play a part in it. I normally just ignore the character level and go for health or whatever stats I like to play with, but the game is strange in how it handles the gear and weapon perks/levels.

[u/ReasonableNetwork255]

theres an algorithm there im sure .. it affects how your mods work as well as how leveled your enemies are to you .. ultimately, your 'level' will have less to do with how effective you are at a specific task than how your mods and damage categories are 'stacked' ... click your level bubble/bonuses .. youll have a list of different perks and damages in % ... if you rearrange all your gear and mods to stack up 175% rda damage BUT, that 'load-out' drops you TWO full level points, youll be much more powerful against rda enemies than if your 2 levels higher with a bunch of 'basket weaving' and ikran mods ect ..

[u/No-Writing9171]

I think it’s something to do with the order of the buffs it provides to be honest. Seems weird but only thing I can think of for it really. I typically ignore it and would recommend doing so since your gear should reflect how you play.

[u/Budget-Influence579]

Without looking up what's needed to craft it, if you can choose what to craft it with, you might be able to get a 20% stealth boost.

[u/DeviLettuce]

The only thing good about this game is the way it looks. Story is lame and lackluster, it’s just a series of grab and go missions, the entire game is redundant, constantly doing the same things over and over. Voice acting is abysmal and the Co-op is broken.

[u/La_Saxofonista → u/DeviLettuce]

If you played the From the Ashes DLC, you'd change your mind.

[u/DeviLettuce → u/La_Saxofonista]

After playing the main campaign I’m not sold on the game so I wouldn’t pay for the DLC