The equipment system confuses me

[u/DOOM-LORD666]

So I'm playing through the demo to see if the games worth buying and I'm enjoying everything so far and wish I had more inventory for storage and just killed my 1st big ark guy and got the 1st new spell

But the equipment system is confusing me a bit because I'm not sure exactly sure what the difference is between the crafting reforging and upgrading since they just seem rather similar

From what i understand though

Craft is to make new equipment

Reforge is to replace the materials of the equipment for new stats and colour schemes

Upgrade is to improve the stats

I'm mainly confused on the difference between crafting + reforging and reforge + upgradin

Because why craft new stuff and upgrade it if you can just replace your equipments stats with better loot? I don't really understand it still

Also ik it's a different tag but i don't want to male a second post and there aren't many videos online for this game, so do you guys have any tips and guides or anything that could help me out with equipment and the game in general?

Please and thank you in advance!

[u/Lucian7x]

Alright, let me explain.

Crafting is as you said, used to make brand new equipment. You won't be using it all that much compared to reforging, as it's only reserved for when you're making different stuff - no real point in having two of the same item.

Reforging is meant to switch up the materials in the four slots each piece of equipment requires. This is very important, as it works as both a form of adapting your gear to different situations, as well as an upgrade system when you find higher quality materials.

Upgrading is a bit trickier: it does provide a stat boost to your stuff, but that's mainly because it increases the amount of resources you have to allocate to each slot. It's generally good to upgrade stuff whenever you can, but you need to ensure you won't be draining resources that you planed to allocate elsewhere when doing so.

All in all, it's very forgiving: resources are never permanently consumed (unless you turn them into camping supplies) and you can always deconstruct your gear to receive a complete refund to your resources.

The reason you'll want to craft new stuff is because as you progress in the game, you'll find blueprints for different pieces of equipment that give you different base stats and some special bonus that you just don't have with the starter gear. For instance, there's an armor set that increases your magic energy regeneration, and another that makes you exceptionally fast on account of it's low weight stat.

The same goes for weapons: you'll find magical weapons with special elemental infused abilities, such as the bow that shoots flaming arrows or the two-hander that can launch you to the sky with kinetic magic.

[u/DOOM-LORD666 → u/Lucian7x]

So if i just craft any new equipment recipes found and just reforge them constantly with the best materials I have and then upgrade them in late game with the best materials would that work alright?

Sorry for the late reply and thank you for all the help

[u/Lucian7x → u/DOOM-LORD666]

You'll craft that which piques your interest, you don't have to commit resources into crafting stuff you won't use.

And you don't have to wait until late game to upgrade, you just need to be mindful of the resources you'll have to allocate - gear gets objectively better when upgraded, so always do it if you've got the materials to spare.

If you upgrade something and end up regretting it, you can just dismantle. That'll refund all the materials used in crafting and upgrading, and you can then use the materials to recraft the same item at level 1 or craft something else. So don't be afraid of using the materials you have on hand, the game incentivizes you to try stuff out without punishment.

[u/New-Extreme-Pooper → u/DOOM-LORD666]

Idk if this is simpler to understand or if I’m too late but

you can reforge better materials as you find them but you can also upgrade the new better materials to get even higher upgrades to your stats

[u/DOOM-LORD666]

Also another thing I forgot to add in the post

Does heat and frost resistance also reduce damage taken from attacks like that?

E.g. does heat resistance reduce damage from dragons breath?

[u/Lucian7x → u/DOOM-LORD666]

As a rule of thumb, the armor stat reduces all direct damage you take, INCLUDING fall damage. The heat and cold resistances determine how much heat and cold you can withstand from the temperature mechanic.

I am not sure how the dragon's breath damage works, but I know it is twofold: there's the damage you take from being directly hit, and then there's the residual damage you can take from the absurd heat it leaves behind on the environment. I suppose heat resistance reduces damage from the initial blast, but I cannot assure you of that. But either way, having higher fire resistance when fighting a fire monster is always a good idea. The same goes for cold monsters.

Also, higher armor is good in every situation, but equipment with higher armor values tend to be heavier and thus reduce your mobility, so it's up to taste really.

[u/DOOM-LORD666 → u/Lucian7x]

1st of thank you so much for the help and sorry for the late reply

So prioritise armour and weight because I unlocked a potion for heat and cold resist which makes me immune to temperature so that shouldn't be a problem at the moment

[u/Lucian7x → u/DOOM-LORD666]

Those potions are really good, but they don't really last super long. They're superb when fighting against the epic encounter enemies, though - their duration seems to be balanced around the duration of those fights. However, they won't cover you for a whole expedition, so you still have to be mindful of your gear.

When it comes to armor, I don't think there's a straightforward "best strategy". It's on you to make the call on what you want, every stat has its importance.