I’m sure someone has asked this before, but I can’t find any opinions on it. I’m curious how long to use lower level + skill items. Specifically I have two items right now that I’m not sure how long to hold onto. The more important one is my offhand gun which has +1 to all skills in Demolitionist. At what point does the dps and other stats on a new gun outweigh the +1 to, well everything. How would you even figure it out??? I know there isn’t a way to quantify it because +1 to everything in firestrike, bwc, blast shield, flashbang etc. There is no mathematical way.
I know in the long run it doesn’t matter at all. I’ll certainly replace it at some point. But that said I’m curious on opinions, how long would you keep using a level 25 item with +1 to all skills in one mastery?
Honestly, there’s no way to say for certain or no concrete ‘rule’. It depends on what the item is, what items you get through drops and what the skills getting boosted do for your build.
Best thing I can say is to just go with it for as long as you can and if you see something that looks like it’s better to either try it out or use your best judgement, same goes for if you feel like your damage is beginning to suffer or you’re struggling with enemies whereas you weren’t before - look at a new replacement ASAP.
Normal/Veteran aren’t difficult enough that you should be worrying about major gear changes anyway - most faction gear at Level 35 can carry you through the rest of the difficulty and most of Elite for example.
In my experience, +1 all [mastery] items are worth it for a tremendously long time, so long as you have a bunch of skills in that mastery. It’s just so many free skill points, and it’s usually just a flat “make your character all-around better” type thing.
For the most part this can be true, but on items with Cast/Attack speed on them, and weapons, you can’t get too married to them. The helmet, amulet and belt +skills/class skills are often held on for a lot longer.
Varies wildly depending on your build. A firestrike build might dump a +1 demo tome or even gun fairly quickly while a mortar trap or bwc user might keep it from normal into mid ultimate. In general weapon damage users are less married to their + skill items then casters, and cast speed casters are less married to their +skills items then CDR casters. Just the way the skills scale.