Difficulty disparity of gaining money as you level up?

[Agamaran]

It seems as I level up and am able to use better equipment, the upkeep/repair for that equipment rises. This seems a bit backwards, as I'm now at a point where the equipment I'm using and the bonuses/money I receive in a round usually only have me seeing a gain of about 30 gold (after repairs). What exactly is the incentive to pool your money and buy better equipment if it's just going to hamper your monetary gain and (I'm guessing) eventually have you fighting in your underwear when you can't afford to repair it? It just seems it might be a better idea to buy back my peasant equipment and romp around while I gain money from time to time just to offset wearing better equipment. Is this generally how it goes (probably explains why I see so many people fighting naked half the time)?

[Vibe]

Yes, this is how it generally goes. You have to equip the lesser equipment from time to time.

A neat trick to earn money is to use better equipment only when you have a modifier of x3+ (or x2 if it's looking good for your team).

[Espu]

You need to find the gearset you can afford to use. The point of upkeep is that you can't run around in plate armor all the time.

I use medium mail sets on all my characters, making the total cost 25-35k. I make a steady flow of gold with this and can then buy some awshum high-end gear and occasionally use them.

Of course if your goal is to just gain gold (what for, if not gear upkeep?), it makes sense to use cheap gear. On the other hand, is running around in peasant gear 9 rounds out of 10 to be able to play one round in full plate actually fun? I don't think so, but obviously you don't have to agree.

[Agamaran]

You need to find the gearset you can afford to use. The point of upkeep is that you can't run around in plate armor all the time.

I use medium mail sets on all my characters, making the total cost 25-35k. I make a steady flow of gold with this and can then buy some awshum high-end gear and occasionally use them.

Of course if your goal is to just gain gold (what for, if not gear upkeep?), it makes sense to use cheap gear. On the other hand, is running around in peasant gear 9 rounds out of 10 to be able to play one round in full plate actually fun? I don't think so, but obviously you don't have to agree.

From what I'm seeing so far armor matters little. I'm still new, but I'd say 80% of my deaths have been attributed to players with beef-bus characters (or I'm guessing they're at the cap considering they can swing a two-handed mallet twice before I can even finish one of my attacks). And aside from being beef buses, they're also running around with the best equipment. So I'm guessing you're pretty much at a disparity while leveling up, having to trade off good armor just so you can gain some money, until you're level cap when you're practically gods and you don't have to worry about repairs because you usually survive the rounds.

And isn't being decked out in plate armor a penalty in itself, i.e. weight and speed?

[Gorath]

And isn't being decked out in plate armor a penalty in itself, i.e. weight and speed?

little to nonexistant

[Murrogh]

I usually try to find a gear setup that is sustainable. Walt's thread indicates that you can maintain about 48,500 worth and not lose any gold if you play for long periods at a time.

[Tears of Destiny]

... and you don't have to worry about repairs because you usually survive the rounds.

Even surviving you still pay repair costs.

[Dexxtaa]

The more you survive, the more you win, the more money you get from the multipliers as well as more exp you gain to level.

Better gear helps you survive, to the end goal of kickin' butt, raping houses and burning women.

[Honelith]

I use my cheap gear until we have exp/money bonus, then equip the better more expensive set. Works for me.

[Patricia]

I just play with anywhere from 20k to 26k worth of stuff on all my chars and do fine.

[Punisher]

Just do it like the Maganda guy, play 3 maps in peasant gear, than 1 map in black armor+plated charger, repeat.

[Hirlok]

I'd say the system is a great counterpart to real life: as a peasant you make the most cash and can become filthy rich, as a high-horsed knight you go broke unless you become humble from time to time again...

I save up money during the first 20something levels, using good weapons but cheap armor (pilgrim, ragged, etc.), then can spend that money while I am on level 29/30 wearing my more expensive stuff whenever I feel like it. No problem once I understood how the system worked, and if I am losing money too fast, I go play a few rounds in my cheap stuff again.

[Agamaran]

I'm finding out it mostly depends on the multiplier bonus. At the time of my first post I wasn't wearing the greatest armor while also not earning much money (despite leveling up and being able to use better equipment). After managing to somehow please the auto-balance gods, however, I managed to frequently get up to 5x in a few rounds.

It just seems all too much of a gamble, which seems backwards for what this mod attempts to do.