Augmentations

Notes:

• The first 6 augmentations are grouped together - you may only take a total of 10.  They also cannot increase your innate attribute past 100.
• The Tinkering Spec gems do not cost credits but you must have the skill trained.  Once used, you cannot unspec or untrain the skill.  If you use an untrain gem, you will get the XP you've invested back, but the skill will not drop to trained.
• Critical Protection gives you a 25% chance of turning a critical into a regular hit.  That drops to 5% in PvP combat.
• Innate Renewal only affects you while lying down.  The second use increases the rate to 200%
• Clutch of the Miser can totally eliminate item loss at death, but is not effective in PK
• The Protection Enhancements are grouped together - you may only take 2 total.  Precisely how the enhancements stack with magic isn't entirely clear, even now.
• Asheron's Lesser Benediction can only be taken by people who do not have the pre-order Health Gem, Asheron's Benediction
• Quick Learner only affects monster kills, not quest XP or PK kills.  The additional XP does share within fellowships

My Thoughts:

So far, I've taken a good number (roughly half across all my characters) of the augmentations available.  I have been happy with all of the augments I've taken to date, but you should be careful about the order in which you decide to use them.

Innate Bonuses:  These are probably the most straightforward choices, but you should be cautious about when and what you buy.  If you have an attribute that costs about 100M to raise and isn't already innately at 100, then it's a good bargain to buy one of these augments instead of raising the skill.  However, bear in mind that there are other augmentations you might like to have and you can always raise your attributes manually instead.

Tinkering Specialization:  These skills are obviously aimed at tinkering characters (with the exception of specializing Salvaging, but more on that later).  Upgrading to a specialized skill will give you a sizeable bonus to your skill, so you will want to get these augmentations much earlier than you might expect.  In fact, I would recommend you start saving XP to buy these augmentations as soon as you hit 125 and can do the quest.  Be aware that you won't ever be able to untrain the tinkering skill once you use the augmentation.

Salvaging Augmentations:  Specializing salvaging isn't a bad choice, but buying Ciandra's Fortune augmentations provide more bang for your buck.  Buy 4 of those before buying specialized salvaging.  Fortunately salvaging doesn't cost anything to train, so this augmentation won't ever affect your character development.  With all 5 of these augmentations, you should get triple the workmanship of each item you salvage.  These augmentations are nice to have, but you will soon find yourself swimming in salvage.  I bought them early on and haven't regretted it, but there are other augmentations I like better.

Might of the Seventh Mule:  If you started out with 100 strength, you won't need this augmentation.  However, if you didn't and you have to deal with burden issues from time to time, buying one or two of these augmentations could really help you out.  I am in the process of moving my mage's innate strength to endurance and replacing it with these augmentations.  Archers also benefit from these augmentations by being able to carry around more bows and arrows than they would otherwise.  Still, there are more useful augmentations out there that you should buy first.

Critical Protection:  This is probably the only augmentation that will actually save your life on a regular basis.  Yes, the rate at which you avoid critical hits isn't all that high, but if you spend a lot of time fighting melee monsters that hit hard (especially Grimy Moarsmen on Vissidal), you will find this augmentation worthwhile, especially considering its comparatively low price.  I bought this augmentation first on both of my high level characters and haven't regretted it.

Innate Renewal:  Ask yourself this - when was the last time you laid down to regenerate during or after combat?  I haven't since 2000 when I was first learning how to play and didn't have healing.  Don't waste your XP on this one unless you've bought everything else.

Archmage's Endurance:  I bought all five of these augmentations on my mage and enjoy the benefits of buffing half as often, but I haven't spend the XP to buy them for my melee yet, nor do I plan to soon.  It is certainly nice not to need to buff as often, but there are better ways to spend your XP.  If you are a person who tends to die a lot, this augmentation won't help you much either (unless you buy Enduring Enchantment...)  Having at least one of these augmentations is very important if you want to beat the Colosseum.

Clutch of the Miser:  This augmentation has to be my favorite.  Once you buy all 3 augmentations, you will only drop pyreals and anything labeled "Drop on Death" (ie, rares) when you die.  That means you can get rid of all of your death items, free up that pack, and carry around all those 50k value weapons you were afraid to lose!  It also means that you can be much more adventurous, since you won't need to go recover your corpse if you die.

Charmed Smith:  I suppose having an extra 5% chance of landing an imbue is useful, but of all the tinkering augmentations, this should be the last one you take.  Each item you tinker is going to take only one imbue and up to 9 regular tinks, so specialize your skills before taking this.

Damage Protections:  I have yet to take any of these augmentations, mostly because of the general confusion about how the damage reduction is applied.  Some say the bonus is only to your innate resistances, in which case the augmentations would be worthless.  Some say they stack with protection spells, but not cantrip wards, and some say they fully stack with all magic.  I don't know which is true and I don't want to pay 2 billion XP to find out.  Picking which two augmentations to take also depends on what you plan on fighting the most and I'm not willing to tie myself down to something at this point.

Shadow of the Seventh Mule:  I have yet to buy this augmentation either.  Taking three Clutches of the Miser effectively gives you another pack (by allowing you to get rid of your DIs) and although it costs 50% more, you get a lot more value for the XP.  This is one of those augmentations that I won't take until I have nothing better to spend my XP on.

Enduring Enchantment:  This augmentation is one that you should think about before buying.  4 billion XP is a lot to commit to this augmentation and it might not be all that helpful for you.  If you die frequently or like to PKL, then you will love this augmentation, as you won't have to rebuff yourself after each death, and you should buy it early.  If you don't PKL and you have only a few deaths to your name, then you can probably find better ways to invest your XP.  This augmentation is crucial if you want to beat the Colosseum.

Quick Learner:  Consider this:  it will take you a minimum of 80 billion XP (4 billion / 5%) to make this augmentation pay off.  That's assuming you hunt exclusively by yourself and don't earn any XP from questing (including Gold and Dark trophies).  Chances are this augmentation will never pay for itself, so I have avoided it and would recommend you do the same.

New with the 10th Anniversary patch were several new augmentations, mostly based around the combat aspect of the game.  Here are my thoughts:

Infused Magics:  It's nice to have an extra pack available, but there are definitely things to buy before this one.

Master of the <skills>:  These are probably the best bargains around for higher level characters.  An extra 10 points to your skills is probably worth buying well before your skills are maxed out - think about buying this one when your weapon/magic  skills cost 100M and you'll still save XP.  Definitely something to get early. 

The Remorseless Augmentations:  It's always nice to improve your damage capabilities, but the increases are pretty minimal.  8 billion XP total and I can't really tell the difference.  I am glad I have them, but these are augmentations that can wait.

Frenzy / Invincible:  Damage increase and reductions are always welcome, but again, it's hard to tell how effective these really are.  Fortunately they aren't as expensive as the Remorseless augmentations, so you might want to get these earlier.

Tristra's Essence:  Just like the tinkering specializations, this is something your gearcrafter should get ASAP, but has basically no application for a combat character.