Weapons, Armor, and Equipment

Equipping Items

AC has a very simple equipment system.  Weapons, Armor, and other items have wield requirements and activation requirements, if any at all.  Wield requirements set the minimums to be able to wield the weapon or equip the armor.  For the most part, weapons with high damage and armor with high protection will have wield requirements, although this is not always the case.  Activation requirements set the minimums for being able to activate the magical properties an item might have.  If you don't meet the activation requirements, you can wield the weapon, but its magic will not turn on.  An item can have both an activation and a wield requirement, one or the other, or none at all.

Requirements can come in a variety of forms.  The most common are weapon skill minimums.  Most powerful melee weapons have a wield requirement of 250, 300, 325, 370, and 400 *base* weapon skill.  Missile weapons have wield requirements of 250, 270, 290, 315, 335, and 360 base skill.  New wands have also been introduced recently with 310, 330, and 335 base skill requirements.  Special armor called Covenant Armor has a defense wield requirement.  Normal armor pieces might have a melee or missile defense requirement to activate the piece's defensive spells.  Another common requirement that only applies to activation is an arcane lore requirement.  Unless you have the minimum arcane lore, the item won't be activated.  Additionally, items might have a race requirement, so that only an Aluvian could activate a sword.  There can also be an allegiance rank requirement, so that only a high noble can turn an item on.  Rarely, an item could have a level requirement, preventing a lower level player from wearing a mighty suit of armor.  If an item has more than one type of activation requirement, the arcane lore minimum is usually quite a bit lower, making items designed for your race far more useful.

Finding a Good Item

So, how can you tell if an item is 'good'? 

There are so many factors to consider, really.  The most obvious is how close to the maximum value is the item?  Heavy Non-Covenant armor's maximum value is 275 for non-helmets, so the closer you get to that, the better.  Lighter armor types (such as Amuli or Yoroi) have lower maximums, typically near 250 for metal and 200 for non-metal armors.  Weapons are more complicated - there is a maximum value for each wield-requirement tier.  Here is a table listing the maximum damage for each weapon type.

Also consider the magic on the item.  The more magic, the fewer spells you have to cast.  Special cantrips commonly called "Majors" and "Minors" are highly valued too.  Of course, you have to be able to activate the magic, so items with high rank requirements are less sought-after.

There are other less obvious factors too.  Items with very high value are not as good because they are more likely to drop on death.  For instance, I have a maximum AL platemail hauberk that would be ideal armor, except for the fact that it's worth 65,000+ pyreals and will drop every time I die without exception.  Another factor is the workmanship of an item.  Items with lower workmanship can be tinkered more, so they are more desirable.

Tinkering makes items go from good to great and is now a crucial element in the game.  Because many kinds of tinkering are highly likely to destroy weapons, you might be less discriminating because of the sheer numbers of weapons you will have to destroy to make a truly great one.  Similarly, you can use tinkering to remove a rank or racial requirement, but it will cost you a tinker job.  Find out more about tinkering in the Crafting Section.