A look at how the new R&D Gear system works

So after years of begging, pleading, negotiating, shouting, arguing, being banned from the forums for being too hot headed... the developers FINALLY did the right thing and created a way for players to obtain the best gear (not including Elite, which I hope they consider in the future) via a non-random method.

Tomorrow marks the launch of this new system. I've put together a little video showing exactly how it works and what you need to do.

This is like... the third recording I've done trying to catalogue every single step and my brain is pretty melted, so if I've missed anything important, I apologise and will be sitting in the corner rocking backwards and forwards, crying.

Many already know how it works. That's fine. What I'm sure many of those who already know, won't know, is exactly how many scraps are yielded from each drop as this update was just added hours ago to the test server. The answer is: It varies.

I've salvaged 4 pieces so far. 3 are in this video. 2 Blues and 2 Greens. 1 Blue yielded 4 scraps, the other blue yielded 10 scraps. Both greens yielded 2 scraps each. In my most recent run of the Duo, I got the Blue piece which yielded 10 scraps and both greens. So for 14 Scraps in 1 short instance, that's not too bad.

Hope this helps you out.

How many marks did it cost?

I wonder how soon E16-18 will have this system....

It varies from piece to piece. The chest I believe costs 90 Marks, 45 for the plan, 45 for 9 components to make the piece. I believe legs are the same price, but the other pieces are cheaper.

You can see the price of the plans in the video. The Matter Enhancers are a static 5 Marks each and you require no more than 9

Does it also award styles for the feat?

Hopefully soon so I can get that damn chest Hoping Elite gets it, too, but with the plans requiring a component which only drops from the final boss, but is guaranteed every time.

You get the Herald of the Black style for each piece you craft, yeah.

I hope this system doesn't backfire... but it sure solves a bunch of issues, including the need for replays with monthly content.

I think you're going to hate it if you refuse to run raid/alert content. But the developers have not really ever said that it's intention was to allow people to gear up to max best gear by just running Solos and Duos (although entirely possible as there's no restriction on this and fair play to anyone who does).

I think it's going to be an amazing accompanying system to the existing system that many people (but not me) had no issue with. It's the perfect middle ground and most importantly, nobody is getting ripped off by using replay badges any more. Every run counts for something if you choose to take advantage of the system.

For the first time since T4, I am content with the loot system

*gasps, women faint, monocles dropped in Martini glass*

Nope Elite gear is not needed . People can now get the raid gear easier now.

Easier? No way. Takes more effort to get the raid gear via R&D than it does to get a drop in what will inevitably become a <30 minute 5-1-1-1 curb stomp.

So without replays you figure 6 weeks still to make 1 piece? If you run all relevant content ?

I can't wait to try it out

Let's see

Guaranteed a minimum of 6 scraps (3 drops of 3 green pieces per duo run) for 7 days per week. 7x6 = 42.

6 guaranteed from the raid, too (3 drops of 3 green pieces) so 48 scraps guaranteed for free per week.

You need 400 to build any piece of gear. 400 divided by 48 = 8.3 weeks without spending a single replay.

But those calculations assume you're going to see 100% green drops and each green drop is only going to drop 2 scraps, each, which is possible, but extremely unlikely to the point where it seems impossible. You're going to get blue drops and you're going to get purple drops. You're going to get different yields, too.

So I think it's fair to say it'll be about 6 weeks but in an absolute worst case scenario, 8 weeks.

About as soon as tier 1 to tier 6 have selectable loot tables...

That's really good news.

I'm so pleased you've said that as I will finally be able to complete the Energy armour style but more so because I took provisions in the video to include season 1 and now I don't feel like a fool or have to re-edit it for the 93113480 time

So, all those purple duplicates that I've been saving may actually be super useful.... my inner pack rat rejoices...

It will take time to gather enough scraps (400) to create a piece. Remember that Ep. 18 content are the only ones that will drop the needed items; that's one duo a day and 1 raid a week.

IF the duo averages 10 scraps per day; that's 70 scraps in a week. Since the raid is only once a week, the scraps from there won't make too much of a difference. It will definitely take more than a month of saving to get enough scrap material to craft a piece.

Aim for 6 scraps per run and consider anything else a bonus.

Worst case scenario, it's going to take you 8 weeks 3 days to get enough scraps to build 1 piece of gear. That's with every drop being green and every drop yielding just 2 scraps. Know that each day is worth about 6.1 scraps this month, so every time you get more than 6 scraps, you're knocking a full day's worth of grind off your time.

In my video, I got 14 scraps in total from 1 run of the Duo thanks to a higher yield from a Blue drop. That's more than 2 days worth of Duos, right there.