Do most builds really depend on having a shopper character?

[BlackJAC 3]

Obviously silver is a breeze and Gold isn't too taxing either, but as I'm fairly new to the game I've never experienced platinum or beyond yet.

 

looking through the build guides most builds clearly state you need to have +skill bonuses etc socketed into your gear or weapons as to evolve the character. In fact, it seems almost every build is dependant to some extent on having a shopper build in your arsenal of characters.

 

I've tried putting the time into bargaining, but I think keeping it optimised is a pain up the arse and sucks most of the enjoyment out of the game. I mean, it's like playing two games at once with one of them being rather dull and for the life of me can't ever see myself persevering to the extent where I end up with numerous high levelled goodies. Maybe I really am missing something here - wouldn't be the first time, but wouldn't it be possible to just survive from boss drops or even from the orc cave?

Edited August 17, 2009 by BlackJAC

[Zinsho 0]

It's completely possible to survive without buying a single item. The difference between a character that survives solely on drops and one that uses shopping to supplement this (either by taking bargain or by having a second character to buy the items, especially rings) is that it provides you with a much larger item pool to maximize your character with. The game isn't so hard that you cannot survive without optimizing, it is simply a question of whether you want overly powerful items that outdo almost anything you'll ever get through drops (since you'll rarely drop a good quantity of amazing rings)

[Blokeymon 0]

The missus is playing a SW, who cannot have Bargaining, and she's doing alright. Picking up quite a bit of good armour and stuff. Sometimes I'll drop stuff into my chest that I find for her to use, but not often. But she's doing alright.

 

But for me, the difference between "doing alright" and "doing awesome" is a big one, and my January Sales Seraphim is the perfect build for me.

[Zonc1 0]

Bargainig is mostly for jewelry, it's not that easy to find a lot +all skills, harder to find deathblow stuff and +all combat arts is VERY hard to collect only from looting.

Edited August 18, 2009 by Zonc1

[Katran 0]

Moved to general Sacred 2 area.

[Barsby 0]

I'd kinda been wondering the same thing, about how a character would go through the top difficulty without support from a shopping character.

I've been playing a bunch of characters up to 40ish, just to see which ones are most enjoyable once you get the unique mount and have good regen times. It turns out the pyromancer elf and the temple guardian that I chose as potential shoppers are well down the list, so I've been looking at my more enjoyable characters, trying to see which of them I can add perception and bargaining to.

 

Maybe I shoulda posted this in a dryad thread but it was about fitting in a shopper, so meh.

The most likely is my dryad (high speed shooter type dryad). I have 2 skill slots left and I had penciled in combat discipline/spell resist/constitution as my 3 most wanted. Or I can toss them out the window and pick up EP/Bargaining.

Do any wiser minds have advice on how she'll go skipping the survival skills and checking for pretty shoes instead?

[colif 36]

All I play is Shadow Warriors, and I have plenty of choice when it comes to items. Sure, my 1st SW didn't have much good gear but after a few, and keeping all my good drops, the rest have had it easier. Kill enough things and you will get the gear, though having a blacksmith helps. The one shopper I have made stopped at level 40, so he really just makes starting easier, after level 40 you start to get enough nice drops not to notice.

[chattius 2,531]

I have a self-sufficient melee elf with perception and bargaining, but without a weapon skill. Nice to play ,and who ever said that elves are fragile in close combat should look at her in the guide section.

 

My dryad has only bargaining, I used alchemy to unlock it. Alchemy added weapon combat power to my totem dryad.

 

But the discussion was if a character can be played starting with an empty chest and not using bargaining. My family has a shadow warrior smith who was played first by whole family to have a smith for all following characters. It was quite robust and was never getting allSkills stuff from the common chest before it reached niob. Then a smith equipment was made with a hell of allSkills to reduce chance that jewels are destroyed at unsocketing.

 

In my opinion bargaining (or another shopper character) helps to play extreme characters: weapon less dryads, horse soldiers and such who need an optimal equipment to be playable.