I'm fairly new to the game (week or so now) and found a lot of good advice from Choco's thread. Thus far I've got an Ascended Calibur (6), Mighty Cobalt helm (4), Great Defender (9), Solid Cobalt Armor (9), and Dusker Coat. With all that said, having read other threads and sites it seems that if I could start all over I probably would have benefited from a different initial set of armor (like Vog, for the SASI).
I've actually started working toward the Vog Cub Coat (at Dusker right now). My first question to you all is, should I really stop progressing with my cobalt set and continue working toward the Vog set? It seems like it'd be a slight waste of money (which is a big deal atm) to finish off the cobalt set and then start on the Vog set. I'm not sure that I would still use the Cobalt set after I got a Vog set.
I have a similar question for my shield. Aegis seems less useful than Grey Owlite Shield or VPS (or ...). Would it be a good idea for me to start working on a different shield?
Right now I've just been doing T1 clears, and *some* T2 runs although I definitely find it more difficult (and fraught with peril for me) depending on the stratums. During the last gate cycle, I was able to clear to IMF several times though I never made it all the way to the twins.
Lots of rambling, I guess I'd like as much advice as anyone is willing to offer on how I should proceed with gear in the short term. :)
The question I must ask back to you is, is there any reason why you'd want to finish the cobalt/defender set at all? If you don't have an answer to that, then don't do it. Cobalt has a little more defense, but Wolver gets bonus sword damage and status resistance which is far more useful.
With 3*-4* gear, you shouldn't be bothering with t1 anymore. You won't get used to doing t2 (and t3 eventually) if all you do is cruise through the easiest tier. You'll get better and make more profit from doing t2 exclusively now, with the occasional t1 run with multiple arenas. Start paying attention to enemy attack patterns and get used to shielding. Learn when to attack, when to shield, and when to run.
You will eventually need several sets of armor and shields for t3, and it also helps in t2. While Wolver/Owlite is standard for most people working up to Vana runs you'll want to look into the other lines too at some point.