Hi!
So, I began playing three days ago and I've currently managed to make a 4* helm (Seraphic) and Sword (Blazebrand). I know they aren't ideal, but they're what I had the materials/recipes for and what was affordable at the time.
The rest of my gear:
Bomb: Deconstructor
Armor: Wolver
Gun: Super Stun Gun (I have a cryotech but I'm keeping it unbound so I can have somebody craft the Mk II for me)
Shield: Swiftstrike (imagine my dismay when I looked at the wiki and found out it caps at 3* -_- ) and Drake Scale Shield. The wiki doesn't say where to get the Wyvern recipe :X
Does anyone have suggestions as to what equipment would be relatively cheap to craft, OR what equipment might take longer to craft/buy but would be worth it in T3?
Thanks!
The Blazebrand is a good sword. You can probably stick with it for a while.
Cryotech alchemer will be a big improvement for your gun. I don't recommend having someone craft for you unless you know that person in the real world and trust them. It's too easy to scam someone in a crafting scenario. Plus, having the recipes yourself means a chance to get a unique variant.
Swiftstrike buckler is ok, but you've already found you'll need to switch to another line. The Wyvern Scale Shield is 4*, so you need to get that recipe from Basil at the terminal in Tier 2 or 3. I'd move out of the scale shield line, though. It's not a good primary shield because it lacks normal defense, which is the most common kind of attack you'll see. Only fused lichens currently do piercing damage, so I'd pick a shield that has normal and elemental defense. I personally use the Wise Owlite at the moment.
Wolver armor can be upgraded to one of the best armors in the game - if you're primarily a sword user - but until it becomes Vog Cub, you won't have any elemental defense. I'd recommend hedging your defenses a bit by switching your armor to something with elemental and normal defense. You don't need the wolver's piercing defense because currently fused lichens are the only creatures that have piercing attacks and those tend to be easy to dodge or shield, compared to, for instance, the elemental eye laser from a retrode. The demo line may be a good armor for you because it drops the charge time for your bomb. I'm using the Heavy Demo set currently and it makes bombing a blast.
Deconstructor is a good bomb, but unfortunately it will stop at 4* with the heavy deconstructor. You may want to make yourself another blast bomb to give yourself a chance to make the nitronome when the time comes for 5* gear, but that can probably wait for now. The Fiery Vaporizor and Freezing Vaporizor are also great bomb lines (but they will be of diminished usefulness on fire and ice levels respectively, so you'll want to check your gate before entering and equip your bomb according to what you'll face).