Need help finding gear while leveling

I am currently level 45 and while I can craft weapons/armor with a level requirement 45 I have noticed that rare (yellow) level 46 gear available on the trading post is significantly better. This appears to be true at every x6 level (ie 26, 36, 46, etc.) I am trying to find out where this x6 gear comes from. For example, there is a level 46 rare ring called "Strong Ring" with much better stats than the best ring I can craft at that level. There are over 5,000 of these rings listed on the trading post so they would seem to be fairly easy to get. I have searched the web trying to find out where these rings come from to no avail. Can anyone help me?

@"Simeon Tregarth.5241" said:I am currently level 45 and while I can craft weapons/armor with a level requirement 45 I have noticed that rare (yellow) level 46 gear available on the trading post is significantly better. This appears to be true at every x6 level (ie 26, 36, 46, etc.) I am trying to find out where this x6 gear comes from. For example, there is a level 46 rare ring called "Strong Ring" with much better stats than the best ring I can craft at that level. There are over 5,000 of these rings listed on the trading post so they would seem to be fairly easy to get. I have searched the web trying to find out where these rings come from to no avail. Can anyone help me?

While leveling up, I don't bother investing in new gear. We spend very, very little time at each level and it can get pricey to keep swapping gear every few levels. Instead, I make use of whatever pops into inventory (from drops or from leveling up) until reaching level 80. At that point, I invest in exotics (if affordable or via non-coin currency, notably karma) or rares (if I don't have the funds for exotics).

If I really feel the need for a specific piece of gear (e.g. needing a sword, but none dropping for me), then I'll get it on the Trading Post. It's simply not worth my time to go looking for one to drop.

I hope the above answers the underlying question of "what gear do I use while leveling." But you did ask, "where do rare Lx6 trinkets drop from?" The short answer is: from foes of the relevant level. Which begs the question: why don't you see any of them dropping? The short answer for that is that trinkets drop only about 1-5% of the time compared to weapons and armor, so there's just much chance of seeing it yourself. This is especially true for rares below level 70, because the drop rate for them is very low, even compared to rares dropping from L80 foes.

Keep in mind that the TP includes items listed by everyone in the game, so even if something drops with a really low rate, there will still be a lot of people who come across it, just not necessarily you.

There are other sources of rares that aren't available to you just yet, notably: if you open certain containers (such as the bag of gear you get from leveling, champion bags, and a variety of others), the resulting loot will be appropriate to the level of the character opening it. That is, a veteran player can open such 'bags' on an L80 and get L74-80 loot or on an L43 and get L43-46 gear. Many L80 players will save such bags to open on mid-level characters specifically to get mid-level loot because it's more valuable on the TP (because L80 characters are more common and they spend more time in L80 zones, L80 loot is much more common, and thus cheaper).

Another potential source is from a small number of people who combine cheap gear in the mystic forge for random comparable loot that is 5-10 levels higher, with a 20% of upgrading. For example, combining four L40 masterwork (green) rings results in an L42-48 (or so) ring, 80% of the time another masterwork and 20% a rare. Under certain circumstances, that can generate a decent profit (although mostly, it results in a significant loss of value).

Summary:

How to Gear Up While Leveling

• I strongly recommend not spending time/energy on getting level-appropriate gear: use what you find along the way.
• If there's a special need, buy cheap gear from the TP
• Wait until L80 before investing in "good" gear, then go for the best you can afford: exotics (which are find for 90% of the game) and rares (if you can't afford exotics).

Where Does Rare Lx6 Gear Drop From?

• From level-appropriate foes and like-level characters opening various containers with loot equivalent to foe drops
• Rare Lx6 trinkets have extremely low drop rates: trinkets drop much less frequently than other gear and rare gear is less common at lower levels
• Some of these sources are more easily found by veteran players
• As a result, it's very unlikely that new players see such gear dropping.

Thank you for that comprehensive answer. I normally craft myself new armor/weapons every 10 levels since I am leveling up crafting anyway. Seeing all the yellow (rare) Lx6 gear on the tp just made me wonder if I was missing out on something. Your post does bring up another question though. I have been saving "Loot Bag"s since I read somewhere that is was better to open them at level 80. Are you suggesting that I should be opening them when I get them instead in hopes of getting some nice on-level gear, or at least some forge fodder?

@"Simeon Tregarth.5241" said:Thank you for that comprehensive answer. I normally craft myself new armor/weapons every 10 levels since I am leveling up crafting anyway. Seeing all the yellow (rare) Lx6 gear on the tp just made me wonder if I was missing out on something.

Crafting as you go is a great idea. See also http://gw2crafts.net.

I have been saving "Loot Bag"s since I read somewhere that is was better to open them at level 80. Are you suggesting that I should be opening them when I get them instead in hopes of getting some nice on-level gear, or at least some forge fodder?

The short story is: as a new player, I don't recommend that you hoard loot. Space is probably at a premium for you and you can probably always use more coin.

• Open everything,
• Use what you need,
• Sell stuff directly if the price seems high to you (you'll get a better instinct for what's worth listing as time goes on).
• Salvage the rest and sell the results.

Once you have at least one level 80 character, the situation changes. Now, you can start considering long term needs. At that point, there are a variety of rules of thumb that people use to decide what to do with loot and what's best depends somewhat on the markets and a lot on how you like to spend your time. All things being equal, here's one set of guidelines that works for most people most of the time. There are exceptions to each of these, but they can be ignored until they become second nature and you can afford to worry about nuances.Save only what you have immediate or near-term use for. For the rest

• Sell exotics
• Rares: sell L68+ rares if they are higher than the price of ecto (currently 20-23 silver, traditionally 29-35s; it varies a lot over time). Salvage the rest using Mystic, Master's, or Silver-Fed Salvage-o-Matic kits.
• Rares: sell <=L67 rares on the TP.
• Masterwork/fine: salvage all using basic kits or Copper-Fed Salvage-o-Matic. (Crude kits from leveling up are ok, too.)
• Gear Bags: open on an L53 toon if you have one (see below). There are a few types that drop L80 gear regardless of character level; you'll learn which as you go.
• Other bags: sell on the TP is quicker, but opening them and depositing is fine too.

Why an L53 toon? Since L80 characters are the most common and they are most likely to be in L80 zones, L80 loot is 40% cheaper than L21-L61 gear. At any moment in time, the variation of value between L21-L61 loot is under 10%. So it's always worth opening gear bags on a mid-tier toon, but which level is market dependent. Historically, L53 has been at the top of the value chain the most often for the longest periods, so if you have to pick one level, that's my recommendation. You won't lose much if you go with L45 or L33 or something else instead.

You basically get all the gear you need from drops, level-up and personal story rewards. Sure, crafted and purchased level-appropriate gear is better, but you really don't need it for open world questing and leveling to 80. So, save yourself the gold to purchase (or craft) gear when you get to lvl 80.

For what it's worth, here's what I did. Every 10 or so levels, when there's a notable improvement in available gear (like 21 has two stats vs one stat at 20, so wait until 21 to upgrade), I simply buy a complete set of the yellow grade of gear. It costs very little and every 10 levels is enough to keep you viable in stats. At lvl 80, outfit yourself in all exotics (I actually did this from about lvl 70, but it's kind of wasted money) until you can craft/buy ascended replacements. If you loot consistently and salvage/sell what you loot, you'll have no problem paying for all this.