Why Buy A Weapon?
 

There is really no good reason to buy the level 2 and 3 weapons. Save your money level up to 15 and get the level 4 for free and you will get notoriety and skill points in the process. They are not cheap and you might get more points with the level one weapons. Save for those War ships. The same applies to the bags and cannons. Wait for the level 12 or 17 to get the bigger sizes.

Generally speaking, very good idea. I would, however, at least buy the double-barreled pistol....

Totally agree - don't bother with weapons except the gun (where the direct benifit of firing two / three shot is a direct improvement).

In fact, since weapon upgrades can degrade REP returns, I only use the basic weapons (except for the tir-barrel pistol). If you want to have a few nice looking weapons then sure - the +2, or +4 hit probably doesn't take away that much ;)

Funny if that minute difference could actually save your skin in a realistic situation... anywhoo, as I see it, I'll buy the 2's and 3's just for the sake of having them once I'm done leveling, because a) in the end, money will abound, and b) upon obtaining the 4's and 5's, we can't buy the 2's and 3's, and c) I want it all... and more.

Hehehe! :D Well, so do I... but I'm thinking into the future - should they ever raise Noriety I want the most REP possible from the weapons, and all these side weapon quests are killing that chance... so yea, I've done the L4 weapons on one pirate to entertain myself - but I won't touch the L5's... :)

I did for my first guy when there were no weapon quests but now forget it its a waste of money!

I bought the last cutlass you can buy just for the look cuz I already knew I was going basic for awhile.

...what league said.

I think I accidentally bought the L2 dagger before I knew what I was doing: I regret it now, because that thang is ugly. The pistols are worth it, because loading one by one in battle is terribly tough, as if pistol leveling no matter the barrels wasn't; as well, if you get Life Drain, I'd say it might be worth to get +6 more health back, if that's the way it works.

Now, seeing as the L4 weapons quests don't clog, they can just sit there for eternity's unraveling--or, until you're out of stuff to do, whichever comes first.

I stated this recently somewhere, but a while back I ran stats and found the upgrades basically work as a downgrade to gaining rep.

I have got the triple pistol, since it isn't increased in damage. Other than that the rest are for after finishing mastering the character.

Only thing I can see useful in these weapons is if you want that increased lower skill damage for pvp, before finishing out the character.

For me I stay away from these and increasing the damage to skills used to gain rep.

I would agree with you but I don't for one reason.
The level one weapons are usually for people at nort levels 1-15. I don't want a level 20 pirate with a level 1 weapon because the level one weapons do much less damage than the level 2 and 3. It's cheaper but you want that extra damage at a higher level when fighting the higher level enemies.

Well - once again its the way a player is going to play the game - if your playing for the reason of attack for damage then this is totally right. If your playing for more REP per NPC then this is totally wrong.

There is no right or wrong though when you look at the play style of the person and what they are trying to get or accomplish out of the game :) There are those who a) enjoy the fight and the ability to kill quickly and b) those who try to level up more quickly - each has their own goals. ;)

can you explain this. you confused me.

TSC, I think Max meant that.....if you want your pirate to have strong attack then you should buy the weapons since they do more damage. But if you do this then you won't earn as much rep as you normally would because of the added damage.

that makes sense.

glad to be able to clear that up for you TSC

I think this reasoning was OK before some of these latest changes. First off I am building a character now in a different way, than I did before. Shoot a molusk and work on anything you want -old method.
Now you will fight your way through everything, and that has caused me to just put points in a lot of passives. Cutlass and Dagger I find useless now, so might as well put points in passives. Doing this makes standing head to head a lot easier.

What hasn't changed is amount of hits/rep ratio. At level 28 taking molusk, was a good size bigger. Now you may be in the range = to you character leaving the 100 point a kill harder to get at a lower level critter.

Though I build a character faster than a lot, I think going with these starting weapons have been paying off. I am running away from others playing probably twice as much, and many times they are grouped with crew bonus. Basically this is all a result of updated weapons adding a higher percentage damage to your lower skills (used to level) while basically a insignificant amount to higher heavy damage skills.

So as Max stated its what you are after, and racing up to 40 to have another character sitting around, would be no grand benefit.

Yeah, I accidentally spent my money for a War Frigate on a new barrel for cannon ammo. Have it now though lol.
PS: cool name Skirta I thought I was the only one who read the Republic Commando books!