Every rare drop is stronger than the crafted gear of that Rank and associated level. You may have missed the 'weight' system and the weights of each item. If you're comparing the defensive stats on a level 15 'Light' item to a level 10 'Heavy' item, then that would be the issue. You're effectively comparing tank gear to glass cannon gear. Martial can equip equipment of any weight without penalty. Ranged can equip Medium/Light without penalty. Incantation can only equip Light without penalty :)

If you read the sell window when selling gear, there is large red text saying if that gear is equipped to any of your Loadouts. Please be sure to read the warning text before hitting the sell button.

One-hand weapons are also quite strong. I suspect you have not tried mixing a one-handed sword or hand crossbow with a "Light' Incantation off-hand, as those off-hands have high PWR stats on them!

You might feel that small bonuses are not high enough on combat abilities, but those abilities have powerful synergies. There are combat skills with DoTs that scale off your PWR and DEF in the game. Buffing those abilities' DPS by 10% is a balanced and reasonable amount at such a low level. You're also using Tier 1 of those abilities. If you read their tooltips, you will be upgrading those abilities to stronger versions as you level up!

I'm sorry the Companion system is not working for you. Companions are extremely powerful, and having three of them working offline for you is already probably too fast in terms of progression. You unlock faster and higher efficiency Companions through quests as you play. Allowing your Companions and your character to both work offline would trivialize the game. There are no plans to make any changes to how Companions work.

At what level does the ring unlock in Artisanry?
I have scrolled all the way through the processing and tools and it is not listed.

Nevermind, I answered my own question :)
Scroll all the way down on the Material Tier drop down

Hi! Where do I see the penalty due to weight? Like heavy gear on my ranger. Thanks! :)

There is a blurb explaining in the New Player Guide, check towards the bottom of the sidebar, and click the "Combat Equipment" section :)

It's not too, too complex. Martial can wear up to heavy with no penalties, ranged up to medium, and incantation up to light weight. It can sometimes be worth equipping a piece or two overweight depending on your build. It can also be worth wearing something lighter, like a high power incantation weapon with a martial/ranged one-hander. Your style is solely determined off your main-hand item.

It will also dynamically show the equipment penalties within the Equipment panel as you hover or equip them :)

Originally posted by Journeybound Idle:

There is a blurb explaining in the New Player Guide, check towards the bottom of the sidebar, and click the "Combat Equipment" section :)

It's not too, too complex. Martial can wear up to heavy with no penalties, ranged up to medium, and incantation up to light weight. It can sometimes be worth equipping a piece or two overweight depending on your build. It can also be worth wearing something lighter, like a high power incantation weapon with a martial/ranged one-hander. Your style is solely determined off your main-hand item.

It will also dynamically show the equipment penalties within the Equipment panel as you hover or equip them :)

Thanks! Completely missed the weight part until rank B haha :)
Did the game explain it to me during gameplay, or is the explanation only available through the New Player Guide?
My guess is I'm dumb and didn't read attentively during gameplay haha

It shows you in your character stats when you equip gear that is too heavy

Originally posted by Idle & Incremental Lovers:

Originally posted by Journeybound Idle:

There is a blurb explaining in the New Player Guide, check towards the bottom of the sidebar, and click the "Combat Equipment" section :)

It's not too, too complex. Martial can wear up to heavy with no penalties, ranged up to medium, and incantation up to light weight. It can sometimes be worth equipping a piece or two overweight depending on your build. It can also be worth wearing something lighter, like a high power incantation weapon with a martial/ranged one-hander. Your style is solely determined off your main-hand item.

It will also dynamically show the equipment penalties within the Equipment panel as you hover or equip them :)

Thanks! Completely missed the weight part until rank B haha :)
Did the game explain it to me during gameplay, or is the explanation only available through the New Player Guide?
My guess is I'm dumb and didn't read attentively during gameplay haha