Just starting this up. Just want to know- any tips or tricks that are easy to miss? I always remember playing games like WoW and like, disenchanting stuff I should have been selling or AHing or something else. Is there something obvious with items i should be doing at any point in this game, or don't stress?
EDIT- And also, should I be purchasing new gear from vendors or simply getting loot to carry me through?
Good advice above. I'm bored so I'll add a couple of things.
- Regarding component advice above, when you have a completed component, some have equip-able skills that can be used at low levels that can trounce most of normal/veteran. A searing ember (which is very common) for instance gives you a fireball skill that should carry you through to elite. There's some other equivalents for other damage types as well like a poison bomb and an ice spike etc. They don't scale to well into higher difficulties but can be a big help in your first run
- Purchasing gear from vendors isn't really required, although the faction vendors have some level 70 gear that can be really good depending on the build. Its all green stuff still, but designed to fill holes in gear, and can be BiS depending on what you are doing.
- Regarding factions, there's not a whole lot of wrong choices you can make and they don't affect whole lot. There's one choice in the middle of the game which will lock out 1 set of quests and a vendor though, so make sure you speak to the npcs before deciding as they tell you what they will offer. There's also another decision late as well, but that one isn't quite as branching.
- If you head into elite difficulty and onwards start paying attention to resists. Its the fastest way to die ignoring them. Pierce and elemental damage types are all over the place, there's a tonne of poison in the early game and a tonne of chaos late, which will especially wreck your shit. The others are all useful as well, although if you have to leave one behind, aether (for the time being at least) isn't as important.
- Going back to the faction vendors, the best thing they sell are augments which can attach to your gear
along with components and are the best way to round out your resists. There are two tiers of them available at level 50 and 70 and are pretty essential to surviving, especially in ultimate difficulty
- You will eventually get an npc that gives you the option to dismantle gear. Don't worry about it until you get have a nice haul of blues and purples that you don't need along with a nice stash of dynamite. You basically blow the gear up and the higher the rarity the better quality crafting mats you potentially get back. Dynamite is fairly rare, and needed to progress the main quest as well as access a few side areas, so keep what you find for those purposes first.
For items/gear etc, that's about all I can think of right now. Have fun!