I think he can have a very effective suit relatively cheap. Esp if you are using a shield and spellbook you mentioned.
Assuming you are focus caster mage, your sdi is already covered. Shield with SC & DCI, Ring 0/3 DCI, and bracelet 1/3 DCI. FC! trade deal. DCI mana phase orb..
Gives you everything a mage needs max dci without having to max out mods on ring/bracelet/shield, room on ring/bracelet for mods with lrc, on armor with your mage mods.
I can get him a prototype suit and see how he likes it. (icq: 96629882) and if interested give a VvV siege tour
Id tell him it aint worth it. Very rarely will you see any one doing vvv, and if you do see someone in the town its usually a stealther stealing sigs. If he is looking for PvP then he will be disapointed. There is no point to do it. If you dont want the deco then its a huge waste of time, but first thing the crafter should know if he uses a mage weapon, and what the penalty on the magery is, and how much DCI is on the weapon, also is he using the FC town buff and go from there.
If you plan to loot and talk trash all day, and run with a gank squad - it can be relatively hard to find people to fight.
If you are interested in patrolling the towns, fight with/against Vice/Virtue groups fights and are a decent person, battles can be found easily. Most people you find will not loot and if a looting type guild shows, people will break off the attack and work together against the common enemy.
Sprago of IPKU and I had many battles, even though we both represented Virtue, we'd have a battle to determine which of our guilds would represent the town. So even being on the "same side" doesn't mean you can't have some friendly battle.
If you do plan to battle and loot enemies - that is a fine and valid playstyle BUT it does come with consequences... you'll get a reputation for being a "bad" enemy. People who are traditionally enemies (like Lore and TDO) will work against you if you show up in town. Items, armor, equipment will be harder to buy, and most people will simply leave towns and avoid fighting you.
The game has changed, you can't just pick up a light archer suit when you die and are looted. Its an item based game where items are to difficult to obtain to sustain dry looting BUT (and this is what most do not understand) having the option makes for a better game...
People are not macroing afk, the rich and the poor are on more equal footing because you CAN lose that legendary suit, you are more reliant on real skill then items, etc.
And so on ATL you might be used to fighting in a totally maxed out suit in any mod you could want with no risk of losing anything, here you may have to pick and choose your strengths and weaknesses and even incorporate skills like med/focus which are not needed on prodo with the items available and insurance.
For me it makes pvp much more interesting and enjoyable
-Lore
