No req items

I know there are many threads on max stats with req7, 8. What about the highest no req? (Mainly shield) This is especially interesting now that wintergreen items have shot up in price. (The last time I played on a regular basis was 2008 and they were not >100K.)

Why is there so much concern for swords/axes/hammers/scythes/daggers of max damage and low req? The only use I can think of for a req 7 martial weapon is someone that is "tanking" on his warrior instead of killing things. I can understand for spears (Motivation/Command paragons), focii, shields, and to a lesser extent bows. If you run 12/10/8 or 11/10/10 or even 11/11/8 you can meet req9 with one rune unless it is a secondary profession attribute (i.e. R/* with focus). (see http://www.guildwarsguru.com/content...tion-id270.php)

Maybe you have a divine favor/spawning power/energy storage/soul reaping/fast casting attribute staff or wand...

Anyway, I did my own little research during holidays in 2008. I did it in Nightfall since I figured if I got something inscribable it wouldn't have to be gold to be turned into something usable.
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/User:...on/Istan_drops

I got Sun And Moon Shield, 8 Armor ( No Req ) 'Blue' Insc just like WinterGreen Shield, Anything else like this out there?

Well For weapons, wintergreens are highest dmg u can get for no req weapon..

Im not Quite sure whats max dmg for no req staff, tho they used be able have 10energy and other max mods!

I have woven shield like that.

My friend owns this, kinda cool item

Ive got a blue skull sheild inscr al 8 no rq, it interested me so ive kept it

That's awesome. I'm one of those people who don't think that a character should be able to equip an item that they don't meet the requirement for, so this kind of sword would actually make sense to me as a "caster weapon".

Some data:

Max possible dmg for all no req. wands and staves is 7-11. This also includes the very old nerfed no req high-end staves (I've seen plenty of them back in the day, strangely they're almost inexistant today).

No req 8 armor shields are very common and are worthless. Remember that ANY higher shield with completely ANY req is a STRICLY BETTER item (if both are insc).

A good source for max no req inscribables are the Istan locked chests - I've had things like no req max wands, shields, foci, swords (8-10) no req drop pretty often from them when running for some Lucky points. Surprisingly I've also had a 7-11 (req.6) wand and 7-12 (req.7), so the req spread is pretty large.

(So it has been 24 hours...does that rule apply in this section also?)

It was a thought experiment at the time since I had bought the Wintergreen weapon set not for utility but for novelty along with multiples of the wand, bow, and spear. (I have many things lying around that are seemingly worthless i.e. Jade Wind Orbs). Now that they are selling for massive amounts of ecto I was just wondering whether people honestly did the numbers.

P.S. I am never selling mine.

No surprise there.

Was hoping you could explain what you mean here. Wouldn't 8 armor be the maximum that a player could get from a shield without fulfilling its requirement? Are you talking specifically about situations where the requirement of the shield is met?

Yes, this. So even an Armor 9 (req. 6 Motivation) shield is in that way strictly better than ab Armor 8 (no req), because it's the same plus that added marginal usability.

The downside is having to devote 6 attribute points to get 1 armor. That is a very steep price to pay for very little. Seems to me like the no req shield would be a better choice.

He means that this fictional r6 9AL shield can do everything and be modded exactly the same as a 8AL no req shield. But its better in the way that if someday you think, hmm I want to run 12/10/8 and use ballad of restoration, then you could theoretically get better use out of it than a 8AL no req.

Of course with no points invested they are both the same, but a 16AL shield of any req is better because it has some potential to be better than a no req 8AL.

This does quite interest me, would be cool if you could get some nice skinned no req 8AL shields that can be a bit more pricey max, such as tribal face shields. Since it wont matter if you use it strictly as a caster shield

The thing is, on professions that cannot spec points into Command/Motivation/Tactics you know they will never have more than 0 in the attribute. For example, a monk.

The thing is anyone can have a secondary warrior or para to spec a few points in the attributes that a shield requires. For example Mo/W.

The only no req weapons that can have an extra utility over the ones with a req are:

Spears - they make functionally best caster weapons thanks to the ability to hit targets from a distance and no reqs can deal almost twice the dmg of a max one that you don't meet the req of. I love my Wintergreens

Wands - occassionally a character that doesn't spec any caster attribute nor marksmanship or spear mastery may want/need to deal some damage from a distance. Since wands/staves dmg doesn't scale to any weapon attribute but to character level, they can deal their listed dmg to 60Armor with absolutely no attrib investments where for example a no req spear still 'requires' 12 spear mastery to deal it's listed dmg. A customized 15^50 Wintergreen Wand is a guaranteed 13 dmg to 60al where a Wintergr Spear would hit for 4.

Bows - pulling. It's a difference of like 1dmg but since the nerf of HoD bow the functionally best pulling bow is either the one with -2dmg (in a stance) if you use stances, or a no req if you don't.

Scythe/Daggers/Axe/Sword - when used by farming casters/sins with Zealous mod for energy management.

Focus - Only if +3 Energy, to be used as negative energy set with -5ene inscr and a core different than +30hp (the green fans do it with a +30). PvP chars can however get the same effect with any PvP focus they don't meet the req of.

Do you know of any other potential applications where a no req weapon can give some marginal advantage?