Collect Armor vs Purchased and when to buy?

I'm entering Post Searing soon and was wondering about Armor.

1) How does the collect armor compare to purchased?

2) I'm guessing purchased is slightly better so that being said, should you purchase a set right away in post searing?

3) If you do buy armor upgrades how often did you buy them (as in does each stage of the game have new armor available)?

4) Should I buy new armor as I reach each new stage of the game?

Thx

1) Same as the basic armor you can buy, just looks different. What I mean by basic is, with ranger armor, I can get the specialized armors that protect more against specific elements - ie drakescale has extra fire protection.

2) The main advantage of purchased armor over collector armor is that collector armor CANNOT be salvaged, so any runes you apply to collector armor are permanent. I would suggest buying armor as soon as you reach post-sear - I wouldn't recommend collector armor until the desert, at which point you can get armor that is the equivalent of the final armor, without paying an arm & a leg.

3) When I went through, I bought armor in post-sear Ascalon, then again in Yak's Bend IIRC, then got the collector armor around Druid's Overlook and wasted a couple runes, then I got the collector armor in the desert and have been wearing that ever since.

4) It depends really on how much gold you have to spare on armor, and how much of an improvement it will be.

Most collector's items are junk compared to your level when you talk to them. Purchased armor always seems better than what collectors offer to me, and I rarely bother with the weapons they offer because they're almost always about half as good as what I already have. It's so pathetic it's a joke to me at this point; wish they'd just ditch the collectors post-Searing. Do they expect us to be half the level we are when we get to them? Seems like if you're sufficient level to be questing near the collectors, you get drops that blow their items away. Bad implementation in my opinion.

NOTE: I'm only lvl 12, so I can't speak for desert or later armor. But through Yak's I stick by my above statements.

once you get further in the game, you'll definately change that opinion Tarrant Druid's Overlook is the perfect example of players running around crazy looking for collector armor locations because theirs is better than what can be purchased.

The dilemma will then become deciding if it's better to have higher armor (collector) or slightly less armor, but the ability to salvage (purchased) once you upgrade. Because remember, runes placed on collector armor cannot be salvaged out.