which weapon?

[Perin]

Thanks a ton for that. That's really helpful, and I've already bought the 4 GC pieces you mentioned... just waiting on a United We Stand run to kickoff so I can rank up and grab the spear.

Looking at the other gear you mentioned, that's helpful as well. I found Felt Bracers +1 for sale in Wards but only +15 STR. HQ Rubellite Rings and Electrum Gorget available no problem. Veteran's Field Belt doesn't even come up in Wards though (even when I search "veteran" only).

As for the stats, before the HQ Ring/Neck and the melded Bracers, I'm sitting on 317/227 STR/PIE. Something tells me I went horribly wrong in stat allocation as I leveled up (I think I did STR and DEX)... I still have a Keeper's Hymn on me; care to share the "proper" stat allocation if I use it?

Thanks again for all the help

You don't really need HQ felt bracers for just single or double melds. The stat difference isn't huge and not really worth the extra cost if you're buying straight off market. Having a HQ base item does increase the meld chance slightly for double+, but it's not really necessary if you're just starting out with melded gear.

Veteran's Field Belt is 5acc 2str and can drop from one of the normal chests in AV. Availabilty and price in the wards varies server to server I'm sure. It'll probably show up eventually if you check periodically, but I'd say it's much lower priority than getting some str bracers or even HQ rings/neck.

Stat allocation for drg is usually 23str/22pie, so you'll definitely want to reallocate if you went str/dex or something else.