RE: The gearing questions on the last page, figured I'd share my gearing tips and the steps I gear a character in. I used to be pretty bad about upgrading a character as well, but I've figured it out over time.
Preface: Gearing is a pain in the ass, replacing one piece of armor at a time will destroy your wallet, and make it hard to find upgrades. Instead, I recommend splitting your gear up between "defensive" resist pieces, and offensive pieces/uniques, and upgrading them as a set. When you reach a cash threshhold, upgrade all 3-5 pieces of defensive resist gear at once, so you are matching total resists.
But to illustrate the point, lets say you have a really really sh*tty amulet with 40 cold resist, and you NEED that to be resist capped. You want to upgrade that to something with more damage, but guess what? That resist that you "need" is going to make the upgrade prohibitively expensive. Example: a 70 HP, 30 Crit, 30 Mult amulet is ~50c. A 70 HP, 30 Crit, 30 Mult amulet with 40+ resists is upwards of 4ex. FAR cheaper to get that resist elsewhere.
Phase 1: Identify "Key" slots in your end game build that are best reserved for DPS or utility. If your build has a required unique, you won't be searching for resists in that slot, yeah? Pick 3-4 slots that are the least impactful to your damage, and can be reserved for Life+ Triple Resists on rare items. I usually aim for Belt, Helm, Gloves, and/or Boots. Getting 37+ to each resist in each of these slots will ele weakness cap you without needing a single resist in any other slot. This opens up your ability to purchase big DPS upgrades one at a time without ruining your character's survivability.
Phase 2: How to shop. 1: Get naked. No, not in real life. In the game. Take off all your rare armor, keep on your weapon and any uniques or AMAZING rares that you will keep until end game, maybe buy a white amulet and craft a stat onto it so that you get your unique armor's stats if you don't meet the requirement. 2: Identify how much resist and stat you need, and how many slots you have to fill it out. 3: Identify your budget. 5c will get you 70 life and 70 total resist in a slot, 20c will get you 80-90 life and 90 total resist, 100c will get you T1 life (80-100) and 120 total resist. AS a note, with the cheaper options, crafting a suffix is a good option, but limits other crafts. On the higher tier stuff, you proabaly want all 3 resists naturally rolled on an armor piece.
Phase 3: Go Shopping! Here are some example searches for a helm at each of the tiers
Cheap, entry level mapping: Craftable - https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/searc ... n/Xzgja7iP Natural rolls - https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/searc ... n/4RpwpkT9
Mid level mapping: Craftable - https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/searc ... n/m9dqKZH6 Natural rolls - https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/searc ... n/Dzowg2S5
End game: https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/searc ... n/y5aq9qHR
Once you're done with the helml, move on to the next piece with similar stats. Just keep in mind life tiers, A helm will easily roll 80-89 life, but boots and gloves will roll far less (60-69 for gloves, 70-79 for boots in the same tier of rolls).
As a note, while searching, make sure to balance resists. Found a Helm with 20 Fire res, 40 Lightning, 40 Cold? Make sure your next piece has a high rolled fire to offset that loss! If you aren't having any luck, switch to a different slot, and come back. Remember, the more restrictive you get, the more expensive things become, regardless of if they're better or not.
Additionally, it is far easier to get required stats on jewelry than it is on gear. I'd rather get 100 int from 2 rings than 100 int from 3 armor pieces.
Phase 4: DPS time! Depending on your budget, you resist capped or ele weakness capped at somewhere between 3-5 slots. The rest of your slots are now DPS machines. Go crazy! Try to get life though, I hear that's important. Haha.
Approaching it this way seriously helped me figure out how to gear my toons. I spent so much time and money trying to find pieces that "fit perfectly" into my build, but now I design my armor to not need fitted to anything else, my resists are already worked out, and my other gear slots are free to be changed at any time.
Anyway, that's just my method, I'm sure other people have their own way, but try this as a general rule and see if it works for you.
