When to get armor

Hey I need some advice about when the best time to get new armor. Right now I am a Ranger / Mesmer lvl 8 at Nolani Academy. My plan is to quest and do missions to lions arch. The thing is I am still wearing the armor I started off with and Im feeling the pain. I am hesitant to get new armor from Ascalon city because 1. I dont have that much gold and getting it seems to take a little while (got about 700 now). and 2. Yaks bend is gonna be coming up soon and I probably can get better armor there (if i make it).

Anyways what do you guys suggest? Should I go back to ascalon and get some armor, or should I wait to yaks bend, or should I wait till Lions Arch? Also what about weapons? Ive been using what Ive found, is there a better way? Is there any way to obtain better ones without waiting for drops?

Awesome game regardless. Thanks for the help!

MoMan, I found the armor in Ascalon City to be the same as in Yak's Bend. When you purchase, though, check for multiple crafters. Ascalon has two, and one has *much* better armor...

I would wait for yaks bend, i found the gladiator armour there which wasnt available for my warrior/mesmer in ascalon. It looks good and has good armour. Just enter the mission at Nolani Academy and after you finish that mission you will end up at yaks bend.

My character is a W/Mo and I got new armor when I got to Lion's Arch. I think it's a good choice. New armor is wise to get when you are lvl 10-12. I don't think you should get new armor everytime it is available. However, I get tired of people are who are lvl 15 and still have their beginning armor. Makes them usually useless in groups because they die too much (I even had a warrior who wouldn't tank because he didn't have good enough armor which was annoying.)

Get armor as soon as you get to Ascalon (post sear). That armor is the same AL as the armor you'll find all the way past Lions Arch. The next best armor is in Ventari's Refuge, which you wont get to until level ~15.

Yak's Bend and Lion's Arch both just give more variations of level 10 armor.