Mission Loot Finally Pays Off

I've been doing all of the Missions as they come up, just to pass the time while awaiting the arrival of Italy Regions 6, 7 & 8.

Missions are useful because completing them gives you enough extra XP to level up after using all of your Energy and Stamina.  I think of this as the "nerf offset."

Of course, sometimes it take a couple days to complete a Mission (unless you want to spend Reward Points), like when you have to buy two items from your Italy Port - something you can only do once a day.

The Mission Loot, to date, has been mostly items with stats in the high 50s.  This can be a nice addition to a newer player, but won't help you out if you've played for awhile.

But suddenly I found a Mission that not only gave a nice XP bump for leveling purposes, but also a piece of Mission Loot that actually made my top 501.  The job was "Burn Down Wong's Warehouse: Part 3."

The Fume Proof Mask, with its 69 Defense, was 5 points better than the Ottoman Krug, the highest scoring Fight Loot Armor, and currently my 501st defensive Armor piece.  

The next few Mission had 50s-stats loot.  Then I came across this beauty in the "Install an Arm's Dealer, Part 3" Mission.  (If an "Arms' Dealer" sells weapons, what do you suppose an "Arm's Dealer" sells?  Human arms?? I know, this is 'Mafia Wars', not 'Grammar Wars')

The Harper 12, with its 71 Defense, gave me a 17-point upgrade in my Mafia Defense by replacing the top-dropping defense Weapon - the Range Finder Rifle.