How much to spend on pre-elite armor?

[Dajazz]

Hey guys, new to the forums here - got a L48 human Bio.

Since I'm hitting 50 any moment now I have a couple of question - how much shall I invest in my pre-elite armor?

Should I save the juicy runes/charms for later and just fill with purples for now? How will I fare with mid-40's epics (orange) while hunting for my set?

I was told by a friendly fella called Brimstone to maximise Loot drop % immediately, makes sense if its so hard to come by reds. I've had 3 reds drop for me, 1 L50 sword (worlds edge) and a L39 2h Hammer (dwarf-kin) and Bio-eng gloves (L30 something) so maybe I'm lucky this far.

[K1RB]

Denis himself said to max loot drop to try to hunt reds but like I said in another thread, I only got 5% on and with my conveyor and HoH runs I got 3 of my epic this weekend. I'd save red runes and wait for some Aesir armor. Orange runes and below you can use as you see fit right now to help you out.

Aesir armor is lvl 50 orange armor that all ready has 1 red rune slotted in it and 3 open slots. When you finishing slottin reds into, it will more than likley be better than your epic armor.