Yes, alpha symbs are fancy and nice, but they're not the only usable symbiants out there. Neither are beta symbs. It's always something you should work towards, and people often og the route of getting betas and fitting them first, then getting intelligent symbs and the items required to equip alphas.

For new highlevels I'd still advice looking at the "old" symbiants. They're often very cheap, 1-10mill, as tons drop off The Night Heart, Inferno Garden bosses etc, and most experienced players go straight for beta/alpha.

Beta symbiants are equivalent to cognizant symbiants.

https://aoitems.com/item/278901/xan-...tillery-unit-/

https://aoitems.com/item/235508/cogn...ant-artillery/

If you're considering betas, but can't afford or fit alphas for a long while yet, it's also worth looking at symbiants that are "in between" betas and alphas.

Betas are equivalent to ql 260 cognizant symbiants, and alphas are made from ql300 intelligent symbiants. Many spots also have alert symbiants ql280 and conscious symbiants ql290. If you have the abilities/treatment to go above betas, there's something to be gained from looking at these options. These are also usually very cheap.

For endgame PVP you will of course want "all the best" to be the best, but especially for PVE a setup of ql260-290 symbs will take you far and cost you little.