- Make it painless - Make it relevant - Make it interesting/engaging
To be relevant and engaging a system for siphoning players resources must, by the very nature of what it's meant to do, be an inconvenience when ignored.
If durability maintenance is made to require no effort, and cause no frustration, it might as well not exist. It doesn't really matter if the enemies drop 10% less gold, or if I spend 10% of the gold on repairs when I get back to town. The end result is I have 10% less gold.
As far as the engaging parts such a system can have, I already made a suggestion which retains all of them with none of the pains of maintenance.
-A way to open containers you can't lockpick, with a cost attached to it(crowbars instead of spares). -The interesting part of weapons being broken mid-combat(having to re-equip).
I'm aware of your suggestions; and if you noticed, I endorsed the concept behind them on using a crowbar and removing enemy weapons and armor in combat...I just enjoy the idea of durability as more mentally engaging foundation than what you suggest.
As for painless = pointless, well my points and suggestions were to make it not tedious; as in there's costs and gains, but the process itself need not be painful in management: ex. point and click for each individual item.
Like wise, having to worry about weapon breakage every couple hits is taking things too far.
There's a necessary balancing act in things like this.
The resource drain needs to be felt, but also manageable. The resource need be relevant. Managing the resource should be tied to other mechanics for more engagement. Proper well done management should return rewards. The resource should also be tied to other core mechanics like combat in interesting and engaging ways.
Quite frankly, if you remove durability and the stats of broken or not broken and took your ideas as is, where you de-equip enemy armor for a few turns, I'd balk at it. I'd rather not have those in at all.
Either have durability in some form and work with it or toss the concept all together. No half measures.
If you're going to move away from things like durability, remove food as well, and drinks too I guess. No point there either. And plenty of other RP related mechanics that don't directly related to merchants, story, and combat......
But at the end of the day, I......cannot find games like that compelling. Diablo for instance only has combat, buying/crafting things to make your character better at combat, and a story line.....that game is incredibly dull in my eyes
EDIT: There's indirect value to all those little things. Hell, I also want the food and drink systems made more relevant and beds too for that matter. Even if as only gimicks or niche things
