Let's assume someone invests points heavily into skills like "pickpocket" and "sneak" around the concept of a rogue character. Items are stolen, but even if you "get away" with the crime the items still have a "Stolen" tag stamped on them.
I understand the real-world logic here, but I'm struggling to understand how (from the perspective of game design) this is practical. For example, you steal a nice piece of armor and.. then what? You can't walk around using it without risk of being busted by a guard later on. Perhaps the original owner will eventually die and the "stolen" tag will be removed (a feature which does not work reliably, by the way) - but by then you've likely obtained better gear and no longer need that item.
Again - I understand the real-life logic there, but for gameplay purposes it's like.. what was the point of even stealing anything? What was the point of providing a pickpocket skill in the first place? And what's the point in players investing in it?
I feel like the only purpose behind theft is to turn around and sell the stolen items to a merchant - which (if we're focusing on logic) doesn't make much sense either. I would rather encourage targeted, meaningful theft, rather than encouraging players to vacuum up everything that isn't nailed down because then you can sell it for money and buy what you actually want legitimately.
I just feel like the whole stealing mechanic is poorly thought out. Either that, or I'm seriously missing the intended purpose of it.
I share the exact same sentiment. In fact, I think you're practically forced to vacuum up anything and everything you possibly can via theft, just to sell it, to keep up with the gold requirement to buy the necessary gear to obtain the stats roughly close to basic monsters or foes of equal level.
Older games make you feel rewarded for procuring this type of gear and risk keeping it. (Baldur's Gate, Morrowind, Ice-Wind Dale, etc).
This game throws a dozen gear upgrades every level-up at you which is almost a requirement based on the statistical scaling of foes. Again, just seems like it makes theft+re-sell a requirement and nothing meaningful. Almost like a chore.
The "Stolen" tag is removed, though, by the way, on stackable items which I think is great and makes sense... because how is someone going to recognize 1500 gold pieces from your other 10,000 gold pieces? They aren't -
and shouldn't - same with other stackable items, like special arrows, grenades, spell scrolls, crafting ingredients and so forth... So I enjoy that aspect at least, where other games still kept the item as stolen and did not stack with legitimately procured items.
'I need to search your bags! YEP, I KNEW IT! those TWO Shocking arrows out of your stack of 30 are DEFINITELY mine! Same with that single Nailbomb grenade and those Drudanae buds! THIEF!!!'
(He can have the arrows and grenade back but at least leave me the Drudanae
)
Edit:
And yes, something that is truly unique, like a piece of gear, should remain tagged. Especially if it's a valuable piece. But I don't think I should be limited to stealing from an NPC one time, either. THAT just doesn't make sense. How does a vendor re-stock their supply so fast and tantalize you with 15 purple items, 5 pinks and a unique items, then he's fully restocked after you rip him for tons of gear? THAT doesn't make sense.
Edit#2:
You can sell stolen items marked as such to an NPC which that item did not belong... FYI.