Item diversity - 02/06/14 01:32 PM
So i've wanted to make this post for a while now but was to lazy and too busy and thus forgot about it but after finishing the newest beta this weekend it came back to my mind. I've been playing the game since alpha bla blubb and while the game is great fun the itemization is only partly fun. The item "hunt" (this is not diablo and i think we all agree that we don't want it to be) is great at the beginning of the game, because most of the time they deal a great benefit. The problem is the time you hit around level 7/8 it starts to get less important till negligible.
While the item finding rate is constant their usefulness begins to degrade heavily, especially for weapons. If you found a good one (good stat boost or good damage) it takes alot of time till you find a new item which you consider to replace the current one. Most of the time its more like 'yeah could be useful in some situation where i need one point more in X so i keep it, but never use it anyway'. If you have a top damage 2 hand weapon you even ditch weapons that have far better stat boosts. What is one point more in strength worth if you already have 13 or 1 extra AP if you already have 8AP in comparison to 60 more damage. So you start identifying items just for trading purpose rather than looking for upgrades. For example you found another blue ring and you know this one will make its way to the vendor because the ones you are wearing are green or orange.
I don't know whats beyond the beta content but i've managed to top out strength and intelligence (assuming 15 is the limit) easily with the cyseal content. This raises the question what comes next or what is left. Maxing out the other stats and thats it?
Larian already made some changes to item variety with some nice little effects. But apart from a few exceptions like the stone sword, an armor that had a chance to freeze attacking opponents or boots that grants you slow immunity they are not game changing. I guess it gets better later on in the game but in the beginning it doesn't matter if a weapon has 10% chance to stun, blind, knock down etc.
Am i the only one who feels that the current itemization is a little bit too boring on long term view? Like i said i don't know whats after the cyseal content and if we can expect new things like the ones i'd like to suggest than forget what i wrote here, nothing to see here
I'd like to see items with stats that make you reconsider. "Hmm do i take the weapon that does x damage or do i take the weapon with cool effect xyz?" "Do i take the ring that buffs a gazzilion stats or do i take the ring that buffs/changes one particular game mechanic?" I'd like to see items that bend game mechanics, alters them, allows you to use abilities without spending points into the corresponding schools or grants you abilities you can't even learn otherwise.
For EXAMPLE properties like this:
I know its probably too late till release to implement/balance such things anyway but you could reconsider it for an addon or later patch. Just a suggestion though
While the item finding rate is constant their usefulness begins to degrade heavily, especially for weapons. If you found a good one (good stat boost or good damage) it takes alot of time till you find a new item which you consider to replace the current one. Most of the time its more like 'yeah could be useful in some situation where i need one point more in X so i keep it, but never use it anyway'. If you have a top damage 2 hand weapon you even ditch weapons that have far better stat boosts. What is one point more in strength worth if you already have 13 or 1 extra AP if you already have 8AP in comparison to 60 more damage. So you start identifying items just for trading purpose rather than looking for upgrades. For example you found another blue ring and you know this one will make its way to the vendor because the ones you are wearing are green or orange.
I don't know whats beyond the beta content but i've managed to top out strength and intelligence (assuming 15 is the limit) easily with the cyseal content. This raises the question what comes next or what is left. Maxing out the other stats and thats it?
Larian already made some changes to item variety with some nice little effects. But apart from a few exceptions like the stone sword, an armor that had a chance to freeze attacking opponents or boots that grants you slow immunity they are not game changing. I guess it gets better later on in the game but in the beginning it doesn't matter if a weapon has 10% chance to stun, blind, knock down etc.
Am i the only one who feels that the current itemization is a little bit too boring on long term view? Like i said i don't know whats after the cyseal content and if we can expect new things like the ones i'd like to suggest than forget what i wrote here, nothing to see here
I'd like to see items with stats that make you reconsider. "Hmm do i take the weapon that does x damage or do i take the weapon with cool effect xyz?" "Do i take the ring that buffs a gazzilion stats or do i take the ring that buffs/changes one particular game mechanic?" I'd like to see items that bend game mechanics, alters them, allows you to use abilities without spending points into the corresponding schools or grants you abilities you can't even learn otherwise.
For EXAMPLE properties like this:
I know its probably too late till release to implement/balance such things anyway but you could reconsider it for an addon or later patch. Just a suggestion though