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Class Archetype-Specific Secret Crafted Weapons?
With Ashes of Creation putting a heavy emphasis
on Crafting and other related professions (gathering/refining/crafting trio),
do you think there should be lore-based, or archetype-based weapons? Or
more specifically, specialty weapons or armor to craft for those types of
roles? Or possibly weapons and/or armor only able to be made by certain
classes?
I remember Steven said that there probably won't
be any class-specific weapons or armor, but certain classes/archetypes would be
better suited for them, so presumably everybody would have access to them, even
if they weren't class-specific. But there's also a possibility of secret
crafted items, quests, etc... So why not have some very specific, if not
mythical weapons along with it?
Some examples:
Tank - Indestructible Shield (Inspiration from
Greek Mythology): Essentially never needs to be repaired. Perhaps negates
a certain percentage of all incoming damage from straight-ahead, or blocks
something completely (would probably need a cooldown)
Fighter - Vorpal sword (Inspiration from
D&D Enchants): A specially enchanted sword with a small chance on a
critical strike to behead it’s foe. (Basically a one-shot type mechanic with a
low chance to proc.)
Rogue - Shade blade (Inspiration from extinct player-run
Shadow subpath in Nexus TK): An invisible sword that always hits an opponent as
if flat-footed. (Way back when, this was
basically the strongest weapon in the game, but such a guarded secret and
rarely used that it was hard to tell anything about the weapon… would be
fantastic if something like this was in Ashes of Creation, too!)
Ranger - Force Bow (Inspiration from D&D): A
bow that fires arrows of pure force, automatically generated when pulling back
on the string.
Mage - Staff of Destruction (D&D): This
staff is said to have a power of its own that greatly amplifies the power of
destruction magics.
Cleric - Rod of Lordly Might (D&D): This rod
comes with a series of buttons able to magically transform in to different
weapons such as a mace, longsword, and even a staff of healing magic.
Summoner - Staff of negation (D&D and
others): When used against another summoner, this staff will create an area
around the staff in which all summoned creatures cease to be on the same
plane. A direct attack against the
summoned creature when this area is not in effect will have a chance to send
the summoned creature back to its original plane.
Bard - Rod of Wonder (D&D): What better a
weapon to wield than a Rod which disperses any number of effects on the target,
wielder, or even surrounding! This rod
creates a random affect ranging from changing somebody’s skin-color to blasting
somebody with a huge fireball like a mage.
Truth be told, I just want a way to get an invisible sword... don't really care how. Whether it's epic crafting or some type of enchantment, as long as I can make an invisible sword. It would be just be way cooler if it had special properties other than just being invisible.
Comments
So if it was a one-of-a-kind item... but completely useless outside of 'normal stats', but that player had incredible skill... it ended up being one of the most sought after items in the game purely for the prestige.
Some items that were considered "Legendary" had specific hidden properties on them. Originally if you died, you could drop your gear or have some gear completely break on death. One of these weapons wasn't particularly powerful, but it was the only item in the game that did not drop on death. With the whole corruption system, possibly sacrificing gear - can you imagine how powerful it would be for a wholly corrupted player, who "will" lose most of his items, has a guaranteed item that he can keep?
I really hope Ashes of Creation uses a system more like this. We don't necessarily need colors to describe rarity of items... how about the item itself becomes the staple for rarity on whether it's seen and used or not?
On one hand you can say you're a master of X profession and made this super powerful item. There is a sense of accomplishment with that, and builds character uniqueness.
On the other, nothing worse than being compelled to the point of forced to level a specific profession because it is the only way to get that kick-ass, possibly role defining legendary.
On the other hand, if you spent all your time leveling that super-specific crafting and ended up creating one of the most powerful weapons in the game… who is to say you “had” to sell that item? If it ‘did’ end up having some sort of ‘binding’ to it, then that would almost demand that people had to be that profession, class, etc., in order to get it.
But if it was unbound, that person could either be the only person in the game with it (if nobody else discovered or learned that recipe) … or if they were generous, sell it for tons of money. Or if they sold a bunch of them, then the item would lose its value, as well as their crafting uniqueness/specialty, and probably lead to something else becoming more popular.
That’s part of the balance of having a player-run economy. If you saturate the market, then there ends up being no more market to sell your product to, and your business eventually stagnates and then declines.