Vertical Enchanting System Alternative Using Existing Game Systems Focusing on Real Player Choice
Leiloni
Member
So right now I've heard just a few ideas of why a vertical enchantment system is needed at all:
1. Gold sink
2. Risk vs Reward
3. Keep crafters busy
I'm not sure if all are necessary but let's just leave them there for the time being. I don't think you need a vertical enchantment system to satisfy the needs of this game. Instead, I have another idea.
Briefly, here's what you do - you focus on crafted gear that is work to get, but not too much so (one month for full long term-viable endgame set with gold offering shortcuts via the economy), and offer various different sets/set bonuses, stat combos, etc. to entice players to continually create and play with new/different sets. No vertical enchanting. Hardcore players will min/max and have a perfect set for every build or every situation, while more casual players will find one or two sets that is good enough for everything and they too, will be satisfied. This also entices people to make alts and rinse/repeat because it's not a slog to get one or several gear sets. And then we also will need to continually deal with item decay and repair. All of this means crafters will be kept busy and players will always need to gather/sell the mats either for themselves or someone else, so that keeps the economy moving.
The details:
I'd say get rid of vertical enchantment entirely and take a note from other Western MMO's on how to keep people busy earning crafting mats and using crafters without forcing players to do anything they don't want, and without making them feel like they have to do something in order to "keep up with the Jones's". Specifically games like ESO and to a lesser extent GW2. Both games, but ESO more so, have crafting classes that are needed and often used, and gear is constantly being earned and worked on. But there's no major RNG systems and players don't hate it at all - in fact most love it.
Better yet, AoC already has several components of such a system built in that they can just build upon to make this happen easily. Primarily, the best gear is crafted although in both games you can also get some or all via gameplay activities like PvE drops. AoC is the same and this works well. Crafted gear is something you do have to work towards, especially the highest tiers. However it's not an obscene grind, so even a casual player can and will put in the work and feel good about it. Even if it takes them a few weeks longer because they don't have gold for shortcuts or mats saved/friends to help, they're still happy because they can compete and participate in all aspects of the game (this is important!).
You focus on offering several different sets and set bonuses and you can always introduce more in the future to keep people wanting to create and play with new sets. This entices players to try out different character builds, or to have different sets for different gameplay scenarios, or to roll alts and do all of that on an alt. With 64 class combinations, players are going to want to try alts, but having a massive barrier to entry like vertical enchanting may dissuade them from doing that. This can fix that as well.
Once you craft one set, you're good to go. No vertical enchanting. Done, gear is final. This is huge because players are satisfied, yet will still desire to try to craft different sets for a different scenario or alts, and gather mats for item decay and repair. But they won't be irritated doing it because they're already on par, and anything more is just icing on the cake.
This allows both hardcore and casual players to choose how much effort to put in while still being viable or "good enough" no matter what they do. This is because even with one set, your stats are still "on par" with most other players. You may not be able to specialize as much or play with different builds, but that doesn't make you less capable, it just makes you more of a generalist and other players who put in more time or effort, more able to specialize for each situation. But both work. AoC already has introduced the idea of set bonuses so this will work well and they can delve deeper into this system.
ESO also has crafting stations located in specific parts of the world for certain sets, and those sets can only be crafted there. Here, AoC already has introduced the idea of crafting stations being tied to the node progression system and can take the idea further. To take it even further and require more work to get those sets, or some bit of risk to make them, you can tie unlocking set bonus specific stations to certain types of nodes, or other "unlock" conditions, so they're not easy to get to and need to be maintained in order to keep up access.
In conclusion, I think arguably with a system like this, you could satisfy all 3 checklist items at the top while giving both hardcore and casual players a real choice in how to gear and the capability to feel like they're competitive and happy.
1. Gold sink
2. Risk vs Reward
3. Keep crafters busy
I'm not sure if all are necessary but let's just leave them there for the time being. I don't think you need a vertical enchantment system to satisfy the needs of this game. Instead, I have another idea.
Briefly, here's what you do - you focus on crafted gear that is work to get, but not too much so (one month for full long term-viable endgame set with gold offering shortcuts via the economy), and offer various different sets/set bonuses, stat combos, etc. to entice players to continually create and play with new/different sets. No vertical enchanting. Hardcore players will min/max and have a perfect set for every build or every situation, while more casual players will find one or two sets that is good enough for everything and they too, will be satisfied. This also entices people to make alts and rinse/repeat because it's not a slog to get one or several gear sets. And then we also will need to continually deal with item decay and repair. All of this means crafters will be kept busy and players will always need to gather/sell the mats either for themselves or someone else, so that keeps the economy moving.
The details:
I'd say get rid of vertical enchantment entirely and take a note from other Western MMO's on how to keep people busy earning crafting mats and using crafters without forcing players to do anything they don't want, and without making them feel like they have to do something in order to "keep up with the Jones's". Specifically games like ESO and to a lesser extent GW2. Both games, but ESO more so, have crafting classes that are needed and often used, and gear is constantly being earned and worked on. But there's no major RNG systems and players don't hate it at all - in fact most love it.
Better yet, AoC already has several components of such a system built in that they can just build upon to make this happen easily. Primarily, the best gear is crafted although in both games you can also get some or all via gameplay activities like PvE drops. AoC is the same and this works well. Crafted gear is something you do have to work towards, especially the highest tiers. However it's not an obscene grind, so even a casual player can and will put in the work and feel good about it. Even if it takes them a few weeks longer because they don't have gold for shortcuts or mats saved/friends to help, they're still happy because they can compete and participate in all aspects of the game (this is important!).
You focus on offering several different sets and set bonuses and you can always introduce more in the future to keep people wanting to create and play with new sets. This entices players to try out different character builds, or to have different sets for different gameplay scenarios, or to roll alts and do all of that on an alt. With 64 class combinations, players are going to want to try alts, but having a massive barrier to entry like vertical enchanting may dissuade them from doing that. This can fix that as well.
Once you craft one set, you're good to go. No vertical enchanting. Done, gear is final. This is huge because players are satisfied, yet will still desire to try to craft different sets for a different scenario or alts, and gather mats for item decay and repair. But they won't be irritated doing it because they're already on par, and anything more is just icing on the cake.
This allows both hardcore and casual players to choose how much effort to put in while still being viable or "good enough" no matter what they do. This is because even with one set, your stats are still "on par" with most other players. You may not be able to specialize as much or play with different builds, but that doesn't make you less capable, it just makes you more of a generalist and other players who put in more time or effort, more able to specialize for each situation. But both work. AoC already has introduced the idea of set bonuses so this will work well and they can delve deeper into this system.
ESO also has crafting stations located in specific parts of the world for certain sets, and those sets can only be crafted there. Here, AoC already has introduced the idea of crafting stations being tied to the node progression system and can take the idea further. To take it even further and require more work to get those sets, or some bit of risk to make them, you can tie unlocking set bonus specific stations to certain types of nodes, or other "unlock" conditions, so they're not easy to get to and need to be maintained in order to keep up access.
In conclusion, I think arguably with a system like this, you could satisfy all 3 checklist items at the top while giving both hardcore and casual players a real choice in how to gear and the capability to feel like they're competitive and happy.
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