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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Comments
I'm assuming that just basic proof of concept is enough.
For anyone who takes a look at that, just note that not every item has the same options for Traits, even within a gear type or rarity tier
That is, there are Epic Chest Pieces that have Melee Evasion as an option for Traits, and others that lack it. If we apply that to this conversation, then there's no concern.
AoC lists as inspiration
Star Wars Galaxies with its crafting systems.[1]
I've not played it but I've seen SWG mentioned before as a good example. Was it complex?
I have no good answer regarding where complexity should be to allow or prevent easy stat adjustments. NPCs seem to do the crafting after we do it once and those quotes are somewhat old. Maybe stats adjustment is similar and finding freeholds and crafting stations in nodes and transporting materials will be difficult.
I'll try to outline it briefly.
I'll reference the TL stuff because it's a really solid point, and my data indicates that you prefer those.
I mentioned the Heavenly Arbiter Attire, I'm not going to link it because I don't want to confuse anyone with abstractions.
It is made from three components and a Recipe. the three components are 'Thread, Magic Powder, and Magic Crystal.
It can have one of the following Traits when you craft it (it can fit 3 traits total, but that doesn't matter to this example):
Magic Endurance
Magic Evasion
Mana Regen
Max Mana
Melee Endurance
Melee Evasion
It also has some base stats that it always has because it is Heavenly Arbiter Attire. So there's the stats that are from what it is, and the stats that are RNG when crafted.
In a game like Ashes or SWG, the second set of stats would not need to be RNG.
You might have the choice of using 'Light Mana Channeling Thread', 'Tough Reinforced Thread', or just normal Thread.
Imagine that using Light Mana Channeling Thread would cause the trait of the completed gear to have the Max Mana trait, and using Tough Reinforced Thread would cause it to have Melee Endurance trait.
The base stats of Heavenly Arbiter Attire would still be there, and be the same every time.
To me, this isn't complex, but for some people, it's complex.
You could make it more complex by having a Crafter build up experience with making Heavenly Arbiter Attire, for example 'experience in adding a Trait'. For example, if the crafter could not control the outcome perfectly even if they used Light Mana Channeling Thread, and they had a 50/50 chance of getting either Max Mana or Mana Regen, maybe that Crafter could have a skill or experience which allows them to choose or change the chances.
But the Heavenly Arbiter Attire would still only have the same six Trait options (for example, there is no Max Health option on it, and there are no materials used to construct it that could give Max Health). And whatever its base stats or abilities are would be the same.
A ranger can equip a spell book, but they won’t make good use of it because it doesn’t synergize with a ranger’s skill set.
A tank could pick up DW daggers but then they don’t have strong defenses anymore.
As for upgrading, literally why would you not want better stats on gear that synergies well with your class and preferred play style? It’s straight vertical power when you’ve already hit the horizontal power/comfort you prefer.
This sounds similar to Guild Wars 2. They had 3 final components which players had to craft from different resources
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Draconic_Coat#itemct29
I don't like it.
What I would like to is the crafter to not be ready to craft just because he leveled up some skills but a preparation to be needed:
- buffs from other players
- buffs from guild hall
- equipping special gear or getting attuned to it or some complex process (not a simple mouse click)
- the intermediate recipes should not have a clear pattern (like all ending up with 3 components) but multiple intermediate items which you should have them prepared just in case somebody comes and you need them. Like having to keep and organize a lot of junk, like farmers care for their crops.
- the crafting itself should be manual not just give ingredients to an NPC and should involve observing processes, like estimating temperature observing colors, sounds...
- after crafting you should again work to become fit for combat, the reverse of the 3rd step above
If somebody pays you to craft something, they should be happy they are not in your place.
Though considering that these active abilties will somehow not influence the gameplay of your archetype, I'm not sure what kind of impact can those even have. Like, even a simple "give this weapon an elemental atk attribute for 30s" active ability would immediately introduce some changes to how you might approach your entire build and gameplay.
Still, it's not uncommon, I feel like TL has gear that has either 'the equivalent of entire active skills' or 'Augments to skills that are so meaningful that they might as well be new active Skills'.
It's semi-popular in ARPGs like Diablo and POE as well, so I'm not surprised that Intrepid is considering it too.
It's just one more cell in the balance spreadsheet, after all, and in a weapon-agnostic game where you have to make all the animations anyway, no change in effort.
I'm used to both active and "such a strong effect that it changes your gameplay" passive skills on items, thanks to L2's augmentation system and its variously "broken" applications on diferent servers.
But that system has also let me experience the completely useless side of effects as well. And I'm just curious how will Intrepid walk the line between the two, while trying not to design something that might as well change an entire's archetype gameplay approach.
Oh come on now ... ... 😁 ... ... we all know that THIS is not true ... ...
No matter how good, skillful - and effective you skill your - well - "Skilltree/s",
you will ALWAYS be better with a Weapon of a clearly higher Degree. No matter how it is to come by a good Weapon.
With a rare or legendary kind of Weapon, you will always outperform your own Max-Damage that you make with a average or just little bit better/enchanted Weapon.
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Guild is " Balderag's Garde " for now. (German)
Err no. You still have to enchant legendaries. Make no mistake. I will have legendry weapons but do I need to enchant said weapon? No not at all.