Heard Steven mention the focus on a micro meta in his recent interview and wanted to throw some thoughts out about the gearing system since I've had doubts about it from the start.
I'll keep it short and sweet and just say that the micro meta is going to be a lot more enjoyable than the ever-so-popular macro metas, but to top it off it'd be 100x better with a gearing system that encourages opportunistic builds and playstyles.
What I mean is like Path of Exile. Considering you aren't playing late into the league and can buy everything you want for your build immediately, having 2 things regarding gear that PoE has greatly encourages you to build your character based on items you can get, until you're wealthy enough to get what you want.
These 2 things are:
- Unique gear with unique(and often times exclusive) modifiers that greatly change how a class or skill or mechanic in the game works
- Rares/Uncommons which roll with random modifiers, suffixes and pre-fixes(based on the slot the item goes into) with random numerical values based on the items level.
Since AoC primary gearing focus will be through crafting it would make sense for crafters to be able to actually handcraft these rares and uncommon pieces by rolling for new modifiers, culling off modifiers, rerolling numerical numbers on those modifiers, gilding armor for extra modifiers, blessing armor for extra modifiers, ect.
It would add another layer to what PoE never really did(due to the lack of a proper marketplace), which is custom made gear from crafters.
I also think uniques would drop partially from rarer mobs and bosses, maybe on the global table from all mobs in a dungeon as well, but they would also partially just be made by crafters from rare material drops.
I don't know what they're going to do with the gearing system, like I said I've had doubts for a while now, but anything they do that isn't this I'm pretty sure is going to be a massive missed opportunity. Look at how many people come back and play league for PoE each season, mostly just to %$#& around with that damn gearing system(and the gems/talents, but that's besides the point), it's that engrossing. Top tier gearing system