Limited/rare items?


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    @jetah said in Limited/rare items?:

    all gear, having a durability so that the item will eventually break and become unusable.

    And perhaps when you break down an item yourself to get back basic materials, lesser the durability, less materials you get back.

    100% durability = 100% materials back
    37% durability = 37% materials back



  • On the topic of "limited" or "rare" items -- what if you didn't intuitively know an item was rare? Video games color code items based on their "rarity." Lately, games also outright divulge the drop rate of particular desired items/heroes, instead of leaving it to the studious community to piece together.

    One definition of rarity:
    "(of a thing) not found in large numbers and consequently of interest or value."

    What if the item you find isn't marked with keywords (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Legendary) or colors to indicate it is rare - but it is the first of it's kind you've found in 5 weeks of playing and it has an interesting property you find desirable? How much would you sell it for? How much would someone buy it for? Have you ever seen this item in the marketplace before? Are you the first to find one? Without it being marked as Legendary (yellow font color) how do you know how much it is worth?

    From a user perspective, it is important to know you have something valuable on your hands so you don't accidentally toss it or vendor it as a new or inexperienced player. Color-coded items are more user-friendly. Yet also very rigid.

    "Not found in large numbers" implies that only so many are available. As someone else in this thread pointed out: grindable items will be harvested in mass quantities at the cost of time spent, no matter how "rarely" they drop. But if there is a limited quantity of an item that can exist at any given time... that is truly rare. It won't drop again until some other copy of it has been destroyed or sitting idle in storage for x months.

    For an item to be "Legendary" is less about its quantity in existence and more about its history. Legendary ought to mean there are legends behind it that make it so desirable. A great hero wearing it in an epic battle. A horrible fiend using it for a devastating ritual. A goddess blessing it with divine energy to protect the prince some thousand years ago. Or, a skillful player -- the first to wield it in a century -- slaying x number of enemies (or other players) with it. Forever memorialized in the item's flavor text for all to know should they too stumble upon the weapon.


  • TF#9 - FIRST AMBASSADOR

    @technocat Actually, this could be fun! if you set a weapon to have a hidden memory feature, and tracks what is done with it...until you die once while wielding it, let's say. And if it meets some threshold - user survived at least 200 days without dying, or killed x number of enemies, or saw y00 hours of Eclipse Defense or Raid - something major - then it gets flagged, and at some point afterwords, the devs in their spare time "Name" the weapon with something lorish and use reflective.

    You know, "The Shield of Grandspan" - this shield protected the life of Marfest Ballow, Champion of the Ravine, who single-handled held out a Demonic Eclipse Raid at Grandspan Ravine for 3 days before his allies arrived to turn the tide!

    Make it indestructible - if durability is a thing - and unsellable, because we don't want this lore stuff to get lost (tradable or stealable, sure, but not destructible in any shape or form). And then remove that parameter for cuing a legendary in that fashion, so the feat can never be repeated - maybe surpassed, but there will only be one of that sort of legend. maybe if the legend involves something non-pvp-ish, give it a bonus - 1 point of extra damage when hunting a certain enemy, that sort of thing. Maybe give the above shield +1 hp - not much, but something to point at and say "better!" pvp-legends probably shouldn't give a benefit that matters to pvp - like...you regain more health when out of combat for more 5 minutes - doesn't really match the feat, but unbalancing pvp is probably a bad idea? I dunno, some one go see what Gothix thinks?

    To respond to the rest - I wouldn't mind chucking color coded rarity - most games develop a wiki fairly soon after they start, so rarity won't exactly be a huge mystery, but it does help with immersion, and that feeling of "I FOUND A THING! THAT'S AWESOME!" (what the devil is it?!) which I fully support XD

    (maybe also have "Cursed" objects in the same way - a blade whose owner died 100 times in 100 days gets a lorish passage about it's own is destined to die XD or, if someone always loses to some particular enemy, the lore becomes about that. Or the knife you owned when you gambled away several million coins becomes known as the "Unlucky Bastard" and causes you to lose 1% of the money you pick up XD)


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    @technocat
    I'm pretty sure DS mentioned color quality.

    I do love the idea of everything doesn't have a quality color but is just a name, stats and an optional lore/joke part. I love it in Eve!


  • TF#4 - EMISSARY

    Wonder how this would work in a pvp environment too if every world has the same mob or boss to farm it

    I can see the pros/cons if it is in a pvp or non-pvp world


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    @lx15
    On planets with PvP it becomes a race to kill the mob and kill the opposing player.

    You can get guild/alliance mates to defend if needed.


  • TF#9 - FIRST AMBASSADOR

    @jetah so, hardcore "We ARE Struggling Together," per the trope? XD


  • TF#11 - PROCONSUL

    @Specter @Jetah Thanks for the heads up.


  • TF#10 - CONSUL

    I'm against anything with a power boost here.

    That said, if they want to throw in silly fun stuff, like an axe that turns lumber into a different resource (in appropriate amounts) I'd be fine with that. Just as one example.


  • TF#11 - PROCONSUL

    @jairone Well it depends on how big of a boost there is, if we're talking about a rare ice staff that you got from a dungeon, or a raid/boss event then some minor buffs couldn't hurt, like reducing Mana requirements for a specific set of spells, or increasing the effect of aoe elemental attacks on the environment. Those could be a little far fetched but those could be some ways of doing things.
    But overall, anything that allows you to overpower a group of players with sheer force is too op, unless you use wit and they follow you over a river on a bridge of ice and you just drown them.


  • TF#10 - CONSUL

    @thegreatelleon I understand the desire for cool things, but I am of the belief that such things are generally bad. Environmental effects, things that are not combat power (mana may be, or it may not be, depends on how they balance use and recovery), and pure fun stuff is a plus. Sadly, that's a pretty fine line, the moment something crosses over (and your mana example is one that shows how easy that is to have different opinions on) it will be a major issue with lots of drama.

    No, I would rather they simply make any such effects fun stuff that is completely useless for combat. It can still be fun (for example, PvP players might enjoy an item that yells things like 'Brutal! Rekt! Worthless!' when they kill somebody, which has no power effect whatsoever already have some PvE focused ones, so used that idea) but... the moment it goes into some form of power people will complain or start stupid epeen crud over it. "Nope, you don't have X rarity item you can't raid with us." "That weapons is unfair, it makes the difference between winning and losing at equal skill." ETC.

    I see no reason why any developer would want to do that to themselves. I do not think we do ourselves a favor by pursuing that. It is better as a whole to avoid power as part of that, and instead focus on things that are just wacky fun.


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    @thegreatelleon said in Limited/rare items?:

    like reducing Mana requirements for a specific set of spells

    That would be a huge boost. Literally boosting your sustain by a lot. Even if mana reduction is minor, if applied to a whole set of skills this boost becomes huge. And this is only from staff, now imagine (in addition to that) rare chest, rare pants, rare rings, etc... all with such buffs. You become a god.


  • TF#9 - FIRST AMBASSADOR

    @gothix Agreed. anything that improves mana efficiency is going to be a serious thing. Putting it on a unique item creates an imbalance that no one can match - there is no way to get that advantage, short of stealing said object. "But it's only a boost to the worst ice spell in the game" Doesn't fracking matter. even a point improvement can give you a notable advantage, especially in a long battle. Anything that gets an extra spell is killer.


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    Don’t forget that 1 person can be killed.

    My only problem would be that a person could sell the item on a third party site.


  • DymStudios - CEO

    @gothix said in Limited/rare items?:

    Thing is if people get legendary items, they will start asking devs for the ways to protect them so they can't be stolen / looted from them.
    You can bet whatever you want on that.

    "ahh gank squads are stealing my legendary items"
    "this OP guild stole all legendary items in game and now they are too powerful, nerf them"
    etc (insert million more complaints of similar type)

    Indeed, "legendary" pieces of equipment don't work well in a game where items lose durability and eventually break, plus drop on death. Even if you're playing on Arboreus where being looted is impossible/extremely unlikely, you'd eventually lose your "legendary" item. Also, having such items would break our design pillar of different equipment being better/worse in different scenarios - not better/worse overall.

    On the opposite, when it comes to cosmetics, trophies, etc, everything is possible, and we'll definitely have very rare / unique items. Asteroids, as someone mentioned, will be a very likely source of them. GM-hosted events will be as well.

    @jetah said in Limited/rare items?:

    I believe @Prometheus said it was a UI system so there are no physical items for cash shop items.

    Correct 🙂


  • TF#11 - PROCONSUL

    @gothix yeah, I don't think I thoroughly thought that argument through lol, but some minor enchantments that have a wear/tear could be a way to balance it?
    Although, along with the enchantments being small enough to help you but not enough to tip the scales, would be interesting, but it's a thin line. 🤷‍♂️


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    @prometheus

    I would suggest some type of gift card and/or a gift system so that people can buy cosmetics for friends. I understand this could be exploited with stolen CC and chargebacks.


  • TF#2 - MESSENGER

    What if instead of a legendary weapon it was a recipe to craft a legendary weapon. One that would take several specialized crafters to build.


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    @night said in Limited/rare items?:

    What if instead of a legendary weapon it was a recipe to craft a legendary weapon. One that would take several specialized crafters to build.

    why would something so legendary be crafted? the Mona Lisa is legendary but there isn't a recipe or art directions to paint it. It's legendary because of who created it first.

    I do get your point though.


  • TF#12 - PEOPLE'S HERALD

    @night said in Limited/rare items?:

    What if instead of a legendary weapon it was a recipe to craft a legendary weapon. One that would take several specialized crafters to build.

    It doesn't matter how the legendary is created. It's very existence would screw with the balance of a MMO that's meant to be skill/knowledge based and not gear based.


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