sirgog
08-09-2009, 04:44 AM
First, a fairly long preamble explaining why I'm making this suggestion.
In Mod 9, there will be almost no reason to open chests that do not have named items associated with them, except for trash to sell to vendors. Almost no items have any value at all - now there's only WoPs, +2 tomes, Sup Pot 6 Kamas and the very, very best WoEs, Fiend beaters, Greater Banes and Vorpals. After mod 9 comes, WoPs will fall significantly too.
In short, there's very little on the random tables that is good, and almost every item that can drop is either obsoleted by a named item (e.g. +5 Holy of Pure Good Rapier) or is so common that it's not funny (e.g. +6 Con ring, +2 Vorpal Battleaxe).
As a way to solve this, I'm proposing a new type of random loot, that is (potentially) better than standard dungeon pulls, and is binds-on-equip.
Why?
There's something to learn, from the one item type - Tomes - that have always been sought after. Whilst tomes add very little to your character compared to other items (e.g. a Mineral 2 helm will help your survivability much more than a +2 Con tome ever will), Tomes are popular because they do something unique and are, unlike almost all other loot in this game, bind-on-equip.
For an example of why this keeps them valuable:
If you use a +3 Holy Rapier at level 8, then loot a +5 Holy Rapier and start using that, you can turn around and sell the +3 one on the Auction House. Over time, the number of good level 8 twink weapons increases and increases.
On the other hand, if you use a +2 Dex tome at level 14, then later loot and eat a +3 one, the +2 one is gone out of the economy for good.
Now to the suggestion itself. Bind-on-equip semi-static items.
For each level from 1 to 20, create 1 to 5 different items with one or two fixed magical properties. These items can be found in any chest in any quest of their exact level, so the level 17 items have a set chance, say 1% per chest, to be found in the Shroud, PotH, Kobold, Monastery or SoS and cannot be found elsewhere.
Each item has a list of possible extra magical abilities. When the item is looted, it has one or two of them (one on Normal, two on elite, 25% chance of two and 75% chance of one on Hard). These abilities can be seen normally, but do not function until the item is bound and attuned to your character.
Example:
Level 13 item, 0.6% drop rate from any chest in a quest that is level 13 when done on Normal.
A player runs Trial by Fire Elite and gets the following item:
Helm of Warding
Helmet slot
Min Level - 13
Heavy Fortification
Suppressed Magic - +5 Constitution (This ability only functions if this item has been bound and attuned to your character)
Suppressed Magic - This item grants DR 4/-. (This ability only functions if this item has been bound and attuned to your character, and does not stack with other items that grant DR).
The fixed item here is the helmet granting Heavy Fortification - different Helms of Warding can and will have different Suppressed Magic abilities. For instance, another player running TbF Normal could pull a Helm of Warding with Heavy Fortification and Suppressed Magic - Resist Electricity 20.
I think this system, by adding more binds-on-equip loot to the game, would create more incentive for lootrunning, create an actual incentive to run quests on Hard and Elite aside from once-only for favor, and would get people into more diverse quests.
In Mod 9, there will be almost no reason to open chests that do not have named items associated with them, except for trash to sell to vendors. Almost no items have any value at all - now there's only WoPs, +2 tomes, Sup Pot 6 Kamas and the very, very best WoEs, Fiend beaters, Greater Banes and Vorpals. After mod 9 comes, WoPs will fall significantly too.
In short, there's very little on the random tables that is good, and almost every item that can drop is either obsoleted by a named item (e.g. +5 Holy of Pure Good Rapier) or is so common that it's not funny (e.g. +6 Con ring, +2 Vorpal Battleaxe).
As a way to solve this, I'm proposing a new type of random loot, that is (potentially) better than standard dungeon pulls, and is binds-on-equip.
Why?
There's something to learn, from the one item type - Tomes - that have always been sought after. Whilst tomes add very little to your character compared to other items (e.g. a Mineral 2 helm will help your survivability much more than a +2 Con tome ever will), Tomes are popular because they do something unique and are, unlike almost all other loot in this game, bind-on-equip.
For an example of why this keeps them valuable:
If you use a +3 Holy Rapier at level 8, then loot a +5 Holy Rapier and start using that, you can turn around and sell the +3 one on the Auction House. Over time, the number of good level 8 twink weapons increases and increases.
On the other hand, if you use a +2 Dex tome at level 14, then later loot and eat a +3 one, the +2 one is gone out of the economy for good.
Now to the suggestion itself. Bind-on-equip semi-static items.
For each level from 1 to 20, create 1 to 5 different items with one or two fixed magical properties. These items can be found in any chest in any quest of their exact level, so the level 17 items have a set chance, say 1% per chest, to be found in the Shroud, PotH, Kobold, Monastery or SoS and cannot be found elsewhere.
Each item has a list of possible extra magical abilities. When the item is looted, it has one or two of them (one on Normal, two on elite, 25% chance of two and 75% chance of one on Hard). These abilities can be seen normally, but do not function until the item is bound and attuned to your character.
Example:
Level 13 item, 0.6% drop rate from any chest in a quest that is level 13 when done on Normal.
A player runs Trial by Fire Elite and gets the following item:
Helm of Warding
Helmet slot
Min Level - 13
Heavy Fortification
Suppressed Magic - +5 Constitution (This ability only functions if this item has been bound and attuned to your character)
Suppressed Magic - This item grants DR 4/-. (This ability only functions if this item has been bound and attuned to your character, and does not stack with other items that grant DR).
The fixed item here is the helmet granting Heavy Fortification - different Helms of Warding can and will have different Suppressed Magic abilities. For instance, another player running TbF Normal could pull a Helm of Warding with Heavy Fortification and Suppressed Magic - Resist Electricity 20.
I think this system, by adding more binds-on-equip loot to the game, would create more incentive for lootrunning, create an actual incentive to run quests on Hard and Elite aside from once-only for favor, and would get people into more diverse quests.