Affix tier and implicit drops to fix gear progression

Agree with FoE on both accounts. The need for more undesirable stuff to drop to keep the loot chase going is important, but adding more high level bases in order to “round out” the high level loot table would be a great help. I would also say there’s already a need for melee weapons in this regard. Right now they all drop with physical base, but so many melee builds would prefer other damage types. A nice set of weapons with other damage types would be great. Spell based weapons could also be separated into specific damage types instead of adaptive so the hunt for a specific weapon that fits the build in every way becomes more realized at endgame.

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I agree there should be more than just base Phys. I also think melee weapons are not very exciting at all. Titan blade drops you already know its 90 flat but as an example sorc staff getting 120 adaptive and 20% increased mana cost has that “WOW look at this base” factor that melee completely lacks.

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Maybe making the Phys damage on melee weapons roll a random damage type instead would make the item hunting better?

So a Titan Blade could roll with a base 90 of Phys, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Necrotic etc.

It would give more variety to melee weapons and help get the “wow” factor of finding, say, a Sovnya with 7% crit and 88 of your specific damage type. Yummy.

Like I said elsewhere, items should be reworked in the number of implicits and explicits. There should still be 1 static implicit that rolls the number range (Crit chance +1-7% for example).

Then there should be a guaranteed, random implicit that rolls from a chart based on the item.
There should be a chance (maybe 20%) to get a 2nd randomly rolled implicit.

Since the power level of the items stats would increase because of that, the number of affixes and item can have should be reduced to 3. Items should have 1 prefix slot, 1 suffix slot, and 1 wild slot that you can craft any affix on.

This would increase the diversity and strength of items by quite a lot. It could add another layer of excitement to items.

Haven’t read everything. My 2 cents: all item bases should drop at all level tiers. What scales is not the base item, but the base stats. Example: Sovnya is 88 physical with 3-7% crit. At level 1 it should be 19 physical with 2-4% crit (what iron spear is now). Do away with items that duplicate the base stats like iron spear. Keep the base items from others like talon spear and axyon. Have them scale as you reach different item tiers. At level 74 your options are Sovnya, talon spear, and axyon with the base stats at it’s appropriate level but with different implicit stats (crit vs. haste vs. elemental).

This allows each base item to retain its flavor (am I going crit or elemental damage?) It doesn’t punish players who want a different implicit that has lower stats. And it allows items to drop in its appropriate level. No more level 4 item dropping in a level 100 map. It’ll always be the max tier.

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I’d be okay with that. They could use current low tier items to add a far greater variety in implicits and they could scale as well.

Using the belts is probably easier to illustrate.

Belt (3 slots) level 1 -> Leather belt (4 slots) level 14 -> Ranger belt (5 slots) level 60

Copper belt (2 slots, 25-75 armor) level 1 - > plated belt (3 slots, 75-125 armor) level 19-> bronze belt (4 slots, 125-175 armor) level 44

Sash (2 slots, 5-15 mana) level 1 -> Noble sash (3 slots, 15-25 mana) level 32 -> Regal sash (4 slots, 25-35 mana)

Items can only drop if their item level is lower than the area level. Items can no longer drop if the area level is +15 from the item level. Exceptions: last item of the “series”

Example Copper Belt (level 1)

  • Drops in area levels 1-16
  • No longer drops in area levels 17+

Bronze belt (level 44)

  • Drops in area levels 44 + (last item in the series)

Plated belt (level 19)

  • Drops in area levels 19-34
  • No longer drops in area levels 35+

Levels obviously needs to be adjusted so SOMETHING drops between the gaps. But I used the above as an example to illustrate my point. If you want to go for maximum potion slots, you would go for the ranger belt at max level. You would go belt and leather belt before you get to the ranger belt since you want maximum potion slots. If you want to go for armor, then your goal is to farm bronze belts and use the copper belt and plated belt before you reach the level you can get bronze belts.

This allows you to “choose” an item path as you progress through the levels. Right now you’re stuck with the noble sash if you want mana on your belt. This also allows you to tie item level to area level. No longer will you get the copper belt drop on a level 100 map when you really want the bronze belt.

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