Limited craftable equipment

[VJade]

quite a few people have mentioned and are of the same opinion that equipment etc armor , guns , et al . are making crafting and special loots pointless.

 

once you get to a certain level and done certain quests you are pretty much at the peak and cant get much better plus there is no point to crafting weapons as you can loot better etc.

 

 

One way around this is to introduce Limited items both RARE looted and RARE crafted which have a lifespan and cant be repaired but have greater stats to their equivalent spec normal items.

 

They could have a new colour assigned to them much like the current system.

 

This will make the game better :

1) gives a reason to craft grind

2) uses the auction / market more

3) gives speciality items which can be collected and used for specific quests.

4) gives people reasons to go back to do certain quests if they give limited loots as rewards.

5) gives a digestable waste to the game which encourages more use. EG ( if a scavanger has to find X amount of minerals to then craft Y item so they can sell it) The item then gets used up and doesnt get repaired and thus the cycle continues .

 

I hope that makes sense but sets of unique limited items that cant be repaired and get destroyed at the end of its life would be a good thing.

[Baelish]

quite a few people have mentioned and are of the same opinion that equipment etc armor , guns , et al . are making crafting and special loots pointless.

Where do you get equipment other than crafting and "special loot"? Vendors?

 

Crafting is getting a big boost in 1.2; best-in-slot gear will be crit-crafted orange stuff only available from player crafting. It will be filled with the armouring mods out of "special loot".

 

Are you complaining that dailies make cybertech, armstech and artifice player-crafted modules obsolete? Haven't seen they're necessarily doing anything about that in 1.2, but it's such a flood of info, I may have missed it.

[VJade]

Where do you get equipment other than crafting and "special loot"? Vendors?

 

Crafting is getting a big boost in 1.2; best-in-slot gear will be crit-crafted orange stuff only available from player crafting. It will be filled with the armouring mods out of "special loot".

 

Are you complaining that dailies make cybertech, armstech and artifice player-crafted modules obsolete? Haven't seen they're necessarily doing anything about that in 1.2, but it's such a flood of info, I may have missed it.

 

yes, basically the items you get currently as people have mentioned in many threads that it makes player crafted items pointless in which case why develop your character into a armormech or armstech character when a few dailies as you said gets you better kit.

 

also because of that scavanging etc is subsequently effected.

 

IF it was introduced that you can player craft greater items than what is currently given but make them perishable I think that would add something to the game.

 

It means people can have a reason to craft and it means people can purchase or loot said equipment but once its perished its gone and they would have to craft it again instead of just repairing.

[Baelish]

yes, basically the items you get currently as people have mentioned in many threads that it makes player crafted items pointless in which case why develop your character into a armormech or armstech character when a few dailies as you said gets you better kit.

You need to look at the developments they're bringing in 1.2. As I said in my post earlier, crafted gear is going to be better than anything you can buy or pick up. Synthweaving and Armourmech will be making crit-crafted orange armour. Armstech and Artifice will be making crit-crafted weapons. These will have augment slots that simply can't be got any other way, and the endgame set "armouring" (and "barrel"/"hilt" I assume, though thinking about it I haven't read anything about that aspect of weapons...) mods will be made extractable, so they can be put into these augmented moddable armours and therefore be better than the purple Operation drop.

IF it was introduced that you can player craft greater items than what is currently given but make them perishable I think that would add something to the game.

 

It means people can have a reason to craft and it means people can purchase or loot said equipment but once its perished its gone and they would have to craft it again instead of just repairing.

So this is largely unnecessary. Or will be, if 1.2 works how we think it will.

[VJade]

You need to look at the developments they're bringing in 1.2. As I said in my post earlier, crafted gear is going to be better than anything you can buy or pick up. Synthweaving and Armourmech will be making crit-crafted orange armour. Armstech and Artifice will be making crit-crafted weapons. These will have augment slots that simply can't be got any other way, and the endgame set "armouring" (and "barrel"/"hilt" I assume, though thinking about it I haven't read anything about that aspect of weapons...) mods will be made extractable, so they can be put into these augmented moddable armours and therefore be better than the purple Operation drop.

 

So this is largely unnecessary. Or will be, if 1.2 works how we think it will.

 

I hope your right with the changes coming up...

 

I will wait with baited breath as they say..

[HeavensAgent]

The introduction of perishable items never works to boost crafting systems. In fact, the concept almost always backfires; players would rather not mess with items that are only available for a limited time, and the crafting system is tossed to the curb.

[mattgyver]

I agree that decay is not a good idea, you can only do it if everything decays and I don't think that would be tolerable.

 

The only thing I see as a roadblock for what you proposed is that the content/gear balance is something they have numerically plotted, and have stated that Orange critted gear with augment is already above the curve.

 

That having been said, there needs to be some more meat to the crafting system. Maybe crafting appearance dyes, adding other utility effects to gear (clickables: helmet that allows you to call to group), eventual crafted components for guild capital ships, and furniture, crafted pets (droids/beasts)

[VJade]

The introduction of perishable items never works to boost crafting systems. In fact, the concept almost always backfires; players would rather not mess with items that are only available for a limited time, and the crafting system is tossed to the curb.

 

 

Not true. I played Entropia Universe formerly named project entropia and they moved from a repairable items game to a combined repairable / perishable items game and it worked to both boost their game profits by keeping people in the game investing and gave a focus for guilds of people which crafted said weapons / armor etc .

 

Granted I only know of one MMORPG that did it so my view of it is somewhat biased but it did and does work for that MMO .

 

The players in that game are willing to pay top in game cash for limited items that are perishable but are of a superior quality and protection and or destruction for the weapons to give them an edge over other gamers .

 

it also made an environment for meterials gatherers to earn a living simply gathering ore etc and seling it to the crafters who in turn made profit selling their crafted items on to hunters / fighters who wanted the kit.

[VJade]

I agree that decay is not a good idea, you can only do it if everything decays and I don't think that would be tolerable.

 

The only thing I see as a roadblock for what you proposed is that the content/gear balance is something they have numerically plotted, and have stated that Orange critted gear with augment is already above the curve.

 

That having been said, there needs to be some more meat to the crafting system. Maybe crafting appearance dyes, adding other utility effects to gear (clickables: helmet that allows you to call to group), eventual crafted components for guild capital ships, and furniture, crafted pets (droids/beasts)

 

 

I agree with you when you say everything decaying is not a good idea. Which is why I said only for unique top end kit to be perishable. The same system would be in place now only an inclusion of VERY RARE perishable items be included.

 

hopefully this will be addressed anyway with up and coming changes but perishable items are possible and do work if introduced correctly.

 

I do agree with your last part though about including dyes and adding more meat to the crafting area in general.

 

fingers crosed they think up something

[HeavensAgent]

Not true. I played Entropia Universe formerly named project entropia and they moved from a repairable items game to a combined repairable / perishable items game and it worked to both boost their game profits by keeping people in the game investing and gave a focus for guilds of people which crafted said weapons / armor etc .

That's irrelevant, Entropia Universe isn't a subscription-based game. It uses micro-transactions as a general game economy. Decay systems are often used in such games, but they aren't even met with success there. People use them because they have no choice, not because it works.

[VJade]

That's irrelevant, Entropia Universe isn't a subscription-based game. It uses micro-transactions as a general game economy. Decay systems are often used in such games, but they aren't even met with success there. People use them because they have no choice, not because it works.

 

(not being rude but) Absolute bollocks .

 

Yes EU isnt subscription based you got that bit right but the point is that ORIGINALLY it was like SWTOR in the sense it had all items within the game were fully repairable. This was seen as a massive issue as it didnt give a drive for people to redo certain areas / hunts for certain loot drops because once you had that set of armor or gun etc you never needed to go back to that map / planet / area again.

 

Because of the introduction of limited items in EU it meant hunters et al needed to either pay massive costs to buy the items off crafters and other people who looted them or to drive towards finding / looting and crafting the items themselves.

 

THAT in turn drove the game to another level where people also held sets of armor and weapons for certain FOE's ... IN SWTOR once you get a better piece of kit you can just get rid / sell the lesser kit as you will never need it again.

 

With EU people had several full sets of different armor etc so that one one perished you still had other armor or be it lesser still to wear. With SWTOR you only ever need 1 full set .

 

Thats an issue in my mind.

 

Also your point about people not havign a choice in EU is wrong also... you can play EU whatever way you like with the repairable items if you wish.... The choice is so vast compared to SWTOR its crazy.

 

One of the issues people have with SWTOR is that once you hit level 50 there is no need to go to the lesser planets and help others or do lesser level heroics etc as there is no benefit.

 

In EU because of the need to re-get armour and materials for higher end kit it makes people go back to certain areas and redo bosses etc to get them again which drives the group / guilds / new players to easily find groups of people to join with throughout the levels.

 

Its easy to dismiss someones idea and constructive thoughts by simply saying it doesnt work. but thats just trolling and has no place when I know 100% this does work.

 

Whether it gets thoguht of I highly doubt it but thats why you have forums to give dev ideas .

[misterME]

I hope your right with the changes coming up...

 

I will wait with baited breath as they say..

 

They don't say.

 

I promise I'm not the Grammar Police, but this is a pet peeve of mine. It's "bated" breath, meaning "abated breath", or holding your breath in anticipation. "Baited breath" implies you have have somehow made your breath more attractive to some creature likely to jump down your throat in response. An amusing image, to be sure, but hardly fitting your original intent...

 

[HeavensAgent]

(not being rude but) Absolute bollocks .

(No offense taken, and reply-in-kind intended as humorous in nature)

Rocky Mountain oysters! You're comparing apples to oranges.

 

The are certain fundamental differences in a pay-to-play and a subscription based game that apply to this situation. A P2P is built upon a concept that you pay microtransactions on a regular basis in able to perform at optimal levels within the game world. The smaller but more frequent sales are how the developers obtain the income needed to maintain the game, add content, and make a profit. Perishable gear is grudgingly accepted in this games because there is no initial barrier to entry and the developers much make money somehow. This is especially true if the perishable items are optional to all but the most optimal gameplay situations, as you indicate is the case in this instance.

 

A subscription-based game features a more proactive billing process where user pay an initial entry fee before being able to access the game world. This entry fee is what is used to maintain and expand the content and generate profit. There is an expectation that you are paying for access to the entire game in a subscription model, including unfettered access to your character(s) and its gear. Because of the initial investment and promise of content throughout the subscription period, perishable equipment and other measures that limit access and use are treated as bait-and-switch tactics.

Edited April 5, 2012 by HeavensAgent

[VJade]

 

They don't say.

 

I promise I'm not the Grammar Police, but this is a pet peeve of mine. It's "bated" breath, meaning "abated breath", or holding your breath in anticipation. "Baited breath" implies you have have somehow made your breath more attractive to some creature likely to jump down your throat in response. An amusing image, to be sure, but hardly fitting your original intent...

 

 

Lol.. fair enough. I don't mind . I rarely check how I type especially if its a longer than normal response to a post. but granted "bated breath" it is.

 

lets hope the swtor dev guys are as concise as you are on such things.. lol

[VJade]

(No offense taken, and reply-in-kind intended as humorous in nature)

Rocky Mountain oysters! You're comparing apples to oranges.

 

The are certain fundamental differences in a pay-to-play and a subscription based game that apply to this situation. A P2P is built upon a concept that you pay microtransactions on a regular basis in able to perform at optimal levels within the game world. The smaller but more frequent sales are how the developers obtain the income needed to maintain the game, add content, and make a profit. Perishable gear is grudgingly accepted in this games because there is no initial barrier to entry and the developers much make money somehow. This is especially true if the perishable items are optional to all but the most optimal gameplay situations, as you indicate is the case in this instance.

 

A subscription-based game features a more proactive billing process where user pay an initial entry fee before being able to access the game world. This entry fee is what is used to maintain and expand the content and generate profit. There is an expectation that you are paying for access to the entire game in a subscription model, including unfettered access to your character(s) and its gear. Because of the initial investment and promise of content throughout the subscription period, perishable equipment and other measures that limit access and use are treated as bait-and-switch tactics.

 

I'm glad you took the words as the intended humorous nature.

 

True it is like comparing apples to oranges but my guise is still for the fruit baring tree to act in the same way .

 

Your right about the micro transactional way the game system works, but that wasnt my end of the plug so to speak.

 

I still feel a subscription based game such as this (swtor) could include perishable limited kit. It wouldnt need to be moved to a micro transactional game like EU in its entirity as the items wouldnt need to be paid for as such externally but internally via effort in looting and crafting.

 

I guess that's my angle to get more people at the higher (completed) for want of a better word, side of the game to then still have a reason to play on the none content side.

 

Granted further content would be great as the game develops over time. No doubt the devs will start to add more and did nt they say the level 50 at the moment is more of a soft cap with ideas to develop further at a later date.

 

My reasoning for a limited perishable items was to get more meaning to crafting for the long term and subsequent looting of schematics , ore, materials that this would then need to be accomplished to achieve it.

 

sometimes its difficult to explain online your angle at times.