A Comprehensive Proposal for Item Decay
Based upon the numerous good suggestions I have seen in the Elder Game thread in Discussions, along with a number of discussions I have had in game with various players, I have put together the following comprehensive proposal for the implementation of item decay.
Please note first, that I have no idea whether the following ideas can or cannot be easily programmed. And second, the numbers I have utilized below are obviously subject to all sorts of tweaking.
That said . . .
General Overview
First, and most importantly, items would never break. Although items can and would deteriorate to the point of uselessness, they would never become irreparable.
Second, the only items subject to decay would be clothing, armor, cargo gear, weapons and tools. Such things as spells, crystals and structures would not be subject to decay.
Third, all types of covered items would be subject to decay. This includes not only crafted items, but looted and/or “earned” items such as the Zealot, Valkor’s Blood Talon, and the ceremonial shields. However, attuned items would be exempt from decay.
Fourth, although adventurers would have a method to repair items in the field, these field repairs would be less effective than having a crafter repair the item, and the field repairs would be less and less effective with each use.
Fifth, items would decay from use and damage, not simply over time.
Methods of Item Decay
Clothing and Armor: These items would deteriorate each time the character takes attack damage from an adversary. The amount of decay would be a fractional multiplier of the amount of damage taken, with a cap on the maximum amount an item would decay per “hit.” For example, the fractional multiplier might be set at 1/1000 of 1% of the damage taken from a successful attack, and the cap might be set at a maximum of 2% degradation from any single attack. In concrete terms, if you were hit for 100 damage, your armor usefulness would deteriorate by 1/10 of one percent. If you were hit for 1000 damage in a single attack, your armor usefulness would deteriorate by a full percentage point. And if you are hit for more than 2000 damage points (from any of the uber bosses), the cap would kick in and your armor usefulness would degrade by 2% (e.g., from 87% to 85%).
Tools: These items would deteriorate by, say, 1/1000 of 1% each time they are used to harvest resources. For gathering tools, this fractional decay multiplier would be applied each gathering attempt (i.e. per strike at a node for picks, per gathering attempt for cloth and essence, per chop for axes). For processing and crafting tools, the decay multiplier would be applied per item made (i.e. per bar made for smelting tongs, per item crafted for smith hammers and sewing needles, per sheet or joint made for fitting hammers, and so on).
Weapons: These items would degrade each time they make contact with an adversary (no penalty for whiffing). A fractional multiplier of, say, 1/100 of 1% would be applied each time the weapon hits an adversary, regardless of whether the hit actually results in damage to the adversary.
Cargo Gear: These items would decay upon equipage. A fractional multiplier of, say, 1/10 of 1% would be applied each time a character dons the item.
Effects of Item Degradation
Generally, items become less and less useful as they deteriorate in direct proportion to their percentage of remaining usefulness. For example, if in full repair a chestguard provides 100 armor, once it deteriorates through damage down to 35% usefulness it will only provide 35 armor. Similarly, if a pick in full repair might yield an average of 8 ore per strike on a node, the same pick at 50% usefulness will only yield an average of 4 ore per strike. Once an item’s usefulness has deteriorated to zero, the item can no longer be equipped.
Item Repair:
Crafter Repair: Crafters would be able to restore a decayed item’s usefulness to 100%. To repair an item, (a) the crafter must have the item in his inventory, (b) must be next to an appropriate machine, (c) must have the appropriate level of the applicable skill to repair the type of item, and (d) must have available and expend a fraction of the base materials required to create the item initially.
A couple of examples: A crafter wanting to repair a mithril maul must (a) have the maul in his pack (the adventurer would trade it to him), (b) be next to an anvil, (c) have a minimum of 800 weaponsmith skill, and (d) have available (in inventory or nearby disk), and will consume in the repair, two mithril bars. A dragon crafter wishing to repair a cobalt-obsidian scale must (a) have the scale in his inventory, (b) be next to a scaleforge, (c) have a minimum of 600 scalecrafting, and (d) have available two cobalt bars and two obsidian bricks.
Repair Kits: Crafters would also be able to craft “repair kits.” These kits would range from Tier I through Tier V in repair capability, with a Tier I kit only able to repair Tier I items, through Tier V kits which could repair all tiers of equipment. These kits would come in a number of varieties: Cloth, Leather, Metal Armor, Metal Tools, Wood Tools, Stone Tools, Metal Weapons, Wood Weapons and Cargo Gear. To make a particular repair kit, a crafter must (a) have the requisite minimum skill for the type of kit (e.g. to make a Tier III Metal Tool Repair Kit, a crafter must have a minimum skill of 400 in metalworking), (b) be next to the appropriate machine (e.g. you must be next to an anvil to make Metal Tool Repair Kits, and (c) have available bars, bricks, boards, spools, hide strips and/or essence orbs necessary for making the type of item in the first instance.
Some examples: A crafter wishing to make a Tier IV Leather Repair Kit must (a) have at least 600 Leatherworking skill, (b) be next to a tanning rack, and (c) have four hide strips to consume in making the kit. A crafter wishing to make a Tier III Cargo Gear Repair Kit must (a) have at least 400 tinkering skill, (b) be next to a tinkering table, and (c) have two steel bars, two cotton spools and two glowing essence orbs to consume in making the kit.
Players may utilize such repair kits out in the field, and do not need any particular skill to use them. The first repair kit used on an item will only restore it to, say, 80% of its maximum effectiveness. The next repair kit used will only restore it to, say, 60% of its maximum effectiveness. And so on until the subsequent use of yet another repair kit will not have any repair affect at all, and the player must have a crafter restore the item to 100%.
Frith-Rae BridgeSol
Originally Posted by Smeglor
