Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
The team is interested in hearing your thoughts about Blighted Items. Given a chance, what would you do to improve, remove, replace, alter the system? Would you remove them entirely? Make them static? Make them better than crafted loot? What would you do or like to see?
This system has always been something that players loved and hated in equal amounts. We have a few ideas about how to improve it, but we'd like your feedback on this as well.
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
Whatever you end up doing, please consider keeping the items/stats with the Prevent Recall/Teleport. They're a nice quirk.
http://i.imgur.com/M2cUil.jpg
As for other improvements I would like to see unique stats/effects that are only available from blighted items. Nothing too OP, but something to make them more desirable. Right now blighted items are a nice gap filler.
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
One thing I could suggest is the items being better explained in their description. As an example, I saw a dragon scale last night that had a 5% chance to apply a healing effect. What was not clear was whether that effect was on the wearer, upon the enemy, 5% chance per attack or 5% chance per getting hit. By the time experimentation would reveal that, the charge would be depleted at least somewhat. It would be nice to see those effects given just a bit better documentation in game.
I do like the Blighted equipment being random, and at times being better than player crafted gear. But, the fact that it goes away makes it into an item that you never use, because having that +100 to Flame resistance is so situational that you want to save it for the few times you fight really powerful flame enemies, and you don't dare use it for anything else. So maybe keep them with a depleting charge, but don't drop the charges down in size after they are depleted. Player crafted gear is still going to be better for general purpose stuff.
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
Ssil has basically said everything I've wanted to say. xD
I like the randomness of the effects on the weapon/armor too, and it's fun to see what you get. I always get excited when I see a blighted item linked or dropped. It's the sense of discovery that pulls me in. An idea, though, to improve that would be to prevent a skill being added on a claw/scale that is never used by dragons, and vice versa for bipeds. (I see it happen more often for dragons though, due to the wide expanse of biped skills). A dragon would never have use for +flame skill, like a biped wouldn't have use fr + tooth and claw skill. (Though I haven't seen a biped item with a dragon skill, I've seen the other way around a ffew times).
Also, has the bug where a blighted item can have a minimum adventure level requirement of 105 or so been fixed? I haven't seen one of those around recently, but it's annoying when they're good and you can't use them. :P
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
I'd like to see some blighted crafting tools and blighted cargo gear.
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
(Copy/pasted from the thread I made earlier thread. @ Devs, sorry about that! S'what I get for not using the search function and wandering the forums late... >_> <_<)
- A long (repeatable) quest line that restores the item up to (x)/750 no matter what the 750 may be at the time ( As it goes down by 200 every time you repair a blighted scale. )
- A long (that is only repeatable a certain amount of times) quest line that would make a blighted item permanently usable. I'd think 5 or so blighted items that won't wear out is a good number, but that's just me.
- Make it require varying amounts of repair kits to get the item working again, the amount needed going up each time, but capping at a REASONABLE amount that, while sort of difficult, would be worth it to make the blighted item usable again.
- Instead of (or along with) more repair kits, it wouldn't be unreasonable to require the destruction of other (perhaps also similar? Though that might be too much, depending on how similar the to-be-destroyed item(s) need to be) blighted items in order to get the one you want to use working again.
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
Blighted items... I rarely use they. The only ones I use are ones that give extra eth armour. I only have a few of them and they are kinda taking up valuable stack space. There are other nice perks too. One gripe that I have with blighted gear is that dyes take up a tech slot. You effectively get a scale/item that is not useful due to being able to craft better items. So I would like to see dyes removed from the tech pool that blighted objects pick from. I have never crafted blighted items but I do remember that blight cores take a whole heap of blighted essence to create, 20:1 at opt? Am I right? I don't even remember because all the blight cores that I get I get from deconning stuff. So maybe a drop in that might be called for. Are there blighted essence fields? You used to be able to get raw blighted essence as a drop from ghosts but not anymore. So the crafting of blighted items, as it stands now is somewhat painful as far as I remember. I makes sense that you have to hunt for the blighted forms, but if that is so should not the products have the potential to be better?
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
Blight crafting, in my opinion, should be improved before anything else; to make it worth it to break down the minimum of three other blighted items and gather appropriate materials for a blighted item (For reference, a claw), players should be able to have control over the end result; possibly place a number of blighted-item only techniques, or a randomize feature, allowing the player to control their end result (though notably, the balancing penalties should remain random, and still have a small chance to be nonexistant, to make repeated crafting for a 'perfect' item plausible). Note that in the case of techs, additional blight cores should be required.
Regardless, the crafted blight items should not be rechargeable, though they should carry an initial charge of 2500-5000 depending on tier, to make them worth crafting. This would ensure that if one did manage to make a 'perfect' item, it would be limited to a degree, but not so much as to keep a crafter from putting forth the time and effort to make such a thing.
For the blight techs, they should include a random effect (completely random, can be a boon or penalty), a number of tech slots equal to an item of that tier, and a random negative effect for each tech slot used, unless a certain tech has an automatically asserted negative effect. (For example, +Random Ice Resist/Ward, -Random Fire Resist/Ward)
Some examples of techs that should be unique to blighted items:
Damage converters: These are the most popular of hunted blight items, in my opinion, and would massively increase the demand for blight crafters. An elemental component of some sort as well as several blight cores to add this tech would make them difficult, but worthwhile, to obtain.
Reactive damage: I have never seen this on a blighted scale; another useful feature to have, reactive damage techs should be balanced with an automatic chance to deal that same damage to the player, on hit, though notably no more than half the chance to damage the enemy. Should have a 'vanilla', fire, and ice version, at the least, each requiring an elemental component, as with conversion techs.
Damage soaking: It is always nice to see a scale with 'Incoming attacks do (Percentage) damage'. I would suggest this be added as a tech as well, on the stipulation that it is harder to make a good reduction than find one, and that it is possible to get anywhere from a (chance) to take 50% damage to constantly taking double damage; should also take an annoying amount of tech components at higher tiers. The risks should also be in addition to the random penalty.
Resist/ward skewing: A single tech per pairing, auto-penalty; In a single tech slot, raise the resist and ward for one damage type by a random amount, maxing out at double the accepted amount for the tier, and decrease the corresponding resist/ward pairing by the same amount.
Proc effects: Everything in between on crafted claws; adds a random effect such as '13% Chance to deal double damage against undead', or '30% Chance: Target effect: Drunken Stupor', of the sort that already appears on blighted items.
Attribute/skill skews: Increases an skill/attribute by more than the given amount allowed by the tier, decreases a random one by the same amount. Takes tech comp for the skill/attribute.
Overcharging: Increases charge from base. Should take an absurd amount of blight cores, and a relatively low value (Perhaps 200 per tier). In addition to the random penalty for adding another tech to a blighted item, adding this tech should make an item bind-on-equip, to keep 'perfect' items with a charge of 6000 (for example) from becoming a community-use/heirloom situation.
Note that these are just a few suggestions, and anything else that can already be found on a blighted item should be game for carryover. This would be a lot of techs, but while it is more work, it means that blight crafting would become harder for better benefits. If approached properly, the new system would require very little change to the existing system; instead of associating all of the randomization with the base item, only associate one random effect with it, and associate the other randomizations with each tech.
Any support or criticism is welcome, but please don't bash the idea; if you want to criticize, think how the idea could be better worded or balanced before commenting. As a few more notes, this has the potential to make 'overpowered' gear, yes, but the chances are only slightly higher than finding such gear, and the high chance of a penalty for each tech would certainly balance any such qualities, and make perfect items rare; such a thing would take more time and effort than, say, three full sets of craft scales for a dragon, as well as a cargo disk, so take this into consideration; blight crafters seeking to make exceptional items like that would have to put in just as much if not more effort than someone hunting an item with the same properties, but would still have the ability to do so without having to go out and hunt it themselves; this would also improve the economy, as blight cores and blighted items would become sought-after by crafters, and adventurers would have a better alternative than pawning them. (Lastly, some blighted items cannot be deconstructed. Is this a glitch?)
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
I would like to see about a 50/50 split of blighted items better than crafted teched items and worse than crafted teched items(for both crafted and looted blight items). Not sure if it is possible mechanics wise but is it possible to make looted blighted gear dyeable too. I really think most blighted gear gets ignored for fashion reasons more than usefulness reasons.
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
They should be better than crafted.
As they are, 99.982% of them are worthless. The only piece over all these year I ever regularly used was a hammer with 10% alacrity on it, used on my biped caster. Well let me update that, the blighted dragon claws that converted to unusual damage types were also useful, life life damage claw used during valkor fights. (edited the useful percentage :) ) I know I deconned over 10,000 blighted items over the years, with maybe 10 items being saved (alacrity hammers for the healer/biped, damage converter claws for the dragon).
Ohh look, a blighted shield with 2 hand slash!
Wow, a Bow with 2 hand crush skill!
Random doesn't work. In the past I've suggested making "groupings" of blighted techs, that apply to items. The group would include multiple effects that work together. Example:
+2hand slash
+strength
+alacrity
or
+bow skill
+dexterity
+evasion
and then a secondary set of blighted techs
+fire resist
- ice resist
+ ethereal armor
or
+ethereal armor
+speed
+chance for "useful buff"
etc, etc.
Useful buff: The tech groups should include unusual, interesting effects, such as those that can be obtained from eating cursed tablets.
apply one techgrouping from the first pool (stat/ability), and one from the secondary (buff/resists) pool to the item. The grouping inside each tech should insure a better chance of a useful item, but still not every item would be desired, so that there is a source of blighted cores.
For all the blighted weapon formulas, having a single player added tech slot for say a weapon socket, could go a long way to making them potentially viable.
I also agree that for some of the blighted techs out there, a better description would be good. Also, there are some which do not work, such as the delay modified blighted headscale's that are out there. (forget the exact name and effect, but I recall it didn't work from both my testing and other players' tests).
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
I don't use bligthed items, not because I don't want, but because I *can't*.
The storage bloat in Istaria is unbearable, even with 2 large plots and maxed vaults and a number of alts, I still get absurd amounts of (expensive) bits that fill up everywhere. So, when I see those bligthed drops, I have to choose: "will I keep my T5 3 teched 10 scale sets or take the bligthed item?"
If anything, a massive storage upgrade (plus the "making sense" random stats described by Guaran) would "buff" the blighted items in unthinkable ways.
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Vahrokh
If anything, a massive storage upgrade (plus the "making sense" random stats described by Guaran) would "buff" the blighted items in unthinkable ways.
Never going to happen. But thank you for the feedback.
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
Ssilmath's suggestion that the TOTAL charges not deplete on recharge would solve what I think is the biggest obstacle to blighted items getting used: their being a consumable. I can already barely talk myself into using consumables like potions, which are relatively cheap and I could get myself an infinite supply of if I wanted to; the one blighted item worth using in a thousand is so precious that I can't imagine using it because then it'd run out someday. This really is a problem-- I haul around a spare scale and claw for specific boss fights, and on top of all the hassle of long-term item storage AND remembering to reconfigure my gear before I do things, the fact that they'll deplete until they break someday if used means that I have pretty much never worn them.
That's only touching the issue of trying to get some blighted equipment used, though. I'm not sure what my opinions are on other fronts: where do they fit into the armor/weapon ecosystem of the game? How easily should they be acquired? The current system doesn't feel particularly exemplary to me, but in a pinch it works: getting blighted items is easy, getting ones you'd actually care about is hard-- crafters have no reliable competition, but hunters keep an eye out for that one worthwhile item in a hojillion. I think changing it so the items can never be destroyed/run out of charges would be all the tweaking needed, if your goal is to ensure that usually everyone will get their items from crafters... but sometimes they'll use the oddball good blighted item.
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
Hehe, i think charges is one of the biggest problems i find; as thicklesip explained, i do the very same thing, get a precious item i'll never use because i'm too wary of the charges left. Ssilmath's suggestion would make blighted items much more worthwhile for me.
Also, i would just love it if we could deconstruct all blighted items (except biped deconstructing dragon gear and dragons deconstructing biped gear). Countless the amount of times when i find a blighted scale thats completely useless due to having an extremely low hoard value, has horrible techs for its teir, so then the only use is deconstructing for blight cores/materials, but only half of the blighted loot i get i seem to be able to deconstruct. (when right-clicking a blighted item i -should- be able to deconstruct, no option to deconstruct appears. I suspect this is just a bug though)
Which brings me onto another possible improvement; when i find a scale thats completely useless to me. Maybe there is a way we could make blighted ietms more worthwile and desirable? Perhaps not through loot dropping, but maybe through crafting blighted items? Perhaps have control over only one desirable trait (only one, no matter which teir; the trait would improve going up through the teirs), which would entail gathing components and more blight cores? This means you still get atleast one good effect from blighted items - therefore sometimes making it more desirable to keep blighted items. This also makes 'useless' blighted items not useless atall as they would be needed for blight cores.
(All this talk of blighted items makes me want to go on holiday/go on a rampage through the satyr isles)
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
Here is a private message sent to you, Amon, back in 2009 :) You seemed to like the idea but everyone was tied up doing other stuff at the time.
http://community.istaria.com/forum/i...quote_icon.png Originally Posted by DrevarWas pondering a different way of crafting blighted items. Would the crafting system support creating blight tech kits using the same randomizing system used with crafting blighted items? It seems recent content is turning toward using kits rather than a plain tech added at item creation.
My idea would be to allow people to craft Blighted tech kits rather than the final items. There would be forms for each general class of item, just as with the Recharge kits, i.e. armor, weapon, fletching, and jewelry. Each kit would only have one random tech.
It would have to be more expensive to craft in terms of cores or other needed materials, as the net payoff would be greater (once you assemble a "perfect" set of techs on an item), requiring purified orbs from enchanter or some type of cleansing agent from an Alchemist, etc.
The old blighted forms could be done away with completely, as far as characters are concerned. In order to deconstruct loot items for cores, I assume the formulas would have to still exist at least in the database.
Other stuff to consider like game balance with the eventual perfect sets of equipment, but that is possible with the current system. It's just that it sucks so much that a perfect set is unlikely right now *smirk*.
Worth even discussing or a non-starter?
Drev
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
Going to try this again Because i guess i was not to clear the first time
The fact of the matter is Blighted loot is only a stop gap measure at best until a crafted one is made. but what if we make blighted items coveted .
This argue is going to be a comprimize with things the devs have stated and topics that the community has said meh to
First and foremost the Proposed new rare loot will still have the same old blight system with the chance of getting + to stat /skill or - to stat and skill
Second the return of some Lost knowledge with a twist
and third You need to have ALL the pieces to activate said lost knowledge
Now hear is my idea with a little Lore .
Alyssa (Dryad) Bachanatus (Satyr) Brobbet (Dwarves) Daggarth (Half-Giants) Drulkar (Dragons) Galderos (Elves) Istara (Humans) Kaasha (Sslik) Merrasat (Saris) Niatha Moraven (Fiends) Nyrevin (gnomes )
these are the list of the current istarian Deities Create "set bonuses "
For example Ill use dragons since that's all i play and am fimillar with the lore
Armor of the First (t 1 ) set is charged for 150 uses Normal blighted tech adds +10 to base stats and skills and a 5% effect called Drulkar vigilance 5 % chance of stunning mezing ect
Armor of Lunus and respectively armor of Heilan Requirements adult dragon ancient dragon
Set is charged to 200 charges Normal blight effect + "Set-bonus" Drulkar Protection +20 to all base stats and skills 10 % chance of casting area Healing or area damage effect depending on sute NO its not Faction based
scales should come with the following forms
Health
armor
strength
power
dexterity
focus
these are Examples You can not mix and match scales they either need to be all Health , Armor ect
they are kinda epic for there level but it really dose not get zomg i got to have this armor till T5 we must grind and to even be a bit more evil with this idea Racially bind these armor pieces
this is where we bring back Banchy spell as a 5% activation set bonus Primal flash as an area effect Vital defense the good old spells . Also i do like the idea about makeing blighted object scoketable but i dont know how to do this with the current system .
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
Here's a thought I figured I'd throw out there. What if when you deconstructed Blighted items you could get Cores as well as other "rare" components. Then instead of making new items, you could use those components to make Tech Kits from the Blighted Item list and apply those to items?
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
Quote:
Originally Posted by
AmonGwareth
Here's a thought I figured I'd throw out there. What if when you deconstructed Blighted items you could get Cores as well as other "rare" components. Then instead of making new items, you could use those components to make Tech Kits from the Blighted Item list and apply those to items?
Ooh I like that idea (assuming these blighted tech kits would make the item attune when applied)
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
Quote:
Originally Posted by
AmonGwareth
Here's a thought I figured I'd throw out there. What if when you deconstructed Blighted items you could get Cores as well as other "rare" components. Then instead of making new items, you could use those components to make Tech Kits from the Blighted Item list and apply those to items?
Sounds interesting. I like it. But even more components... time for a lair redesign.
Re: Talk to the Team: Blighted Items
Quote:
Originally Posted by
AmonGwareth
Here's a thought I figured I'd throw out there. What if when you deconstructed Blighted items you could get Cores as well as other "rare" components. Then instead of making new items, you could use those components to make Tech Kits from the Blighted Item list and apply those to items?
This sounds very interesting.