I think it is obvious that the vast majority of your playerbase absolutely loathe the current RNG slot machine armoury shop. Especially seeing as how letting us actually craft our own weapons “does not fit the theme” even if there is a tech-priest on board which could do exactly that.
Here’s how you go about making a good crafting system that would alleviate the issues.
Refining Rating:
Simply put, this will allow us to increase the base rating and thus the stats of a weapon.
- Make it increments of say 10 rating per upgrade.
- Have the cost start at 300 Diamanthe & 900 Plasteel.
- For each upgrade add another 150 Diamanthe & 450 Plasteel
- A “perfect” weapon can cost you anywhere in-between 300/900 and 1200/2700
This is an acceptable levels of material costs and would take hardcore players 2-3 weeks & casual players 3-8 weeks.
Reroll Stats
This will allow us to reroll the stats of a weapon.
- Allow us to lock in stats that we want maxed (obviously we can’t max all as rating even at max wouldn’t allow it). I’m thinking 3 or so locks, maybe 4.
- The base reroll would just cost 300 diamanthe, 900 plasteel.
- Each lock would add an additional of 300 diamanthe, 900 plasteel.
This would again, take most players several weeks to get a good item which is, again, acceptable.
You can of course still luck out and get them through the weapon store meanwhile, but this way at least we have a bit of control over it, which is sorely needed at this point in which most feel the “end-game” progression is checking a store every hour.
This way, we actually spend our time in missions trying to improve our characters (rather than waiting at a store) and we see a continuous reward for doing so. It would take us months to just finish a single character and years to finish all. Then rinse and repeat that whenever new classes and/or weapons come along.
It is, to say it bluntly, the best way you can make a meaningful progression system that gives the game longevity.
The crafting materials necessary are just suggestions as a normal mission on Malice gives about 50/150 and that is the most played difficulty.