So examining curios it seems that the idea was to give more build variety and overall control over character buffs vs the VT 2 jewelry system which was a lot more limited. However there are several big problems with them and their design doesn’t really gel with the DT item system.
For starters curios are far less common vs in VT2. Being able to roll new jewelry at will made the overall grind for them far less tedious despite their far more limited application. As it stands you at best have the option of 2 curios per hour which isn’t great due to the sheer amount of variance you can get with an average curio. In addition to this having curios being character locked means there there is far more chance of getting the right curio but on the wrong character. This really needs a brunt’s style system where you can buy greens and roll them up.
Taking a sample from logging in this is what the curios looked like between Malk’s shop and the store. Surprisingly today was much better than most times.
Preacher:
Vet:
Ogryn:
(ogryn did not have a malk curio)
Psyker:
Out of these (which was a surprisingly good sample, i don’t think i can state just how much better this is than most of the time i check for curios) we have 1 guaranteed good roll for preacher which is the malks with minor rerolling with 2 greens not worth buying, 1 potentially good toughness curio for vet, 1 ruined hp curio and one semi-ok stam curio for ogryn, and 2 surprisingly good curios for psyker and 1 from malks not worth grabbing.
The big issue is that there is far to much variance between base stat and secondary rolls with protentional to ruin it. Anything that starts with a +xp, +ordo, or +curio reward is an instant dumpster. In addition to this not all curios are created equal for all characters so while a +21% hp curio is a benefit for a preacher or Ogryn it also would have var less of an impact on say Vet. This could be easily fixed by removing character siloing as you would have a much grater chance to find what you want across different characters or funnel in the resources. This is made even worse by the variance between base stat rolls.
On the note of resources curios are extremely resource intensive to roll for overall a small benefit. Generally speaking you are effectively rolling 3 extra weapons worth of resources but have even less control over your end result leading to much more scrapped progress. Even then you can argue the actual pool of useful modifiers is extremely small and mostly settles on several of the following:
+resist gunners
+resist snipers
+hp (class dependent)
+toguhness (class dependent)
+combat ability regen (build dependent)
+toughness regen
A lot of other modifiers just don’t have the same impact or aren’t noticeable at all (+resist bombers and tox flamers for example doesn’t stop the instant toughness break and most lingering effects are damage fast enough that a resist isn’t noticeable). Comparing tot he VT 2 system it was also much easier to balance and give larger bonuses since you couldn’t easily stack multiple of the same type and just felt a lot better (Overall +10-20% hp bonus on one modifier vs stacking 3 different +5% hp or a +10% CD reduction on one item)
To feel an impact in moment to moment gameplay you need to stack multiple of the same type which is hard when you have 4 different stats that can roll with only real control over the first 1-2 viable stats (assuming you are starting from a blue, and not buying a purple or a orange from malks which has a much slower rate of accusation) plus a 3rd mystery stat re-roll. This is also compounded by each modifier having level variation meaning that it’s very likely you can get the right modifier but the wrong level of it.
That brings me to a protentional fixes.
Brunt curios - As stated let people roll as many as they want. This way people can easily roll up a set of +stat curios and experiment with different setups.
add more curios per shop rotation - more protentional to get something worth using and upgrading per shop rotation, fairly simple
Reduce the overall resource drain - Cut down on the required resources for rolling and upgrading curios. While you might ruin one it would be less of a big deal if you have half the cost.
Have curio blessings with larger impact, remove a random stat - Take a note from the jewelry system and have blessings which are limited to 1 per curio but has much larger impact on the moment to moment gameplay. This would also fix having only 1 roll on the item and make more potentially interesting curio combos with on hit / activated effects as well as work with existing systems. This could also synergize with various actions (Deploying kits, carrting scrips / grims, rescuing allies, etc)
add more interesting modifiers worth mixing - Adding more impactful side options to debase the current best picks. Maybe side options like % more ammo on pickup, +block on revive, +chance to not consume a grenade, +chance to crafting material pickup (resource perk actually worth having). This would also lead to grater chance of people building multiple curios dependent on build and situation.
Add 1 more reroll or just remove locks entirely on curios - Considering that the curio is only modifiers i think it would be fair to have some more control over it and in a case where you also increase the pool allow grater build variety.
make curios cross character compatible - Since they are generalized and in no way class specific i don’t think it’s an unreasonable ask. This is also easier to experiment on new characters for specific curios when you have a reliable set of 3.
