It’s kinda a downer that a red is basically a skin and nothing else.
With the amount of crafting materials I have, getting a prefect roll of the 2 stats I want is just a matter of time.
I’d love reds to have some traits that could affect the way you play and/or make you consider unorthodox builds.
speak for yourself
Agree with OP
Well if they’re going to do that, they need to be more frequently awarded. Just like headgear customization items and heroic deeds need to be as well.
I would love to see career specific traits or totally unique traits on weapons
Or maybe give reds 3 stat rolls?
Unique traits could be nice, even though I kind of like that everyone evens up at lategame. It isn’t about finding the perfect item for the perfect build.
I don’t think they should gate gameplay elements behind items that you are very unlikely to get and getting them is dependent on RNG. At least in VT1 you could spawn the reds if you really wanted to try them out (personally did not because did not find them worth the bother), but that’s not flying in VT2. So I am fine with them being just a convenience.
I hadn’t thought about it, but it’s a fair point. Given the low drop rate of red, it’s just getting a perfect roll on leg vs getting a red.
RNG vs RNG. I would argue the former will be higher, given reds need you to get the right box (ranald rng) then get a red of the right type, whereas you can craft the leg.
Maybe giving you a nice QOL talent, so you can select a different one. Like an axe & shield for Bardin that gives him the 30% stam regen on charge attack.
I get what you mean about locking gameplay elements, but wouldn’t that make getting a red actually exciting? They could introduce some hardcore heroic deeds for each specific red item(solo + no bots + no disabling specials + something else maybe?)
Definitely. If there’s a way to make getting reds exciting for example due to enabling alternate builds like you propose without making them too frustrating to get (ie. reliant on RNG with bad odds), I’m up for it.
I’m not sure if hard to do heroic deeds would be the answer though. Would probably be hard to tune them so that not too many players find them too easy to do and not too many players find them impossible to do. If they’re too easy getting the items won’t feel rewarding and if they’re too hard they might as well not exist since majority of the player base won’t be able to use them.
Well,they could put a difficulty power cap,so you could still obtain them for the difficulty you’re comfortable with. Only difference would be that from champ you’d get PL 250-290 and get the 300 PL on legend.
I mean,there’s always gonna be people who won’t get past a certain difficulty and there’s always gonna be people who’ll breeze through whatever you throw at them. It’s a tricky issue, I know, but we can’t hope for perfect balance.
Still,I just want reds to wow me,not bore me.Especially if I don’t like the skin(because that’s the only worth I’m getting out of them)
I think this could be dangerous if it allows a full red player to be a lot stronger than the rest. I believe FatShark tried to level the playing field a bit so the end game power is not so far above say 50 hrs of play power so that these players can play together without one being very detrimental to the team (or perceived that way). Maybe an interesting sidegrade could be good
Power level difference is unavoidable, but for one it’s not THAT big a difference and second, you could have max power level with it for your respective difficulty besides champion,and the difference between max roll champion(290) and standard 300 legendary is a total of 20 on two weapons. If they made legendary accessories then it’s be a difference of 50,so still not that big a deal.
In terms of special properties what I propose doesn’t necessarily mean the red properties would have to be stronger, just different.
For instance:
axe & shield could have a trait that kills trash mobs attacking you if you do a perfect block + shield bash (and no regular orange item traits)
beam staff could lose the zoom and continuous fire for single shot bursts(like lmb+rmb) and lose RMB aoe attack in favor of a 180 degree staff bash,working like a shield bash with a set stamina of 4(2 shields)
drakefire pistols could be a single pistol with much more precise fire and faster projectiles and a triple shot on alt fire.
Executioners sword could have an overhead swing that can hits multiple targets but does less damage.
Blunderbuss could have a scrap shot that has penetration and applies bleed but has a range and radius of drakefire pistols alt fire.
flail could lose the lmb infinite wind-up but gain a special(under special button) that does a 360 knockback swing that costs 6 stamina(3 shields)
This sort of thing.
Special properties with trade-offs that open new possibilities and playstyles not necessarily making them stronger.
You might of course think some of the things I listed may be too weak or too strong, but I’m not a developer,I don’t have the numbers and I came up with these out the top of my head.
I’m sure the developers could do a better job at making them interesting as well as balanced.
Just make them INTERESTING and desirable for what you can do with them, not only how they look.
I like this sort of approach, very interesting. The only counter I can think of is if they are (and some inevitably will be) quite bad, making a lot of people disappointed when they after a long struggle get just a useless item.
I agree with OP. Red items seem quite weak. They need some new content.
Of course some will be considered bad, but for one there will always be someone who likes them anyway and noting will stop the devs from improving them if they’re really,really weak.
This could also be resolved if you had a chance to get a particular red from a particular mission.
Or they could introduce something like the character trinkets from VT1, either in the form of portrait frames or “illusions” you could apply on an accessory - this would make it so that if you open a box while “wearing” the illusion/frame then IF it had a red item in it you’d get the specific red you want or maybe one of three that the illusion/frame would let you get. So either not random at all or much less random due to limited amount to roll from.
The dynamic of gear changing gameplay has worked in numerous games, Path of Exile being a shining example. It gives you something exciting to look forward to, makes some really interesting builds, and adds depth to character development.
I think the best change would be to give red items something small aside from cosmetic appeal (which still isnt implemented for some items) in order to differentiate them from perfectly rolled exotics, 3rd stat line, second trait, small power boost only on reds say 20-50 an item over 300, ect ect ect something that won’t add any significant advantage but still an advantage. This would allow for the items to be changed without making any massive balance changes to the game.
I disagree. I find PoE system quite horrible and I don’t want a system like that implemented in this game. I know people like it, but I personally don’t. There were a lot of things I did not get to try playing that game, due to gameplay being gated behind RNG loot: “Oh you can’t do that build. You need to get X and Y first.” I did not want to sink in tens of hours on the off chance that I find the unlocked gameplay enjoyable and I don’t feel like I should have to. Just my opinion, of course.
In PoE it was even generally advised that you do “leveling build” or “grinding build” so you can get the necessary stuff to build your “real build”. I just played the game from start to finish and stopped because rest of the content was locked away. Any time spent on implementing content behind those grind gates felt like it was wasted (for me personally).
adds depth to character development.
I don’t think the fact that they are locked away really adds depth. Opinion again. The fact that they exist might add depth, but not the fact they are not available. I think locking them away actually diminishes depth on average since in PoE they are not available to most of the players and the fewer the available mechanics the less depth there is. Unless by depth you mean that you have to do “crappy builds” first before you can get to the “good builds”. Then I can kind of see the point, but it’s not the kind of depth I am personally too happy about.
In PoE you can buy most uniques for currency that drops very early in the game. It take zero effort and zero time investment. Trading is an essential part of PoE and it’s your choice that you don’t want to engage in it and thus you’re the one gating items for yourself.
so you finished act 10 and then completed the atlas? Or do you mean “I played through the first 10 acts” - which are the introduction section to the actually meaningful stuff?
I might be biased,because I have around 1,5k hours in PoE,but I never found obtaining any uniques a problem and even when I did- because there are a FEW that cost quite a lot of ex- then I went with substitutes and the build still worked.
Also,the fact that you DID want to try those “gated” things is actually the matter at hand.
I don’t really care how hard they would be to acquire,hell,you could get “blueprints” for them at levels 5/10/15/20/25 for all I care,I just want reds that affect playstyle.