modular item crafting -meta currency -economy -eternal orb like

Hi,

i created a new post here about an idea on how to add some new, deterministic aspect to the existing crafting mechanics, while still relying on them. I dont want this to end in a wall of text here, so as a short summary:

It's about creating and using new crafting items, which can either hold mods or sockets.
You use these items, to craft desired mods or socket combos on them and by applying them to existing gear pieces, the mods and sockets are transfered. your gear gets reforged. however the forged mod and sockets stay on the item and only an orb of scouring will remove them. so it has an advantage but at the same time an disadvantage. you are bound to stick with your decision. the forging is again RNG based and overwrites a random (potentially good) mod of your target item.

what you gain, is a certain modularity, because you can decide to apply the mod to a ring/ a weapon / or a chest piece, as long as the requirements are met.

the materials used for this kind of off-item crafting form a sort of meta-currency (as its half item with properties and half currency/orb), which is designed to get rid of the oversaturated low-level/mid range item market, while at the same time creating a hopefully vivid market of crafting materials, which can be widely used across item categories and classes / builds.

for more details about the idea and the possible advantages for the gameplay and economy, please check out the whole post here http://redd.it/1emvm9.

example images showing the items and rules needed:
mod plates http://i.cubeupload.com/jRulO2.jpg
socket plates http://i.cubeupload.com/C3EAy9.jpg
example of usage http://i.cubeupload.com/aE70ri.jpg

any feedback is appreciated.
thx for your time. :)

Really? No response at all? not even a simple thumbs up /down?
I must admit i'm kind of suprised. There are so many threads about: exalt prices, low drop rates / bad drops / item sets / economy situation being overflooded with bad items, how hard it is to sell something / RNG determining everything / crafting for casual and solo gameplay and so forth.

are links a problem?

I scaled the images so i can embed them here. you can find all contents of the original post below.

Idea description:


Motivation:


Advantages:


Disclaimer:


of course i dont demand that something like this is 1:1 realized. I just thought it might be an interesting approach to bring the crafting mechanic to the next level. you gain a higher degree of freedom in your crafting and a basis for a new set of market, which has higher chances of success than the current item market for low/mid level gear. it might also be a possible solution for all those topics mentioned above.

for example the issue of exalts being the lead currency. it in general makes no sense to have a high value but rare currency as basis for trading. how do you expect ppl to pay for the gear you offer? this only favors RMT sites, scams and multiboxing. you wouldnt mint a 1 trillion $ coin, would you?

if you make unidentified socket or gold plates stackable, you get your lead (meta-)currency, which is always and widely available but at the same time through RNG contains the possibility of great value. get paid in a stack of 50 or more socketplates and perhaps you get lucky and roll a 5l/6l. ppl tend to forget that for all currency, crafting is the only sink to stabilize its value. if you get high acceptance of this meta-currency, because of their convenient addition to crafting, you get a healthy permanent currency sink.

but well, thats atleast what i think. please throw me a bone here, with your opinions taped to it.

This system (with no RNG) was (more or less) in a MMO I played.

It's pretty good, but at the same time complex, people will take time to learn it (beacause you will need to learn what is a prefix, what is a suffix, what is the name and rank, and if it can go or not on a item and if it can combine with an already existing prefix/suffix). Probably that's why you got no replies so far :) It's hard to understand unless you know the concept from before.

well thought out and well written

would be an interesting feature (always like more options), though im not certain that RNG would still be in effect - maybe im not fully understanding this, but wouldn't you be able to just craft 3 OP plates with just alts and augs add them to your item, seeing as they can't overwrite abilities already applied by other plates - resulting in easily and cheap attained god tier gear

putting 1 plate on while blue -> regal your items -> put the 2 rare plates on, removing the regaled ability leaving 6 mods from your plates

anyway as you say, its only an idea and it might be far from how it would be implemented, and i believe its a cool one, thumps up from me

thx you two, you made my day.

here is an example image of how crafting with these items is supposed to work:




@kiorull:
you dont have to bother the suffixes and prefixes and their restrictions. the mod plates (silver/golden) and the socket plates are initialized by RNG. so they have either a random mod on them, or a random class affiliation (socket plate of strength etc.)

Mod plates, show for each mod you roll, all the items they can be applied to and the required item level. basicly generating notes based on the restrictions automatically, what i had to look up in the mod compendium.
So it should be farely easy to use and trade these plates.

@LazerTechnoBuddha

If you regal a magic item with a silver plate on it, you get a rare item, which still has one slot occupied, and the same mod on it.

each mod plate, silver and golden can only hold one property. exalts and augmentation orbs dont work on them!

so you can have either 2 mods out of 6 possible on a rare plate, or one guaranteed socket-combo and one mod.
On a magic item you can either have one mod, or one socket combo. again, regaling the item, will still occupy one of the 2 slots of an rare item with the socket plate.

I expect that you get more useable items, rather than godlike items. And you always have the drawbacks to balance it out. you can always overwrite a good mod on your item.
if you once decide you need a certain 4L now! to win a bossfight or something, there is plenty of room to regret it afterwards, if your gameplay/favourited used gems change. ^^

Its interesting to see, that with the upcoming eternal orb

0.11 Announcement

the basic code is allready implemented to apply stored properties and socket combinations to normal items. if you combine this code with the existing crafting mechanics, you basicly get the crafting items proposed in this idea above.
So the work required to realize such a thing should be within limits?

While the eternal orb will be valuable for the given reasons, I'm still wondering if the proposed idea, with the suggested crafting items, wont add new positive impulses to the economy, to crafting in general and to solo leagues.

it probaly would also allow a smoother transition/fresh start to other leagues, in which you cant benefit from full stash tabs to get and craft your gear.


any further ideas, questions and comments?

is the idea to complex, or is some info missing?

or are you just fully content with the way crafting/economy/solo-casual play is atm and there is simply no need for the stuff suggested?

i like it