Ways to Remove High-end Items from the Game (To Curb Item Inflation)

The sad part is some people will lol.

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Zidjian wrote:

The sad part is some people will lol.

Haha yes some definitely will.

Yes. people will. I am one of those sad people.

Done a lot of game dev in my time, and there are 2 sinks I've seen work:

1. Crafting: This promotes the never ending treadmill by requiring items of particular value... in the case of this game they would be effectiveness based I suppose (albeit some combinations with equal effectiveness will have MUCH greater utility than others so this sink ultimately fails to weed out the best items)

2. Durability: This simply means every item can be used for a set amount of time, and then it needs to be replaced... period... no recharging it or anything... you use it until it's destroyed. Every item then has a useful lifetime and turnover for use is mandatory. Durability can be modulated easily for average loss over time. However this doesn't entirely 'solve' the problem either, it just shifts the curve right (takes longer to achieve saturation)

A way to solve saturation is to modulate drop rates with destruction rates to somewhat mitigate inflation. So then you know ok we have -X effectiveness tier death and +Z effectiveness tier birth. (this system must have a low and high cap)

I prefer durability because it solves the issue of effectiveness not entirely predicting utility. Utility would then be modulated by durability.

Some people dislike this because for whatever reason they feel that they should own everything they have forever... however I view everything as consumable materials, and if you play the game your character will evolve and replace these items at some pace proportional to their loss. You might get something better... you might get something worse... but if you have the 'best' items and you play the same zones with those items forever, the game is effectively over. Item evolution = Character evolution and I believe creates a better end game.

Zeto makes some very interesting points.

I don't think I would mind item degradation so much. I would certainly prefer it to other things like Bind on Equip. It also makes the game much more realistic.

What I hate about item degradation is when devs give you an awesome item but with 3% durability so you can only use it for a few minutes before it dies. All items should drop with 100% durability. Of course if you want to trade for an item with 3% durability left then that's your prerogative.

Ya, but if you find this awesome item and then you know eventually its going to where out i think most players would not like this system. I want to keep my none earned items. I don't like a little timer over me that says i can only use the weapon i just found for this long.

Yeah. I think most people wouldn't be too happy about it. Whether it's a good thing or bad thing that players expect to have their equipment forever and ever is another topic.

It's a tough balance though. Obviously equipment should last more than a few hours. If items last too long, though, then the mechanic really has no practical effect on the gameplay and you completely the item sink aspect that you wanted in the first place.

I guess it should be long enough that you could reasonably expect to find a replacement before your item gave out but no longer. You could even offer a repair option for those that really wanted to keep their equipment. The repair would have to be very expensive to discourage most people from using it.

I'm completely against repairing items as well, because it defeats the purpose of the sink. The high utility items will be repaired by the junk you find, and the high level items *never* get weeded out. You keep them forever.

Reducing max durability for each repair is a system some have used, as it personalizes longevity desire vs. wealth (players weighing alternatives is always good) however in the end it's just a surrogate for a longer initial duration.

I've analyzed this situation quite a bit for another game, and the only solution I've come up with is durability. Durabilities should last long enough that most people will find a similar item at the high end during use, but it doesn't have to be the exact same item... allowing for character evolution.

I completely understand the desire to not lose great things you've earned, and they should absolutely not degrade in a short amount of time... however for a decent economy to exist for many generations of gamers, high end items *must* decay. If they do not, then eventually high end items will litter the economy and the economy breaks down. I've seen it happen. I've also seen good economies in games such as Goonzu, however again, super high end items didn't decay and it broke the economy eventually.

Additionally, a weapon should *never* break during an instance. Weapons with 0 durability should only break upon leaving an instance. You should never be forced to unexpectedly switch weapons or have no weapon in the middle of an instance. Broken items could be used in some other crafting system as well, so their value isn't totally lost.

In the end it's either game longevity or personal greed... you can't have both. I think that over time people simply get used to the fact that they can only use their super gear for 30, 50, 100, 200 hours of fights... this also lends towards another system of 'materials' for duration crafting purposes if an additional sink was desired to give the player a choice of wealth vs. durability.

Perhaps items could decay in the parent leagues, but not decay in the temporary leagues (when the temp leagues end, the items would start decaying).

I'm unfamiliar with the league types discussed. I did see the thread however I'm new enough that I don't know their duration or mechanic.

Various leagues could have their own unique rules. Leagues however by their very nature do not require sinks, because they end :P (unless you port characters from leagues back into casual play, in which case at that point items would have to revert to using rules suitable for such a population)