Rune Set Pieces

Kay so I had this "weird" idea that....well either it might work or be totally pointless, but might as well shoot it out:

Remember Runes from Diablo 2?
You had specific runes you could put in your gear. Each rune individually granted a little bonus, but if you put specific runes in a specific order, you would get an enormous bonus!

Remember Set items from like any ARPG ever?
You have specific armor that belongs to a specific "set". Once you gather all, or part of said set, you gain bonuses!

So why not mix them together!

My suggestion:

Make EVERY piece of armer (I don't know if it should include whites or not though, this is subject to discussion) have a special "Rune" modifier to it.
There are finite Rune modifiers. Each of them do grant a "little" bonus to said gear, again, depending on which Rune it is.

Now, what happens next? Just like Set items, when you get specific "sets" of gear with specific Rune modifiers, you should gain bonuses!
But just like Runes, these are done via "Rune words", which are translated all over your gear!.
There could be millions of different Rune words that give little improvements, and a few that give LOTS of bonuses.

How would this work?

Okay, imagine this "rune word":
Rune X in Left-Handed Weapon + Rune Y in armor + Rune Z in Helmet = +50 Increased Maximum Life

What does this mean?
It means that any time I put a weapon with Rune modifier X into my left hand, an armor with Rune modifier Y into my chest, and a helmet with Rune modifier Z into my head, I gain the "Runeword" bonus of +50 to maximum life!

This can be done with any piece of gear, in any order, in any length.
You could have 3-lenghted runewords, 5-lenghted, etc.
Maybe you can have conditional runewords, for instance one that allows you to have either Rune X or Rune W in your weapon, so you get the bonus with any weapon with any of those 2 rune modifiers.


Every specific type of gear may have a tendency towards specific rune modifiers as well
Maybe Weapons can only get modifier X, W, T and R, while chest armor may only get modifier T, R, U and I.
This can vary and be balanced as you like.


It would also be cool if there could be a new currency orb that randomly changes the Rune modifier from your gear ;)

I think this goes under pretty much having bonuses for wearing the same "type" of gear, more or less you get the point. GGG said they don't really want that in this game, i'm sorry =/

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fragmaster92 wrote:

I think this goes under pretty much having bonuses for wearing the same "type" of gear, more or less you get the point. GGG said they don't really want that in this game, i'm sorry =/

Only one part of OP suggestion had that.

Rune letters in itself doesnt need to be gear *type* dependant.
It can be totally random.

But you are still collecting parts of gear for Rune 'sets' again. This isn't what GGG wants, as they are entirely against two or three pieces of gear because together they give you bonuses that you can't get from any one piece individually.

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Westonard wrote:

But you are still collecting parts of gear for Rune 'sets' again. This isn't what GGG wants, as they are entirely against two or three pieces of gear because together they give you bonuses that you can't get from any one piece individually.

With type i assumed it was implied that it is Dex/Str/Int armour/weapons.
That was what i meant.
But you are correct i think about GGGs stance on this.

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Westonard wrote:

But you are still collecting parts of gear for Rune 'sets' again. This isn't what GGG wants, as they are entirely against two or three pieces of gear because together they give you bonuses that you can't get from any one piece individually.

Have they posted anywhere exactly why they think this?


I thought they didn't want set items because they were "unique" and thus didn't want players to be forced into specific gear just to clear the set

However, I propose ANY gear has Rune modifiers. Rares, Uniques, Blues (dunno about whites though).
You are not "forced" into a specific set of unique items, since ANY item can get any rune word (again, which gear has which rune modifier can be defined later)

Not only that, but if they include a new orb that randomly changes a rune modifier from a piece of gear, you have even more flexibility.
If you have a VERY GOOD piece of gear you want to use, but the Rune modifier doesn't work for you, just use this orb to keep rolling the modifier until you get one you want!


I kind of like the idea of "set bonuses", both from set items and runes (runes are "Socket sets" basically, so it's like the same idea :P )

I thought this could "solve" some of the issues GGG had with normal "rigid" set items systems.

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gonzaw wrote:

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Westonard wrote:

But you are still collecting parts of gear for Rune 'sets' again. This isn't what GGG wants, as they are entirely against two or three pieces of gear because together they give you bonuses that you can't get from any one piece individually.

Have they posted anywhere exactly why they think this?


I thought they didn't want set items because they were "unique" and thus didn't want players to be forced into specific gear just to clear the set

However, I propose ANY gear has Rune modifiers. Rares, Uniques, Blues (dunno about whites though).
You are not "forced" into a specific set of unique items, since ANY item can get any rune word (again, which gear has which rune modifier can.

Not only that, but if they include a new orb that randomly changes a rune modifier from a piece of gear, you have even more flexibility.
If you have a VERY GOOD piece of gear you want to use, but the Rune modifier doesn't work for you, just use this orb to keep rolling the modifier until you get one you want!


I kind of like the idea of "set bonuses", both from set items and runes (runes are "Socket sets" basically, so it's like the same idea :P )

I thought this could "solve" some of the issues GGG had with normal "rigid" set items systems.

As you described it woudnt be *set pieces* like others have mentioned.
It would add more gear customization.
Im interested how it would play out in the game.
Maybe even bonuses not gotten through mods on gear will be available as *rune words* then?