Please never add Transmutation! ... but..

lowf · July 2014

First and foremost, I abhor the concept of transmutation. That is to say I hate it, I think it devalues everything other players work hard for in a game. To search forever for some special item, or spend tons of hours searching for motifs and leveling crafting, only to have people making stuff that looks just like what you have with a simple transmute item or spell is painful. So please never ever implement it in a Guild Wars 2 like fashion (I loved GW2, but hated this feature).

but... I do like being able to have my gear look like I want, which is why I spend hundreds of hours leveling crafting. But now if I want to use a set like Warlocks, I have to deal with whatever style it drops in, which kinda sucks. So here is my proposal:

What if crafters were able to take an existing item and change it to a new style? I think the requirements should be:
- know the current motif of the item
- know the motif you want to convert the item to
- the process should consume 1-2 of the style material you are converting to (copper, daedric heart, etc)
- (optional) the process should consume upgrade mats according to your crafting level and the items current rarity.

Some examples for clarity:
- If I'm blacksmithing level 40 (temper expertise 3) and I try to convert a blue high elf sword to barbaric, it would cost 2 copper and 3 dwarven oil to have 100% chance to convert.
- - purple would cost 4 grain solvent for 100% chance to convert.

I think this provide goodness to the game in 3 ways:
- dungeon sets, which are some of the best in the game, maintain value, and continue to give non-crafters a way to get awesome gear.
- crafting becomes slightly more valuable, but only if you care about aesthetics.
- the cost is not trivial, if you want to transmute an epic or legendary piece of gear, it will cost you the same number of epic/legendary upgrade materials as it would have to create a new item.
- (and maybe most importantly) Game immersion is maintained! IRL - a skilled blacksmith in olden times would quite regularly change the size/shape/appearance of weapons and armor. So without too much of a stretch it makes sense for someone who knows both styles to be able to convert one to the other.

These are my thoughts, hopefully a dev or 2 will read this and ponder the idea

Pele · July 2014

Sorcerer Bound Armor says hi. Also, if you have the Imperial Edition, you can simply right click many items and change them to Imperial style. I don't think that devalues anything, and Imperial is the rarest and most expensive motif in the game.

poodlemasterb16_ESO · July 2014

Pele wrote: »

Sorcerer Bound Armor says hi. Also, if you have the Imperial Edition, you can simply right click many items and change them to Imperial style. I don't think that devalues anything, and Imperial is the rarest and most expensive motif in the game.

And the only one I hardly ever use. I don't like it on my fighters or crafters. Almost every conversion, I have the IE, I do to Imperial, I regret.

lowf · July 2014

Pele wrote: »

Sorcerer Bound Armor says hi. Also, if you have the Imperial Edition, you can simply right click many items and change them to Imperial style. I don't think that devalues anything, and Imperial is the rarest and most expensive motif in the game.

I know about the sorc armor, which looks meh IMO, and only allows you to look daedric.

I have the imperial edition, but that doesn't really affect much as the transmute isn't allowed for gear with set bonuses, which is the only real reason to transmute anyway. I stand by my proposal!

AreoHotah · July 2014

Yes nice i would like that.

GnatB · July 2014

So, the title is a lie, you do want transmutation, but just like most good designs, it should be done by players and not some special NPC somewhere?

xaraan · July 2014

I would like to be able to turn any armor I craft into a look of a lower level version of the armor. Whatever they want to require for it, I'll go for, but I HATE the look of most all of the v12 armor and haven't liked my armors much since before level 20.

Dekkameron · July 2014

GnatB wrote: »

So, the title is a lie, you do want transmutation, but just like most good designs, it should be done by players and not some special NPC somewhere?

Indeed.

fromtesonlineb16_ESO · July 2014

lowf wrote: »

First and foremost, I abhor the concept of transmutation. That is to say I hate it, I think it devalues everything other players work hard for in a game. To search forever for some special item, or spend tons of hours searching for motifs and leveling crafting, only to have people making stuff that looks just like what you have with a simple transmute item or spell is painful. So please never ever implement it in a Guild Wars 2 like fashion (I loved GW2, but hated this feature).

but... I do like being able to have my gear look like I want, which is why I spend hundreds of hours leveling crafting. But now if I want to use a set like Warlocks, I have to deal with whatever style it drops in, which kinda sucks. So here is my proposal:

TL;DR - I don't want everyone else to be able to wear what they want to, but I'd like to be able to that myself.

Why does it matter to you if someone else likes to wear the same gear? Are you one of those people who think that playing a character sporting particular items says something about you as a person?

If 'working hard' for something gives you a sense of achievement then great for you, there are a few things I have or want to have that are like that, but I don't worry if someone else gets it the 'easy' way.

MY sense of achievement isn't diminished by how YOU get something, so why does YOUR sense of achievement get diminished by how I get something?

Alephen · July 2014

my idea along this line is to have an item, or set be changed into a costume to go into the costume slot. like the look of 15th level aldmeri purple upgraded cloth set? make a purple robe or shirt (or perhaps the full clothing set if one desires it to be more of an investment) in that style and convert it into a costume to be used in the costume slot.

you wouldnt be able to mix/match, but you would have a decent number of different costumes with relatively little work.

if they allowed you to mix/match in making costumes, it would give a huge amount of customizability, but it would also take alot mroe coding/server space.

lowf · July 2014

fromtesonlineb16_ESO wrote: »

TL;DR - I don't want everyone else to be able to wear what they want to, but I'd like to be able to that myself.

I'm curious as you how to got this TL;DR, seeing as my proposal is to allow anyone to be able to create the gear they want, with some in game prework & ingame cost.

fromtesonlineb16_ESO wrote: »

Why does it matter to you if someone else likes to wear the same gear? Are you one of those people who think that playing a character sporting particular items says something about you as a person?

I enjoy playing as a hobby, and I enjoy crafting. IMO, Zenimax has created a nicely balance game, and I propose this as a way to keep the balance between crafted / found gear, while adding slight value to crafting professions for people who care about aesthetics.

fromtesonlineb16_ESO wrote: »

If 'working hard' for something gives you a sense of achievement then great for you, there are a few things I have or want to have that are like that, but I don't worry if someone else gets it the 'easy' way.

MY sense of achievement isn't diminished by how YOU get something, so why does YOUR sense of achievement get diminished by how I get something?

Thankfully, Zenimax doesn't agree with you. Otherwise why not leave the duping bugs unfixed so people can just dupe their way to legendary armor? I just think there should be a limited number of ways to get a thing in the game, and those ways should be comparable in difficulty.