Repair hammers

MightyHarken · September 2015

Currently the game has some good mechanics but one of the mechanics I certainly dont like, is the need to be constantly repairing my gear, paying ridiculous amounts of money to NPC merchants who arent even blacksmiths just to get it back in top shape (which again, wont last more than a 30 minutes- 1 hour). And it's honestly ridiculous. So me and a ton of players find themselves with 0 armor so we dont have to pay 3k every 30 minutes constantly having to put up with dying very easily, and this made me wonder, what's the point?

This proposal I'm going to make is not just something that should be thought over, IT'S A MUST. Currently every TES game gives you the possibility of finding repair hammers in bodies to repair your broken gear. And this is a good thing, becasue it gives you immersion + a good feeling all the time.

My proposal is simple, add repair hammers as loot from fallen bodies or in chests, boxes, tool sheds, wardrobes, laying on the ground or in an NPC's treasure boxes.

The following items are the first thing that came up to my mind while thinking about this:

Master repair hammer. Repairs 30% of a piece of equipment. Usable by blacksmiths of rank 50. Has 10 uses

Journeyman repair hammer. Repairs 20% of a piece of equipment . Usable by blacksmiths of rank 35. Has 10 uses

Apprentice repair hammer. Repairs 15% of a piece of equipment. Usable by blacksmiths of rank 20. Has 10 uses

Novice repair hammer. Repairs 20% of a piece of equipment. Usable by blacksmiths of rank 5. Has 10 uses

Give me your thoughts about this and support the thread if you agree!.

JD2013 · September 2015

Or you could do the writs for clothing and get repair kits from there. I've had loads from them.

KingArturia · September 2015

MightyHarken wrote: »

Apprentice repair hammer. Repairs 15% of a piece of equipment. Usable by blacksmiths of rank 20. Has 10 uses

Novice repair hammer. Repairs 20% of a piece of equipment. Usable by blacksmiths of rank 5. Has 10 uses

Switch those around, and yep I agree.

WolfingHour · September 2015

You musr be dying alot.

Nestor · September 2015

WolfingHour wrote: »

You musr be dying alot.

The equipment damage from Deaths is not all that much really. Less than a Wayshrine port in most cases. It is the Experience you earn drives equipment degradation.

The reason this system exists is to create a Gold Sink. Otherwise we would have rampant inflation. You think prices on consoles are high now? They would be ridiculous if everyone got to keep all the gold they looted.

nimander99 · September 2015

We will never see this because there are repair kits in the crown store.

newtinmpls · September 2015

Yes, I miss repair hammers (and the tong things from morrowind).

What puzzles me is all the complaints about repair costs. People claim to be making 1-10k an hour in game and you are worried about a couple hundred in repair costs? Sheesh...

Granted, I'm a compulsive de-conner, so I rarely have more than 1k on any character (in case of justice system issues) and maybe 8-13k in the bank (since about 13-15k I end up finding a motif or something I want in a guild traders).

The group I game with has rather a fondness for our semi-serious competition as to who has the most expensive repairs at the end of the night - and PvE repair costs are always higher than PvP. So a really nasty undaunted (especially vet) has been our highest averages. I think something like 1700 or 1800 was the highest I've seen so far.

MaxwellC · September 2015

Not sure how many people are paying so much money to repair armor, I repair probably every 1 to 2 hours and I'm paying under 300 gold each.
I guess you're dying a lot and if that's the case well try to improve your survivability, that'll help you out tremendously when battling the cost of armor repairs.

DaveMoeDee · September 2015

nimander99 wrote: »

We will never see this because there are repair kits in the crown store.

Why would that matter?

The repair kits in the crown store repair everything. They will always be unique.

Nestor · September 2015

newtinmpls wrote: »

So a really nasty undaunted (especially vet) has been our highest averages. I think something like 1700 or 1800 was the highest I've seen so far.

I don't know if you can get higher than 1700/1800 in costs. I have broken my VR14 armor (all of them) after a few group dungeons and that was how high my repair bills are.

MaxwellCrystal wrote: »

Not sure how many people are paying so much money to repair armor, I repair probably every 1 to 2 hours and I'm paying under 300 gold each.

For normal questing and mob combat during those quests, this is about right. But, do some serious grinding or run a few Group Dungeons and you will see some serious repair bills. Just one group dungeon, not so much, but string together 4 to 6 of them, be prepared to write a really big check.

Or, be like me and forget to repair your armor because I just dropped loot off in a bank for an Alt to decon, so no vendor interactions for a day or three....

BabeestorGor · September 2015

Still there are repair kits available for purchase or as writ rewards. I suppose they could be added as loot too, but really is there much difference between using a repair kit from loot and buying one or paying for a repair with gold gained from loot?
Reapir hammers weren't common as loot in the TES games from what I remember anyway.

Alucardo · September 2015

I've done two things to help save my repair times:

- Improved armour after crafting to at least blue
- Died less

Then I just save all the repair kits from writs and use them when stuff gets too damaged, which takes a while now anyway

Nestor · September 2015

BabeestorGor wrote: »

but really is there much difference between using a repair kit from loot and buying one or paying for a repair with gold gained from loot?

I have not bought a repair kit since the first week of the game, but they are expensive. IIRC, the Grand Repair Kits are like 300 plus gold each, so that would be more than 2100 to repair your armor set if you do all 7 pieces. And it does not matter if you need a little repair, or a lot, you use the whole kit on one piece. So, Vendor sourced repairs are the cheapest way over all, as I have never spent more than 1700/1800 on repairs and that was for a broken set of gear.

UrQuan · September 2015

It's a gold sink. There are very few gold sinks in the game, and without gold sinks the economy runs towards massive inflation, which doesn't really affect the players who have been around since the beginning that much, but is a really really bad thing for any new players.

Besides, armour repairs are pretty darn cheap. They used to be much higher (granted, that was because of a bug that caused armour to degrade much more quickly than intended). Even if I'm not vendoring the gear that's dropped as loot (which I haven't been doing since I started getting loot made from the new mats introduced with IC), I've found that repair costs are almost always less than the gold drops and such that I get in the time that it takes to build up a repair bill.

Crown repair kits are nice for challenging content where you might need repairs mid-way through. Otherwise paying for repairs is just fine as it is.

Darlgon · September 2015

MaxwellCrystal wrote: »

Not sure how many people are paying so much money to repair armor, I repair probably every 1 to 2 hours and I'm paying under 300 gold each.
I guess you're dying a lot and if that's the case well try to improve your survivability, that'll help you out tremendously when battling the cost of armor repairs.

That number increases based on a number of variables:

Player level
Armor level (as mentioned above, purple takes more dmg, but if broken, will cost more to repair)
Content level
# mobs fought.
# of deaths

Last night, after two hours in IC sewers, with two deaths, my repair bill for my light armor was 1976.

Oh, and OP.. it might be fun, but.. I think I will stick with repair kits and not ask ZoS to develop anything right now. They got enough to do.

UrQuan · September 2015

Darlgon wrote: »

MaxwellCrystal wrote: »

Not sure how many people are paying so much money to repair armor, I repair probably every 1 to 2 hours and I'm paying under 300 gold each.
I guess you're dying a lot and if that's the case well try to improve your survivability, that'll help you out tremendously when battling the cost of armor repairs.

That number increases based on a number of variables:

Player level
Armor level (as mentioned above, purple takes more dmg, but if broken, will cost more to repair)
Content level
# mobs fought.

Last night, after two hours in IC sewers, my repair bill for my light armor was 1976.

Dang, really? The most I've had from a couple of hours (using gold VR14 gear on a VR16 character) running around the sewers was about 1400, and I thought that was a high repair bill!

Not that I couldn't afford it from the gold dropped by mobs and taken from chests, along with selling daedra husks, etc.

MightyHarken · September 2015

Definitely not due to dying. every 30 minutes or so of gameplay, I find my gear around half of the bar and in need to repair it, and drop 2k gold which is half of the loot I obtained from killings monsters, I think my proposal is fitting.

KingArturia wrote: »

MightyHarken wrote: »

Apprentice repair hammer. Repairs 15% of a piece of equipment. Usable by blacksmiths of rank 20. Has 10 uses

Novice repair hammer. Repairs 20% of a piece of equipment. Usable by blacksmiths of rank 5. Has 10 uses

Switch those around, and yep I agree.

It was unintentional, I meant for the novice repair hammer to be the worst of them all.

Guys this is not only to save money, I think it's fitting that master blacksmiths such as myself and people who seriousy dedicate themselves to crafting deserve. I'm a freaking blacksmith but I cant repair my own gear?, even worse, I have to pay a merchant who doesnt know anything about smithing to repair it for me?, that doesnt even make sense!

UrQuan · September 2015

MightyHarken wrote: »

Definitely not due to dying. every 30 minutes or so of gameplay, I find my gear around half of the bar and in need to repair it, and drop 2k gold which is half of the loot I obtained from killings monsters, I think my proposal is fitting.

KingArturia wrote: »

MightyHarken wrote: »

Apprentice repair hammer. Repairs 15% of a piece of equipment. Usable by blacksmiths of rank 20. Has 10 uses

Novice repair hammer. Repairs 20% of a piece of equipment. Usable by blacksmiths of rank 5. Has 10 uses

Switch those around, and yep I agree.

It was unintentional, I meant for the novice repair hammer to be the worst of them all.

Guys this is not only to save money, I think it's fitting that master blacksmiths such as myself and people who seriousy dedicate themselves to crafting deserve. I'm a freaking blacksmith but I cant repair my own gear?, even worse, I have to pay a merchant who doesnt know anything about smithing to repair it for me?, that doesnt even make sense!

I'd like for a character with sufficient skill to be able to make repairs too, but there has to be a gold cost. If there isn't then we lose one of the only gold sinks in the game, and that's terrible.

Nestor · September 2015

MightyHarken wrote: »

Definitely not due to dying. every 30 minutes or so of gameplay, I find my gear around half of the bar and in need to repair it, and drop 2k gold which is half of the loot I obtained from killings monsters

That actually sounds about right. Your also over looking the loot you vendor, not just the gold you get from drops. Here is the thing, on a character that did not need to level crafting, I vendored everything, not in the guild stores but in game vendors so the prices I got were bupkiss. In the first zone, I earned 27K, in the second zone it was about 35K. In the VR zones, I get about 80K to 100K in gold from the zone quests and mobs. This is after paying for repairs.

Now that we have the Legerdemain skill line, gold is the last of your worries in this game early on. Back when we had to walk both ways up hill in the snow we only had mob loot to get gold or you had to be a member of a guild with an active store. Then we were all broke. Especially as I was deconning everything to level my crafting skills and buying bag space and bank space and buying horses and upgrading horses.

CGPsaint · September 2015

I don't mind the cost of repairing my armor. What bothers me is the fact that my character is able to craft weapons and armor from raw materials, and yet is completely incapable of repairing the very same armor. Surely they can come up with a more well thought out gold sink than something as ridiculous as this.

MightyHarken · September 2015

UrQuan wrote: »

MightyHarken wrote: »

Definitely not due to dying. every 30 minutes or so of gameplay, I find my gear around half of the bar and in need to repair it, and drop 2k gold which is half of the loot I obtained from killings monsters, I think my proposal is fitting.

KingArturia wrote: »

MightyHarken wrote: »

Apprentice repair hammer. Repairs 15% of a piece of equipment. Usable by blacksmiths of rank 20. Has 10 uses

Novice repair hammer. Repairs 20% of a piece of equipment. Usable by blacksmiths of rank 5. Has 10 uses

Switch those around, and yep I agree.

It was unintentional, I meant for the novice repair hammer to be the worst of them all.

Guys this is not only to save money, I think it's fitting that master blacksmiths such as myself and people who seriousy dedicate themselves to crafting deserve. I'm a freaking blacksmith but I cant repair my own gear?, even worse, I have to pay a merchant who doesnt know anything about smithing to repair it for me?, that doesnt even make sense!

I'd like for a character with sufficient skill to be able to make repairs too, but there has to be a gold cost. If there isn't then we lose one of the only gold sinks in the game, and that's terrible.

So when is the game going to be about more about the fun rather than the "let's worry about the economy", merchants can still sell repair hammers or material to craft repair hammers, and there you go. e.g. 1 master repair hammer worth 500 gold has 10 uses, you still sinked money but in a more useful way, + whenever you loot repair hammers you'll get a happy face

CGPsaint · September 2015

MightyHarken wrote: »

So when is the game going to be about more about the fun rather than the "let's worry about the economy", merchants can still sell repair hammers or material to craft repair hammers, and there you go. e.g. 1 master repair hammer worth 500 gold has 10 uses, you still sinked money but in a more useful way, + whenever you loot repair hammers you'll get a happy face

At least with repair hammers or sewing kits, you're the one doing the repairing, instead of some random merchant or chef, who in theory knows absolutely nothing about smithing/tailoring.

Nestor · September 2015

MightyHarken wrote: »

So when is the game going to be about more about the fun rather than the "let's worry about the economy",

An inflated economy is not fun. Besides, you can already buy Repair Kits in the game, no need for Repair Hammers.

MightyHarken · September 2015

Nestor wrote: »

MightyHarken wrote: »

So when is the game going to be about more about the fun rather than the "let's worry about the economy",

An inflated economy is not fun. Besides, you can already buy Repair Kits in the game, no need for Repair Hammers.

No one stupid enough would buy a repair kit that costs more and only repairs one piece of gear

Nestor · September 2015

MightyHarken wrote: »

No one stupid enough would buy a repair kit that costs more and only repairs one piece of gear

Unless you are in PvP or running Trials like Dragon Star Arena where your ill advised to do so without repair kits. Whether it is the Crown Store kits that repair everything or the in game ones that repair one.

Mitchblue · September 2015

I don't mind the cost but how often I need to repair. And it's not much death involved.. Just constantly being beat on.

ADarklore · September 2015

I don't mind the repair cost, we make a pretty good amount of gold in-game just from questing and selling looted items to vendors. Since my crafting alt is already max leveled, I don't bother deconstructing anymore; I just repair all my armor, then sell everything and be on my way.

Mitchblue · September 2015

ADarklore wrote: »

I don't mind the repair cost, we make a pretty good amount of gold in-game just from questing and selling looted items to vendors. Since my crafting alt is already max leveled, I don't bother deconstructing anymore; I just repair all my armor, then sell everything and be on my way.

Needing to get back to town often can be a drag.

phairdon · September 2015

WolfingHour wrote: »

You musr be dying alot.

Damage comes from battle. You do not need to die.

MaxwellC · September 2015

Nestor wrote: »

newtinmpls wrote: »

So a really nasty undaunted (especially vet) has been our highest averages. I think something like 1700 or 1800 was the highest I've seen so far.

I don't know if you can get higher than 1700/1800 in costs. I have broken my VR14 armor (all of them) after a few group dungeons and that was how high my repair bills are.

MaxwellCrystal wrote: »

Not sure how many people are paying so much money to repair armor, I repair probably every 1 to 2 hours and I'm paying under 300 gold each.

For normal questing and mob combat during those quests, this is about right. But, do some serious grinding or run a few Group Dungeons and you will see some serious repair bills. Just one group dungeon, not so much, but string together 4 to 6 of them, be prepared to write a really big check.

Or, be like me and forget to repair your armor because I just dropped loot off in a bank for an Alt to decon, so no vendor interactions for a day or three....

I grind multiple veteran ranked dungeons and I don't have this problem at all. I should've clarified that the 300 gold each example was from personal experience in regards to me grinding veteran dungeons in order to find "ebon armor" at v12 (since v14 doesn't exist).

UrQuan · September 2015

MightyHarken wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

MightyHarken wrote: »

Definitely not due to dying. every 30 minutes or so of gameplay, I find my gear around half of the bar and in need to repair it, and drop 2k gold which is half of the loot I obtained from killings monsters, I think my proposal is fitting.

KingArturia wrote: »

MightyHarken wrote: »

Apprentice repair hammer. Repairs 15% of a piece of equipment. Usable by blacksmiths of rank 20. Has 10 uses

Novice repair hammer. Repairs 20% of a piece of equipment. Usable by blacksmiths of rank 5. Has 10 uses

Switch those around, and yep I agree.

It was unintentional, I meant for the novice repair hammer to be the worst of them all.

Guys this is not only to save money, I think it's fitting that master blacksmiths such as myself and people who seriousy dedicate themselves to crafting deserve. I'm a freaking blacksmith but I cant repair my own gear?, even worse, I have to pay a merchant who doesnt know anything about smithing to repair it for me?, that doesnt even make sense!

I'd like for a character with sufficient skill to be able to make repairs too, but there has to be a gold cost. If there isn't then we lose one of the only gold sinks in the game, and that's terrible.

So when is the game going to be about more about the fun rather than the "let's worry about the economy", merchants can still sell repair hammers or material to craft repair hammers, and there you go. e.g. 1 master repair hammer worth 500 gold has 10 uses, you still sinked money but in a more useful way, + whenever you loot repair hammers you'll get a happy face

That wouldn't be nearly enough of a cost. The basic mechanic could work fine, but the looted hammers would have to be very rare, and the purchased ones would have to cost a lot more.

And if game devs (and to a lesser extent players) don't worry about the in-game economy then the game becomes completely ruined for any new players. All players should worry about things being ruined for new players, because the long-term health of any MMO depends both on retaining as many existing players as possible and getting enough new players to make up for the inevitable attrition of existing players (because there's no such thing as a 100% retention rate).