Thoughts on armor and crafting

CaffeinatedMayhem · December 2017

Long winded thoughts coming, this may/may not really apply to crafting, but not sure where it should go:

At launch, the 3 factions were very divided, which is why every zone (1-5) in each Alliance has the same crafting stations. It seems silly to have 3 copies now that One Tamriel has been going strong for a year. Wouldn't it make more sense for each zone to have one crafted armor set tailored to that indiviual race/story?

But wait!

Every dungeon and trial also have a light, medium, and heavy set that drops. Plus the light, medium, and heavy set for each overland zone. Wouldn't it be simpler for each area to only drop only one, theme or race tailored set? So instead of having 1 good set per dungeon and 2 trash, just have 1 good set, light, medium, OR heavy. "But wait! Why will I want to run a dungeon that only drops light armor!" Good question! My thought is for dungeons/overland/trials to drop other incentives, like furnishings or recipes (more frequently), or something else that will make it worth helping your friends get that Purple Belt of Sublime Something in Invigorating.

I think it would also make balancing easier on the devs, and allow more interesting choices in sets, where as now there are just too many (IMO).

This isn't a full solution, just something that comes to mind everday as I'm deconning tons of overland sets that are simply worthless.

Tevalaur · December 2017

thatlaurachick wrote: »

At launch, the 3 factions were very divided, which is why every zone (1-5) in each Alliance has the same crafting stations. It seems silly to have 3 copies now that One Tamriel has been going strong for a year. Wouldn't it make more sense for each zone to have one crafted armor set tailored to that indiviual race/story?

Maybe it would make more sense lore-wise, but it doesn't seem anywhere near as pressing a use of developer resources as many other things they either are working on or many wish they were working on already.

thatlaurachick wrote: »

But wait!

Every dungeon and trial also have a light, medium, and heavy set that drops. Plus the light, medium, and heavy set for each overland zone. Wouldn't it be simpler for each area to only drop only one, theme or race tailored set? So instead of having 1 good set per dungeon and 2 trash, just have 1 good set, light, medium, OR heavy. "But wait! Why will I want to run a dungeon that only drops light armor!" Good question! My thought is for dungeons/overland/trials to drop other incentives, like furnishings or recipes (more frequently), or something else that will make it worth helping your friends get that Purple Belt of Sublime Something in Invigorating.

No, I don't want to have to run dungeons just for decent gear. Yes, the overland sets may not be as nice as some of the dungeon sets, but they are easy for loners or semi-loners to obtain and are unbound so they still have their place. Some areas (thinking especially of Deshaan) doesn't have "1 good and 2 trash" when it comes to even just overland sets either... so what are you going to do with the other sets? You vote to just lose them from the game?

thatlaurachick wrote: »

I think it would also make balancing easier on the devs, and allow more interesting choices in sets, where as now there are just too many (IMO).

I don't see how removing a few locations to craft sets (for the crafted ones) would have any impact on balancing as they're the same no matter where they're created. And while you may find there to be too many sets for "standardized" builds, not everyone likes a cookie-cutter build. I for one do not want to endorse the start of a trend that amounts to culling sets out of the game.

Think about how every few weeks they "remove crown store items for space considerations" -- do you really want them to start doing that to various sets that you could get before but never can again?

CaffeinatedMayhem · December 2017

Tevalaur wrote: »

Maybe it would make more sense lore-wise, but it doesn't seem anywhere near as pressing a use of developer resources as many other things they either are working on or many wish they were working on already.

One Tamriel does not make sense lore wise, this is a weak argument.

thatlaurachick wrote: »

But wait!

Tevalaur wrote: »

No, I don't want to have to run dungeons just for decent gear. Yes, the overland sets may not be as nice as some of the dungeon sets, but they are easy for loners or semi-loners to obtain and are unbound so they still have their place. Some areas (thinking especially of Deshaan) doesn't have "1 good and 2 trash" when it comes to even just overland sets either... so what are you going to do with the other sets? You vote to just lose them from the game?
[\quote]

So you don't want to still farm zones? huh.

Tevalaur wrote: »

I don't see how removing a few locations to craft sets (for the crafted ones) would have any impact on balancing as they're the same no matter where they're created. And while you may find there to be too many sets for "standardized" builds, not everyone likes a cookie-cutter build. I for one do not want to endorse the start of a trend that amounts to culling sets out of the game.
[\quote]

If you read my entire post, I'm advocating removing 2/3 of the sets in the game. Do you really need 300 sets to choose from?

Tevalaur wrote: »

Think about how every few weeks they "remove crown store items for space considerations" -- do you really want them to start doing that to various sets that you could get before but never can again?

[\quote]

Already has happened. And sets keep being changed. Cheange happens, learn to deal with it or life will be painful for you.

Nerouyn · December 2017

thatlaurachick wrote: »

At launch, the 3 factions were very divided, which is why every zone (1-5) in each Alliance has the same crafting stations. It seems silly to have 3 copies now that One Tamriel has been going strong for a year. Wouldn't it make more sense for each zone to have one crafted armor set tailored to that indiviual race/story?

Potentially but:

a) Most players wouldn't care. It's just a name on some gear. The stats will matter more to most.

b) You're suggesting potentially significant changes to existing gear and especially when it comes to CP 160 there's probably been a huge amount of time, effort and or resources invested in making them. If ZOS created new faction themed sets they'd have the problem of what to do with existing sets.

c) Don't assume that everyone wants to jump straight into other alliance zones. I've played through all the story so I happily do that with my lowbie alts but now when I started I worked my way through each map completing every quest. So for players like me the existing scheme still works best.

TylerB · December 2017

Nerouyn wrote: »

a) Most players wouldn't care. It's just a name on some gear. The stats will matter more to most.

If ZOS did everything with that mindset, sets would be "Lightning Damage Light Set" and "Stamina Recovery Heavy Set".

Nerouyn wrote: »

b) You're suggesting potentially significant changes to existing gear and especially when it comes to CP 160 there's probably been a huge amount of time, effort and or resources invested in making them. If ZOS created new faction themed sets they'd have the problem of what to do with existing sets.

They've already done a number of huge changes to sets in the past. And for the existing sets, let players keep the stuff they already have like they did with salt and pepper and other items that don't exist anymore. Crafted sets are easy to minimize since they already exist 3 times in the world, you just replace 2 of the duplicates of each crafting area with the new lore sets.

Nerouyn wrote: »

c) Don't assume that everyone wants to jump straight into other alliance zones. I've played through all the story so I happily do that with my lowbie alts but now when I started I worked my way through each map completing every quest. So for players like me the existing scheme still works best.

I don't see how that is relevant, really. If it's a newbie player then they won't be aware of the other sets until they either read about them or get to that point in the game. And most new players don't immediately try to go for the uber-sets, because they don't have the skills needed to get them. You won't see someone who just bought the game go to VMA as soon as they get out of Coldharbour.