[Idea] Improvements to the Artifact System

Hey everyone,

Yep, yet another Artifact thread. Hopefully one that doesn't spiral into attacks because folks have/bring a difference of opinions. We at the Sourcewall had some ideas from discussions in Discord and my Twitch Chat on how to better the Artifact System, especially for Alts. Below is an Article we wrote up listing the suggestions to the current system. Now of course, these are just suggestions and we won't get offended if they are implemented. Some of it may hurt the MP side but we rather want to change it from being MP>In-Game to In-Game>MP. The In-Game grind is not a fun engaging process so the MP becomes the quicker choice and is often seen as P2W while it is and it isn't. Guess its "in the eye of the beholder" and all that.

We hope you enjoy the article and even add your own ideas to the improvement of it. We didn't list or come up with all the ideas but rather ones that we see as a possible change/fix to make it more engaging and a better experience for the Community.

https://www.dcuosourcewall.com/news-feed/2020/6/7/dcuo-source-wall-idea-improvements-for-artifacts

I like the idea of the discounted xp for alts, similar to the style feat for vendor gear currently. That would help a lot with my alts, as I have several at endgame.

Question regarding this idea: Just to verify, you can get any artefact to 200? Doesn't have to be a specific artifact.

For example, if I levelled Grimorum Verum to rank 200, would it only impact my Grimorum Verum on alts? And so on and so forth.

If it really is any artefact that would help a lot. I would still like to see Seals of Preservation as account bound loot drops in-game though, with a similar drop rate to the Exceptional Recovery Kits that dropped with the R&D system.

The idea we have in the article is only needing One Artifact needing to be Rank 200 to allow all Artifacts to receive the discount. We considered the Discount idea to apply for Individual Artifacts too and even thought about putting it in the Article but we felt getting 1 Artifact to Rank 200 is a grind in of itself so getting other Rank 200s seemed maybe too much.

The idea of having the Discount applied to the individual Rank 200 Artifacts isnt something off the table either, we just didnt include it in the article. If this method is done, the Nth Metal Experience from the article would HAVE to be implemented. Definitely lol.

Fantastic write up with that article. Hopefully the developers give it a read and consider implementing it or something similar to it.

The whole concept of the changes makes sense and I'm sure many would appreciate such a change. This will still have a grinding aspect the developers want though perhaps the suggestion on one feat for all is a bit too generous and lowers the grind that the developers are going for.

Instead perhaps the feat can be a ten star feat or title for each individual artifact, which will function as suggested and still be beneficial for alternate characters that are looking to run a particular artifact at half the cost/grind. Especially since the developers already allow for half the experience to be transferred from one artifact into another. This should keep the grinding aspect of leveling artifacts as our characters progress throughout the game. This will go well with the other changes/improvements suggested in the article.

Now I know the artifact system has seen changes already that halted the progression the developers originally wanted, which would have continued beyond the current max and would have been tied to our combat rating. So anything is possible in terns of a slight adjustment to the system if it will remain the same rank or possibly a reasonable enough change to get back on track with the intended continued progression the developers were going for.

I definitely love the suggestions in the article and believe that it will help and improve the current artifact system. It will also allow a more reasonable grind when collecting swap artifacts for different situations as desired. I appreciate the write up and I really hope that the developers would consider on making the necessary changes to improve the artifact system. We will see as the game progresses what the developers have planned for this system and perhaps new ones to come.

That was another idea we left on the cutting room floor lol. The Feat for Rank 200 could be 3 star or 1 star. We felt 3 star cause of the time it takes to get there.

We even went a step further into thinking about tying the Feat per Rank for the discount. Example would be getting Grim to Rank 80 and you get the 1 Star Feat. If you go to an Alt that has Grim, unlock the Feat and the Discount is applied to Grim until Rank 80.

Meant as a purely friendly question: who, specifically, are the "we" you are speaking for? The post is credited to one person: you, Trexlight.

I've never noticed the linked site before, which obviously you are connected to, but may I ask who else is? I can't find any sort of "about us" or credit or information on who produces the site. Am I being blind? I can't find any sort of link to any identifying post beyond the names on posts, such as "Clark Kent," which is not exactly informative. Link?

Per rank also makes sense depending on how the experience is updated, per rank would definitely be the better option.

Its myself and a couple of other volunteers. Its normally myself and one other who do the day to day, a lot of times its more him than me lol. I'll discuss with them about an About Me page. Its definitely something missing on the site that I havent thought about because of needing to play "catch up" with the information needed for the site.

Would reducing the cost of catalysts from 7, 10, 15 marks to 1, 4, 9 marks be a bad idea?

I just wanted to say that I too think that all of these ideas are awesome. The article was very well thought out and was delivered very nicely.

Side note: I also love be legasei's suggestion, but that is just the lazy person in me so I don't have to grind source marks as much lol

The grind for nth metal isn’t enough for you to not feel lazy?

Meh. Grinding is part of an mmo, it does suck sometimes though.

As a consumer, I'm down with any and all of the ideas you put up, but I still don't think they will happen because of the bottom line. That and it seemed to be a major endeavor to get the catalyst system revamped to the point it is now vs the horrible box in a box in a box system we had at first. Adding in feats that open up varying levels of catalyst use on different toons would probably be programming prohibitive or a greater challenge at least.

The addition of a guaranteed Nth drop at bosses is a fine idea...so is the removal of the 10s and 20s (I'd say 50s are as low as they need to be) as those are pretty much clutter anyway, which should be very doable...just change the 5 min nth drop to 50s (1 or 2 pieces) and the 10 min leave with the 'bigger' drops as is.

The biggest thing I'd like to see added is either A) the ability to trade seals again or B) a way to get seals in game either as rewards for certain activities or as fragments that we accumulate like stabilizer fragments....or just have Constantine sell them like cats.

As far as the 'get one arti to 200...get a discount on alts'...the only thing I could see working is some sort of 'jump to' token that would drop when you hit 200 on an arti. Hit 200 on grim, get a 'jump grim to 100' token that is account bound. It wouldn't be useful to the main who already has a 200 grim, so some alt gets it...consumes it....and his grim is up to 100. That would save some Nth and seals, but leave the existing programming in place for 100+ and leave DI plenty of money to make off 100+ Maybe 120 or something. Or hitting 200 gives you some reward box (basically a rebate on what you already fed the arti) with some amount of XP, and cats + a few SOP. This could be used on another arti on the same toon, which goes against the 'for the alts' aspect though. Either way, something that does not require a major arti leveling overhaul as that's what I think will be the drawback for pretty much all the ideas that people put forward.

Interesting you would say that Trexlight!

Yeah kettle is black and all lol

yep it sure can be lol..try to follow your own advice from here on out my man! Anyways great idea and hope the devs give it some thought and respond back. Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

I like the ideas Trex but unfortunately it cuts in to the developers revenue stream they've created around artifacts which at this point is probably their third most lucractive following replay badges and time capsules.

I'm not a fan of putting feats though behind artifacts, they could be star less ones for sure, but not pointed because that's part of what fuels the pay2win elements of time capsules and the like and creates this mentality that you've got to "have everything". I know you don't "have to have everything" but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

There's always pointed feats tied to artifacts in general, which are reward enough.

Rejuvenating this post since I’ve seen someone ask for something similar

i like the idea but it will not happen bc the only thing that matters anymore is money money money so anything consumer friendly is pretty much out the window these days, at least from what ive seen

I'm all for this but what about the other ranks if you dont want to go to 200? Say you wish to only go to 160 on a artifact? Would only that artifact on a alt be discounted up to 160?