So, it's interesting to hear that there are no new artifacts planned for Ep 42. Personally, I'm kind of glad as I'm pretty happy with my artifact lineup across my characters and the grind of continuing leveling new ones can be overwhelming. That said, artifacts can be super interesting and offer new twists in gameplay that hadn't been there before and I'm always curious to see what the team comes up with in this arena. However it feels like the shift in focus is toward Allies. I'm still not a huge fan of the system but I hope it evolves to a place that's both player-friendly and interesting in terms of gameplay. Wondering if we can get any insight from the team on whether new artifacts are in the pipeline and / or what their vision is for the future of the artifact system...
I wouldn't mind getting some ideas of what they want to focus on as well. The problem I have with the current ones is that there are definite disparity between the classic artifacts and ones made later. Not just because 1-2 are down right required for most loadouts, but because the classic ones were designed with a more conservative bonuses at lower levels, because ones above 120 were not made yet. Artifacts made after they had already increased it to 200, give very little benefits at 80 or even 120. Some absolutely require you to take it all the way to 200 or it's a detrimental artifact. That's really a big concern, considering that they have always said that they would eventually increase the cap again. Edit: Newer artifacts are more costly to get benefits than older ones.
Honestly I would like to see artifacts for duel roles. Artifacts for dps/troller, dps/healer/dps/tank. So anyone who does play both roles, can focus on leveling artifacts for both roles instead of leveling up 6 different artifacts.
Like Transformation for DPS and Healing? I think the biggest issue with ones that do this is that they start to pigeon hole certain powers vs others. As DPS side can be very samey, but there are distinct differences between individual roles. (Tanks for example. Circe's mask really benefits just Ice, but it can somewhat work for the others, but doesn't really help a whole lot.) Also, the difference between a DPS and Controller, minus any artifacts, is 10% damage buff vs power over time and debuffs. (At core.) Which is why a lot of the generic artifacts give Controllers damage related buffs.
ehhh, strat and trans already do this to some degree if you play any battle support, or use Fire or Electricity, but it's not the same thing, no. I could see it.
As for the OP? I kinda like the idea of maybe revisiting the artifacts we have now and touching a few of those up first - I think there are enough artifacts right now, and a little touching up would make the lesser-used current ones a little more applicable: my favorite Artifacts are the ones that are like, generally useful as opposed to overly specific so I'm a fan of the idea of broader ranges of applicability.
To the 1st comment about allies The direction i’d like to see is that ally passives compliment artifacts meaning each ally (as they are introduced) IMO would have been better and more desirable if they complemented specific artifacts. Easy example is stupidman as an ally. His passive would buff SA in some way to further enhance HV. That sort of thing. If they were complimentary to our unique builds then they’d be much more desireable. As it stands, there just aint enough benefit in the grand scheme to invest in any tbh outside the combat one. I mean, the existing passives have some pros but they are all so minuscule they dont matter. Theres no real disadvantage to not using them.
The first artifacts were made with this in mind. That's why the cog and Sparring A.I. give Dom and the Dillustel Refractor gives precision, etc. Then there's EoG, Philosopher's Stone, Strat and Trans. As for my hopes for artifacts in the future, I'm still waiting on a tank artifact that buffs CC resistance and reduces enemy CC resistance.
For me personally, I'm kind of glad we're not getting new Artifacts. I'm really sick of grinding them, they can be overwhelming like you said and they often feel like a chore more than anything and I think there's already more than enough. I'd rather have the devs focus on improving the Ally system and give us more QOL updates. There's a lot of stuff in-game that's outdated, broken or not super user-friendly (looking at you Broker) and I'd love to see those aspects of the game get some refreshing updates. Maybe bring us new weapon types, new power animations, anything but new Artifacts, really.
I just want to see Artifacts get the same treatment as Augments. Stop making them take up inventory space. Put them in their own tab where we can hold an infinite number of options, so that we can level up multiples without having to carry them all around for whenever we might want to experiment with a new build.
I've suggested they give us C and D Affinities to slightly upgrade the Artifacts. This way the older ones might see use again.
This is news to me about no new artifacts in EP42. Although its disappointing to be honest, I prefer artifacts over allies. Artifacts expand/create new play styles, allies just give you underwhelming bonuses. I kind of knew something was up when they started to give members all of these seal of completion/preservation through daily rewards only to not give us any new artifacts to use them on. Something tells me they they pulled a switcharoo on us yet again, by finally giving us something we've been wanting for a long time only to sunset that same system/slowly make it irrelevant the next day. I mean its more time I'll keep stacking Nth metal on my bank toon which mean's I'll prob surpass 15M in xp by the end of EP42. I mean hell I'm already at almost 11.5M in Nth metal right now.
I would like artifacts similar to the first set of artifacts that have synergy between them all like the Rings of Azar, Starheart, Disllutel, Cog/Tetra....only make them artifacts that people want to use. I'd also like a heal artifact that turns my 4-man shield into a 6-man shield.
Tbh when you look at all the Artifacts we currently have, we're pretty much done. Theres Artifacts that greatly benefit all 4 roles and good combinations there too. If there are to be any more, which we know there will be, i'd prefer if they followed the Blueprint of Solar Amplifier. Take 1 power from Iconics and make it more useful. With the 3 Artifact limit it means theres a good buffer there for stopping Iconics from Overshadowing normal powers, but giving more functionality to Iconics should be the way to go. Amazonian Deflection gaining the option to move, Robot Sidekick gaining a powerful hit, Gag Glove getting a boost or multiple hits. Theres many avenues to go down.
I would like for them to not make more artifacts, but make the existing one continually meaningful. They don't need to drastically increase the strength or abilities every update, but something I invest time and money (both in game and real) sucks to have to just bank or something when the new hotness comes. Plus with the initial idea of these being items that are growing with us and are an important part of our builds, they don't feel that way. Plus at this point there is such a vast array of them I'd rather they just touch up some of the more lack luster ones and make what we currently have all viable to some degree.
I hate Lazzo artifact, but I can say it opens quite a few possibilities for new tanks artifacts. Still dreaming in a Amazonian Defection artifact Upgrade 1: Amazonian Deflection no long is interrupable by block break, but it's duration is halved. A sick animation of someone standing would fit so well Upgrade 2: When cast grants temporarily immunity. Upgrade 3,4: Amazonian duration extended 35/50% This is what I call a good artifact
There's still plenty they can do, just pet ones alone could be near endless with all the animals in dc lore. A shield artifact for healers, iconic altering ones, tank powerset specific ones, and yeah maybe troll ones are done lol. Can't really think of things they need more of. But then taking some of the lesser used ones and adding better stuff to would be great. I'm surprised by the lack of new ones since that will be about a year now since the latest ones right? Well, by the end of ep42 I'd think. I'm ok with it and will get my alts sorted for the next double nth. Which should mean that the next time a new one rolls around, I should be sitting on enough nth to go 0 to 200 instantly. Guessing they just haven't had the manpower to work on artis while all this new stuff is being added. I think the community forgets we asked for allies in a roundabout way when asking for a 4th artifact slot. This is close to what everyone said, added abilities while not adding stats. I'd love to see allies that work in conjunction with certain artifacts. Kinda like aquaman and source shard but that's not just for source users. But a superman passive that makes freeze breath tick faster would sell like the hottest of cakes and that could get it's own artifact too.
