Set bonus stuff is terrible idea because it discourages upgrading when you get a single better item. Some sets are okay, but look at the fiasco with PoW sets and then drunder and skyshrine etc. Sets are better left to armor where you should be gearing it faster, and preferably having the bonus in a smaller number then the max pieces you can get for the set, that way you allow that upgrade without losing everything.
Agreed. Set-bonus formats that are slightly additive (to an existing effect) are nice, so the loss of the set bonus doesn't negate the effect, merely the effect simply resumes a slightly less intense form. One thing that might work well from a conceptual level with set bonus formats in the future is to use not only intensity as a basis, but also look at providing slight enhancement to base trigger or reuse rates for a particular group of skills. One way it might be achieved is to reduce base reuse of long reuse abilities by very slight amounts based on skill type: temp buff, debuff, instant damage, dot, ward/heal amount. Having an ability with what is normally a five minute reuse, reduced through a set bonus, usable at 30 seconds sooner could certainly be powerful, but not something that would drastically change most gameplay scenarios; and is something that could be lived without if you had to go through the process of upgrading to a different set.
I like it. FYI we just got our at least 8th Crippler from pirate kings (this last one went to an alt, pretty sure more went to alts but we dont track those) and ZERO bows. If these have even close to the same coded drop rate the RNG code is demonstrably pathetic. Even with a 're roll' button this would be insufferable results.
i agree that haste/dps/flurry/ma should apply to melee and caster auto attack but also gear should come with a "reforgable" stat or something that will allow you to take whatever option suits your character best. also they should put in one or two proc items from varied zones/tiers that use primary stats to increase in damage or something to that effect, those items imo are always fun to hunt for. i wouldn't mind another BTC like item since it's not actually potency and thus would have a greater return. apologies to all the high end raiders but i still don't think it's a good idea to make characters with raid gear 300% more effective than casual players like it was in RoK/TSO.. it wasn't fun to log in alts and be totally useless compared to my geared raid main. devs have been really good about keeping lower end players at a good base level as far as gear and that's a good thing. think what the top end is missing is some unique well designed items that validate the harder fights (and that i can buy!).
I do not want to dilute or distract from the central theme thus far of this topic, item design concepts, but there is something to be said about 'loot packaging' too. We have talked a bit about it in terms of raiding, and I think there is some good discussion, but from a slightly different angle, these are but a couple of small things I feel stick out. Who is ardently hunting for major essences still? Or even a rare master spell that no one in the party is even of the right class? Those things are nice to be sure, but no one really wants to see them from where we typically see them. If they were an extra content relevant currency like an obol, a greater spirit, or god forbid a 'misplaced' essence, more often than not, most would be happier. As we will probably not see new levels, and thus not require any more than a very few new spells with coming content, the desire to see master spells will be even lower still aside from transmute chance and value,. Move those two things, essences and master spells, to the strict domain of advanced solo and raid zones, setting the essence occurrence in raids very low in comparison. More people who need them would find greater opportunity and benefit out of those two things being there than they would typically from a heroic zone. That doesn't mean the amount of loot from heroics would decrease or that loot from AS or raids would necessarily increase, just that the selection or range of different types of things should shrink in heroics and general chance at the more desirable things from heroics would then increase. The things people are chasing from heroics would become a little more common. The side benefit, as the growth of solo play continues upwards, is we sooner or later would see adequate master spells in circulation. As people move on from content, there is still a somewhat reasonable way to obtain them. Any 'extra' master spells that are acquired in the short term will be quickly moved out of the system, as the value of the transmuted material usually encourages a certain market floor, and a fairly static player to player supply quantity. In summary, do not dilute the heroic drop tables. Concentrate them more than they are. Keep them fairly slim in terms of the 'kinds' of items that can be obtained. The variety should come from the degrees of rarity of the really desirable things. Like raiding, people go into heroics with a clear intent of a certain type of progress. The other variety should be left to other places, where a flexible schedule and composition allows for more of a 'whatever' or 'strike it lucky' consequence.
