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Finding full items vs item components
One of the areas I'd like to see greatly improved in the modern mmo is itemization, as I find raid tier boring. The first rpg I got addicted to was D2, and the first mmo I got addicted to is SWG. For those who have played both, you could understand the drastic differences in itemization. One is a dungeon crawling loot fest, and the other is a player economy. However, I love both! And I want to see them integrated! Crazy, right?
Or is it. I guess that's what I'm hoping to find out here. The idea of great mmo itemization to me comes down to finding gear components ala SWG, albeit with a bit more flair. But, we all know that in the end SWG failed. Now, it's my opinion that SWG didn't fail because it was so crafting oriented, but rather it failed because they focused too much on crafting at the expense of end-game activities. In other words the crafting sytem wasn't bad, but it couldn't stand on its own. But, I question that reasoning due to itemization, seeing as it is very different from a game like wow which drops items rather than crafting components, and in every basic sense has been a huge success (even though I don't think it's a very good mmo).
So I question if itemization played a part in SWG's downfall, and thus brings up my primary question. How important is it that people find full gear in a mmo, in comparison to components that can be used in a player economy?
Examples:
In wow you'd find the folllowing item from raid boss X
Super sword of slaying
250-697 2-hand damage
+100 stamina
+240 strength
+175 accuracy
sockets for jewels (player crafted)
Enchants (player crafted)
In a player economy, items would be similar to the following:
Super sword of slaying (player crafted)
(197 - 430) - (510 - 841) 2-hand damange (based on materials used to craft the item with experimentation)
+40-100 stamina (based on materials and boost mods(player found))
+175-250 strength (based on materials and boost mods(player found))
+100-175 accuracy (based on materials and boost mods(player found))
3 sockets (can be filled with player crafted mods or enhancements found in the world)
See the differences? In one you find just the item. In the second the player crafts the item and you find the boost mods and enhancements rather than finding the actual item. Keep in mind that this is the most basic of designs, and in a real mmo you can't just find mods and enhancements. There would be all kind of other things that aren't worth getting into in this post. Just try to keep the basic idea in mind though.
So, which do you prefer? Finding the item? Or finding item components?
Comments
To be fair, the WoW example also has sockets, where you can put cut gems in. Gems must be mined (Mining skill) by a player, or otherwise found through another rare method, and then must be cut (Jewelcrafting) into a specific style.
You could also get an Enchanter to give a pretty large bonus to the weapon. While lower-level enchants are just stats, some can be procs. Leatherworkers, Tailors, and Engineers also have the ability to add 'enchants' of a sort to certain pieces of gear.
In addition, everyone has the ability to Reforge a piece of gear, which allows them to drain one stat from an item to increase another. There are a few limitations, but in general it allows you to tailor it to what you need the numbers to be.
Your 'discussion' is a bit loaded, but I won't knock you on that too much. Most are around here. I would like to see all kinds of player crafting become more important in many games where it's possible, which even includes themeparks, as they give more importance to a distinct playstyle. Then again, raids require groups of coordinated players, so maybe if there was a coordinated crafting effort that had to involve several crafters at once, items could be created that are on the level of this tough group content.
With a system like Vanguard's crafting, having an item that has to pass hands from several crafters to create a legendary artifact would be an interesting sight to see.
Thanks for mentioning the wow socket and enchants. I've modified the post.
I'm sorry you feel it is loaded, but perhaps it is. I don't really like raiding for gear as the primary end-game activity and that probably shows through. That doesn't mean I necessarily dislike raids on occasion though.
In my "perfect mmo", raids would provide a guaranteed drop for each player, where as smaller dungeons could drop the same stuff but would be much much less. Like less than 1%. e.g. you'd have to run x smaller dungeons (x would vary greatly according to difficulty and group size) to be equivalent to one raid.
It depends on what the crafting process is. If it's something stupid, like WoW's click a button and get an item crafting process, then I'll pass.