I'm not sure item decay is as important for the economy as described, assuming there is a "binding" mechanic.
That's because players will never stop seeking out superior gear to what they have, and as long as binding prevents "hand-me-downs", crafters will always be in business.
As players level up, crafters will level up too and provide better and better gear.
There is the question of what is to be done once the hardcore elite have obtained the best gear in the game. The answer to that would be "make them as few as possible", in other words, design a long sequence of vanishingly better armor sets with dramatically rising costs to make maxing out prohibitive.
Non-repairable slow item decay is a good idea for certain rarities. Common gear should not have item decay... You need a base layer that is free in case of a broke player. In respect to gear, though, it should be layer out so gear doesn't let you face roll people. Here is my grid with decay and percentage of weapon/gear strength based off of legendary gear which would be the ceiling..
common gear = no decay, legendary stat minus 12%
Uncommon gear = decay, legendary stats minus 7%
Rare gear = decay, legendary stats minus 5%
extra rare gear = decay, legendary minus 3%
legendary gear = decay rate slowed by 10x normal decay rate
I'm not sure item decay is as important for the economy as described, assuming there is a "binding" mechanic. That's because players will never stop seeking out superior gear to what they have, and as long as binding prevents "hand-me-downs", crafters will always be in business. As players level up, crafters will level up too and provide better and better gear. There is the question of what is to be done once the hardcore elite have obtained the best gear in the game. The answer to that would be "make them as few as possible", in other words, design a long sequence of vanishingly better armor sets with dramatically rising costs to make maxing out prohibitive.
That was also answered fairly definitively in latter day SWG where many items "bio-linked" to their owners when equipped. While better than nothing, it did not help much. People could literally use the same top-end weapon, forever, which they did. Weapons cost 20x what they did when decay was in. It was a further problem that weapons/armor made through exploited mechanics (which happened occasionally, SOE being fairly bad at stopping that stuff) stayed in the game forever, as well. At least when there was decay, those would eventually wear out and go out of circulation. So, while "soulbinding/biolinking" is perhaps better than nothing, it is not nearly enough to make a player based, crafting economy function correctly.
There is the question of what is to be done once the hardcore elite have obtained the best gear in the game. The answer to that would be "make them as few as possible", in other words, design a long sequence of vanishingly better armor sets with dramatically rising costs to make maxing out prohibitive.
That was also answered fairly definitively in latter day SWG where many items "bio-linked" to their owners when equipped. While better than nothing, it did not help much. People could literally use the same top-end weapon, forever, which they did. Weapons cost 20x what they did when decay was in. It was a further problem that weapons/armor made through exploited mechanics (which happened occasionally, SOE being fairly bad at stopping that stuff) stayed in the game forever, as well. At least when there was decay, those would eventually wear out and go out of circulation. So, while "soulbinding/biolinking" is perhaps better than nothing, it is not nearly enough to make a player based, crafting economy function correctly.
The key phrase was "top-end".
It should be prohibitively difficult to optain a truly top-end item, and the top-end should improve gradually but consistantly, requiring steady upgrading to remain "best of the best".
A sandbox game can NOT survive when all items stay in the game. This game has very hard-to-reach-max-level crafting. To become the best is hard and it would absolutely suck that after a few months , suddenly, everyone has all the best items and the economy comes to a standstill.
Dark age of camelot was successful because it had a system like this in place. It helps keep the economy alive and people busy. Circle of life. Real life items need to be replaced as well right
Every item should decrease in durability after every other or third repair , rendering it less and less efficient to use in the long run and need replacing or used sparingly .
i really do hope they put it back or have some other ideas to maintain a steady economy for all .
Does any one know if there is a thread about this in the alpha part of the archeage forums ?
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Executive Editor (Games) http://www.wccftech.com
No Item Decay in ArcheAge?
Now I am sitting here being torn between laughing and smashing my head against the wall.
I mean.. seriously... how can they just remove it from a SANDBOX game. I just dont get it. Up to now I thought the game was aimed at crafters
I'm not sure item decay is as important for the economy as described, assuming there is a "binding" mechanic.
That's because players will never stop seeking out superior gear to what they have, and as long as binding prevents "hand-me-downs", crafters will always be in business.
As players level up, crafters will level up too and provide better and better gear.
There is the question of what is to be done once the hardcore elite have obtained the best gear in the game. The answer to that would be "make them as few as possible", in other words, design a long sequence of vanishingly better armor sets with dramatically rising costs to make maxing out prohibitive.
Non-repairable slow item decay is a good idea for certain rarities. Common gear should not have item decay... You need a base layer that is free in case of a broke player. In respect to gear, though, it should be layer out so gear doesn't let you face roll people. Here is my grid with decay and percentage of weapon/gear strength based off of legendary gear which would be the ceiling..
common gear = no decay, legendary stat minus 12%
Uncommon gear = decay, legendary stats minus 7%
Rare gear = decay, legendary stats minus 5%
extra rare gear = decay, legendary minus 3%
legendary gear = decay rate slowed by 10x normal decay rate
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
That was also answered fairly definitively in latter day SWG where many items "bio-linked" to their owners when equipped. While better than nothing, it did not help much. People could literally use the same top-end weapon, forever, which they did. Weapons cost 20x what they did when decay was in. It was a further problem that weapons/armor made through exploited mechanics (which happened occasionally, SOE being fairly bad at stopping that stuff) stayed in the game forever, as well. At least when there was decay, those would eventually wear out and go out of circulation. So, while "soulbinding/biolinking" is perhaps better than nothing, it is not nearly enough to make a player based, crafting economy function correctly.The key phrase was "top-end".
It should be prohibitively difficult to optain a truly top-end item, and the top-end should improve gradually but consistantly, requiring steady upgrading to remain "best of the best".
I'm digging up this post because it is of the utmost importance for the sandbox aspect of this game.
There currently is a poll running on the archeage (US) forums about item decay.
http://forums.archeagegame.com/showthread.php?5609-Would-you-prefer-that-NA-s-Archeage-have-item-decay-if-it-were-possible-(Poll)
Please vote yes.
A sandbox game can NOT survive when all items stay in the game. This game has very hard-to-reach-max-level crafting. To become the best is hard and it would absolutely suck that after a few months , suddenly, everyone has all the best items and the economy comes to a standstill.
Dark age of camelot was successful because it had a system like this in place. It helps keep the economy alive and people busy. Circle of life. Real life items need to be replaced as well right
Thanks for listening !
Every item should decrease in durability after every other or third repair , rendering it less and less efficient to use in the long run and need replacing or used sparingly .
i really do hope they put it back or have some other ideas to maintain a steady economy for all .
Does any one know if there is a thread about this in the alpha part of the archeage forums ?