Basically, I kind of hate gear that you get in dungeons or sets of gear because I absolutely hate it when every person is wearing the same items. If people farm for uniques or magic find, then basically, you just wait for the BiS gear to drop and then many people have the same equipment.
My favorite style is gear that are like rares are in diablo 2 or POE, but basically, it is random attributes and RNG but precludes people from all wearing the same item. Crafting can be similar. Basically, just give me a system where people are all wearing different gear, similar, but different. The gear in lineage 2 was basically the same depending on how far you wanted to go with upgrading it.
I am okay with very unique or legendary weapons, I just think that they should be super rare and unique, like if one person has it on server, it is like zOMG you're so baller.
My thoughts. What is your preferred method. I do like the idea of crafting gear being just as good as found gear.
Cryomatrix
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• have periodic equipment (only found, seeded into the game within a restricted period)
• for some special type of items, have truly unique equipment (only one player has the items
1. Craft the item you want (creates basic stats for an item like armor value for armors, damage for weapons etc). If you craft a rapier, the item will look like a rapier. If you craft a chainmail, the item will look like a chainmail. There might be different kinds of visuals for a dwarven chainmail and an elven chainmail and so on and so forth. Or a few different kinds of rapier styles to choose from etc. The ingredients used might affect the colorization of the item. For example different colored fabrics of cloth etc.
2. Paint the item. With some items you could paint them afterwards. Like painting a shield or a platemail etc.
3. Enchant the item. Create magical properties(special stats) for the item. Enhance basic stats etc. Or even apply spells into items like a ring of invisibility.
This way players could customize the way they want their characters to look, create different kinds of gameplay opportunities and customizations.
As well devs should create multiple ways to enhance and progress a character so again it does not become a end game gear grind like most every game.
Bottom line is that all these Wow and Wow clones are VERY lazy designs,easy to keep inserting new Boss and new drops to the loot table with little to no other factors.I often wonder why anyone would find these lazy designs interesting but i guess it is because they don't understand game design and what can actually be done to improve combat and characterization.Never more evident than when we see "characterization"talk followed up by videos and talk of visuals rather than statistical and abilities.So both devs and players just do not understand how to create a higher quality design so these low level Indie designs keep popping up over and over.
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These types of gear attributes should be across all classes and not just relegated to individual type classes.it ALWAYS points back to effort because even using my example a lazy/cheap developer would individualize the gear so they could make less sets.Example Water only works for Warrior or Fire for Wizards ideas.If a developer has to make gear sets for all ranges and all classes it takes more work and effort.That is what it takes to make a game that actually deserves a 8/10 rating instead of all the BS over rating of 4-5/10 games and giving them 8.5's.
EFFORT<<keyword.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I prefer it when, instead of adapting your style of play to match the available gear, you can match your gear to your own play style.
From there, add a cosmetic system, either something like ESO where gear is specifically crafted to look a certain way, or SW:TOR where you keep the shell but replace the stats, or LotRO's standard cosmetics.
In this way, you get a buzzing, vibrant player economy where crafters are actually valued. You get variable quality and degradation, so it is still impressive when you have a really good set, plus the cosmetic system still allows you to express yourself without having to worry about stats.
I also want to do away with set bonuses on gear. Whilst I do enjoy the potentially class-changing bonuses, I have yet to experience a game where set bonuses have been balanced - there is simply always 1 superior set due to the set bonus.
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Also, why don't stuff like jewelry show on my avatar in most MMOs? It just feels lazy.
As for weapons, Neverwinter nights (Biowares version) let you mix 3 skins for a weapon to get a more interesting look and that was long ago. MMOs could easily have something similar.
One thing that have become better lately is the coloring, I like it when you either can change it by will or the crafter decides it when making it instead of just having a fixed color, it helps a lot when making a character that sticks out from the rest.
Of course this is for high fantasy games at least when we talk about armor. In a historical or low fantasy game the customization options probably would be more focused on jewelry and clothes then armor, there is just so much you can do with a real chainmail after all.
We could actually talk about what buffs a specific type of gear should give as well but from the OP that feels slightly off topic.
How your avatar looks is the most important thing graphicswise, and a high dergree of customization helps a lot there. In some games you can identify your friends and guildies on looks and I think it is worth the effort as long as you don't skip the gameplay. I rather have fewer types of mobs and great customization then many types and everyone of the same class looking alike.
I think crafting for color is amazing. Make dye making into a job. But I prefer MMO's where the gear is wildly different. I remember back in diablo 2 days in early 2000's. You'd ask someone to show you their gear. It was pretty cool. Then it devolved into uniques and BiS and crap.
I do have to say, back when I played WoW in 2004, I did like that some armors had moving pieces in them. That's cool.
Cryomatrix
You can see my sci-fi/WW2 book recommendations.
But yeah, if you use massive PvP it would become a problem. Most MMOs don't have that and you could add the option hide them in massive fights or for that matter all the time if you have an old computer.
It could become an issue in games like GW2 but most modern MMOs don't have that many large fights if any at all besides raiding and even raiding have become smaller.
And I agree that more skins beats color options but it still makes it easier to design a more unique look when you can pick both yourself.