Do you think that Elemental would benefit from randomly created items and weapons? For example, like how Diablo has prefixes and suffixes for their items and weapons? For those that don't know what I'm talking about.
Prefix Longsword Suffix ----> Holy Longsword of Divinity
For example's sake, I'll just post the links to the Diablo wiki.
The prefix list
The suffix list
The better your city, the better the items that shopkeeper can have. For example, a level 1 city only has very basic items, while a level 4 city has a chance for some really great items. Also, the higher the quest/dungeon level, the more of a chance for a better item.
For example's sake, I'll use Blizzard's item colors (I'm not saying use this scheme for Elemental, It's just for reference)
Gray Item - bad quality
Green Item - Average quality
Blue Item - Rare item, pretty powerful
Purple Item - Very rare, very powerful
Orange Item - Extremely rare, extremely powerful
With these types of methods, there could be a lot of different types of weapons, armor, and other items in the game, since it generates it's own. For purple and orange levels (again, just for example's sake), they could be handcrafted by Stardock, while some of the purples, blues, greens, and grays are generated by the game itself when needed.
Of course, Elemental could have it's own system for this, and it's own color scheme. For example, below is using a "hot" color scheme. White being average, yellow being hotter, orange being even more hot, and finally blazing hot red to represent the items power level and uniqueness.
White Item - Common, item normal power (70% rarity)
Yellow Item - Rare Item, pretty powerful (15% rarity)
Orange Item - Very rare item, very powerful (10% rarity)
Red Item - Extremely rare item, extremely powerful (5% rarity)
I would certainly like to see some form of magic/unique items enter the world for champions in the mid game.
Probably tie it to adventure tech. When you get to a certain point, you can start finding some decent (+1-2 attribute on top of base item) stuff in goodie huts, then at the next tech point, you get better items in goodie huts (special effects and up to +5 stuff) and there is a 5% chance of the previous random items appearing in your shop, then a final tier with light magic items appearing in stores 50% of the time, medium items appearing 5% of the time, and a small handful of mega-ultra-cool-super-rare stuff spawning in unique quests.
I'd also like to see some method of item creation in game.
excellent post... i've suggested this numerous times, but Stardock has been mum on it. I hope that means it's in the works for the expansion.
I'd like to see it in the adventure techs, it makes sense too. The higher the tech level, the better the loot (or at least more of a chance for better loot). I agree it would be nice, although rare, to see these items in shops for sale. This way it's also a money sink, people who are stinking rich could shovel some of their money into buying better gear.
I wonder why Stardock wouldn't like this? Or perhaps they do and it's just not in there yet.
100% solid. You have my vote for President.
I think it's fair to say they have been dealing more with "stuff Stardock *needs* to do" and less with "stuff Stardock *wants* to do". They are doing phenomenal job of it, too.
We are getting really close to the point where we can start working on making the game freaking awesome now that it is at least as stable as several other games that I own (which have been out for a year or two and have not had their crashes resolved).
Yeah, this would be a fantastic addition once the bugs are squashed in the existing mechanics.
seconded.
but in metal the hotness-scale is reversed also, it's not so friendly for the color-blind people. since a high share of gamers are male and color blindness is more common in males, I think it'd be better to stick to different colors and check in with someone with that particular defect to make sure its all distinguishable. another approach would be to make the colors configurable so people with different kinds of color blindness could chose colors they really can perceive.
I think SD had the same problem in demigod, if I remember correctly (or maybe it was some other forum I read about it, not sure)
Ora
I like the idea but not buying out of the shop. This should be the entire point of questing. If you can't get something unique from questing why do it?
An item generator that is reasonably included in the game, like an in-game "forge", is on my top wish list for this game. Possibly Random, awesome weapons and armor. Great Diversity for Great Justice!
The point of the forge would be that you have to spend a lot of resources on it to gain something unique. The point of questing is those rewards are "free" in the sense that they have a different cost (time, effort).
I agree!
Quested Items = Free
Store Items = Cost $$$
I think this kind of items would be cool for goodie huts treasures.
THIS. /vote
What colors do you think the item levels should be?
Grey/Green/Blue/Purple/Orange. This is minor issue. Balancing and proper implementation are major ones.
great idea. i believe that it will get attention after they really the the core down packed.
i dont think they should be crafted at least from say blizzards scale.. epic/ legendary/ artfact those should only drop from monsters.
im also thinking ud have to explore a dungeon and u leave the world map and enter into a dungeon of sorts with layout etc. u got a set amount of time to explore / saly the boss monster and perhaps get luckly on loot drop. the middle to lower i thnk u should craft / buy at shop
Items generator is 1 thing Diablo 2 got right I think. Learn and improve, this method is a certain way to get people addicted. Grand Scale Item Generator has my vote 2x.
Actually many Monster descriptions include "valuable trophies" so these could tied into that. It would also give you a good cause for hunting down different animals etc.
That's true about Diablo, I'm hoping at some point they have something like this in the game.
That's a good idea! I think it should have a % chance to drop though, so it's not always expected. Perhaps a 25% chance to drop the rare and 'good' item, 50% to drop randomly generated item, or you just get nothing but some resources and/or money with the remaining 25%.
Love it! Bring some Borderlands to EWoM!
item creation is what the enchantment book should be for. allow sovereigns to imbue run of the mill items with large amounts of mana and an element. this way you could enchant them with the spellbooks you already own. so a 500 mana sword of fire would be permanently ablaze, for example. or you know, a sword of death. or a sword of life. you could also add quests that give extremely powerful magical relics. dragonscale plate for instance.
This would be a major revision of the combat system, and as such, I think that it's not a good idea. Let the developers finish tweaking a tight game with great AI and they can add the Diablo level of quest detail in Elemental II.
I hate to say it, but unless SD starts implementing radical but worthy ideas like this, there won't be any Elemental II.
Rant:
After seeing the amount of suggestions for improvement given on these forums, it seems like making a civ-like fantasy strategy game is virtually impossible, because everyone wants every single bit of fantasy lore ever imagined implemented into the game. That's ludicrous. Suggestions can be cool, but they should have a bearing on improving the game as it now stands. Let the developers create something that works, not something that has everything including a kitchen sink with Nethack slimes in which nothing actually works. The game also doesn't need radical ideas just for the sake of turning the game into something completely different to sell it.
Rant over.
I agree that adding randarts would be "cool". But it seems to me that this would be in the scope of an expansion or Elemental II, not an alteration of the core game. The change is too big, and would require, in addition to all of the new item properties, yet another overhaul of the combat system.
In my humble opinion, the game already has a lot of great stuff in it; the development now needs to go towards debugging, balance, and AI tweaks. These 3 things by themselves can be extremely time-consuming. Adding bells and whistles shouldn't set progress in these 3 areas backwards.
Do. Not. Want.
It was fun in Diablo. It was necessary for WoW. It was tired in Titan Quest. It was tired in Borderlands. It's a "radical" idea alright.
Just because it's been used everywhere for over a decade now doesn't mean it's a standard answer to RPG games that don't have enough detail.
There was a time when we expected developers to put out real effort to create content. They created original content, and we judged them on their performance.
Stuff like this seems like a pass for them. "Oh, just put in 100 hours writing prefixes, and let the game sort the rest out."
If anything, that kind of thinking is exactly why Elemental is in the shape it's in now.
Frankly, using a randart system ripped straight from the last 10 games that used it would be a bigger sign to me than ANYTHING that Elemental is dead as a unique product, and is well on it's way to complete and total mediocrity.
Because in the end, I find randart systems using the identical prefix suffix method to be lazy. It feeds the gamer's need for shinys, while delivering very little in the way of actual content. Nothing takes the fun out of getting an item more than knowing it wasn't some nerdy dev who put it there for your enjoyment....but just the way the rand system shook out.
Bah, screw it. Just reading over the replies, it seems people just want more of the same mechanics they've been playing since they were teenagers. I've been on the fence with Elemental since I purchased at release. "Adding some Borderlands" is exactly the kind of thing that would help me make up my mind, I guess.
1. Fix bugs and issues so game is playable2. Solid mechanics3. Mod-support
All three are being addressed. Thus, I believe given more time, the platform will allow the mod community to provide almost limitless content. Lord of the Rings, check. Chronicles of Narnia, check. Wheel of Time, check. Sword of Truth, check. Republicans and Democrats, check.
I think it will happen.
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