I would like to request a modification to the gear within the game. something that could also be expanded on by modders.
basically, the idea centers around gear upgrades. how many and what type.
essentially, i would tie the number and type of modifications to the type of materials used to create the item. stronger materials should be able to handle more updates. ie: a basic iron sword would not be strong enough to manage any godly upgrades, jewels, or runes… but it might be able to manage a particle effects as a buff.
i would imagine there would be 4 categories:
gems
sockets
runes
blessings
how many of which would vary by the weapon, defaulting to a max of one blessing. a star metal sword might have one socket and a blessing max… but modders would be able to add much more with the weapons and gear they dream up. gems might show up on the hilt while sockets might be found at the pummel. runes would be found on the blade most likely glowing. blessing would have varying particle effects. placement of all of the above would be up to the gear creator, obviously.
similarly, armor would have all the same and the items could be displayed somewhere on each piece.
the steps to affix any of these components might revolve around the religious bench or potentially the blacksmith or armor smith.
To be honest, I think we need less stat bloat rather than more.
I’d rather see stat bonuses moved off armor and weapons entirely. This way armor only conveys temperature resistance (and its redone to matter), and protection (with heavier armor giving more protection, but limiting mobility/evasion, again reworked to matter). With the only stats coming from things that have inherent bonuses like climbing boots/gloves or similar (but that’s the trade off, you get some skill improved with no temperature or damage resistance). Weapons would have effects (if legendary or unique) when they strike something but wouldn’t give straight stat bonuses.
Then state bonuses simply come from food, drink, and elixirs. Perhaps a single buff from Sorcery/Religion, for four buffs max.
Getting stats and effects from armor on your Head, Body, Arms, Legs, and feet, then one from your weapon and offand, as well as multiple sockets on each is just too much IMO. It adds arbitrary complexity and another thing to fight RNG for.
Please go play Diablo instead. I’d rather not add even more stat stuff (half the ones we have aren’t useful as is) and that would most certainly be tied to RNG farming.
for vanilla servers, you’re right. but the vast majority of servers are not vanilla and allow for players to level well passed 60.
in fact, 300 is most likely the most common max level for active servers right now. the added concepts of ‘ascension’ and ‘prestige’ allow the players to gear up and face tougher and tougher challenges… this is where my suggestion would be utilized the most.
the point of my suggestion is to potentially allow for base game weapons to be ‘powered up’ and remain useful in end-game content on the modded servers
I hate to tell you this, but those challenges you speak of can be handled with vanilla stats and equipment. Making stuff hit harder and having more health doesn’t make it harder or more challenging.
And the mods that offer content that requires better gear and stats and all the slots it entails already have those mechanics. Funcom adding to it would actually cause those mods to need to be rebalanced and reworked for those systems.
sorry but to say vanilla gear and weapons can handle the mobs modded servers are serving up is just uninformed. and no, cheesing a mob with 10,000 arrows over 16 hours is not appropriate (‘cheesing’ is seen as cheating on many servers)
as for existing mods, yes existing mods have taken steps to enable better stats to face bigger threats but that requires the weapons and gear to be “baked in” by the mod devs. if the gear had the ability to be upgraded by the core game functions simply by dropping or awarding certain types of items and combining them with the targeted pieces then it makes everyone’s life easier.
and of course, for you vanilla types, it would probably not even be noticed in your games.
I haven’t played ‘vanilla’ in about ~4500 hours of my time spent playing Conan Exiles. I’m well aware of the advanced bosses (and have killed them all in melee) of Thrall Wars, Age of Calamitous, and even dabbled in Extended Endgame Weapon Arsenal. In addition to the Leviathan bosses in Savage Wilds (which are balanced around group play at level 60). I’m very much experienced with the advanced content used in mods.
There is no need for Funcom to introduce complexity to the vanilla game for the sake of modding. Modding handles it on its own and the base game does not benefit from added complexity of gear. That’s a notion for Tab Target MMORPGs where Player and NPC stand toe to toe and roll dice at each other in six second real time ‘turns’ such as in Everquest, WoW, and FFXI. Not in real time combat where avoiding hits through dodging, running, or blocking in real time such as we have in Conan Exiles.
Sockets? No. That garbage was in World of Warcraft. Last thing I want is stat bloat. That kind of crap will also just set off certain players that’ll complain that X gem is too powerful or Y gem combo is the new meta for the week. That’ll lead to nerfs and yet more complaining. I’ve seen that with gem sockets in WoW. I do NOT want to see it here.