It haven’t been only a full day since Episode 11 was released and it already showed up something that is quite unpleasant, and after all the fastest thing in the universe isn’t light but raging NEETs on the internet, this may or not be a bug but since no one filed it as a bug nor an official announcement was made i’ll see it as a feature.
Since the first iteration item identification had fundamental issues tied to value range, back then it determined the gem socket which had a clear and simple roof, it was as devastating to have 1 socket when the cap was 4 as having 10 STR at a 80 cap. The sole fact you could reach the cap with enough dedication was a great deal even if players had to roll both slot quantity and equipment rarity.
When the system changed into random stats it proposed to be a solution to the limited equipment diversity from traditional gear and this was surely exciting but once you get into how stats are assigned and distributed things don’t go that well. Not all stats are desirable for all base classes and even some stats are so niche that only certain item combinations or classes can make use of it, that excluding stats use at all.
There are 4 random checkers in the identification system that makes it a nightmare by default - you first need to get multiple stat lines, then those lines can or not be from the group you want, then you need to get the stat you want from such group and roll the value of it to be in the higher spectrum. It should be visible that the chance factors are against players, but before we try reaching an estimate for the odds let’s take a look at the table for each stat.
This is where things start to stink, stats from Great division are, as the name implies, great as a whole and will be of high value for any player regardless of their build, critical rate is an exception as support characters don’t care much for it but it’s still a nice trait. On the good division we have those stats that are valuable but not as desired, they’re strong and useful but it’s not something you’re looking for as a first choice. In the situational division we have the turning point, here stat value is aligned with builds and characters, Magic Attack is a great stat for wizards and clerics but when it is in a bow it has no value, the remaining stats that don’t follow those rules can have no value depending on other factors.
Considering that the two top divisions have 8 stats only and the average of situational for a regular character is 3, stats are limited to 11 out of 53 being slightly above 20%. All the remaining stats are either additions that don’t really help you at all and only serve as a perhaps useful bonus, it gets even worse when checking the division distribution for each color as red is 2/21 (9.5%) for the desired setup, that ignoring that the critical side relies on another stat and can be completely useless in certain cases (4.25%), assuming all stats have the same chance of appearing. Before Re:Build green was the best of the colors as each stat had, even if minimal, something to provide to all classes, SPR being a source of max SP and SP recovery was the ultimate wild card but now being limited to magic classes it has no value for 60% of the classes.
Now it’s time to do some math and see how likely is to have a really good gear with this system, we’ll take the most optimistic approach on it with all stats, lines and colors having the same weight. Our variables are:
Line (1/4), Color (1/3), Stat (2/21 R, 3/5 G, 2/14 B, 6/11 P), Value (variable, take in 0~100%)
The first barrier already has a 25% chance for maximum output and 50% for good output, going along both blue and red lines have the worst stat distribution which means it also has 50% for better stats opposed to the 4.25/9.5% red and 14.2% blue. That alone limits the chance to 4.7% for the best outcome and 7.1% for a good one. Then we have to apply the color and each stat distribution with green having 60% favorable stats and 54,5%, using the latter for as a pessimistic estimate we have 8.2%. All that ignoring the value range for all stats (with 25% chance for a high end value), equipment rarity and the fact 2h weapons get two additional lines. Applying the last layer to regular equipment we reach the 2%. Of course we can’t ignore the reidentification system that has way lower RNG as the first filter is skipped but that doesn’t help the odds that much for about 4% for optimal gear.
At this point things look reasonable for green and purple lines as their desirable chance is 4 to 6 times higher and only 3 colors can be taken on each gear, however this isn’t the case anymore as episode 11 allows all equipment to have all color lines available regardless of the equipment type. The former 8.2% of great line setup is now replaced by 6.2%, a mere 2% drop in chance shouldn’t be a big deal but when the first two filters determine if the equipment can be rerolled or not it is a huge deal, specially when it the stat lines themselves have 80% chance or more of providing an undesirable stat. Despite all that this isn’t the worst, those assumptions take the pretext that all elements have same weight in chance which may not be the case, even then it is possible that the math used to tackle it was too optimistic and the real value can be significantly lower than that.
As a last consideration to address i’d like to position myself as favorable of the idea behind such change, after all further customization is always welcome, however the overload of stats in a blue and red group don’t make it worth to try as all the good stats are flushed along when rerolled, furthermore the mechanics provided don’t make these bonus stats desirable even in possible niche scenarios - If a game element has appeal to no one or to an insignificant fraction of the playerbase it must be reviewed. Lastly, for this system be satisfying it either has to trim down inconsistencies (such as PAtk/STR rods and INT/SPR bows) or have equipment to drop easier as it gives players more chances to find their ideal setup.
PS - This is also ignoring the fact higher level equipment has higher stat cap and each update that changes equipment level widens the gap between good old equipment and great new equipment.
Please share your take on this small change to the RNG based gear and also your terrible line alignment that came up with the new episode.