Item Durability Tiers

[csiniann]

Hey guys,

As I posted previously on this thread (Remove item durability altogether), I would like to build on that previous idea by implementing a ‘tier system’ when it comes to item durability, repairs and the overall durability system.
Many people have been complaining about how fast items decay nowadays, and I do agree with that, and I believe I came up with a good solution for it.

Think of it as a tier system, from one to three.
Tier one would be cloth, that being the most fragile, I believe that this type of item should have the standard durability, what we are seeing nowadays, something that breaks (or rips, in this case) quite easily, but I do believe it should also be easily fixed, so that means low prices of repair for sewing it up back together.
Tier two would be for leather equipment, which I believe should be two to three times stronger than cloth, with a higher repair cost, for it takes a lot more work to mend leather than to sew a piece of cloth.
Tier three is obviously for plate gear, which should be by far the most expensive one when it comes to price of repair, but also much stronger than leather, lets say… two times as strong?

In summary, lets say one specific attack from a boss monster takes one point of durability from a plate piece, I believe it should take two or so from leather and about four~five from cloth equipment. IMC can easily remedy the mathematics by simply adding way more durability points to both leather and plate equipment.

The repair costs require a bit more thought, some balancing would have to be done, especially to plate armor, I believe it should be a lot more expensive than the rest.
Also, don’t forget that the Squire class can repair as well, so lets say that leather and plate require more materials to be repaired when compared to cloth.

I know it is a very general idea, but I do believe it could work.
Please make sure to add any further ideas on the subject below!

Thank you for your time.

[exdarklight]

The purpose of repairs are: gold sink, reminder to return to town to take a break/get attributes.

What you’re suggesting is to add more flavor, in other words “have it make sense”. That doesn’t lead to more fun, however. All it does is make players return to town at different rates while (ideally) paying a similar amount of silver. If anything this would just frustrate players.

The only thing repair should have are:

• Price proportional to missing durability
• Price proportional to quality/level of item
• Durability that lasts just long enough to suggest taking a break. Look up “Exit points” in game design. Different games should have exit points proportional to optimal play length.

Your suggestion complicates and segregates the first two points. It doesn’t add depth. It’s just complexity. Flavorful, sure, but we’re playing a game where we shoot arrows from unlimited quivers and sculpt statues in seconds. It doesn’t need to make sense. It needs to be fun.

[Mirarara]

OP actually has a good suggestion that can be tweaked to add more depth.

The tier doesn’t necessarily to be cloth, leather, plate. It can be strong eq with low durability, or weaker eq with super high durability. When you implement it this way, the player will make a choice between which kind of eq do they want to use (sometimes stronger isn’t better, as you can ohko with weaker eq).

[exdarklight]

That is a completely different suggestion from OP’s. That’s also not a very fun suggestion because many players would force the good equipment to work despite the low durability and then complain about low durability.

To appeal to all player groups, mechanics have to cater to both: players who play for fun, players who play to win. That means that mechanics must both be fun and lead to winning for success. If a mechanic is fun, but doesn’t perform well in practice, then players who play for fun will try to force it to work and be disappointed. If a mechanic helps you win, but isn’t fun, then players who play to win are going to do it every time and not enjoy it. That’s why you have to be very careful with drawbacks.

[csiniann]

Like I said, it needs some work, but I do believe it can be a good solution.