Weapon Naming

I think it would be awesome if we could name our weapons, or give them specific titles of our choosing.

I am a big fan of fantasy adventure stories and books ever since I was little, and some of the things that would jump out at me where items that had their own specific name such as Gandalf's sword, Glamdring.

Giving it more thought, we shouldn't be able to name just any weapon, but it would have to or WE would have to work for it; by slaying a number of a certain monster, completing a quest, or even becoming a master blacksmith and you want to name your hammer.

I just thought it would be cool to kill a thousand undead with a sword and dub it "Shade Spike" and watch the undead tremble as they hear it unsheathe

Any expansion on this idea is greatly welcomed.

 

I like this idea. Basically from the point of view of:
Q: What's the difference between an average sword and an uber masterful sword?
A: Everything but an actual stat increase.

So add a name, the mark of the smith, some glow effect, a long history of the villains and monsters slain, the crest of the owner, etc.

Basically people can put tons of effort into making a really, really cool weapon but there's no actual boost to damage...maybe a boost of durability or the like.

 

LB suggested something like this on the chat thing. He was talking about yes weapons will cost more to repair as they are used but also there will be more reason to want to repair them as they become more YOUR weapon

 

They added a weapon etching tool to UO as a veterans reward several years back. I would go to auctions and as a promotion I would name their weapons for them for free. People would tell me later that very often that became the only weapon they would carry. I'm glad you brought it up, people like to personalize stuff and a well named weapon can really help keep a person in other peoples memories. One particularly obnoxious fellow who made a point of trying to disrupt player events begged me to etch his sword after being banned from the house the event was being held. I said "sure!". It was a very powerful katana and I named it "I'm with stupid". I swear, the guy carried it everywhere.

 

I agree that naming should be a special thing that the weapon must earn, and it should take a substantial amount of time (a real-time year perhaps) to achieve such status, but when it is done, the name of the weapon should appear in an in-game text about fabled weaponry.

 

Atleast that your weapon have named who that crafted it. sorry for my bad english.

 

Love of gear is the root of all evil...

 

IMHO this is a bad idea. Weapons should be common and expendable so crafters can make a life by creating new ones. I don't want another economy destroyed like UO's.

If anyone wants to have his weapon named, nice. But that weapon must broke like any other weapon.

 

Owain depends what you mean there, we all paid partially because we liked the rewards being offered. Why should someone who contributed nothing be able to kill say Ironman and get all the rewards of being a Duke? when he was the one who forked out the $5000 for that privilege?

 

Do swords actually irreparably break very easy in real life?

Its dangerous for the game to make swords break easily just so that crafters can earn more money. Then with that more money, they buy super-weapons and super-armor and it will make it easy for them to act like there are no consequences.

@Owain, IMO, more specifically, conveniencing players too much and giving into all their desires and wishes is the root of all evil in RPGs.

 

"Its dangerous for the game to make swords break easily just so that crafters can earn more money. Then with that more money, they buy super-weapons and super-armor and it will make it easy for them to act like there are no consequences."

The presumes he existence of super weapons/armor. Upon what do you base that?

 

@Owain,

I assume there will be some magic weapons and armor. Hopefully they won't be too easy to find and secure that people will be ready to give them away. Even then, it shouldn't be too easy a decision to use them due to the need to repair them or recharge, and money does away with that concern.

My mind might be on a different track than others here and maybe even the devs. The reason I'm always pushing for realism is I think its the best possible balancing agent you can have. If being super-wealthy isn't easy, that fixes a lot of other problems right there, in itself.

 

@Redfish - there has been a debate back and forth, mostly between those who are looking for a single player experience and who want phat lewt by the boxcar load, I guess, and people like me who don't really want uber weapons, or even enchanted/magical weapons and armor, particularly as it applies to player crafted weapons/armor.

The problem with enchanted gear is that if it is common, then everyone has enchanted gear. If player crafters can't enchant or make magic gear, then what is the point of having player crafters? Over time, everyone will get enchanted gear, which in effect meant NO ONE has enchanted gear because enchanted gear now become 'normal' gear.

Better not to have it at all.

 

@Owain,

Magic gear has been a part of every Ultima, so its something I would expect. That's another issue, that its too common, it makes crafters useless. But if its too common, and its also too easy to make money from crafting - even selling your wares to vendors if players don't want it - then it'll be too easy to buy and upkeep/repair with that money.

Honestly though, even a full suit of plate mail should be pretty expensive though if we were going by realism. I believe in earlier Ultimas and old-school RPGs that was hard enough to obtain in itself; you had to do a lot of work to afford it.

 

Actually RG promised us "Farming implements of ultimate destruction"

 

Magic gear has been a part of every Ultima, but not every previous Ultima has been multi player, and gear inflation is a perpetual problem in multiplayer games, and tends to ruin player crafting economies.

 

@Owain: Hey bud, if you hadn't see it yet, check out my idea for helping with the crafting and magic items. I'd like to hear some feedback as well as some growth into the idea.

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?topic=player-made-vs-game-made-question-and-idea

 

Going to make an attempt at brevity here.

Agree:
Naming
Naming probably should have special requirements.
"gear inflation" (magic or otherwise) = bad


There has been zero indication that any crafted weapon or armor would be unbreakable. They should all degrade.

Also, the simple act of naming an item does not bestow any new properties, neither does it enchance any existing ones. So I don't really see a problem.

Also, also, depending upon degrade and upgrade costs people will ultimately retire their gear or safe it for special occassions rather than risk losing it. Meaning they will seek 'every day' gear vs their 'special' gear. Basically, they'll either wear out their gear and replace it or their save their favorite gear and replace it with something for everyday use.

I have plenty of other thoughts on item degradation but I think that topic is likely exhausted in other threads already and is pretty off-topic here.

 

I like the idea of naming a weapon or some armour. But it should probably need to be earned first so it has any meaning. After a weapon has killed X number of foes or some armour has blocked X number of attacks it could earn a name. Perhaps even require a crafter to etch the name on to it. The item doesn't gain extra damage or stats, it just earns a name.

I like simple gear and maybe some rare minor magic items. As long as they wear out through use or can be lost so they eventually need replacing. If people want fancy magic items they know where WoW is.

I loved UO's character based skill system more than WoW's gear based system, and miss the full loot days.

 

I think to name a weapon, it should contain special properties, not just be a hunk of iron on a hilt with a fancy name. That said, however, I think there should be a limit on how much and how often you can name a weapon of any sort since it could have the special properties. I think it should be difficult to craft and you should have to go on some kind of quest to gain the property you seek and it shouldn't be something you can do to just any weapon any time you want, only limited to a certain number per player. Also repairing should be more difficult.