Reforging: The Lifecycle of Durable Goods

<b>Durability</b>
With use, weapons chip and dull, and armor cracks or splits. This damage is reflected in the reduction of the durability as well as its effectiveness. Effectiveness is measured in recessive tiers. Worn equipment must be repaired to return to full effectiveness and durability. However, each repair introduces imperfections into the item and reduces its Integrity.

<b>Integrity</b>
As equipment is used and repeatedly repaired, the inherent imperfections become more significant. There will come a point where through use weapons will break and armor will shatter. All is not lost though. This equipment is still minimally functional to provide opportunity to find safety.

<b>Salvage</b>
Equipment may be deconstructed to recover some of the materials used to make it. There is a chance that some amount of material that was imbued with magical properties (including acquired affinity) may be recovered; however, it will be of lesser strength.

<b>Reforge</b>
Broken equipment may be recrafted into a new item that possesses full Integrity. The broken item is combined with additional materials to craft the new item. During the reforging process, the type of item may be changed; e.g. a broken sword may become a spear or a broken breastplate may become a shield. The inherent magical properties of the broken item will transfer to the new item; however, their strengths may be greater or lesser. It is also possible to introduce new magical properties to the new item or enhance existing properties with the additional materials are added.

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The fate of an item is in the hand of the wielder--it may live forever through countless reincarnations or be discarded.

The choice is yours.

 

I really hope that items in this game have durability and that crafters have the ability to repair, reforge, imbue, and reclaim items down to their base materials. Giving me as the crafter many options in how I can interact with items and change them makes me really happy and gives me a vested interest in the world in ways that theme park style games don't deliver on.

 

My concern would be that this would make gathering resources an ever-diminishing need. While I agree that crafters should be needed beyond the initial sale of their item, the item, and the resources used to create it, need to exit the economy at some time.

 

I can totally understand that concern. perhaps a great compromise is that when an item is reclaimed down to the base materials used to construct it that it only returns a small portion of the original cost of materials. perhaps like 1/2 or 1/3 the original material cost.

one other way to offset the resource dependency problem would be to require raw material to not only create the items, but also when reforming or repairing. raw materials that would be a lesser amount than needed to initially create the item but that would also be used up in the process thereby leaving the economy.

 

Crafting failure rate with both the salvaging and reforging processes can also play a role in balancing supply and demand.
Making it just a 'chance' that the magical aspect or weapon affinity will carry over to the new item would also increase equipment turnover I'd say.

Durability vs Integrity is an interesting system; I'd love to hear more from the devs in regards to what the plan currently is for durability implementation.

 

Im also hoping that items can be deconstructed for raws. Something like was implemented in uo. Sure you dont get as much as it takes to make, but it all makes sense and is useful for junk loot.

 

aye indeed, I hardly ever sold junk loot because whenever possible I deconstructed everything. I loved being able to do that.

 

There must be some durability! As soon as items last forever crafting makes no sense after a while since everyone has everything. People also interact less since there is nothing really important to sell/buy. From my point of view even furniture should lose durability.
Good example is Star Wars: Galaxies. After they took out durability crafting was kinda dead. It was a sad day.

Regarding deconstruction: It seems very weird having to sell 206 daggers to the NPC vendor. Makes no sense. I rather have an option to deconstruct to at least a little of the invested material.