Shields as weapons and Named Swords

Okay if you haven't seen it this is a must watch where they discuss many things.

Three intriguing ideas they brought up really impressed me

Firstly, using a shield as a combat weapon, to ram, the shield edge, tactics (turtling, 300 style antics) etc.

Secondly was very happy to hear we're not going to do Diablo / WoW gear leveling or grinding.

Thirdly, hearing that all items will be player made and be rare, and will over time acquire additional attributes and names based on what they're used to kill, that is also very welcome change that will be great for this game.

For example I imagine you making a long sword, it becoming named as "elf bane" and famous because of killing 100 elves

I imagine rare crafting techniques using exotic materials like Liche Dust and Ghost ectoplasm to further give additional magic powers

That is going to be a rare and valuable thing that few people will have and people will be willing to trade for, and these unique weapons - something tabletop / D&D variants always had an advantage for over most computer fantasy games - weapons that became so famous they entered into the history of the lore and had unique powers.

I hope it goes in that direction

This is really good design I've been waiting forever to see in a game and it will make items unique and valuable to acquire and collect

Thoughts ?

 

I enjoyed the video, it gave me the sense that they're on a path that I'm really OK with.

Some of the stuff has been done before, and works well. I think most heavy tank classes from other MMOs will already be well-used to using their shield as a weapon, to ram, etc.

I quite like the concept of not going on a gear grind, and holding onto weapons longer, and getting a sense of history about them, rather than discarding them a few hours later for "something better".

That said, I don't want the lack of gear grind to mean the guys can scrimp on how many weapon models end up in the game overall. My mantra for the next 6 months is VARIETY... in weapons, character faces, everything.

 

Yeah. They do address that in the vid tho. They're concentrating on features over graphic improvements late, which will no doubt cause much angst on the forums going forward until we SEE it in game