The lifespan of weapons and armor

Something DAoC did which I think was a boon to crafters was to give weapons and armor a lifespan. As you repaired them, their durability would deterministically decrease to the point where they could no longer be repaired, thus forcing the player to acquire a replacement.

Though this may be somewhat of an annoyance for the non-crafting player, it will be good for the crafting economy in that there will be a steady stream of demand for new items.

 

I believe this is the plan; at some point, repairing will lower permanent durability. Since all equipment will be crafted, there really isn't a worry about damaging your 'best items' because you can craft/buy them again.

 

i think its a bad idea as its going to force us back into old habits of leaving ones best gear in the bank, it took me a week to make a set of platemale armor, unless this degidation takes months to occure for those that play alot and are constantly in battle or what have you this will ruin crafted gear.

 

How so? If it takes you a week to make a set of platemail (and I doubt once harvesting is balanced it will take that long), if it lasts a couple weeks with normal repair, then you still come out on top.

Noone is talking about having it ruined after a couple of fights. Instead, imagine that each piece starts with 100 durability. After a couple days of adventuring (maybe less if you PVP), it drops to 10/100 durability needs repairing. The repair changes the maximum durability to 90. You can then go adventuring for a couple more days until it needs repairing again, and goes to 80 total. Etc, etc. If you repair it 10 times, say it can't be repaired again, but can be recycled into some components (or saved as a decorative piece). That gives the item a lot of life, especially if you are careful with your repair and choose skills that minimize damage to your equipment.

Without durability damage, there is no crafting economy; you just get the best item and repair it forever. Everything less than the best is worthless.

 

If blacksmiths can spend more materials to allow their clients (ie: non-crafters) to repair their favourite items back to full quality instead of merely "repairing" them, then you hit two birds with one stone.

 

players are uber frugal when it comes to game economics and when competing with other players its becomes even worse, time is worth more than anything else in a game to a lot of video game players and most arnt going to want to take the time to constantly be replacing gear just so they can compte, they will simply find a way to circumvent the system. the math aint there, people will be fighting in there underwear just like in ultima.

 

I adventured in Ultima Online donning my undies not due to the costs of wearable durabilities but due to the costs of having my ass handed to me every time I set foot outside a guard zone and having macroers take all my crap every time. We're going to need decent gold sinks for the economy as well, this is a great start to keeping inflation at a minimum also.

 

you lost me here because not everyone was a macroer.

 

The ratio of macroers that killed me was over 5 out of 10, that is a majority. I know everyone didn't macro, because I didn't at least, but somehow that simple fact totally invalidates everything I said?

 

i really don't feel i'm going to be heard here, youve made up your mind, why should i continue?

 

You should continue because you have yet to justify your position that there should be no lifespan with a more apt suggestion which retains the structure of economy/crafting.

 

my position doesnt need justifying in my opinion, yours does, there is no economic model out there that supports this, at best everyone ends up crafting there own gear, hows that help the economy?

 

I apologize I thought my viewpoint was generally accepted by the majority also, this is slightly off topic so I'll let this return to OT posts and if you would care to discuss crafting and economy further by all means pop a new thread out there. I'm sure many others would enjoy discussing that with us.

 

lol, dont know how this is off topic since it directly relates to the economy and life span of gear


i have still not heard anyone, not in this thread nor the multitudes in the past explain to me how this system is going to get me to 'go shopping' , i'm never buying your stuff under this system, its simply more cost effective to make my own stuff

 

I guess it depends? You yourself said time is a huge factor, and I agree. Depending on skills and time to develop them properly it may be cheaper and easier for me to pay a crater to repair my gear. Gives the crafter a job, and something for me to spend money on. All I'm sayin, as it was on lifespan, I'm not talking about creating.

Strictly talking multiplayer I suppose if the game works out to be a little bit of an every man is an island deal and it is cheap fast and easy to both skill up in crafting and whatever is required to repair then there are other issues with the multiplayer aspect of it.

 

I'm not sure how you can know that. Are you planning to have multiple master-tier crafter characters to make all the pieces that go into your own armor? You are going to go mine all of your own metal, gather all your own leather and cotton? If you won't be buying *anything*, then yes, *you* will not contribute to the economy under this system. However, that does not sound like how most characters will function.

My plan is to be a craftsman and own a shop. My specialty will be woodworking, and I'll train skills to help me on that chain: Forestry to gather my own wood, Milling to make lumber, maybe some others for flavor. But I won't be a master Blacksmith, so when my crossbows need a metal cap or I need more arrowheads, I will buy them. Neither will I be a master in Agriculture and Textiles, so I will be buying bowstrings. My armor won't be wood, so I'll hire that done. Its not reasonable to expect one person to do everything.

Also "cost effective" isn't reasonable to assume at this point. Craft goods are not all that expensive, and probably won't be, but end products will. The reason for that is that skill points are valuable, skill level is valuable, and not everyone can do everything. I know you can't see that currently, because there are no skills for crafting yet (only gathering), and there is little risk in crafting at this point. That will change. It will change even more when enchanting comes in, and little things like astronomy will affect your end product.

 

The counterarguments to my point here are a bit of a red herring, because you're assuming that the degredation will be fast enough to be a peristent annoyance. There can always be a balance struck such that people aren't going to be worrying about their gear, and running across the countyside naked, and stashing their best gear in the bank vault.

I suppose it's somewhat useful to imagine the worst-case scenario, but never assume that it will be the one that eventually settles.

 

thanks for the reminder about the astronomy, because i think that makes it even more of an issue, if i have to wait for a full moon to get a certain effect applied that effect becomes a time based value i may not be willing to part with, thus it sits in the bank ......


I too want things to be as such where crafter A makes a part, crafter B makes a part and crafter C puts it all together, i just dont see this accomplishing that, and i dont know how to get you to see the hole in the theory that i see. I'm not a crafter, i'm a dabbler, i probably always will be, my crafting will support pvp because i will have too, i won't be able to afford your nice gear otherwise, but investing time to arrive at those funds is time better off just arriving at what you needed in the first place.

 

If you are a dabbler, as you say, then how do you expect to be able to make your own arms and armor? The crafting system is only partially available, high level skill checks and multiple crafting events are not a thing, and there is no "enchantment" (using different materials is only modifying the base item, not adding additional abilities). To make the items you want to use, you will need high levels in multiple crafting skills, which you say you don't have. So why won't you be shopping? You got the coins from PvPing...

You will have to explain your stance; you say there is a hole in our theory, but all you say is that this will ruin crafting. Since *everything* will be crafted, how can it be ruined?

 

doubtful, i've seen nothing to lead me to believe i will be able to make ends meet pvping.

no, i dont, it doesnt seem worth the effort, again, your minds are made up. i point to a hole and its called an assumption, even though this whole topic is based off assumptions.