05-26-2012, 09:26 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-26-2012, 09:26 PM by MongoJerry.)
I have an idea on how to reach a good balance on items and the economy:
Keep everything the way it is, except make it so that the very best class specific legendaries only come from crafting *and* make it so that the result of these crafts are account bound. That way, you can continue to fill all of the other slots on your character using the AH, if you want. However, if you want the best class specific items, you have to spend the time crafting them at your blacksmith. These items should take a large amount of materials and gold to craft (making this an excellent gold sink) and they should have a large amount of randomness in their stats, making it so that you have to craft them multiple times to get a good one and perhaps hundreds of time to get a nearly "perfect" one. This will keep gold and raw materials valuable going forward, make it so that a person can't just buy all the best gear the first day they buy the game, and still keep the AH a valuable place both to fill all of the other equipment slots and to purchase more raw materials for crafting.
Note that the "account bound" mechanics are already in place. For example, the materials for the Staff of Herding are all account bound.
Keep everything the way it is, except make it so that the very best class specific legendaries only come from crafting *and* make it so that the result of these crafts are account bound. That way, you can continue to fill all of the other slots on your character using the AH, if you want. However, if you want the best class specific items, you have to spend the time crafting them at your blacksmith. These items should take a large amount of materials and gold to craft (making this an excellent gold sink) and they should have a large amount of randomness in their stats, making it so that you have to craft them multiple times to get a good one and perhaps hundreds of time to get a nearly "perfect" one. This will keep gold and raw materials valuable going forward, make it so that a person can't just buy all the best gear the first day they buy the game, and still keep the AH a valuable place both to fill all of the other equipment slots and to purchase more raw materials for crafting.
Note that the "account bound" mechanics are already in place. For example, the materials for the Staff of Herding are all account bound.