Loot -- Be Careful of What You Wish For
#21
(07-17-2012, 11:40 PM)Occhidiangela Wrote:
Quote:I was horrified to discover that I was level 60 in Hell, but had to be in Inferno to craft level 60 items and collect blacksmith/jeweller instructions.

While my initial thought is "that can be fixed" what are the ripple effects of changing that? Think of it with as broad a view as you can, given that the game devs/balance team have to look through such a lens.

Even if they did change it, you are more likely to find good equipment than you are the things needed to teach the blacksmith high-level gear. EVEN THEN, he still cannot craft top-level gear, AND the odds of actually crafting something you can use at that level is absurdly against you for the enormous resource/gold cost behind it. Essentially, the Blacksmith is useless and requires a considerable redesign.
May the wind pick up your heels and your sword strike true.
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#22
I've got my Barb up to Act3 Hell with gear brought on the AH, and i've gotten heaps of Drops that i'm keeping for my alts' but even with the BS at Max level that i can currently reach, there is nothing that it produces that i can use.
As others have said it's a "Crap Shoot", and i rarely use it, and even when i do, it costs too much to make something and usually gives crap that you can't use on any toon.
Personaly, i've found that Normal can be fun, not too much needed to get through, Nightmare CAN be fun IF you get / buy good gear, and Hell CAN be ok, up till mid Act 2.
After Mid Act2 if you don't have very good drop or godly gear a lot of mobs smear you over the walls.
Fallen Fanatics are instant kills in the tight places that seem to be in, and you only have second or 2 to react if your to survive the first couple, that's not the whole group, but the first couple, if your lucky and have the right skills up, you can survive otherwise smear time, that is NOT fun.
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#23
Pre-60 the blacksmith is fine if you're not using the AH now that they have reduced costs. You never want to disenchant normal difficulty rares though as you get a plethora of teeth just from blues.
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#24
I don't see why they couldn't add some sort of crafting that incorporates white items. Say, start with a base white weapon, add your crafting mats, maybe some gems for set specific stats (ruby for +str, etc), and voila! One of the things I enjoyed about runewords in D2 was finding the perfect item to make the runeword- a particular weapon that had the best range or attack speed or base damage, for instance. I actually spent a lot of time browsing base weapon stats on the Arreat Summit. Now, the only weapon stats that seem to matter are attack speed and ilvl. And white items are thoroughly ignorable.

Runewords didn't come into play until D2:LOD, did they? It's probably something they're saving for an expansion.
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#25
Even pre-60, there are just too many gaps for the Blacksmith to be valuable. Half the time, there is no option on your current equipment tier for the item you need to upgrade. That should have been obvious right back at the initial design phase!
May the wind pick up your heels and your sword strike true.
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#26
(07-18-2012, 09:35 PM)Elric of Grans Wrote: Even pre-60, there are just too many gaps for the Blacksmith to be valuable. Half the time, there is no option on your current equipment tier for the item you need to upgrade. That should have been obvious right back at the initial design phase!

Sadly true. The best one-handed axe the blacksmith can make, for instance (and excluding ones that require a plan), is level 35. From that point onwards, the lovely term SOL succinctly embodies the situation you find yourself in if you'd like to try and craft an upgrade for your current 1H axe, as a barbarian who needs one for Weapons Master might. (Craft a mace instead? Perish the thought! A fully upgraded blacksmith can craft a whooping two kinds of one-handed mace, neither of which is even rare!)

It's pretty bad, really.
And the days are not full enough
And the nights are not full enough
And life slips by like a field mouse
____________.Not shaking the grass.
-- Ezra Pound, "And the days are not full enough"
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#27
Pretty bad is an understatement. I learned my lesson after trying to craft upgrades for my first char, and never made the same mistake again for any of my others beyond normal difficulty. Loot system for D3, be it trying to farm or craft, is complete and utter trash, though the crafting system is the worse of the two.

This game will be a ghost town in 6 months, and when TL2 comes out, then it REALLY will be. Because the old Blizzard North knows how to make quality games, while Jay and Co., simply are clueless. RIP Diablo series, it was fun.
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#28
(07-18-2012, 09:35 PM)Elric of Grans Wrote: Even pre-60, there are just too many gaps for the Blacksmith to be valuable. Half the time, there is no option on your current equipment tier for the item you need to upgrade. That should have been obvious right back at the initial design phase!

Glass half full version: half the time (or probably less, but at least some of the time), the blacksmith does have something that is a potential upgrade. And the gaps in his stock at least provide time to stockpile mats so that when you do level into it you can go on a crafting binge and are more likely to get something useful.

My first character didn't use the blacksmith much, mostly because he had no gold left over after paying to level the crafters and expand my stash. My second character is currently running through nightmare (no AH, limited twinking) and is usually wearing one or two crafted items as she levels. And I'm not twinking high-end jewels so she uses Shen all the time.
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#29
The main problem is collecting crafting materials in a timely fashion. For example, my wizard in Act 1 of Hell can salvage 1/5 of the items (51+) for wishful essences. However, I could simply vendor them for 200g each. I could either make 100 essences, which would only allow me to make a dozen items plus crafting costs, or I could just sell 100 blue items for 20k and buy a better item on the AH. I'd estimate it'd take about 500 to make something decent... all for an item I'm only going to use for a few levels. Most items in D3, aside from boots, gloves, and jewelry don't have much longevity.

Then again they sell for 500g each on the HC GAH.... so that ends up being the best option anyways. :S

The earlier essences are even worse off; chances are by the time I've collected enough, I'm already out of the difficulty.
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#30
(07-19-2012, 08:27 PM)Archon_Wing Wrote: The main problem is collecting crafting materials in a timely fashion. For example, my wizard in Act 1 of Hell can salvage 1/5 of the items (51+) for wishful essences. However, I could simply vendor them for 200g each. I could either make 100 essences, which would only allow me to make a dozen items plus crafting costs, or I could just sell 100 blue items for 20k and buy a better item on the AH. I'd estimate it'd take about 500 to make something decent... all for an item I'm only going to use for a few levels. Most items in D3, aside from boots, gloves, and jewelry don't have much longevity.

Then again they sell for 500g each on the HC GAH.... so that ends up being the best option anyways. :S

The earlier essences are even worse off; chances are by the time I've collected enough, I'm already out of the difficulty.

Sure, things are always cheaper on the AH. But honestly, using the AH is the fastest way to disengage with your characters. I largely avoid it. The game is more fun that way. And fun is why I play games.
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#31
I'm the opposite. I found the game boring when I played through without using it.
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