Rare item creation

[adeyke]

I also agree that they would be much better with more of these affixes for higher levels, maybe too good.  Think of each rare weapon you make having the cruel prefix if it chose the Enhanced Damage Group at or above alvl 56.
[right][snapback]57452[/snapback][/right]

Well, you could still compromise by having some overlap in the affixes. For example, you could have it so an alvl 56+ weapon could spawn with 66-80%, 81-100%, 101-200%, or 201-300%, but not less than 66% (if it picks an affix of group 105, that is). (The affixes with ED and AR are in group 111 and thus work independently of the pure ED affixes).

Or you could just apply the maximum alvl to those affix groups where it wouldn't be overpowered. The most important affix on a weapon is usually the enhanced damage. So in order to keep good rare weapons somewhat rare, the chance of good enhanced damage might have to stay low. However, there are some affixes that aren't that useful. They might make a good weapon even better, but they won't make a bad weapon good.

For example, with a high-ED elite weapon, +20 max damage isn't going to make a huge difference. However, it's still nice to have that. OTOH, if you get only +1 max damage on a high-ED elite weapon, that's just sad. Late in the game, even an extra 20-75 fire damage isn't generally going to make a big difference, but 1-2 fire damage won't make any difference at all. An extra 30% to a resist can help boost a character in hell. However, 5% to a resist isn't really noticeable at that point.

If they only added a maximum alvl to affixes like these, you still wouldn't have a situation where every single rare is great. However, at least you wouldn't have an ethereal elite weapon with 450% ED, 250 AR, 2 sockets, 40% IAS, self-repair and... 1-2 fire damage.