Smithmagic Revamp: Round 2 2013-11-21 16:00

First, an important thing to know: We announced our plans to establish a preliminary dialogue between the community and the team to "build" this revamp together but it was decided otherwise, and now we come back to you with a ready to be implemented revamp.

Why did we decide to not have an open discussion on the revamp first? Because the constraints linked to this feature are very heavy and limit us in the possible changes to be implemented.

Most of the discussions on this subject within the community (especially with the Heralds back then) very quickly drifted from simple proposals to major projects which became so big that they would require a major overhaul of the feature which would also have taken us a lot of time: This was just not possible. So when I started working on this revamp, rather than creating an open topic, I decided to gather as much feedback on this feature as possible (thanks to reading the forum and the discussions between players and CMs), including also the major issues and the solution that would be compatible with the current system and our technical capabilities.

The first revamp of Smithmagic was a failure in our eyes: You didn't like it and it wasn't matching the general objectives of that revamp. For these reasons, we announced that we were going to make changes to the existing feature.

The current version of Smithmagic is too unfair for players and generates too much frustration as it means sacrificing a hard earned bonus in hopes of getting a better one, at the risk of losing everything: Therefore randomization is at its peak!

One of the objectives of the Smithmagic revamp is to give you maximum control over improving your equipment items while keeping in mind the investment aspect of it.

Randomization Control

Rune Types

To remove this randomization aspect of Smithmagic, we will make the following changes:

• Each equipment item will have rune type slots which will change according to their category.
• There will be 3 possible types of slots: Offensive, Defensive and Support.

 
These rune slots will be found on different equipment items, as follows:

• Offensive: Helmet, Ring, One-Handed Weapon, Two-Handed Weapon, Dagger
• Defensive: Breastplate, Cloak, Epaulette, Amulet, Shield
• Support: Boots, Belt

Each type of rune will have specific bonuses:

• Offensive: Damage (all elements) + Heals. Can be changed to CMC Damage (more on that later).
• Defensive: Resistance (all elements)
• Support: HP or Initiative or Lock or Dodge or Wisdom + PP (randomly)

With this change, the equipment items with support runes will keep a random aspect, but this aspect will remain light.
 

Rune Bonuses

In the goal of ​​limiting the randomization effect as much as possible, we have also reviewed the quality of the received bonuses depending on the rune itself. Currently it is possible, with a legendary rune and "little chance" to only obtain a low bonus. To solve this problem, runes will now offer a fixed bonus, with a very small variation window.

Each rune rarity will offer more or less bonuses:

• Common (Grey): +1 (example: +4 HP, +1 Damage, +2 Dodge...)
• Normal (White): +1 or +2 (example: +4-8 HP, +1-2 Damage, +2-4 Dodge...)
• Rare (Green): +2 (example: +8 HP, +2 Damage, +4 Dodge...)
• Mythic (Orange): +2 or +3 (example: +8-12 HP, +2-3 Damage, +4-6 Dodge...)
• Legendary (Yellow): +3 (example: +12 HP, +3 Damage, +6 Dodge...)

You will notice that the bonuses will increase a lot less than before, but this is because it will be possible to upgrade a rune (I'll come back on that part that later on).

It should also be noted that there will be no more constraints to change a rune on an equipment item that already has one. In fact, you will be able to add a rune on an equipment item that already has one.

Example: Boots with a grey rarity rune +4 HP. If you replace it with a legendary rarity rune, the boots will get the following bonuses: +12 HP or + 6 Dodge or +6 Lock or +6 Initiative or +3 Wisdom and PP.
 

Smithmagic Hammers

With this new system, the Smithmagic hammers will no longer have the same use. It will now be used to upgrade your embedded runes (I will return to that part in a few).

We will also implement a new type of hammer, the Smithhammer (temporary name) that will be used to change the Support and Damage bonus of a Rune. This hammer will be a Worlddrop (with a higher drop rate than the Smithmagic Hammer). Each one of them will have a type: HP, Dodge, Lock, Initiative or PP/Wisdom for Support runes, and Damage and CMC Damage for Offensive runes.

Example: If you use a Dodge hammer on boots with +40 HP, their bonus will then become +20 Dodge.
 

Improve an Embedded Rune

The runes will start by giving a basic bonus of "+3", but in return you will be able to increase this bonus to a maximum of "+10".

To reduce the cost of runes, the amount of powder received via the destruction of items will be doubled. Therefore it will be 2 times easier to get a desired rune. The way to obtain powders and make runes will not change.

The increase in the bonus of a rune will be available to see on the Shatterer's interface.

Upgrading a rune will not change its type of bonus but only its value.

The upgrading cost will be as follows:

• A certain Kama cost based on the level of the item and the level of bonus that you would like.
• A certain amount of runes: Their level will be based on the item's level, and their rarity will be based on the desired bonus level.
• It will be possible to replace a rune by a Smithmagic Hammer, but only one hammer can be used per bonus level.

More specifically, here are the runes required to upgrade an embedded rune:

• From +1 to +2: 1 (green) rare rune of the same level as the item or 1 Hammer
• From +2 to +3: 1 (green) rare rune of the same level as the item or 1 Hammer
• From +3 to +4: 2 (green) rare runes of the same level as the item or 1 Hammer +1 rare rune
• From +4 to +5: 2 (green) rare runes of the same level as the item or 1 Hammer +1 rare rune
• From +5 to +6: 2 (orange) mythic runes of the same level as the item or 1 Hammer +1 mythic rune
• From +6 to +7:  2 (orange) mythic runes of the same level as the item or 1 Hammer +1 mythic rune
• From +7 to +8: 2 (yellow) legendary runes of the same level as the item or 1 hammer + legendary rune
• From +8 to +9: 2 (yellow) legendary runes of the same level as the item or 1 hammer +1 legendary rune
• From +9 to +10: 2 (yellow) legendary runes of the same level as the item or 1 hammer +1 legendary rune

To calculate the additional Kama cost here is the formula:
Item level x Rune level x rarity coefficient x 30 kamas

The rarity coefficient equals:

• Common item: 0.2
• Normal item: 0.4
• Rare item: 0.6
• Mythical item: 0.8
• Legendary item: 1

Example: A Legendary item level 100 which you would like to upgrade the rune to obtain a bonus of +8 will cost 2 legendary runes (yellow) and 24,000 Kamas (100 x 8 x 1 x 30). The same with a normal item will cost you 2 legendary runes and 4,800 Kamas (100 x 8 x 0.2 x 30).
 

What will happen to the already embedded items?

The equipments items that are already carrying runes will not be modified: they will become exotic objects.

In return it will not be possible to upgrade their runes (also considered as exotic).
 

Even if the functionality has already been decided upon and we are presenting this revamp to you "as is," we are still very much interested in your feedback: Please do not hesitate to share them with us while keeping in mind the very heavy limitations that are placed on the different changes of this Smithmagic revamp.