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Craftable Custom Gear, A Daydream

AuthorMessage
Hero
Jan 24, 2010
705
There are several conversations among the community these days about the problems with gear selections, the need for a new set of Water Works caliber gear, and various items of pack gear. I agree with many of those voices calling for something new, and something rather different that what KI has delivered to us in Zafaria, Azteca, and Aquila. IMHO, we need a variety of boosts to pips, universal resist, critical boost, critical block, and stun block with which to counter the high health and 10-12 pips mobs and bosses start with in Avalon, Azteca, and Aquila.

We all have different ideas of what that improved gear would look like, and I don't think there will every be a one-size-fits-all solution that fits everyone's needs. So, I propose a brand new option for wizards who want to achieve their perfect gear set up past the level of Zafaria. We need craftable custom gear

Here's what I would like to see in a custom stat selection:

Health
Mana
Power Pips
TRIPLE PIPS (yes, this is new and controversial, and I staunchly believe we need a chance at tri-pips!!!!!!!)
Damage boost
Universal resist
School-specific resist
Critical Block
Critical
Stun resist
Pierce

I think the recipes could call for reagents that reflect the attributes of the stats, which also adds a new dimension to crafting, and might be a mix of common, rare, and gardened reagents. Crafters should not have to slave at industrial-scale gardening or boss farming to gather the necessary reagents. If a recipe calls for a spell, it should be, again, reflective of the attributes of the stats (ex: Satyr for heal boost, Ice Colossal for universal resist, Kraken for damage boost, etc.) so that wizards have the chance to study more deeply the sympathetic nature of our magic. This wizard would enjoy a deeper meshing of crafting and magical attributes in reagents, plants, and spells.

Thoughts?

Qbb

Historian
May 06, 2009
633
Canny B Moone on Jul 22, 2013 wrote:
There are several conversations among the community these days about the problems with gear selections, the need for a new set of Water Works caliber gear, and various items of pack gear. I agree with many of those voices calling for something new, and something rather different that what KI has delivered to us in Zafaria, Azteca, and Aquila. IMHO, we need a variety of boosts to pips, universal resist, critical boost, critical block, and stun block with which to counter the high health and 10-12 pips mobs and bosses start with in Avalon, Azteca, and Aquila.

We all have different ideas of what that improved gear would look like, and I don't think there will every be a one-size-fits-all solution that fits everyone's needs. So, I propose a brand new option for wizards who want to achieve their perfect gear set up past the level of Zafaria. We need craftable custom gear

Here's what I would like to see in a custom stat selection:

Health
Mana
Power Pips
TRIPLE PIPS (yes, this is new and controversial, and I staunchly believe we need a chance at tri-pips!!!!!!!)
Damage boost
Universal resist
School-specific resist
Critical Block
Critical
Stun resist
Pierce

I think the recipes could call for reagents that reflect the attributes of the stats, which also adds a new dimension to crafting, and might be a mix of common, rare, and gardened reagents. Crafters should not have to slave at industrial-scale gardening or boss farming to gather the necessary reagents. If a recipe calls for a spell, it should be, again, reflective of the attributes of the stats (ex: Satyr for heal boost, Ice Colossal for universal resist, Kraken for damage boost, etc.) so that wizards have the chance to study more deeply the sympathetic nature of our magic. This wizard would enjoy a deeper meshing of crafting and magical attributes in reagents, plants, and spells.

Thoughts?

Qbb
I like the idea, but what about Accuracy, and In/Out Healing? Would those be options?

Also how would custom crafting gear work? Would there be a limit to what you can and can't put on the gear? Would health reflect that of schools? On a scale, how much of a stat can you put on gear, like 1-100%? Can you pick the school stats or universal stats you want? (I'll assume yes for this one).

Also names!? Would there be preset names to name your gear? I'd love that
Can I pick my colors too?
Can there be an option between paying crowns for a readied gear or buying gold for a crafting recipe of your custom gear?

Here's the thing I've always thought about doing this. If this would be added, a custom crafting system, everyone would just pile the gear with every stat and set everything to the max. Max health, max critical, max resist etc. Where would the uniqueness be if everyone would just build the same gear to make things easy? I know you can mix and match what you want, but I can see many players just putting what they want to the max. That's really my concern of "make-it-your-own" custom gear; everyone putting all the stats they want at max and making themselves overpowered. Throw challenge and dropped/crowns/pre-set crafted gear out the window.

What I'd like to see is, if you want a lot out of something, the custom gear system will automatical rework any other stats you have placed on your gear to accomedate your big stat. Also there should be a limit with how much you can have of any one stat. But, the more stats you have on the gear, the less you can have of any percentage of any one stat.

Example:
I have my gear with these stats
-Health
-Accuracy
-Damage
-Resist
-Critical
-Critical Block
I really want 400 Block on this gear. Because of that, the custom gear system with automatically deduct points from all the other stats I placed in so that the gear is not so over powered. On another note, because of all the stats I've, the max for Block would also shift down, so I couldn't really have 400 Block.

Now if the gear was just with like 200 Critical for example, I could do that because I have no other stats for the custom system to take from.

A Custom Gear System calls for a lot of Shifting. You're building your own gear and there needs to be limits. You're tweaking it and fine tuning it to meet your standards. As you can see above, it can get confusing too. It just calls for a lot of work before it can come to the game.

I think Custom Gear is a terrific idea, but again, it would take time to do. There's lots of complexities that go into it. Plus there needs to be limits and restrictions so that while you build your gear to it's right look, you don't overpower things if you have tons of stats. I also think Custom Gear should be for Crowns or for Gold by purchasing a recipe based off of your stats that you have to craft. I think all custom gear should be "No Sell", but you can feed it to your pet and trash it.

Hero
Jan 24, 2010
705
Thanks for the thorough feedback, Finnigan :)

I understand all the complexities of this would require some work careful attention to the balance in stats. I'd like to leave that math to the stat wonks, as I'm more a word wizard than a math wizard.

Your example:
"I have my gear with these stats
-Health
-Accuracy
-Damage
-Resist
-Critical
-Critical Block
I really want 400 Block on this gear. Because of that, the custom gear system with automatically deduct points from all the other stats I placed in so that the gear is not so over powered. On another note, because of all the stats I've, the max for Block would also shift down, so I couldn't really have 400 Block. "

...is exactly the type of math geek detail that I defer to the stat wonks, like you :D

I'd love to see these custom craftable items:

Hats
Robes
Boots
Athames
Rings
Amulets
Wands

The ideal would be to allow wizards to choose the look of each item from a list, similar to the list of symbols for flags in Pirate, and colors for clothing items. I would also LOVE to see the option to choose from a selection of school symbols for those items. Naming would be awesome, too!

I think they should be No Trade, No Auction, and level restricted to CRAFTING LEVEL, not wizard level. That way uber crafters, like my level 30 Grandmaster Artisan, could capitalize on skills, not quest progression.

I like the option to pay for the recipe with gold or crowns. But I hesitate to say that a crowns only/no crafting option should be allowed. This is, in my daydream, a crafter's solution to the issues with gear stats, not an easy fix-all for everyone. I imagine craftable custom gear as an alternative to farming for a higher-calibre Water Works type outfit and Tower of Helephant items. The idea of crowns purchase for a ready-made option seems too easy, and skews the concept toward monetarily better off wizards, which doesn't seem fair to me.

Loving this conversation

Qbb

Champion
Oct 30, 2011
449
Tri-pips would make mana burn very overpowered. It is kind of overpowered as it is, but tri-pips would make it do even more damage. I think the problem with this gear would be that many people would get as much possible resist as they could, and get immunity/near immunity to all schools. You'd have to put a limit on each stat for it to not be overpowered.

Armiger
Jan 11, 2012
2497
I think the easiest way to implement this is to start off small. Take ONE item, give it some base stats, then allow for maybe one or two different flexible stats for us to decide on. Make it so opposite stats can't be changed at the same time. What I mean by that is you can't change both critical hit AND critical block. You can only do one or the other. You can do immune, but not hit or visa versa. If it works, then look in to giving us a second or a third. Make sense?

Historian
May 06, 2009
633
Canny B Moone on Jul 23, 2013 wrote:
Thanks for the thorough feedback, Finnigan :)

I understand all the complexities of this would require some work careful attention to the balance in stats. I'd like to leave that math to the stat wonks, as I'm more a word wizard than a math wizard.

Your example:
"I have my gear with these stats
-Health
-Accuracy
-Damage
-Resist
-Critical
-Critical Block
I really want 400 Block on this gear. Because of that, the custom gear system with automatically deduct points from all the other stats I placed in so that the gear is not so over powered. On another note, because of all the stats I've, the max for Block would also shift down, so I couldn't really have 400 Block. "

...is exactly the type of math geek detail that I defer to the stat wonks, like you :D

I'd love to see these custom craftable items:

Hats
Robes
Boots
Athames
Rings
Amulets
Wands

The ideal would be to allow wizards to choose the look of each item from a list, similar to the list of symbols for flags in Pirate, and colors for clothing items. I would also LOVE to see the option to choose from a selection of school symbols for those items. Naming would be awesome, too!

I think they should be No Trade, No Auction, and level restricted to CRAFTING LEVEL, not wizard level. That way uber crafters, like my level 30 Grandmaster Artisan, could capitalize on skills, not quest progression.

I like the option to pay for the recipe with gold or crowns. But I hesitate to say that a crowns only/no crafting option should be allowed. This is, in my daydream, a crafter's solution to the issues with gear stats, not an easy fix-all for everyone. I imagine craftable custom gear as an alternative to farming for a higher-calibre Water Works type outfit and Tower of Helephant items. The idea of crowns purchase for a ready-made option seems too easy, and skews the concept toward monetarily better off wizards, which doesn't seem fair to me.

Loving this conversation

Qbb
Lol Thanks for the math complement (I think...)

Ok, you could be right about the crowns for readied gear. It would be a little too easy. But from what we know in the real world, going custom for anything is expensive. What if the crowns price was like really up there? Like 8,500 or 9,900 crowns per gear piece? Because it's so high, it would create fewer players who are willing to go for just ready-made stuff and instead think about just crafting it for gold.

I'm only thinking of players who aren't into crafting, don't know too much about it, or simply prefer just spending crowns. If they want to participate in the Custom Gear, but don't want to spend the gold for the recipe of their custom gear, they should have the option to spend crowns on it. But the price should be that "it gives me a headache just looking at it" price. Maybe 25% more than typical crowns stuff (I dunno. If KI chooses to do this, and they totally should, I'll leave pricing to them).

Ok, so what about "those" reagents? By that I mean, should Amber, Turquoise, Merle's Whisker, Sunstone, Diamond, Amber Dust, Braided Vine, and Vine (the hardest reagents to get in the game), be in the mix of reagents that get sorted for Player's custom gear recipe? I would say yes, but it would have to depend heavily on the power you've made your gear. Maybe they would only respond to high amounts those Level 10 Stats (Pip Chance, Critical, Block, Stun Resist, Armor Pierce, Incoming Heal, and Outgoing Heal). Also because these reagents are kinda hard to get, there should not be a large amount counted in the recipe (at the max 3 or 4) Overall, I'm guessing the recipes would be random and dependent on the stats. Every recipe would be different and call for different things mainly responding to look and stats and amount of stats. Some could have TC, others just a lot of simple reagents you could find everywhere.

I like the idea of having preset Gear looks. I think they should come from all over the Spiral so someone has the option to have a Marleyboen look, MooShu look, or an Azteca look, or Celestia look, etc. Plus there should be some base gear looks unique to the Custom Gear Shop/System only. Adding School Symbols like a lot of the first Arc gear would be awesome (there could be like a button for each school design that you could turn on or off. Not all gear would be enable this option though).

I think pricing should be like the dye shop. Constantly changing as you pick between colors, looks, stats, and amount of stats. Naming is free though and wouldn't get added to the overall price. If someone didn't want to add any stats, just buy a gear with their personal look, the price would be signifantly less and a recipe would not be shown as it's kinda unfair to craft something with no stats on it.

This is a very fun topic! I really hope KI adds this to their "Things We Gotta Do Sometime in The Future" list lol

Survivor
Aug 27, 2010
25
I think you could have like 90 points, and for each time you raise a stat by one, your points go down by one. Also, each stat should have a limited amount of points available for spending.

Hero
Jan 24, 2010
705
Yes, Finnigan, it was a compliment. I'm terrible with math. Words and big picture ideas are my thing, along with wizarding and pirating, of course

I really do want to learn what math wizards think about weighting each stat item to maintain an overall acceptable balance/trade. I also want to hear from wizards who have ideas for styles, interface, crafting recipe requirements, etc. Maybe if we keep this conversation rolling, Kings Isle will take note and consider this service in a future (near future, please) update.

Sound off if you like the idea.

Warmest Regards,

Canny B Moone

Armiger
Feb 25, 2009
2425
Canny B., I like the idea your are putting forth for craftable custom gear.

One of the first things that would have to be calculated in is the wizards level that is crafting it or the nearest level up or down. For instance, if a level 77 wanted to craft a specific piece of gear, they could have the option to craft it to the lvl 75 or be able to craft it for lvl 80 but not being able to equip it until lvl 80.

If a wizard is more interested in Universal stats and are lvl 70( yes, sticking to this or above since universal stats was implimented with WW at level 60) or above, the WW gear could be used as a template which of course, would still be restricted to a certain amount of increase so as to not have out of bounds universal gear roaming all over the spiral or the PvP arena..... Players would still have to look at all options with a possible mix and match for their playstyle.

The community as a whole is not all going to play offensive or defensive and this would allow them to create what works best for them or to even create both offense and defense gear for different situations. It would certainly give a whole new twist to crafting as long as the reagents were not as impossible to get as some we have seen in the last few crafting quests.

Gear style and colors. Some like a sleek trim look and others like the bulked or gladiator look or many others. Some of the ladies like dresses others prefer to let everyone know I am ready to throw down a boss or 2 or maybe more. LOL. Even this would not be hard to incorporate. Since KI has many templates for different gear, just put them in and let the player pick their own style and color to the level being crafted.

Giving the community something of this nature could go a long ways in restoring some semblance of balance to the game and may even be a big boon to KI in the long run. Many players have stopped crafting or just did not get interested in the first place.