Upgrade System Initial Thoughts Feedback Thread

[Kraoracha]

I think this all looks good, and experience of the players will finetune any improvement points if they come up. I am personally a bit worried about my inventory slots, I guess essences and gems also take up those slots and I already am low on them all the time, lol.

I completely understand the need to make the essence etc buyable, STG has to make money from new developments too, either by getting more players in, or more options to spend plat. I dont mind if others have the gems and upgrades sooner because they donate to the game. In the end we all can have them, since it is not that the gems are not available for those that do not buy plat.

[Haligali]

Can i remove the socketed gem later, if buy a new weapon?

[KingMartin]

It has been said several times already - please make some essences or any other needed ingredient drop in elite maps only. You can distinguish between Shuyal, Nordr, and others so that "quality" of the ingredient increases with map difficulty.

But don't make Elite levels die, don't degrade this fabulous game to stupid mobs and barrels smashing like in many (all????) recent quests that have been implemented. I hate to do a quest not even looking at the screen.

Thanks

[Drearivev]

I have a couple questions...
In your example, Carapace, you were upgrading/crafting your entombed.
Let's say you have two red gems...can you use those two gems at the same time on the same item?

And, you mentioned essences being able to be purchased from the store and consignment shop, I assume.
Will gems be able to be sold too?

Morholt answered your second question. Essences aren't tradeable, Gems are.
Your first question....Idk.

[Haligali]

It has been said several times already - please make some essences or any other needed ingredient drop in elite maps only. You can distinguish between Shuyal, Nordr, and others so that "quality" of the ingredient increases with map difficulty.

But don't make Elite levels die, don't degrade this fabulous game to stupid mobs and barrels smashing like in many (all????) recent quests that have been implemented. I hate to do a quest not even looking at the screen.

Thanks

Elite are dying :/

[Bluevaporz]

Sale of Upgraded Items I think fluff mentioned this but again there needs to be an overhaul of the Auction house and trade screen or at least some fine tuning for the influx of these items. I know it was mentioned that the upgrades will be listed in the "additional info tab" but that is cumbersome to say the least.

For example, say there are 10 or so Mythic Mage Helms on sale. In the current auction house I would then have to click on each more info button to see why it is they are listed at their price? This is even more of a headache for epic and legendary items which exist in far larger numbers on the market.

One solution would be to show the gem slots next to the names of items. A superior gem could be highlighted or brighter than a standard gem socket. This could get confusing as you start adding other gems into the system though but as it is now, navigating through the market and trades will even be tougher than it is.

[Zuzeq]

Would it be horrible if..

-Upgraded items were not sellable. As stated above I see the selling and trading of upgraded items will lend to mass confusion. Scammers are already licking there lips. If upgraded item "must" be sellable, I'd suggest the name of the item changes depending on what gems are connected to it. This way you know just what you're getting while trading/buying at AH.

-When you procure a new item you can remove the gems from old and place on new

[FluffNStuff]

Actually, there is a way to identify them on first glance, or so I believe. If you look at Sam's weapon inventory, they all have those dots/empty spaces next to them, and if I'm correct, if they were to be upgraded, then they would be colored in with their matched upgrade (str, dex, or int). But I'm not sure what the differences are between the regular gem, and the 'Exceptional' gem.

That is inventory, not Auction House. In the house, it is a bunch of names. If you click each name, you see a tiny picture in the lower corner, and yes, that might have little gems on it. So if you see a deal, you need to decide quick based on those gems, and HOPE you did not get scammed. The idea of ALSO pressing more info is kinda well, not sane. I vote for long crazy names. Give each gem type, position and quality a modifier name. That way you can search for what you are looking for and isolate them from the scams. I have fallen for a scam of this ~type~ but don't want to go into more detail as it will just give the scum more ideas.

[Morholt]

Morholt answered your second question. Essences aren't tradeable, Gems are.
Your first question....Idk.

I would imagine the answer would be yes, we can.
It says first socket is 8 hours, while second and third take even longer.
As a guess (and for example usage), second socket takes 12 hours and third takes 16.
If you wish to add two gems at once, you are then waiting for 20 hours; 36 hours if you wish to do all 3 at once.

As it stands, though, based on the way the pictures are...it looks that you can't add a second gem DURING the socketing process of the first. It looks like if we are able to add multiple gems at a time, you have to do them together.

One odd issue with multi-gemming is platinum speed ups. With all 3 going at once, it should take 48 platinum to skip the wait. I'm sure some people may get antsy during the wait and at hour 25 wish to finish it with platinum. 36-28 hours left should cost the full 48 platinum; 27:59-16 hours left would be 32; and 15:59-0 hours left would be 16.

Of course, these are just my thoughts (based on the limited info & pictures given) on how to make the system smooth & effectively running.


Going to add: some of you should calm down. Gems are going to be worthless. At least the initial 3 types of gems. They are fairly easily found by even new players (essences, which are freely converted), and you can easily find them during your normal farming routines. Anyone who spends platinum on essences is truly donating to sts, as they aren't getting anything back (as the essences are pretty much worthless).
Gems will have a small value for about 3 days...5 tops. After one week, I can't see them being sold for more than 500 gold each. Everyone is going to have plenty for sale.
Wait until runes are implemented. Those will have cool things like +1% crit. And I suspect they won't be purchase-able. Specific monsters will have a small chance to drop specific runes.

[Nitamana]

No one has suggested this yet, I want all types (arcane, mythic, legeng, epic, rare, and common) of items have 3 slots to upgrade.

This will make the developer happy as more possible plat spending on upgrade granted that this will also reduce a bit of demand on mythic and arcane items. This will also answer the complaints on the unfairness of this system.

I have been playing a lot with my fully geared lv15-26 and really like to have my forerunners and demonlords fully upgraded.

[KingMartin]

Elite are dying :/

I still hope not, Hali - if the future of this game is sweeping of low-level mobs, barrel smashing and end-game pvp with all the ganging and trash language then I will probably spend my $$$ somewhere else

[Samhayne]

In follow up questions, people wondered about how buying/selling/trading of items will work with regard to their upgrade slots.

When you are trading, or gifting or using the Consignment Shoppe, you can see what gems are in the item from the icon.

Further, you can inspect the item to view an expanded view of the items stats that displays what gems are socketed into the item.

Here are example screens from the Consignment Shoppe where I have listed an Entombed Hammer of Warfare that has one Blood Gem socketed into it for a +3 STR bonus.




Here is the Hammer inspected:

[JaytB]

Just found this thread O.o

Going to read up first but so far sounds pretty exciting to me!

[Prahasit Prahi]

In follow up questions, people wondered about how buying/selling/trading of items will work with regard to their upgrade slots.

When you are trading, or gifting or using the Consignment Shoppe, you can see what gems are in the item from the icon.

Further, you can inspect the item to view an expanded view of the items stats that displays what gems are socketed into the item.

Here are example screens from the Consignment Shoppe where I have listed an Entombed Hammer of Warfare that has one Blood Gem socketed into it for a +3 STR bonus.




Here is the Hammer inspected:

Coollll!!!!
and one more good thing is we are able to see the commas hope to see this update soon!!

[keikali]

A quick question. Not sure has this been already asked, but will the current Upgraded Mythics be tradeable once again if this is implemented? I know originally they were not mean to be traded/sold once you upgraded it, but since this new system is being brought into play, will it be once again tradeable/sellable?

[Samhayne]

A quick question. Not sure has this been already asked, but will the current Upgraded Mythics be tradeable once again if this is implemented? I know originally they were not mean to be traded/sold once you upgraded it, but since this new system is being brought into play, will it be once again tradeable/sellable?

You will be able to slot Gems into your upgraded Mythics, but that won't change the fact that those items are not tradeable.

[keikali]

You will be able to slot Gems into your upgraded Mythics, but that won't change the fact that those items are not tradeable.

Very quick response. I knew you were waiting for me to ask this!

[FluffNStuff]

Actually, there is a way to identify them on first glance, or so I believe. If you look at Sam's weapon inventory, they all have those dots/empty spaces next to them, and if I'm correct, if they were to be upgraded, then they would be colored in with their matched upgrade (str, dex, or int). But I'm not sure what the differences are between the regular gem, and the 'Exceptional' gem.

Look at the picture in step 4. I would imagine that they'll use the same graphics to visually differentiate between the two when in items.

In the original teaser (this is in the spacetime insiders forum) the yellow gem on the mythic weapon was glowing. I assumed back then that the middle one glowed for aesthetics. However, I am inclined to believe that the yellow gem was in fact a superrior bond.

Aka: the good stuff glows.

In follow up questions, people wondered about how buying/selling/trading of items will work with regard to their upgrade slots.

When you are trading, or gifting or using the Consignment Shoppe, you can see what gems are in the item from the icon.

Further, you can inspect the item to view an expanded view of the items stats that displays what gems are socketed into the item.

Here are example screens from the Consignment Shoppe where I have listed an Entombed Hammer of Warfare that has one Blood Gem socketed into it for a +3 STR bonus.




Here is the Hammer inspected:

OK, you guys made a FANTASTIC game, but I sometimes wonder if you play it [LOL]

In PL, gold was EVERYWHERE, heck, it was practically pouring out of Alien Oasis. A player could liquidate themselves to a million in no time and pay for any non-top gear they wanted. In AL, liquidating loot won't even pay for the pots you used to farm it, let alone buy you better gear. This means for a player to get gold they have three+ options:
1) Pay real money to get it from crates or the store.
2) Sell items to those who paid real money.
3) Sell items to those who sold items to those who paid real money (etc+) .

So we now have a huge difference between PL, where the majority of players were farmers selling to each other and some plat players to AL where pretty much all non plat players NEED to Merch. I believe it is an EXCELLENT system where players can pay if they wish to avoid that part of the game, or play for free or low cost and experience it. Capitalism at its finest, work or pay
Now the issue is that because the Merchant system was so small in PL and has EXPLODED in AL I fear that it is not being taken into account as well as it should, and I don't mean price controlling or limiting or that kind of thing (Capitalism remember, the market will take care of itself). What I would like to see is more safeguards to prevent scamming, as the increase in merchants naturally means an increase in bad merchants. The comma addition is step in the right direction, but that is a response and not an action. That image you show from the Auction is not a real image, as in not what a real player would search for (of course). What would they search for to find that? Entombed hammer? I assume then there will be bunch of entombed hammers listed in one range, say [200k-300k], then entombed hammers with one socket regular in another, say [400k-500k], with 2 regular [700:800k],then with 2 superior maybe in another range, say [1.4-1.6m]. Those are the honest merchant listing. Now lets look at the dishonest merchant listings: Entombed Hammer, 2 Regular: 1.35m, 1 Regular: 1.3M,698K No Sockets: 899K,1.3m. Now, why would they do this? Because the SYSTEM makes it easy for a player to confuse the two and it looks like a bargain to a Merch (which most players are) and they know someone will fall for it.
This is just one example on one item. The merchant system in AL is a fantastic addition, and whether they know it not, both PLAT AND NON-PLAT players NEED EACH OTHER because of it, so anything that can be done to prevent scams in the first place will save a lot of head aches for both honest players and the forums

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(edit) Perhaps I am being overly cautious, and I guess there is an easy way to tell. Sam, would it be possible to see 4 entombed hammers listed there, one without, one with one regular red, one with two regular gems and one with 2 superior gems? Would give us a better idea what it would look like 'in action'. I understand if you are low on plat so the 2 superior gems one could take a while depending on your luck

[Kakashis]

Don't make gems purchasable! Let them drop from crates since no one is opening them anymore. Why open crates when 500 Plat gets you a mythic item from grimm egg sales!

[Crowsfoot]

So in a best case scenario I can have between +42-70str when I put a str gem in ever plausible slot for a 4/5 myth player with a legendary ring? IMO that may be OP.

However you said benefits scale, therefore I must ask the following:

1) is scaling of benefits based on level?

2) is the scaling of benefits different for weapons, armors, helms, rings, and amulets or does the benefits of gems scale differently for each class of item?

3) does a certain class scale their base stat benefits differently than the others?

4) does it cost anything (besides time) to craft/bond gems?

5) what is the max (all str gems, super bonded to a 4/5 myth set [glaive, upgraded helm, upgraded armor, and doom] and an archon ring of potency [str version]) amount of additional str I can gain from bonding gems?

Burning questions^