1. #1

    Smile Dev Diary: Weapons with special effects

    ____________Page 1: Weapons __________
    。☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆。
    Dev 1: Let's design weapons that have a special effect or can be combined into sets to unlock special effects.
    Dev 2: That's a great idea! Players can aspire to collect them so they can have more variety and fun in their gameplay.
    Dev 1: Exactly!
    Dev 3: That sounds good! Let's make many of them especially for top-tier content so people have a lot of satisfying gameplay and fun.

    Lead designer: Ok, we will make those weapons but only for the least used low ilvl gear which can't be upgraded, and tbh doesn't matter in mid or late game but at least people can sell it for gold.

    Dev 1: what... ?!
    Dev 2: huh... ?!
    Dev 3: omg this guy...
    Cleaning crew: dat 1head...

    Lead designer: Checks bank account for 5 figure bonus.
    。☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆。
    .
    .
    .

    Players: ¯ \ _ (o_o*) _ / ¯

  2. #2
    I agree with this to an extent, i think that overall it becomes harder for them to balance. I don't know exactly how other games have managed to well, manage, special effects on weapons honestly. It seems like a lot, but the overall simplification of the game has made special effects more boring over time. I used to get a pretty good warm and fuzzy when I had double mongoose procs for example. That could also be how WoW has managed to balance special effects, by adding weapon enchants. The variety isnt really there, but we did all have special weapons in legion just last xpac as a counter example.

  3. #3
    I am Murloc! KOUNTERPARTS's Avatar
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    I mean, I get the sarcasm, but it just wasn't funny.


    Please spend some more time constructing before you post next time OP.

  4. #4
    Friend you are not alone ....
    From the beginning of SL I was amazed by the design and texture of the armor of the mawsworn warriors in Torghast:

    This is what I would like DK, or my Hunter or Rogue to be wearing at the moment:



    What Ion Hazzikostas wants me to use:




  5. #5
    The Undying Lochton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fantazma View Post
    Come on. Do optional items scare you?
    FOMO: "Fear Of Missing Out", also commonly known as people with a mental issue of managing time and activities, many expecting others to fit into their schedule so they don't miss out on things to come. If FOMO becomes a problem for you, do seek help, it can be a very unhealthy lifestyle..

  6. #6
    "Aspiring to collect them so they'll have fun," historically resulted in, "if you didn't have this specific weapon with this OP proc, you did terrible damage, and once you had it, accounted for nearly all your damage."

    Like, take a look at Corruption as another example of this kind of effect. It isn't like there aren't weapons that are added to the game at the high end that have crazy effects anymore, it's that having it that way lead to a reality where either your character was too reliant on that one source for all their damage and you were useless without it, or the impact was small so it didn't matter if you had it that way or not. The middle-ground that keeps trying to be aimed for is that the effects would be nice when you would get them but wouldn't overly contribute to the character when you got them... with mixed results.

    Different people will probably site different times they got it right, or when they got it wrong, but weapon procs have been, like trinkets, subject to a lot of the wildest and most unpredictable spikes in performance for specs outside of things like armor pen or wacky talent builds they weren't expecting.

    There is a reason for nerfing these kinds of weapons into the ground at the end of the day. People didn't like it when all of their damage came from one source (see again: Corruption). And yet, even when this source was controlled and easily accessible (see: Artifact Weapons) people may still complain even when that power is unlocked.

    Itemization is frustrating because players want to be optimal all the time but still want really powerful rewards to be incentivized to do things. Yet when content becomes mandatory in order to obtain those same powerful rewards they seem to want to chase some of the time and other times are frustrated when they just don't have the items it just becomes a revolving door of a three-pronged issue where player wants to be optimal and doing their job the best they can, can't without reward, have to do activity to get reward but they don't want to do activity.

    The best situations we've had are when the activity to get the reward is inherently more fun than the reward was. But when this happens, people tend to ask for more rewards from the activity, because they like it so much. But, if more rewards end up being too good, people get frustrated in regards to being optimal. Three-pronged issue. Revolving door of problems.

    (Side arm: We can look back at "gameplay first" philosophy in terms of valuing the activity the most and when the rewards aren't valued so highly. I think it leads to, well, better gameplay enjoyed by more people. But that's a personal take.)

    Different players value each of the three pieces differently. Some people only care about gear. Some only care about being optimal (for the team, sometimes). Or even sometimes people just like the activity in isolation of everything else. Each person will tell you they could do without the rest. Yet, broadly, across the game, when activities that don't give rewards are made - people don't do them. When being optimal is automated and the differences between casuals and hardcore is lessened they complain about homogenization and the game being too easy. When activities are lucrative but have no substance to them, people complain that they're bored doing an activity.

    Rewards and weapons, and their effects by extension, are more complicated than just supplying a powerful effect as if that'll solve everything. Someone will be unhappy if the activity isn't fun. Someone will be unhappy if the effect is too powerful. Someone will be unhappy if the effect is too weak or the gear doesn't matter. There's always something wrong.
    Last edited by Razion; 2021-05-11 at 08:19 PM.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Gehco View Post
    Come on. Do optional items scare you?
    No. It's just that some "optional" choices are something that I would never choose.
    I would like to see in the game that I pay to play ... choices that I am happy to choose.

  8. #8
    I agree this doesn't exist enough, but the sword from Plaguefall and the bow/quiver from the upcoming raid fit this bill nicely.
    And by fit nicely, I mean mandatory after a while.
    "Hunter LFG" *Do you have Sylv bow?*
    "Uh, no but my IO is-"
    *Declined*

  9. #9
    Void Lord Aeluron Lightsong's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fantazma View Post
    No. It's just that some "optional" choices are something that I would never choose.
    I would like to see in the game that I pay to play ... choices that I am happy to choose.
    Ok? So something that you don't care for gets added and you throw a petty tantrum about it. Yeah uhhh you are way too salty for something cosmetic.
    #TeamLegion #UnderEarthofAzerothexpansion plz #Arathor4Alliance #TeamNoBlueHorde

    Warrior-Magi

  10. #10
    The Undying Lochton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fantazma View Post
    No. It's just that some "optional" choices are something that I would never choose.
    I would like to see in the game that I pay to play ... choices that I am happy to choose.
    Meanwhile, others would like to see things in a game they pay to play... choices that make them happy to choose.

    Some choices were just never meant for you.
    FOMO: "Fear Of Missing Out", also commonly known as people with a mental issue of managing time and activities, many expecting others to fit into their schedule so they don't miss out on things to come. If FOMO becomes a problem for you, do seek help, it can be a very unhealthy lifestyle..

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Aeluron Lightsong View Post
    Ok? So something that you don't care for gets added and you throw a petty tantrum about it. Yeah uhhh you are way too salty for something cosmetic.
    Perhaps I have misunderstood myself. I would like to see more cosmetics that match more with what I would really like to wear in my char. That's it.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Fantazma View Post
    No. It's just that some "optional" choices are something that I would never choose.
    I would like to see in the game that I pay to play ... choices that I am happy to choose.
    You're ridiculous and what's wrong with the playerbase. Blizzard should not cater to every individual players wishes. And there are already options that you choose, so don't be a baby about someone else getting some cool.

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