[Brainport] : Making rares rare

[ReefSmoker]

Neocron currently has a slot system for weapons, this works well for the most part, unfortunately everyone wants a 5 slotter and often anything less is considered sub-standard. Personally I'm happy with a slot for an ammo mod but I can appreciate why folks want the extra slots, afterall it does make the weapon better.

I don't expect a change to the slot system for regular weapons but I do have an idea on how this system can be changed for rare weapons, and at the same time it will make life interesting for the pure constructors out there.

You get all the tech parts for your rare weapon, and have it constructed. With this idea your rare weapon comes out slotless. Yes, slotless ! You then go to your local 'uber-constructor' with your rare weapon, and ask them to mod it for you. Depending upon the construct skill of the person carrying out the modding, there is a chance that the weapon will be damaged (made useless) when the mod is installed. With each additional mod installed, the chance of the mod being installed without damaging the weapon is decreased. The skill of the constructor is the determining factor of how likely the mod can be successfully installed.

Let's say you've got a Ray of Last Hope freshly built. You want to install an ammo mod on it, as well as an ultima mod. If the stats aren't going to end up at 120% after the ultima mod then you might want some additional mods installed such as a pistol barrel. Then you might decide that you need additional ammo mods on it so you can switch to a different ammo type depending upon your opponent.

First mod installation has a 90% chance of success with the best constructors.
Second mod has 80% chance of success.
Third has let's say 60% success rate.
Fourth has 40% chance of success.
The fifth mod has a 15% chance of success.

These percentages are just to give an idea of how it might work. Bear in mind that with this idea, if a mod installation fails, the weapon is then useless. The percentages are also an indication based upon the best constructors out there.

If the mod installation fails, a message comes up on local chat saying something like 'The Ray of Last Hope is irrevocably damaged during the installation' so that the person requiring the mod can see the outcome for themselves rather than rely upon the word of the constructor.

This idea would help reduce the amount of rare weapons out there dramatically. Only those folk who spend an extraordinary amount of time harvesting tech parts would have the luxury of trying to get 5 mods installed on the same weapon because they'd have a few spares to go through if the constructor wasn't successful the first time round. Sure some folk (like me) don't play enough to have such a luxury, so we'd have to be content with only one or two mods being installed on our rare. Of course luck would play a part in it since the percentage is the random factor.

If you've got questions about this idea please do ask and I shall do my best to elaborate on the concept. I know some folk won't like it but something has to be done about the huge volume of rare weapons in circulation. Rare is no longer an appropriate term for these weapons.

I welcome all feedback, and stay tuned for an idea I want to spend more time on before posting related to the chat system and how to drastically improve it ;)

Take care,

ReefSmoker

[Elric]

relatively extreme idea and it would be quite harsh on some players admittedly. Apart from this it would help in clearing up the amount of rares in circulation so all in all, i like it and agree.

[garyu69]

I love the idea, i would also like to extend on it.

When the Rare Weapon is deemed Useless say because of failed Mod. I would like to see the Recyclers brought into the frame where you can take the gun, give it to them and they are then able to try and recycle out 0 - 3 Rare parts from the gun.

Something along these lines.

[Jesterthegreat]

would this revert all rares back to how they were upon construction? because due to the amount of rares out there it wont make that much difference.

personally i would support a rare wipe (weapons this is) however i can see many people leaving if this happened :D

[ReefSmoker]

Originally posted by garyu69
I love the idea, i would also like to extend on it.

When the Rare Weapon is deemed Useless say because of failed Mod. I would like to see the Recyclers brought into the frame where you can take the gun, give it to them and they are then able to try and recycle out 0 - 3 Rare parts from the gun.

Good idea ! That way those of us that don't have as much time to invest playing the game can get something back if they're out of luck when the weapon is modded :)


Originally posted by Jesterthegreat
would this revert all rares back to how they were upon construction? because due to the amount of rares out there it wont make that much difference.

personally i would support a rare wipe (weapons this is) however i can see many people leaving if this happened :D

I think we'd have to leave existing rare weapons as they are just now, the damage done by reverting rares to an unmodded form or by wiping all rares would be very damaging in terms of causing people to get annoyed at seeing their hard work vanish. The concept would only be applicable to rares constructed after implementation of such a drastic idea, however it might give folk a chance to have that 1 slot Cursed Soul (gathering dust in a cabinet) turned into something a little more beefy :)

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My own views on rare weapons are that they are a reward for those who invest a lot of time and effort, a privelidge in fact. We currently have almost everyone running around with a rare weapon, and that is why I've suggested this idea. The basic concept has come from other mmorpgs I've played and seems to be one of a few techniques that developers of these games employ to ensure that the rare pool is not overly saturated.

As always, bring on the feedback, good or bad it all helps :cool:

Take care,

ReefSmoker

[Cruzbroker]

Still having the random slots ingame? (not so good rate as now)

Pretty nice idea, even with old system in too.

(having 2 slot weapon built. want third mod on it, the % would be higher than 0 slot has for third mod. something like 30-40%)

[Jesterthegreat]

anything to make rares rare is good... but imo this would have to be coupled with a boost of non-rares. it seems rares are essential for most classes thesedays.

if i took my pistol spy into PvP without a rare he would be laughed at... if i took him in with a fully capped ROLH he would be laughed at - but then i would kill them :p

i think with all the rares in circulation now this wont make a big enough difference though. and are we still limiting to 5 mods? or can i take my 5 slot rare and throw 2 ned mods in? :D

[ReefSmoker]

This can be moved to the brainport now I guess :) Idea obviously didn't go down well with most folk - always interesting how those who support ideas are all to ready to voice their interest, and those who disapprove just vote against it and don't say why !

Jester - I was thinking this idea could be used on existing rares, so if someone had a cabinet full of slotless cursed souls that aren't much use at present then they could destroy a few by trying to make the 'uber CS' if such an idea came to fruition - that might help reduce the amount of rares currently in existence :)

I'll still post the idea for improving the chat system despite being aware of many other brainport posts on the topic, because I feel I have something unique to propose - still working on the concept though (pictures included, man I hate doing arty stuff, it's definitely one of my many weak points).

Take care,

ReefSmoker

[Lareolan]

It's actually a really cool idea except for one flaw. Unless character items are reset, the only ones who will be hurt by this will be the newbies since they will have a snowball's chance in hell of getting a 5 slot rare while people like Trillian (taken from her response in another thread) can lose a 4-slotted libby and go "meh, I got a better one" go back to their apartments and pull out 1 or two 5 slotted libbies.

Check out my thread (http://neocron.jafc.de/showthread.php?s=&threadid=83685)

It's seriously ridiculous how many "rares" a whole bunch of people have. You can't even call them "rare" anymore. How can something be called a "rare" if everyone and their cat have dozens of them? For every account/alt no less.

So if something like thise were to be implemented there would have to be something done about the existing amount of rares, otherwise it will be the nwbies who will join when DoY comes out that will be getting the shaft being PK'd by people with uber 5 slot weapons while they have a 3-4 slot non-rare because every rare they try to build ends up breaking.

Edit:

Oops! Forgot to mention that this would mean that more in-game mechanics should be made to enforce fairness. It would be far too tempting for a constructor to go "oops, sorry, when I added that 4th mod it broke" while stashing the 4 slotted libbie in his gogu.

[Super Mario]

bloody great idea as i have 3 chars and they all have rares of some kind. Also i went hunting today and i got 10 rare parts from wbs and the person i was hunting with wasn't satisfied, i mean there rare parts they are not ment to be so easy to get thus the term rare so as well as the slots idea why not drop the rare drops a tad so ppl have to work hard in finding rares. i mean if you can solo a wb you can collect loads of rare parts in an hour which makes it not rare like the lvl 3 imps.

[Psyco Groupie]

This would devastate noobs when they got their first rare and so I voted no.

However you can still make rares, more rare and possibly more fair!

Perhaps make ammo mods rare, ie plasma mod does all plasma guns but is diff to the shop ones .. etc

The idea I like best, im not sure if anyones ever sudjested it but if hull parts never dropped within 5 zones of cycrow, frame no-where near doy, tech near mb .. etc .. this would make rares more rare, stop people whoring fire mobs and encourage trading further!

PG