Custom Server Design: Epic Weapons

[Tabasco]

I saw this on my first server. Epics were easy to get but we had global drops. The byproduct was that you would see a mob with a fantastic weapon model in his hand, then kill him and be disappointed.

Since then I've played down epics a lot. I just don't like the idea of them, but it ends up being easier for a developer or designer to just implement 16 weapon sets and call it a day.
You also run into the player issue. "Wut, no epic at lvl 10? /q lol"
(The above is very sarcastic, we all know those kinds of folks don't actually use commas.)

As I've added more recently I try to give it a role, or something special that might make it appealing to one kind of player, regardless of class, but not appealing to another.
Here's an example of that: http://dungeoncrawl.us.to/eq/ak/item.php?id=133458
Some folks won't touch a 2h with a delay that high, others are put off by the negative regen. In practice, with the high proc rate, it's exciting to play with because if you're not in combat all the time, you're dying. You have to swap the weapon out to rest, which can be annoying and impractical, so there's a tradeoff.
Other examples are weapons with really low base DPS, but a fast and reasonably reliable proc, elemental damage, etc.

I'm a big fan of Borderlands 1 and 2, and while it doesn't translate perfectly, you see a very functional mechanic at work. The weapons are about more than bullet damage and rate of fire, they do special things, have significant advantages and significant disadvantages. You can find something that fits your play style rather than being funneled into an expected play style.

[Mariomario]

Originally Posted by Tabasco

You also run into the player issue. "Wut, no epic at lvl 10? /q lol"
(The above is very sarcastic, we all know those kinds of folks don't actually use commas.)

This made me laugh, sad yet true.

I have always felt that way and completely agree with Drajor. Unfortunately the sad effect into making more content is previous stuff becomes obsolete, just the way any live game is. More content, better gear from weaker enemies making previous end game content pointless to do, so what from there? You go back and revamp a zone. No developer wants his hard work to feel worthless, but you can only play a game so many times before you reach the end and get bored. This is why most people make the 16 sets and call it done and everything is dependent of that 1 epic weapon. Why invest a bunch of time if it's only going to be seen once and then never again? This is what I believe defines the true developers. People willing to devote countless hours learning and exploring the game even if it means that content is going to go into the void for a certain about of time. Then later on they go back and recreate that world with even better events, models, gear etc. allowing those players to re-experience the wonder.

An epic weapon does need to mean that, epic. It should be far superior to any other of its type and era. Obviously with the introduction of newer content it will lose its finesse. This is what it means to play a game, and even more so, a MMO. If I wanted static end game content I would just play the RPGs that are released on a console. As for most of us you beat a game once or twice and then it hits the shelf and collects dust for a few years. Playing a MMO is what it means to never truly 'beat' the game. Sure you can reach the end and collect all of the items possible, even on some servers do silly side quests for interesting items, but the best part is knowing new rich ideas will soon be in store for you to tackle.

[Zaela_S]

Making any kind of be-all end-all anything in a growing game is not very wise, I don't think anyone will argue against that.

As someone who got into programming by way of designing items for a server... it is pretty disappointing to think that developers would shoot themselves in the foot and stifle their own creativity just because Live did the same.

Items are pretty flexible things. You can do "powerful, irreplaceable, epic" without being stuck with a static item forever. Random, obvious idea: epic weapons exist, but are just shells that get 100% of their stats and procs from epic-only augs. A weapon has a few pre-set augs when you first get it, but new augs can be obtained and swapped in to drastically change what the weapon is and does. With a tiny amount of effort, the weapon's model could depend on the aug in the first slot or some such. A little more effort could probably change a lot more. You could make your server's whole weapons system out of that; balancing the mix-and-match element takes some care (and there would be a lot of ways to do it, depending how flexible you'd want the possibilities to be), but it can be more interesting for players than either static epics or cyclic wholesale replacements of weapons -- trying to find the best combinations, experimenting with different set ups, that kind of thing. (For the really ambitious, perhaps other non-epic weapons could be turned into augs that preserve the most interesting aspects of that weapon.)

But that would be different. Who wants that?