Shattered Kingdoms

If the chance for an item to explode had also been removed, I would be much more excited about these changes. These changes also come with drawbacks, which I am not sure is appropriate to discuss on this forum.

Overall, this feels like a net neutral.

Does the no De-magicing an item also mean that alignment restricted items will always be alignment restricted now?

Feel free to discuss the pros and cons of any code change exactly as you would have done in this forum in the past. This forum was always moderated. Keep in mind that any criticisms should be of systems and not people.

You won't be able to change alignment restrictions of items via enchant fading. Actually, I thought that became true even as of the last code update, but it definitely is true now.

Therein lies the problem not only with discussing the enchanting changes, but discussing changes in general on the forum now. I will tread lightly in an attempt to shed light on both.



This is both a mechanical change and a "people" change at the same time. It is reasonable that if innate endowments no longer count against adding enhancement endowments that the maximum capacity of an item would need to be lowered in order to maintain balance. However, this makes us even more dependent on builders (the "people" part of this change) to understand combat mechanics and provision items appropriately.

I have debated how to phrase this next part to avoid being condescending. A lot of your builders are inexperienced about the tactical aspect of the game. If an item was not correctly provisioned before this update, but had other redeeming qualities, like a desirable material type or high armor value, then we could compensate for flawed design by fading an item. That is no longer an option. Therefore, we are now completely at the mercy of builders to understand the tactical elements of the game and provision items correctly.

Finally, this update doesn't really address the issue of end game PvE. As Syn pointed out previously, one of the difficulties associated with defeating bosses like Ephialtes, Somnium, and the Grand General is that not only do you need a group able to invest a significant amount of time to navigate to the encounter and then defeat it, they have to be willing to remain in the area while the items acquired are enchanted. Items can still explode, so while this update might speed up the enchanting process in this scenario - no one can leave the area still.

Overall, these changes are a net neutral.

IMO items should have a reduced chance to explode based on their starting level, capping out at zero or near zero chance for GM items. That's the way to make end-game amor worth pursuing while also preventing it from requiring two plus hours of standing around regathering and enchanting. I'm all for enchant taking time, but I'm not a fan of costing a group time + having them risk their lives killing a boss multiple times for his armor, which is by far the most depressing thing about taking a trip to the Dreamscape/IC.

THAT SAID, I haven't had the chance to see any of these changes in-game yet, so I'm not certain as to what effect they actually have. I also think the goal is that now that most items have been refactored, that additional starting enchantments should be more in-line with what's useful.



Dulrik, would you be willing to share what the maximum number of endowments is based off of? Is it a constant max value across all items, or is it something that could vary based on item level/material/type?

This makes a lot of sense to me.

I proposed it six years ago!

*cries in a corner*

Removing the chance for items to explode would be a step in the right direction. It took me a while to figure out why this update to enchanting didn't quite feel right. And then it dawned on me when I hopped on my warrior on World of Warcraft a little bit ago. The old enchanting system was similar to reforging. The new enchanting system is reforging being removed.

You are now completely at the mercy of developers/builders to correctly itemize and provision equipment. There are many times that I have gotten a so-called "upgrade" on my warrior, but it had versatility instead of multistrike or haste instead of critical strike or mastery - making it a side grade at best. Now that great scripted ring on Shattered Kingdoms that I would have previously faded to get rid of versatility to add multistrike - not anymore.

That in a nutshell is what rubs me the wrong way about this update and why I believe we are sacrificing customization and choice in exchange for convenience.