Hello again Devoted Rejects,
It’s time to talk more about itemization (a.k.a. crafting) and what players can expect.
We’ve been reading your comments, your posts, your threads and your topics.
One of the challenges for tackling Itemization was to propose a new experience to the players which felt authentic and natural within the actual live system. We did not want to rush this, as it was important to consider all the progress and time put in by current players of the game, too.
Our goal is to improve player agency. We are putting the focus on giving players a clear path to get the weapons and gameplay they want.
Part of this agency will be achieved by removing the locks on Blessings and Perks.
The rest of the player agency will be achieved through the introduction of two new major systems for itemization: Mastery and Expertise (final names pending). These systems will make the players journey in the game more rewarding and customizable.
Mastery
This is the core progression system that is tied to the weapon type / weapon family itself. As players use a specific weapon, they’ll gain more experience. This unlocks new blessings, perks, marks and a special weapon cosmetic along the way via the reward tracks. As players progress, the potential quality and stats of the weapon also increases.
This system will merge all weapon types/families, meaning players will be able to freely switch between different marks of the same weapon type. For example, once you own an Infantry Lasgun, you have the potential to unlock all the possible marks for this weapon and switch from one mark to another.
When viewing any weapon, it will show the weapon’s maximum potential stats. These stats will be randomly determined. It’s up to the players to decide if the weapon profile is interesting enough for them to commit and increase the stats until reaching this potential (which are then applied to the weapon through the Expertise system).
Expertise
While the Mastery system is where a player unlocks the potential for a weapon, the Expertise system is where the players apply those changes via crafting. This is when the players create an actual relationship with the weapon. Players will be able to configure the weapon, change the Blessings or Perks, and increase the stats. Players will no longer be locked after making two changes on Perks or Blessings.
This is also when the player uses resources to make these changes happen.
What About Resources?
While we were planning this itemization rework, there were a lot of discussions around this topic. Creating an entirely new resource is a bit easier for balancing, but we don’t want to start a new grind for players. We wanted to have a system which respects players’ time. As such, we decided to keep plasteel and diamantine steel as the resources for changing weapons, but we worked on balancing.
We wanted to give a new life to diamantine. As diamantine is a resource introduced at a higher level of game play, it is also the required resource for achieving higher levels of Expertise on a weapon.
What Happens to My Existing Inventory?
When designing itemization, we wanted to commit to ensuring fairness for all players, new and old. As such, we’re implementing a migration system to convert players' current weapons and blessings into the new system.
Here’s how it works: The blessing library of the weapon family will be converted into mastery progression. This means players will start the new systems with a head start in mastery, giving them the chance to unlock previously owned blessings (as well as the chance to unlock some blessings players never had before the update).
Our aim is to preserve players hard-earned progress and make this shift as smooth as possible.
What about Curios? Curios will have their locks removed but they will remain unaffected beyond this change.
We are continuing to optimize this system in the coming weeks and we look forward to reading your feedback on the process outlined. We’ll collect any questions below so that we can release further communications on the topic as we make progress.
Thank you!
