Guild Wars 2

I feel like you’re sort of inundated with gear in the game due to the system that combines item level, rarity, and attribute arrangement. It tends to makes gear collection feel trite and uninteresting, especially combined with the quick leveling speed. I’ve thought about this for a while and I think there’s a better way to do it. I think removing the level axis and using only the rarity and attribute axes would be cleaner and more enjoyable. You’d have more meaningful choices while leveling and individual pieces of gear would remain useful for longer, making investing in them more enticing and rewarding. Here’s what I’d suggest:

a.) Remove gear levels. Have attribute bonus values scale automatically at a fixed rate based on your level and the gear’s rarity. Having multiple pieces of gear that are identical except for the scaling of the stats is pointless. Differentiating on aesthetics, rarity, and attribute arrangements is more than adequate; adding level in too is overkill.

b.) Set level thresholds for rarity – 10 for blue, 20 for green, 40 for rare, 60 for exotic, 80 for legendary/ascended. Upgrading a piece from one tier to the next should occur infrequently and be a big deal.

c.) all gray and white gear is single-stat, all blue and green are dual-stat, all rare-legendary are triple stat. The scaling of attributes is identical within a given rarity, and increases with each tier.

That’s all. I’m sure I’ll get some people naysaying but I’m totally confident this would be a better way to handle weapons and armor.

Einlanzer.1627:

a.) Remove gear levels. Have attribute bonus values scale automatically at a fixed rate based on your level and the gear’s rarity. Having multiple pieces of gear that are identical except for the scaling of the stats is pointless. Differentiating on aesthetics, rarity, and attribute arrangements is more than adequate; adding level in too is overkill.

b.) Set level thresholds for rarity – 10 for blue, 20 for green, 40 for rare, 60 for exotic, 80 for legendary/ascended. Upgrading a piece from one tier to the next should occur infrequently and be a big deal.

c.) all gray and white gear is single-stat, all blue and green are dual-stat, all rare-legendary are triple stat. The scaling of attributes is identical within a given rarity, and increases with each tier.

That’s all. I’m sure I’ll get some people naysaying but I’m totally confident this would be a better way to handle weapons and armor.

Right off the bat: More vendor trash minus cost of replacing out-leveled gear equals more liquidity. Either the loot table takes a huge hit or the auction house goes boom. I’m not sure the players would find either option acceptable.

I don’t really see that as a problem. They reduce drop rates due to the more limited amounts of gear and the fact that you don’t need to replace gear as often, and the value of those pieces goes up. Then you might actually have a sensible system where it doesn’t cost less to entirely replace your gear with higher level stuff from the TP than to repair your current gear or get vendor stuff.

It would also be more interesting and enjoyable when you actually get new gear.