After thinking about item balance a little bit, prompted by the newest forum: The Arsenal, I have decided to post this thread.
Choosing your Heat Level Upgrades:
Normally, when an items reaches a certain level, it only gets an increase to Charge Time Reduction or Health.
But what if you could choose what was added to your item?
I think, that since some items are better at some things than other weapons, it would make more sense to allow people to choose what to put on an item at a certain heat level.
This would also bypass some of the reason people obsessively craft UVs, which may help calm players who have their panties in a bunch over crafting costs.
Simply put:
- When an item reaches Heat Level 5 or 10, you are prompted to choose an upgrade, or you can just wait until later to decide.
- Upon choosing an upgrade, that upgrade is applied to your item. If you choose to wait, you will be able to click the item and select "customize weapon"
- The first break (level 5) offers a low bonus to CTR or IAS for weapons, or +1 Health or a Low bonus to the dominant (highest) defensive property on the item (not status resistance).
- At level 10, you can choose to add to that property, or pick the alternative choice.
Example: You could pick +1 Health at heat level 5 and Increased Normal Defense: Low at heat level 10 or choose to add another +1 Health for a +2.
I think this will help make items feel more personal in the long run, since players can fit most weapons to their own playstyle rather than have to ask for opinions from other people. It may also make some weapons which are not as useful as others, more useful with better inherent bonuses to stats that support their limited strengths.
The option to wait until later is for people who may not have time to pick a bonus between floors.
Or people who want to research their options a little more before making a decision.
Also, this would probably require IAS being useful on bombs to happen. Since IAS does nothing for bombs.
But that is for another thread, I suppose.
Bomp