Spiral Knights - Punch's Tempering Shop!

Punch's Tempering Shop!

15 replies [Last post]

Mon, 05/12/2014 - 15:15

Autofire

Problems:

There is no incentive to fully heat lower-star items.
Because of the point above, 2* Heat Crystals are useless for 3* players.
UVs are unobtainable for newer players.
UVs are far more expensive now that rage crafting is gone. (I am NOT saying rage crafting should return)

Solution?

Punch sets up a new line of business, called the Tempering Shop. Through this shop (run by his cohort, who is either a Gremlin Knocker or a Scuttle Bot), players can give a fully heated piece of equipment in order to be tempered. Tempering gear will remove ALL levels and will role a UV on it. Just like crafting, tempering items can occasionally yield 2 or 3 UVs. You cannot temper an item which has an UV already. To make it more clear...

You give a fully leveled item WITHOUT a UV.
You get the item back at LEVEL ZERO with at least 1 UV.

This shouldn't effect the market too badly because you have to equip an item to heat it, thus binding it to you. You have to spend time and crystals to forge the item. It's more practical to heat 2* items rather than 3* ones because 2* ones are easier to heat. That being said, there is no star limitation. I could temper my 5* items if I wanted...though it wouldn't be a very good idea.

Mon, 05/12/2014 - 15:49

Draycos

I THINK SOMEONE'S BEEN PLAYING WARFRAME...

I personally believe that Knights are too powerful with UVs, and that they should be toned down (heck, even removed!). I'm not sure how people would be compensated for a big change like that, but.. yeah.

That aside.. Here's my 2 cents. I think this has potential to be a way for newer players to get boosts and also a way to cut down on... ah screw it you know what's coming.

-Heat should no longer divided among applicable items. It'd be an equal amount every time- now you have some incentive to bench your end-of-everything 5* equipment.

-The heat of the item shouldn't be reset each time you 'temper' it. Instead, it should be one big "level 11". This way, you aren't grinding and being penalized at the same time.

-The more heat you accumulate/fire crystals you use before tempering an item, the more you're able to choose what you get. The catch is that you can't choose VH or higher, only influence your chances.

Mon, 05/12/2014 - 16:30

Autofire

You are experiencing a PICNIC ERROR!

I THINK SOMEONE'S BEEN PLAYING WARFRAME...

Dude, don't do that. That's so true it's creepy.

But, at the the same time, this is different. You cannot temper twice on the same item, unless you drop the UV upon crafting the item up, but then you'd have to level it up all the way again. Once you hit 3*, this becomes a bit more of a pain.

-Heat should no longer divided among applicable items. It'd be an equal amount every time- now you have some incentive to bench your end-of-everything 5* equipment.

That sounds fair, but then it would also be more difficult for new players to level up your item. An alternative would be to decrease the heat gain on items that go with a previous tier. Or, you could just leave it as is. 2* heat crystals would run out after a while...or maybe not. There's always crafting down. :S

-The heat of the item shouldn't be reset each time you 'temper' it. Instead, it should be one big "level 11". This way, you aren't grinding and being penalized at the same time.

Maybe, but then you'd have to pay crowns. Keep in mind that, aside from crystals spent, you wouldn't lose any money for tempering. If it would go to level 11, like you say, what's the use? I might as well buy a Forge Ticket.

-The more heat you accumulate/fire crystals you use before tempering an item, the more you're able to choose what you get. The catch is that you can't choose VH or higher, only influence your chances.

Wait, chose what you're gunna get? I was going to think this would be randomized...if it's not randomized, then this is OP.

Mon, 05/12/2014 - 16:57

Draycos

-"Dude, don't do that. That's so true it's creepy."

I took lessons from Psycho Mantis.

-"Heat division"

It'd actually make it much easier for them, since newer players are often going to have something they need heating. It also makes it less likely that some random 5* player will come to their party with the best weapons in the game and play the game for them. Granted, they'd still have at least one 5* weapon, but hey... it still counts.

-"Level 11"

No, no, no, the fire crystals would still be there, it'd just streamline the levelling process. The Forge is annoying enough.

-"Choice will be OP"
UVs are already ridiculously OP. I just don't like how they're both ridiculously OP and gated behind a system of luck or a ridiculous amount of crowns. Leaving it to heat and crystals would make it just a bit less painful for the unlucky.

Like I said, I'd see them removed first, but I thought it was still worth brainstorming.

Mon, 05/12/2014 - 18:34

Autofire

You are experiencing a PICNIC ERROR!

About removing UVs. I want them gone too, but keep in mind that some people payed hundreds of dollars for these things. It would be robery to remove them...unless there was some HUGE accommodation.

Or they could pull a Warframe and just have UVs become unobtainable, but still present. At the same time, this could make the meta of LD become unbalanced.

UVs are tricky. :(

Mon, 05/12/2014 - 19:07

Draycos

The problem with making them unobtainable but tradeable like Warframe's Arcane Helmets is that it gives older players an insane advantage- and creates an economy around these ridiculous, limited-supply super-items. It'd be much worse than Warframe; we're not talking about 15% shields for -5% efficiency or relatively arbitrary movespeed and -5% strength, we're talking about things like CTR, that makes a normally decent weapon insanely powerful.

Even if they weren't trade-able, it'd still be a big, unchangeable gap between the veterans and the new guys.

The best they could do is log data for the prices of various weapons with certain UVs, then compensate players by giving their money's worth. It'd be a rough fix, but I can't think of any better way.

Mon, 05/12/2014 - 20:53

Autofire

You are experiencing a PICNIC ERROR!

Yeah, possibly. That would be hard though because the value of UVs multiply when you have more than one. For example, two flourishes, one with Fiend MAX and another with ASI MAX, would be probably have less combined value than a single Flourish with both...and how often do you see people selling specifically that set?

It would also inject mass quantities of crowns into the market, probably causing inflation. That's why it's tricky...

Wed, 05/14/2014 - 06:09

Skepticraven

@Autofire

Your first problem is incorrectly stated. [And in turn #2 as well.]
2* items are definitely worth heating for new low level knights.

Why?
The same way 5* is weaker than level 10 4* until about level 5 runs the same with 2* and 3*.
Secondly, CTR.
Thirdly, search for all the forum threads in the new recruits section for people wondering where to obtain advanced orbs.

Heating 2* items is worthless for endgamers, because there is no reward outside wasting low level resources.

Wed, 05/14/2014 - 08:23

Dandi

Something came to my mind: 1

Something came to my mind:

1 - You forge your 1* item from level 1 to level 10.
2 - Temper it to get a stronger version, level 1 version.
3 - Forge your way to level 10 again.

Now we can have a different line, example: The current Brandish line and the line of Tempered Brandish. A slightly stronger version that only accepts tempered weapons. In order to make a tempered Glacius you need a tempered Blizzbrand.

The UV can be inserted somewhere in the process.

Wed, 05/14/2014 - 12:03

Sandwich-Potato

^ So pretty much like Damage Bonus Maximum Maximum Maximum? Totes.

Wed, 05/14/2014 - 13:39

#10

Draycos

Dandi, all that would do is add more artificial length to the game.. plus, we players are already strong enough as-is, if the top-end weapons are anything to judge by.

Wed, 05/14/2014 - 14:24

#11

Dandi

Well.. but i think there are

Well.. but i think there are lots of people with top equips looking for something else to do today.

Also...

Wed, 05/14/2014 - 14:25

#12

Dandi

Sorry

-double-

Wed, 05/14/2014 - 15:21

#13

Sandwich-Potato

But 4000 Energy is pretty easy to get if you really needed something important, and most people would still use the Bazaar to find select items.

Weapons kill monsters pretty darn quickly. A single charge from the Blitz Needle does over a hundred pips of damage if all the bullets hit.

Wed, 05/14/2014 - 16:30

#14

Dandi

4000 Energy is pretty easy to

4000 Energy is pretty easy to get

Wed, 05/14/2014 - 18:07

#15

Sandwich-Potato

Alright alright, lemme address your points in a better manner.

1) lolnope to the tempered item unbinding. It'd make it ridiculously easy for people who're doing a quitting sale or something to temper their items, not need to fork over 4kce per item and then splurge the Energy in trades for a new game or such.

2) -1 to the Tempered Weapons still. I mean really, tempered Blitz? Tempered Polaris? Tempered Acheron?

3) 4000 Energy is around 250 thousand crowns. Most items people feel like unbinding have some extraordinarily valuable UV's, like say a Blitz Needle with CTR and ASI High. 4000 Energy would be a pittance compared to the fee they'd charge for the item itself generally. That's why Aura unbinds are so expensive.

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Punch's Tempering Shop!