Rare items should have a place. They are sometimes a best in slot due to the stats / modifiers added to them. But the problem with rares now is there are not many modifiers in the game such as ( Faster Hit Recovery, Faster Cast Rate, + to Attack Rating, %chance for crushing blow the list can go on )
However some of the modifiers are seeming to come back with the +to skills. I just hope the game doesn’t end up revolve around stacking 3 main modifiers. Attack Speed % , Crit Chance, Crit Hit Damage ( even if it exists as a modifier in d4)
I feel like if they really branch out the possible modifiers this could work wonders, adding a lot of variance to the rares while occasionally creating those godly rares with 4 useful modifiers.
My issue is that a legendary item will always be the better option simply for having better base stats, even If I ignore their special effects.
Buffing rares to a closer level would add a bit more variance to the endgame equipment due to them having more random attributes.
You would still want the legendaries that improved the skills you regularly use but you wouldn’t have to wear other legendaries with meaningless effects simply because they have bigger numbers.
That is the idea. If you read my longer post I linked here you will understand why - Seasons would grant more changes to our builds if the legendary tier of items is at the top aka above magic/rare/set.
I did read, and yes, that’s what I don’t like, I don’t like that the best option is legendary just because of higher numbers, farming for upgrades feels bad when you only have the option of the same legendary with better rolls.
Rares would have the ability to be the absolute best stat sticks when rolling near perfection; however, legendary items would always give the benefit of unique modifiers and interactions with skills.
Rares have a place for ‘Timmy’ players (Magic term) and could certainly be part of a top-flight build.
There might exist other mechanics that change this - for example they could make us use the magic and rares that drop with sockets for D2-like runewords if these appear.
That is the thing, the legendary items should be better only if the power is useful to you, the stats shouldn’t be higher*. In that case, the rare item could be better bcs you get an extra stat.
*What i mean is the base: the stats will be random inside of a certain range.
I already wrote the current idea of the developers is that special legendary power to always be most useful for you, because this would create the most build diversity options when each Season they introduce new mechanics serving for meta game shifts.
Yes, if it is a skill you use, but if it isn’t or it is a skill of another class, then no. As it looks right now, even if it is a skill you don’t use, the item still looks better (maybe the exception is if it one has sockets and the other don’t).
I never meant that the useful uniques wouldn’t be the best choice I just don’t expect us to use every item slot in uniques that benefit the skills we use at the moment, and the remaining slots could be filled with rares that have a larger variance and provide the more generic bonuses.
As you said you use items that improve skills AB&C but what will fill the remaining slots? Other legendaries for skills DEF&G that you don’t use, simply because they have better stats.
The player decides whether to stack 10 legendaries buffing 1 skill or 6 different skills.
There would also be combos from legendaries - for example in the demo there was hydra from a legendary, with another one you might make such creatures more aka 3 hydras.
Rares won’t be equal or close to legendaries because:
They afraid of creating a sub-market and don’t want item flippers to influence the market by inflation.
They will go for control model by making Legendaries or Sets more powerful. No matter what they insist or say.
Still “clear experience” and “linear progress” are their mottos, you don’t need to look too far to see it. They don’t care about a sustainable model, their playerbase wants to see “progress” and they think it will bring engagement at long term.
If Rares had any sort of potential to be better than legendaries, those rare items will circulate among the market for profits and will cause a drop in legendary prices that you can trade once. This will cause a frown on the people who dream of selling their trashy legendary for bigger bux.
They had many opportunities to turn this around in D3, they simply didn’t; not because it wasn’t profitable but not disturbing “game balance”. It sucked, okay? Some tweaks at skill system would make Rares a stepstone and creating a potential market shouldn’t have scared them this much.
I mean, I’m aware that I’m trying to criticize people who are more informed and experienced about digital economics but it still feels wrong.