Loot hunting is one of the fundamentals of ARPGs. For an ARPG to be good, the loot hunt needs to feel good. In this post, I’ll explain a few reasons why enchanting, an important part of the loot hunt, doesn’t feel good in the endgame. I’ll finish with some ideas for a solution. Beware the wall of text or skip to TLDR.
Introduction
Finding a great rare item is very difficult in diablo 4’s endgame, which gives players something to strive for. The item needs to roll with the right affixes with high values. Finding such an item would feel very rewarding, if it wasn’t for one thing : enchanting.
Enchanting allows players to hunt for items with only 3 out of 4 affixes. On the surface, it’s a great system. It gives the player some agency to choose the 4th affix, making the item their own and fitting it perfectly into their build. It also increases the chance of finding great items, while maintaining the rarity – it’s an ambitious goal to find an item with 3 desired affixes with high values.
Enchanting’s main issues are the result of coupling randomness with an increasing cost. If you enchant the item multiples times, the result is a new roll of the dice, but the cost increases. With this problem fixed, the item hunt would be a lot more enjoyable.
Enchanting’s flaws and their effect on the player’s experience
Enchanting punishes bad luck. If you enchant an item and don’t get the desired affix, not only do you lose the materials and gold used for the first attempt, but the cost of the next one increases. Resources have been lost without any progress towards the desired roll. The increasing gold cost feels worse because it adds frustration to an already frustrating event.
The gold cost increase also means that the player is being permanently and cumulatively punished for every single bad luck event. Every failed attempt adds a little bit of frustration, but also carries the weight of every single previous failure. This feeling is only increased by the fact that the player has no control over the listed options. It’s like gambling where you’re forced to double down.
Enchanting cost increases after imprinting an item with a legendary aspect. This means that the player should not use the item until they’re done enchanting it. If they wait for more gold to keep enchanting, they’re frustrated because an upgrade is sitting in the stash instead of being used. On the other hand, if they imprint it, they’re frustrated because they essentially give up on getting their desired roll from enchanting, since the cost will be increased by so much.
In theory, an item can be enchanted an unlimited number of times. This sets up an expectation of getting the desired roll. Finding the item is much more unlikely than enchanting it correctly. Therefore, failing the easy part is very frustrating after succeeding at the hard part. This takes away from the satisfaction of finding a great rare item, because it could be ruined by bad luck with enchanting.
The number of enchants being unlimited coupled with the cost increase from imprint leaves a lingering feeling of frustration. The player doesn’t imprint the item, clinging to the hope that the next enchanting attempt will be successful. This feeling will persist until he gives up or gets lucky.
Solutions
There are a number of solutions to the problem, so here are a few ideas. Some of them could be combined.
The increased cost after failed attempts could be capped or entirely removed. The cost could be based on the level requirement. With enough time and forgotten souls, the player would eventually get the desired result, without the risk of effectively ruining a great drop.
The increased enchanting cost after imprinting a legendary aspect could also be removed. Players could then use the piece before they’re done with enchanting.
A rare consumable item could be added, with the ability to reset the enchanting cost of an item to the initial value, before it was ever enchanted.
Another avenue would be to deal with the randomness. For example, the occultist could allow players to pick in a list of every affix that can roll on that item. The cost in gold and materials would be increased to compensate.
The occultist could also offer an option to improve the roll of the affix already enchanted on the item. Instead of getting completely random affixes, including worse rolls of the current affix, this option would allow a random improvement of the currently enchanted affix.
Those are just a few ideas, there are probably more or better ones. Thank you for reading.
TLDR:
Enchanting’s combination of randomness and gold cost increase is detrimental to the player’s experience of item hunting. It punishes the player for being unlucky, which they have no control over.
When you fail to reroll an item, you’re punished in two ways. You lose the resources from the attempt, and the next one will be even more expensive.
The cost increase is cumulative, so every individual reroll carries the weight of all the previous bad luck events.
Imprinting a legendary power increases the cost to reroll. The resulting choice for the player is to let the item sit in their stash or give up on improving it.
Getting a good item is more unlikely than enchanting, which sets up the expectation of succeeding with the enchant.
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