Edits Oct.1: Collapsed ‘Bonuses’ + added elaboration. +Uniques options.
HOW TO PARTLY FIX AN UNDERLYING LOOT PROBLEM IN 3 STEPS
(problem is buried under layers of “fixes” & semantics)
One of the original problems was creating this fake category called “Legendary” (which was NOT analogous to D3 Legendary, which in turn was mostly analogous to D2 Unique). D4 “Legendary” was just Rare + Aspect.
1: Delete ‘Legendary’ from the game. It’s a fake category. Cut the umbilical cord to the original idea: Remove it from the lexicon. It would only take 1 full season to do. Say “SORRY, we didn’t put enough testing & brainstorming into this one. We might’ve reconsidered things if we had time, but we didn’t.” Restore Rares to the ‘correct’ number of affixes.
Bonus:
Summary
Bonus: The ugly “orange smudge” Legendary icons wouldn’t have to be redesigned… they’d be gone. (Just fix the ugly “brown smudge” that is Unique icons.) (No point using a different color for GA Rares, which might’ve been an option… since GA’s will now be 100% of Ancestrals… so no need to differentiate, we’ve got “stars” I guess. ‘Hey… how about adding multiple stars?’ Good job.)
Bonus: An Aspect that would not upgrade your Codex will be greyed-out when it drops = knockoff loot filter (similar to “stars”). Alternative: Aspect that would not upgrade your Codex will not drop. Why keep the first option handy? In case Aspects have vendor value, similar to “trash Legendaries”, because some players like to sell trash… i.e. it’s an available option for the devs, and both options greatly reduce clutter for all players.
- Elaborating to avoid confusion: it reduces clutter for all players, in that the instinct to pick up trash in case it would upgrade the Codex would now be 100% gone.
- If this was originally a scheme to get players to pick up more trash, welp… solved. Figure out something more creative, devs.
Bonus: Now when devs raise or lower the (equipable) loot drop rate, there are no downsides for Codex farming.
Bonus: Now Rares have meaning again: they’ve reclaimed their original glory from fake Legendaries.
2: Aspects shouldn’t be extracted from gear. They should just be physical drops: salvaged at the Occultist (where the Codex is… cool huh? No more “Blacksmith sends Aspect to Occultist” weirdness). Add a “Salvage All” button for Aspects at the Occultist. Eventually you’d just add Aspects directly to the Codex when picked up.
Bonus:
Summary
Bonus: No need to adjust (equipable) loot density for this, which you’re constantly tweaking in order to avoid implementing a loot filter. In S6, does the lower loot density mean our Codex will be super slow to max out? This fix saves you frantic damage-control sessions to address a ‘new’ problem. (Did you think slowing the Codex grind was a side benefit for engagement metrics? Or did you not anticipate it at all? Either way, fixed.)
Bonus: No need to adjust storage… since we’re salvaging 99% of “Legendaries” as it is, to get at the Aspect. So just give us the Aspect… because it’ll get salvaged.
- Elaborating to avoid confusion: a physical Aspect is just a gear item, it goes in main bag slot. You are now doing the exact same thing you’ve been doing in S4-S5, only you’re salvaging Aspects… at the Occultist. (Bonus: give us salvage mats in the process. It makes sense. They are physical things just like armor.)
3: Aspects get applied to an item (e.g. Rare) without fake “changing” the item type. It’s now just a Rare with an Aspect. Simple, right?
At this point we’ll have Magic, Rare, Unique. Makes sense. Now the world’s your oyster:
Possibly make Aspects imprintable onto a Unique? Limit the # of Aspects imprinted on equipped Uniques - e.g.: “1 max”? “Upto 2 & must be Ancestral”? “Upto 2 when at least 1 of them is Ancestral”? That visual cue already exists in game - players are already primed to recognize it as “uh oh, too many of something”.
Possibly make Aspects imprintable onto Magic? Because why not. Back then, you didn’t have a ‘proper’ Codex. Now you do. So give it freedom. Let it breathe. Some people will be running around with blue items + Aspect. It’ll be fun. This is essentially a feature for alts… alts get power since Mythics became more accessible, and since S6 makes Paragon account-wide.
Possibly restrict Aspects+Uniques to armor & weapon slots? …i.e. more options for builds with build-enabling Uniques, but controlling power creep by excluding Unique jewelry (juice up Unique jewelry slightly) or excluding Unique amulets (juice up Unique amulets slightly).
Bonus:
Summary
Bonus: Now some crappy Uniques have second life.
Mythics are ineligible ofc (technically they’re Unique).
Add a “Remove Aspect” button at Occultist for cleanup purposes.
You can now continue to tweak drop rates, affix pool, item design for builds, etc.
Conclusion:
- You’ll never get as elegant as D2 itemization, so the loot grind will be tedious until you implement a loot filter… because you made Rares + Aspects = core itemization. (And you’ve now complicated things with fake rune words.) D3 avoided all this by making Uniques 100% of gearing - they just called them “Legendary” (sorta) and “Set”. Probably too late for D4 to do the same.
- But the past 1+ year of “fixes” to the mess have been half-hearted, without long-term vision. You purged the absurd loot affix pool, and demoted Rares to nothing… and then added a proper Codex.
- That was because you couldn’t fix the Codex sooner. Which was because you couldn’t see the various problems with the Aspect system in the first place. Which was probably an organization & vision problem (you-know-who was probably resisting revisions every step of the way).
This is a long-term vision that preserves Aspects, while restoring some sanity in various systems (more efficient loot grind, more meaningful drops, better UI, no more “ugly orange smudges”) and leaves you free to use Aspects in more diverse & intuitive ways that encourage experimentation (e.g. Uniques + Aspects).
- PC General Discussion - Diablo IV Forums (blizzard.com)
I’ve played since D1 there’s nothing particularly elegant about D2 it’s just more straightforward and railroaded you into uniques and runewords anyway, which were just uniques with extra steps.