🍀 Suggestion - 21/21 and how Greater Affixes could help to max out legendary & unique aspects

Items and Crafting
1

Inspired by this post
TLDR: follow green text

Intro

I want to highlight this idea with its own thread before it gets lost. Originally suggested by ‘Doka’, but for unique aspects. I write about legendary aspects, but consider this thread to be about both, legendary and unique aspects.

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Currently it is only possible for Ancient items to reach maxed out aspect levels on legendary items. For example, non-ancient items can have random rolls from 1 to 16, while ancient items roll from 1 to 21.
This also means that the chance of upgrading to higher aspect levels is at least about 3 times lower than finding an ancient item, as ancient versions can still roll lower levels (e.g. 3/21).

Personally, I can live with that, having them as super rare drops. But it is understandable that some players might not, for a variety of reasons. It can certainly feel off to have no upgrade for weeks after getting an aspect to 16/21.

Suggestion

I suggest the following for a better balance:
(number of greater affixes :star2: aspect level range)

  • 0GA :star2: 1 to 16
  • 1GA :star2: 7 to 21
  • 2GA :star2: 14 to 21
  • 3GA :star2: 21 to 21

Greater Affixes (GA) should raise the minimum aspect level. Each GA takes away a third of the roll range, starting at the bottom. This means that a 3GA item will always roll 21/21, the maximum.

Yes, it will still be quite an achievement to have higher aspect upgrades, but they will be less dependent on RNG. This link also enables the system to scale along increased drop chances for ancient items.

Still a slog?

But why should anyone want it to be that difficult in the first place?

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One suggestion that is often thrown around is that ancient items should start at 17/21. While this would speed up the process considerably, I personally wish the developers would not do this.

16/21 is not maximum, but it is arguably a sufficient portion of power to enjoy the legendary aspect. On the other hand, the codex is part of the progression which is an important entertainment factor in this genre.

The thing is, I am super happy that aspects are part of the endgame grind. They are not target farmable in any way, and that is what makes them very unpredictable in the item journey. But those unpredictable elements are why I enjoy games like Diablo.

If you are interested in why Diablo 4 should take a similar approach more often, check out this post on mythic items:

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