oneADseven said:You can still accomplish having negatives associated with balancing the set bonuses by purposely designing them as a "situational bridge" that players would eventually grow out of. You can create rare, powerful gear that would ultimately trump the purpose of the "bridge" in the first place due to having superior stats with the same situational flavor, but it's a matter of progressing to the point where you acquire that gear. Either way you look at it, both "bridge sets" and "style sets" contribute toward the idea of "situational gear." It's my opinion, though, that bridges would give players more options while styles would ultimately end up limiting them.
But why is the set bonus necessary there? Why can't they have the armor set as a situational bridge without rigid requirement added for a bonus (and reduced individual item stats to support it)? Magma would still be the go-to intermediate FR set/bridge until you can get the higher stuff, but without a set bonus (and those stats saved for the bonus distributed amongst the individual items, or not at all I guess) the player is more free to mix and match their armor.
I agree it doesn't make a whiole lot of sense to add a few stats as a set bonus. If they are going to add 10 HP as a reward for having 5 pieces of the set, why not just add 2 HP to all pieces?
For set bonuses to make any impact, they have to be distinct bonuses. For example, wearing all 5 pieces of Wyvern Armor allows the player to levitate, or wearing 5 pieces of Dragon Armor makes the player impervious to lava.
The question of balance comes into play when the bonus is so powerful/critical (like an agro boost) the player will never drop 1 item from the set to upgrade a single slot and lose the agro bonus.
So it's just a matter of balancing the set bonuses. Maybe they are cosmentic only. Maybe they are only useful in certain content. That's what game designers do...design innovative systems.
Maybe instead of set bonuses they implement armor type bonuses. A buff to speed if you're wearing 5 leather items. A buff to mana regen if you're wearing 5 cloth items. A buff to agro if you're wearing 5 plate items. A buff to damage if you're wearing 5 chain items. Etc, etc.
I like the idea of Set bonus. staying out of the technical stuff. Something that I could quest for that would take me all across the world and then when I finally get the 2 item, since they were designed or crafted to work together they would offer a slight bonus. Something to make me want to travel the world to get the set.
Looks like the devs aren't too worried about set bonuses "being too complicated".
Will there set bonuses?
Chris: Yes. At higher levels there will be true, complete sets of armor. These will be legendary sets with Lore backing them. To equip one of these sets in its entirety will provide bonuses for the wearer, indeed.
nscheffel said:Looks like the devs aren't too worried about set bonuses "being too complicated".
Will there set bonuses?
Chris: Yes. At higher levels there will be true, complete sets of armor. These will be legendary sets with Lore backing them. To equip one of these sets in its entirety will provide bonuses for the wearer, indeed.
Yea this was altogether good news but you pretty much pulled out my least favorite part. No fashion pantheon here beyond cosmetic gear, or switching out pieces of recognizable gear to make an original character build dark souls style. Ah well, one bad thing doesn't ruin a game=)
I am a big fan of the news. From a fantasy perspective, I think it makes plenty of sense to have set bonuses, especially when they are backed up by lore. That said, I'm sure the developers are fully aware of the potential drawbacks to having these kind of bonuses and have concocted a plan that that will leverage the good while minimizing the bad. I would expect nothing less from a title that aims to evolve the genre.
nscheffel said:Looks like the devs aren't too worried about set bonuses "being too complicated".
Will there set bonuses?
Chris: Yes. At higher levels there will be true, complete sets of armor. These will be legendary sets with Lore backing them. To equip one of these sets in its entirety will provide bonuses for the wearer, indeed.
True, but it also sounds like set bonuses are going to be extremely limited as well.
