As per feedback on my previous thread, I have now devised a new plan. Players didn't seem happy with the idea that everyone would eventually get a 'Perfect Scythe' and be in the same situation they're in now. There was also a lot of call for crystals to be involved in the item variance system so here goes...
Firstly, I'm going to release some never before seen percentages and statistics from the game.
Green Crystals (Chance of drop 1.0%):
1,182 in the game, lowest price is currently 300 credits.
Pink Crystals (Chance of drop 0.8%):
1,148 in the game, lowest price is currently 214 credits.
Water Crystals (Chance of drop 0.6%):
849 in the game, lowest price is currently 250 credits.
Fire Crystals (Chance of drop 0.4%):
336 in the game, lowest price is currently 2,850 credits.
This is the first time I've ever shared drop chances of Hunting NPCs with players, but it'll be useful in understanding the system I'm about to design.
February 5th 2014: Expanding Crystals
I'll be adding 5 new types of Crystals to the Crystal Entities. The crystals by rarity will then be:
(0.4%) Fire
(0.5%) Void *
(0.6%) Water
(0.7%) Air *
(0.8%) Pink
(0.9%) Orange *
(1.1%) Yellow *
(2.0%) Null *
At this point you can start farming Crystals from the entities in preparation for future updates but the new crystals will serve no purpose.
February 19th 2014: Item Experience
All weapons, armor and misc items in the game will be given experience and level stats. Weapons will increase experience when they hit people and cause damage, armor will increase when it takes a blow and misc items will increase whenever the wearer earns warfare points.
All will start at level 1 and be able to level up to level 5. The levels will be named:
1. Untested
2. Tried
3. Tested
4. Proven
5. Perfected
I'm aiming so that getting an item from level 1 to 5 should take a month or so. At this point these levels are purely for display purposes (see later update) but it gives you a head start at levelling them.
March 5th 2014: Combining Crystals
All current crystals will become 'Small' stage crystals. When you USE a crystal in your inventory you will be given the option to combine it with another of the same colour and stage to get a new crystal 1 stage higher than the 2 combined.
The stages will be in this order: Shard > Small > Medium > Large > Perfect
It will therefore take 16 Shards to make a perfect crystal, or 8 of the small crystals to make a perfect crystal, and so on. Shard and Medium stage crystals will be added to the drop table for Crystal Entities with appropriate drop chances.
March 24th 2014: Crystal Entity Boss
A new NPC boss will be unlocked for avatars that is a giant Crystal Entity. He will always drop a medium or large crystal (of random color) when defeated. This boss may also drop a new level 80 item or 2 that could act as an alternative to current level 80 items.
April 9th 2014: Crystal Fusion
Items will gain a crystal slot for each level up. Using any crystal (of any color and state) will allow you to place it in an empty crystal slot on an item.
Crystals will grant a % increase to a stat based on their colour and state.
Shard: +2%
Small: +4%
Medium: +6%
Large: +8%
Perfect: +10%
(These may be adjusted per crystal color if some crystal types prove less potent than others)
The crystals will affect the following stats:
Fire : Damage
Void: Armor
Water: Dodge
Air: Accuracy
Pink: Defense Skill
Orange: Melee Skill
Yellow: Projectile Skill
Null: Speed
So for example, a level 5 Scythe will have 4 slots and with 4 x Perfect Fire Crystals will gain +40% damage. At this point there will be no way of replacing or removing crystals.
April 16th 2014: Crystal Removal
You will now be able to visit a special NPC to remove crystals from items. Removing a crystal will recover the crystal (at a cost of credits) but destroy the slot it was in. As such the item will decrease 1 level for each crystal removed and will need to be levelled up again.
As always this plan is open to debate. I've tried my best to incorporate all your suggestions in to this plan so I'd appreciate if you wouldn't just toss the lot out as a bad idea.