I see everybody jumping at the easy solution. Make the game easier for me. Why play it at all? If there is no challenge left, where is the point? It becomes just a waste of time.
Agreed, the current Hellforging is not working, but what it needs is tweaking, not to be turned upside down.
The argument about Hellforging nor being worth it a higher lvls, does not hold water, except for 2 reason, one of which is applicable to low lvls too.
1. The price is too steep. Counts for high and low.
2. At higher lvls, everyone goes for specialized items with only 1-3 stats.
+6 to all stats is actually worth more at high lvls than at low. On an item with 4 stats it is a total of 20 stat points = 1.2 extra lvl to your character. Since lvl’ing is slower at high lvls, the value for money is better. The problem with forging as it is now is that only items with many stats, preferably 5, are worth forging. This is increasing at high lvls, since more items are specialized. At least the popular ones. I agree that forging as it is needs tweaking, but I suggest making it a fixed number for each forging lvl. E.g. 4-5 points per item per forge lvl and 8-10 on the last forge. Points could be divided proportionally on the stats or added to one particular stat for each lvl, randomly, or chosen by player. Maybe break the forging into more lvls and giving only 1 stat per lvl.
Another option would be to change forging all together and make it work on lvl restrictions instead. Giving the option to wear a fully forged lvl 35 Item at lvl 30 or 29 with the current last forge lvl bonus.The general rule in the game is that you gain a possible extra 20 stat points per lvl. That is true for high and low. With the above mentioned tweak, you’d gain 1.2-1.5 lvl per item forged, just as you do now with items having 4-5 stats. That is 10.6-13.5 lvl with a fully forged gear. Don’t tell me it is not desirable enough. Though not worth 50 fsp. So we’re back to the first point.
Personally, I don’t care whether the price is in fsp or gold. It is only a matter of exchange rates. But it will be way easier to make prices lvl dependent with gold. As for the use as a gold sink, I think that will be temporary. No one will want to pay the full forging price extra compared to a standard item, skipping the fun of doing the crafting themselves, as a result the forged items, will be cheaper to buy than to make, and few will make new. Just as it is today. With the exception of the highest lvls, of course, as they can’t buy from others.
[quote]Radneto
At level 1 forging would now cost 2 FSP.
At level 2 it would be say 200 gold multiplied by item level. (so 20000 gold for a level 100 item)
At level 3 it would be say 400 gold multiplied by item level. (40000)
At level 4 it would be say 800 gold multiplied by item level. (80000)
At level 5 it would be say 1600 gold multiplied by item level. (160000)[/quote]
With the exponential increase in price per crafting lvl, it will be a lot less desirable to forge the last lvl, as opposed to way it works now, where you actually get a bonus for completing the crafting. Considering keeping it the old way, with just the player lvl adjustments.
[quote]Now for actually item bonuses, before the last changes to the Hell-forge it worked on a % of the each individual item stat. I dont remember the actual values but I do remember it being game breaking. I think a better way would be to work out a percentage based on the item level, and add the bonuses this way, I do realise +5 to all stats and level 150+ doesn't quite cut it. Ive been messing around with some maths and stuff, don't have anything concrete yet for this second part. However I'm something along the lines of a % against the item level to all stats. For example each level would be 2% against all item stats, so for the above level 100 item, this would apply a bonus of 4 to all relevenat stats. So if maximum upgrades were purchased at level 100 you would achieve 20 to all relevenat stats.[/quote]
I wonder what you did to the math when you messed with it? Since item stats are lvl dependent, it would not make much of a difference which one is used as base. At least not regarding items with many stats. Meaning that if it was game breaking before, it will be so again, albeit to a slightly lesser degree.
With my current (Defensive) setup a full forging on all items would give me 570 stat points > 28 lvls increase. And that is for a specialized setup. It could easily be more. I think that is rather excessive.
[quote]Ravana
(2) The gold costs seem a little low—at least where low-level items are concerned. L1 Hell Forging costs 2 FSP... but if you're talking, say, a L10 item, the second level will only cost 2k gold... this would be "fairer" to lower-level players, but I'm not sure it's "balanced." Perhaps it should be a combined FSP and gold cost at each level... say, 1 FSP and 100x level gold for L1, 2 FSP and 200x gold for L2, 3 FSP and 400x gold at L3, etc.? The FSP cost, if used, should only go up by one per level, rather than doubling as the gold cost does. [/quote]
Or make it a combination of a base price and and lvl dependent price.
[quote](3) I like the idea of a percentage bonus rather than a straight +1 bonus... though as proposed, it might be a bit excessive: +20 to all stats on a L100 item? That will be a massive increase on items that have eight or nine stats. Remember that one of the protests against Hell Forging is that it's possible to achieve greater benefits with fewer FSP through Crafting, in many cases... this would create the reverse situation. (I don't mind, but some people will protest....)[/quote]
Excessive indeed.
[quote]DeMoNyO
gold will be much more valuable = decrease in FSP prices[/quote]
Will it now? What do you think will happen when the forged items go to the AH?
[quote]Ravana
Some items receive massive bonuses for Crafting... Darklore Rune, Hammer of the Deep, etc.[/quote]
Not much bonus on the Darklore Rune

[quote]TheLastDJ
Making gold in the AH is a lot easier than making FSP.[/quote]
No way! Perhaps if you only look on percentages, but there are not many options to make 25-30K on one trade.
[quote]Juventino7
I really like the idea, but the gold amount will be too much and that for only 1 item ... about half a million gold for 1 items. This should be a little lower, then i would go for it.[/quote]
[quote]Delux906
I would like to point out that I think the projected costs may be a little high. By the figures on the first page, a level 100 piece of gear would cost a total of 2fsp and 300,000 Gold to fully forge. Thats a lot of gold for 20 to each stat on that piece of gear. For a level 180 piece of gear it would cost 2 fsp and 540,000 Gold to gain +36 to each stat on the item. This is helpful as far as the amount of stats you gain, but is it worth the cost. If the prices stay the same as proposed I know that I will treat the Hell Forge as I always have, and not use it much. Taper the cost calculation a little bit, then you will have a ton of people using it to upgrade their equipment. So when you are looking at this proposal, calculate how much it would cost you to forge a item that you have, then ask your self if you would actually do it for that price. lets make sure that it is effective when it is implemented[/quote]
Price now is 50 fsp per item = 1.25-1.5M. A considerable reduction, I’d think. Even with the unforging gone, the item would still be worth a lot more when sold. And as the suggestion goes, for an enormous bonus.
[quote]Thandius
Actually, I don't think FSP should be refunded for the simple fact that many items have changed hands since they were hellforged - who do you refund now the current owner or the original one? There is no fair solution for this.[/quote]
The current owner got the item in good faith, whether by bying or forging.
[quote]Matto
3) Easy one, there should be the ability to do all 5 lvls of forging in 1 click. Would save time with slow refreshing. Just charge the total for all 5 forging lvls in 1 click. Easy. [/quote]
All in favor of saving clicks :-)
[quote]5) IMPORTANT QUESTION! - Would the % change on an item be based on it's current stat values (like buffs are) or would they be based on the items base values (before crafting)??? [/quote]
Neither! As the suggestion goes, it would be basede on lvl, not stats.
[quote]Also, on a side note, I think that this will surely bring down the prices of fsps seeing as how the second I read this idea, my first thought (and I've never had this thought as long as I've been playing FS) was, man, I might have to sell some fsps... [/quote]
Temporarily, perhaps. But as gold is created ingame and fsp are not, the price will go up again. Besides, what do you think the currency will be when the item is sold?