Your Items are Damaged!

[Abomb]

So after playing through the beta for several months and countless hours I finally had the need to repair my gear (the gear I was wearing, not the gear I was needing to sell on the AH). I had never seen what the "Damaged Items" icon looked like in Diablo 3 so I thought I would share it with you for those who haven't been beaten on by demons as much as I have (or perhaps for those who were more responsible with their shiny gear than I).

The first image is the icon for damaged items and it occurred at somewhere around 18-20% durability mark on my bracers.

http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/1876/damaged.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/831/damaged.png/)

The second image shows what it looks like when an item breaks completely. The inventory UI does not cover/hide the durability icon (whereas the Skill UI does cover it up partially on my screen).

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/1511/brokeno.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/822/brokeno.png/)

[Crudesash68]

I was amazed that my items actually lost durability earlier. Still think the BS should repair as well, but it is a minor gripe.

[Abomb]

I was amazed that my items actually lost durability earlier. Still think the BS should repair as well, but it is a minor gripe.

I think he should too, its only logical. Although I like the "feel" of having another location in town that is necessary to visit.

[Urzuxo]

@Abomb: +1.

Do you guys think it's necessary that the "an item is damaged" icon should display exactly what items that needs repair (similar to the D2 system)?

[Abomb]

@Abomb: +1.

Do you guys think it's necessary that the "an item is damaged" icon should display exactly what items that needs repair (similar to the D2 system)?

I don't think it is necessary. I think it might actually take away from the coolness of the low durability icon if it were only partially colored. When I see the durability icon appear on my screen, I don't even need to open my inventory. I can just go repair all and be done with it.

But if you did want to know which piece was broken or low durability you could open the inventory page and see a Yellow or Red highlight around that specific item. Overall I think the system is fine the way it is, I was pleasantly surprised when I got into the yellow. I spent the next hour trying to get my item to break by letting skeletons beat on me.

[DBaron]

I thought items only lost durability when you died?

[Risingred]

I thought items only lost durability when you died?

No, they take damage from use and taking hits.

[DBaron]

No, they take damage from use and taking hits.

Thanks.

It's kinda lame that they have a general purpose icon to indicate item damage, instead of a specific one.

[HardRock]

This somewhat improves visibility and you can always open your inventory quickly to see what'll break. Besides, did you ever continue slaying monsters in D2 when your helm or weapon was nearly broken? I never did, I always went to town the instant some of my equipment got really damaged and I never cared about what it was.

[DBaron]

This somewhat improves visibility and you can always open your inventory quickly to see what'll break. Besides, did you ever continue slaying monsters in D2 when your helm or weapon was nearly broken? I never did, I always went to town the instant some of my equipment got really damaged and I never cared about what it was.

I'd rather a specific icon, instead of having to stop what I am doing and open my inventory to find out.

[Lolzebracakes]

Yeah when I did a couple play throughs I took like nooooooooo durability loss. I deduced it down to switching gear often and never dying. Lets hope that my deductions ring true.

[Zokar]

Yeah when I did a couple play throughs I took like nooooooooo durability loss. I deduced it down to switching gear often and never dying. Lets hope that my deductions ring true.

durability loss doesn't happen before level 10 unless it's recently changed. most single play through sessions do not end up at level 10.

[Genocides]

I don't really see a need in having it show a specific icon for what exactly is low especially when looking at the inventory takes one key click and another to close and there is a yellow border around what is low. takes less than 5 seconds. and combat doesn't have to stop really to determine that. I also agree that I think it's better to not lay everything on haedrig to do and the use of the low level merchants for repairs works just fine as is. The blacksmith already has a few menus to worry about as is. Give Haedrig a break I say!

-Beta tester, but my tag hasn't gotten updated yet.

[HardRock]

durability loss doesn't happen before level 10 unless it's recently changed.

I think that's only true for the death penalty.

[Zokar]

I think that's only true for the death penalty.

it's for any damage. when I run a new toon from 1-9 doing an SK run i always have 0 repair.
when I do a cath run from lvl 10+ i usually have repairs in the 50-100 range. (without any deaths, just durability loss due to combat)

[HardRock]

Thanks, I did not know that.

[orenbj]

@Abomb: +1.

Do you guys think it's necessary that the "an item is damaged" icon should display exactly what items that needs repair (similar to the D2 system)?

Yeah I don't understand why they didn't make it like it was in D2, very strange, like they didn't thought about it too much, very very strange... i hope they will fix that and Will do it as it was in D2. if not, I'll sure be disappointed

[Abomb]

Yeah I don't understand why they didn't make it like it was in D2, very strange, like they didn't thought about it too much, very very strange... i hope they will fix that and Will do it as it was in D2. if not, I'll sure be disappointed

I think that the change was necessary due to the amount of item slots we have with durability in Diablo 3 around the glove/hands area. The D2 system applied to D3 would have been problematic considering we have Bracers, Gloves, AND two ring slots with durability. To display all of that information in that tiny of a space (the icon size) would have been cluttered and funky looking in my opinion.

[orenbj]

^ nah, everything is doable, especially when it's up to blizz to make it...

[Abomb]

^ nah, everything is doable, especially when it's up to blizz to make it...

^ nah, it would have looked very ugly. Try for yourself.

[Greizer]

...Why is durability in the game? I thought repetitive grinds of all kinds were to be removed? I mean, there's no excitement to the durability mechanic; it is a mere annoying chore. I suppose it is meant as a gold sink, now that I think of it... Meh. Something better should be thought up, or you should be able to repair with some spell so you don't have to interrupt your runs for it. I hated durability in D2; I always made my rw weapons in Phase Blades and never played Bowas due to the arrows running out.

[Hokuto no Ken]

if you dont like repairing things then go for all indestructible equipment

[konfeta]

..Why is durability in the game? I thought repetitive grinds of all kinds were to be removed
If you only have to repair every hour or so at the most, this is hardly a grind.

[yovargas]

The guys from the "It's so hard!!" video claimed that they died so often they had to constantly scrounge for gold to repair damage. (I doubt that'll be true in retail but...)

[konfeta]

Sounds like an incentive to plan out your build and not suck at the game and stuff.

[raveharu]

Durability serves as a important source of gold sink, which explains why you will lose so much durability upon death. as supported by Blizzard internal testers in that video.

I think high level godly items, the lvl 60 ones, will cost a bomb to repair.

[Abomb]

...Why is durability in the game? I thought repetitive grinds of all kinds were to be removed? I mean, there's no excitement to the durability mechanic; it is a mere annoying chore.

I don't think it is meant to be fun..It just makes sense that when a monster beats the **** out of you with a stick that your armor gets dented and needs repair.

[Greizer]

Games should only contain fun mechanics. Fighting monsters is fun. Finding and id'ing items is fun. Getting quest rewards is fun. Seeing the story unfold is fun (for once, but then again that one time is major fun). Repairing things or hauling stuff to town to sell vs. gamegold are chores; there's no fun to these mechanics whatsoever. 'Gee, Akara #2 paid 35k for my blue armor! ...As she did the last 1,298,554,397 times.'

If repair is needed as a goldsink, you should be able to do it in the field with one click. Selling useless items should be the same, 1) click 'sell spell', 2) click item(s) you want to sell, 3) close inv 4) proceed to kill mobs again. The latter was in the game at some point (iirc) but they changed it back to mandatory town trips since it would break immersion too much to sell stuff in the field (iirc that was the reason). I prefer the major boost in convenience to the small immersion increase; I hope they change it back in an expansion later on.

[FluffyTheFluffer]

Really kind of bizarre that they flirted with throwing out so many core mechanics (many, of course, which they brought back) only to keep the weakest and most trivial one. Even TL doesn't do 'durability'.

[Lomion]

Really kind of bizarre that they flirted with throwing out so many core mechanics (many, of course, which they brought back) only to keep the weakest and most trivial one. Even TL doesn't do 'durability'.
Repair is, at the moment, the only death penalty in D3. You really want it to be removed?

I'm perfectly fine with it and i also hope that repair costs will be huge at high levels.

[Abomb]

Games should only contain fun mechanics. Fighting monsters is fun. Finding and id'ing items is fun. Getting quest rewards is fun. Seeing the story unfold is fun (for once, but then again that one time is major fun). Repairing things or hauling stuff to town to sell vs. gamegold are chores; there's no fun to these mechanics whatsoever. 'Gee, Akara #2 paid 35k for my blue armor! ...As she did the last 1,298,554,397 times.'

Repair costs, if the cost is high enough, causes players to be more strategic and not run face first into battle every time. If you are careless, you will die more, and will have less gold than me to spend on items. I don't think of repairing as a gold sink, I think of it more as a reward for good players who die less and deal with the challenges better. I find this mechanic a challenge. I find challenges fun. But that is just my opinion on the matter.



If repair is needed as a goldsink, you should be able to do it in the field with one click. Selling useless items should be the same, 1) click 'sell spell', 2) click item(s) you want to sell, 3) close inv 4) proceed to kill mobs again. The latter was in the game at some point (iirc) but they changed it back to mandatory town trips since it would break immersion too much to sell stuff in the field (iirc that was the reason). I prefer the major boost in convenience to the small immersion increase; I hope they change it back in an expansion later on.

Yeah it was some cube thing, similar to the salvage cube they also removed. I disagree though, I find the trips to town a minor inconvenience and a moderate immersion increase. I felt no attachment to who I was selling items to in the previous patches. Salvaging sort of made sense, but selling not so much.

[konfeta]

Games should only contain fun mechanics. Fighting monsters is fun. Finding and id'ing items is fun. Getting quest rewards is fun. Seeing the story unfold is fun (for once, but then again that one time is major fun). Repairing things or hauling stuff to town to sell vs. gamegold are chores; there's no fun to these mechanics whatsoever. 'Gee, Akara #2 paid 35k for my blue armor! ...As she did the last 1,298,554,397 times.'

Perhaps you didn't read their argument?

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/4325959/Systems_Changes-1_19_2012#blog

If we take what is said at face value, they originally agreed with you that it was tedious, bad, unfun, etc. After trying it, they decided that creating pauses in gameplay is the better decision.

[Greizer]

That is a stupid argument if I ever saw one. I can 'evaluate my gear and crafting options' just fine by standing in an area that I just cleared of monsters, I don't need to go to town for it. The other reason they stated, that you now have TPs to go to town with and selling in the field would detract from their usefulness, makes a bit more sense. But imo you shouldn't have to go to town ever, for any reason (I mean apart from the main questline). Even the stash should be accessible from the field imo. I may be in the minority here, but I prefer no breaks at all in the killing/id'ing/selling/stashing circle, unless I want them (I can just stand in a cleared area for that).

[konfeta]

I can 'evaluate my gear and crafting options' just fine by standing in an area that I just cleared of monsters,
Unless you have the entire crafting list of your artisans memorized and can readily compare it to say, a recipe that just dropped, I somehow doubt that.

The "breaks in the action" argument (I believe Bashiok outlined it explicitly after the blog was posted) does make sense to me, but I haven't done a contrast of two styles to decide which is best. That said, from playing other games, I do agree that breaks can and do feel good when done at right intervals and have sufficient reason behind them.

[Abomb]

To me, it doesn't make sense to be able to craft gear out in the field. Even if you are able to evaluate your gear and crafting options, it makes more sense to actually have an anvil/forge to make items. Same goes for salvaging, I think it makes sense that an artisan salvages things for you since he/she specializes in that craft.

In the beta, I can pretty much play through the whole quest line, only going to town when I am forced to (quests) and keep up with my salvaging/crafting. If I need to craft something, I can do it when I get to town and complete a quest. Even if you could craft in the field, compared to doing so in town you'd only be losing about less than 8 seconds travel time. Although I don't expect the balance between the need to go to town and the need to salvage/craft to change much, this still shouldn't really be that big an issue.