There is a lot of discussion, arguments and suggestions relating to Primal Ancients and Blizzard has Ideas on making them more interesting as do I. As a 5 year member of Diablo Fans and lurking prior to that I've seen some awesome threads and some incredible photoshop skills come into play when a few people with a few good ideas come together and that's where the basis of my suggestions come from.
I personally like primal ancients, the idea of another step up, adding grinding on top of grinding and in my opinion that is Diablo but I also believe that they should be more than a % increases in number ranges and a few way to simply tweak them, add some flavor or spice to the items are listed below.
Visual differences in-game i.e. different colored glowing effects, cosmetic variations of the normal Legendaries to add some eye candy. Not making these new appearances transmogrifiable (?) will give a way to show off or running into somebody with that Golden Wand of Woh or a Primal Tals set giving off an angelic aura will inspire you to set out on a new adventure to look as awesome as they do.
Adding an extra primary or secondary attribute to the armor and weapons unique to primal ancients but not game-breaking OP abilities or stats. Some examples of this could be as simple as a permanent XP bonus or more exciting such as a randomly selected ability on primal weapons / armor such as the first attack on elites slows their movespeed by %15 for 2 seconds, killing an elite pack grants you %100 more gold, after being hit by a champion or elite ability they're stunned for 1 second, after reviving move through enemies unhindered for 1 second, after reviving nearby enemies are stunned for 1 second, elites and champions also drop 5 blood shards, elites and champions also drop bonus crafting materials, and many more to chose from specific to weapons or armor that can not be enchanted that also do not dramatically effect gameplay. Attributes such as stunning enemies would not stack but bonus mats and blood shards would adding some variation. Getting that well rolled primal would be exciting then to read "Awesome, elites drop some blood shards too!"
Adding another layer of depth into these items may be difficult but an ability to "level up" primal ancients all on their own could be another cool aspect with minor rewards such as "per level primal ancients draw closer to perfect stats" if you got a really good primal ancient with the perfect attributes but terrible rolls the item would start at level 0. you can reroll one attribute through the mystic as per usual but the ability to level up the item as you play could but the rolls up ever-so-slightly towards perfect. In example I find a primal ancient balefire caster. Damage is good. Rolled everything I want but the dex is as low as possible. Usable, definitely. Now this item levels up very slowly, with every level it adds automatically adds to the dex. Lets say items can be leveled 100 times. 1 dex per level. Not game breaking and sure it adds more grind but unless you were perfectly geared you wouldn't specifically grind XP just to get 100 dex but using the item over time draws it closer to being perfect.
Combining the two ideas of leveling Primal Ancients along-side the specific primal ancient attributes, at a certain level you could select the attribute you want for your Primal as it slowly and progressively levels with the item. For example, you've leveled your primal ancient to 10. I want more blood shards starting at 3 blood shards from every elite pack, every 30 levels on the item it adds 1 more shard for a total of 6 blood shards per pack killed stacking alongside other primal ancients. I believe minor things like this will add some fun and depth, nothing game changing, but something else fun to strive for.
Nice idea. This kind of idea has a lot of potencial to make the game reward something fun to keep you playing/farming. Combine that with the armory and you can keep updating all the builds you play or like to play! Every primal you find can put you in a thinking state, if it is worth or not and where.. =)
At least it gives you much more viable options that the current state!
Couldn't agree more with this post! Everything from adding a glowing effect to leveling it through some system and additional non-game breaking primary/secondary stats is something that should be added along with Primal Ancients themselves, which would separate them from basic Ancients.
I am honestly quite hyped for the whole Primal Ancient patch, but i think that something should be added to those except for stats increase, like the OP mentioned.
the game really need new additions to the game to be more that bigger sticks with bigger stats. powercreep is not the way to go, but yet the primary way for the development for some time now.
I like the idea of leveling up Primal Ancients. Grinding would have more of a ongoing purpose then. Kind of falls into the Path of Exile skill gem idea where you level those up. In fact, how about just introducing a brand new set of Legendary Gems called Primal Gems? These could be added in three new slots: Gloves, Bracers, and Boots.
I'm curious about the changes they announces in a future ptr patch because in their current state they seem boring and uninspiring.
I forget where I read it but I believe something was mentioned about them changing the way Primals work but won't be able to push it to the PTR until future patches as it is taking a good deal of work to implement it into the playable game.
I like the idea of leveling up Primal Ancients. Grinding would have more of a ongoing purpose then. Kind of falls into the Path of Exile skill gem idea where you level those up. In fact, how about just introducing a brand new set of Legendary Gems called Primal Gems? These could be added in three new slots: Gloves, Bracers, and Boots.
I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't think I'd enjoy it. I know blizzard has a lot of ideas from the community and that's what made and makes Path Of Exile such a great game. Diablo is a simplified version, Path is difficult to get into after being away for a while or being new to it all together. I wouldn't want blizzard to go as far as them because of the amount of content and googling that game requires. I've played path since alpha and every time I go back to new leagues it takes some time to get the grasp again lol. Blizzard is awesome and by far my favorite company when it comes to games, maybe I'm bias but I think they'll do it right as long as we support their decisions with constructive criticism.
Primals ( or at least primal sets, if they are going to make them ) should really give us some visual feel. That's for sure. It would make your character look really cool. I mean D2 characters with buffs look better than D3 ....
Also idea to level/upgrade primal ancient would be cool, but not upgrade main stat, upgrade some items to give % to your skills i'd say would be a better option.
Maybe to use lots of materials + gold to upgrade also in addition, something like Blade & soul has, but of course different in a way.
Leveling primals is a fun idea, but I think it's not possible to implement it without problems. When you have to wear that item, it disincentivizes to play other builds. It's basically the Paragon 1.0 problem where you waste your time with other chars.
When you don't have to wear that item, what makes it different to paragon?
Also, how could it be implemented so that it shakes up the gameplay? With a simple item experience bar, it wouldn't change anything about how we play. Now you'd just grind paragon AND primal exp in high grifts.
Also, should just a random stat get raised by a bit? Should we be able to decide which stat gets raised? Should it cost additional (white/blue/yellow) mats (maybe in high amounts)? Is raising a stat closer to its maximum value too boring? Should it go higher than the maximum (power creep)?
The tricky part about leveling items is, that you don't want to find something better once you put in the effort to make that item more powerful. Nobody likes the feeling that the last XY hours you put into something were all wasted. Imagine leveling a primal for hours and more hours and then finding the same primal with perfect stats.
If I were to make a feature like that, I wouldn't call it item leveling. So no experience for items. But instead bring a new, very rare material or usable item that can only drop outside of GRifts. In a perfect world, it would only drop in a new kind of content. I mean, we already are dreaming here, so let's dream big.
Let's call that item "ancient blood". Primal ancients hunger for blood and "feeding" them will empower them.
And I wouldn't make it so, that the affixes get raised by a bit. We already have enough of that with paragon, caldesanns and ancients/primals themselves. Those features are not interesting and game changing. It's busy work. The carrot on a stick, so that people have something to do. I don't know about you, but I don't play games just to have "something to do". I expect more.
I'm not creative enough to think of something completely new and intriguing what empowering an item could do. All I can think of is making the legendary affix stronger. Preferably in a way that is not just higher numbers, but also with a bit different mechanics. One example I could think of:
Sweeping Wind belt. Empowering it would remove the "when no enemy is around" part.
I feel that you're overthinking it, there wouldn't be more problems than "benefits" as the "benefits" aren't huge, aren't game changing and yes using the item more will result in it being slightly better. It could easily be a mat or gold sink but the idea is to add a different element into the boring +% rolls on existing items. Say it takes 50 hours before you find your first good primal. 50 hours to find a really well rolled good ancient isn't very likely so I'm being generous with that assumption. Also assuming you don't have mats stocked up and you're grinding with a fresh char. Now one of your points is it will feel like wasted time. Most people don't even put 100 hours into the season. Say you find 3 primals. The odds of all 3 being usable aren't likely. Then the odds of them being the same exact item with a better roll are even less likely. On top of that if the first one is good enough to use it more than likely has to have 3/4 desirable stats and that 4th one has to be effective otherwise using it wouldn't be as good as the ancient you had prior. Giving up CDR or crit chance along with other stats is just something that is not worth 200 of a primary stat especially as all stats see diminishing returns. Also leveling the item would be the difference of 100 main stat and 100 vitality. Which would be a bonus to level, using until you find that perfectly rolled one. You'll never turn down an extra %5 dps bonus or CDR because you used the item for the last 25 Greater Rifts and then it also gives you incentive to run 25 more to level up your brand new, better rolled primal ancient where most people wouldn't even be playing at this point.
.
As for the rest of your reply, I think something along those lines would be cool as well. Threads like this can spark ideas, thoughts, opinions and who knows, this could be the very thread to inspire somebody at blizzard to take a concept, spin it, build it from the ground up and implement it somewhere as something new and revolutionary. The thoughts are always what counts.
I don't think I'm overthinking it and I also don't think the benefits would outweigh the problems.
For a game like D3, you have to think at every possible aspect a change might have, because if you don't the game could break. Simple example: Wouldn't it be cool if specific items dropped in specific areas?
Could be nice, right? But what would that lead to? People grinding the same monsters over and over and over again. Not particularly an interesting way to play a game.
With item leveling, like I said before, it's like Paragon 1.0. You would only play that one character because you'd feel punished to play something else. You'd feel like losing out. Now you could try to twist things around so that you can still level that item, while playing something else, but that would again be contrary to the idea of item leveling in the first place.
I'm sure longevity can be achieved by way better solutions than item leveling. "Ancient ancients" aren't a good solution, but at least it doesn't break parts of the game (like item leveling very likely would).
For a system like item leveling the game has to be built from the ground with that feature in mind. That feature as a patchwork is problematic.
Your same argument could be made by finding Primal items to begin with. It takes 50-100 hours of grinding to find one. Then next thing you know it's worthless because it rolled 1 too many useless stats or that specific item isn't used in the top 5 builds. The items can be interchanged through characters not binding them or forcing you to use them which was the issue with Paragon 1.0, you were almost forced to use a character due to the levels you had on it specifically. Leveling them is the difference between 100 primary stat and vit. If the item can be replaced because of a better roll, you simply will replace it one way or another, regardless that you've wielded it for 10 hours or not. If you've been playing since release, how many times have you simply scrapped an entire set of gear, crafted 10k+ mats, it's the nature of the game. I know I've personally scrapped perfect dex, int and vit rolls because the other item has as a little as %0.5 more Crit Chance or even scrapped a 70+ augmented item because I got a better roll and had to go level another gem just to augment the new one which is a lot more substantial than what I'm suggesting. There will always be something better and you will always have a chance to replace an item as an upgrade unless you've quite literally had the best odds of your life. Again, anyone playing long enough to actually find and level more than 1 Primal item will at some point replace those regardless of 100 of a single stat even but at least in between those items you can incidentally narrow the gap by a few stat points and I would be completely agreeing with you if I was saying it was 500 dex instead of 100.
I'm glad items aren't bound to monsters or bosses but man do I miss Diablo 2. Blizzard could take all my money if they remastered it, took out stamina so we don't have to walk early game and zoomed that camera out some. I would beg.
tbh, the best (And simplest) idea I had to make Primal Ancients work is this:
When a primal Ancient drops, the stats on the item are decided... And then set to their maximum amounts.
Basically, EVERY Primal Ancient that dropped would be perfectly rolled, the only RNG in it would be the stats that rolled on your item (and yes, re-rolling stats at the enchanter would all roll max as well. The item ranges on the equipment would ONLY be he max amount).
Basically, it's an RNG way to get rid of RNG... Instead of adding another layer to it.
So rather than hoping a legendary drops, hoping that legendary is a Primal Ancient and THEN hoping it rolled well, as soon as you see it's a Primal you'll KNOW it's a good drop.
The drop rate would of course have to be pretty small, to stop people getting perfect gear within a week or something, but I think it would be a viable way to make Primal's an upgrade without getting too heavy on RNG or Powercreep. They're not stronger Ancients, they're just... Perfect ancients.
EDIT: I F***ING CALLED IT! Blizz just totally stole my idea Primal Ancients are now perfectly rolled.
they are still boring statsticks perfect stats or not. they should be embarrased when comparing to ggg and poe in terms of developing new stuff and implementing it in the game. they are so incredibly slow in blizz' dev dept
tbh, the best (And simplest) idea I had to make Primal Ancients work is this:
When a primal Ancient drops, the stats on the item are decided... And then set to their maximum amounts.
Basically, EVERY Primal Ancient that dropped would be perfectly rolled, the only RNG in it would be the stats that rolled on your item (and yes, re-rolling stats at the enchanter would all roll max as well. The item ranges on the equipment would ONLY be he max amount).
Basically, it's an RNG way to get rid of RNG... Instead of adding another layer to it.
So rather than hoping a legendary drops, hoping that legendary is a Primal Ancient and THEN hoping it rolled well, as soon as you see it's a Primal you'll KNOW it's a good drop.
The drop rate would of course have to be pretty small, to stop people getting perfect gear within a week or something, but I think it would be a viable way to make Primal's an upgrade without getting too heavy on RNG or Powercreep. They're not stronger Ancients, they're just... Perfect ancients.
EDIT: I F***ING CALLED IT! Blizz just totally stole my idea Primal Ancients are now perfectly rolled.
tbh, the best (And simplest) idea I had to make Primal Ancients work is this:
When a primal Ancient drops, the stats on the item are decided... And then set to their maximum amounts.
Basically, EVERY Primal Ancient that dropped would be perfectly rolled, the only RNG in it would be the stats that rolled on your item (and yes, re-rolling stats at the enchanter would all roll max as well. The item ranges on the equipment would ONLY be he max amount).
Basically, it's an RNG way to get rid of RNG... Instead of adding another layer to it.
So rather than hoping a legendary drops, hoping that legendary is a Primal Ancient and THEN hoping it rolled well, as soon as you see it's a Primal you'll KNOW it's a good drop.
The drop rate would of course have to be pretty small, to stop people getting perfect gear within a week or something, but I think it would be a viable way to make Primal's an upgrade without getting too heavy on RNG or Powercreep. They're not stronger Ancients, they're just... Perfect ancients.
EDIT: I F***ING CALLED IT! Blizz just totally stole my idea Primal Ancients are now perfectly rolled.
Welllllllllll. This is awkward. Lmao.
I know right... I mean, they even took the rerolling part...
I expect a cheque in the post any day now, or at least a full primal ancient set for my Thornsader.
There is a lot of discussion, arguments and suggestions relating to Primal Ancients and Blizzard has Ideas on making them more interesting as do I. As a 5 year member of Diablo Fans and lurking prior to that I've seen some awesome threads and some incredible photoshop skills come into play when a few people with a few good ideas come together and that's where the basis of my suggestions come from.
I personally like primal ancients, the idea of another step up, adding grinding on top of grinding and in my opinion that is Diablo but I also believe that they should be more than a % increases in number ranges and a few way to simply tweak them, add some flavor or spice to the items are listed below.
#72 US Wizards in Vanilla D3 - Aranoch#1167
Nice idea. This kind of idea has a lot of potencial to make the game reward something fun to keep you playing/farming. Combine that with the armory and you can keep updating all the builds you play or like to play! Every primal you find can put you in a thinking state, if it is worth or not and where.. =)
At least it gives you much more viable options that the current state!
Couldn't agree more with this post! Everything from adding a glowing effect to leveling it through some system and additional non-game breaking primary/secondary stats is something that should be added along with Primal Ancients themselves, which would separate them from basic Ancients.
I am honestly quite hyped for the whole Primal Ancient patch, but i think that something should be added to those except for stats increase, like the OP mentioned.
the game really need new additions to the game to be more that bigger sticks with bigger stats. powercreep is not the way to go, but yet the primary way for the development for some time now.
and new legendary powers instead of just stats.
I like the idea of leveling up Primal Ancients. Grinding would have more of a ongoing purpose then. Kind of falls into the Path of Exile skill gem idea where you level those up. In fact, how about just introducing a brand new set of Legendary Gems called Primal Gems? These could be added in three new slots: Gloves, Bracers, and Boots.
I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't think I'd enjoy it. I know blizzard has a lot of ideas from the community and that's what made and makes Path Of Exile such a great game. Diablo is a simplified version, Path is difficult to get into after being away for a while or being new to it all together. I wouldn't want blizzard to go as far as them because of the amount of content and googling that game requires. I've played path since alpha and every time I go back to new leagues it takes some time to get the grasp again lol. Blizzard is awesome and by far my favorite company when it comes to games, maybe I'm bias but I think they'll do it right as long as we support their decisions with constructive criticism.
Yes. More stats.
When you ask?
Soon. TM
#72 US Wizards in Vanilla D3 - Aranoch#1167
Primals ( or at least primal sets, if they are going to make them ) should really give us some visual feel. That's for sure. It would make your character look really cool. I mean D2 characters with buffs look better than D3 ....
Also idea to level/upgrade primal ancient would be cool, but not upgrade main stat, upgrade some items to give % to your skills i'd say would be a better option.
Maybe to use lots of materials + gold to upgrade also in addition, something like Blade & soul has, but of course different in a way.
I feel that you're overthinking it, there wouldn't be more problems than "benefits" as the "benefits" aren't huge, aren't game changing and yes using the item more will result in it being slightly better. It could easily be a mat or gold sink but the idea is to add a different element into the boring +% rolls on existing items. Say it takes 50 hours before you find your first good primal. 50 hours to find a really well rolled good ancient isn't very likely so I'm being generous with that assumption. Also assuming you don't have mats stocked up and you're grinding with a fresh char. Now one of your points is it will feel like wasted time. Most people don't even put 100 hours into the season. Say you find 3 primals. The odds of all 3 being usable aren't likely. Then the odds of them being the same exact item with a better roll are even less likely. On top of that if the first one is good enough to use it more than likely has to have 3/4 desirable stats and that 4th one has to be effective otherwise using it wouldn't be as good as the ancient you had prior. Giving up CDR or crit chance along with other stats is just something that is not worth 200 of a primary stat especially as all stats see diminishing returns. Also leveling the item would be the difference of 100 main stat and 100 vitality. Which would be a bonus to level, using until you find that perfectly rolled one. You'll never turn down an extra %5 dps bonus or CDR because you used the item for the last 25 Greater Rifts and then it also gives you incentive to run 25 more to level up your brand new, better rolled primal ancient where most people wouldn't even be playing at this point.
.
As for the rest of your reply, I think something along those lines would be cool as well. Threads like this can spark ideas, thoughts, opinions and who knows, this could be the very thread to inspire somebody at blizzard to take a concept, spin it, build it from the ground up and implement it somewhere as something new and revolutionary. The thoughts are always what counts.
#72 US Wizards in Vanilla D3 - Aranoch#1167
I'm glad items aren't bound to monsters or bosses but man do I miss Diablo 2. Blizzard could take all my money if they remastered it, took out stamina so we don't have to walk early game and zoomed that camera out some. I would beg.
#72 US Wizards in Vanilla D3 - Aranoch#1167
tbh, the best (And simplest) idea I had to make Primal Ancients work is this:
When a primal Ancient drops, the stats on the item are decided... And then set to their maximum amounts.
Basically, EVERY Primal Ancient that dropped would be perfectly rolled, the only RNG in it would be the stats that rolled on your item (and yes, re-rolling stats at the enchanter would all roll max as well. The item ranges on the equipment would ONLY be he max amount).
Basically, it's an RNG way to get rid of RNG... Instead of adding another layer to it.
So rather than hoping a legendary drops, hoping that legendary is a Primal Ancient and THEN hoping it rolled well, as soon as you see it's a Primal you'll KNOW it's a good drop.
The drop rate would of course have to be pretty small, to stop people getting perfect gear within a week or something, but I think it would be a viable way to make Primal's an upgrade without getting too heavy on RNG or Powercreep. They're not stronger Ancients, they're just... Perfect ancients.
EDIT: I F***ING CALLED IT! Blizz just totally stole my idea Primal Ancients are now perfectly rolled.
they are still boring statsticks perfect stats or not. they should be embarrased when comparing to ggg and poe in terms of developing new stuff and implementing it in the game. they are so incredibly slow in blizz' dev dept
#72 US Wizards in Vanilla D3 - Aranoch#1167
I know right... I mean, they even took the rerolling part...
I expect a cheque in the post any day now, or at least a full primal ancient set for my Thornsader.