With Diablo II, set items had a somewhat lackluster role in gearing. While leveling up, finding a piece of a set was fairly common. However, being able to obtain an entire set was much rarer, at least while the gear was still viable. Unless twinking lower level characters or wearing the few end-game sets, these particular types of items just never played that big of a role in the itemization of Diablo.
With Diablo III, the development team is attempting to fix the issues from Diablo II to make set items more viable. However, we recently found out that they are still continuing to have issues with implementing this system.
Official Blizzard Quote:
Diablo: @Scyberdragon You are just all about set items all the time! They're not, yet.ScyberDragon: @Diablo How are set items working?
The developers of Diablo III are aware of the flaws of the mechanic and are working on multiple ideas to help fix the problems that set items have. A number of options have been presented to make set items more possible in the gearing of your character but each one has its own pros and cons.
The exact same as Diablo II: There is always the possibility that set items system will work the same way as it did in Diablo II. With a more accessible trade system, the possibility of completing a whole set while the gear is still viable could be much more likely.
Multiple items per slot: Another idea that has been tossed around is the possibility that each slot of a set could have multiple items that would complete that set. For example, a set may have three different chest pieces, all which would count towards completing the same set. This would allow for a wider variety of set items to drop and increase the possibility of completing a whole set.
Scalable with character level: If set items were to increase in stats with your character level, this could help your ability to find a whole set while the gear is still viable for your character. If you found one piece at level 10 and the next at level 15, as long as the gear scaled, you could still wear the whole set once found. However, a cap to this scale would have to be added to stop the need of only one set of gear for your character from level 1 -60.
Craftable set items: Crafting was added as a way to help compensate your character with gear that just happens to not drop for you. Set items could benefit greatly from this idea. Getting one piece of a set and never getting the rest negates the set item all together. There was also times where you would get one piece from one set and another piece from a different set. If you were able to salvage set items for materials to make items of a different set, this could help players control the ability to obtain a full set.
End-Game only sets: As noted earlier, most actual usage of set items in Diablo II were the few viable end-game sets. According to the most recent information, the possibility of set items in Diablo III being only end-game items is a strong possibility. This would also help lend just one more objective to do after hitting the level cap and needing more goals for your character to obtain.
No set items: There is always the possibility of set items being removed from Diablo III. Blizzard has stated that if they cannot find a system they like, they would remove it all together. Perhaps set items just are not viable in the loot heavy, randomization of Diablo.
So, when all is said and done, Diablo III has a wide variety of ways to add set items and make them usable. How would you like to see the system make a come back?
The results of last weeks poll was a bit one-sided. When asked what limitations there should be withe swapping of skills runes, over 50% of the voters thought the best way was to have the Mystic be the only way to swap them. Every time you visited the Artisan, you would get the opportunity to switch out these runes. The only other option that got a sizeable amount of votes was the option of being able to switch them out yourself as long as you were outside of combat. Increasing the frequency and availability to swap and experiment with different runes. If you would still like to voice your opinion on this topic, you can go here to vote.
1.
)this step could take some tweaking, but for the time being works for this scenario.)
All items in a set could drop at anytime anywhere for any lvl character.
2.
Each set contains items that vary among lvl requirement. So gloves may be lvl 4 req and chest may be lvl 40 req.
3.
The lvl 4 gloves contain basic attributes, i.e +4 str.
while the lvl 40 chest contains +50str.
The chest piece would have to be overpowered in comparison to the gloves to balance out the gloves low attributes for end-game usability.
Of course the +50 str would only be available when the gloves were worn in unison to the chestpiece or else you would only want to wear the chestpiece.
So if you were to collect all the items for a set, with each piece balancing out the lower lvl items as you were able to use them you could potentially use a set for the entirety of the game with a single item such as an amulet or w/e being the super rare item and (possibly multiple super rare items?) finalizing the set and making it a set worth workign towards.
Again, this theory probably needs a bit of work and tweaking but I think it could potentially make a working foundation for gear sets.
I am thinking that it would be cool if you can create your own set with Artisans. The Set would have the Characters name. They would be basically following the crafting rule where you might be allowed to choose some mods but most mods would be random. The more complex the set the more expensive and difficult to create. Only that character can wear it. You may have to try multiple times to get what you want.
By this i mean that i chose Scalable with character level and Craftable.
I don't want just one of those, i want both. We get lower level set items and can upgrade them to their high lvl versions using the Artisans and tons of materials.
Of course the higher level versions should be able to drop off monsters too, but for the unlucky ones that don't have those to drop it would be a really nice alternative and a goal to work towards.
Like before a major quest point, there are a series of three sub-dungeons in the dungeon you are in, and each leads to a chest with some minor rewards and a piece of a set. it doesn't have to be a full set, but wearing all the pieces influences the chance of a unique monster appearance further in the dungeon, or as an aide during the major quest event that drops the rest of the pieces when killed.
Another possibility is in certain dungeons, a rare/unique monster could show up, and when killed drops a map that leads you to a dungeon that only the map can open, where there is either a guaranteed set droppage, or a much higher chance that pieces of that set will drop in that dungeon. Only one of each piece can drop, to prevent farming and increase the chances of getting more of the set. This holds true with diablo's random loot tabling, but makes sets better and more relevant at lower levels.
This can also be done with end-game sets, making the challenges much more difficult, essentially like a boss in dungeon form, while decreasing the drop rate of the set to make it a little more farmable, adding much more to do at max lvl.
As for the actual increase in find, this doesn't work very well to complete sets because you are trying to increase the chance of getting 1-5 items out of the nearly endless amounts of possible loot drops. Therefore, for this to work, the increase would have to be in the millions to actual increase the chance of getting one particular item. Otherwise, you could apply the increase to only other set drops. SO, lets say I kill a guy and randomly, he drops a set item, then the increase stat would increase the likelihood of that set item being the one I need. Again, this number could not be too drastic otherwise it will be too easy to obtain other set items. Too little and it won't do its just, especially considering you already have to get a set item to drop in the first place.
Again, this is a possibility and one I thought of including on the poll, the problem is that the mechanic is just to fickle. Players would have to know how much it is helping them to complete the set without making it a certainty that the player will get the item. IMO, the balancing would just be impossible. With MF, the stat increases all magic items, if it were applied to sets, it would have to be scaled by the thousands set there are only a tiny portion of items that are sets compared to the million of possibilities with magic items.
@Air - Speaking in real world terms, set items would probably not be complete. Think about some artifacts from people that lived hundreds if not thousands of years ago. It is not like all of their artifacts found all reside in one place. They usually are found and separated, sold to museums or on the black market. The next thing you know, this one person's belongings are spread across the entire world.
I don't like the quest idea because it makes it too certain that you can get a complete set. Sure, there is the challenge of completing the dungeon to get all the pieces but you know that if you do, you will have a complete set. Again, this tales away from the randomness that makes diablo's loot system. It's the same reason why I wouldn't want bosses to have specific loot drop tables that people can farm to ensure they get specific items.
I completely agree with this, and your example was nice as well!
There's also the idea I had earlier where set items would drop in pairs, so you get part of the set bonus from the get go and then it's down to luck to find the rest. It's quite a hard system to balance. How do other games manage it? I remember easily finding the same set in Torchlight, whether it doesn't have many sets in the game or your chances increase as you collect the set pieces. In WoW I think you get pieces of specific bosses or as quest rewards?
As for the stat increase for gear find. I think 1 in 1,000 is a more realistic drop rate for set items than 1 in a hundred. So, with some fancy math, we have to kill 1,000 mobs to get a set item. Now, let's say there is 100 set pieces. That means to get the one set item I am looking for, there is a range of 10,000 - 100,000 range of monsters I have to kill. Now this is assuming all set items can drop. Even if we reduced to a smaller range to like all sets below lvl 30 (apprx half) that is still a max of 50,000. So, if I wanted a stat to increase this to a viable number, it would have to increase by an absurd number to make it more likely. And again, this is all chance even with increased stats. There is a chance I could kill 10,000,000 monsters and nnever get that drop make the increase a moot point anyway. This is my problem with increase chance to find.
I don't understand why we need to know all the numbers behind it as long as it works. Blizzard will know the numbers and they can tweak it during the beta so it will work as intended. It's not like MF where you would try to add as much as you can, it's something that works underneath the hood.
This is how chance works, and the item system is based on it. Blizzard can adjust the rates during beta based on feedback. You're either lucky or unlucky when you're searching for items in Diablo, but the static hidden bonus from wearing the gear can be balanced with enough feedback. It's like the lottery, in one play-through (act I to IV)you might only find a couple of pieces from different sets, but in another play-through you could find a complete set or 2 half complete sets. But you're bound to complete a few viable sets playing from normal to hell difficulty because the odds are in your favour everytime a set item drops.
It's like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. Giving someone a magnifying glass probably won't help to find it. Otherwise you have to burn the whole stack down to eliminate it to ensure the person can find the needle afterwards. Even removing half of the hay still makes it next to impossible. Finding a one in a million item just comes from luck.
Fire Resistance
Poison Resistance
Magic Find
Damage to Undead
Damage to Demons
Gold Drop
Maybe even a +exp set.
Sets shouldn't be something you aim for to be a lot of damage. That makes them painful to break up. They should have specific uses.
So to reiterate make them scale but less base damage stats, more niche stats on sets.
It's this reason alone that certain items can't drop off of certain mobs.
One quest where you will definitely find 1 set item.. When you find that and take it to the Craftsman he will identify it for you, and be able to make the second item in that particular set..
As for the rest, increased drop chance? Also craftable? Dont know
If the quest is once per difficulty I think this is a good idea, and not farmable. The set piece should be useful for your class. Then the increased drop chance should help you eventually complete the set.
Someone should tweet blizzard, they seem to answer people's questions on twitter more than anywhere else. However I don't have a twitter account =(
End game only set? So only people that make it trought Hell can look at them? Rather not have any set then, the only way to be pleased with set is with the CRAFTING system. CRAFTING. C R A F T I N G.!!!!