Percentages at low levels...

[Frostraven]

I'm always dumbstruck by the sheer crappyness of lower level items.

4% fire resistance.
Ok.

We've got 4% fire resistance... against monsters dealing 2-10 physical + 2-4 fire damage.
Which means that you can take an average of... 0 more hits from fire-users.

A mage!
5-20 damage fireball!
IF you have 21 life, you are guaranteed to survive one hit instead of having a 19/20 chance to survive one hit at 20 life!
If you have 22 life... you are guaranteed to take 0 more hits more than someone with 21 life

+15% enhanced damage on a weapon!
Base damage 2-7 -- now it does 2-8 damage, 0.5 extra damage on average -- meaning monsters with 20 life die in 3-10 hits instead of 3-10 hits -- but with a 15% chance of killing in one less hit!

Single point bonuses works much, much better at lower levels.
+4 fire absorb.
+4 damage.

Both are useless at higher levels, but both work at lower levels.

[Sein Schatten]

You suggest absolut numbers for lower levels and relative numbers at higher levels? I can see that. :)

[Frostraven]

Yes.

Because...
I mean... You have SEEN 6 mod rares at low levels, right?

3% chance to cast level 1 telekinesis when hit under a full moon on saturdays, 4% fire resistance IF standing in lava, 5% enhanced damage when beating dead horses and +1-3 cold damage at all times.*

+1-3 cold damage is likely to be the best mod on the item, and the rest of the mods are just as useful as described..!

50% chance to cast a low level spell when hit, 4 fire absorb, +3 damage, +1-3 cold damage.

Suddenly... it beats a 2 socket item with two rubies!

Personally, I'd prefer absolute numbers at all levels -- but it only at low levels it's completely broken.
Even the low level uniques are utterly useless.
4% life steal... on a 3-6 damage weapon?

* The fifth and sixth mods are too sad to talk about... Ok. Fine. 10% extra gold from monsters and +2 to stamina.

[Sein Schatten]

I understand that. Would be cool and makes, as you said, low level items more useful at... low levels. :D
And, actually, since monsters all have static stats, absolutes would even work at high levels. But, for example, stuff like +4% total HP or 10% of physical damage is changed to frost needs relative numbers. :)

[MysteryNotes]

Yes.

Because...
I mean... You have SEEN 6 mod rares at low levels, right?

3% chance to cast level 1 telekinesis when hit under a full moon on saturdays, 4% fire resistance IF standing in lava, 5% enhanced damage when beating dead horses and +1-3 cold damage at all times.*

+1-3 cold damage is likely to be the best mod on the item, and the rest of the mods are just as useful as described..!

50% chance to cast a low level spell when hit, 4 fire absorb, +3 damage, +1-3 cold damage.

Suddenly... it beats a 2 socket item with two rubies!

Personally, I'd prefer absolute numbers at all levels -- but it only at low levels it's completely broken.
Even the low level uniques are utterly useless.
4% life steal... on a 3-6 damage weapon?

* The fifth and sixth mods are too sad to talk about... Ok. Fine. 10% extra gold from monsters and +2 to stamina.

Heh, the above post made me laugh a little.

So what your saying is that it should be something like lets say a weapon with
3-6 damage, steals 2-3 hp per hit ?
Instead of a % ?

Am i interpreting you right ?

[Robwiks]

This post is true. Blizzard MUST fix it. Also, i like the added humour.

And yes, the +2 stamina is /facepalm.

[Kragujevac]

The whole loot system is made so that you continually buy,trade or gamble for better items, if A1 Normal had IK sets dropping it wouldn't really be very logical or helpful.

[Nimbostratus]

The whole loot system is made so that you continually buy,trade or gamble for better items, if A1 Normal had IK sets dropping it wouldn't really be very logical or helpful.

Dear god, why does every post saying that items should be better ALWAYS get a reply comparing it to raining godly items? The OP was saying that percentages on low level items should be increased or replaced not because things are too weak, but because the values are too insignificant to make any difference. Example:
Low level fire resist gear: 4-6%
Low level fire damage taken: 5 or so. You don't even take off 1 damage from using the above gear. Pointless.

[Matora]

Huzzah! A deeply meaningful suggestion for items on the forum.

I was a little sick of seeing all these items with a thousand mods that add sweet FA to ame play or my character and just using whatever had the highest damage until I got to act V or somesuch.

Throughout DII are many a useless item and I hope many perish to the abyss. Useful items, een weak ones or at low levels would be greatly appreciated.

[Apocalypse]

great post, lots of good points. kinda funny when you sit and think about it like this

[That_Other_Guy]

I think a lot of the crappier items were added just to give people who like to see a lot of items dropping a "fix" without having to drop a lot of powerful items.

[Chukcharcoales]

/agree
/signed
Cmon blizz, this time around be smart.

[Generic]

/agreed
/signed
Send it to Blizzard now?
K thx :)

[Damnatorius]

definitely agree with this, laughable mods sometimes :)

[Farmrush]

This is very easy to implement and a pretty good idea. There's nothing difficult about keeping lower tier modifiers as integers and higher ones as percentages.

[SnickerSnack]

I'm always dumbstruck by the sheer crappyness of lower level items.

4% fire resistance.
Ok.

We've got 4% fire resistance... against monsters dealing 2-10 physical + 2-4 fire damage.
Which means that you can take an average of... 0 more hits from fire-users.

A mage!
5-20 damage fireball!
IF you have 21 life, you are guaranteed to survive one hit instead of having a 19/20 chance to survive one hit at 20 life!
If you have 22 life... you are guaranteed to take 0 more hits more than someone with 21 life

+15% enhanced damage on a weapon!
Base damage 2-7 -- now it does 2-8 damage, 0.5 extra damage on average -- meaning monsters with 20 life die in 3-10 hits instead of 3-10 hits -- but with a 15% chance of killing in one less hit!

Single point bonuses works much, much better at lower levels.
+4 fire absorb.
+4 damage.

Both are useless at higher levels, but both work at lower levels.

I think that resistance is a poor example. You are expected to use more than one item for resists, so you can get a reasonable amount of fire resist with 3-5 items.

The enhanced damage and enhanced defense on normal quality items is a better example. It's true that a superior leather armor is scarcely better than a normal leather armor. But some low level items can still be useful when upgraded. A twice upped Steeldriver is useful even in Hell, but a hammer only with +20 max damage is not. The % stats on some low level items are probably there so that upgrading with the H cube is useful. No one would upgrade most exceptional weapons and armor if they had integer bonuses rather than percentage bonuses.

There are items that are only useful for low level characters, jewel of envy for example. It's important that there are items for every level of play and it is equally important the some items that drop are not useful.

Nimbostratus, that comparison is made because that is the alternative. The OP points to a specific class of items that are not useful, saying that they should be changed, but if we follow that logic, then every item is equally useful and there are piles of them. It is important that some items are not useful.

[FireCrack]

Alternatively/additionaly.

Don't just use integers, track fractions of values too. Just round to the nearest value for the interface.

[Echod16]

I think that resistance is a poor example. You are expected to use more than one item for resists, so you can get a reasonable amount of fire resist with 3-5 items.

The enhanced damage and enhanced defense on normal quality items is a better example. It's true that a superior leather armor is scarcely better than a normal leather armor. But some low level items can still be useful when upgraded. A twice upped Steeldriver is useful even in Hell, but a hammer only with +20 max damage is not. The % stats on some low level items are probably there so that upgrading with the H cube is useful. No one would upgrade most exceptional weapons and armor if they had integer bonuses rather than percentage bonuses.

There are items that are only useful for low level characters, jewel of envy for example. It's important that there are items for every level of play and it is equally important the some items that drop are not useful.

Nimbostratus, that comparison is made because that is the alternative. The OP points to a specific class of items that are not useful, saying that they should be changed, but if we follow that logic, then every item is equally useful and there are piles of them. It is important that some items are not useful.

Your counter argument makes sense, and I hate you for it : )

I'm all for the basic jist of lvl 20 and below items being integered bonuses instead of percentages.

Oh, but the 10% ED when beating dead horses sounds like a reasonable mod..

[tommerbob]

The enhanced damage and enhanced defense on normal quality items is a better example. It's true that a superior leather armor is scarcely better than a normal leather armor. But some low level items can still be useful when upgraded. A twice upped Steeldriver is useful even in Hell, but a hammer only with +20 max damage is not. The % stats on some low level items are probably there so that upgrading with the H cube is useful. No one would upgrade most exceptional weapons and armor if they had integer bonuses rather than percentage bonuses.


This is based on the assumption (has it been confirmed? I dunno), that the H Cube will be in D3, and that items can be upgraded similar to D2. If not, then this argument doesn't matter.

I like the idea of integer numbers instead of percentages at lower levels, at least in theory. What I'm trying to say I guess is that I hate all of the 90% items that drop that I don't need.

Reducing the number of items that drop, and increasing the usefulness of all items in general would help a lot. No more of this "low quality club" POS. Even if it was vendor-worthy, why would the NPC want it in the first place? There should be purpose to every item, or most items at the least.