A Small Glance at PF2's Equip & Armour

[mellored]

I don't have a problem with that. Different for the sake of different is a silly approach to things.

If "different" means "better, smoother, faster, more enjoyable, easier to learn" gameplay, or even some of those things, great! I'm down for that.

But different for the sake of different is just, dumb.

It seems pretty obvious how having uniform actions would be easier to learn.

Though the description I would use is "more flexible". There's more total combination of actions you can take on any given turn. Rather than "pick one action, and one minor action" you have "pick any combination of actions".


Of course, having too many possible actions can be a downside. I saw that a lot in 4e, where everyone spent way too long analyzing all their possible moves before acting.

 

[mellored]

Well, the reason to put Potency Runes on high quality weapon or armor would be to get the extra damage dice or the bonus to your saves, or if you have a Potency Rune with a higher bonus than the item’s bonus from quality. The reason to get high-quality weapons and armor when you have as good or better Potency Runes is that there are other kinds of Runes besides Potency, and higher quality weapons and armor have more Rune Slots. This wasn’t in the article, but was confirmed on the comments by Mark Siefter.

Do you know if you can remove runes?

 

[Charlaquin]

Do you know if you can remove runes?

I don’t, sorry.

 

[Sunseeker]

Ahh, yes. That makes sense, thank youZ


Well, the reason to put Potency Runes on high quality weapon or armor would be to get the extra damage dice or the bonus to your saves, or if you have a Potency Rune with a higher bonus than the item’s bonus from quality. The reason to get high-quality weapons and armor when you have as good or better Potency Runes is that there are other kinds of Runes besides Potency, and higher quality weapons and armor have more Rune Slots. This wasn’t in the article, but was confirmed on the comments by Mark Siefter.

I'm pretty sure I've played this game...It's called World of Warcraft.

 

[Charlaquin]

I'm pretty sure I've played this game...It's called World of Warcraft.

Deja Vu... If I wasn't convinced PF2 was an evolution of 4e before, this reaction to it puts the final nail in the coffin.

 

[Sunseeker]

Deja Vu... If I wasn't convinced PF2 was an evolution of 4e before, this reaction to it puts the final nail in the coffin.

Honestly, even people who play WoW don't like dealing with sockets. It's just more places to have to number crunch "Best in Slot" items.

I like that 5E reduced the number of magic items you could use period. I think PF2 may find some middle ground with using Charisma as the "magic item stat"...if they don't go crazy with sub-slots. There was a time in WoW where any given piece of gear was likely to have 2-3 sockets on it, and then they added the ability to enchant your gear on top of that. So, that's like 10 slots of gear for ~25 gems and there was ZERO creativity to any of it because you always socketed the gems that were best for your spec.

I don't mind PF2 using this idea...because even class build guides have always has some degree of flexibility based on the style of character you wanted, and really OP classes always have room to "build down" for less power and more creativity. My concern is the gear treadmill, which even as a lover of 4E, I didn't enjoy in 4E either, just as I don't enjoy it in MMOs.

You start off with "basic gear" then "green gear" then "blue gear" then "purple gear" and so on, constantly replacing and throwing away your previous gear. It works in an MMO because most MMOs need to simulate some degree of an actual economy, and they have powerful computers to power this simulation. TTRPGs just have people.

Anyway, if PF2 can find a way to make it creative, great. I'm not holding my breath.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Deja Vu... If I wasn't convinced PF2 was an evolution of 4e before, this reaction to it puts the final nail in the coffin.

WoW? Diablo had sockets a decade before - grumble, old man noises

 

[Sunseeker]

WoW? Diablo had sockets a decade before - grumble, old man noises

To be fair, both WoW and Diablo are made by Blizzard.

 

[mellored]

Anyway, if PF2 can find a way to make it creative, great. I'm not holding my breath.

Hopefully, there will be more options than just "bigger number".

Like adding flight runes to your boots, or a stealth runes to your cloak, and a summoning rune to your sword so you can draw it from anywhere.

 

[TwoSix]

Deja Vu... If I wasn't convinced PF2 was an evolution of 4e before, this reaction to it puts the final nail in the coffin.

Heh...I was waiting for the inevitable "PF2 is a MMO" comment as soon as I read about runes.

Personally, I think you could do a lot worse than look at MMOs if you're trying to design a complex and deep system.