Voting for Rarity?

[Marshall]

Twitter / Greg Bilsland: Interesting idea: What if ...

Is it just me, or does this actually mean that the rarity system is nothing more than Mearls touchy-feely cuddly feelings about what the item should be, instead of a rating of the items mechanical effect on the game?

This is a worse idea than just dumping all items into the uncommon category. Hell, its a worse idea than having an uncommon category! All you are going to get out of it is a bigger mish-mash of inconsistent ratings than you have now.

Just establish a standard and stick with it. Once you correctly categorize the items by-that-standard, then you go back and decide if thats where you want that item to be. If you dont like it there, modify the item or modify the standard. If you do the latter, re-evaluate all the items that are affected by the new standard.

You've already established a standard for your rarity values, Now Go Back And Follow It, then you can come back and ask the populace if you think its correct!

 

[Scribble]

Twitter / Greg Bilsland: Interesting idea: What if ...

Is it just me, or does this actually mean that the rarity system is nothing more than Mearls touchy-feely cuddly feelings about what the item should be, instead of a rating of the items mechanical effect on the game?

From what I can tell it seems to be a little of both.

It seems to be both a mechanical thing (some items of a given level are just a littrle more powerful then others) and a touchy feely thing...

Some items just deserve to be "rare.."

I kind of like the idea of voting... Let people put their money where their arm-chair game designer is

Look at how many people say the Holy Avenger shouldn't be rare?

Since it's not a HUGE mechanical difference between rare and uncommon, it won't mess with balance really.

 

[Neverfate]

I'm still not sure what the big deal about rarity is. If you're playing LFR, then yeah, it's an issue because that campaign has to use it. Other than that, it's more or less optional. I know the "buy" button in grayed out in the character builder, but it's not that hard to ignore rarity in it unless you do not know how to manually subtract gold after adding the desired item (as they still have gold values).

Also, I think if some one is really going to be on the compendium (ie, has the DDI account) and is going to vote, and they don't get what they want, we'll hear more complaining along the lines of, "I thought the iron armbands of power should be rare!".

If people spent as much time complaining about the game as actually playing it, you'd see the easiest solution to this would be to give the Common/Uncommon/Rare tabs to the campaign file in Character Builder. That way, who's ever running the campaign you're playing in (or if you're running it) you can decide what's rare or common.

 

[Nifft]

I'm still not sure what the big deal about rarity is. If you're playing LFR, then yeah, it's an issue because that campaign has to use it. Other than that, it's more or less optional. I know the "buy" button in grayed out in the character builder, but it's not that hard to ignore rarity in it unless you do not know how to manually subtract gold after adding the desired item (as they still have gold values).

There's a "quote" button on here, even though I know how to manually copy & paste.

There's a copy & paste function on here, even though I know how to manually re-type the content of people I wish to quote.

Convenience features save time, and therefore they save frustration, and therefore they save the lives of children.

Why do you hate children?

 

[Ainamacar]

I think it's a poor idea, on the whole. The results would probably lack mechanical and thematic coherence -- somebody wants all items to be common, some DMs probably want everything to be rare because they can't stand anything above low-magic worlds, some will vote based solely on their current character, some will consider mechanics and others won't, and different votes over time might end up with various similar items across the rarity spectrum for absolutely no discernible reason. And if the results did show some consistency, it could very well be for the worst of reasons: one voting block (e.g. the numerous players that want access to everything) could win every time. The usual problems associated with internet polls could also rear their ugly head, although limiting voters to DDI subscribers would limit much of that.

The stated intent (and text in the Essentials products) makes it clear that rarity should correlate with some aspects of the mechanics. Make some guidelines and stick to it, and let the DM change things if desired.

Now, I can see some limited cases where voting would be OK. For example, if 3 versions of the same item are presented, and the vote is on which one actually makes it into the game (although that isn't an efficient use of designer/dev time). Or presenting 10 uncommon items, and letting users vote on one that will be raised to rare status (with some gain to power). The good rare weapons will hopefully have really strong thematic resonance (like the holy avenger) and this could help WotC identify items people see as really character defining. (I'm reminded of the old Monsters with Traction article, which took me forever to find because I couldn't remember the "traction" keyword.)

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

I rather suspect the "most everything is uncommon" ruling was just an acknowledgment of a couple of practical realities.

1) Nobody has the dev time to waste going through 10,000 items and deciding which category every one of them should fit in.

2) The ACTUAL rarity in any given campaign is going to be mostly up to the DM anyway. So just make all but the most obviously rare or common stuff uncommon and let DMs sort it out if they want something different.

As for voting, whatever. It is just Greg shooting the breeze. I mean they COULD do that I suppose, but I don't see any indication that it is a really seriously considered option.

 

[Lord Xtheth]

2) The ACTUAL rarity in any given campaign is going to be mostly up to the DM anyway. So just make all but the most obviously rare or common stuff uncommon and let DMs sort it out if they want something different.

I think that item rarity should ALWAYS be 100% up to the DM. What WoTC should do is make a sidebar in the new essential dmg (or whatever it is) explaining how one should judge rarity in their game.

 

[Scribble]

I think that item rarity should ALWAYS be 100% up to the DM. What WoTC should do is make a sidebar in the new essential dmg (or whatever it is) explaining how one should judge rarity in their game.

Eh... then I'd have to go through each item. This way I can just unrare the exceptions.


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[Neverfate]

There's a "quote" button on here, even though I know how to manually copy & paste.

There's a copy & paste function on here, even though I know how to manually re-type the content of people I wish to quote.

Convenience features save time, and therefore they save frustration, and therefore they save the lives of children.

Why do you hate children?

Good job on missing the point entirely, buddy.

Edit: Children are weak.

 

[Jhaelen]

I think that item rarity should ALWAYS be 100% up to the DM.

Yup. And that's how it was before they decided to 'invent' the 'new' rarity categories. They should have just errataed the Item Creation ritual and left the magic items alone.