Armor.
I thought about this today while I was at work, I was bored so forth and so on... but here is what popped into my head while I was doing nothing.

Armor, it stays the same in most games unless you go from a "Cloth" to an "Iron" plate.
but what if you had armor that would grow with you..

The armor that your character had would change.. depending on the type of damage taken.
Ex.

If the character took a lot of damage from a sword or magic, the armor would grow to be able to withstand the attack and that certain type of magic damage.. but only when enough damage was taken, and the character had enough fighting experience would it physically change.

the same with your sword.  If you were one to attack fast your swords weight would go down and your dexterity would go up.
If you liked to hit heavy and slow, with a lot of damage, your sword would change to a bigger blocky Barbarianish sword (Axe - Pike - Lance - Bow) through level gain.

your armor would eventually have a max level and max defensive stat but it might not be the best for one type of damage so you would have to go the store and buy armor.

Granted the higher leveled gear would have a higher defense at first, but if you bought the lower lvl gear,  it would have higher defense at its max than the one that was previously leveled.  The only set back is having to make sure you stayed alive while you let your armor gain levels

Each time the armor grew, the look of the armor would change dramatically and you'd be able to customize a few things on it.  The style of the armor, the graphics on the armor, the color of the armor, the guild name on the armor... etc etc.

If the game really implemented this, you wouldn't have armor that boosted your attack rating or swords that increased armor rating.

The armor (Boot, breastplate, leggings, helm, gloves) would have armor rating and have a special field of damage it protected against.  This I think would make the game interesting...  and a bit more tactical.

A system would also have to be implemented for sorcerers and all the like, but this seems good to me....  I would definitely play a game that had that sort of indepth creation.

What are your thoughts?

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You can't stop the bum rush
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While it would be nice, Im afraid its completely unrealistic because no matter how many times an armor gets stabs vs hit with a fireball, it wont take damage better. Other things like hardening would work though but thats like getting a different armor.

This isn't that far fetched.  If you think about it, the armor it self could have a certain level gauge.  Or damage break.

Final Fantasy 7 - If you would take enough damage your character, be it Cloud - Barret - Or Cid you would be able to have a "Limit Break" Where your character would get pissed and do an obscene amount of damage on one person.

Just implement that onto your armor but on more of a level system, and have it to a point where you have different gauges.
The certain gauges would have its breakdowns

Magic
*Ice
*Fire
*Lightening

Melee.
*Sword
*Pike
*Spear

I'm not saying that every time the armor gets a full "limit" that your armor changes look, although it could.  It would have to fill up one set of defensive "limits" for it to change
So for the Melee section, the sword, pike and spear would all have to have hit its limit for the armor to change its physical look.

Its not too far fetched.

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You can't stop the bum rush
www.mmorpg.com - staff

very nice concept like a armor that "thinks" or evolves, i think if you allow  it i can put some of that in my  mmorpg bu if you allow it only, if you have any other idea why don´t you post at http://atatrium.bluewolf72.com we always listen :)

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Look at it from a different point of view.  Imagine putting say 5% of your XP into your sword.  As you level up your plain ole' basic sword...it uses that XP to become more powerful...In an rp sense: 0ow to you its still just your basic old sword...but to everyone else its seen as "The Sword of Blackfire"  This represents how swords and such of legends become artifacts. 

 

Imagine the holy grail...said to give imortality to any that drink from it...but what was it really, just an old tin cup (maybe lead) did it have any signifigant powers at the last supper, no. 

What would be the powers if you could find both the sling and the stone that were used to slay Goliath...

All of these were simple objects, that if found later in the game would have artifact status and be uber weapons.

That is how i would interpret twinkies idea

Ideas presented here are free. They are presented for the community to use how they see fit. All I ask is just a thanks if they should be used.

Sounds like a sci-fi style of idea, essentially an organic armor. Personally, I can't see it for traditional fantasy armors...I can't buy into an inert material "growing" and evolving. I suppose you could do it on magic items...but it's not as if players need more incentive to find magical equipment.

As far as the description of item-based damage resistances, I think this works well in games like NWN, where there is still significant role-playing, and any PvP is more dramatic than purely competitive. However, when you look at a game like UO or Diablo, the players are more driven to compete, especially when PvP is not consentual. So you'll find the effects being stacked to maximize the effects...which adds an extra dimension to try and balance within PvP. UO did a very poor job of this in their AOS expansion, and resistances now dominate the PvP aspect of the game....the winner most frequently has the best equipment, not the best character, or the best combination of skill & knowledge of the combat system.

I'm not saying it cannot work, but you really have to invest some time into balancing this element of the combat system. Perhaps each type of resistance will limit your resistance to others, which would essentially force you to choose between a high resistance in one area vs a mediocre resistance vs all.

But don't forget that this type of system should not preclude someone from being competitive without resistances. They may have a disadvantage, but it should not be so overwhelming as to eliminate any realistic chances of winning. By comparison, think about an unarmed character vs an armed character...the "resist vs no resist" gap should never be so large as this.

As to the method of levelling armor or weapons, I'd perhaps keep tabs on how often armor "deflects" an attack, rather than how much damage it takes. The deflections should generate "item xp", not the damage taken...deflection is the armor doing it's job, damage taken is when the armor fails. After all, damage should weaken armor...punching holes through plate with a spear makes it worse, not better. I don't see any reason to reward a player for sitting there and letting himself be damaged.

Bring the noise.

Cheers..............

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Originally posted by robert4818

Look at it from a different point of view.  Imagine putting say 5% of your XP into your sword.  As you level up your plain ole' basic sword...it uses that XP to become more powerful...In an rp sense: 0ow to you its still just your basic old sword...but to everyone else its seen as "The Sword of Blackfire"  This represents how swords and such of legends become artifacts. 

 

Imagine the holy grail...said to give imortality to any that drink from it...but what was it really, just an old tin cup (maybe lead) did it have any signifigant powers at the last supper, no. 

What would be the powers if you could find both the sling and the stone that were used to slay Goliath...

All of these were simple objects, that if found later in the game would have artifact status and be uber weapons.

That is how i would interpret twinkies idea

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Personally, if the item is magical, it is magical. A high-level player could make it "famous", but the actual effects should not change.

Nobody has the ability to wield a weapon and suddenly make it take on permanent magical effects. Nor should they, otherwise it is essentially a method of creating magic items.

I think it is more interesting from an RP sense that a weapon only have the special effects in the hands of it's original wielder. If Lothar has his Mace of the Hill People in his hands, he and the weapon may be a force to be reckoned with...but if another person picks up the Mace, they may not see any benefit. This adds some mystery...is it the man, or the weapon that is so powerful? Is the man famous because of a powerful weapon, or is a plain weapon famous because of the man who wielded it?

You'd still have the intrigue of having a "uber-weapon" stolen, essentially like taking away their "super power"...but to the thief, it's a really famous normal sword. This is much better, IMO, than having thieves steal a sword that you've used since day 1, and get all the power associated with your months or years of hard work.

Bring the noise.

Cheers.................

This reminds me to Magic Knights Rayearth, the girls grew with theirs armors and weapons... though it isn't original, it had never been seen on a MMORPG, which is good and I consider it very interesting to see in a game, besides this will kill the horrid 'need for money to buy armor' tendency, we are not merchants, WE ARE HEROES!!!

Ok, this is all make believe so anything can happen lol. I personally find the idea of my cotton shirt growing into a plantium plate mail because I got stabbed alot in it a little silly but hey thats me.

 I do like the idea of "evolving" items, like taking a gun to a shop and getting it upgraded with parts(the idea for weps in my game). With this method, players can create their own weapons making them more happy, and there wont be alot of excess(old noob weps) items being tossed on the ground. Giving items exp of their own is also an interesting idea, basing it off the spirit of a warrior is in his blade theory. So I went with a weapons level up and then you go to a shop and distribute the attribute points into your choice of attributes making the weapon suit your tastes. The weapons change every few levels or so into new weapons(after upgrading) based on your stat distribution.

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Originally posted by Cross

 I do like the idea of "evolving" items, like taking a gun to a shop and getting it upgraded with parts(the idea for weps in my game). With this method, players can create their own weapons making them more happy, and there wont be alot of excess(old noob weps) items being tossed on the ground. Giving items exp of their own is also an interesting idea, basing it off the spirit of a warrior is in his blade theory. So I went with a weapons level up and then you go to a shop and distribute the attribute points into your choice of attributes making the weapon suit your tastes. The weapons change every few levels or so into new weapons(after upgrading) based on your stat distribution.

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This may be almost a year old, but I do believe that this is something worth reading. I've played games that incorperated such things and they have been the ones that I remember most!

sry but i dont think its cool having a armor growing on u. it is much more fun having to bye updates on your armor,exampel: you armor name is elvis heavy mihtril armor....

updates:

fire resistans 15+ cost 10.000 money our 3 skill points

ice......... 15+

cold.........20+

right shoulder armor plate Q150 200.000 money our 25 skill points

left shoulder armor plate Q150 200.000 money our 25 skill points

cheast plant armor plate Q200 250.000 monay our 30 skill points

and this updates your armor and u can se the effect

you can update your wepon to like this: you have a smithril sword

updates:

acid dm15 cost 120.000 our 15 skill points

fire dm13 cost 110.000 our 12 skill points

smithril lvl 24 blade cost 40.000 our 8 skill points (so your blade getts stronger and sharper)

handle lvl 31 cost 90.000 our 10 skill points(so u can handle the wepon better and mor faster)

ok. i hope u get my point our understand me becaus i think its not realy fun having a armor that u own in the first town and it grows like a flower yf its giving whater !!!

 

 

ok i think it would be cool yf u were to buy updates on the armor,sword,shields...and more

exsampel: u go to a magic seller how sels updates on your armor like fire resistand +15,ice resistand +20 and it costs money

our a armor updates seller that udats your armor shoulders,leg armor,cheast plant,and anything thet connects to a armor:exampel shoulder q200 costs 200.000 money. and the appirens comes whit the qualetti

and then the swords can have like fire dm, ice dm, acid dm and more...... u can have many things one your sword like:long sword + fire dm15 + ice dm20.... and one update like this ice dm20+ cost 200.000 money

i think thats more cool than having it grow its more reality in adding things on your armor

hope u like this idears

ps: didint know ther was a nother side