Further thought on a compromise.
Also, if you want to increase the relevance of the backpack while making things convenient for the gamer and not look like a greedy bastard, just put in a but load of different crappy gear for lvl 1, lvl 5, lvl 10, etc, full range of diff stat gains and make them more common on lower lvl's, that way a player will have a major desire for the backpack (storage expansion) early on because they don't want to miss out on phat loot.
Example, say lvl 1 gear gets 1 stat upgrade total and some rare special items, set or blue quality and whatnot that goes a little further, you all ready have accessories for +1 stats in the store but lets say if we gave helmets 2 stats they can focus on instead of just charisma, say financier, then you have 2 basic lvl 1 helmets that can float in a players inventory, and a weapon could boost tactics solely or ingenuity (increasing ship build rates) giving 2 diff lvl 1 weapons. At lvl 5 gear could boost 2 points in 1 stat or 1 point in 2 stats, so your accessories for a lvl 5 player to loot just went out the wall without considering set and rare drops and in addition to armor and weapons giving +2 to single stats they can do +1 to 2 diff stats and do ful range of +1 tactics and +1 any other stat or +1 ingenuity +1 any other stat on the weapon as an example while keeping an emphasis on 2 relevant stats, at lvl 10 you can start introducing items that give bonus's to 3 stats and you get the idea. You keep a base amount of stats total an item can give for a certain level so it is all balanced. And at the end of all this work, and I know at the beginning doing this and making pictures for each one might be a nightmare, but you end up creating the diablo loot effect (players wasting hours in search of loot and going nuts over every new item) making the game more addictive and you make the gamer want to buy a butt load of backpacks as they will have numerous commanders at various lvl's, throw in people being able to sell them on the trade platform and you will rake in the dough on backpacks alone while making the game more enjoyable to the players, but if you take that strategy and don't make items stack able players will quickly get into the habit of simply selling any item deemed unnecessary and forgo multiple backpacks for a more practical outlook on loot. Think on it, why do whats been done when you can do better? |
