Way to disable durability?

[Triplejumpster]

I really don't like the new durability system. Weapons break in half a level and there's quite a few times I've just not found a new weapon for 3 floors. I don't like durability systems in the first place but this one is a bit ridiculous at it is, so is there to disable it? Like, go into the files and change a variable or something?

[Dave Microwave]

Yeah the durability needs to be fixed. My weapons are breaking way too quickly.

[Joshua]

The durability will most certainly be tweaked, and the feedback you folks provide is very helpful. The idea behind the system is to not let you rely too heavily on a good weapon, but make you occasionally have to pick up another.

Typically weapons (as they currently are) last about 1 - 2 floors for me before they break. But I usually switch between melee and ranged when I can. Also hitting the walls/crates lower the items durability and the crates rarely drop items.

[Triplejumpster]

Originally posted by Joshua:

The durability will most certainly be tweaked, and the feedback you folks provide is very helpful. The idea behind the system is to not let you rely too heavily on a good weapon, but make you occasionally have to pick up another.

Typically weapons (as they currently are) last about 1 - 2 floors for me before they break. But I usually switch between melee and ranged when I can. Also hitting the walls/crates lower the items durability and the crates rarely drop items.

I don't really see the point in that. Why is someone using one weapon really a problem? Doesn't this just discourage different playstyles? I honestly just don't see a point in it.

[Dave Microwave]

Originally posted by Joshua:

The durability will most certainly be tweaked, and the feedback you folks provide is very helpful. The idea behind the system is to not let you rely too heavily on a good weapon, but make you occasionally have to pick up another.

Typically weapons (as they currently are) last about 1 - 2 floors for me before they break. But I usually switch between melee and ranged when I can. Also hitting the walls/crates lower the items durability and the crates rarely drop items.

I agree with you on that. Sticking to one weapon that's so powerful kinda defeats the purpose of picking up new weapons. But as of now, the system isn't too good and should be tweaked.

Edit: Just saw your post awwman25, sorry if my reply pissed you off a bit. ;) It's just my point of view.

[KingGraham'sPixelatedShoe]

Agreed. I like rare weapons, but rare weapons that may last! :D

[Chezzy]

The system just needs a bit more feedback. If you could see and understand the rate at which weapons degrade, you might play a little differently and pick up more secondary weapons, only use weaker weapons on crates, doors and weak enemies etc. I also find it hard to believe that a new weapon wouldn't show up for 3 floors, if true then that's astronomically bad luck.

Weapon degrading is also a new feature and one which isn't really explained in game, so previous expectations can set players up for disappointment.

[YellowAfterlife]

Originally posted by Chezzy:

If you could see and understand the rate at which weapons degrade, you might play a little differently and pick up more secondary weapons, only use weaker weapons on crates, doors and weak enemies etc. I also find it hard to believe that a new weapon wouldn't show up for 3 floors, if true then that's astronomically bad luck.

Breaking the crates near the entrance is often enough to degreade the starting dagger from 1-3 damage to 1-2 damage, which bites you on the nearest locked door (requiring to either use the wand or spend an unreasonable amount of time poking the door with the dagger).

A new weapon might show up sooner than 3 floors, but it is not warranted to be better or equivalent than the existing weapon (even if worn down a little). Also is harder to compare weapons when you have all those skeletons after you.

Armor also wears down while being a rarer drop chance - I've found that on all successful playthroughs so far the armor would be noticeably degraded (e.g. 31 def -> 23 def) by the time of making it back to the surface, which means that skeletons are starting to hit pretty hard, and the last floors being ascended in a huge rush while shoving them aside with whatever methods available.

After a number of playthroughs I've settled on a hotbar layout that somewhat works:

1. A weapon with status effects - ideally, Paralyse.
   Is used for the first stab at incoming enemies and usually ends up being really worn down by the end of the session (since finding another one of these is fair luck).
   
2. A weapon for actually dealing with the enemies.
   Is used a lot and thus gets replaced as soon as a better one is found.
   If you've pumped a fair lot of skillpoints into Attack stat, a dagger/fast sword with an elemental bonus of 4 or higher can be good too though
   
3. A bow.
   Usually isn't used until Sewers, hopes high for finding one of the 12-18dmg ones.
   Sometimes swapped out for a 2-handed hammer, since sending enemies into the void/water/lava is faster than doing long swings at them.
   
4. A wand.
   Used to combat ranged enemies if there's not enough cover to approach them.
   
5. Previous weapon from Slot 2 for breaking crates/doors/etc.
   On the way back, is swapped out for the best "emergency" potion/scroll available.
   
6. A healing item (usually food).
   On this subject, the game could really use a customizeable hotkey for eating the first-most food item in the inventory, as there is currently a constant ritual of dragging the next food item into the hotbar while walking a through a relatively straight section of a level. No idea how to do this on a gamepad efficiently.

[Ciberuss]

I dont know if this was mentioned, but i think weapons like the forgotten should be unbreakable or at least take longer. It took me way too little swings to make it lose its durability.

[Zorgandorg]

This feature definitely needs to be nerfed big time. The game is far less enjoyable to play now because you can be completely screwed over by not finding a new weapon for a while and your old one becomes useless so fast. If degrading has to exist at all (IMO it shouldn't for this kind of game), it should be really slow, like one weapon lasting 6 floors instead of barely 2.

[Leon But Purple]

Personally, I'm really against durability. Something I've really been enjoying about this game as opposed to something like, say, Minecraft, is that there's so much less micromanaging. It's more fun to just be lucky and find a good weapon and hold onto it until you find a better one. Especially if finding a new weapon is based on luck.

[Hawaii Beach]

What we need is cheat codes, the debug=true command line argument isn't enough -_-

[Koda]

Originally posted by Hawaii Beach:

What we need is cheat codes, the debug=true command line argument isn't enough -_-

Really? Cheat Codes.. Pfft.. Those wouldnt help at all..

[PreferablyGeneric]

Originally posted by Joshua:

The durability will most certainly be tweaked, and the feedback you folks provide is very helpful. The idea behind the system is to not let you rely too heavily on a good weapon, but make you occasionally have to pick up another.

Typically weapons (as they currently are) last about 1 - 2 floors for me before they break. But I usually switch between melee and ranged when I can. Also hitting the walls/crates lower the items durability and the crates rarely drop items.

Is it possible to add a way to fix weapons? Like some sort of scroll of repair that could be used on a single item to make it "excellent"?

[Chezzy]

I like the idea of single-use items fixing weapons, like scrolls. They probably shouldn't be common though. Also in the most recent dev stream it was mentioned that weapons are more durable now.

[LC]

If anything we should be able to see how much durability a weapon have at any given time. There's no reason why it's hidden since we can see any other stats right away without identification or anything. We should be able to repair our equipment at the very least too, it being destroyed after reaching the bottom floor is needlessly kicking the player in the nuts.
So as it is, either rework the durability system or remove it entirely. Plenty other roguelikes don't have any durability system of any kind and are perfectly fine with that. Then again I think randomized stats on level up is a bad idea so take that as you will.