Iron pickaxe bug?

[INSANE IVYSAUR]

Version Alpha 18.3 (b4)
lvl 2 pickaxe stats 12 23 40 12 64 350
lvl 3 pickaxe stats 11 22 37 13 67 535
Why should i upgrade when everything except the durability and swings per min are downgrade. (the other number increasing is stamina used per swing)
I would expect that the better the gear is the better it can be handled and the better it is at its job.

[Shurenai]

1: I'm betting the level 2 (Older) pickaxe has mods on it; Every mod equipped to an item increases some of its stats by 15%. Usually damage, and block damage, possibly some others depending.

2: Item stats have some level of RNG to them; You may not have gotten a good roll the first time you crafted it. But I would check the first thing I listed first.

[Sinbad]

Every item has random stats now. It is quite possible for a level 3 to be better than a level 2 etc.

For example I have a level 5 AK that, installed with mods is around 91 damage. I have come across 2 level 6 AK's that when looking at the damage with mods installed, is only 82 damage. I think I will have the level 5 for a long time.

You'll have to factor in if it offers that extra mod slot and if that will help it be better. A level 5 may be better than a 6, but with the extra mod slot in the end the 6 may be better.

The only thing that isn't RNG is the durability ofc.

There are also mods that get rid of RNG..

[INSANE IVYSAUR]

Originally posted by Shurenai:

1: I'm betting the level 2 (Older) pickaxe has mods on it; Every mod equipped to an item increases some of its stats by 15%. Usually damage, and block damage, possibly some others depending.

2: Item stats have some level of RNG to them; You may not have gotten a good roll the first time you crafted it. But I would check the first thing I listed first.

I have no mods instaled on the pick, but i had no idea that there is RNG involved now because every time i upgraded my (iron) spears from lvl 2 to lvl 3 i always got consistent (within the lvl 3) and better (than lvl 2) stats.

This pissed me off a little bit. When i craft a "better" tool/weapon i should get "better" stats than last level.
So into the forge with this one and onto wasting my precious ducktape and leather on another one ... great.

[Crater Creator]

Hmm. I was under the impression, from reading the dev diary, that crafting would consistently yield an item with stats in the middle of the range. So a crafted level 3 iron pickaxe would be reliably better than a crafted level 2 iron pickaxe. But maybe I was reading too much into it. Was your level 2 axe found or crafted? If you didn’t make it yourself, it may be that the level 2 axe was ‘punching above its weight level’, rather than the level 3 axe being subpar.

[Shurenai]

Originally posted by Crater Creator:

Hmm. I was under the impression, from reading the dev diary, that crafting would consistently yield an item with stats in the middle of the range. So a crafted level 3 iron pickaxe would be reliably better than a crafted level 2 iron pickaxe. But maybe I was reading too much into it. Was your level 2 axe found or crafted? If you didn’t make it yourself, it may be that the level 2 axe was ‘punching above its weight level’, rather than the level 3 axe being subpar.

That was the original intent of crafted items, and I think to some extent that may still be the case? But at launch the majority of the craftable items had randomized stats too. And I don't think they were able to fix it, as they later included 'crafted items are now randomized' in the patch notes.

"Held items spawn with random stats. Crafted items are not random." was from release

"Items crafted by players can now have random stats. No random stats on primitive/stone items. Weapon and similar perks add 1 crafting quality per level so you can eventually craft QL 6 items." was from A18 b149.

The latter matches OP's and my own experience; The primitive equipment (stone axe/ stone spear/ stone shovel etc) all spawn with identical stats for their quality level, while other items encounter randomization.

Also yes; The stats are set up in most cases that it requires a high roll of the lower quality level and a low roll of the higher quality level for the lower to be better. But it is entirely possible.

Higher quality items also sometimes have the potential to be better even if their initial stats are worse; Due to potentially extra mod slots.

[INSANE IVYSAUR]

And i made another iron pick and it had the SAME stats as its older counterpart with the exception of damage against entities which was 1 LOWER, but i made the switch anyway because i had no more spare iron after forging the last one and gaining ONLY HALF of the iron required to make it (40 forged iron to craft and i gained 20 from the forge ...).

I think I’ll wait for another update to play again, maybe that time I’ll be able to play it by crafting my equipment.