What's with breakable weapons?

[Mildly Restarted]

Seems like most of the really strong weapons (and a lot of bows/spears) are breakable, and my experience with them has been terrible. For example I had 3 red quality weapons drop from one event that were super cool. Took one into the next fight and it broke on the first attack. Equipped another (after having to lose a turn to equip another weapon) and it broke after 2 hits. I ended up selling the 3rd one because it was clear it was worse than useless and a liability.

I had another playthrough that I was doing with a buddy, and he had 3 bows break on him in the first 40min, one of them being a purple town quest bow that was miles better than anything he had before (broke in the first fight he used it). Understandably he was pretty irritated about it.

It's really disappointing that cool weapons like that are just vendor trash. The breakable trait either needs to go away, or be a lot less rare than having it be a critical miss, those happen all the time, particularly to weapons with only 1-2 roll slots.

[ajfusch]

Well, breakable weapons are okay, chances that they break aren't that horrible.

It's the ones with 1 slot that you cannot use focus on (purple or red) that are worthless. Well, not completely worthless but only useful for a handful of fights (sometimes just the one fight).
On the upside they're totally OP, in terms of damage, so they're okay to use if you got them as loot. Not worth buying them or taking a quest for them, though. And make sure you don't sell your main weapons from before.

Making these weapons more durable would screw with the balance, that's why they are the way they are. It's up to you if you want to use them or not.

[kory]

You say most of the strong weapons are breakable, but you have it backwards. breakable weapons are okay, but sort of suck (as you found) they just tend to have crazy high damage, because they have a feature that is really bad. When a quest offers you a huge damage weapon that is breakable, consider if it is what you really want. Don't just look at the damage and make your decision.

[Mildly Restarted]

Originally posted by ajfusch:

Well, breakable weapons are okay, chances that they break aren't that horrible.

It's the ones with 1 slot that you cannot use focus on (purple or red) that are worthless. Well, not completely worthless but only useful for a handful of fights (sometimes just the one fight).
On the upside they're totally OP, in terms of damage, so they're okay to use if you got them as loot. Not worth buying them or taking a quest for them, though. And make sure you don't sell your main weapons from before.

Making these weapons more durable would screw with the balance, that's why they are the way they are. It's up to you if you want to use them or not.

I’d rather have less powerful weapons that don’t break on me. Just make each tier a little stronger than the one before, with the highest tier items having cool effects and abilities that can change up the way you play, but aren’t OP.

For example an artifact lute could have a +5 damage cap over purple, and have say level II refocus that returns 3 focus to you and 2 to the party instead of 2 for all. Or perhaps unique specials that you can’t find on other weapons like a special that gives something like +10% to skill passives trigger chance, Etc etc. Tons of possibilities that aren’t OP but still make each next tier interesting and worth equipping.

Doesn’t have to be anything crazy, just something a little extra. Feels like a missed opportunity to me.

[kory]

There are tons of weapons that have interesting and unique abilities that are not breakable, I am constantly surprised by new weapons I find in the game, and I usually avoid using breakable weapons (though occasionally I do use them). Breakable weapons are just more weapons in the overall space, their existince is also neat, but don't take them if you don't like them.

[rav]

theres weapons that give you +2/3 focus every round which mens you can focus spam a breakable weapon every round

[Yuna]

A question for people who do use breakable weapons out of interest if you do decide to use them how would you do so, like would you use them at a boss or do you use them for normal enemies?

[ajfusch]

Depends.

First off, I use normal breakable weapons just like unbreakable ones. Meaning: Weapons with more than 1 slot and the possibility of focus. Sometimes they break before I get better ones, sometimes not.

The "look at them wrong" breakable weapons are something else entirely. (And hey, who is surprised that glass weapons are highly brekable? )

If I find them early on and they're low level I just equip them and use them till they break. They might help me one hit a few mobs and save lives/health in the process.
Since their damage isn't anything for endgame, they won't be any help at tricky bosses or high level enemies anyway.

The high level weapons of that sort (40 damage e.g.) I usually keep for (end) boss fights. That's where they count the most, also until then I have the chance to boost my chars' stats so that chances NOT to break them are better. I always keep good weapons to swap when they break, though.

[Yuna]

Originally posted by ajfusch:

Depends.

First off, I use normal breakable weapons just like unbreakable ones. Meaning: Weapons with more than 1 slot and the possibility of focus. Sometimes they break before I get better ones, sometimes not.

The "look at them wrong" breakable weapons are something else entirely. (And hey, who is surprised that glass weapons are highly brekable? )

If I find them early on and they're low level I just equip them and use them till they break. They might help me one hit a few mobs and save lives/health in the process.
Since their damage isn't anything for endgame, they won't be any help at tricky bosses or high level enemies anyway.

The high level weapons of that sort (40 damage e.g.) I usually keep for (end) boss fights. That's where they count the most, also until then I have the chance to boost my chars' stats so that chances NOT to break them are better. I always keep good weapons to swap when they break, though.

Ohh ok thank you

[squirleybob]

Especially the one-slot weapons require a high stat level to expect to get decent work out of them. My guess is you are running at like a 70-80 stat level, which works but has a decent chance of failing. I have successfully run one-slot weapons for a while with a stat level of 85-90+, as it has a reduced chance of failing. If you get shocked, switch weapons and aim at enemies with the distraction ability (as that prevents them from using it)!

As for me, early game I will readily use breakable weapons with multiple slots (especially focusable ones) but make sure to have a decent unbreakable weapon as backup. A shock/distraction can otherwise spell doom. As with aifusch, I mainly use the one-slot ones for high-level fights and when my stats are higher.