Rework for War Bonds

[feeple murphy]

I saw a very good rework on Reddit that I wanted to share in a place that's more likely to be seen by the devs (credit to u/NeutralVitality)

"Make it a "gold rush" item that gives you any chests for free for, say, 40 seconds at the start of a stage. I believe this is one of few ways to make a looting item feel impactful.

It'd also fit thematically, to an extent. The item log is about a soldier receiving bonds instead of the regular pay he may have been expecting, so rushing to cash them when "time is due" under an exploitative system is an appropriate mechanic."

Their idea is very good, but I believe it could also be reworked into a lunar item if you made chests more expensive after the initial free period was over with. (It even has the color scheme for it)

As a red item I think it should have additive scaling. (+X seconds per stack)

As a lunar it should scale both rush time and chest cost logarithmically, because lunars are easier to stack multiple of, and if the rush time is too long than you could loot every chest before the downside even kicks in.

Mechanically it would probably be easiest to just give the player a buff/effect at the start of each stage that has this effect and lasts X seconds (depending on how many stacks the player has), saves having to code in a new system for the item.

I doubt this idea is perfect, but it's a good jumping off point.

There are other good reworks, but this is one of my favorites.

Thank you gearbox devs, and good luck making this game the best it can be.

[Vistresian]

One of the very few suggestions I've seen that I'd agree with.
War Bonds definitely feel like one of the few underpowered/icky items (knockback fin included, which everyone has commented on heavily already)- but your take is pretty neat.

I think 40 seconds might be a tad too long, as anyone with significant mobility and environmental memorization is likely to snag half the map for free, unless we're talking Helminth Hatchery or Sky Meadow. But since I can't think of any replacements on the timing, maybe 40 would be fairly decent.

I'd definitely take that change over the current War Bond stats, because Sonorous Whispers looks like a hoarder's wet dream by contrast.

[Leaf_It]

Originally posted by Vistresian:

I think 40 seconds might be a tad too long, as anyone with significant mobility and environmental memorization is likely to snag half the map for free, unless we're talking Helminth Hatchery or Sky Meadow. But since I can't think of any replacements on the timing, maybe 40 would be fairly decent.

Reds are supposed to be (in my opinion) run defining items, that cause you to change the way you play, or just make the whole run smoother. I think 40 seconds of free chests is a good timer. It'll be strong on every character, but you're still dependent on other items to actually become "strong". Yeah, faster characters can utilize it better, but even if you get it Stage 1, the point at which it can start pushing over the edge of a normal run is going to be somewhere around stage 4 or 5, because you still have to find the chests to open up in those 40 seconds, and chests are usually pretty spread out until you get to the later stages where they become more plentiful.

[Vistresian]

Originally posted by Leaf_It:

Reds are supposed to be (in my opinion) run defining items, that cause you to change the way you play, or just make the whole run smoother. I think 40 seconds of free chests is a good timer. It'll be strong on every character, but you're still dependent on other items to actually become "strong". Yeah, faster characters can utilize it better, but even if you get it Stage 1, the point at which it can start pushing over the edge of a normal run is going to be somewhere around stage 4 or 5, because you still have to find the chests to open up in those 40 seconds, and chests are usually pretty spread out until you get to the later stages where they become more plentiful.

Yeah, I understand the premise (at 100% completion personally), since even Benthic Bloom can become more detrimental than helpful by siphoning commons and greens- but given randomized chest placement, it might result in the occasional triple in the span of 2-3 seconds. Which, don't get me wrong, is perfectly fine for singleplayer. It's just that I could see it causing problems in multi servers, as item hogging is already pretty common among strangers. I hardly ever play with randoms, but I could see it being the occasional thing that turns into forum rants, even if it finally gets better utility than it has now.

*[grammar edit]

[feeple murphy]

Originally posted by Vistresian:

Originally posted by Leaf_It:

Reds are supposed to be (in my opinion) run defining items, that cause you to change the way you play, or just make the whole run smoother. I think 40 seconds of free chests is a good timer. It'll be strong on every character, but you're still dependent on other items to actually become "strong". Yeah, faster characters can utilize it better, but even if you get it Stage 1, the point at which it can start pushing over the edge of a normal run is going to be somewhere around stage 4 or 5, because you still have to find the chests to open up in those 40 seconds, and chests are usually pretty spread out until you get to the later stages where they become more plentiful.

Yeah, I understand the premise (at 100% completion personally), since even Benthic Bloom can become more detrimental than helpful by siphoning commons and greens- but given randomized chest placement, it might result in the occasional triple in the span of 2-3 seconds. Which, don't get me wrong, is perfectly fine for singleplayer. It's just that I could see it causing problems in multi servers, as item hogging is already pretty common among strangers. I hardly ever play with randoms, but I could see it being the occasional thing that turns into forum rants, even if it finally gets better utility than it has now.

*[grammar edit]

Maybe it could be altered for multiplayer. Perhaps spreading the effect across everyone (sharing stacks between all players like how the shipping request form works) but reducing the time based on how many players there are. (This would also need tweaking, of course)

Edit: amount of rush time would also be based on how many stacks the whole party has together(though I fear what that would do with devotion)