Item Durability

[EternalLimner]

I love Gloomhaven and a was very excited for a digital version. However, many of the negative reviews mention an item durability mechanic. I've always hated those and in a game like this I'm worried that it's setting up for an in-game store with pay to win mechanics. That would be a deal breaker for me.

My question is, can anybody explain to me exactly how that mechanic works? Maybe I'm just misunderstanding the need for it in the game.

[Maelfunction]

Not sure why it is needed, but in game works like this. Each item has a durability of 1-6 randomly assigned to it, some might have the infinite sign meaning they never wear out. When you complete a trip from one location to another, all the items in the party lose one durability point. If the durability is now 0 it is removed from your inventory. No current option to repair items, only buy new ones from the store(s) at the current town using your hard won gold.

Since this is not an MMO and there are only ever 4 people playing in a game. if they provide a real money store to allow a player to P2W it will only affect you if you choose to play with people who use it.

[easyport]

Suggest to wait till durability is patched out or improved.

[dustin1280]

The entire reason I haven't purchase the digital version is because of durability...

[EternalLimner]

Thank you for the explanation. I'll probably do a "wait and see" approach. I really love Gloomhaven but I'm at my breaking point for predatory monetization practices. I don't think there is enough evidence to say that is what's going to happen here but I honestly can't think of any other need for this mechanic so I'll just wait.

I should clarify that I misused the term "Pay to win." An item that refreshes durability wouldn't be pay to win, but I'm done with mechanics whose only purpose is to make a game more grindy or less fun unless you continuously pay money... especially in a game that isn't free to play to begin with.

[SillyNoob]

for the rogue like adventure durability is quite nice in that it forces you to approach scenarios differently... for the campaign this would suck.

[dustin1280]

Originally posted by SillyNoob:

for the rogue like adventure durability is quite nice in that it forces you to approach scenarios differently... for the campaign this would suck.

I disagree completely, items breaking themselves when you don't even equip them in the first place is not "nice."

there is no joy in getting a new item because it's going to destroy itself in 2-3 scenarios anyway (even if you don't use it)

Forget planning around items, they are a complete wildcard so you can't count or plan around them either...

No, durability is a terrible system in general, and this game manages to have one of the worst durability systems i have ever seen (outside of p2w games)

[SunriseEagle]

I agree that it isn't great the way it is right now but I don't think it has to be removed completely.

For those interested, I posted my idea regarding this matter as a response in the "Feedback & Suggestions" subforum. I'd love to hear opinions and other suggestions.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/780290/discussions/1/1643169632562247416/

[Perkus]

It should be noted that each point of durability lasts for an entire journey, which is the trip from one safe node to another, and can consist of up to 3 scenarios (on easy path). The temporary items are also dirt cheap and relatively plentiful. Several are awarded for free after every journey, whereas in the boardgame you typical only loot new designs that must be purchased. Gold income feels also somewhat higher than in the board game due to most chests currently having little else in them. Since there are no enhancements or blessings to buy, all your gold goes into items. As such it's not quite as punishing as it may seem at first glance. While I still don't like it, it's not that big a deal-breaker as far as playability goes. Yes, it does noticeably weaken you even further when you are already falling behind at higher levels due to lack of perks & enhancements. You can't have your optimal items at all times, but you do get a decent supply of stuff to experiment with and try to make the best of. Which is also fun it its own way.

Even if they choose to, they can't just give everything infinite durability without making additional changes. The item pricing is too low, and based on their remaining durability. And the availability is too high. They'll want to reduce the rewards and stock levels in the shops. They should probably switch to the campaign's prosperity mechanic to gate entry of higher level items into the game. They can simulate that easily enough just by using Prosperity Level = Avg Character Level. Currently you can get powerful stuff earlier than you should (e.g. Super healing potions at level 3).

[Sir Eyeball]

Durability and lack of Perks are the 2 main reasons I have not bought the game yet. I hate loosing gear not used. I could understand introduction of oneshot items such as potions ( where oneshot is one dungeon when used if you have items to reuse them) and even here it should be possible to get an infinite version (potions would be the recipy or something like that). The use for shops would be to sell excess items and the limit you can carry should be anough detterent. The lvl of the shops and Items found should and could be limited by the lvl of the team and the lvl of the dungeon. I do hope that the durability will be optional at later builds of the game or that modders mod it out.

[dustin1280]

Once they overhaul the durability system to something actually acceptable, I will immediately purchase this game.

[bernaise1]

I would believe that Durability is only going to exist in the Adventure mode, not the Campaign conversion.

[Gloomhaven_Community]

Originally posted by bernaise1:

I would believe that Durability is only going to exist in the Adventure mode, not the Campaign conversion.

That's the idea for us. Campaign mode will copy solutions from the board game.

Take care,
Gloomhaven Team