Proposal
When I saw the implemented enchantments for tool progression on the Trello, I couldn’t help but feel like they seemed… a little bit strange? Progressive enchantments is fine, and I know more will be added later, but I can’t help but think it may be interesting to add a little more depth to the system. I have 3 suggestions towards this goal:
1: Upgrade tools directly
2: Add skills to tools to improve their uses or give alternate ones
3: Make enchantments progressive instead of finding new ones
Details/background on your proposal
Let’s go over the ideas one by one: for starters, upgrading tools directly. While you would still be able to buy higher tier tools over time, each tool (at least shovels and fishing rods) now also have an experience bar. As you use the tool for its purpose, it gains experience. When it hits the maximum experience it can carry, you can take it to any blacksmith to upgrade it to its next tier provided you meet the level requirement for it. For situations like the magnetic rod, you can also upgrade to that side grade instead- and then return to the main progression path if you want to after you max that one out. Something important to note is that any enchantments should also remain on the item when upgraded in this manner, which is useful for the enchantments that will be added in the Dark Sea update.
Next, tool skills. This would apply to all tools instead of just shovels and fishing rods, and tools that have more variants that are higher tier can have these skills added with those tiers. Tool skills should rarely do damage, instead being general exploration/support skills that are useful when you’re not actively in combat- they still consume energy though. Suggestions for these skills include:
Ore Breaker (Shovels, Silver or better)
Swing your shovel down hard, dealing a large amount of terrain damage. Damage scales on Strength and the tool’s level (the tool level should have more impact than strength). When breaking an ore deposit with this skill, you have a greater chance to receive a valuable drop (such as gemstones or area specific reagents) or a chance to receive more of regular drops (such as salt and coal)
Overbaited Lure (Fishing Rods, any)
By adding more bait to your fishing rod, you can hook fish faster. Consumes 2 or 3 bait per cast, but fish bite faster.
Quality Lure (Fishing rods, Bronze or better)
By rooting through your bait to find the top quality stuff, you’re able to attract rarer fish. Consumes 5 bait per cast, but any fish you catch is more likely to be Giant, Golden, or (for the Dark Sea adding them,) Massive.
Guiding Light (Waist Lantern, you would now be able to select to hold them in this case)"
Tosses a projectile which deals no damage but sticks to surfaces and illuminates the surroundings.
Carpenter's Eye (Repair hammer, Bronze or better)
When used while standing on a damaged ship, marks specific points on the ship’s hull to you for 30 seconds. When repairing on the marked areas, repairs you cause are worth double- but the cost remains the same. Spots disappear after you use them for a few seconds, encouraging you to keep moving to get to new ones. Has a 60 second cooldown.
Major Encampment (Camp Marker)
Allows you to place down a larger camp for 40 Galleons. This camp can be used as a respawn point for you and anyone in your party. If a party member has a camp down already, they will be given the option to immediately take theirs down in favor of the new one.
Map Marker (Notebook)
Places down a marker which is visible on your map (unless in the Dark Sea), and can be selected to put on a tracker (much like a quest indicator). Up to 3 of these markers can be placed at a time, and persist through servers.
The third suggestion builds on the idea of the first- instead of finding higher level enchantments for tools, you instead apply as single enchantment, and then that enchantment gains experience like the tool itself does. When the enchantment reaches its maximum XP, it can then either upgrade right on the spot or be taken to an alchemist to upgrade it there for money. That system feels more rewarding than just having a random chance to find the scrolls, since with a visible XP bar that constantly has progress being made it can help you feel like you’re making progress, even if it’s slow and steady. Keep in mind that this progression should only apply to tools. It should not apply to other enchantments on other gear, especially since later enchantments could end up adding multiple stats at a time and the fact that some enchantments are exclusive to dangerous content such as the dark sea means it wouldn’t be viable for them anyway.
Reason to add/change
I think these changes would make tools more rewarding to use, and more useful as a whole. When I saw what was being added related to tool progression so far, it made me kind of disappointed that there wasn’t going to be progressive tools (at least yet). This could potentially already be in the plans and just not added in this update too, who knows? These suggestions are also by no means exhaustive, especially the skills suggestions. There could be niche skills added to other tools potentially as well- and new skills added to higher tier tools for shovels, fishing rods, and even repair hammers.
- I like all of these!
- I like the idea of tool XP and/or enchantment XP.
- I like the idea of tools having usable skills.
- I like one or more of these ideas, but think they need to be tweaked.
- All of this is bad. Never cook again.
0 voters