In (the original) Path of Exile, there are some very powerful unique items (like a couple unique belts) and a few build enabling uniques, but, most of the time, the best in slot pieces of equipment are rare items. This is an issue – other than the exceptions I have mentioned, the BiS items are all of the same kind.
The second issue is – getting those BiS rare items (the double influenced rares with perfect rolls, or even the few very powerful unique belts) is such a pain in the ass that most people just trade for them. So not only the BiS items are basically all of the same kind, but the way to acquire them is basically always the same, trading.
In Diablo 3, the best in slot items are usually set items. Those are so powerful, and offer such ridiculous multipliers, that using a set is far more powerful than anything else. Like in Path of Exile, often BiS gear is always of the same kind. At least there are multiple ways to get those items, but item acquisition is so easy in D3 that this isn’t really a big advantage .
And what about Last Epoch?
In this game, best in slot gear is a legendary item made by the combination of a unique with high legendary potential and an exalted item with multiple tier 7 mods. There is no other option, no variation, no diversity.
And the best way to acquire both those elements – unique items with high legendary potential and exalted items with many 7 tier mods – until very recently was through imprints, and then using the Eternity Cache in the Temporal Sanctum. Again, no other option, no variation, no diversity.
Set items could have been an option – they cannot be used to make legendaries. But the issue is that they are simply too weak – they have to be, considering how common they are. At the same time, we want them to be common, since they are build-enabling for the few (weak) builds they have been created for. EHG’s answer to this was allowing us to shatter set items and add their effects to other gear, but this isn’t a solution – the set items’ effects continue to be weak, and they still do not scale up to the end game.
Weaver items could have been an option – they allow players to get legendaries without using the Eternity Cache. But they are both too random and most of the time too weak – good enough to compete with low tier legendaries, but usually not powerful enough to compare with the BiS legendaries.
Primordial items were a great idea – tier 8 mods cannot be used for legendaries, there’s a specific mechanic that rewards them (Time Beasts), and players can only equip one Primordial item at a time. This could have been great – a new kind of item would be best in slot, but built with a safeguard so players wouldn’t just equip Primordial items in all their slots. Then EHG made the first Primordial items we see to be Primordial uniques, that can also drop with legendary potential. So, now, BiS gear is still a legendary item made with an unique with high legendary potential and an exalted item with multiple tier 7 mods, but with the addendum that one of the uniques was a Primordial one.
Corrupted items could have been an option – corrupted unique items can’t be turned into a legendary, of course, but a corrupted exalted cannot donate its mods to make a legendary item. This could have created a choice – if I have a great exalted item, do I wait until I find a unique item with high legendary potential, or do I corrupt it right now? But then EHG made it so that legendary items can be corrupted. So, now, BiS gear is still a legendary item made with a unique with high legendary potential and an exalted item with multiple tier 7 mods, but with the addendum that one of the uniques on the character was a Primordial one and the legendaries have been co rrupted.
There’s no variation. No diversity. No choice. The best option is always the same.
Now, what I expect EHG to do is just undo the nerf to imprints and keep all those issues as they are today.
Instead, I would rather have new additions to the game, so legendaries are not always best in slot items, and thus acquiring them is not the single focus on the endgame. Things like:
· Allow set items to be upgraded. Not by adding random affixes – we want to reinforce set identity, not dilute it. We want set items to be common, so players can begin using their builds early, but we also want them to be able to scale up to the endgame, in order to avoid set items being just levelling gear. My suggestion is to allow us to apply set shards back into the set items themselves, increasing the items’ properties when doing so, in a way that, with enough time and luck, a set item could be as powerful as legendaries are today.
· Remove legendary potential from Primordial unique items. Then, for one slot at least, players would have a choice – to have the flexibility of a legendary, the power of a Primordial unique, or the middle ground of a Primordial exalted item
· Do not allow unique items, set items, legendary items or primordial items to be corrupted. And then increase the variation in the corrupted mods so at their higher tiers they would be more powerful than they are today. Ideally, a corrupted exalted item would be able to compete for BiS status with a legendary item
· Add more mechanics like Primordial items – powerful items that cannot be used to make legendaries, but that also cannot be used in more than one slot, and that are rewarded through specific pieces of side content. Then we would have both options in what kind of gear we use, and in how we acquire said gear