Currently, the Runes of Ascendence are quite a pain. Not only because you have to add an item to your forge, select Rune of Ascendence and forge - every time. But also because the output is very disapointing.
You only get no or very low LP and the rarity rng just basically gives you almost always common uniques. Even if you spend hundreds of Rune of Ascendence you end up with almost exclusively common no lp uniques.
So how could the Rune of Ascendence be improved?
UI: when you select a Rune of Ascendence just keep the selection of the rune active until you select something else.
Improvement of rng:
It would be great if the Rune of Ascendence would consider the item you put in the forgeâŚ
You have put a higher level item in the forge you have an improved chance to get a higher level item back. The same goes for mid and low level. So you could actually weigh the rng towards the item you desire by the input level.
You put a higher rarity item in the forge, you have an improved chance to get a rare unique item. Magical items just give common stuff while exalteds have an increased chance for rare drops.
You put in a high tier item in the forge, you have an improved chance to get LP on the item.
These changes would give you a higher chance to a better item when you put in a lvl 80, T24 Exalted item instead of the T2 magical stuff.
Thatâs not correct. The rune of ascendance has a slightly lower chance for LP as if the item had dropped in a lvl 100 area, so when youâre at lower levels (ie, not doing empowered monos) they are strictly more likely to give higher LP than if the item were to drop in the zone youâre in. The items you get also have their own chance for LP (I assume you know this) which the rune of ascendance respects.
Yeah, that is a bit annoying.
Just like the items that drop naturally. This is the entire point, except the RoA allows you to choose what type of unique you get (1h sword, helm, gloves, etc).
I kinda like #1 & 2, but I doubt the devs would want it to be better than killing mobs, especially for CoF give youâll be awash with runes of ascendance in CoF.
I understand your point. But the number of RoA dropping before empowered monos is so low that the RoA de facto always gives you worse lp, because as soon as you have some RoA you are already in empowered. And when you start grinding empowered and get lets say 100 RoA it feels like the time is better invested in running a few monos instead of getting all RoA forged away⌠At least it feels like that.
I would rather see the RoA way more powerful and at the same time rarerâŚ
Currently RoA is common at higher corruption but worthless in the output.
Yes, but alts are a thing, you canât just balance everything around end game. Having to reselect the rune each time (same with runes of removal when you change gear) is frustrating, but that requires a very different solution than to buffing RoA.
Which is a different solution, plus you then get into âitâs so rare & powerful that it never drops so why bother having itâ.
I donât play MG. As CoF I never had much difficulty getting most uniques. Especially with the CoF rank to reuse them.
And itâs not like you need uniques for the campaign anyway. And once youâre in monos youâre doing prophecies as well. You can actually get a ton of ascendance runes with them.
I do agree that mass using them is annoying as hell.
And yes, common uniques are cheap dirt in MG. But the best ones are easier to get with CoF. Especially if you play a lot of characters and theyâre all CoF so you get a load of good drops. Itâs kinda balanced.
I consider the Rune of Ascendance the best item for Solo Self Found.
This is the best way to get the build-defining uniques I need for a build.
Is it useful for high-end top gear? Probably not. And probably not for MG players.
But it does make sense in its current state, for a non-MG character with an empty stash looking for a specific unique early.
And like everything else, the droprates of the runes of ascendance have been increased tenfold in recent times (sad days we live in).
Define âneedâ. I donât âneedâ anything for the campaign, I can do it naked (sadly, not even an hyperbole).
But some builds require a unique just to exist.
There are many, depends on your build. It is not about power, it is about build enabling.
When I was playing my SSF werebear, I needed a Tears of the Forest amulet simply to use the build I wanted (rage is not sustainable anymore without it). I got one early in monos thanks to a rune of ascendance.
Another of my characters used a rune of ascendance to get his first Fang and build up his wolves.
But again, thatâs what Runes of Ascendance are for, or at least, thatâs how I use them, and they are super useful in SSF. Not for finding super-rares endgame items, but for finding common ones quickly, and then for providing me with a steady supply of 0LP to use in eggs and 1LP to slam.
CoF starts only after the campaign, and Iâd rather have my build-enabling stuff before empowered, which doesnât always happen when relying on random drops.
Which you should get the uniques the drop-way even before even thinking about a ROA. Which feels kinda odd definitely.
Iâve used hundreds of ROA and not gotten a single usable item to date, not even remotely. The best were 2 LP common uniques⌠while dropping several 4 LP common uniques otherwise. Given the rarity the disparity is just not very well thought out.
Which is the other issue. ROA is supposed to be a valuable and usable item. Which was the case before the faction system. Though⌠no LP uniques outside of the rarest of the rare uniques have no value in MG, and high LP uniques are simply not realistic in the outcome.
For CoF the prohecies shower you with so many uniques that you can just throw the ROA away since even bothering to pick up the bases for them is not even worth your time.
And thatâs a shame. ROA could easily be made into a âpick your unique typeâ item to use and it then drops a unique of that type related to being in a level 100 area. That would at least make it a viable thing since itâs âanother chanceâ at something rather then a throwaway item. Powerful? Nah⌠but usable at least.
In SSF you play CoF though which as mentioned showers you in uniques to such a stupid degree that a ROA doesnât even make a dent, especially given that they are sub-par to a random unique drop in empowered monoliths.
The only time a ROA in SSF would be a great find is during the campaign⌠and thatâs it. For a very rare item which is supposed to be valuable itâs⌠well⌠kinda worthless.
When I did my raptor pack beastmaster I didnât have the dagger yet. I used RoAs on any CoF tagged dagger I found and I got it after 6 tries.
So Iâve had uses for it already and it wasnât even the only case. I also got my monument of protection that way, plus a few others.
Iâm not against improving them. I just donât agree that theyâre useless. If Iâm searching for an Aaronâs will, my chances will always be higher if besides farming I also use RoAs. And while using RoAs to farm something, you might even get some nice bonuses along the way.
Just because RoA has a lower success rate than farming empowered monos, doesnât mean it has none. And with lizards and Nemesis, they drop a lot these days.
Something like that, yes. That was the point I was trying to make.
And for the record, I rather like your suggestions, they are sensible and not too OP.
But to be honest, I feel like âuseless if not playing SSFâ applies to pretty much everything anyway, not much you can do about it.
Thatâs why I would never touch trade in a diablo-like, it makes nearly all drops pointless because you can find better on the market. And finding drops is what I enjoy in these games, which makes SSF the only way to play.
I managed to get a +3 squirrel helm, the other rolls werenât great though. I also managed to get a 4LP Uetherinâs Stand, not that I have any desire to use itâŚ
Iâm pretty sure being able to pick a specific unique would be pretty powerful. Like if they used the item base to determin the specific unique (ie, you use a Tusked Great Helm to always get a squirrel helm & if there wasnât a unique for the specific base youâre using itâd drop a random one like it does now). But that might require some modification of the specific bases used for uniques, or maybe notâŚ
Iâm playing CoF, Iâve not been âshowered in uniquesâ & Iâve done 1 empowered mono & Iâm ~1/2 way through the second. Maybe itâs different if youâre playing a meta zoom build running through 10,000 corruption at lightspeed. but thatâs not what things should be balanced around.
