by Lathdrinor » Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:49 am
I disagree. Using BA as an argument shows one more aspect of variety in itemization that SoE has "phased out" - the idea that there can be competing focus effects. There's nothing wrong with having a general affliction focus that is weaker, in power, than the individual resist foci. That they chose to discontinue it is revealing - it shows that their current philosophy is "less is better." Maybe it's laziness, maybe it's that programmer's preference for Occam's Razor carrying over to game design, but whatever it is, I don't like it.
As for "never," their evaluation is based on player complaints. If you don't complain, nothing will happen. Never is obviously hyperbolic, but I suspect my post wouldn't have the same tone if I just said "ah, but it'll probably change, so..." I know what the current itemization scheme is. And frankly, I think it sucks, particularly in SoF where it's so much easier to see how standardized everything is (TSS & TBS were a bit more subtle, at least for the non-visible slots).