Followers to Forge: Crafting System Updates
Background
As our veterans would remember, we introduced the Follower Crafting system way back in October 2022 in Update 1.4. The game has obviously gone through some pretty major changes since then, and with the introduction of the Gear rework, the Follower Crafting system was no longer fit for purpose as it was.
The changes needed for our Crafters was, in fact, so large, that they needed more time than we had available in the 3.1 update, and then a little bit more time again.
These changes will be released with 3.1.5 (target release of early June).
What about the 3.1 Patch Notes?
Donât worry! Youâll be getting those very soon. We just wanted to get these out to you ASAP since itâs a big change.
Just be aware that the screens are still WIP. They may change prior to release.
Now, the following is some additional context on the design of the system.
If youâd like to skip ahead to the changes, you can jump to âIntroducing: The Forge System"
Forward and Back Again
In designing this new system, in addition to having it work nicely with the Gear system, we needed to make sure it was future-proofed against other planned changes in upcoming updates, even if they arenât around the corner. As such, the changes weâve made to the crafters have the infrastructure built-in to support new systems and updates planned in the road ahead.
This is why weâll be referring to the Gear Crafting System as the âForge Systemâ.
What is Crafting?
To be able to effectively adapt to the new Gear system, we basically needed to pull all of our crafting mechanics apart and start rebuilding it from the ground up. However, even with a complete rebuild, it was important to us that we made sure anything that could be done in the current system could still be done in the Forge System.
So, we pulled it apart and there were three very clear areas of functionality:
- Making stuff
- Rerolling stuff
- Making deliberate, non-random improvements to stuff
The emphasis on (and within) these areas also shifts as players move from early, to mid-game, to late-game.
The UI and UX of the current system were a little clunky. We had to put in new options for each type of Craft that needed to be done, and we had to tie those to a Level, and we couldnât change their position in that list.
The unlocking of various components of the system was also uneven and had gotten âuneven-erâ as we added functionality. Here is how the Follower ability unlocks currently look:
There were also some odd points of friction such as having limited control over the Rarity of a crafted item that we wanted to smooth out.
Building The Forge
How does it fit?
The philosophy we approached the system design with was that naturally over the course of play, the expected amount of control increases, so the âwhyâ of collecting Gear changes over time. Early in the game, youâre collecting and tossing Gear relatively often because itâs more straightforward: âThis thing I have now is or isnât better than what I have.â However, late in the game, the calculations become less straightforward and more based on a strategy.
Our design goal with the new Forge System was to provide more ways for new and early players to earn gear earlier on, while also introducing a much-needed piece of the puzzle for later players allowing for targeted gear decisions as part of long-term build strategies. In short, we wanted to provide an avenue to build what you needed in the later stages of the game!
What did we do?
Sticking with those three main functions we outlined before, we broke the system into Craft, Reforge, and Refine:
- Craft does what it says on the box. It crafts Gear
- Available from Follower Level 1
- Reforge is your re-roll of aspects of your Gear.
- Available from Follower Level 10
- Refine is making Gear better.
- Available from Follower Level 50
We broke these up along the Followerâs Levels for a couple of reasons:
- The two that are the most directly useful earlier on are available when they need to be
- Thereâs a bit of space between Craft and Reforge to avoid overwhelming players early on with Toragon
- Refine becomes more relevant later, and doesnât break apart across the Levels neatly
We opted for this system not to lock any particular option (Rarity, Element, Slot etc) behind a Level, but rather limit the number of possible options available.
- Crafting has 6 possible options (other than Rarity and the core stat for the item) and a maximum of 4 possible choices that can be made
- Up to 3 Attributes
- Element
- Slot
- Set (requires a slot to also be chosen)
- The number of choices available to you increases with the Follower Level
- Any Rarity can be chosen at any time, there are just different costs associated with each Rarity
- Reforge has 4 possible âaspectsâ that can be re-rolled, and a maximum of 3 locks that can be used to prevent an aspect from being re-rolled:
- Up to 3 Attributes
- Element
- The number of locks available increases with the Follower Level
- In the case of both Craft and Reforge, the costs depend on what is chosen and the Rarity of the item (full details in the Appendix)
Refine
Unlike Craft and Reforge, Refine unlocks in its entirety at Level 50 and is used for targeted improvement of aspects of an item.
- Rarity (items Rare and above)
- Element (items Epic and above)
- Attributes (items Legendary and above)
- Quality (Mythic items only)
For all aspects except Element, another Gear piece (meeting various requirements) is required to be âsacrificedâ in order to transfer properties or augment the target item.
Why sacrifice?
Partly because it was thematic (to us anyway) to take one item and have someone at the Forge combine it with parts of another, and partly because we wanted to provide more outlets for Gear you might be less interested in keeping around.
Why are there different rarity restrictions on different Refinements?
In some cases we felt it was unlikely anyone would particularly want to use certain Refinements on things below a certain point. In others, it was because we wanted to pull out the potential for decision paralysis or maybe making a decision too hastily on something that possibly wasnât worth it.
A Moment for Ascension
A focus in the Gear system rework was having less emphasis on upgrading specific pieces of Gear, so a completely valid question is âOkay, so why is it back now in the Forge system?â
Well, part of the way the Gear system is intended to work is that Gear should be dropping more or less in-line with what is needed to progress through the game as opposed to needing to rely on upgrades and having to make calculations about what should or shouldnât be upgraded.
Rarity Refinement in the Forge System isnât intended to be a 1:1 replacement for Gear upgrades, but rather a supplement to the Gear system intended to help players who are at a stage of fine-tuning specific Gear or builds.
This is why the focus is on Crafting and Reforging before a Follower reaches Level 50 with the ability to Craft Gear at a Rarity of your choice. As players progress, there should be more and more control available through the Followers.
Introducing: The Forge System
The âForge Systemâ takes the functionality of our Gear Crafters and splits them out into 3 separate skills:
- Craft
- This is for creating new Gear pieces
- As the Follower Level increases, you will be able to select more specifics about the item up to a maximum of 4
- Reforge
- âReforgeââ is essentially our âRerollâ functionality. Certain aspects of an item can be randomly Reforged into something else (Attributes and Element)
- As the Follower Level increases, you are able to Lock in more aspects of a Gear piece to prevent them being Reforged, up to a maximum of 3
- Refine
- Refine allows you to improve aspects of an item by sacrificing another
These various skills are unlocked as follows:
Craft
- Gear has a number of changeable âaspectsâ. These aspects are random by default (with the exception of Rarity), but up to 4 can be chosen specifically (depending on the Follower Level and the Rarity of the Item)
- Slot
- Set
- Element
- Up to 3 of 4 possible Attributes (the first Attribute on an item is the âcoreâ Attribute associated with itâs type)
- The default Rarity will be set either to Common OR the last Rarity you crafted with (e.g. If the last thing you Crafted was an Epic, we are assuming youâd probably like to Craft at least an Epic the next time you open the Crafting menu)
- Aspect choices are not locked to the Follower Level, only the total number of available choices
- e.g. At Level 1, Gemka could Craft a random Accessory for any Rarity up to Mythic; At Level 15, Gemka could Craft a random Accessory for any Rarity up to Mythic of a Chosen Element, or Slot, or with a specific chosen Attribute
- The cost of Crafting is determined by the Rarity of the item and the aspects selected
- All aspects except Attributes change their costs with Rarity; Attribute selection is based only on the number of Attributes selected
Example of crafting a random Legendary piece of Gear
Example of crafting with selection - Legendary, Shoulders, Fire.
For a full breakdown of the Crafting costs, please see the Appendix below
Reforge
- Gear pieces have up to 4 aspects that can be Reforged (re-rolled). These are:
- Up to 3 Attributes
- The Element
- Up to 3 of these aspects can be locked so they will not be re-rolled
- Similar to Crafting, Follower Level does not restrict which aspects can be locked, only the number of locks available
- e.g. At Level 20, I can lock either one of the Attributes of an item, or itâs Element
- Reforged Attributes will not have their Quality changed. The same (or equivalent) Quality will apply to the new Attribute
- As with the current system, you will have the option to keep the original item after an item has been Reforged
- The costs of locking various aspects are based on the number of locks used, the number of Attributes locked, and the Rarity of the item with a locked Element
Example of Regorging an Amulet of the First, Gemka level 25 - 29 (1 lock available)
For a full breakdown of the Reforging costs, please see the Appendix below
Refine
- From Follower Level 50, certain aspects of an item can be Refined (improved or changed):
- Rarity (items Rare and above)
- Element (items Epic and above)
- Attributes (items Legendary and above)
- Quality (Mythic items only)
- In addition to other costs, Rarity, Attribute, and Quality require an item to be sacrificed to transfer the desired properties to the target item
- A sacrificed item can only be used once, and only for one purpose
Refine Rarity
- Refining the Rarity of an item takes it from its current Rarity to the next
- An item of the next Rarity up from a matching slot is required
- Item Quality is taken to the minimum for the new Rarity, if it is higher. Any new aspects will be rolled within the range of Quality for the new Rarity
Example of Refining the Rarity of a Rare Warlordâs Battleaxe from Rare to Epic.
Refine Element
- Refining the Element of an item replaces itâs current Element with a new one
Refine Attribute
- Refining an Attribute of an item replaces one target Attribute of an item with a chosen one from another
Example of Refine Attribute, before an item has been selected.
Refine Quality
- Refine increases the Base Quality of an item, increasing the bonuses provided by the Attributes, Mastery, and Damage/Armor/Resistance/Block, up to the maximum Base Quality value (100%, or the upper value of the range of the stat when looking at the Quality details of an item).
- The increase to Base Quality is universal across all aspects of an item, and based on how well the sacrificed item matches the original.
- Matching Legendary Item with the same Element: +1% towards max (i.e 59% â 60%)
- Mythic Item from the same Set: +2% towards max (i.e 60% â 62%)
- Matching Mythic Item with the same Element: +5% towards max (i.e 62% â 67%)
- Example:
- The increase to Base Quality is universal across all aspects of an item, and based on how well the sacrificed item matches the original.
The Elemental Damage Attribute will fall in a range between 0.5% and 11% (depending on the Gear Rarity)
My Mythic item has Elemental Damage at 5.23% (i.e. 45% of the way through the possible range)
I Refine the Quality of my Mythic, sacrificing a matching Mythic with the same Element to increase all my Mythicâs stats by +5% towards the maximum.
For my Elemental Damage specifically, this means:
Before Refine:
Elemental Damage: 5.23% (45%)After Refine:
Elemental Damage: 5.75% (50%)
- As this is increasing the Base Quality of an item, items that reach the relevant Quality threshold will gain the title Divine, Sacred, even Exalted and Immortal.
- Honed Quality is applied on top of this, and can exceed the maximum value. Refining an item will not remove any Honing levels from it.
Examples of Refining the Quality to a Divine Mythic Warlordâs Battleaxe.
+1%
+2%
+5%
Appendix
Crafting Costs:
Notes:
- âFollower Crystalâ refers to the Crystal that matches the Follower you are utilizing at the time (Toragonâs Crystal if youâre Crafting with Toragon etc)
- âGlyphâ means the Glyph associated with the Gear a Follower can Craft (a Weapon Glyph for Gear crafted with Soulchaser)
Reforge Costs:
Notes:
- âFollower Crystalâ refers to the Crystal that matches the Follower you are utilizing at the time (Toragonâs Crystal if youâre Reforging with Toragon etc)
Refine:
A note from Jeto:
Huge shout out to @Mother_Morgz for putting this together and creating all these tables! There is a lot of information here and I imagine everyone will have a lot of questions and initial feedback. I will do my best to respond to everything I can - this is not in a version I have access to play around in just yet, which is why we have bright pink placeholder screenshots.
It makes a lot more sense when you are in the new Forge system, I did find it took me a while to understand specifically Refine just by reading a LOT of documentation - but once I saw it âliveâ it was easier to wrap my head around. So please keep in mind some things will make more sense once you can get in there in 3.1.5
