My only issue with your suggestion is this assumes people want facets. As someone who hybrids, thus wanting Stamina/Sta Regen AND Focus/Focus Regen AND not wanting to increase weight because I have a specific set I want, that pretty much rules out like 90% of all facets. So I don’t want them.
Back when Together was being tested I made a pretty big post on my suggestions on how to control crafting, both in terms of what level you get as well as facet control.
Your right that assumption really came from my frustration in the moment when i crafted 10 of the same health and 7 out of 10 of them didn’t have a facet. There are absolutely builds that would like no facet but overall my point still stands. We shouldn’t have to spend dozens of hours to get the look we want with the right facet. We should have a way to target certain facets even if it just gives you a better chance at getting that facet.
Facets are a good layer to the itemization in the game, but terrible for gearing and progression. Before facets you could find an item you liked, upgrade the item, and use it as you go. This was a very natural, healthy, and smooth gear progression. After facets.. it has been completely flipped on it’s head. Now it is generally harder just to get the correct base item than it is to find all the affixes and embers for the item.. so we can’t even start building or using the item without wasting resources or first finding the correct base.. which takes an insane amount of mats to get it to land on the facet you want. This is not an issue with what the facets do, balance of the facets, their rarity, or resource cost to craft… Facets being modifiable would solve all of these issues and return gearing progression to normal. It would also keep players from feeling locked out of progressing their build and the burnout of crafting the same item over and over just to see your silver drop to zero, run out of bear paws etc, with nothing to show for it. Transmogs would mostly solve the issue with armor facets, but it won’t solve weapons… but only having this struggle with weapons would also be a massive improvement to progression.
The exalt system is a cool idea, but it feels absolutely awful. The odds of you getting the same affix exalted 4 times is 1/256 on a plagued item… this is insane. You will never get this item, this would take you 1024 essence embers and 256 bases with the correct facet. I’m not saying we should just get our desired affix every time, but this feels hopeless, and it feels especially bad when your desired affix doesn’t even get buffed one time. I generally felt sad when it only hit once, and pretty good when it hit twice, and I have yet to see it hit the same thing three times….
My suggestion is very simple, split sublime embers from exalting at the vendor. Get two sublime slots, and two exalt slots. Sublimes let you choose the affix, exalts are random. Now sublimes have value (they are currently worthless because exalting is so cheap and you get way more exalt mats than you would need sublimes), we no longer have to dread exalting an item because we know we can at least get our desired affix twice, and getting a perfect item is now actually possible.. though still very unlikely.
What if we could add chipped gems in the crafting process to give an item a desired facet* instead of it being random?
Like adding an ice gem to get Frigid, etc
I am swimming in chipped gems that are entirely useless and have no sell value either.
Being able to spend them in a meaningful way and reducing RNG while crafting, as in, not wasting a farming run’s worth of crafting resources on an item that goes straight into the trash would feel much better, in my opinion
I just reached end game on new co-op (atm 220 hours total, 150 prior) and I love all the new additions like recipe research and facet feature - however, I think you should give us more flexibility with Facets or gear vanity slots.
I was making a new build after finishing story, had chests filled with bunch of gear - but I couldn’t make it pretty.
Started crafting Ashen Knight body piece hunting for “Durable” facet, crafted 7pieces (materials 1 bear paw, 3 silver ingots, 3 soft leather per attempt), didn’t get it and ran out of bear paws.
After that I searched up how to dupe materials and took me 11 more attempts until I got it.
Total materials spent: 18 bear paws, 54 silver ingots and 54 soft leathers - 18 attempts, 1 piece of gear (without upgrading)
I had bunch of durable body plates in my storage and could have avoided it all if I just disenchanted and plagued them - but then I wouldn’t like my style.
Long story short - Would be really cool if you add feature to extract Facets and apply them to “blank” piece of gear (blank is easy to get from crafting) and it could work with weapons too (unlike cosmetic slots path).
I agree that the current facet system needs a rework, but what you’re proposing amounts to just adding another enchantment slot.
I believe suggestions have already been made regarding this, aimed at making facets more deterministic during crafting (e.g., by using specific ingredients). I think we should look in that direction instead, to keep them distinct from enchantments
This is a QOL suggestion regarding the current crafting and itemization loop. As it stands, if a player wants a specific item with a specific facet, the options are limited: buying from an NPC, relying on pure luck via drops, or grinding materials to craft in bulk. This process can be incredibly frustrating; for instance, I have a friend who had to craft over 30 weapons just to get the “Indestructible” facet they needed. To alleviate this, I have two suggestions to give players more agency over their gear.
My first suggestion is to allow players to add gems during the crafting process to bias the results toward specific facets. This would integrate existing items into the crafting loop, giving gems more utility. For example, Diamonds could increase the chance for the “Indestructible” facet, Elemental Gems could boost Infusion or Elemental Resistance chances, and Feathers could increase the “Quick” facet chance. Providing a 25% to 50% chance increase would give players a sense of control without removing the excitement of crafting entirely.
Alternatively, a more “endgame-focused” solution would be to introduce an NPC service that allows for guaranteed facet application. This would function as a much-needed money sink for the current economy. For a high cost—such as 1 Gold and specific rare materials—a player could modify a “clean,” unmodified item to have one specific facet with a 100% success rate. By making this a “last resort” service for the late game, you provide a deterministic path for players who have been unlucky with RNG while simultaneously addressing the need for a meaningful silver/gold sink
Yeah crafting facets feels a lot like trying to get a specific plague downside. Sometimes you get it quickly, and sometimes the RNG gods punish you. Most of the resources are easy to farm at least. You can hit a brick wall with the creature parts though. The UX for targeting a particular facet is definitely clumsy. There isn’t really a way to get it quickly without wasting resources. Having to constantly go in and out of the crafting menu to check if I got the facet I want is very cumbersome.
I personally really like the new changes in regards to embers. Before essence embers, almost everything I picked up was sold right away. Now, everything that drops could potentially make my build better because it may have an enchant I want or a higher value. If I find a plagued item that’s perfect except for being plagued, I can fix that. If I find a magical item that’s perfect but I wanted plagued, I can fix that. I only store stuff if it has enchants which are close to max so I don’t have to waste radiant embers later to max it out. I think it’s a massive improvement over using fallen embers, which are crazy RNG, for every enchant. Now I only use them for the plague downside.
I crafted like 11 one day and 19 the next. This largest batch was 5 at a time, then I would switch out of crafting and check the 5 for the facet I was after. I made one more last night.. so 31 now.
Yeah, The embers system lends hope to the thought that the facet system might get some help.. As it is now, it is the single most defeating and frustrating part of the game… Nothing makes me want to put it down and play something else like the facet system.. I did some testing last night with different armor ratings and different numbers on the “gain x% armour rating based on durability” enchants and the tests showed that the enchantment is significantly increased in power with the extra durability.. so i keep farming Bear paws…
Don’t forget about the old lady in Marin village who you can trade with. When I ran out of boar hooves, I realm hopped, trading tusks for hooves with this vendor. Can grab 3 per day per realm.
