-I think it’d be useful to have more access to crafting schematics simply to make it easier to get set up with gear that works for your build. It doesn’t feel great to try top play a weapon and shield build if the game decides it doesn’t feel like dropping any shields for you. (Yes, you can buy one, but the ones for sale currently either suck or require enough strength most builds can’t use them)
-On a similar note, I think some way to modify the stats a weapon’s damage scales with would be very nice.
On my first playthrough, I found a really cool hammer- the Climber’s Pick- at level 2. It was a cool-looking hammer that scaled with Strength and Faith, and I usually like Paladin style characters in aRPGs, so I started investing in those stats. That character is level 21 now, and still using that hammer I found at level 2, because there doesn’t appear to be any other weapon that scales with those two stats in the game. Having the option to make another weapon that actually uses both my damage stats would be really nice. (more weapons being added over time could also help, but that adds even more stuff to the random rolls on loot tables)
-Related to the above point, it might be cool to have some sort of system that biases the drop tables towards the stats the player has invested in or the kind of armor they’re currently wearing to make it a little less frustrating to get good equipment. My Strength build doesn’t benefit much from the game giving me 4 rare staffs in a row, for instance.
-Finally, it would be very good to get a bit more clarity on a few stats and effects. I haven’t been able to find anywhere in the game that actually explains what the runes I can add to weapons actually do, for instance, besides trial and error (and you can’t replace a rune if it turns out to be something you don’t like).
Similarly, I have 450 armor and 100 heat resistance, but I don’t know what exactly that does. Obviously it reduces physical and heat damage, but by how much? How much better than 300 armor is 450? There’s no real way to know right now, which makes it hard to really evaluate how good, say, +50 armor rating is.
As a general rule in a game like this, I think giving the player more information about these sort of mechanics is always better, because informed decisions are interesting decisions, while blind decisions are not.
EDIT: Just wanted to add one thing I’d forgotten, which is that the crafting components from animals- stag antlers, boar tusks and so on- are absurdly rare. There’s a craftable sword called Cronus you can get the crafting recipe for relatively early that requires 10 Boar Tusks to craft, for instance. I’ve taken characters up past level 20 without ever seeing that many tusks. I don’t think I’ve even found 5 of them on a single character. There’s not much point in giving us crafting schematics if there’s not any practical way to get the components.