Uninspired Item System

Wicked Feedback
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Firstly, let me say that I do enjoy the game so far. The combat is snappy and feels good, the aesthetic and world design are fantastic, and I can see the potential in the vision.

However, one of the weakest parts of the game (in my opinion) is the uninspired item system. Items simply don’t feel good to find. You go out on a run, kill some enemies, and return with a pile of largely meaningless loot — a random assortment of enchantments that may or may not provide a small incremental increase to a stat you’re chasing. Sure, this might make you more powerful numerically, but nothing changes gameplay in a meaningful or fundamental way.

The Unique items have some interesting mechanics, but even those (take Enlightenment, for example) ultimately do little more than provide the same bonuses you’d find on other enchantments — just to a greater degree.

One could argue that weapon move-sets and attack runes provide that variety, but nothing is fundamentally different about them either — they mostly offer an aesthetic variation in how you attack. (Do I want to spin twice or three times? Swing upward or slam downward? Throw my weapon with physical damage or plague damage?)

It would be nice to have items that actually do things that you can build around, rather than simply increase values.

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I totally agree. The game’s aesthetic is great. The combat has a nice feel to it.

But If you think about, the items in this game are little more than vessels for enchantments (particularly wearables rather than weapons). You could literally eliminate items and just have players pick up enchantments to add to a list. A good build then simply has a good list with high numbers.

It would be nice to see items narrowed to more specific enchants or mechanics; things you couldn’t get on other kinds of items. That way items could feel meaningful in of themselves.

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It would be nice to have items that actually do things that you can build around, rather than simply increase values.

That’s what Legendary’s are for.

This goes more towards misunderstanding how to gear, rather than it feeling uninspiring. It’s basically the same as other ARPGs. You have some incremental increases, and then sudden powerspikes, like finding that one ring to put it all together, or finally find the enchantment that makes your build do “the thing” it’s meant to do.

example, I leveled a 2h stagger build. As soon as I got my stamina on stagger and heal on stagger, I went from methodically fighting to chaining enemies. And those are basic enchantments that just makes a build work.

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It’s not from misunderstanding. We understand HOW to gear. We don’t like how gear operates. It’s a preference, not ignorance.

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I felt this way at first, until I started to actually try different specialized builds. In most games I tend to ignore incremental stat based builds, preferring to focus on refining my gameplay until my skill overcomes any stat gaps. With this game, I have dumped a lot of time into collecting embers and finding the best synergies in those incremental boons until I hit a power spike.

Oh. My. Gods.

When you finally hit a stride in a build in this game, it really feels like you did something. I now have three different builds on one character. I don’t change my stats, just my gear, and the entire feeling of the game shifts. My playstyle swings with it.

I’d say, if you don’t feel it yet, just try to stay focused. Being too general in your itemization makes the items in this game feel vague and undefined. The definition is something you have to build yourself.

Once you hit that stride, it clicks. Then it all makes sense, and filling your inventory with junk is more like sifting for nuggets in the sand. Every so often, you find a near maxed enchant you needed. Then it feels good.

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I feel a bit misrepresented here, likely because I’m new to the forum. Like you, Damius, I have several potent builds and have experienced that power spike. I agree - it’s fun when it first happens. My point, however, is that I don’t think that alone is compelling enough.

As for the comment above, I think the core of what I was saying may have been missed. It was my understanding that Wicked aimed to do something different from other ARPGs. The more methodical combat, which you seem to view negatively, feels much more in line with that vision than ‘chaining enemies’ purely for clear speed.

And regarding Legendary items — I addressed that in my original post.

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I would love to see them innovate with the item system. Many games have similar enchantments on items and reward players with stacks of garbage to sift through for anything of use or the smallest upgrade.

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I feel a bit misunderstood here. I do not view the methodical combat as negative. I tried to explain that I prefer to play that way in other games as well. It is my preferred type of gameplay. I also said nothing about legendary items, (but you may have directed that comment at someone else.)

I was only trying to express that the power spike feels really good in tandem with that fighting style, and I suppose I misunderstood you when I assumed that you had not felt that spike yourself.

This game has an amazing combat system, which is at once challenging in a punishing fashion and rewarding in a true skill based fashion. In the past I had only played games for the systems which rewarded my own personal skill as a player, rather than the systems which rewarded stacking numbers on numbers. This game is unique in the sense that you are stacking numbers on player skill.

I hate just chaining enemies, and typically quit playing a game when it feels like that’s what’s about to start happening. Due to that, I tend to miss out on the power spikes in those games, since it doesn’t feel like I did anything, it just feels like the enemies went from interesting creatures to pixels with hp.

In this game, I hit the power spike. It felt good. And I still get my @$$ kicked by tougher foes if I’m not paying enough attention. Kinda like Souls games. Maybe it feels novel to me since I don’t play games like POE, which are 100% only about stacking incremental bonuses. I am not jaded to that feeling, so having just enough of it on top of a true player skill based combat system is completely new to me.

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I suppose I just don’t understand your point? Is it possible you could give us an example of a game that has items that “do something” you can build around?

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This might actually just be some sort of formulaic system of tapping into the part of the human brain that causes gambling addictions. If everything is rewarding, it gets old fast. If you are rewarded rarely, you are more likely to come back and keep trying.

I don’t know why, I just know that it’s very true. I’ve seen many people I know fall into gambling addictions simply because they keep getting shafted by the odds.

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Sorry for the confusion - I was responding to both your post and another one above at the same time, and I didn’t separate those ideas clearly enough.

And I totally agree, the actual combat in the game feels great in terms of responsiveness and performance. We’re definitely on the same page about preferring more dynamic, methodical combat over something closer to PoE’s speed and scaling. That said, I think there are quite a few people who would disagree (as seen in the post mentioned above).

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I see. I am still curious what kind of suggestions you might have to improve the item system in Wicked? I mostly agree with you in principle, I just can’t fathom how to make your suggestion come to fruition.

Should individual weapons have more distinction than just different combos, timings, presence or absence of charge attacks, different dodge attacks that do or do not have invuln frames, like they do now? Are we talking something like Monster Hunter, where different weapons feel like entirely different games?

Or are you more referring to armor being very amorphous, where literally any chest piece will do as long as you have the right enchants? If so, how could the armor be improved? Do you want to see armor changing your class like in some games, rather than just being vessels you can customize? Or do you just want the customizations to be more distinct? Perhaps having enchants work like binding spells in an elder scrolls game? Or do you want to see some characteristic enchants that only appear on specific pieces of armor? If so, how would you want those characteristic enchants to work, so that it doesn’t just feel restrictive?

I’m really trying to imagine something better here, but all of the options I can think of are either more limiting or just a different game, and making Wicked into one of those other games would kinda just waste the potential this game already has.

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I think interesting items and their traits should react to player behavior rather than just interacting with game mechanics numerically.

To use an example mentioned above which the guy was building toward stagger and then found an item that restores stamina on stagger. That’s technically synergy, but it’s still just resource return tied to an existing mechanic. It reinforces what you’re already doing (and what most attacks do in the game), but it doesn’t meaningfully change how you approach combat.

That’s what I mean when I say it feels too number-driven. The interaction is mechanical, not behavioral.

A closer example to what I’m describing would actually be the Proud Lance. It requires the player to continuously move in order to gain its benefit. That’s immediately more player-action driven - it asks something of you. You have to think about positioning, momentum, and rhythm. That raises interesting questions… what does that look like in practice? How do you build around constant movement?

That’s a step in the right direction.

Where it falls short (in my view) is that the outcome is still just stat amplification - like most other items in the game. But imagine if maintaining movement for several seconds created a trail of fire or frost behind you. Suddenly it’s not just “boots with Stat A, B, C.” It becomes “the fire boots.” It changes how you control space. It creates identity for you AND the item itself.

That’s the difference I’m trying to highlight — items that alter combat behavior or battlefield dynamics, rather than just improving efficiency within the same framework

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I would rather get nothing, actual nothing, than most of the items we currently get.

The game gives you the dopamine hit with ‘ooo a shiny. It could be anything, maybe even a boat’. But having to sift through the dozens of items I get on a run makes my eyes glaze over leaves me unsatisfied.

This game is way better than PoE in this regard though, which is virtually unplayable without a loot filter.

Higher difficulty = more item drops is a pitfall games with randomly generated loot can fall into.

Perhaps a solution is predetermined loot, ala Elden Ring. Or maybe its eliminating gear drops and expanding the gem system.

What’s the most interesting item system you’ve in a game? Anyone is welcome to answer.

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Sorry i might have misunderstood your post @Teizo but could you add a bit more to your suggestions, its a bit vague as of now to understand what your exact suggestions is.

So add a bit more to your suggestions?
:innocent:

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Hey Askan, I’m happy to clarify further if that would help. I’m not sure if you saw the post a few replies above where I outlined the distinction I’m trying to make - specifically the difference between items reacting to player behavior versus simply synergizing with existing stats.

I used the Proud Lance as an example of something in game that leans in that direction. It asks something of the player - continuous movement - which is more behavior-driven. That said, as mentioned, it still ultimately resolves into stat increases or decreases that already exist elsewhere on gear. That distinction is really the core of what I’m trying to highlight.

I can give another hypothetical example.

As you know, there’s a series of Runes that allow you to throw your weapon. Any interaction between these Runes and your worn gear is effectively the same regardless of what you equip - the gear simply amplifies damage, triggers lifesteal, adds elemental scaling, etc etc. The outcome remains functionally identical, even if you swapped to something like the Slashing Spin Rune instead.

If you were designing with behavior in mind, you might instead see unique items that alter how Runes that throw behave. Maybe you find gloves that extend the range of the throw. Maybe boots that allow you to move while your weapon is mid-throw, letting you influence its trajectory (since you currently remain stationary). Or perhaps another item that causes the returning throw to pull enemies inward, setting up a sweeping aoe follow-up.

I’m not suggesting these exact ideas - just the concept. You can still have interchangeable enchantments using embers, and powerful legendaries. But alongside that, there should be a wealth of interesting drops that meaningfully alter how a Rune, weapon move-set, or spell functions - items that change how you approach combat, not just how efficiently you execute the same loop.

And if there were more items like that, their drops would feel genuinely exciting. It would be creatively rewarding to experiment with them and figure out how to make them work, rather than simply checking whether the numbers are slightly better than what you’re already wearing.

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Kind of how items build and work in Moba’s like Dota, HoN, LoL?
(ofc its not just moba’s who use it)
Anyways thank you for clarifying! :+1: