Weapon durability is a mechanic that is universally hated in all games, especially because is Often implemented only because it’s a trope, without any benefit to the game (and is often justified as “realism”).
There are exceptions to this
In Minecraft, breaking your tools to build new ones is part of the game loop, similar to Zelda: BotWar & TotK, breaking weapons and finding new ones by stealing them from enemies is part of the game’s progression (and in these games too, although the presence of the mechanic is justified, it’s still not appreciated by players).
The only game I know where this mechanic is appreciated is Lies of P, where the weapon loses its edge and can be sharpened during combat (there’s even a power-up that allows you to deal significantly more damage when your weapon is fully sharpened), so essentially in Lies of P, sharpening is a combat mechanic.
In most games every time you hit something with a tool or weapon it loses durability and then needs to be repaired by the blacksmith or at a rest point, This system punishes you by making you waste time and sometimes resources just because you play the game.
The system of weapon Durability in NRFTW at first impression it seems the same, it’s more complicated than that.
Tools like pickaxes, shovels, fishing rods, and axes wear out every time you use them and every time you die. Which is useless and tedious, Tools should not have durability.
But Equipment like weapons, armor & shields only lose durability only when you die, which is actually an interesting system that has a couple of implications:
The first is that every time you die you lose a little bit of money because you need money to repair the Equipment.
The second one is that if you die often you have to take a break.
This system is better than the usual durability system because you are not punished for playing the game but for the mistakes you make.
Also making the player take a break when he dies a lot seems a good idea from a game design point of view, however, that it is a pause that is experienced as a frustrating punishment and not as an opportunity to calm down after the frustration of dying.
The system can be improved and I have some ideas on how to do so:
Summary of The Problems:
- Many people have misunderstood the function of the mechanic, taking for granted that it works like in other games (Negative association weapon with Durability and similar mechanics in other games and in fact). The fact that Tools and equipment have two different systems makes it easyer to misunderstand.
- The only function of this system is to provide a punishment for death and a break when too many deaths occur in a row, but the break is experienced negatively by the player, and the punishment feels too disconnected.
- Players who are not skilled end up being punished even in the long run as they have to send money to the blacksmith, thus making the game slightly more difficult for the non-skilled players and easier for the skilled players.
My idea is that durability is removed and a “tiredness” bar is implemented in its place.
This is an empty bar that fills up upon dying.
Passing a certain amount of time without dying causes it to slowly empty.
When it fills up completely, the character becomes tired and his attacks will deal less damage (not too dramatic, something between 10%-25% reduced damage).
Beds empty the bar, special beds increase the size of the bar (allowing you to die more times before the bar fills up) and still give buffs, but instead of being timed they disappear only after the bar is filled to a third, thus allowing you to keep the buff longer if you don’t die too much.
I think that in this way, dying and having to return to Sacrament to take a break seems like a better experience, also because it is clear that it is a direct consequence of for having died many times, and resting still gives you a buff, you do not have to spend money, you have to return less often because you do not need to repair the tools every time you collect resources, the bed and the chests where you put the things are both in your house or in the Rookery, also seeing the character resting makes it more clear for the player that having to return to Sacrament is an opportunity to take a break and not just as a punishment, and also the damage nerf is not so high that you need to return immediately the player can also decide to stay until he fills the inventory.
Obviously given the new mechanics things like the position of the beds and when you find the good beds have to be need to be better positioned within the progression of the game given the current situation where you have to find the blueprints with the RNG.
In particular There needs to be a temporary bed (maybe in a tent) somewhere in the starting area in case someone dies a lot against Warwick, or the player could start without this bar, and the bar is only introduced after you rest in the Rookery (and the beds in the Rookery should be usable).
My idea is inspired by the fact that beds are almost useless and that even after you find the most comfortable beds that give very strong buffs it doesn’t feel particularly natural to use them.
What do you think?
