First of all, I am NOT saying that it is a bad mechanic.
However, Majority of aRPGs that I play and enjoy rely on grinding mechanics to obtain good loot. And this tradition has existed for so long that it has own nuances that game devs add to it to make it more interesting. For instance, “set” system where you grind for “set” items to get more bonuses that you otherwise gain from individual items.
What I am trying to ask here is what is your attitude towards following loot system:
What if all items can have affixes that are not only “magical” and “rare”, but also “epic” and “legendary”. And what you can do is combine these affixes from different items into one (Moving affixes from item to item by replacing desired affix and destroying the donor in the process).
By doing that what you get is a HIGHLY customization loot system. Unfortunately, you lose out on the “set” mechanic.
Question number two is how do you imagine that system will work, can it be enjoyable to play and is there a way to add “set” nuance to this loot mechanic.