Every now and then a question gets dropped on the GD reddit/discord about what sorts of “chase items” the game has (a GGG term for PoE itemization), and the answer is that we don’t really have any. It’s against the philosophy Crate has taken with Grim Dawn’s scope of items. A given item in a given slot should be of relative power to any other item available in that slot, source or rarity not considered.
And this also goes hand-in-hand with the approach to character building in Grim Dawn as a whole. GD characters should be able to be finished in a “reasonable” span of time. This is why you can go from 1-levelcap in ~5 hours unlike PoE or TQ, where you’re more likely to measure the journey in days or weeks of playtime. This is also why Alkamos rings have seen as many complaints over the years as they have, because they go against this philosophy.
So again, I’d ask: what would the value-add be of introducing “jackpot rarity” items to the game?
the value is the jackpot sensation
it’s also why part of my suggestion have specifically been maybe they shouldn’t be “normal” items in the terms of that “slot power”/utilization
Issue might then still be, niche novel or meme there might be short time/rng reluctant players that will desire them regardless, but if nothing else it alteast prevents the regular build completion interaction
Which I immediately explained why that’s a bad thing.
Unless your jackpot items are joke items such as (Miss) Gazer Man, in which case it’d hardly feel like a jackpot to get one of these from a random drop.
But if your jackpot items are stronger than the average by design, the desirability of those items creates an antithetical (and in my opinion toxic) situation relative to the rest of Grim Dawn’s equipment.
And lastly, if your jackpot items are exactly average or otherwise not particularly desirable…why are they jackpot items?
rarity… knowing you got something rare can be nice… also even if it’s not build defining or mindblowingly strong
example from WoW could be pirate hat, non combat pets or cosmetic mounts
we still went bazunga for those, (some of us), and either chased them or just felt awesome if you happened to get it “on the way”
for GD i used 3 specific examples, poop pants/puke helmet and pets… it really shouldn’t be that complicated as it’s turned into i feel? but somehow is its own debate now
i’m specifically not talking about having ex ravager helm, or another alkamos ring, be the jackpot item(s), because that would be bad
But having something nice or cool or fun that is rare/“it’s own thing”/tier doesn’t have to fall in the same category, while it can then still be cool that it is rare. Not unuseable, but just useable enough, without being mandatory…
Briarthorn/“pet transmogs”, totally not game/build defining, but might add some enjoyment to some, etc
Lol, just got a Touch of Anguish myself while doing the Outcast quest in Steps of Torment. And same, i only got one Touch of Dread, while i have like five or six Touch of Anguish.
I think the “too generous” thing doesn’t seem that way to new players, especially when there is no other way to get items (yes trade and modding exist). More then anything, without knowledge, they have item choice paralysis instead so they end up keeping everything.
A good item manipulation system is sorely needed IMO. I know it’s coming, but to what extent?
I wish other things were implemented too but I am sure they can’t be due to engine limitations or developmental vision.
If Crate’s philosophy on chase items stays the way it is, I would suggest involved crafting for “chase” items to be a thing. Not at the level of say Chronicon where you can have an item with all stats you want at max by just throwing enough mats at it…nor the convoluted extent at which PoE1 is…but something more in between with Crate’s vision/philosophy.
Something that just popped into my mind would be like sacrificing a full Targo’s set and taking the hammer proc skill and slamming it in a helmet or something. Or wanting Pyran’s granted skill as a filler skill and placing it in my MH. You can adjust numbers as needed but that would be really exciting to craft.
Man, how I would LOVE these drop chances for the stuff I’m usually farming for Almost always one specific rare affix on an MI, and the chances of that dropping are usually like 0,48%(still need that stupid Gollus ring of Fallen Skies ), 0,38%, 0,2%, down to 0,02%(Infiltrator’s prefix on a Lagoth’Aks bloodbinding medal, I instantly gave up on that one after finding out the chance is that ridiculously low ). So 50 runs on average would be a dream to me tbh(even if the way to the boss is as long as in SoT), made like 500 Gollus runs over the course of the last month or so, just gets frusttrating at some point, so I really am looking forward to the transmutation system. Getting 20 times “of the Winter Storm”(which has the exact same chance I assume) and 0 “of Fallen Skies” is just not fun in the long run…
Yeah it’s not a cold/lightning MI so there is no chance to drop those affixes.
Any prefix + of the Winter Storm" seems to be 1.72%, any prefix + “of Fallen Skies” 0.48%, so at least what you saw makes some sense. At this point you’ll have to use two Starfires.
Yeah I know it can’t roll on belts, amulets and medals, rings would be new to me though. But would explain why I just can’t get it to drop. Welp, 2 Starfires it is. I wish Grimtools would update that, pretty frustrating to have farmed it for so long bc it says in their database it can be on rings. But on the other hand I’ve collected a LOT of Gollus rings with very useful affix combinations to use for a lot of builds
And more on the general topic: I really like the weighted affix change in most cases, BUT when you are making a more niche build and need/want an affix on a MI that is outside of the preferred ones it makes the chances to get that much, much smaller, and I just love to play around with damage conversions, and so I keep running into this problem. So I really hope the new affix transmutation system will help with that.
A lesson can also be learned from the GDStashing “elite builder” crowd - a design-test-design-test feedback loop can also form the basis for an endgame. This can be enabled by making a very large variety of items available and letting the player easily acquire them. Then the player can spend his time not grinding for items but experimenting with different setups and testing them against various challenges. In other words, provide a large solution space and let the player explore it.
i checked modal’s sheet, and it lists of fallen skies for rings too
i wonder what that means since i recall Modal’s had other entries corrected that was mistaken on GT
it does list it mega low tho, even for a regular magick+rare combo, on what would seem like a biased ring, 0.035% for best case scenario, which is kinda out there, considering normal stuff is way higher, like living ring of destruction/squalls is 0.7+%
maybe there is more to it that warrants further investigation (elsewhere, this thread is like 30% of fallen skies now )
.edit, since i thought 0.7 sounded low for highest bias too i found i got weird results on other items that i knew was incorrect, nothing ever going higher than 1%, so i’ve no clue even if the .7% is accurate either now
This is one of the most interesting topic I’ve ever read in a game’s forum and I really appreciate the fact that the conversation is polite, despite the difference of opinions. A rarity these days. Like this game.
Almost always one specific rare affix on an MI, and the chances of that dropping are usually like 0,48%(still need that stupid Gollus ring of Fallen Skies 
), 0,38%, 0,2%, down to 0,02%(Infiltrator’s prefix on a Lagoth’Aks bloodbinding medal, I instantly gave up on that one after finding out the chance is that ridiculously low 
). So 50 runs on average would be a dream to me tbh(even if the way to the boss is as long as in SoT), made like 500 Gollus runs over the course of the last month or so, just gets frusttrating at some point, so I really am looking forward to the transmutation system. Getting 20 times “of the Winter Storm”(which has the exact same chance I assume) and 0 “of Fallen Skies” is just not fun in the long run…
