This shows how poorly designed the game is (when systems are slapped onto an already flawed core). All the adventure mode systems that they stitched together is exposing just how poor this code is. It used to be worse back during beta when one could get power leveled AFK’ing in town while others were completing bounties.
But this exemplifies how out of whack the experience still is in certain rifts (this one being the rare cow rift) where leveling is completing trivialized. I mean, why even bother having 1-69 to begin with when that can be accomplished in as little as a minute or in less efficient cases, under half-an-hour (as is the case being power leveled through most other rifts).
Again, the root issue is that 1-69 is for all intent purpose, useless. Low level legendary items are useful for only a few levels because their stats do not scale. The game also provides no ways for these items to have more than this initial limited use. The game only begins at level cap because it’s level 70 items or bust. That’s the core design they went with which is in contrast to D1, D2, Torchlight, Path of Exile.
Wyatt Cheng recently posed a question about how they could make leveling more appealing including throwing an idea of having some sort of system where low level items can grow with a character.
Seriously, in the design they went with, this should’ve been a given. Say you find a Thunderfury at level 48. In the current design, once you hit level 60, that Thunderfury is trash. The game’s design should’ve allowed the power of ones item, to gain experience with the player so long as it is used and equipped by the character being played. But that is easier said than done because you’ll want to ensure that the XP mechanism for items cannot be abused in the above manner. That means having a completely separate system that has been thoroughly tested
And there would also have to be organic limits such that finding an actual higher level one, is going to have a better range of stats compared to one that was found at lower level. The same would apply to a max level legendary that can also continue to grow in power, but will never have the BiS rolls if you find an ancient version of that item.
But I wouldn’t even stop there. One should be able to “re-forge” a regular legendary item into an ancient version but at what would represent a significant cost in terms of gold, gems, crafting materials (not just forgotten souls), and making the rest of the game world matter. By this, I mean having world events that players encounter by clearing out zones (regardless of whether there is a bounty or not). Those events would drop “artifacts” that are required as part of the “re-forging”.
I personally would not resort to a designer BS infested system that tries to create some “meaningful” choice or makes these artifacts rare drops. The “to the point” reasoning for these artifacts is for players to slay monsters out in the rest of the world (besides bounty and rifts). There wouldn’t be multiple type of artifacts; just one. And depending on the item that you are re-forging, may require a lot of them as part of the overall sink involved to turn a legendary item, into an ancient version. “A lot” doesn’t also mean masochistic levels; I’m talking reasonably achievable ones.
The point is to give players some other variety in playing the game without layers of RNG getting in the way of the process. What it provides is a general sink for gold, gems, crafting materials, and playing the game in general. True, while doing this, an actual ancient version of the item may actually drop. Great. But that doesn’t mean the players time was wasted. All of that farmed stuff can be potentially used for any other legendary item.
Unfortunately, at least one or more individuals on the D3 design team has a thing for tedious and masochistic designs that are anything but fun and rewarding. So I don’t expect any sort of decent changes in this area of the game.
