In Wolcen there was until a few days ago the possibility to get absurdly powerful items through crafting. Players could upgrade “Unique Items” and give them up to 12 properties. But Wolcen has stopped that.
This was the method: In Wolcen there are unique items, the “Uniques”, among them are about 24 weapons. These items have fixed values and are only moderate in the values. However, they bring gimmicks and changes to the gameplay when equipped.
Actually, uniques currently don’t play a big role in Wolcen. Most unique items are considered “too weak”, their base values are too low.
In the endgame of Wolcen, players can unlock the “Dark Smith”, which involves some grind and effort. He can upgrade “rare” items (yellow items with 4 properties) to legendary items (red items with 6 properties).
Players discovered that it was possible to downgrade “unique” items to legendary items with the mechanic.
Legendary Items with 12 Properties
This was the result: With this method resulted in “Over-Legendaries”: These were items with up to 12 blue properties. Normally, even the best legendary items in Wolcen only have 6 blue properties.
The items retained their name and the lore text of the unique original item, but were displayed as legendary. These Uber-items in Wolcen could be socketed and further modified.
At first glance, the items looked “broken”, they seemed way too strong and exaggerated in relation to everything else in the game.
With the method it was possible to refine, customize, and enhance unique items with further crafting – an option that has not appeared in action RPGs before. This made crafting in Wolcen unique, where it has so many similarities with Diablo 3.
This is what happened: Wolcen has temporarily removed the option in the update last week. But the team has stated that they understand how much players enjoy tinkering with unique items.
They are not against bringing crafting back to unique items, but they want to implement it only when the system works.
Until then, they want to introduce stronger unique items to the game that feature higher “pure values”.
Players feel: Wolcen takes away everything that is fun
This is the reaction: The reaction is mixed:
- The possibility to change uniques through crafting is seen as very interesting and as something that distinguished Wolcen.
- However, it is also generally agreed that too strong items resulted and that it was logical that crafting was not planned that way.
However, the news comes at an unfortunate time. The mood is currently quite low on reddit because some things that were very strong and overpowered in Wolcen in recent weeks have now been toned down. Players feel that the developers do not want them to have fun. Where they previously rushed effortlessly through expeditions, they now have to struggle through. This dampens the mood.
