Blueprint rework

[gh0un]

The concept of the blueprint is a solid one, but the permanentness of it is what makes it so hard to balance weapons/economy/armors.
As is being stated in the "PvP weapon viability" thread, currently the avenger and the rocket launcher are the two superior weapon choices when it comes to pvp.
Sure you can tweak around numbers and whatnot, but that will only switch out the avenger/rocket launcher for the currently second best weapon option, making it the first best option.

I propose a blueprint system where the blueprints are not permanently usable, but instead they are limited to x amounts of uses:
1. Increase the spawnchance of blueprints in lockers dramatically
2. Limit their use to 1-15 uses, while the Bps with low amount of uses are more commonly found, and the Bps with a high amount of uses are more rare
3. Make strong weapon/armor blueprints spawn with way less use charges on them than on weaker weapon/armor blueprints.

What would this change accomplish?
The current economy for blueprints goes as follows: Find someone that has the blueprint you need for your faction: pay him caps. Alternatively find it yourself. Thats it as far as trading for blueprints goes. The economy for blueprints eventually dies. Everyone runs around in combat armor and avengers.

The new economy would go more like this: trade for blueprints all the time.
Run around in whatever best armor/weapon you can currently craft.
You might even have a blueprint for a Powerarmor mk2 with only 2 uses on it. You will be the king in the next battle, because not everyone will have that armor, AND you wont have it forever.
Go for a TC and encounter all kinds of weapons/armors, instead of the same old same old combat armor + avenger/launcher.

This also fixes the best weapon in pvp problem.
We can now have much better weapons/armors available per blueprint (we can even have blueprints for stuff like power armor with this system), but that does not mean that everyone can run around geared with that stuff.
The limited use mechanic prevents this from happening, and at the same time  creates an economy for blueprints.
Even if there is a BEST weapon or BEST armor, you cant just craft it. You might only have a few uses on the blueprint left.

Make stronger weapon/armor blueprints spawn with less "use charges" on it, and boom we have much more diversity in pvp and in the blueprint economy.

[3.14]

But there are people playing this game that have no life.  Even now someone out ther is puting his 732nd bosar into his 27th vertibird. Hard to get items are only hard to get if you play this game  like a normal person.

[gh0un]

But there are people playing this game that have no life.  Even now someone out ther is puting his 732nd bosar into his 27th vertibird. Hard to get items are only hard to get if you play this game  like a normal person.

Not a valid argument against a better system.
If that were a valid argument, then games like d2, d3, path of exile, (any kind of ARPG that utilizes an itemization system), would fail miserably.
People that play more will be rewarded more. Thats how it is and how it should be.
Sure im not the one that is going to be the one that is gonna play more and be rewarded more, but that does not mean that THAT is not the way how it is supposed to be.

[Imrin]

Blueprints serve very little purpose currently. I think we're agreed on this. I personally enjoy them, as hunting for them and trading for them is like a mini-game, even if it is mandatory. I don't think that justifies their existence and I would prefer they just be removed along with professions, as they both discourage PvP by limiting good equipment to people who have invested a great deal of time into the game. The community for FOnline: Reloaded is already small - it doesn't need to be split further by convoluted mechanics devised by the now-hopefully-defunct want-to-be-game-devs of FOnline: 2238. The special stats afforded to some crafted weapons are nice in that they add some variety to a PvP environment that's very focused on one or two particular weapons at any given time. I would keep that system.

With this personal position established, I'll comment on your suggestion.

I'll assess that your suggestion is, at its core, that limiting the availability of Blueprints would limit the availability of certain weapons. This is only true for craftable weapons. Avengers and rocket launchers may be very easily farmed for, so this change would only make it more difficult for them to be crafted. This would make the special stat system for weapons less used, which would be a shame. If blueprints weren't permanent, there would be a number of different ways to make them and the system surrounding them better, and some options wouldn't necessarily inhibit PvP, or impede on other mechanics.

1. Add a timelimit to the use of a blueprint. Use it, and you have x amount of time where you can craft that weapon. Timer starts upon consumption.
2. Blueprints, upon consumption, have a certain number of uses.
3. Blueprints must be kept in inventory to craft. This circulates blueprints more and encourages PvP. I prefer this and think that this is a good idea. Unfortunately, crafters who have already consumed blueprints do exist. Refunding their blueprints would work but the sheer number of them prevents this from being done manually. A script would need to be written specifically to add the item blueprints back to the inventory of those crafters with them already consumed which, while not really time consuming or difficult (essentially an if statement for every blueprint) it would make implementation a bit more difficult.
4. Blueprints in inventory have a certain number of uses. Like the above, this encourages PvP, but reduces blueprint circulation a bit. I predict that needing blueprints in-inventory will lead to them being frequently lost in unrecoverable encounters, which alone would reduce the circulation more than enough.

More frequent spawns of blueprints would be ideal even with #3. Provided that my prediction is well-founded, #4 would be redundant. Combining them would be ideal, where limited use blueprints would be for more powerful, meant-to-be-rare weapons and armor.

Limited use blueprints for items that are meant to be rare is a nice idea. I'm more interested in Combat Armor MK2, Enclave armor and Brotherhood armor being crafted with those limited use blueprints than I am power armor, though. There's no doubt that the broken economy will permit the wealthy to purchase a great deal of, say, Hardened Power Armor blueprints, and be mostly unbeatable, unless those blueprints would be just as or less available than the armor itself. Combat Armor MK2 is easily farmed (moreso than any other armor, I should note, which should be changed,) Enclave armor is not a huge upgrade from MK2, and Brotherhood armor, while generally the best non-power armor, is not such a huge step up that it would be a significant advantage in PvP, even if it is a good counter to gatling lasers. For weapons, the best would still be available to the wealthy at nearly all times, but this would help balance the economy, so this is fine to me. So long as the main advantage would be weapons like Gatling Lasers with +5% crit chance or something, anyway. Avengers should be a limited use blueprint, too, and maybe rocket launchers. This would certainly help diversify PvP, at least in the future. At implementation, there would be a surge of wealthy factions with a great deal of limited use blueprints but this supply would not last. Factions with a lot of TC would be more wealthy to purchase good equipment and blueprints but not so much that TC would provide such an insurmountable advantage so as to discourage PvP. In fact, it would encourage it, due to a lust for equipment that's currently depressingly and consistently sated.

[Imrin]

But there are people playing this game that have no life.  Even now someone out ther is puting his 732nd bosar into his 27th vertibird. Hard to get items are only hard to get if you play this game  like a normal person.

Not a valid argument against a better system.
If that were a valid argument, then games like d2, d3, path of exile, (any kind of ARPG that utilizes an itemization system), would fail miserably.
People that play more will be rewarded more. Thats how it is and how it should be.
Sure im not the one that is going to be the one that is gonna play more and be rewarded more, but that does not mean that THAT is not the way how it is supposed to be.

PvP is so encouraged in this that there are few to no other games that can be compared to FOnline: Reloaded. Many iterations of FOnline have been reduced to a single prevailing faction such that the game quickly becomes a "Win the wipe" gametype instead of a continuous game. Where that's the case, anything not conductive to "Winning the wipe" is discouraged. That's frustrating, as it reduces the practicality of quests and other content unless it contributes to winning.

I'll add that the "Win the wipe" gametype is terrible and not fun. No one likes it but unless you win it you can't enjoy the enjoyable parts of the game, of which there are few because far more effort is put into trying to make "Winning" more difficult instead of into actually content, which would be actually enjoyable to make, suggestions about which wouldn't be 90% garbage.

A PvP environment that does not permit insurmountable advantage to players who play non-stop is ideal. Private mines are one mechanic that makes great strides to permit all players to PvP, even if they do need improved a bit. More like that is good. Limited use blueprints would be a nice spice to the game but unless used sparingly it would only impede upon what enjoyable content does exist. I'm still for the idea of limited limited use BPs and needing BPs in inventory to craft, though. The riskiness of it would implicitly discourage crafting but without testing it there's not much way to know if it would work as intended.

[Flre]

Hell no, i'll instaquit from server if this will be introduced, and probably not only me. Go play *hm-hm* MK II if you want this system.