Item Team Progress Report + Discussion

Hello Wynncraft Community! I have three topics to bring to you all today!

Armour Revamp Progress + More New Items!​

First, our progress on the next push has been going quite well! If you want to keep up with how the armour revamp has been going, the spreadsheet has been updating frequently and is now much more colourful! You can find it here. The new colour legend is as follows:

Gray: Not Done
Light Green: Was rebalanced before, but needs another look (Currently nothing!)
Dark Green: Done for this patch
Blue: Changes made but still being discussed and has not passed yet
Orange: Currently trying to figure out what to do with it
Purple: Current items I’m working on (Now this is currently rainbow!)

There are some new items you can find on the spreadsheet as well! Lots of love for Thunder/Water, it alone is getting five new armours.​

Quad Armour Concept?​

Secondly, I have an idea I would like to discuss with you all involving the potential of quad-elemental armour at endgame. This has already been attempted in the past with a couple items such as Paradox and All For One, but Paradox fell out of widespread use following the nerfs it got a while ago and never really played into what ETWF quad would benefit from, and All For One is held back by its shared gimmick with One For All. Looking at these and also the fact that we have a few items that lack a home among their current combos got me thinking about having one armour piece that is directly tailored to each of the five quad-element combos. Due to each quad containing four tri-element combos within itself, I wanted to allow these potential armours to be used with as many different hive pieces as possible, so here are the slots I ended up deciding on.

ETWF - Helmet. No matter what slot I chose, one hive armour would be left out, so I opted to leave out Obsidian-Framed Helmet due to how specific of an archetype Heavy Melee is. I felt it would benefit the least since the armour it has is already quite solid with multiple viable options in all armour slots and Cancelstack as a viable alternative way to use them as well.
This would most likely be a brand new item.

ETWA - Chestplate. This is an interesting choice and the most controversial of the five in my opinion, so let me explain. This could have been a pair of boots and wouldn’t overlap any of the hive armour it could use from that slot, but I felt this would create a push and pull with the design that would be much larger than the other four quad, torn between ETA’s tierstack and the other three tris’ being largely focused on spell. Rather than have it try and compete with Twilight-Gilded Cloak’s +2 tier and fail because it also has to have lots of spell focused identifications, I thought it would be better to just have this item work better with the other tris it contains.
This would most likely be a Bastille rework and potential rename.

ETFA - Leggings. This one is fairly obvious, as none of the four hive items for this quad are in the leggings slot.
This would most likely be a One For All rework and potential rename.

EWFA - Helmet. This one is also obvious, as none of the four hive items for this quad are in the helmet slot.
This would most likely be an All for One rework, potential rename, and armour slot change.

TWFA - Boots. Again, this quad is forced to overlap with one hive item, so I opted to go with it being in the same slot as Hephaestus-Forged Sabatons. TFA doesn’t care about intelligence at all, so having a quad item containing intelligence attempt to have good use with it I feel would be a futile effort when it could just be made to work much better with the other three tris.
This would most likely be a Paradox rework. Keeping the name for sure, it’s fantastic.

I’m not 100% sure if this is the best approach not only for these specific items but also just as a concept in general, so I want your thoughts! How would you enjoy seeing quad-elemental armours at endgame with more concise designs? Let us know what you think about the concept, the specific slots for each quad, the specific items being reworked, everything!​

A Few Rebalance Reveals!​

Finally, we have a few balance changes we want to show off that will be included in the next push. They aren’t yet in the running log, as this batch of changes isn’t quite done yet. Four confirmed changes: Buffs to Ornamental Plate and Conflagrate, and Reworks for Cardiac Arrest and Caesura, and two ideas we aren’t so sure on that we would like feedback or suggestions for on Changeling’s Chestplate. Please help, what do we do with this, Selvut is dying.
​

Spoiler: Ornamental Plate Buff

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Spoiler: Conflagrate Buff

Spoiler: Cardiac Arrest Rework

Spoiler: Caesura Rework

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Spoiler: Potential Concept Designs for Changeling's Chestplate (NOT CONFIRMED)

Thanks for reading, we hope to finish this up soon so we can update the running log and then get all of these big changes ingame for everyone to use.
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♡


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please help n,.e

 

Add Moyai Head you COWARDS

 

is that a potential papyrus replacement i see, also cardiac arrest rework looks nice
as for quad elemental stuff i feel it gets far too strict to have that many elements in one build if you aren't going rainbow, builds already feel kinda strict to me personally and having that reinforced more doesn't sound too fun to use

 

Would the exact changes to each item be stated in the near future?

 

My main goal is to finish the few remaining items on the spreadsheet that aren't done yet, coloured in orange or gray, as well as all of the tierstack armour and potentially rainbow as well. Once those are done, the log will be updated with how we changed every single item that was altered for the next item push. That's part of the reason we made this thread, some of these remaining items rely on if this quad-element idea is something the community thinks I should go forwards with or not.

 

imo quad-dedicated items are hard to approach because quad identities aren't very well established currently. etfa, for instance, readily supports non-melee archetypes via brainwash and spell cost reduction. this is unintuitive given that it carries every element but water. this isn't the be-all-and-end-all but it does make it difficult to create a quad-dedicated item that contributes to the quad combination.

but if it's fine at the conceptual level then i'm all for seeing some quad stuff in the item pool.

 

https://forums.wynncraft.com/thread...-larzlarzlarzlarzlarzlarzlarzlarzlarz.252363/
Quad being real thing

wtf

 

Quad sounds interesting. Difficult, too, but imo it's worth a try.

- Neat Ornamental Plate buff, puts it in range of comparable items. (TWA air in particular could benefit from it)
- Conflagrate looks... I don't know lol. Could see some niche usage in spell builds, hard to tell without building.
- Cardiac Arrest is pretty gamer
- Caesura getting the old Brainwash design is nice. I feel like the Dex req might hold it back but hard to tell without building.
- Very cool designs for Changeling's Chestplate. I'm partial to the former (with the caveat that imo the spell costs are too high) but both are neat.

 

More items with -skill cost would be nice. Currently, ETA doesn't have many spell cost items.

The phoenix crown damage nerf was a bit iffy because there other better helm now. The helmet was already underused. Could use some mana regen or spell cost on the helm.

But good seeing some progress on rainbow items.

The idea of one for all should be giving up other things solely for insane damage. The leggings should be a close contender to the sanctuary pants. As of right now, the damage is not worth it for the sp you lose (well this is tricky because depending on your build this sp can be critical).

As for the challenging's plate, the 2nd design seems too sp punishing for level 80. The first design might find some uses in the late game builds.

 

i would prefer first changeling's chestplate solely because it does not have base 2 mana regen.

cardiac arrest seems really nice. alkatraz spell ha hahh hah h ah hjhhah hah hah/

not sure when conflagrate would be used, probably could find some niche uses? maybe ignis?

caesura seems fun.

ornamental plate might let it compete with other stuff, i really hope that it will.

 

HOW????????????????????????????????


For the quads idea, it seems pretty much what'll be needed to give quad builds a chance to shine- any current quads are usually already made around not being hindered by the Master Hive item associated by that specific build, such as WTFA spell, ETWF/ETWA spell and ETFA tierstack/heavy melee, which all aren't really able to use their respective Master Hive items very effectively.

ETWA isn't really a commonly used quad and probably stuck to Dark Shroud with ETW items, so really anything works but helmet or chestplate slot seems the most logical due to excellent boots options, leggings being pretty solid (Dark Shroud, Elder Oak Roots, Dark Channeler, ..) and chestplate only really has Bete Noire (unless this Cardiac Arrest change happens) and helmets is really just Polyphemus (or any TW helmet because they probably all got buffed). Also, just give Bastille base 4 mana steal and call it a day, it's too cool to rework.
ETWF is actually a lot more common pure because of Cinderchain being so great and amazing to use. Pretty much the same options and possibilities as ETWA apply, except for the boots slot being a bit less solid and therefore probably an option too, especially considering Paradox' existence.
EWFA doesn't really have any reason to be used right now, considering EWF on its own is very effective and there aren't really any reasons to also go air other than maybe Virtuoso. There isn't really any slot that doesn't have nice options, but also nothing that has a clear gap, and I think that it strangely enough would work best on leggings as a power option considering most other slots have that covered pretty well, unlike leggings.
TWFA is really awkward, considering its power options are all in leggings and boots, but the sp/sustain options are all in chestplates and helmets. If Frenzied Mockery is also getting a nerf, boots slot probably ends up being the best option, but it's going to be a very annoying one.
ETFA is kind of weird in the sense that it already kind of exists with plenty of options, so any slot would make it a bit difficult. Still, considering this will end up either gimmick spell cost spell build or a tanky-ish tierstack build, I'd go with chestplate for the former and helmet for the latter.

You proabbly noticed I didn't really care about Master Hive item overlapping, because you really shouldn't- the whole point about quads is that you can take different items into an tri-element build that will be able to make up for the lack of the power of a Master Hive item (usually combined with Contrast) to either get unique offensive or defensiveness, so I consider filling out the blanks between said powerful items to be more important than attempting to work around the Master Hive items.

As for the rebalances,
Ornamental Plate: actually very good now, definitely worth picking up on a first playthrough and even using while leveling after that. Possibly even in a quad.
Conflagrate: Feels a little obvious, but at the same time so damn deserved. Also,
Cardiac Arrest: Too powerful. I recognize it's sucked for a long time and stood in Bete Noire's shadow, but just supplying it with both his amount of spell damage and spell costs with a very fair possibility for a quad courtesy of Dark Shroud makes this combination definitely too powerful. I'd say the "spell costs plus int buuuut ETW" works, but only if you snap the spell damage at least once, or make it elemental.
Ceasura: Return of revamp Brainwash at last

Changeling's Chestplate: what the fuck selvut who actually hurt you

These are both big ones. Very big and I do not like either. Let's start off with design #1.
First off, base -40 spell cost % is really damn cursed. It can get up to -52% (which would be really fucking powerful, like really insane), but it has a fun chance of about 6.5% of being able to fall into that "over half" spell cost tier. Keep in mind that on some classes you'd maybe like this on both 3rd and 2nd spell. The big penalty for such ridiculous spell costs is undoubtedly big negative spe- melee damage. Negative melee damage. Very big, yes, but it wouldn't be used on melee anyway. So it has base 25% spell damage which puts it in the top 5 spell damage % chestplates as a bonus. Fine, the negative mana might do something decent for the item, fair, but there's more than enough mana (steal) access even in lower int levels to just fuck shit up. Was Brainwash considering while making this item? Was TFA considered? Was, in any form, water builds considered for this Changeling's Chestplate? This has pretty much unparalled spam possiblities without any significant downsides, for the low low price of no requirements and Just Get Lucky On This Untradable Quest Item.

And yet somehow, design #2 misses even more. It's not as stupidly broken as design #1, and the concept is great, but the execution is not so much. The damage is probably too high even considering the skill points (although I'm aware Broken Balance does more for a smaller penalty, specific sp items like Cumulonimbus, Dark Shroud and Moontower do the funny), and it has a similar issue of rolls on an untradable quest item most people have thrown away. Base 2 mana is even more cursed than -40% spell cost, and it should really be illegal to put stuff like that on items like these. Either way, Selvut isn't the only one dying because of this item.

It's not even like Changeling's Chestplate needs to be incredibly unique- even if it kept the -sp (which would be very cool), it could really just be a generally useful item without very harsh rolls (as untradable quest rewards should be). It could maybe take something from each form of the Corpus Accipientis, maybe it could take something from each element, it could even just be a really good xp chestplate (although I swear someone said they wanted to keep Cosmic the generally best xp build?). Also, considering the "original" mob is a slime, consider jump height a real possibility.

 

You think the second Changeling's design is too powerful? If anything I'd say it's too weak, excepting the xp bonus (but xp bonus is really e right now anyway)

 

:DOOM:

 

Also I'm going to disagree with Bart on Cardiac Arrest - I think it's in a good spot. It's got quite nice spell costs, and while it isn't exactly lacking in damage, I'd note that it has similar damage to Beetle Aegis and Polyphemus. Meanwhile it has relatively restrictive requirements (though mitigated somewhat by spell cost, it is notably lacking a 1st spell cost), and that amount of -hpr can't just be brushed off as we did before the hpr buff - it's a significant hit. It's pretty much a mixed mana/damage piece with a tough hpr hit.

That said, I could see a good argument for bumping the 3rd spell cost to a less strong amount or even converting it to raw -1 cost, as that's the place where the design is most likely to cause issues.

 

oh me oh my, just what do we have here


quads: the main thing about quads is that it gets access to an additional skill point that most conventional hive armors dont. this, generally, is enough to meet the strength of builds using those hive armors. even if it isnt, hive accessories and weapons exist to give it the bump they need. i'd worry more about the design rather than the slot they're in.

ornamental plate: it's cool, and i have no idea why it was ever nerfed in the first place. the buff should do it justice.

conflagrate:
i called it
anyway, it seems pretty dang cool now--might not seem like much considering the nature of raw and % costs, but it can actually either further adjust thresholds along with dragon's eye, or totally replace dragon's eye if taking an offensive approach and the cost isnt needed. should put a bit more variety into those kind of builds.

cardiac arrest: based on testing, its strength seems just about right for etw, and massively too powerful for eta/etf/etfa. i absolutely love this design, but a necessary measure could possibly be minor -def/agi in an amount that restricts the usage of those elements, but doesnt downright block them out.

caesura: thanks for da elemental revamp brainwash !!!

changeling: i dont even want to talk about it

 

It definitely is too powerful, and I dunno why you're just shrugging off the xp like that, it's kind of a giant part of the item...

 

owo what's this



OWO
wait is this something i missed


ok jokes aside:

Quad designs feel so weak since you can't really lock them into an archetype,,, (which everyone already knows thanks to paradox being such a "safe" item) so it'll be fun how that's tackled. Giving them big centerpiece items is cool but I don't really see them committing to something heavily. Also defensive skill points are so absurd atm while offensive ones don't have the same impact so those quads are often stronger BUT there's no real reason to use them over a tri (or a few tris) in them that just work better

ETWA is probably the biggest example of this, anything that allows dark shroud is so free and even without it, items like Aquamarine and The Ephemeral just provide free sp and mana so this has a lot everything except ETA

• Ornamental: yep good change yep still probably not going to be popular yep
• conflagrate: still don't see this being used but I'm also known for making claims that end up being wrong!!
• cardiac arrest: hahaha can this get nerfed please this is like release time rift levels of absurd, probably even higher (maybe even virt level)
• caesura: this looks way too familiar... oh. meh.

ok onto the bad part

CHANGELING #1:
why is this so busted holy fk i do not want to talk about it, why does it get base -40% spellcosts AND XP AND DAMAGE

CHANGELING #2:
i get the idea but can yall chill on the -sp items? Skillpoints are way too janky and there are too many issues with negative sp for this to be something used for item themes.



haha necrosis about to get completely changed hahahaha
aquarius... rework? The existence of the item itself as mana slap is a massive issue but that's the entire identity so alsjdfliaejfsldfjiew

 

cardiac arrest