Wouldn't it be nice if instead of crafting hambats for every combat situtation there was a system that allowed for more weapon and armor diversity that encouraged experimentation and modification? The end game gear in the game is currently just sitting there going mostly unused in favor of mid-game gear. Here are my ideas to breathe a new life into them.
Weapon/Armor Sockets
The Thulecite suit and club can now be augmented with Metheus runes to enhance their properties. They can only hold one rune and the socket is permanent. Examples of runes are below:
Thulecite Suit Rune types: Rarity Level:
Hardy: +25% durability *
Unyielding: +10% damage reduction **
Torch-scarred: +10% fire heat damage reduction **
Frostbitten: +10% freeze damage reduction **
Shadowguard: +25% shadow monster damage reduction ***
Blighted: +20% damage, -40% damage reduction ***
Thulecite Club Rune types:
Hardy: +25% durability *
Jagged: +10% damage **
Static-charged: +10% electric damage **
Flame-forged: +10% fire damage **
Vampiric: leeches 5 health on hit ***
Blighted: +15% damage, ***
can freeze enemies(1/3 effectiveness of ice staff),
-25% movement speed
*Notes: Note the Thulecite suit and club have sanity regen and movement speed perks respectively. In regards to the Blighted runes, the Blighted Thulecite suit is comparable to a grass suit in terms of damage reduction but provides additional damage, while the Blighted Thulecite club gives further increased damage and a freeze perk but removes the 10% movement speed perk while also reducing base movement speed by an additional 15%. The idea is risk vs reward. I also would like to mention that the Thulecite crown would not be socketable as its already a good item and body armor needs more love/a reason to use over headgear.
Weapon/Armor Repair
And of course, if so much time is going to be invested in acquiring these new runes there needs to be a way to repair weapons and armor., so a new structure called the forge can be crafted that allows for the repair of player-crafted armor and weapons with the exception of the Hambat. This structure would require a rare boss drop or resource called a forge ember as fuel with more durability repaired requiring more fuel and time.