Enchanting in DST

[HowlVoid]

Hello everyone I'm new to the forums and I wanted to talk about something I've been thinking about, enchanting.

Unfortunately, enchanting is kind of a dirty word and some will automatically assume I'm trying to force a mechanic from another game into DST; I'm not. I do agree that the word itself does not fit and we can call it a more appropriate name such as moon/shadow tinting, dark/light infusion, insanity/enlightenment influenced, etc, in order to fit the lore. Anyways, the name itself has little importance and what I want to talk about is the intention behind the mechanic itself and how it can revolutionize the end game as we know it.

Why enchanting?

There is a couple reasons why the mechanic is a good fit for don't starve together that is mainly attributed to the main core components already present in DST.

Firstly, enchanting adds variety when there is a small amount of applicable components without subjecting them to power creep. A good system isn't just going to provide straight power increases but add flexibility and fun effects to the already available tools, weapons and armor.  The goal isn't necessarily to create a whole new meta, in fact, enchanting doesn't need to add to the meta at all. From a hambat whose damage beings to increase again after reaching the stale threshold, to rewarding your continuous use of flint tools (maybe you like a skin?) With a simple enchantment that makes them fun and not such an obvious downgrade to golden tools, or adding use to something like the pick/axe which is somewhat expensive and not very unique.

Speaking of skins, they would compliment an enchanting system quite well. You could have 3 versions of your favorite weapon all using different skins and enchantments while maintaining some difference from each other. 

What can Enchanting potentially help with?

A surprisingly large amount of things can be rounded out without sacrificing the current flow of the game.

1. Characters that feel could of been given a bit more love or weren't given the specialized perk they deserve. 

Example: A dark infused fire staff that is far more destructive and has a black flame that jumps even further when spreading, including the characters themselves. (Potentially good synergy with Willow if it wasn't obvious).

A light infused fire staff that does less damage with a blue flame that doesn't spread or burn items.

A dark infused battle spear that increases Wigfrid's damage based on how much "overflow" healing she receives. 

A light infuses battle spear that helps retain inspiration when held and helps gain more inspiration when attacking.

2. Avoid having to rework an item that already has a place in the games progression. Pick/axe, thulecite armor, thulecite club, etc are items that don't necessarily need a complete rework but are also not coveted items due to wanting those materials for other similar items with additional effects/more practicality. Klei can't just buff thulecite armor where its greater than the crown as it will just create the opposite problem and its power is already great for semi-early armor. With enchanting  being an end game mechanic (perhaps using a fully powered celestial orb and a shadow thurible at an enchanting table) Klei can give these items unique and powerful effects without effecting the power balance in the early to mid game. 

3. Avoids an oversaturation of tools, weapons, armor in the game from having to be implemented into the game 

There have been quite a few people who have suggested wanting more verity in the game. There really isn't that many weapons that have an every day purpose or ease of obtainment. Yeah you can use a morning star on a wet Bee queen, but let me tell you I have had said be bee queen dry out mid battle, late spring and its not fun. I would much rather prefer a full damage morning star that has a down side as a side effect. Slap on a skin on that sucker and you can have a weapon that feels and plays differently.

Anyways, I'm not too invested in this idea just something to think about. Since every implementation of a new item takes so much time and thought (on klei's part) on where it fits in the current meta why not instead make a mechanic that makes everything viable? Even if its only to justify someone's niche use of that item. 

Tl;dr Enchating is a mechanic that avoids an oversaturation of items, power creep and can potentially make forgettable items viable in the end game. Enchanting doesn't necessarily need to make an item meta viable but it can make it more fun and rewarding, especially for those that use niche items like Wes using the thulecite club (enchating increses chance at tentacle spawning and the cost of higher sanity drain?) Or those that use an item just because they like a skin. Enchanting being a very end game mechanic also adds variety without disturbing the current flow of progression found in the game (OP spear lets goooooooo, at least so I can justify the 8 skins I have for it).

[Owlrust]

12 minutes ago, HowlVoid said:

Hello everyone I'm new to the forums

But...you're a senior member with 1600+ posts.

[HowlVoid]

35 minutes ago, Owlrus said:

But...you're a senior member with 1600+ posts.

I'm shy :B and I don't want to be verbally assulted.

[Wardin25]

i think that enchanting works in most other games because tools and weapons in them are practicslly infinite, while in dst tools are particularly breakable, so unless is relativey cheap and easy to mass produce (or applied to something im too not creative to think about), it wouldnt work

 

[Mike23Ua]

Not so sure about enchanting, but.. being able to upgrade Spears so the many skins I have for them don’t go to waste would be nice.

[Echsrick]

i fell like this could be a new character in a way its sounding like it could work that way

[HowlVoid]

1 hour ago, Wardin25 said:

i think that enchanting works in most other games because tools and weapons in them are practicslly infinite, while in dst tools are particularly breakable, so unless is relativey cheap and easy to mass produce (or applied to something im too not creative to think about), it wouldnt work

 

Yeah I was thinking it could just take some shadow fuel and moon shards (I have a bunch of these now thanks to the celestial guardian). 

Environmental conditions would be the balanced behind the more powerful enchantments such as under a certain phase of the moon (or all), during a certain season (or all), time of day, weather condition, while on the ocean, underground or aboveground, etc. There are games that have enchantments and durability and this is usually how they go about it.

After all, you only unlock this after killing fuel weaver and the celestial champion and both provide the necessary components or a way to facilitate farming for them. The enchanting table should be deployable anywhere for easy access and convenience. Maybe the enchantment for flint tools can be "unbreakable" while draining sanity or absorbing 1 hunger per use. There are a lot of possibilities that could make it worth while and its only really hampered by how imaginative the devs at Klei can be. 

Oh, and gold tools could have a midas effect that turns resources to gold and/or a greed effect that causes resources to drop more items. 

[Baark0]

Thulecite suits have the same durability as crowns per thulecite chunk, and since suits cost the same amount of nightmare fuel as crowns, suits are actually more nightmare fuel efficient than crowns

[HowlVoid]

16 minutes ago, Baark0 said:

Thulecite suits have the same durability as crowns per thulecite chunk, and since suits cost the same amount of nightmare fuel as crowns, suits are actually more nightmare fuel efficient than crowns

Shadow fuel is very cheap in the ruins as there are a lot of enemies that drop it. People prefer the crowns because they are more thelucite efficient. 

[Baark0]

1 hour ago, HowlVoid said:

Shadow fuel is very cheap in the ruins as there are a lot of enemies that drop it. People prefer the crowns because they are more thelucite efficient. 

A Crown has 840 durability while a suit has 1260.

840 / 4 (pieces of thulecite) = 210

1260 / 6 = 210

1 piece of thulecite is worth 210 points of armour durability, so the only difference between the 2 is the forcefield on the crown, the sanity regen on the suit, and which body slot they go into. Neither is more thulecite efficient than the other, only the suit is more efficient for nightmare fuel.

[HowlVoid]

27 minutes ago, Baark0 said:

A Crown has 840 durability while a suit has 1260.

840 / 4 (pieces of thulecite) = 210

1260 / 6 = 210

1 piece of thulecite is worth 210 points of armour durability, so the only difference between the 2 is the forcefield on the crown, the sanity regen on the suit, and which body slot they go into. Neither is more thulecite efficient than the other, only the suit is more efficient for nightmare fuel.

Oh you're right! Still the shield makes a very big significance as there are better sanity restorative methods that don't involve giving up your chest slot. 

I accidently said something accurate in my main post about Klei being unable to make the chest stronger and upsetting the balance of power between the suit and crown. I wasn't aware they had the same thulecite to defence ratio, so they really cant buff it without giving it the same barrier effect/or similar. I think this strengthens my argument about enchatments.

[Gi-Go]

I'm down for litteraly anything moon related. RoT provides 4 crafting stations for 2 items, and only 1 boss drop. 

As for dark enchantment... dosen't feel quite right since fire staff and ruins gear are kinda already infused with nightmare fuel. 

[HellHeater]

2 hours ago, Gi-Go said:

I'm down for litteraly anything moon related. RoT provides 4 crafting stations for 2 items, and only 1 boss drop. 

As for dark enchantment... dosen't feel quite right since fire staff and ruins gear are kinda already infused with nightmare fuel. 

ancient people in caves got cottupt with nightmare fuel 

why shouldnt we too

[Capybara007]

7 hours ago, Dr.Medic said:

i fell like this could be a new character in a way its sounding like it could work that way

Please not more character needed mechanics.

[sudoku]

I suggested something similar a long time ago with ruins gear having socket slots where you could place gems in them and gain different bonuses depending on the gem. 

Id like to see some sort of enchantment/socket system, specifically for ruins gear as it gives an incentive to using them instead of hambats and darkswords which get spammed 90℅ of the time. Plus ruins gear makes the most sense to upgrade/enchant than say a peice of meat.

[marioespinho]

I don't dislike your suggestion, but i think i would rather have more items, useable by all characters but with more dynamic properties.

Static upgrades tend to lead to a new meta, simply because in the end, there will always something stronger than everything else, making most players gravitate to the new best. 

I would prefer something dynamic, playing around day/night ou moon phases.

Example: a weapon that scales damage further into the night, that reaches max dmg in the dark but dealing less when day comes in. You would have "the best weapon" but if you let the fight drag too long and you lose that edge.

Would be great for winters but sub-optimal in summer due to short nights.

 

 

[SecretPizzaMan]

10 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

Not so sure about enchanting, but.. being able to upgrade Spears so the many skins I have for them don’t go to waste would be nice.

Okay, hear me out. I've never felt like my spear skins were wasted cause I have a 80% chance that I'm holding a spear instead of a dark sword, idk why it might have something to do with my inventory being occupied by like a stack of grass and twigs and flint being everywhere cause I needed to make a razor that one time and then dropped 38 flint next to a tree in the deciduous.

2 hours ago, Capybara007 said:

Please not more character needed mechanics.

I swear if klei adds more characters I'm going to start playing split screen solo cause I'd be missing out if I didn't.

[Capybara007]

43 minutes ago, SecretPizzaMan said:

I swear if klei adds more characters I'm going to start playing split screen solo cause I'd be missing out if I didn't.

I think wanda will be the last character, at least for a while

[Echsrick]

4 hours ago, Capybara007 said:

Please not more character needed mechanics.

seems kind of empty whit those 2 places empty dont you think? so i say 2 more characters will come

[Milordo]

1 minute ago, Dr.Medic said:

seems kind of empty whit those 2 places empty dont you think? so i say 2 more characters will come

Don't forget about random! Hands down, Random is the best character, i'm playing with it so much in the last period.

[Starlogy]

13 hours ago, Owlrus said:

But...you're a senior member with 1600+ posts.

They technically haven't been here for a year yet, so I can let it slide for now.

You can use that excuse for about 7 more days, @HowlVoid.

[Echsrick]

2 hours ago, Milordo said:

Don't forget about random! Hands down, Random is the best character, i'm playing with it so much in the last period.

 
this can totaly work whit 2 more characters if random is placed like this so theres that alsol you may or may not know it but technicaly even more could happen because you can scroll the character select screen if you have an abnormal amount of character mods that is so technicaly it could possible happen that the list would be even more

[SecretPizzaMan]

15 hours ago, Dr.Medic said:

 
this can totaly work whit 2 more characters if random is placed like this so theres that alsol you may or may not know it but technicaly even more could happen because you can scroll the character select screen if you have an abnormal amount of character mods that is so technicaly it could possible happen that the list would be even more.

Finally, I've weaved the 169th character, including Wolfgang's little brother Wolf. I'm unstoppable.

15 hours ago, Dr.Medic said:

 
this can totaly work whit 2 more characters if random is placed like this so theres that alsol you may or may not know it but technicaly even more could happen because you can scroll the character select screen if you have an abnormal amount of character mods that is so technicaly it could possible happen that the list would be even more.

Finally, I've weaved the 169th character, including Wolfgang's little brother Wolf. I'm unstoppable.

[Fuffles]

On 10/9/2021 at 3:43 AM, Wardin25 said:

i think that enchanting works in most other games because tools and weapons in them are practicslly infinite, while in dst tools are particularly breakable, so unless is relativey cheap and easy to mass produce (or applied to something im too not creative to think about), it wouldnt work

Laughs in Lucy ifer

[Maxposting]

On 10/9/2021 at 3:04 AM, Owlrus said:

But...you're a senior member with 1600+ posts.

Some people here are still new despite everything.