0. What is the point of white item merchants? 08/07/2007 01:30:45 PM PDT
Just something I was wondering about, what's the point of all the common quality weapons and armor?
Are they just there so players always have a way to train weapon skills with various types of weapons, independent of what's up on the AH?
Are the common quality weapons and armor a baseline from which greens, blues, and epics are based on?
Are they what classes wear when you do balance testing?
Are they just there to make the world seem more real? (In that an armor shop does, in fact, sell armor, just not any armor you would want to use.)
Why should you get to play the Scourge campaign without completing the Human campaign 400 times on Easy? You just want to experience all the content without investing any time.
2. Re: What is the point of white item merchants 08/07/2007 01:37:34 PM PDT
I would like a blue response, I lie awake at night thinking about this.
Why should you get to play the Scourge campaign without completing the Human campaign 400 times on Easy? You just want to experience all the content without investing any time.
6. Re: What is the point of white item merchants 08/07/2007 02:58:47 PM PDT
I do not imagine the weapons and armor sold by most vendors are meant to add anything other than a sense of flavor to the game itself, much as Griftah and his trinkets of overpricedness. Once in a while though, common vendors that offer repair services through out the world will sell items of green quality on a limited bases. A thrifty buyer may be able to find a piece of gear if they are lucky.
7. Re: What is the point of white item merchants 08/07/2007 02:59:00 PM PDT
White items are generally used as an inexpensive way of working up a weapon skill by some players since the dps is lower than a higher quality item. So, you can whack on a mob for longer and get more skill out if it than ripping through all the mobs in an area with a blue or purple item.
Some people like to buy some of the merchant items just to have them for flavor too.
There is a method to the madness for item quality and what is referred to as an item budget. Better quality items have a higher budget so often have a few more stat points available to them.
As far as internal balance testing goes, it depends on what the QA team is testing for. Generally we're looking at what we think players should be using or have available to them for a particular encounter or what we want the difficulty level of an encounter to be with certain itemization available.
He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.
- Douglas Adams
13. Re: What is the point of white item merchants 08/07/2007 03:02:48 PM PDT
Q u o t e: I do not imagine the weapons and armor sold by most vendors are meant to add anything other than a sense of flavor to the game itself, much as Griftah and his trinkets of overpricedness. Once in a while though, common vendors that offer repair services through out the world will sell items of green quality on a limited bases. A thrifty buyer may be able to find a piece of gear if they are lucky.
The Griftah is gone in the PTR....He has been arrested and some Scyer is collecting evidence in his tent.
and as for your sig....The Doctor wouldn't approve!
14. Re: What is the point of white item merchants 08/07/2007 03:05:06 PM PDT
Q u o t e: There is a method to the madness for item quality and what is referred to as an item budget. Better quality items have a higher budget so often have a few more stat points available to them.
As far as internal balance testing goes, it depends on what the QA team is testing for. Generally we're looking at what we think players should be using or have available to them for a particular encounter or what we want the difficulty level of an encounter to be with certain itemization available.
To elaborate on this point, the amount of stats on an item and the DPS a weapon provides is determined through a series of formulas that are expounded upon at http://www.wowwiki.com/Formulas:Item_Values for your perusal.
Note that stat point allocation formulas don't really have much bearing on the actual benefit people will see out of an item.
15. Re: What is the point of white item merchants 08/07/2007 03:06:03 PM PDT
Q u o t e: Flavor.
They provide repair services throughout the world and some flavor too.
Imagine if you went up to a weapons vendor, even if just for repair and selling purposes, and he didn't have any weapons to sell, you would wonder why he is called a weapons vendor. That's the flavor part.
You don't stop playing games because you get old...
You get old because you stop playing games.
16. Re: What is the point of white item merchants 08/07/2007 03:07:16 PM PDT
Q u o t e: White items are generally used as an inexpensive way of working up a weapon skill by some players since the dps is lower than a higher quality item. So, you can whack on a mob for longer and get more skill out if it than ripping through all the mobs in an area with a blue or purple item.
Some people like to buy some of the merchant items just to have them for flavor too.
There is a method to the madness for item quality and what is referred to as an item budget. Better quality items have a higher budget so often have a few more stat points available to them.
As far as internal balance testing goes, it depends on what the QA team is testing for. Generally we're looking at what we think players should be using or have available to them for a particular encounter or what we want the difficulty level of an encounter to be with certain itemization available.
That's what I suspected - thanks for the response! :D
Why should you get to play the Scourge campaign without completing the Human campaign 400 times on Easy? You just want to experience all the content without investing any time.
