Yeah, I agree. While I think Booze and Amad bring up valid points about how Blizzard constricted themselves due to the RMAH--I don't think the RMAH was the primary reason the game was flawed. Rather, I think the RMAH really amplified those flaws and forced Blizzard to make dumb decisions that compounded the underlying flaws (No seasons ect.)
Really, the big culprit was, as said before, the narrow band of what made a great item. Essentially, all really good items had [Resist All, Primary Stat, Vitality] in buckets, and then something good for the specific slot, like +Critical, or Life on Hit. But any item that really didn't have that narrow band of 5(ish) affixes, sucked ass. So good items became about the amount of those affixes. Here's the problem with that. The only way to make an item good was to give it those affixes. However, because you absolutely needed those affixes and none of the other Affixes could ever hope to replace them in terms of need--the only way to make something "valuable" or "rare" was essentially torestrict those affixes.And make them all random, so they could only synch up rarely.
So you ended up with a situation where you either had great items, or terrible items. There was very little in between.
But if you had specific skill augmentations, like D2, where gear played right into certain builds--then you could have most items start out with good "meat and potato" stats. Items could always have really good Primary/Vitality/Resist All+Slot Affix (Whatever).....What would make items rare, or sought after is not this base strength, but rather very specific builds it interacted with. So rather than making items "rare" by making most items +Shitty Affix +No Vitality Shit +Bad Resist All, so the rarity is simply determined by which items are even usable....You could instead have most items be +Lots of Pirmary Affix +Vitality +Resist All +Critical (Whatever)---and have what makes the items rare and valuable be the unique skill augmentations that you add.
Like an item with [Adds +3 Seconds to Iron Impact but reduces armor bonus to 50%] (And has a slathering of +Strength/Vitality/Resist All/Armor).....This item is "okay" on it's own, but for someone who has a nice set of boots with the rare affix [Increases armor bonus to 150% of Iron Impact if player has 3 Points in Call of Areat and at least one in Iron Impact], it becomes amazing. Because it counteracts the defect and they come together to make an ability that could can literally form a build around.
This way the above item(s) fit into a small, niche skill and gear set. It's valuable in it's own right because the bonus,andcore (Required) stats are decent, but it's very valuable for a specific few people who chose to build out their toons to make it work with this affix. And these little changes, these small skill augmentations that work with each other and player builds, are what could make items rare--NOTjust lacking core stats.
Core stats are boring because they are required. When you make it so Core Stats are the sole measure of what makes an item rare and good, then it makes all items that are NOT rare, shit. And that shouldn't be. I should be able to look at most Yellows and see really good items, but just not items that fit into my build and the way I play.That'swhat should dictate rarity. In D2, your character got showered with good items. But the rarity, the power, came from items that could alter builds because of how they uniquely affected them.
Core stats should be saved for one thing in a game--generational or tier obsolescence. You use stats like +Primary/Vitality or other "required" stats to make the items in a new difficultybetter, or in a new expansion better--whatever. Mostly just to gate content through itemization. To really augment and reward players though, you need to give them something unique, that changes not just the size of the numbers but how they play. That was D3's biggest blunder. Attempting to use core/required stats as the defining factor in what makes items valuable and rare. Rather than using unique, skill altering affixes to make items rare and let the value be affected by slight adjustments to those core stats.
