quote:

For the next update I wanted to make armor balance my priority, but I think the artefacts system is not good enough to start balancing armors around it.

I will thus rather focus on changing the artefacts system to make it more appealing and engaging, as well as less RNG.

The melter charges system will be abandoned because I think it adds too much micromanagement for a lot of people.

Artefacts will be able to be sold no matter their condition. That way it’s the player choice to make a bit of cash, or keep the artefacts for later use.

Instead of requiring 2 artefacts to make 1 artefact of higher tier, the recipes will convert 1 artefact of one tier, to one artefact of a tier above, by using mutant parts in the recipe. By doing this the upgrade path of artefacts will be clearer and less RNG. And this will also properly gate artefact crafting progression because some strong mutants don’t really spawn in the South. This will also push the player to keep certain mutant parts, and actively hunt mutant to craft better artefacts. I always wanted mutant parts to be used as something else than money maker, and this is the perfect opportunity.

T3+ artefacts (Snowflake, Full Empty…) will be removed from the fields spawns. But artefacts in the north will spawn with higher conditions. A general sentiment is that artefacts hunting is only valuable in the north because you can find T3 artefacts. This won’t be the case anymore.

Map based artefacts conditions: artefacts will spawn with higher condition in the north maps compared to the south maps. This means artefacts hunting will still be quicker in the north, but to go to T3 and T4 artefacts (compass…) you will need to craft them.

Detectors will passively beep in your pocket (MCM configurable) so you won’t miss artefacts in the field.

Overall I think this will push the player to get faster into artefacts crafting while making the endgame artefacts a bit longer to make, while making it less frustrating (that one single artefacts you need to upgrade your T3 artefact that never drops), and while making mutant parts actually useful.

I think that after the first iteration, some balancing patches will be rolled out, especially to nail the number of mutant parts needed for the artefacts crafting. I hope a majority will like the changes.