Artifacts you don't want

[Repton]

Ok, getting back to the beginning of this thread...

New achievement: Master trader. Exchange each of the guaranteed artifacts in the west for a reward.
New achievement: Lord of Gifts. Give away each of the guaranteed artifacts in the west without accepting a reward.

Bill's club: Bree weaponsmith (via edge).

Angmar's Fall: Apprentice mage.

Helm's Helm: Minas Tirith armoursmith.
"Surely this is the helm of Hammerhand himself! I have a cousin amongst the Helmingas -- they would treasure this forever!"
Optional reward: Gondorian galvorn helm.

Old Man Willow's Barkwood: Lumberjack (via my earlier post).

Sand worm queen's heart: Potion store in Angolwen (or perhaps one of the Master Alchemists proposed in another thread).
"My word, where did you get this? Its potency is remarkable! May I have it?"
"Such potions I can make with this, and I haven't touched a tithe of it! You must take some!"
Optional reward: 5 acid-proof potions of full healing

Frost treads: Hmm, not sure..

Ringil: King of Gondor. "The sword of Fingolfin? How came that to the west? Much would I give for this, for I count Fingolfin amongst my distant ancestors."
"Come, choose your reward -- anything from the armouries of Gondor!"
Optional reward: Weapon of your choice, generated at level 30 with guaranteed ego.

[Fela]

Giving up the sandworm heart for something non-permanent?
Only sounds like an incentive to build characters specifically for unlocking an achievement, but not as serious contenders a'la ghouls/skeleton unlocks.

[Zonk]

Two ideas.

1)Some artifacts could perhaps be donated to a relevant town in exchange for better shop prices there, say being able to sell at 15% value, and buy at 90%.

2)Maybe some bosses could instead drop a 'token'item that can be crafted into different things by a NPC.

Example: Rantha the Worm currently drops a pair of boots, which is slightly weird(are they part of his/her hoard, or made from its hide?).

What if the drop instead was a 'piece of frost-rimed dragon hide', which you can bring to a leatherworker in town and have crafted into a pair of boots/cloak/gauntlets(only one).

I'd suggest that you shouldn't have to pay gold to the NPC for that(or maybe the price should be very low) - assume that there would be leftovers from the crafting and they'd keep that as payment.

[Kemsha]

I like this ideia, the items created could keep the ice theme and something could be created for all classes

2)Maybe some bosses could instead drop a 'token'item that can be crafted into different things by a NPC.

Example: Rantha the Worm currently drops a pair of boots, which is slightly weird(are they part of his/her hoard, or made from its hide?).

What if the drop instead was a 'piece of frost-rimed dragon hide', which you can bring to a leatherworker in town and have crafted into a pair of boots/cloak/gauntlets(only one).

I'd suggest that you shouldn't have to pay gold to the NPC for that(or maybe the price should be very low) - assume that there would be leftovers from the crafting and they'd keep that as payment.

[Feanor.81]

I was thinking to something similar (although not really involving artifacts dismembering in the beginning): weapons and armors with enhancement slots, which can host one, two, or three runes that give the object some power (depending on the item level / rarity). Maybe it could be implemented so that you can extract such runes from artifacts you don't want (and thus the runes would somewhat reflect the artifact powers, but would always be less effective, to make using the artifact as is always the preferable choice).

Example: artifact which gives +10 STR, +10 DEX, +10 APR, +20% ice damage would produce: one +5 STR +5 DEX rune, one +5 APR rune, one +10% ice damage rune.

These mechanics could allow us to put at good use any artifact, and open up a lot of unique ways to customize our equipments.

[Fela]

If we go there we might as well go all the way and do the FF7 thing- replace every suffix and prefix with a gem/rune that can be given to and taken from items. So instead of unique items we'd have unique gems/runes.

The change might be a bit much for some though (of course since i'm a FF7 fan since ages it would appeal to me )

[Feanor.81]

I was thinking it could be a good idea to limit the concept to artifacts for this precise reason: if you could just switch ego labels between items, then the enhancement system would be both too easy and almost trivial, since given the fact that egos are pretty common, after a couple of hours spent playing you could already have everything you need to craft the ultimate equipment for yourself. Limiting the ability of acquiring runes to having to go through harsh quests and boss fights would feel as a good reward instead (and remember you still should solve the dilemma of trying to make use of the full power of the artifact, or dismember it in more easily reusable but somewhat less powerful runes). 'Normal' ego items would just be enhanced objects whose enhancement is permanent and thus not that good for the player.

[Repton]

Giving up the sandworm heart for something non-permanent?
Only sounds like an incentive to build characters specifically for unlocking an achievement, but not as serious contenders a'la ghouls/skeleton unlocks.

It's clearly not meant to be an optimal choice. But on the other hand, if we go down this route, there needs to be someone who will accept the sandworm heart, even if 99% of players will never give it away.

And it lets you get the achievements I mentioned Imagine winning the game as Lord of Gifts -- that would be something to brag about!