Change crafting item appearance cheaper

[Duupir]

I think changing the appearances of items is too expensive, to me it makes little sense.
Today i ran into armor "Robes of the shining hand" and the appearance of the armor was just broken. It costs thousands of gold to change its appearance to even resemble something someone would wear.

[Skelni]

It's a common complaint amongst people about the cost of changing the cosmetics for expensive gear is too much.

But I personally err onto the side that more gold sinks are better. If you've got some highly powerful piece of equipment, being able to cough up the coin for such is probably healthier for (what there is of) the economy.

[Duupir]

Only stings once i guess 

[zDark Shadowz]

I think its supposed to be cheaper if you have the crafting skill for it levelled up.

[Sinthepie]

Only explanation I have seen before is that it is meant to be a gold sink and honestly I think it's perfectly fine as it is, since later on you have so much coin and nearly no use for all of it.

And indeed, having levels in the related crafting skill makes modifying cheaper.

[TacticalFerret]

Looking good is either an unnecessary luxury or a goal to be achieved. A few thousand gold is easily made once your character learns the ropes as well. I don't think there's any need to change this even if I, too, find it inconvenient at times. A broken item appearance, however, is something that may need to be addressed.

[BraveSirRobin]

I'd argue that if you wanted to make fashion a gold sink, then rather than penalizing players for physically altering the appearance of only loot table items, that the prices of altering an appearance should be heavily mitigated in loot table items, increased on crafting items, and then dyes should become expensive.

In reality, dyes were the most expensive part of fashion. Ever wonder why garish pastels were popular during different periods of history, or why purple was the color of Roman royalty? It's because bright, vibrant, and exotic colors spoke of wealth.

Otherwise, this seems like a design oversight that is being justified after the fact.

[Day Old Bread]

It's a minor quality of life issue. Won't pretend to know the design intent or the coding to make it happen, but I've noticed it's proportionate to the actual cost of the item. Crafted gear is low cost to change because it's actual value is 1gp where your robes of the shining hand are valued much higher

[Swan]

As annoying as it is, the current way this particular gold sink is currently settled in game is likely the best method.


I'm not happy that customization is the target of being a gold sink at all, but considering crafted armour is end game equipment for nearly everyone, I'd much rather the system remain as it is. Crafted gear isn't difficult to obtain, and it would honestly the most irritating thing in existence if someone had to shell out a small fortune every time they wanted to customize their forever gear.

[BraveSirRobin]

As annoying as it is, the current way this particular gold sink is currently settled in game is likely the best method.


I'm not happy that customization is the target of being a gold sink at all, but considering crafted armour is end game equipment for nearly everyone, I'd much rather the system remain as it is. Crafted gear isn't difficult to obtain, and it would honestly the most irritating thing in existence if someone had to shell out a small fortune every time they wanted to customize their forever gear.

I mean, if the goal is have a gold sink, then have a gold sink. If the goal is to have crafting appearances be a mostly OOC affair, then make it an OOC affair. Putting it somewhere in between inconsistently suggests that it's just an oversight, and the gold sink isn't anywhere near what is needed to offset any measure of the gains one makes from in-game activities. The best gold sinks are character shelvings and closures.

[ladylena]

More awesome a suit of armour, robes, etc is the more it costs to adjust it, especially large changes. Adjusting the appearance of crafted items or mundane non magical items is much much cheaper

[myrddraal]

As annoying as it is, the current way this particular gold sink is currently settled in game is likely the best method.


I'm not happy that customization is the target of being a gold sink at all, but considering crafted armour is end game equipment for nearly everyone, I'd much rather the system remain as it is. Crafted gear isn't difficult to obtain, and it would honestly the most irritating thing in existence if someone had to shell out a small fortune every time they wanted to customize their forever gear.

I mean, if the goal is have a gold sink, then have a gold sink. If the goal is to have crafting appearances be a mostly OOC affair, then make it an OOC affair. Putting it somewhere in between inconsistently suggests that it's just an oversight, and the gold sink isn't anywhere near what is needed to offset any measure of the gains one makes from in-game activities. The best gold sinks are character shelvings and closures.

Well, unless you're an evil character closures aren't really forced all that much.  This gold sink will have to do.

[BraveSirRobin]

As annoying as it is, the current way this particular gold sink is currently settled in game is likely the best method.


I'm not happy that customization is the target of being a gold sink at all, but considering crafted armour is end game equipment for nearly everyone, I'd much rather the system remain as it is. Crafted gear isn't difficult to obtain, and it would honestly the most irritating thing in existence if someone had to shell out a small fortune every time they wanted to customize their forever gear.

I mean, if the goal is have a gold sink, then have a gold sink. If the goal is to have crafting appearances be a mostly OOC affair, then make it an OOC affair. Putting it somewhere in between inconsistently suggests that it's just an oversight, and the gold sink isn't anywhere near what is needed to offset any measure of the gains one makes from in-game activities. The best gold sinks are character shelvings and closures.

Well, unless you're an evil character closures aren't really forced all that much.  This gold sink will have to do.

People get bored of characters all the time. If I have to be honest with you, I just don't use loot table equipment that requires me to alter an appearance. It's rarely worth it compared to enchanted equipment to begin with, so this isn't really a gold sink at all; Which is my point. It doesn't seem like an intentional gold sink, because it's... One, ineffective, and two, just inspires work-arounds.

[Maffa]

Once i bought a vest from a tiefling. Costed me more to straighten the legs than the item itself.

[Ryujin]

As far as i know, the appearance changing costs is something that's also in base NWN. Crafted items' item values are significantly lower, however. (Maybe just even 1? Correct me if i'm wrong)
The cost to change an appearance is tied to the item value of said items and i believe this is also present in base nwn. There's mods out there that do make it free however, so it's likely possible to be changed. I've never found the gold cost to change items to be of any consequence however, nor has it ever really bothered me personally

[BraveSirRobin]

As far as i know, the appearance changing costs is something that's also in base NWN. Crafted items' item values are significantly lower, however. (Maybe just even 1? Correct me if i'm wrong)
The cost to change an appearance is tied to the item value of said items and i believe this is also present in base nwn. There's mods out there that do make it free however, so it's likely possible to be changed. I've never found the gold cost to change items to be of any consequence however, nor has it ever really bothered me personally

It's mostly inconvenient for early-game characters who have no need of a gold sink. If you're level eight, in the Outskirts, and you get a piece of armor that is useful to you at this point in the game, it may cost you 5,000-10,000 gold to get it to look how you like. It might provide you one more AC than you'd get with a suit of crafted full plate armor.

Once you're like, level 20, or level 15, this isn't such a huge issue, but for most classes, there are crafted alternatives that once enchanted, are just better anyways. The only people who tend to get stiffed on this front are spellcasters, who do not really have a crafted armor equivalent because they need spell casting slots. For Paladins, Fighters, Barbarians, Rogues, and otherwise, crafted gear is usually sufficient.

However, at the late game, it doesn't matter all that much for them, either, because it's easy to come across Gold, and it's a one-time expense. So it mostly inconveniences the kinds of characters who don't really have a need of a goldsink in the first place.