Addressing Gear Disparity & the Role of the Traders Guild

The issue of gear disparity has ignited fervent discussions within our subreddit community in recent days. While it’s evident that players donning purple gear in normal lobbies raises concerns, it’s important to recognize that the root cause of this problem extends beyond the gear itself.

A pivotal system that fuels this phenomenon is the traders guild. This system grants individuals the ability to acquire any piece of gear at their convenience. The ramifications of this are twofold:

a.) Players can wield equipment that aligns with their comfort and expertise.
b.) They can afford the highest quality gear within their means.

For those who possess significant gold reserves—often the proficient players or those engaged in real-money trading—this translates to entering each raid equipped with gear they excel in and which boasts at least a green rarity. Over time, this trend compounds, resulting in the current scenario: well-equipped players infiltrating normal lobbies with minimal risk, while simultaneously securing assured profit that facilitates swift re-gearing if their character faces defeat.

The traders guild shoulders the responsibility for this situation. Eliminating player trading and entrusting all transactions to NPCs would render such occurrences implausible. This shift would introduce an element of randomness to the gear pool available to players.

Hence, my proposal advocates for the complete removal of the traders guild. Such a move would largely mitigate the issue of players consistently sporting ideal gear in every match, and concurrently counteract the prevalence of real-money trading.

In its stead, a mechanism involving NPCs could be introduced to allow players to exchange rare equipment (above a specific rarity threshold, perhaps blue or purple) they cannot utilize personally, for items of similar rarity—a system akin to a loot box. For instance, an individual might swap a legendary dagger acquired as a barbarian for a legendary loot pouch. This pouch could potentially yield any legendary item catered to their class.

This approach imbues the pursuit of rare gear with value, retaining an element of randomness rather than guaranteeing precise loadouts.

The allure of Dark and Darker lies in its random facets: unpredictable loot, unexpected PvP encounters, ever-changing maps, and gameplay characterized by uncertainty. Extending this concept to the gear system would contribute to the game’s overall health and dynamics. Buy Cheapest Dark and Darker Gold Coins at MMOexp.com, save your money and time, have a nice day.