Since it doesn't seem to affect greatrobes, whether by mistake or design, I'm not too personally concerned yet, but why were these changes made? Does the realism outweigh the annoyance of having to pull up a smith every few days (or less!) or having your armour just not work effectively?

EDIT: Don't think it needs to affect greatrobes, by the way, since they're already less protection than plate! But I'm not sure it's even that great for plate...

non trans forgers need a job too!

Fullplate should never experience wear and tear.

Forging isn't any worse than any other trade (except herbs and alchemy) for that, really. And forging as a whole is no worse off than artisan or bookbinding. What about non-forging-at-all warriors though? They're really in a bind.

Someone needs to explain the fullplate exception clause to me. I hear it a lot but it makes no sense to me. Why should fullplate be non-decay? Why should fullplate be above armor mechanics? No trans skill gets similar treatment.

Fullplate costs a lot to make, is unique to one person, and, most problematically, is traditionally cursed so that it can't be taken off. Handing it to a forger and saying "hay can u fix dis" is typically impractical.

What exactly is required for these armour repairs? Do we need more comms, or just gold like with tailor mending and jewelry repair? Does the base gold cost vary based on how protective the armour is?

If it's a comm requirement, then unless it is relatively small then I don't see forgers making a profit on it. If it requires any sizable amount of comms, and armour wears fast enough to require repair every "few days" as Shiri suggested, then this will become just like forging master weapons. Some will charge more for their work, and others will basically only require comms. Unless forgers can come together and agree on something, but that hasn't really happened in the past.

If it's a straight gold cost, I fail to see how this will take any different a route than tailor mending. I never, ever hear about tailors inflating the gold requirement for labour costs. If this is how it works, forgers will now be expected to do even more work for virtually no gain.

Having any grade of armour less than fieldplate or fullplate is even less palatable after this. How many bards will even bother with leather now, assuming any did before hand?

I like the dynamics behind the idea, but it just seems like armour is getting to be more trouble than its worth now, especially for non-forger warriors.

Yeah. :/

So...don't curse it?



If forgers choose not to charge what their time is worth, it is their own fault and not the fault of the admin or of any system. We can't complain about the system because forgers will have to work more with no more money. The forgers have every right to charge exactly what their time is worth; they should take the blame if they do not.

Bards don't bother with leather primarily because greatrobes work just as well for dodging - the help file is wrong about that. It doesn't really have much to do with robes just having better protection, it's that there is no downside to using them.

Armor is getting to be quite a bit of trouble...just like clothing, enchantments, and all of the other mechanics. It should require some trouble to keep your armor in good shape so that the forgers have some chance to make some money on upkeep, like many other trades do. It also adds realism, and it is hardly necessary to get your armor repaired every few days. I haven't used it a ton yet, but it seems to be beaten down very slowly.

Armour already was quite a bit of trouble, requiring multiple reforgings each time it got close to decay in order to get "decent" stats. This is where a forger could (and still will) make most of their money-- in the reforgings. Clothing didn't need reforging, it needed mending, which was just a set gold outlay (not much time required). This current thing also takes something like 3s of a forger's time anywhere they are, no forge needed. It's not like you can say "Oh, 3 seconds of my time is worth 10,000 gold when I used no commodities."

It was also decaying very quickly, but I believe it was slowed down by a factor of 100. Still, it's an extra frustration on top of the previous maintenance-- and I'm not really sure why clothing doesn't seem to degrade its status as well. Makes as much sense as armour, if not more (swords tearing cloth versus swords denting armour). That, also, would be a frustration, however.

So shouldn't splendor robes get similar treatment?

They cost a deal as well, in the Tailoring world, can only be worn by the tailor who makes it, etc.

EDIT: And Xenthos, when tailored goods are close to decay and mending; while it isn't the same, their appearance and quality does have a chance of degrading. They can become tawdry, etc.

Sure. Make robes decay armour status as well and need constant repair from day-to-day.

Repairing, currently, consists of a quick single command that takes no comms. Granted, I've been around for about a RL month, but sometimes I've gotten armour out of the forge that's not at "full" status yet, and repairing remedies this.

So, it's not costly for the forger, especially if they weren't doing anything anyway (unless something has changed).

If it's a gold cost, it's hidden and I haven't noticed it.



That's pretty much it right here for the fullplate exception too. You go to the trouble of getting forging that high, and you're armouring is reduced to novices, non-forging warriors, and the very odd, once in a blue moon shield. (which seems suprising to me, given what (well, I've read at least) a competent user of combat can do defensively using one).

Personally, I wouldn't mind reforging fullplate every once in a while if monks, wiccans, people other than mages/druids actually seriously considered wearing armour other than robes.

But they don't, so trans forgers should at least be able to get the ultimately nominal benefit of non-decay plate.

(Edit- was typing "greatrobes" when I just meant "robes")

It generally takes ~5 mendings, at 60 days each. 60*5 = 300 days.

Plate lasts 123 days. Half the time. Note that robes becoming tawdry does not actually affect the stats.

If you need reforging to get decent stats for armour, you need "retailoring" (and much more often) to get decent stats for enchanted robes too. They ALSO needed mending.

Other than that I agree, but you said something about "slowed down by a factor of 100"? So how many hits does it take to reduce a set of armour by 1% on armstat in one area now? If it's really minimal I don't suppose it matters.

The forger doesn't have to charge 10k gold. They could charge 50 gold for those 3 seconds, or something similar. It still adds up. As for forging taking a lot of time - you are right, but only to an extent. It takes a lot of time because warriors demand very good stats. If enchanters, for example, had the ability to disenchant robes and start over again, they would spend a lot more time doing it so that they could get the best stats possible.

Forging itself is so frustrating only because you have the option of staring over and working for better statistics. That option isn't available to any other trade, so far as I know. If you want to make forging less frustrating, you could always change it so that armor cannot be immediately melted down and reforged, or so some of the commodities were lost in the process. Then forgers don't "have" to spend hours forging to get the good stats. They'll be back on par with all of the other trades, which is what we want...right?

Also, about robes...becoming tawdry does affect their appearance, in that they can make you look cheaper than naked. Also, armor simply has to be melted down and reforged to get it back again at the end of that time; once robes become tawdry they have to be completely replaced to get them back to normal.

Not sure what the new numbers on degrading are, but we'll see.

Anyways-- as pointed out above, not really. If you keep your robes mended, even mending with 10 days left on them every time, they'll still last twice as long as plate before going tawdry (which doesn't hit stats). The initial robes do need retailoring, yes, as does the initial plate (I'm not sure about the "much more often" bit), but we're talking subsequent maintenance.

When a plate is decaying, you can't mend it. You have to smelt it and start the process over again with a brand spanking new reforging, just like the first time. This isn't necessary for robes for twice as long, and is only necessary if you don't like tawdry robes.

Erm... I take it you've never met the people who want the "best robes," then. They'll ask an equivalent amount of time, at the normal basic robe-enchanting rate. Buy 10-20 or so robes, get them enchanted. Keep the best, sell the rest.

Yes, once robes become tawdry, a new set needs to be made if you want them to be back to "normal," but if you want to keep your "amazing robes," you do have that option.

However, the mere fact that people appear to be arguing against a similar mechanic for robes, despite the fact that it makes as much sense as for armour, is a telling point to me.

this really is just another way to stack on to the omg crazy amounts of cash a warrior has to dish out already..

Another note about robes; I understand the frustration with forging...but you do have the chance to go for better stats, and you get commodities back with smelting. Robes; you can mend, but you can't retry for better stats, nor do you get any commodities back. So, while forging is frustrating, from that standpoint, there's a trade-off.