Playing the blacksmith

The item drop system has always been a cause of both celebration and frustration. There’s a certain rush you as the player experiences when your game is momentarily paused to reward you with your very own hat. At the same time on the other end of the spectrum, you’re deleting your 6th razorback, getting annoyed because you got that on your first day playing the game, months ago.

As it turns out, deleting those extra items is the wrong thing to do.

As mentioned in the last post, Valve is rolling out the next class update for the Soldier and Demoman in the form of a war between the two classes. As the “war” rages on, updates are being posted daily, teasing us as to what will come in the final update. Today, they unveiled a future feature for the game; crafting new weapons out of old ones.

All those spare items you’ve been carting around filling up your backpack will finally have a use.

When the update gets released, the inventory will be upgraded to look like the above image. The system is similar to that used in other games like Diablo 2; blueprints contain a recipe for a particular item. Specific items are required for the blueprint, and when they’re put together, they can be crafted into the new weapon/hat/item.

Valve has said that from the get-go, everyone will have a few blueprints already discovered. As the game is played, more are discovered; whether the discoveries are made in the form of random item drops or through trial and error crafting hasn’t been revealed yet.

However, this is a great addition to the game, and I’m sure all those people who “clean” their inventory are kicking themselves right now.

What do you think of the feature? Do you think it will be useful, or just a way to overcomplicate the game?

~ by Zombie_Skittles on December 13, 2009.