Equipment

[eisprinzessin]

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Melee weapons
• Ranged weapons
• Left-hand items
• Weapon swap
• Armor and shield
• Accessories
• Affixes
• Level and attribute requirements
• Looting versus buying
• Collecting sets

[eisprinzessin]

Your equipment consists of weapons, shields or other left-hand items, armor [1], rings, necklaces, medals and talismans. [2]
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1. Remove Stat Requirements From Gear. May 2010
2. What are all these boxes for?! Mar 2010

[eisprinzessin]

Grim Dawn has swords [1], axes [2] and blunt weapons [3] like clubs and maces. [1]

Some swords are looking pretty brutal. Part of the thinking behind swords is that they may not have been in as much use prior to the apocalypse but afterwards became a much more useful weapon. The big blocky sword is an early unique called "The Magistrate's Censor" which actually has the words "magistrate" on the blade along with chipped red paint and looks like it was crudely fashioned out of an old metal sign or something. [4]

The time period on Earth that the game most closely relates to, was a time when both guns and melee weapons co-existed on the battlefield. In Cairn, it makes sense for melee weapons to retain considerable value and effectiveness even with the advance of gunpowder weapons due to types of enemies humans are confronted with - namely hordes of zombies and other supernatural foes. [5]

Weapons have an attack speed. Swords are fast-hitting, lower damage weapons. Maces are slow-hitting, high damage weapons. [6]

You can dual wield one-handed weapons. [7] The developers want to tie this to a dual wield skill, because if it is a general option, it has to be balanced as a default attack, which doesn't make it nearly as cool or powerful. Dual wield skills with slightly different flavors can be made in more than one mastery. [8]

Two-handed melee weapons was the $450k stretch goal during the Grim Dawn Kickstarter campaign and unlocked for the initial release. [9] They might make a whip weapon in an expansion, too. [10]
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1. screenshot Inventory May 2011
2. screenshot Forgotten Cellar Mar 2012
3. Blunt weapons / Item dmg Nov 2010
4. Skills and Weapon Question Mar 2010
5. guns in GD?? Dec 2010
6. Caps and breaking them Mar 2012
7. About the items May 2010
8. Will we get 2-handed melee weapons? Mar 2010
9. external Main 'Grim Dawn' Kickstarter page May 2012
10. Class Main hand / Off-hand Aug 2010

[eisprinzessin]

Players will be able to use firearms [1] – pistols [2] and rifles [3]. Technologically it fits the time period and, in terms of gameplay, it fits the role of the primary weapon for ranged-class characters in place of bows. Replacing bows by guns is really just a time-period appropriate art change. [4]

Guns will be a little more advanced as the developers didn't want to just lock themselves into the really early firearms. Some of the guns will be a little more WW1 style. [5] However, they're not going in a science-fictiony direction... no energy guns or anything like that. [6]

Grim Dawn will have some exotic weaponry - for instance, there is a triple barrel rifle and a pepper box style pistol in the game. [7] They'll be standard gunpowder and bullet weapons [8], but the developers are taking some liberties with guns though, so it won't all be exactly standard victorian-era fare. [6]

When you accurately model real guns, especially older ones, they often come out looking really insubstantial. This is especially true for a top-down perspective. Crate will be basing most of the guns off real-world designs but then beefing them up and taking other liberties to scale up the "badassness" to appropriate levels. They won't be over-the-top Doom style weapons but they won't be skinny colonial rifles either. Some happy middle-ground. [9]

Grim Dawn may have crossbows but only if it can be figured out how to design them so that they look good with the existing gun animations. Seems like it should work though. [4, 10, 11, 12] There may be some gatling-style unique guns [13], but it is probably a feature that will come later. [11, 12]

Ammunition - the tedium of picking it up quickly gets old. [14] Therefore guns will have unlimited ammunition. [15] Limiting it is one of these gameplay dynamics that are cool / fun for while but eventually add to the "user-fatigue" of playing the game. [14]

You can equip pistol and shield. The developers need to add some tech to support dual wielding pistols let alone wielding sword and pistol. [16] Dual wielding pistols was the $350k stretch goal during the Grim Dawn Kickstarter campaign and unlocked for the initial release. [17]

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There won't be any staffs or wands, as the developers see them as redundant, alternative ranged weapons. A staff in TQ is basically a bow with different art and animations. [18, 19]
__________________

1. Skills and Weapon Question Mar 2010
2. Weapons Oct 2010
3. Randomized Barriers Nov 2011
4. guns in GD?? Dec 2010
5. Skills and Weapon Question Mar 2010
6. What are all these boxes for?! Mar 2010
7. Weapons Apr 2011
8. weapon question Jan 2010
9. Skills and Weapon Question Mar 2010
10. Sniping Hounds May 2011
11. New HUD Layout! Dec 2011
12. screenshot HUD with crossbow and gatling gun Dec 2011
13. Skills and Weapon Question Mar 2010
14. weapon question Jan 2010
15. Will we have to buy Ammunition? Jul 2010
16. About the items May 2010
17. external Main 'Grim Dawn' Kickstarter page May 2012
18. Remove Stat Requirements From Gear. May 2010
19. Remove Stat Requirements From Gear. May 2010

[eisprinzessin]

Casters will be able to wield either melee weapons or guns but there will be a left-hand item called a fulcrum that will function as a sort of supporting piece of gear similar to a shield, but probably more oriented towards boosting offensive power and energy. [1]
__________________

1. Remove Stat Requirements From Gear. May 2010

[eisprinzessin]

Some character builds require to switch between ranged and melee, weapons with different bonuses, or from dual wield to one-hand weapon with shield. To accommodate different types of multi-weapon class builds and tactics, you can equip two sets of weapons. [1]
__________________

1. Remove quickswapping? Apr 2010

[eisprinzessin]

Your armor [1] consists of head gear (hood [2], helmet [2]), pauldrons [3], torso armor (overcoat [4], chest armor [5]), gloves [5], belt [5], pants [4], boots [5] and shield [6].

Grim Dawn has light and heavy armor. [7] Though there is a higher level of technology, heavy armor and shields still play their part. They have fallen out of use in Earth's history around this period of technology, as war was mainly groups of soldiers with rifles lining up and firing at one another. Grim Dawn is a world full of zombies and given the nature of the enemy, heavy armor and shields seem very fitting. [6, 8, 9]

The first armor starts out as an overcoat and then in subsequent tiers you see metal plates being sewn onto it and eventually these big pauldrons with metal pieces that look like they came off something else. [10]
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1. screenshot New Inventory Jul 2011
2. Laser beams! pew pew! May 2010
3. First screenshot for June! June 2010
4. What are all these boxes for?! Mar 2010
5. What are all these boxes for?! Mar 2010
6. Shield Items Aug 2010
7. Attribute names Dec 2011
8. About the items May 2010
9. Class Idea: Dismounted Knight Mar 2010
10. Skills and Weapon Question Mar 2010

[eisprinzessin]

You can complement your equipment with two rings, a necklace / amulet, a medal / ornament and a talisman. [1, 2] Medals / ornaments are pinned to your chest. The developers are hoping to be able to attach an in-game model to the chest armor for this. [2] Talismans are crafted and are replacing TQ's artifacts. [1, 3]

The developers toyed with the idea of having equipped more than two rings but dropped it since this would overpower the character too much. Having more different types of items to collect allows designers to better restrict where certain types of powerful bonuses can come from and in what quantity the player can accumulate them. In Titan Quest this balancing scheme was not properly utilized in all cases though and it led to problems like players being able to accumulate 100% cooldown reduction because that bonus appeared on some item types it was not supposed to be allowed on.

So, you can imagine how things like that would be even more difficult to control if players could get 4 or 8 of any item type, and thus that many duplicates of the same bonus. Its difficult to just make bonuses weaker since they have to also scale up - so the lowest level might end up being really lame like +0.5% lightning damage. You'd probably also be disallowed to have a lot of bonus types from rings in this case since some bonuses are very powerful even in small quantities. [4]
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1. What are all these boxes for?! Mar 2010
2. What are all these boxes for?! Mar 2010
3. What are all these boxes for?! Mar 2010
4. external single item size or not? Aug 2009

[eisprinzessin]

Grim Dawn has a large number of magical affixes, which includes some interesting low-level affixes and provides a great diversity of powerful combinations. [1, 2, 3] If you equip an item with an affix it will influence your combat abilities. An affix may increase your damage, debuff enemies or strengthen your resistances. [4, 5, 6]

The developers are also considering monster-specific affixes, which should be an interesting twist. [7] To add some randomization unique items might have base-bonuses of their own and then receive certain affixes. [8] Rare affixes can have any number of attributes, and it is possible to get double-rare items. In Grim Dawn you can even get double-rare, unique items where the item has its own magical attributes and then also receives affixes. [9]

It is possible for enemies or chests to drop loot significantly below their own level but which can be assigned much higher level affixes that is based on the level of the enemy or chest rather than the loot itself. So this provides the opportunity for a caster who put no attributes into physique to find lower level armor with some awesome higher-level bonuses. [10]

The developers have experimented with affixes that can add active and passive skills to items. This would basically be a class of equipment above rare. [11, 12] The level of an affix skill is determined by the level of the item to which it is being applied. [13, 14]

Some affixes might not be named according their properties, but named after e.g. a blacksmith or forge to insert a little implied lore. It would add some fictional flare and make affix naming easier. There are only so many synonymous words and it can be extremely difficult coming up with various levels of affixes with names that aren't overly absurd. [15]
__________________

1. State of the Game Address Mar 2012
2. my ramblings on TQ Oct 2010
3. Epics/ Legendary´s (TQIT) Items in Grim Dawn and rarity? May 2010
4. Remove Stat Requirements From Gear. May 2010
5. Elemental damage - something more than just another number? Mar 2010
6. New Screens - Updated HUD and Char/Inv UI Aug 2011
7. Will there be monster infrequents? Sep 2011
8. Replace static loot with powerful random loot Jun 2010
9. Items: 3 modifiers? May 2012
10. Remove Stat Requirements From Gear. May 2010
11. Affix Skillz Oct 2010
12. Affix Skillz Nov 2010
13. Affix Skillz Oct 2010
14. Affix Skillz Nov 2010
15. Branded Item Dec 2010

[eisprinzessin]

A game can limit if an item may be equipped by hard or soft limitations. A hard limitation is something like "casters can only wear cloth armor." In this case, your caster is never going to have access to better armor and there is nothing you can do about it. [1] This just removes any decision, even a "non-decision". [2] With soft limitations, such as those controlled by attribute requirements, a caster has the option to put points into physique so that he can wear better armor. [1]

And if you're a melee character and you find a very powerful item but it has a high spirit requirement, it may be obvious that you'd never want to invest enough points into spirit to use it and you may set it aside for another character. The end result of setting the item aside for another character or selling it is the same as if you simply weren't allowed to use it.

However, there is a psychological difference. In one case, you know it would be possible to use the item but have chosen not to do it, even if the choice is obvious. If the item is good enough, there might be a big temptation and it creates a little emotional moment (even if very subtle) where you're letting go of the item and sticking to the path you've chosen. It is then your decision not to use it, even if it is an obvious decision. The result is the same but it feels less arbitrary and artificially enforced. [2]

There will probably be a class of basic gear where all you need to do to wear it is meet the level requirement. [3] The level restriction is a sort of balancing fail-safe in the event that certain items don't have attribute requirements or to put a reasonable limit how far ahead in items the player can get by twinking themselves with lots of +attribute gear and min / maxing their points. [4]

Physique is the primary attribute for armor, weapons and shields. It is not difficult to meet the requirement for weapons, whereas heavier armor tends to have more significant requirements. [5] Grim Dawn has light and heavy armor but to some extent the difference between cloth / leather / plate, is achieved through the requirement of the gear. It is sort of the same effect just achieved through different means. [1]

Spirit is the attribute for certain magical items like rings, amulets and some magical affixes. [5, 6] Casters will easily meet the spirit item requirements - those are more for non-casters. [2]

Items will generally not have two attribute requirements. The developers have no plans of anything like a cunning/physique requirement on swords. If that happened it would only be the result of an item with an attribute requirement getting an affix that also had an attribute requirement. [3] The requirements of an affix influences the ones of its item, so that those are used whichever are higher. [7]

The developers have considered the idea of being able to use stuff at a decreased effectiveness, while you do not meet the requirements, but think it makes things sort of gray and vague. It removes that exciting moment when you can use a new, powerful item, pop it into your slot and suddenly get a big boost in power. Instead you just pop it in and gradually it gets more powerful. They think a distinctive moment where you get a jump in power is much more exciting than a slow, unnoticeable progression. It also provides a very tangible motivation for gaining levels or checking out the merchant for some other gear that might give you the stats you need. [2]
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1. Attribute names Dec 2011
2. Attribute names Dec 2011
3. Remove Stat Requirements From Gear. May 2010
4. Remove Stat Requirements From Gear. May 2010
5. Attribute names Nov 2011
6. Revisiting Core Attributes, More+Simple = Fun. Dec 2010
7. Remove Stat Requirements From Gear. May 2010