Arti's are definitely something I'd like to see revamped a bit, and I've discussed it quite a bit with Molly in the past. We focused more on making artifacts actually sought after again though and doing some major balancing, rather than what could be done to make them more accessible.
I think one reason they are kinda forgotten these days is because a lot of them were nerfed and now they're really not much better than any other equipment, Molly and I came up with quite a few things that could potentially change so I'll go through some of it:
Some basic artifact guidelines:
• Artifacts should have 8 points allocated to them in total with no more than 5 points on any one stat
• Artifacts should have a 1 percent chance to load
• Artifacts should NOT be timered, and should have NO maxloads
• Players should not be able to wear more than 3 artifacts at once
• Artifacts should be found on strong mobs in relatively far-away places
• Artifacts should not be found on non-unique mobs
• Artifacts should be !locate
• Zones should have a maximum of 2 artifacts
Any more potential guidelines I would like to hear about.
Artifacts should be relocated, currently every oldbie knows pretty much where to get every artifact, and every newbie has no idea. Add to this the fact that oldbies have all heard the hints from imms every so often and know that the vast majority of artifacts are in old zones. The actual counts are really sad to look at, and are as follows. I hope no one minds if I post this:
Zone Artifact Counts:
Odyssey – 1, Labyrinth – 2, Green Fenn – 1, Queltoria – 1, Down Under – 1, Sherwood – 1, East Mediteranean – 1, Cyclades – 2, Quixotica – 1, Future Spaceport – 1, Fenizia – 1, Dry Gulch – 1, Lostlands – 1, Temple of the Damned – 1, Odessin – 4, Rip in Time – 3, Midlands – 5, Camelot – 1, Starwars – 5, Dun-Shivaar – 2, Necromunda – 1, Convent – 1, Troll Forest – 3, Elven Forest – 1, Outer Space – 1, Mirkheim – 1, Dragon Island – 1
I already have a list of artifacts that includes which have ambiguous enough names that they could be relocated, which ones have names specific enough that they'd have to be made non-artifact, and where some strong, unique, well-hidden mobs are that could become artifact mobs, any immortal can feel free to ask me for this list if it would help them doing anything with artifacts.
I'm not entirely sure I like the idea of being able to just go check a board and immediately see if an artifact is in the game or not.. That would defeat the purpose of going to find out for yourself, also if you could see an artifact was in the game, you could just go around looking (better as a Thief with peek) at mobs you think might have the artifact and not even bothering to kill them if the artifact was in the game but clearly wasn't on the mob.
I am very keen to hear any other ideas on how to revamp the artifact system though, I think major things to focus on should be making sure artifacts are actually better than other equipment and untimered, so people WANT them. Making it so players can only wear 3 at once, so if a player has lots, there is no reason they shouldn't sell them to someone else, and making them very rare as well as relocating their positions.
The hunt for new artifacts would be quite a challenge I feel for some of us oldbies that don't get enjoyment anymore out of simply killing all the mobs we already know hold artifacts until we can pop one.
Mmmmmm
