I just had a good idea, "farming weapon" upgrade path

Can somebody with a well-oiled brain machine verify for me that this is as good an idea as I think it is?

A weapon upgrade path that increases amount of souls absorbed, but nothing else

Each level you increase, +1 to say +10, increases a small percentage of the amount of souls you absorb upon slaying an enemy

The downside is that you will be using a base damage weapon. So the effect is that skilled players, the kind who beat the game at low soul levels or with starting gear, will be able to rack up souls more quickly so that they can build a PVP toon or whatever, but they must actually earn it.

Whaddoya think about that?

The only hitch I see is that using a base weapon means hitting enemies more often which slows down the speeding up of souls gained. A reduced effectiveness compared to other paths is a viable concept though. Kind of like sacrificing a ring slot for the silver serpent ring.

Sounds like a good idea, except what if we face bosses with this gear? Do they drop more souls than they should or do they stay the same?

Yeah, souls are just upped by a percentage based on the upgrade level of the weapon. It would be upgraded with something more rare than standard chunks, but basically if you have the skill and patience to kill enemies with a weapon that is doing base damage you get more souls.

It would have to be fine tuned to keep things balanced, but I think it would become kind of a quick way to level up a toon real quick, but it is not exploitative or game breaking.

So I would assume getting the materials needed to upgrade would be more like the Demon's Souls upgrading system? If that were the case I would be completely behind this idea.

Or, to keep players from just using that weapon to get the finishing blow, it could be such that each strike against an enemy gives you just a few souls at a time. So you could have a dedicated farming weapon.

Hell, maybe an upgrade path that increases item drop percentage? You would be sacrificing upgrade shards to make a weapon that grants increased drop likelihood per kill. The difference between it and the rings could be a greater maximum percentage. Say at +10 it increases drop rate by 50%. Something like that.

This would free up a ring slot, and I think it would be kind of cool to have such a specialized weapon. It's like your treasure hunting sword/whatever weapon.

I kind of like the concept but like the symbol of avarice and the serpent ring players would more than likely stack all the souls boosting equipment right before dealing the final blow to a boss and then have more souls than one could imagine ya know? lol

BIG TIME MASTER wrote:Or, to keep players from just using that weapon to get the finishing blow, it could be such that each strike against an enemy gives you just a few souls at a time. So you could have a dedicated farming weapon.

Hell, maybe an upgrade path that increases item drop percentage? You would be sacrificing upgrade shards to make a weapon that grants increased drop likelihood per kill. The difference between it and the rings could be a greater maximum percentage. Say at +10 it increases drop rate by 50%. Something like that.

This would free up a ring slot, and I think it would be kind of cool to have such a specialized weapon. It's like your treasure hunting sword/whatever weapon.

wasn't there a weapon like this in Demon's souls ? that weird fish hook or something

Yeah, I would like to see more specialized paths as in Demons Souls.

It would be hard to find the materials on your initial playthrough, of course, but once you knew where the goods where and you where going through a NG+ or a second/third/millionth playthrough you could upgrade a "farming" weapon initially and then use it to rack up souls more quickly so that you could level up and buy titanite and such more quickly.

http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/piercing

4th weapon from the top the needle of agony absorbs 20 souls per hit but does crap damage lol

I don't know about a weapon like that in Demons Souls. I only played through that game three times.

Yeah, it would need to be balanced out. Some soul increasing items may need to be nerfed or nixed. With some thought we here on the forum could probably develop a balanced idea.

I just think it would be cool and pretty practical. It would kind of open up a new avenue for experienced PVPers and such, without having to exploit the game using BB glitch or an equivalent.

I also think it would be really cool if enemies slain by a "farming weapon" exploded in a purge of light, something like the Colossi statues in Shadow of the Colossus do. That or the melt into a pool of bile like that guy doused in acid in Robocop.

mr_no_face wrote:http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/piercing

4th weapon from the top the needle of agony absorbs 20 souls per hit but does crap damage lol

Ah, so it has been thought of already.


Well, maybe they will expand on the idea and make it a little more feasible. By making it an upgrade path you would have the option to use your favorite weapon, or maybe use a dagger so that you could take advantage of critical hits.

yeah if they add some kind of "soul reaving " weapon then i see it turning out like that

mr_no_face wrote:yeah if they add some kind of "soul reaving " weapon then i see it turning out like that

Hey, there's a cool name. Reaver shards, or reaper shards.

ha and if they don't make it an upgrade path then the weapon would more than likely be a mean looking scythe x)

Or the "Executioners Blade" from Machine Girl

I think there's a reason From decided to only have one souls-upon-death-boost in Dark Souls compared to the 2 (3 if female) in Demon's. Besides that, having a weapon with such reduced damage will (if it's at all comparable to the weapon that does the same thing in Demons) not be able to kill enemies fast enough to make it worth it. This is an inventive idea for an upgrade path, even if it won't work, though. Kudos!

The weapon doesn't have to be super weak though. Just take any weapon with it's base stats. A black knight halberd, for instance, isn't terrible at base stats. People have beaten the game with un-upgraded weapons. Me personally, I might try a dagger or other high critical hit weapon, because once you know the PVE backstabs and parries are easy, and they are powerful even with a un-upgraded weapon.

It can't be so viable that anybody can just throw some titanite into a "reaver" weapon and magically level up fast, but it is an option for very skilled players to use their skill in a way that it is rewarded more quickly.

Also, this is just an idea. Maybe their could be some kind of damage alteration. It would have to be tweaked and tested to find out the right balance.

I'd rather they just bring back the large sword of searching again, silver bracelet etc.

Make the Silver Bracelet gender-neutral this time, then.

Good idea. I like it.

I think the damage should be upgraded along with the weapon, just at a sharply reduced rate compared to a normal upgrade path.

Acarnatia wrote:I think there's a reason From decided to only have one souls-upon-death-boost in Dark Souls compared to the 2 (3 if female) in Demon's.

Actually there are 4 total. Silver Bracelet, Ring of Avarice, Soul Thirst, and Soul Sucker, but no one in their right mind would do a Soul Thirst and Soul Sucker combo. The intelligence and mana requirement would probably be too high to be worth it.

Once I used everything except Soul Sucker when I defeated the False King. I got I think 3 mil souls from him.