Fractured is on its way to its next alpha testing this fall — sometime in late September, date TBD — and the devs at Dynamight Studios are seeking to touch on all of the many new things that are arriving in the latest build via a series of videos, the first of which narrowed in on equipment balance changes and some new progression systems.
First off, the game is planning on changing armor around a bit; light armor choices will now include a new assassin’s armor for rogue-minded characters, leather armor will now be classed as medium armor, and the scholar’s clothes are being retooled for mage characters. As for weapons, those will now factor in certain stats to multiply damage, such as strength adding multipliers for axes or perception adding multipliers for bows. At the same time, weapons can have up to three native properties that add additional modifiers like increased critical strike chance or spell channeling (which should be familiar to fans of Ultima Online). These features hope to open up build diversity and hybrid build viability.
Finally, the video offers a look at a new equipment advancement system known as imbuing that will replace equipment enchantment. In brief, this system will allow gems to be imbued with specific inherent traits when they receive certain reagents and then slotted into equipment via a socketing crafting bench, with more traits opening up for higher grade gems. More detailed explanations are available in the video after the break.
