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From the vote a while back, it is clear that the majority of the community does not like MF. In the vote, 36%, myself included, voted to remove MF completely, and an additional 20% said that MF was only ok if it was totally revamped. The biggest argument I heard against MF was that it felt mandatory, and was overall a 'feel-bad' mechanic. Here is my best idea for how to rework MF into a mechanic that plays well and provides progress while not being absolutely necessary for getting good drops.
First, a few disclaimers. I don't actually think that the system I'm about to propose would work for D3, since it changes MF so fundamentally that some game mechanics would have to be remade in order to work with my system. Nevertheless, I think that my system is, if not the best way to 'fix' MF, that it is at least a good system to do it. Second, because my change is so unlikely to make it into the live game, I still support MF just being removed completely from D3. Fortunately, with the exception of legacy gear and a few special legs/sets, it seems like RoS is doing just that. Finally, this post will be long, and probably will not have a TLDR at the end, since I am skeptical of my ability to condense the information into a paragraph of information. Sorry!
So, the main 'problem' of MF is that the game's drop rates are tuned around having MF, so unless you play with MF, your drop rates will artificially be worse than normal and you won't get any good gear. Furthermore, MF is supposed to be a risky trade-off, where you trade raw power and survivability for luck; in reality, however, most players just determine when they have sufficient power and survivability, then stack as much MF as possible once they reach that point. Because of this, MF stops feeling like a choice, and instead of being a bonus for gimping yourself, as MF is supposed to be, you are instead gimped if you don't use it. As a result, my idea for reworking MF fundamentally changes the idea of MF: my version of MF doesn't apply to drop rates, but to the dropped items themselves.
In my system, MF is not a naturally-spawning stat: in other words, no normal drops have MF on them. Rather, MF comes from two systems: crafting MF-specific items, and enchanting regular items with MF. MF's new purpose is to improve the stats of the dropped item, and having MF on an item decreases that item's stats. I will explain both systems below.
When each item drops, it rolls a number of stats, and each stat has a minimum roll and a maximum roll. My MF's primary job is modifying each stat's rolls: the higher your MF is, the higher your chance of getting perfect or near-perfect stat rolls. Specifically, MF removes the chance of stats rolling in the range specified by your amount of MF. For example, say you have 50% MF, and you find a weapon that can roll 1-100 Strength and 100-1000 damage normally. Because you have 50% MF, the weapon's minimum Strength roll is 50, and the minimum damage roll is 500. You can still get any roll between the MF percentage and a perfect roll, but the higher your MF is, the higher your minimum rolls will be.
Obviously, without a balancing factor, this becomes insane, as with high MF you can guarantee yourself perfect or near-perfect drops. So, there are two balancing factors in my system. First, MF itself is a "Degrading Modifier": just by having MF on it, an item's stats are degraded by the amount of MF on it. For example, say you have a sword that has 500 Strength, 1400 DPS and a few unimportant mods, and you decide to enchant one of those mods into MF. Weapons can roll up to 15% MF, so let's say you get lucky and roll the full 15%. Once you have done that, all of that weapon's mods will have their values lowered by 15% as compensation for the MF. So, your Strength roll was 500, so it will now be 425; its DPS was 1400, so it will now be 1190, etc. By choosing to put MF on an item, you degrade that item's properties, making MF a true choice to gimp yourself in order to attain better profits over time.
In addition to this, each difficulty level will have an amount of MF associated with it. Just as an initial idea, my thoughts are: Normal (-50%), Hard (-37%), Expert (-25%), Master (-12%), Torment I (0%), Torment II (+10%), Torment III (+20%), Torment IV (+30%), Torment V (+40%) and Torment VI (+50%). This stops players from loading up useless gear with MF and farming low difficulty levels for near-perfect gear. However, with this system, there is considerable blockage stopping players from steamrolling low-level content for upgrades: even with 100% MF (the highest natural amount possible to get on gear) Normal difficulty will only give you items that are guaranteed at the level of Smart Drops, making MF much more of a choice. In this system, you can't just load up MF and kill bunny rabbits; you have to actually choose whether or not you want to weaken your gear, given that you need to play at (at least) a somewhat difficult level in order to see real returns from high MF. Two important notes on this point. First, for players not interested in MF, negative MF does not negatively impact the stats of dropped items; it simply means that you need more MF before MF starts giving you returns. Second, once you enchant an item with MF, you can't get rid of that MF. You can reroll the enchantment to try to get a higher or lower MF roll, but you can't get rid of the MF. Because of this, you have to choose wisely whether or not you want to gimp a given item in order to gain the benefits of MF. On the enchantment page, there would be two options: normal enchant, and MF enchant. This makes MF a separate affix, not part of primary or secondary stats, ensuring that MF remains a choice, and that once you choose, your choice cannot be undone.
A final, important note about this idea of MF is that once you have more than 100% MF, dropped items will roll with stats that are better than the normal cap. For example, if you have 100% MF on your gear, and your gear is good enough to play on Torment VI, then your total MF will be 150%. So, if for example a weapon would drop that has a max roll of +750 Strength and 1000 damage, its roll with 150% MF will be 1125 Strength and 1500 damage. This makes very high MF insanely powerful, as you can get stat rolls that are better than possible without MF. However, because Torment I is where the difficulty bonus becomes 0, you need gear strong enough to farm Torment II or higher in order to even have the possibility of seeing items that are better than perfect. Considering that most people now can only farm Torment II or III with regular gear, imagine how difficult it would be with gear on which every mod was 10-15% worse than it is now. Furthermore, better than perfect drops are only possible if all of your items are enchanted with MF, and all of them are near the MF cap for that item. The bottom line is that in this system, better-than-perfect items are possible, but only for those who have gear so superior that they can farm Torment II or III even when all of the mods on their items (including damage mods on weapons) are 10-15% weaker than normal.
The ultimate point of MF in the new system is extending the loot hunt. Currently, it will take a while to get a set of perfect/near-perfect gear, but once you have that, you're done. Once you have that, there's nothing else in the game that you need to get, and the game stops being fun/interesting to play. With this MF system, however, once you're at that point, and are farming Torment V or VI, you have the choice of gimping your items and going down to a lower Torment to get a new set of better-than-perfect gear, which can then also be enchanted with MF, working your way up the scale until you are finally decked out in gear good enough to MF Torment VI, finding the best items possible. This extends the item hunt by a great deal, making even perfect item drops no longer the best possible outcome. Furthermore, obtaining the best possible gear in the game requires changing items multiple times, either giving you that feeling of 'I need this one drop!' or allowing you to experience a different, equally interesting build if the items you get complement a different play-style. Finally, for players not interested in this system, this version of MF doesn't take away their ability to enjoy the game. Since the drop rate remains the same for both sets of players, those who are interested in this new system can partake, while those not interested do not have to suffer worse drop rates because they aren't interested.
The idea for this system comes, ironically, from a very funny fanfiction rather than from any game idea. In the Harry Potter fanfiction A Black Comedy by Nonjon (link below), Harry Potter and Sirius Black find themselves in an alternate universe where Harry is not the Boy-Who-Lived and Sirius is not the Escaped-Convict-Black. Harry and Sirius, both fairly broke, decide to make their living by robbing Death Eaters blind, which involves a lot of breaking magical wards, and other wacky hijinks. The MF idea comes from a specific type of ward in the story, Animagus Wards. Animagus Wards stop shape-shifted wizards from moving through them, but at the downside of weakening all of the other wards they're tied to. Essentially, the in-story purpose of Animagus Wards is that you only use them when an animagus could otherwise slip through all of your other wards, so weakening them makes sense in order to block your most crippling weakness. Likewise, for my MF idea, putting MF on an item weakens its mods, so you only want to put MF on an item if you're sure that you want to start MFing, or that your items are good enough that you can MF on a difficulty that's worth it.
For those interested, here's a link to the fanfic. It's really funny, and is one of my all-time favorites:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3401052/1/A-Black-Comedy
Tell me what you think!
First, a few disclaimers. I don't actually think that the system I'm about to propose would work for D3, since it changes MF so fundamentally that some game mechanics would have to be remade in order to work with my system. Nevertheless, I think that my system is, if not the best way to 'fix' MF, that it is at least a good system to do it. Second, because my change is so unlikely to make it into the live game, I still support MF just being removed completely from D3. Fortunately, with the exception of legacy gear and a few special legs/sets, it seems like RoS is doing just that. Finally, this post will be long, and probably will not have a TLDR at the end, since I am skeptical of my ability to condense the information into a paragraph of information. Sorry!
So, the main 'problem' of MF is that the game's drop rates are tuned around having MF, so unless you play with MF, your drop rates will artificially be worse than normal and you won't get any good gear. Furthermore, MF is supposed to be a risky trade-off, where you trade raw power and survivability for luck; in reality, however, most players just determine when they have sufficient power and survivability, then stack as much MF as possible once they reach that point. Because of this, MF stops feeling like a choice, and instead of being a bonus for gimping yourself, as MF is supposed to be, you are instead gimped if you don't use it. As a result, my idea for reworking MF fundamentally changes the idea of MF: my version of MF doesn't apply to drop rates, but to the dropped items themselves.
In my system, MF is not a naturally-spawning stat: in other words, no normal drops have MF on them. Rather, MF comes from two systems: crafting MF-specific items, and enchanting regular items with MF. MF's new purpose is to improve the stats of the dropped item, and having MF on an item decreases that item's stats. I will explain both systems below.
When each item drops, it rolls a number of stats, and each stat has a minimum roll and a maximum roll. My MF's primary job is modifying each stat's rolls: the higher your MF is, the higher your chance of getting perfect or near-perfect stat rolls. Specifically, MF removes the chance of stats rolling in the range specified by your amount of MF. For example, say you have 50% MF, and you find a weapon that can roll 1-100 Strength and 100-1000 damage normally. Because you have 50% MF, the weapon's minimum Strength roll is 50, and the minimum damage roll is 500. You can still get any roll between the MF percentage and a perfect roll, but the higher your MF is, the higher your minimum rolls will be.
Obviously, without a balancing factor, this becomes insane, as with high MF you can guarantee yourself perfect or near-perfect drops. So, there are two balancing factors in my system. First, MF itself is a "Degrading Modifier": just by having MF on it, an item's stats are degraded by the amount of MF on it. For example, say you have a sword that has 500 Strength, 1400 DPS and a few unimportant mods, and you decide to enchant one of those mods into MF. Weapons can roll up to 15% MF, so let's say you get lucky and roll the full 15%. Once you have done that, all of that weapon's mods will have their values lowered by 15% as compensation for the MF. So, your Strength roll was 500, so it will now be 425; its DPS was 1400, so it will now be 1190, etc. By choosing to put MF on an item, you degrade that item's properties, making MF a true choice to gimp yourself in order to attain better profits over time.
In addition to this, each difficulty level will have an amount of MF associated with it. Just as an initial idea, my thoughts are: Normal (-50%), Hard (-37%), Expert (-25%), Master (-12%), Torment I (0%), Torment II (+10%), Torment III (+20%), Torment IV (+30%), Torment V (+40%) and Torment VI (+50%). This stops players from loading up useless gear with MF and farming low difficulty levels for near-perfect gear. However, with this system, there is considerable blockage stopping players from steamrolling low-level content for upgrades: even with 100% MF (the highest natural amount possible to get on gear) Normal difficulty will only give you items that are guaranteed at the level of Smart Drops, making MF much more of a choice. In this system, you can't just load up MF and kill bunny rabbits; you have to actually choose whether or not you want to weaken your gear, given that you need to play at (at least) a somewhat difficult level in order to see real returns from high MF. Two important notes on this point. First, for players not interested in MF, negative MF does not negatively impact the stats of dropped items; it simply means that you need more MF before MF starts giving you returns. Second, once you enchant an item with MF, you can't get rid of that MF. You can reroll the enchantment to try to get a higher or lower MF roll, but you can't get rid of the MF. Because of this, you have to choose wisely whether or not you want to gimp a given item in order to gain the benefits of MF. On the enchantment page, there would be two options: normal enchant, and MF enchant. This makes MF a separate affix, not part of primary or secondary stats, ensuring that MF remains a choice, and that once you choose, your choice cannot be undone.
A final, important note about this idea of MF is that once you have more than 100% MF, dropped items will roll with stats that are better than the normal cap. For example, if you have 100% MF on your gear, and your gear is good enough to play on Torment VI, then your total MF will be 150%. So, if for example a weapon would drop that has a max roll of +750 Strength and 1000 damage, its roll with 150% MF will be 1125 Strength and 1500 damage. This makes very high MF insanely powerful, as you can get stat rolls that are better than possible without MF. However, because Torment I is where the difficulty bonus becomes 0, you need gear strong enough to farm Torment II or higher in order to even have the possibility of seeing items that are better than perfect. Considering that most people now can only farm Torment II or III with regular gear, imagine how difficult it would be with gear on which every mod was 10-15% worse than it is now. Furthermore, better than perfect drops are only possible if all of your items are enchanted with MF, and all of them are near the MF cap for that item. The bottom line is that in this system, better-than-perfect items are possible, but only for those who have gear so superior that they can farm Torment II or III even when all of the mods on their items (including damage mods on weapons) are 10-15% weaker than normal.
The ultimate point of MF in the new system is extending the loot hunt. Currently, it will take a while to get a set of perfect/near-perfect gear, but once you have that, you're done. Once you have that, there's nothing else in the game that you need to get, and the game stops being fun/interesting to play. With this MF system, however, once you're at that point, and are farming Torment V or VI, you have the choice of gimping your items and going down to a lower Torment to get a new set of better-than-perfect gear, which can then also be enchanted with MF, working your way up the scale until you are finally decked out in gear good enough to MF Torment VI, finding the best items possible. This extends the item hunt by a great deal, making even perfect item drops no longer the best possible outcome. Furthermore, obtaining the best possible gear in the game requires changing items multiple times, either giving you that feeling of 'I need this one drop!' or allowing you to experience a different, equally interesting build if the items you get complement a different play-style. Finally, for players not interested in this system, this version of MF doesn't take away their ability to enjoy the game. Since the drop rate remains the same for both sets of players, those who are interested in this new system can partake, while those not interested do not have to suffer worse drop rates because they aren't interested.
The idea for this system comes, ironically, from a very funny fanfiction rather than from any game idea. In the Harry Potter fanfiction A Black Comedy by Nonjon (link below), Harry Potter and Sirius Black find themselves in an alternate universe where Harry is not the Boy-Who-Lived and Sirius is not the Escaped-Convict-Black. Harry and Sirius, both fairly broke, decide to make their living by robbing Death Eaters blind, which involves a lot of breaking magical wards, and other wacky hijinks. The MF idea comes from a specific type of ward in the story, Animagus Wards. Animagus Wards stop shape-shifted wizards from moving through them, but at the downside of weakening all of the other wards they're tied to. Essentially, the in-story purpose of Animagus Wards is that you only use them when an animagus could otherwise slip through all of your other wards, so weakening them makes sense in order to block your most crippling weakness. Likewise, for my MF idea, putting MF on an item weakens its mods, so you only want to put MF on an item if you're sure that you want to start MFing, or that your items are good enough that you can MF on a difficulty that's worth it.
For those interested, here's a link to the fanfic. It's really funny, and is one of my all-time favorites:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3401052/1/A-Black-Comedy
Tell me what you think!