I'm afraid I'm going to be the rain on the positivity parade here; this patch to me just looks like it is repeating the mistakes made with Age of Shadows, and adding an even more complicated loot mechanism to the game, a mechanism which was one of the major causes in self declared reasons for the collapse of the player base's interest.
As I read this thread to discover more about the Publish, it certainly was for myself; my reaction was increasing confusion, and then eventual complete disconnection from it, when faced with reams and reams of items and properties I need to constantly tease apart, mathematically analyse, and ultimately adapt to fit into my playstyle... the idea of mousing over each and every item to see whether it's worthy will just break up the flow of play, the very idea that Imbuing was supposed to be tackling (for better or for worse with regards what it did to the rest of crafting) and fills me with considerable dread. I main tamer, mage and bards in large part because I hate having to constantly be sat behind spread sheets when I get home too.
That's not to say there aren't some very good ideas in the design notes; the new MOBS and altars provide new play
experiences, which is really what keeps the game alive for the wider player base... and is that Apron Challenge for real? If so, then it's a fantastic inclusion, and one I'll certainly be having a crack at.
There's a few missed opportunities too; as I saw "Prefix: Mighty", I thought "ahah, maybe Vanquishing and Silver are coming back too?!" but alas they were not.
And adding it to Honesty items is a double edged sword indeed;
It was in fact myself that pointed out that the items had to be worthwhile in of themselves, otherwise it didn't match the Ultima conception of Honesty. You're actually being Greedy, because they don't have any real worth, so may as well get the discount from the "Virtue" then. And it would be nice to think the Devs were thinking of me when they applied the new item properties to the Honesty items... they could now be worth a fortune, so yes by handing them in you are being Honest!
There's one huge catch though... the items hardly spawn now as it is, so if everyone's grabbing them for PHAT L3WT it's going to be almost impossible to follow that Virtue as a playstyle, because even more people will be grabbing the still very few items, in case with later analysis it's well worth keeping. Why bother, when Shame will generate a much higher rate of item churn you may ask? My point is, why risk adding another complication to Honesty now, especially for a Virtue which is widely considered badly designed in it's present form?
(As an aside, a far better redesign might have been using NPCs like Compassion, but instead of escorting them, they offer you 500gp in advance to "Find my beloved wedding ring, oh brave warrior!"... but you can cancel the quest after you get the gold. "Ha ha, sucker!" Or you can go an actually find and return the item and gain Honesty.)
But ... my main criticism is still that the new Loot design, even if only in Shame for now, will very quickly escape and become dominant across the entire game; how can it not, when the potential for OCDs with EXCEL will prove so lucrative? Avatars with abacuses ahoy...! So I beg you, reconsider please.