Yeah well because of my old bones and rusty status, I am one of those players too Llewen.
And I like what has been done, for me this is awesome, its fun its fresh.
But I wont be buying anything from the crafters anymore, the loot I got last night is so good I'm still sorting through it and making amazing combinations.
I know, its my opinion, my choices.
Well every "good" item I found in there in 2 hours of play is better than anything I can FIND (if I look really good) on vendors.
The durability is higher, who cares for cursed its siege...
And while I was hunting with my friends last night, almost every 2 "burning" guy we killed, someone would say oh wow this is awesome for a sampire, this is good for necro, oh yes this will fit on my necro, this on my poison necro.
Devs... I know you simply love empowering your favorite character type (keeps to his own, can solo every boss in the game)... but this has honestly striken me too and it got on my nerves.
Especially that a guy named "a paladin" kept dying to air elementals and we had to res him so many times.
Oh no he was really good, a 7 year veteran, but he's not a sampire you see.
overall I love it, i'm having fun...
but there is still this layer of... creepy. I dunno seeing people ALL NIGHT long go crazy everytime we see a legendary artifact (and with reason) and changing their whole PERFECT suit...
Some of the pieces were so perfect for them they simply discarded perfect usable items on the dungeon floor. Stuff I could not even buy with my money.
Yes its bridging the gap, but you see, what about the players who only play crafters ?
They just lost one of their best customers on siege... some of this stuff is so good I don't even really need to use potions ever... there is simply no choice for me, I'm not starting to shell out 100k gold per piece of armor...