This is intended to be a fun and frivolous conversation, so please keep the ugliness out. I don't think that the "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything" rule is a great one, but it has it's places. This is one of those places.
People put up lots of polls on things they would like to see changed in Ladder Slasher. I think we all understand that these changes have virtually no hope of actual implementation, so it's just an exercise in fantasy game development. Let's broaden this exercise!
Pretend for a moment that you are a Ladder Slasher developer, and you have been charged with choosing and managing 2 projects at a time -- one major change to the game, and one minor change. Define the difference as you please, but pretend it actually matters that your definitions of "major" and "minor" make sense.
Again, let's keep this fun & frivolous. If you hate someone's ideas, just ignore them. If you love them, give them a thumbs up! If someone has already taken your idea, acknowledge it and try to come up with another one, just for the sake of having lots of ideas rolling around.
My ideas:
Major change:
I would implement a way for transmuting to target certain outcomes. The idea that has floated around my head for awhile would look something like this:
Add fairly rare item drop called a Vessel. You might find these on average once every 2-3 solo climbs. These items would come in tiers, but always drop white (i.e., never magical+). Vessels would be tradable as white items.
Vessels would have proficiency requirements for muting, similar to the way fishing rods work. The requirements would be about in line with the proficiency required to mute that tier of equipment.
Though vessels would always drop white, they are useless until they are infused with essence. Mutuing would work similar to regular equipment, but with lower chances of getting high numbers of magical stats. Most rolls would remain white, and getting more than magical would be quite rare, requiring high-mod essence (maybe mythical+ for even a slight chance at a rare vessel).
Once a vessel is successfully infused, it can't be rerolled. So, if you end up with a magical vessel, you would need a new white vessel to try for a higher one.
The next step is to use the vessel to extract a mod from another item. Transmute the vessel with a magical+ piece of equipment, and it will grab a random magical stat, reroll the value (capped at the value of on the item), and apply it to the vessel, consuming the item.
Now, that vessel can be used on another magical+ item to apply that stat to the item. Again, the value would be rerolled, capped at value on the vessel.
You wouldn't be able to use vessels on items that share stats (similar glyphs).
Items that have had stats added in this way would be marked "imbued." You can only imbue an item with a vessel once. The vessel is consumed.
So, the basic process would be:
1. Find a vessel
2. Invest lots of essence to infuse the vessel with magic potential
3. Use the vessel to consumer an item with (usually a lower value of) desirable stat(s)
4. Imbue another item with (usually a lower value of) the captured stat
You risk losing your items on every step of the transmuting process. This has a lot of potential to be overpowered, trivializing the process of getting good gear. This would be combated with by balancing the chance of a desired outcome. The design would require a low chance to successfully infuse the vessel, require a ton of essence investment, on average. It would also be necessary to have a very low probability of getting much of the desired stat values, on top of having to face that rerolling twice (once when consuming an item, once when imbuing).
I generally see this as a function within transmuting, but it may also work as a separate skill altogether. There are pros and cons of each approach, and I'm not married to either.
Minor change:
I would make a way to save the catacombs. I lose progress on exploring so, so very often due to a quick blink in internet connection, and it's super frustrating. I also don't see any reason I shouldn't be able to work on exploring in the morning before work, pick it up a little on my lunch break, and finish when I get home at night. Or, maybe I need to take a break to put the baby to bed or make dinner. If this break is too long, I AFK disconnect, and I lose progress. I don't see any reason this needs to be the case. The way I play (often interrupted), I basically have no hope of fully exploring after lvl ~20. If trap doors weren't enough of a problem, I just won't be able to sit in one place long enough to finish without a disconnect. So, that's what I would change!
Get your creative juices flowing! What would you change / add to Ladder Slasher?