Maintenance/Tinker table suggestion

[Convi]

Hi Guys,
I'm writing from PvE player point of view so I'm aware mine suggestion may not be valid to PvP due to balancing issues and I know this game is more PvP than PvE. I'm also in middle of tier 3 and aiming to achieve tier 4 in few days, so no much experience in end game yet. IΓÇÖm thoroughly enjoying this game with my friend and we havenΓÇÖt had so much fun since ages, thanks to your game, because we couldn't find a game that would suit everyone
After writing this IΓÇÖve just noticed that I have written an essay, so sorry about that 

I think tinker table could use some rework. Currently there is, in my opinion, no much incentive to repair weapons/tools/anything, it is just better to produce new thing from scratch and use old till it is broken completely, because things breaks quite quickly(apart from armours unless youΓÇÖre playing sci-fi knight). There's minor benefit that, if I understand correctly, you gain extra durability from the two items combined +bonus durability for the cost of a duct tape, but I think this incentive is not enough for the whole hassle and I simply forget about this option as I 'burnΓÇÖ through my tools/weapons far away from my bases. It is anecdotal evidence (your statistics may prove otherwise)but I talked to some players and no one seems to be using tinkering table regularly or at all, many do not even have it in their base when I walk by other players' land claims.

First of all I'd propose to increase durability of, at least, higher tier(T3+) weapons/armours(1a/1b) or option 1c. To counteract this, increase price and time to craft as well (and I'd go as far as increasing it more than actual durability increase so like durability x3, price x4). Then there are three approaches I'd suggest for durability for weapons/armours and maybe some tools

1a. First option is that the durability stays as it is now so, 0 durability=>item is gone. But more sophisticated process of repair, which would make it worthy to maintain your items and not to make them break, so basically maintaining would be cheaper in long run than crafting a new item.

1b. Armour and weapons have 'infinite' durability, which would mean that once durability reaches 0 then it should change to broken armour/weapon. This then would be allowed to be repaired at tinker table to fully functional item or scrapped to regain some resources from this (nothing too excessive though).

1c. In this point durability may apply from both options (so durability 0 = item is gone(like in 1a) or durability  0 = broken weapon/armour(like 1b)). I'm aware that some players may not like to have to spend a lot of resources to produce weapons/armour (as I suggest above to increase crafting requirements). Therefore  another option to mitigate this may be ΓÇÿquality gradingΓÇÖ for weapons/armour(and maybe tools?) crafting. How would it work? Basically this wouldnΓÇÖt impact any other stats of weapons/armour apart from durability and crafting requirements. Well, letΓÇÖs go with 3 levels of quality for the sake of this example:
I.   Low quality, same costs as it is now and durability as it is now, repairs NOT allowed or highest price of repairs (so to disincentivize repairing and make it not worth, like in real life, low quality usually means higher maintenance costs)
II.   Decent quality, higher cost to craft (like for e.g. resources for crafting x2, base durability x1,75, allowed repairs, normal maintenance/repair cost)
III.   Highest quality, the highest cost to craft (like for e.g. resources for crafting x3, some additional things required, base durability x2,5, allowed repairs, lowest cost of maintenance/repairs)
Basically what this would mean is that you can use Grade III weapon for longer and in longer span of time the base cost would pay off in lower maintenance + less hassle about taking care of equipment durability during adventures on the map. Additional suggestion may be that for e.g. highest quality may not be crafted but achieved with some kind of item which is dropped only in events and then upgraded at tinker table/new table for upgrades only.


As for the process of repairing itself I would suggest it be the same for 1a/1b/1c
Process of repairing should depend on ΓÇÿitem tierΓÇÖ (IΓÇÖd skip T1 entirely though)
T2: Duct tape + some other resources used for crafting (still less then tool craft itself from scratch)
T3: Duct tape + new item for repairing T3 + some other resources used for crafting
T4: Duct tape + new item for repairing T3 + new item for repairing T4 + some other resources used for crafting
If you'd consider option 1a and 1b then well maintained item should gain additional durability (depending on maintenance level). If option would be considered 1c would be an option then IΓÇÖd suggest to abandon any durability bonus from maintenance (due this being incorporated in quality grading already).

Also some minor bonuses to damage/protection would be nice for level 10, 15 or 20 in maintenance, after weapon/armour is upgraded/repaired at the tinker table and maybe option for higher tier 'tinker' tables in

Thanks Devs and keep up the good job