I'll try and explain some more... (Destiny)

by RC , UK, Wednesday, January 14, 2015, 12:09 (3399 days ago) @ digital_ronin

But how do you communicate all this to the player in game terms?

Hah! When has Destiny ever tried to communicate itself to the player? ;)

Fictionalisation isn't a big problem in a game like Destiny. I'll have a stab:

• Plasteel Shards are essential elements of the best armour's protective layers. A Titan, with their physical toughness, are the best at bashing it into a stable state before the raw material disintegrates.
  
• Sapphire Shards keep heavy, powerful armour flexible and comfortable to wear. A Hunter's speed allows them to pluck the elements out of the air before they're lost to the wind.
  
• Hadronic Shards are used in the control and shield generation systems of advanced armour. A Warlock's affinity for the subatomic means they are best suited to gathering these elusive materials after defeating the most powerful enemies.

Names are just place-holders, of course.

The Destiny Community seems quite active in disseminating information and providing coordination. Even if something like this was implemented with zero explanation, people would figure out pretty quickly that their class was getting these rewards in a certain ratio, and other classes had different ratios. Especially if it was in Raid or strike situations where you're getting the rewards at the same time as other players in the party.

Do we really need another material?

Cut Hadronic Essense, Plasteel Plating and Sapphire Wire, add a general 'armour parts' material instead. Implement the 3 materials I'm talking about, and the number only goes up by 1, with a strong benefit towards multi-classing. Seems like a fair trade.

Change the way the inventory works too, expand the vault, and it's not much of an issue anyway.

But do you get what I'm saying otherwise?

Yes.

Cool :)