[sadbot]

I'm all for this. There's such a great variety of equipment you can use in this game, and despite all of the options it also doesn't feel like there's a lot of things that just feel like something else but worse. There's some degree of uniqueness to almost every item that gives it some kind of niche, be it through scaling, base stats or weapon effects. But despite all of this, I'd say that at least two thirds of all equipment in the game never really sees the light of day because it's just so far from that power bar that most people are aiming for. Not necessarily to make some sweaty meta build, but just to have a build that can put up a good fight against most people and have fun.

Bar the occasional outlier, the 'across the board' axe buff for example, balance changes only really seem to be aimed at things that are too powerful. Items that push beyond this power bar, warp everything around them and leave you asking how you can justify not using it. But I honestly think some time needs to be taken to look over the current catalogue of equipment and bring many of the options at least closer to the bar set by the likes of anchor edge, mirror spear, etc. Boss 10 stars come to mind as the perfect example. Some of them are a good option or even the go to for their respective weapon types, while others are just a weird meme that leaves you scratching your head as to how to even utilize it.

Perfect balance, especially with this many options, is impossible unless dev has an infinity gauntlet lying around. But I think the best improvement that can be made going forwards is to improve on the existing variety by making some of it more usable. With the amount of equipment there is, and all of the varying opinions going around about what is and isn't good or usable, I think the best way to go about this is for dev to make a new player survey to collect opinions on player's personal top choices for items they would like to see buffed or changed. Maybe it's what they think needs it most, maybe it's their favorite equipment pieces from a style/theme standpoint that they just wish were more usable pls I just wanna make a cool shuriken build. I may be wrong but I imagine with plenty of submissions, and I have no doubt that most people have their own opinion on this, some sort of loose pattern might arise to give some direction on such an undertaking.