shnurr214 wrote:sometimes less is more.
Vouch on this. There is too much junk when it comes to uniques.
There are too many junk factors already. For example, let's say you're playing a treewarden druid. What are the odds of you finding an unique weapon that you can use? Well if you get any class specific you are already screwed, and then axe is just one of several item types. In case of armors, the filter lies on whether the item is based for caster, summoner, wdm or whatever.
So, finding items suitable for your current character is already difficult. If on top of that you have junk items it only makes the farming process much more tedious and un-enjoyable which is why many people get frustrated and end up using itempacks. All the guides are telling you over and over that you need X specific item on each gear slot, because other items on those slots are junk. Just look at SU armors for example, most of them are trash - not even mention many uniques are leftovers from median 2008.
Uniques should be unique, the problem is that they have become the standard so junk is needed in order to keep them balanced. This isn't optimal.
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What will happen in sigma as mentioned before is that one layer of uniques will effectively be removed. This is just one of several overhauls involving all uniques (included tiered) and items in general. I can see how some people might not be extremely happy about it, but that just shows a lack of empathy towards newer players. It's just not obvious which stats are useful when watching an unique. Removing junk is part of the process of making median more intuitive (which is the main barrier for the growth of our playerbase). I can guarantee the full overhaul (more details will follow eventually... or not) will be positive to both existing players, but especially to new ones, and it will shake the metagame big time, which will give sigma that fresher feel.