So, what I would like to see:
A. Merc revival
Invaluable in ubers with lockdown, dlabs especially. Granted, this should not be cheap - paying an NPC out of battle to revive merc should by all means be more cost-efficient. Field revival must be something you'll resort to under dire circumstances only.
I'd have one-use, infrequently dropped "phoenix down" items for this.
B. Merc roster
Being able to buy merc of your own level, at full power, is nice. Still, if engine allows it, this could be further improved.
Let's imagine you have a tab where you can choose one of mercs you hired, all stored with their gear. Take one you want to run with during this session. There should also be option to have them all stay in town, for ubers where merc will be a hindrance or just has no chance of survival.
C. Ethereal items rerolling
Having found a good sacred eth weapon and not being able to hone it for runeword with oils of renewal (if anyone doesn't know, this recipe returns non-eth items) sucks. I know it's the way things are coded, but I believe something can be done about it.
Alternatively, just remove "+10 required level" from
Empyrean Touch
Empyrean Touch
Occult Effigy
Cube Reagent
Cube with Any Weapon/Armor to Add Bonus
Item Becomes Ethereal
+10 Required Level
.
D. Non-realm scrolls of enchantment
Ideally, I'd like to see it in "swansong patch" for current version of Sigma (1.8.1?). Having certain types of scrolls only drop from realm-only goblins is basically denying SP part of community their chance to build perfect characters. Rewarding realm players with extra loot drops is good, but giving them exclusive rewards unobtainable in SP is unfair to those who prefer to play alone. So make scrolls for helms and amulets only drop in harder ubers, but make them drop for everyone.
E. New recipes for cube
There must be an option to remove mystic orb bonuses from items, along with +req lvl of course.
Godsend option would be a way to reroll a chance to upgrade an item with oil of luck/of conjuration/lottery. Even if it's only possible through consuming infrequently dropped crafting materials.
F. Buff uptime reminders
Having all active buffs shown near the health orb is great. Even greater would be if the icons could remind you when a buff is expiring and needs to be recast. Subtle blinking for 3-4 seconds will do.
G. Loot filters
Inbuilt loot filter where you can check/uncheck which item quality levels are visible on pressing Shift button. Also inbuilt notifier whenever valuable stuff drops.
Also an option to disable auto-pickup when you click on the ground and catch pixel of some rubbish - unless Shift is held.
H. Cosmetic changes
I) Ideally I'd see mercs changing appearance depending on items they wear. If that's even possible.
II) Some weapon bases look weird on character model. I'd love to see hammerhead axe and balanced axe appear as larger 1h axes (double axe, military pick) instead of small hatchets.
Also, change base item or just on-model look of
Gotterdammerung
Gotterdammerung
Great Axe (Sacred)
Two-Hand Damage: 496 to 673
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 5400
Item Level: 120
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Mega Impact
Thunderfury
Area Effect Attack
50% Attack Speed
Adds 250-400 Damage
+200% Enhanced Damage
Requirements +800%
Ragh nar Rook
Socketed (6)
. The fact that hardest-hitting melee weapon with the highest str requirements of all items is not one of the biggest axes on-model just makes no sense.
III) The solution to previous paragraph might be something like illusionist NPCs in Grim Dawn, where you could - for a small price - change looks of an item on character. Sigma 2 could feature something similar, within item type (1h swords, maces/hammers etc). One way to implement this would be cubing some base item with mystic dye to get "oil of illusion" (needs a better name, I know) which, when applied to item, makes it appear on character model as the base item used to create it.
(edit) I need this feature because
Witchhunter's Hood
Witchhunter's Hood
Cap (Sacred)
Defense: (2136 - 2611) to (2161 - 2642)
Required Level: 90
Required Strength: 250
Item Level: 1
+(80 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
10% to Strength
10% to Dexterity
Maximum Elemental Resists +2%
Elemental Resists +(31 to 40)%
Physical Resist 5%
(16 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -50%
Socketed (4)
Witchhunter's Attire
(Assassin Claw Set)
is just as ugly as it's useful.
IV) Currently Deathlord buff is visually most ridiculous buff in game. Having a mini-UFO or glowing straw hat float above necro's head is as lame as the buff itself is good. Change it for ANY other visual effect, please.
V) Does Purify absolutely need to look like flying blob of snots?
VI) (edit) Vanilla Diablo 2 LoD has quite a lot of item sprites that look good but somehow didn't find their use in MXL yet. Just this page (
https://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Unique_Swords) has seven or eight. You know what should be done.
Bonus: ominous sounds!
I remember Median XL 2012, where Quov Tsin (on top of being far, FAR bigger asshole of a boss than he is now) had a chance to spawn or not spawn in specific location. When he was present in the level, you could tell by weird sounds of unknown nature.
I think dlabs could have similar feature for sovereign bosses. Hearing Phoboss even before his health bar appears might be fun "oh crap!" experience.
Alternatively, these sounds might be the way of telling that sovereign boss is close, if they get regular monster health bars in the top part of the screen, instead of always present boss healthbars.