Want to get more involved with the community? Join us on the official forum! We are considering a number of potential changes to crafting. Please note that these are being discussed at an early stage of development, and there is consequently a greater than normal likelihood and scope for these changes to be revised prior to their inclusion in a patch. We also plan to introduce new Runes and Glyphs, however these will not be in Patch 0.7.10.

Fractures

Since the core of Last Epoch's crafting system was implemented in Patch 0.4 in January 2018, items in Last Epoch have changed dramatically. We've added several new rarities: Unique Items in Patch 0.4.1, Set Items in Patch 0.6, and Exalted Items in Patch 0.7.9. Set Affixes for regular items were also added in Patch 0.6, and as we've created content for higher level characters we have been creating more powerful Unique Items with higher level requirements.
The game calling out that a fracture has occurred. Minor, Damaging, and Destructive Fractures were implemented in Patch 0.4, and were intended to prolong the item hunt by introducing an element of risk on player's journey to the holy grail... which at the time was four Tier 5 non-set affixes on a piece of equipment. As higher-end equipment options become available, the need to gate access to less powerful items diminishes. We are currently experimenting with making some adjustments to both Damaging Fractures and Destructive Fractures, but not Minor Fractures. Current Functionality

• Damaging Fracture
  • Item can no longer be crafted on.
  • All affixes are reduced by 1-5 tiers.
    • Affixes reduced below Tier 1 are removed.
• Destructive Fracture
  • Item can no longer be crafted on.
  • All affixes are removed.

Potential New Functionality

• Damaging Fracture
  • Item can no longer be crafted on.
  • One affix has its tier reduced by 1-2.
    • This cannot bring an affix below Tier 1.
• Destructive Fracture
  • Item can no longer be crafted on.
  • Between two and four affixes have their tiers reduced by 1-2.
    • This cannot bring an affix below Tier 1.

We'll be looking at Glyphs after making these changes.

Critical Success

An issue with crafting we wish to address is that fractures inherently highlight a craft going particularly poorly, however there is no equivalent for a craft going spectacularly well. This leads to crafting feeling worse, as there is undue focus on the potential for being unlucky.
A mockup of a callout for the 'critical success' feature. We are thus experimenting with the addition of a counterpoint for fractures, which we are tentatively terming a 'critical success'. A critical success will be called out similarly to a fracture, and will cause an affix to be upgraded to a higher tier. This is most likely, but not guaranteed, to be the affix you had been crafting at the time. Please note that a critical success cannot raise an affix above Tier 5, which is the highest tier that can be crafted. A critical success cannot occur if it would raise an item's level requirement above your current level. We're still discussing how much instability (if any) a critical success will add.