Thanks guys, checking out Darkfall Online and ATITD!

Thanks guys, checking out Darkfall Online and ATITD!

ATITD is a goldmine for unorthadox, complex crafting systems and I heartily second its recommendation.

I'll temper jbadam's point with my own take on doing something strange with equipment augmentation.

A system like this, an upgrade system, crafting system, whatever, should exist to reinforce you game's core mechanics. Some games make really elegant combat their big thing, and really hone on in that aspect of the design. In order to keep it pure, things like crafting are left simple such that they support the combat.

I don't think there's anything wrong with making a crafting system with deeper mechanics. In fact, I think it could be rather interesting. Just be sure that it jives with your design's overall sense of purpose. If it ends up being a confusing or clunky mechanic, it will hurt things.

Onto the difficulty issue (some players may or may not get it), I'll suggest you take a look at this article.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6531/darwinian_difficulty_how_throwing_.php

I really like the points in it. I'd puzzled over WHY people liked Demon Souls so much 'till my puzzler was sore, or perhaps more specifically, how such a difficult game was made with it also being highly enjoyable. I think your augmentation system, if it is a deep mechanic that people will have to learn , might benefit from a Darwinian curve. Meaning, don't let the player get by without understanding how the augmentation system works. Make it a requirement for progress at the very start of the game, and force them to learn it. Facilitate the learning, though, and make sure the system is fair and transparent to the user, but don't let them progress past level 1/the tutorial without really understanding how the system works.

This way you can really bring that mechanic into the fold for your game and make it significant. It will make it easier to balance since you can assume the player is using the mechanic efficiently, so you don't have to worry about players that are kind of muddling through the game without knowledge of the augmentation system. If you let players do that, you run the risk of them hitting a point where they can't progress due to the game suddenly demanding that they know what they're doing with the augmentation system. It's harder for them to learn at this point (because they think they've been doing the right thing all along), and will get them very frustrated.