The New Runes Messed Up Runes

Not unique feedback but I have been leveling an SSF character and having runes as random drops is not working. These are supposed the be the crafting option that lets you modify items that drop to fit your build. It is vital for SSF character progression to be able to continue upgrading via the drops you find. Currently, there is no solid guarantee that you will have the runes you need to adapt your gear to have it be usable when it drops.

There are two culprits: the changes to the reforging bench and the new stat runes. Before the tiers of runes were introduced, you could reforge three runes you didn’t need into a random rune. This meant your entire pool of runes was a useful resource that you could funnel into what you needed when a good item dropped. Now; reforging upgrades tiers, but it can’t generate new rune *types*. That means all the greater runes of +40 mana or whatever are completely dead drops that don’t advance your character in any way. But what they do accomplish is overwriting the resistance rune drops you need to actually play the game.

There are different solutions here: I’ve heard runes in shops could be nice. Personally, I think vendor checking is just annoying so I’d rather not rely on it. Making the reforge bench able to shuffle greater runes would effectively put runes back in their previous state, which was okay. Personally, I think you should get rune shards from disenchanting items. Have a suffix generate shards according to its tier randomly and the corresponding suffix type. It’s more work to implement, but it would give more of a sense of progression from finding good affixes. It would also make disenchanting blue items more meaningful in the endgame.

This applies to SSF mostly, but even for trade, I can’t imagine shopping for runes or bulk pricing them is what people are interested in doing with their hideout time.

While I don't really have a problem with runes, gear progression in general isn't great. Player agency is low. I assume you're suppose to trade but the game make trade toxic.