You find a few 2 or 3 LP items on low LPL items and it gives a skewed view of what LP to expect on every unique.
I very much disagree with this assessment. That might be true for some people, but that's not at all how I feel, nor was that the point I was trying to make. I understand that some items with 2LP are more rare than others, I understand why that is, and I agree that should be the case.
What I'm doing is questioning your assessment of what is an appropriate drop rate for that specific item. One of the things that attracted me to this game is that you guys have seemed to be more respectful of player time than other companies, and the mindset of having goals that are achievable within a league/cycle timeframe, so it strikes me as misaligned to have individual items that would take an entire cycle just to get a useful version of. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's nice to get a great item three days before the end of a cycle, but it's also a bit anticlimactic because I can't help but look at that and think, "That's awesome, but I wish I would've gotten that three months ago."
It's also important to keep in mind that having it as 2LP doesn't mean it's going to be what I want it to be. I'm getting 0LP and 1LP versions of this item often enough that I can take those to Julra or Nemesis until I get INT on it (which is the main mod I need), but 2LP is so exceedingly rare I'd pretty much have no choice but to accept that whatever 2 mods I get on it are just what I'm going to get, because I'm NOT going to get another one this cycle. Now, if I got the 2LP item as a drop I might be able to sell it if the two mods I get on it are useful to someone else, but if I were to buy one via trade that's it, that's all I'm getting, so I'd better be okay with that.
Having someone set off on the hunt to get a 2LP version of this item to drop in the first place is the main problem I'm seeing.
There are two ways that interest me to address this issue. 1, make the relative rarity of LP per unique much more explicit so people don't get unreasonable expectations. 2, put hard limits on the max LP of each unique. Personally I prefer number 1 but it doesn't really address the issue you have with it.
If you think it's a problem that I should even be hoping to get this item as 2LP then I would say setting the hard limit of 2LP on this item would certainly make it clearer that I shouldn't be expecting it to be likely to get. Of course how you'd communicate each item's cap on each unique would be a question.
That said, it would be nice to be able to keep 3LP and 4LP versions of this item as options if only because how cool it could be for that to drop for someone, but it sounds like those might be once in a lifetime things, even rarer than mirrors are in PoE. Well, 3LP of this item might be mirror rare, and 4LP might be once in a lifetime. Which now makes me wonder how many people have gotten one and vendored it because they didn't know what they had ... which also makes me wonder if maybe you guys should split current uniques into a new item type where they look different based on their odds of dropping, so that anyone who gets one can assess rarity on sight. For example, if 2-4LP versions of Stormcarved Testament drop as white, but only 4LP Hazelroot dropped as white, then maybe that would make for clearer expectations. (I'm guessing on the 4LP Hazelroot drop rate, just using that as an example.) .... kind of like how PoE has replica items that look slightly different to show that they're not the exact same item, except here I'm suggesting they be the same item, but making them look slightly different only to reflect rarity.
Now, you mention that your build needs that item.
If your goal is 4 digit corruption
Miswording on my part. I probably should've said "uses" rather than "needs". My goal is to beat Aberroth. I don't know that I need it at 1LP or 2LP to beat Aberroth, as there are still a number of things I''m trying to improve on this build, and I don't know yet which will be needed to help me beat Aberroth. But the point of my post was to talk about the difficulty of upgrading this item.
we are adding some new mechanics and tools in 1.2 that will change the way you interact with the end game gearing process
Yes, I saw the announcement. I'm curious to see what you guys have in mind, and will look forward to seeing it.
Either way, thank you for responding.