Poll: Do You Want Weapon Degradation To Return In Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom?

Just give me repairable and upgradeable weapons and we are golden.

No, absolutely not. Please no, god no!

Absolutely, if they remove the weapon system BotW had I'm gone. Aside from the open world exploration it was my favorite aspects of the game. Having to go back to just lame sword would be such a step back.

No! It’s the absolute worst thing about the game. In fact, despite putting in about 150hrs on my Wii U the weapon system is what stops me returning to Breath of the Wild. I don’t mind games where you have to upgrade a weapon, but even with a weak yet reliable weapon you can fight yourself out of some situations. Lugging around a dozen rubbish swords in BOTW was terrible. When I finally got the Master Sword I thought ‘ah, well it’s all been worth it, because now we’re in business’ like in older Zelda games only to find that it has a re-charge! Urgh!

Durability kinda encouraged exploration. Like finding a camp with a decent weapon but you might have just passed it by otherwise. I don't know, this is a difficult question to answer. If TotK is another massive exploration fest, then yeah, don't change anything. If we are retreading the same path, mind, then that exploration might seem tedious with durabilty. So, the boring answer is it depends, because it's an integral part of the game design. Might be a tad too early to pose that question but I do trust Nintendo with how they tackle it though.

I personally think that the system is ok, but needs some tweaking. Its really annoying when you have a really good weapon that breaks and you have to go spend half an hour getting it again. Instead of breaking they just need to need repairs or sharpening or something.

Keep it, but tone it down a little bit. It sucked a** that you just got hold of the most ultra hyper weapon, after a fight where you nearly died just to have it breaking down after a few hits in some generic shrine.

I'm enough of a hoarder that I never had to worry about running out of weapons, and I didn't particularly like any one type more than another, so the degradation didn't bother me too much. I think just having generic weapons in general was a mistake, though. None of them were half as interesting as the various weapons and equipment you usually get in a Zelda game.

Repair weapon. Will be awesome. Not crafting no. Not a good idea for me. Repair.

I don’t think the system needs throwing away just rebalancing. Perhaps have then last a bit longer with the option to repair them. I actually wouldn’t mind them getting rid of rechargeable weapons like the master sword however. It became a bit of a crutch for me once I got it, took the whole ‘scrap together what you can and fight back’ feeling away considerably.
But I’m open minded with whatever Nintendo choose to do, like I am with the game as a whole.

I think it would be cool if you could repair whatever you want and throw out whatever you don't when it breaks

didnt really matter to me. there were enough weapons around and once i had the master sword i didnt use any other weapon anyway

If it was exactly the same I would be fine with that. If itnwas to change I think it should only be very minor, maybe weapons last 10% longer or something

I didn't answer the second question as any of the options listed would be an interesting change.

Answer: like a severe bout of diarrhea! Absolutely not, that was the one thing that grinds my teeth with BOTW. I don't have an issue with working hard to get decent weapons, however, once obtained, they should not break IMO!

I don’t mind it for weapons you pick up here and there but the master sword is really what I’d be using. The main thing I’d like to see comeback is classic dungeons and plenty of them. I’m just not sure how they could do it in a open world because you don’t won’t to close anything off due to the items you get. I guess keep the world open and the dungeons be made to solely showcase their weapon. Having more tools to use out in the open for experimentation like the hookshot would be amazing.

Breakable weapons yes.
Maybe with some sort of repair system but limited to how many times.
Maybe some light upgrading capability

This gives me something to think about and manage during the game.

Just as important should we keep gathering and cooking?

They need to improve the upgrading massively from Age of Calamity to give greater incentive to fuse weapons; should look to Kid Icarus Uprising for the right idea.

The amount of weapons you can hold needs to be increased also.

Early on in Breath of the Wild breakable weapons were integral to encouraging exploration, but the further you progressed the more annoying and unneccessary it became.
As you get further into the adventure there should be an option to keep a few weapons of your choice, something like the gold dust in Majora. These could be rewards for completing difficult mini dungeons/quests.

Spending ages completing a difficult shrine or quest, to find the reward is a cool weapon that requires you to discard one of your favourites is just obnoxious.
This needs to be managed better.

Short answer is no, but it wouldn't break the game for me if it was still present.

I think it's necessary to not make the game too easy and to encourage exploration, but tweaks are needed. My biggest problem with it is how you need to pause in the middle of combat to choose a new weapon. Even with the quick menu, it's intrusive. They should swap to another one automatically, or something. I could live with the quick menu not pausing the game, but I can imagine it being a hassle to some.

I think being able to fix them them in shops or with crafting materials is valid, but it needs to be costly, so people don't abuse the powerful weapons too much. As much as I think the durability system is important for balancing the game, it is kind of a bummer to get that Savage Lynel Crusher with +30 power, knowing its days are numbered. It'd be nice to have a way to not lose such a hard-earned weapon, even at a cost.

The only games where breakable weapons work well are turn based strategy games like Fire Emblem.

Repairable and powerups and that sort of thing.
Yeah, gimme dem "Weapon Recipes"!

They should take a page from the No Man's Sky book. Allow people to setup custom difficulty. Let me choose how I want to play the game. Don't force these things on people.
Offer options to breakable, breakable but repairable or unbreakable. Slow stamina, fast stamina or infinite stamina.

Personally I hate the breakable weapons. Ooooooo, look at this awesome weapon you just picked up. Just don't use it too much or it'll break and you'll have to use a stick.
And on that subject. Find a better way to upgrade inventory. Don't make me find 400+ seeds.

@Expa0 exactly. the moment i maxed out the master sword i had no incentive to use other weapons. So thank god even the maxed master sword has a limit.

Kinda wish weapons worked more like a souls game, but I wouldn't mind the degradation thing again. Just as long they add some QoL. Would be cool if there was a better mix of permanent and breakable weapons that do things your perm weapons dont

@Dezzy70 I think so, absolutely, I love gathering resources in BOTW, but they need to nerf the Hearty meals and elixirs. There is almost no point to cooking elaborate meals which require a specific combination of rare ingredients, when you can just throw one Hearty Truffle in the pot and get a Mushroom Skewer that fully heals Link and gives him an extra heart to boot. A good balance, I think, is to only be able to eat them with full heath, but make them increase Link's maximum health for a limited duration, instead of it being a one-hit buff.

Breakable but reparable weapons would add to the survivability and resource management aspect of the game.

A better way would be set weapons, limited carrying space and weapons "dull" or degrade in damage output the more you use until you go to the smithy to "repair" them. Only a small chance of weak weapons breaking, but it's more like Monster hunter where a sharp weapon increases damage and a dull weapon bounces/deals less damage.

I just want Nintendo to Ninten-do what Ninten-does. If it's good, I'll get it sooner or later. If they always listened to the games market, or even their own fans, they wouldn't be Nintendo, and we wouldn't have gotten some of their weirdest and best things yet.

The absence of this mechanic is naturally one less headache, but I'm used to it in many games anyway, and BoTW feels pretty generous with the amount of weapons you can consistently procure. Although I certainly wouldn't say no to a repair system and/or more cooldown items either.

1 unbreakable for every weapon class (they don't need to be exceptionally good or anything) and we're golden.

The breakability of weapons should stay, but they should be more durable and repairable. Have a smith that can fix them for you, and also have something like an elixir that can repair them on the go, much like you could do it with the shield in Skyward Sword.

Even with the recharge, the Master Sword just made all the breakable weapons redundant. Opening chests just to find another Knight’s Halberd, that I can’t fit into my limited storage, and only ever used if the MS ran out mid-fight, got tiresome. Not game-breaking, but I don’t think it encouraged me to explore or experiment any more - before getting the Master I was too scared to get in a fight and have my chosen weapon break, so I’d just snipe bokoblins with unlimited bombs from a safe overhang.

No. That and the ***** climbing meant I played no more than maybe 20 hours.

@Dom_31 It's a great take but it also kinda breaks throws. Maybe if they logged every broken weapon and let you resurrect them from a list of recents that could keep it around.

100% I want it the same. Combat in Zelda games hadn't been interesting in a very long time. The mini game of wait for the flash in Skyward Sword was alright but the novelty wore off fast. In Breath of the Wild there was risk in picking fights with every creature you came across, and the fights themselves finally had weight again like the fights with Darknuts in Zelda II. Having to make do with whatever weapons you find gave a variety that you can't get swinging the same sword the whole quest.

There is so many weapons in the game that it doesn’t bother me. I’ll collect all when I’m exploring in game

Yea it's a good system, I always really liked it when Fire Emblem used to have it too, means you've gotta think more carefully about what weapons you used in certain situations. But you should be able to take a them somewhere to fix them

"What tweaks would you like to see made to TOTK's weapon system?"
.

Increased durability
The chance to repair broken weapons
Build your own (crafting)
Limited 'indestructible' bonuses
More weapons with a recharge period

> All of the above.

It's honestly the same problem as Paper Mario Sticker Star and Color Splash--weapons have a finite number of uses, which often just makes me actively avoid the combat so as to not waste them.

I like the weapon durability, though I’d like it to last a little longer before breaking. What I would like to see though is a better variety of weapons that change up HOW you battle, even mid-fight. Give us some whips, or daggers, or more traditional Zelda weapons and items and make us change our style of fighting on the fly.

Whilst durability isn't perfect, it is also far down my list of problems with BOTW so I would rather they fix other issues first. My main gripe is the same as Gavin's though; the Master Sword should be the Master Sword for a reason.

When it comes to experimentation, since the majority of weapons fall into 1 of 3 types, I found in my playthrough was to use the weakest weapons as much as possible to hold on to the strong weapons for bosses. It also meant my inventory is very similar throughoht my playthough as you never know when you are going to need the weapons, which makes me feel experimentation was actually discouraged, though again, there wasn't much room.

I would like less weapons, but more movesets with durability scrapped if I am being honest. Heck, they could offer the weapons in place of items in the dungeons since they seem obsessed with the same runes.

I hated the breaking weapons. On longer play times it became a DREADFUL and unwelcome chore.

In fact, for this new game, how they handle weapon breaking is a dealbreaker for this game for me.

I do believe they have addressed this issue though.

Durability encouraged creativity and strategy in combat. When you started you didn't have the weapons to spare. Eventually you'd have plenty of weapons, but when you came to an enemy camp, you'd want to minimize the deterioration of the good weapons you had collected. If weapons had no durability, you would probably just run in swinging.

Also I said the ability to repair weapons, but if we got other weapons that didn't break, that mimicked the items of the other games (hookshot etc) I would be down for that. I mean I always kept a leaf on me, just because the never broke unless you hit something with it and it had interesting applications.

Weapons shouldn't break, so I hope they can get rid of that idiotic system. It's one if the reasons Breath of the Wild isn't among my favourite Zelda games.

I don't think I would like crafting weapons. I could see it being a pain to chase down some enemy for a rare drop. On the other hand I do like the idea of maybe forging weapons to increase durability.

Thinking about it further as several people pointed out weapons were plentiful and then redundant after getting the master sword. Maybe Nintendo could create enemies that are weak against certain weapons and stronger against others similar to fire emblems weapons triangle. Maybe certain enemies could break your weapon or throw it far out of reach if you're not careful (looks at Lynel)..

@Uncle_Franklin I love the idea of taking inspiration on weapons from kid Icarus because Pits weapons greatly changed his speed and power depending on the weapons equipped.

no was tedious as hell

Perhaps because I have amiibo and had a good supply but I loved the weapon system. It highlights how ravaged the world is. To the point that tech and knowledge had been lost. With the ancient weapons you feel that loss twice. That Hyrule had gone through a dark ages more than once. You don’t recover from that over night so I would like to see the system return. Maybe have the game check to see if you beat the dlc to make the master sword unbreakable. Plus it brought weapon variety to a series that wasn’t known for that.

I feel like it's only adding artificial difficulty

The system could probably do with some tweaking, but I still vastly prefer the BotW approach to weapons and durability overall vs games like The Witcher 3 or Elden Ring. I don't want my storage to fill up with cheap swords I have no use for (durability solves this issue), and I want to be able to use any weapon I come across optimally without having to rebuild my stats (the lack of RPG elements work well here).

It makes sense for things like sticks and bones but I think I would prefer a durabikity/sharpening system for swords and the like.

Repair, repair, repair. I'd say still let them break, but there should be a way for someone to smith them up to snuff before they reach the point of no return. Or even to smith a stronger weapon when you have several copies in your inventory, similar to Age of Calamity.

I hate breakable weapons. And electrical storms constantly destroying your weapons was over the top, stupid, annoying, unrealistic, unfair and just NOT FUN

We don't even know what the structure of the game is yet. Breath of the Wild's theme was survival, where the limited weapons and the cooking made sense and added tremendously to the gameplay. If Tears of the Kingdom is again an open world exploration game and largely follows BotWs structure, then yeah, I definitely think limiting the weapons has to be part of the experience. But, if it's more straightforward this time then this and every element obviously needs to be reconsidered to fit. Regardless, the breakaway weapons were an integral part of what made the original so compelling. To "listen to the fans", if this is actually what most people want, and make the game easier and more convenient would be the antithesis of art, which "the fans" are so desperate in insisting their little hobby is. Video Games are meant to be a series of challenges within a set of rules, not operating software designed for ease of use. You don't HAVE to play them. I want Nintendo to make something they want to make the way they want to make it and I'll decide if that's something I want to play. If not, I'll move on. They shouldn't be expected to compromise their vision of their own creation because a few weirdos think they're owed a free ride.

@KayFiOS > All of the above

Being only able to choose 1 answer for that 2nd question meant their survey degraded to non-usefulness. If not All of the above we should have at least been able to check up to 3.

Whatever the system is I’m going to play the game, so really no point in thinking about something I have no control over. If there’s an option in the game to turn weapon breaking on or off then we should revisit this topic.

Short answer: NO. But if they're going to do it, at least don't make things like the Legendary weapons breakable, because mine ended up hanging at Link's house, useless because I'd spent WAY too much time and effort acquiring something to have it just "break" after X number of uses.

It may sound cool or "realistic" on paper, but in practice it was one of BotW's biggest flaws. Finding a treasure chest in previous Zeldas used to mean something; BotW cheapened them and literally almost everything you found inside to becoming throwaway, disposable items.

Would the ability to repair help? Yes...but ask yourself whether you'd rather constantly find yourself doing that or actually be out exploring and doing stuff that's meaningful to the story. Mechanics like this are pure, time-consuming fluff.

I’ve never sympathized with complaints about this mechanic, as I think it has an immensely positive impact on the gameplay, making you adapt and have variety. But I’d be open to however they push it in new direction.

Also I must be one of the only Zelda fans who doesn’t give a crap about the Master Sword. 😅

I wouldn’t mind weapon degradation if the swords lasted A LOT longer and could be repaired. I’d like a system where each weapon has effectively a set amount of HP that will degrade with each hit. Once it drops below a certain level, it starts doing half damage and once it reaches zero it breaks.

Repairs can be carried out by blacksmiths that can also assess the remaining strength of your sword and charge accordingly. You could also obtain smithing stones to repair your swords in the field by set amounts. Maybe later in the game you can acquire equipment that can assess and even do major repairs yourself.

Weapon degration is the absolute WORST part of BOTW. It makes no sense at all. A sword won't break if you hit someone with it 5 times. It works for a tree-branch or other makeshift weapon maybe, but it was so obtrusive and annoying. At LEAST offer a repair option.

I'd like a crafting system, something similar to the Witcher or fallout 4

And now I have the DX WWF entrance theme in my mind 😂

I never ran into any trouble with the weapons breaking. There are so many slots available, I always had too many, and saving a particularly good weapon for a particular fight felt good versus simply having an amazing weapon for anyone and everyone.

The weapons breaking made the master sword better, which makes sense since it is the master sword. It would be weird for thr master sword not to be supremely better than anything else.

You can collect korok seeds to unlock more inventory space. What's the point of unlocking more inventory space if you have a collection of indestructible and powerful weapons already?

I like the idea of being able to upgrade and repair weapons, but I hope they make it challenging to do scaled in line with the power/abilities of the weapon you wish to upgrade/repair.

Weapon degradation was the one thing I hated about breath of the wild.... I also hated it in the fire emblem series.

I never had an issue with durability. The weapons were in abundance and I only used top tier weapons against top tier enemies. It really put me in a postion to try all items. Where most games you would just default to the strongest and never try anything else. Lame and boring. I really don't understand the frustration with the system at all.

Crafting would definitely help my displeasure of this mechanic. Combine wood, metal, an optional elemental or the like modifier and a sword recipe and voila you have yourself a new sword! Combine a stone with a stick and you have an arrow!

I like the idea of repairing and adding to the durability of your favorite items. When I got cool items in botw, I often hung them on a wall, because I didn't want to use them up.

Never saw weapon degradation as an issue. In fact thought it added quite a lot to what the game was. It would be a shame to take it away.
What could be a good mechanism is the option to repair but have a point of no repair so if you let it fully break it’s gone.

I wouldn't mind blacksmiths existing in the world allowing you to both upgrade and repair your favorite weapons. They could even do it so that upgrading a weapon to it's final level unlocks a new aesthetic look for it, I know I always find it cool to try and see what all the weapons look like when at max level.

This way it makes it more meaningful to earn a weapon after a quest besides shrugging because it will just break after a couple uses

The alternatives are inflated enemy stats that intentionally match up your weapon stats to make it more difficult, or you use the stupid weighting system from The Elder Scrolls. Otherwise, the game will be an absolute joke.

I didn't hate it, but I'd prefer if weapons didn't break. I like how the Souls games handle weapons much better. There are tons of them, they're upgradeable, they're unique, and once you find a favorite you get pretty attached to it.

You're poll questions were pretty skewed. But I get it, you all loved it though many didn't. I hated the implementation of degradation but the second yes response is almost better than the no response for me. Why not two yes's and two no's. Like, no, I want many unique weapons and items that don't simply disappear with use. It was so frustrating needing, or wanting, a fire item and not having any. Can we also talk about having a "Master" sword that deals less damage than other swords?

Anyone know the UK Nintendo rep or connections.
To tell Nintendo to get their arse in gear and get some official black standard Switch pro controllers over here.
Even Sony have managed to restock PS5 disc solo since Christmas.

I think my major problem was the related inventory management. I spent a lot of time fumbling around deciding what weapon to drop, and while that makes you think it's also a lot of tedious busy work - it doesn't help that the inventory is SLOW as molasses, at least on my Switch Lite.

The other issue is one of my big issues with BotW on a whole - I don't love the game. There certainly is a good argument that everything is useful, figuring out how even the most obscure item has a cool use, but when all the weapons bust so quickly they never felt special or rewarding. Like I found this well hidden treasure chest and my reward is a sword that will be broken 10 minutes later... This feeling really killed my desire to explore in BotW, which basically killed BotW.

The sequel needs to find a balance to truly rewarding players with cool gear and still encouraging experimentation.

I wonder if anyone reading this got a Legendary weapon only to have it break on them after so many uses, an investment of so many hours of effort gone forever. No, it didn't happen to me personally (mine all ended up hanging uselessly at Link's house), but a lot of people played BotW and I'd assume many did so without strategy guides. But I wonder, if you were to pose this question to such a person what their response would be? I'd imagine they don't think too highly of it.

@ModdedInkling I don't think all the other Zelda games are jokes. Plus the already have enemies that scale. Having degrading weapons just means you need to spend time side tracking to find another similar one once yours breaks.

@nocdaes it would be weird if the master sword wasn't better then everything else.... Which it isn't unless you buy the dlc, and go through the trials. Which is kind of weird.

I didn't mind the weapon degradation much in gameplay but it did take away the satisfaction of getting a cool looking spear only for it to break after 6-7 uses. Maybe allow the more special weapons to recharge while more common ones break.

My main hope is we just get actual good dungeons back though. That was my main issue with Breath of the Wild. If they literally give me Breath of the Wild now with actual dungeons then I'll be a happy camper.

I feel like the weapon degradation system was a strong motivator to explore the environment, and the player was rewarded for exploring partly because of this system. Open world games are fun partly because there are things to go out there and find - weapons were a huge part of this.

Tweaking a little? Sure, It could be improved, but the weapon durability needs to stay, its part of what made Breath of The Wild so unique. It forced you to explore, to adjust your fighting style depending of the enemy and weapon you had. You could get really inventive and set up traps, face them in sword duel, or just bomb them (not all enemies of course).
Having a weapon that won't ever break will only make people forget about exploring, because why bother?

No more breaking weapons and no more charging times. That was a big deal breaker for the first game. It was one of the few reasons that made me favour Horizon Zero Dawn instead which led to me abandong BOTW as I moved on.

I get that people like to try out new weapons and all but there is no reason why they can't have enough slots for each weapon and let people pick favourites of that weapon (different shapes, sizes and elements) to put into that slot. Or go the upgrade way, and the more we use a weapon, the more powerful they become.

Durability shouldn't be a reason to encourage exploration. If the world is exciting, then the exploring is more fun than looking for the next weapon. Assassin's Creed Origins world was so good and exciting that I explored the whole map forgetting to do the missions and that's how exploring should be.

In my mind, weapon degradation is fine as long as you eventually get to weapon(s) that do not break. It makes sense to start out with rough tools and have to forage around, but later in the game, after you've put a lot of time and work it feels like you should be able to get unbreakable weapons. And I don't mean ones that can charge, I just mean plain, unbreakable weapons.

Unfortunately, Nintendo more recently failed at this with Animal Crossing New Horizons. Another game where breakable tools early on in the game make perfect sense. But they didn't do that, even golden tools were breakable. It's annoying.

Without the weapon degradation, you would need to drastically decrease the amount of weapons available as rewards for exploration and combat. If you did that, then you would need to replace the rewards with something else.

I’ve always hated when a weapon can break in the game and, frankly, I don’t see the point of it. That was easily my biggest gripe with BoW

I guess it will have the same basic systems since it seems so similar a sequel.

For the love of God, no

The tweak I am hoping for? Even more variety in weapon types — that actually change gameplay and interactions with the physics and chemistry of the world. The more variety, the more sense behind the durability mechanic, and finding new things to do with new weapons you constantly have to pick up and use.

Terrible poll options. Do away with it but keep the different weapons or make them way more durable and repairable. It just wasn't fun smacking goblins for a few hits before it breaks, and it gets especially worse when the enemies become HP sponges but every weapon, including endgame weapons, break almost as fast as early game weapons. And the weapons those mobs always carry around with them are such low tier weapons. Not to mention, they look lame af lol

It also makes finding weapons with rare stats like atk up pointless cause they're gonna disappear in like 10 hits anyway. What was the point of that little system

Breaking weapons does critical damage, I'm not sure why I'm the only person who knows that.
Smash that Lynel in the face, whip out a different weapon, continue smashing, no big deal.

Besides, once you get to a certain point in the game, you find out that killing all of the monsters is actually detrimental to your experience.

I loved the breaking weapons mechanic, and definitely want it to return.

It's actually one of the big reasons I haven't played it yet...seems annoying

It's the main thing that ruined it for me. Personally, I know people like it so why not make it an option? I can't play games as much as I used to (work, family etc.) So I got fed up wasting time making potions, finding weapons etc. I'd rather have the option for a "chill out" mode which let's you experience the story and free roam without the little niggles.

Yes. They just need to tweak it so it works in a different way.

I'm okay with having it - though I'd prefer not to - but please at least heavily tone it down. With weapons being so commonplace anyway having most of them basically unable to make it through a single fight serves no purpose but to be annoying.

Just a few days ago I completed the game for the first time. There are major differences between the armor and the weapon systems. You never need to spend korok seeds for more armor slots. You can upgrade the armor. Before I ever picked up the master sword, or had a stash of Lynel and royal weapons, I was happy when I received the hero weapons. I used them, and I knew I could have them rebuilt.

But I was also hoarding my diamonds for fairy fountain upgrades. It was annoying the repair option was dependent on my precious diamonds. Then the hero weapons lost their usefulness, and I have a million weapon slots now.

A system with more repairable weapons would be great. Maybe even upgradable weapons. More expensive to repair the higher it is upgraded.

Would love to see the system completely reimagined. I don’t think simply getting rid of durability or tweaking it will be anything but a worse experience. The whole point of weapons breaking is to encourage exploration and disincentivizing that would take away from the gameplay.

Maybe but needs work. BotW made inventory management a huge deal and it was a worse game because of that. So my two tweaks to their fomula: (1) ancient special weapons such as for beating a boss don’t break. Maybe they aren’t the strongest possible but they are sufficient. (2) let me earn the power to climb in the rain for the love! and (3) bonus pretty-please: take a page from Spiderman and let me switch between playing as Link and Zelda to save Hyrule.

IMO it needed a system where you were rewarded for breaking weapons. Like your weapon broke and now you have a resource based on that weapon, break like 5 of the same type and you can pay rupees to rebuild a new weapon that is a tier up from the broken bits or something.

When I first started playing the game I didn't like it. But I found the management and finding of weapons because of degradation a game within a game itself which appealed to me. So yeah, I would like it to stay absolutely

I don't need it. And if they do it, then at least make them repairable.

I really don't have an opinion on this. I would probably enjoy the game just as much with or without it. I am curious as to what they do with the mechanic though.

I’m kinda late on the draw here, but I found that the weapon durability was a pretty good feature considering how the game is structured around it: You see some enemies, and you decide whether the risk of losing one of your weapons is worth the chance of gaining a better one. I liked that! However, once you’ve beaten the game and are just trying to mess around, maybe doing some self made challenges (Doing all the Lynel fights in a row without healing, for example, with bonus points if you’re using the complete Fierce Deity set + sword) then the durability can become a bit of a hassle. This is especially true for the special Amiibo weapons, which are so damn cool, but I never want to use them out of fear of how annoying it’ll be to get them back again. Henceforth, I’d love it there was some post game item that would make it so that your weapons never broke, or something like that. Now that I think of it, that could have been the PERFECT reward for getting all the Korok seeds!

no, weapon durability along with the lack of tradicional Legend of Zelda elements such as tradicional Dungeons, was one of the worst aspect of Breath of the Wild, i hope Nintendo get rid of this stupid mechanic in Tears of the Kingdom, they also added a mechanic similar to weapon durability in Animal Crossing, but without bulk crafting, it drive me nearly insane(fire the person who trough this mechanic was fun, it was not fun to me, when i had to craft 700 bait to catch all the rare fish in Animal Crossing, weapon durability, only work on turn based RPG such as Fire Emblem, not in simulation games as Animal Crossing or more action orientied games such as Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild)

Weapon breaking is part of the gaming loop of BotW. Therefore it works. We don't know though what game rules will change with TotK.

Example of one game rule that is already obviously changing is that it's not cold anymore high up. You don't see Link having red cheeks and puffing water vapour when being up in the sky in TotK. So temperature works in a different way in TotK, at least high up.

So could be that the gaming loop for exploration and finding stuff is different and therefore how to acquire weapons is different too. We will see, but important is that the mechanic does not work in a vacuum.

Full disclosure, haven’t read anyone else thoughts or most of the article. But as annoying as weapon breaking was, it really added to the game as you had to be more careful in engaging enemies based on your equipment etc. The ability to quickly switch weapons supported their sudden breaking too.

But they really needed a more visible durability system and repairing.

I wouldn't change anything. It was perfect as is. I loved the loop of always improvising by using whatever I could find in the environment as a weapon. It forced that kind of play style, and it was awesome.

It was a great system, but the do think both repairing and crafting would be a positive step

No. PLEASE NO. I don't want to see my favorite weapons get broken.

The durability drives exploration and creative gameplay, end stop. BotW was at its best when you had very minimal weaponry, and instead had to use your tools and environment creatively. Those were the moments where you asked "Can I do this?" and the game almost always said "Why yes, you can!"

But people need to shift their thinking on what the weapons are. They're much more akin to the limited ammunition in a survival game than the weapons themselves. You always have access to the specific fighting styles, you just need the ammunition to use them. Going back to The Legend of Zelda, it was the same: you needed your heart ammunition to fire your weapon and if the weapon "broke," it was far less powerful.

It was kinda annoying in the beginning because it wasn't something I was expecting to deal with in a Zelda game but you get used to it. Finding weapons is just a thing you have to do, like finding arrows or food. The game is about scavenging and resource management and there were plenty of weapons to pick up.

The most fun I had in that game was in the beginning when I had nothing but rusty swords and wit to survive.

Yes, I love the forced use of managing other weapons! But it'd great if you could repair and enhance weapons. Tinkering with your arsenal sounds like a great addition.

Have a mixture of upgrading and repairing your own. And a few "ultimate" weapons for each type that are indestructible but require so many hoops to get them.

repairable sounds like a bigger pain in the butt. i liked an idea someone said where breaking a weapon produces a material/item

Longer lasting for some, rarer weapons, and less rain in the back third of the game.

In the forum, many people that complain about breaking weapons never maxxed out their bombs, which are infinite. And they also never snuck into the castle for good weapons, or farmed arrows.

As someone who plays BotW for over 1000 hours, I cannot even imagine the game not using the same mechanics. It would be a great shame if they changed it.

I know it isn’t the most popular opinion but BOTW just did not do it for me. At all. The degrading weapons was a big part of it. I absolutely hated it, more passionately than I expected. I did not nearly finish the game and had little desire to return to it. This is a major personal disappointment as I usually love and actually finish Zelda games.

Same system but with lots of tweaking. I can see what they were going for and on one hand I did switch out weapons more often and didn't stick to a single powerful weapon, ignoring all the loot.
On the other hand though none of the weapons (with one exception) felt special in any way.
In Witcher 3 I remember using one specific sword even after finding a better one because the story behind it and the way I got it was so cool (plus it looked cool).
In BotW every Sword felt more like a round of amunition: Useful but not really meaningful in any way.
Also...going through multiple weapons in a single fight was kind of ridiculous.

In the forum, many people that complain about breaking weapons never maxxed out their bombs(increase damage & reduced cool down time) - bombs are unlimited. And they also never snuck into the castle for good weapons, or farmed arrows.

@Cheez
Misinterpreting my words doesn't help your point.

The reason why having very few weapons in previous Zelda games is fine is simply because damage stats were not a major priority in the game, and thus the idea of switching weapons was close to just being aesthetics.

With BotW and TotK, we're taking damage and health statistics to that next level, and having degrading weapons is a way of balancing the game's difficulty. It ended up being tedious in the base game because there was no penalty for wasting durability, whereas in Master Mode, early game durability combined with regenerative enemy health was a major factor to deciding which enemies were worth fighting and which weapons to use.

think it was a little bit overdone. weapon degradation should be a thing but it shouldn't mess with the flow of the game. They should add some rpg factor instead, the weapon itself does not break down, but will do less and less damage until you repair it. Weapons are also a nice opportunity to make the game more rpg like, for instance, basic link will do a standard damage of 50% with any weapon, mastering weapons will yield more damage, mastering basic stats will yield more damage etc, and ofc not all stats can be mastered... that would make the game way more engaging as you would naturally be stronger against certain types of foes and not as strong against other types.

It drove me crazy. Whenever I found something really cool I essentially just never used it since I wanted to keep it. I spent half the game trying to fight with bombs only, and it was super painful. This also meant that my inventory was always full. Every treasure chest and mob drop was a fraught Sophie's Choice decision what to throw away. I can understand its gameplay purpose but it really was like they put the worst thing about western RPGs into my beloved Zelda.

I mean, you are making your own story as you rescue Zelda. If you aren't appreciating the added drama of your go to weapon breaking at an unfortunate time and having to resort to plan B, I don't know what to say.

I love the blood moon mechanic and how that interacts w the weapon degradation. I love marking my map w weapon/armor/bow etc icons and heading back to those areas to kit out for whatever challenge is next after the blood moon resets everything. Once I understood how those systems worked together, I felt like the game really clicked.

The weapon breaking added absolutely nothing to the experience. The number one argument in favour of it that I have kept seeing was "it entices you to explore and find new weapons" which just isn't true. Your weapons will break while you are trying to find new weapons which means you end up in the exact same spot that you were before going out to find new weapons ... so why bother?

It was a neat mechanic, I loved it! It never bothered me to have to lose my 20th Duplex Bow. Besides, the weapons are super abundant and someone is going to find an item duplication glitch.

They can keep weapon durability as is, but I would really like them to add legendary weapons that never break for late game/side quest rewards.

Destructible weapons is fine but there should be a dozen or so main and side quest line weapons that are indestructible (ad necessary to progress w the main quest) things like the hammer to break certain stones, Hookshot, whistle, idk...

Best part of the game's mechanics. Instead of the boring "get the Master Sword and never change swords again" step in every Zelda game, or like any other adventure, RPG game, where you get a weapon and you keep it until you find another that's more powerful, this weapon system is fantastic, since it keeps you on the edge on every big battle that you have, circling between weapons, and also learning which one works best with which enemy, because if you use the right weapon, it'll make more damage to the enemy and the durability lasts longer.

Hot take: I loved the weapon durability system. It changes the flow of combat and forces you to experiment with different play styles. I normally hate using slow, heavy weapons in games, but the game forcing me to use claymores made me appreciate them way more (especially during the dreaded Lynel fights!)

I find it weird that this is so controversial tbh. Breakable equipment isn’t new to Zelda, even if it wasn’t as prominent before BotW. Ocarina had Deku Sticks and the Giant’s Knife. Majora had the Razor Sword. Every shield in Skyward Sword can break, except for the Hylian Shield. Sure, these were temporary items you had while on your way to getting stuff that didn’t break, but the concept is the same.

I would like to see the system improved by having a couple types of weapon degradation:

1) Weapons rusted out/nicked up and unrepairable, but can be used until they break
2) Good weapons that simply get dull and lose power, to which, they need to be sharpened (like Monster Hunter), but also have a special breakability where if certain conditions occur, the weapon could be degraded severely or destroyed (Ex: Melts in intense heat, clashing against uncuttable surfaces, etc.).

This would at least give you a range of weapons to play with and possibly maintain before upgrading to better weapons, or melting them down to make better weapons, etc.

BotW had too many weapons that were essentially the same thing. I’d rather there be fewer weapons overall but they can all be upgraded in very different ways.

@Ellie02 that's a weird take. It's like saying exploding things were always in Zelda so of course all weapons explode.
Trying to play through OoT fights with just deku sticks sounds like a horrible experience. And the Giants knife is more like a joke weapon than anything else.

I hated that feature. If they so desperately want to use it in TotK i hope we can repair them

No I do not. It sucks.

I think durability should be increased by a notable chunk and it would be cool to combine broken weapon parts for repairs/crafting. I don't care if repairs/crafting isn't in the game, but I would be annoyed if your weapon breaks in 2-3 fights.
Lets hope the blacksmiths of Hyrule have learned a thing or two about durability

I'm all for expanding weapon options to experiment with combat, but knowing everything breaks permanently made me avoid using the best ones the majority of the time. It definitely is a system that can be improved.

The breakable weapon thing definitely changed how I played the game, it lowered the quality for sure

Yes, only to annoy the people who whine about it

I think everyone hates it at first because the first few weapons you encounter are terrible and break really fast. But after a while you find more weapons than you can carry and it becomes kind of like Goblin Slayer (Moblin Slayer?): if a sword gets too dull or breaks, pick up a spear nearby.
It also made us experiment with weapons other than standard sword and board and I have to say this game is one of the few I had a lot of fun with a spear. I'm still unhappy you could properly joust with them (what's with the helicopter swinging?), but it was cool nonetheless.
I hope we get to wield a top heavy single handed weapon like an ax or a mace with a visible difference in handling (swords are bottom heavy) or maybe even dual wield?

I think it would be great if each weapon still disappeared upon breaking. However it would be great if you could also prevent them from breaking. Like if you could see a durability meter for each weapon and could restore the durability of your weapons by visiting a blacksmith or something.

So now you would actually have a real proper reason to change out a weapon that is about to break when the game warns you.

Currently I find myself letting the weapons break, because I see no reason for running around with my bag full of weapons that can only take 1 or 2 more hits before breaking.

I would also like to see weapons and shield being upgradable.

Also a crafting system for making new weapons and shields would be welcome.

I think all of these things could work very well in the Breath of the Wild Hyrule, it's all about the freedom of doing whatever you want and always having something to do and a reason to just explore.

More reasons to gather material while exploring is welcome.

They just need to balance everything right, like don't make it too easy to restore durability on your weapons.
Make it somewhat expensive so that you perhaps only use the service for a few of your very best items.

@Ellie02

Being forced to use new weapons is good to begin with, but once you've experienced most of the game and are going after the remainder of quests you just want to use the weapons you know you like.

The Giant's Knife and Razor sword are strange examples to bring up for as you allude to, the former had the permanent Biggoron sword as an alternative, and the latter the Gilded sword; which only serves to highlight that this option wasn't available in Breath of the Wild.
It's not the same concept at all. One is using weapons that always break, one is working towards those that don't, which is what many people here are calling for.
It would be like saying that 20 years in prison or the remainder of your life in prison are 'the same concept'. They are very different in effect.

And nobody used Deku sticks to fight.

Dear God no, whatever braindead chump behind that decision needed axed and quickly.

Maybe keep most of the current system, but add some quests involving items that can make some weapons unbreakable. Maybe there's only a handful of those items available each playthrough, or make it where it takes a lot of hard work to make the weapon unbreakable. Most weapons could still break, but the player could still have a nice variety of weapons if things got really rough.

Weapon durability is the one thing that I'm actually confident Nintendo will change with Tears of the Kingdom since that is the most consistent criticism of the game. I think they'll make the weapons way more durable, repairable, or not be breakable at all (and instead rely on upgrading weapons or something similar).

@StarPoint first reply hits the nail. I didn't bother reading any more.

My only two complaints with BotW were the weapon degradation and stamina systems, and with the latter it was really only an issue very early on.

The idea that they switch to a Monster Hunter-like system where instead of breaking they lose sharpness is a great one that I think could go a long way to making things far less annoying.

Or maybe a system that would give you very limited number of items that would allow you to reforge a weapon to make it unbreakable, so you'd have to be very selective about which weapons you choose to apply that to.

How about we go back to the old Zelda style(green clothes, green hat, weapons that never break, a real soundtrack).

It's the least creative way for them to encourage players to use different weapons.

Aside from a few takes on this, it's usually very superficial "i found it annoying" or "I had no issue with it".
The actual crux of it is that it was built into the game design in place of traditional RPG progression. If weapons didn't break in BOTW, you'd have no reason to seek any new weapons once you found the weapon you wanted to use that would be that, and if they tiered better weapons into different zones, you'd just rush to the later zones and get a late game weapon right away. It'd remove a huge chunk of the reason for exploring, the reward for doing so, you'd "solve" the entire weapon system in the first hour of the game, and after that there'd be no reward, no excitement, nothing.

If they remove weapon durability, they need to replace it with something else. Nintendo doesn't seem to be a fan of RPG progression, the kind done masterfully in Elden Ring for example (you can use your sword from the beginning of the game forever, but exploring will both improve your character and give upgrade materials to upgrade that sword so you always have a reason to explore and a way to progress). Without some kind of progression to incentivize exploring, taking out camps, caves, etc, then the reason for the world being that large starts fading away.
BOTW treated weapons like ammo, you always wanted more, it worked within the context of its design. I'd have preferred RPG progression, but Nintendo disagrees, as seen in the likes of Paper Mario post-Sticker Star too, but that's another rant.

Do youwant a different kind of game? That's the actual question, saying you found weapons breaking "annoying" is not enough, you need to suggest a larger change in how the game works so that the replacement is satisfying.

The problem is that it only affects the first few hours or so. The majority of the game you're playing with a full inventory, unable to pick up additional weapons.

Either make it a full survival game with more durable weapons, but only allowing you to carry a few at most (instead of 20?). Or just get rid of it all together.

I didn't really enjoy it at all but I don't need it to go away completely, If I can repair the weapon I'll be alright. The way it was in BoTW I spent most of the game using sticks since the second I found a weapon I actually liked to smacks and it was a piece of junk most of the time, if they didn't want me to use just one weapon the whole time, I'd imagine me using sticks and branches the whole time also wasn't the plan... That's the main reason I really didn't care for the game.

Surprised repairing got so many votes. That just means more time going around collecting stuff. I think definitely keep it with some tweaks. The system adds much more than it takes away overall. Best tweaks would be some combination of…
– Make all weapons like 35% more durable
– Get increasingly better unbreakable weapons as you progress, but they’re always a step down from other breakable weapons you can obtain at the time
– Make weapon durability an upgradeable stat so it’s less and less a problem as you work through the game

Kind of a weird question to answer right now. We know nothing about the game. I have no idea what system would be best for the game yet, it depends. The weapon durability worked fine in Breath of the Wild, but remove it and you'll likely have to add or change some other critical features, or maybe some of the new features makes weapon-breaking pointless. I'll wait until I play it to see if its done well, whatever they decide to do.

Get rid of it. I love the game but that weapon deg drove me away from the game for good after about twenty hours. Its too bad because that game is amaizing otherwise.

I don't like breakable weapons. Because then I want to save the really good ones until the final boss battle... and then they never get used it.

Maybe if they can be repaired. That is what blacksmith's do after all...

I'm gonna be blunt, the options here are AWFUL. Why is it "leave weapon degradation in the game", "tweak it" or "only have one sword"?

And why don't the tweak options include "craft PERMANENT unbreakable weapons"?

Frankly speaking, this poll seems REALLY disingenuous towards discussion and biased toward the idea of breakable weapons. I'm not a fan.

Anyhow, refusal to participate in the poll aside, my answer would be allow weapon breaking to remain in the game, sure, but there NEEDS to be some final tier of weapon that's unbreakable, period. The champion weapons in BotW being breakable was such a mood killer.

The weapon crap was why I stopped playing it. Real weapons have better durability. If you have to do some sort of damage do it realistically like the Witcher. Otherwise it's just stupid.

No. That is the single worst thing about the current game..hated it the entire game. So much I quit playing it. .. then the master sword glitch happened and I did that and played for 200+ hours.

Weapon degradation forces the player to be resourceful and pay attention to the world around them. This in turn encourages engagement with some of the subtlest but most satisfying aspects of the game’s design.

Would people have bothered taking out Bokoblin camps in all the ingenious ways that the game offers if they could just run in, all guns (well… flame swords) blazing, with little consequence?

BotW is a survival game as much as an adventure game, and resource management is a key part of that genre. Asking for unbreakable weapons in TotK is like asking for infinite ammunition in Resident Evil or infinite boost in Burnout. It completely undermines one of the core game mechanics and — while superficially more ‘convenient’ — would result in a much less engaging experience overall.

The durability system is a critical part of the challenge and improves the game experience. It encourages strategy and using the right tool for the job rather than just rushing in with brute force. One can especially appreciate this in Trial of the Sword, specifically the Master Mode variety, in which every weapon must be used wisely against the strong enemies that can regenerate their health. The weapon system reminded me a bit of the power-up inventory from Super Mario Bros. 3, in which limited power-ups that can give you a real advantage added depth that wasn’t there in the original game (or in World, which effectively has unlimited power-ups with its replayable levels and bonus areas). It wouldn’t be the same if you got access to a permanent P-wing and hammer suit halfway through.

Through blood moons and marking spawns on the map, good weapons are always readily available and they will get better as you explore more and level up. And for people that really don’t like it, the fully upgraded Master Sword lasts so long that your other weapons will be burning a hole in your pocket by the time it breaks (recharge time is pretty generous too).

Respectfully, anyone that thinks they like the weapon durability in Breath of the Wild is fooling themselves.

It adds nothing to game, and is solely a detractor. Having such wonderfully designed equipment is a shame when it lasts mere seconds in gameplay.

It is also the reason I stopped playing game. With such a mechanic in place, playing the game is pointless. There is no incentive to explore, complete shrines, or do anything once you are confident you can beat Calamity Ganon, because often times the reward you receive is less valuable than the resources you spent along the way.

I would actually prefer they keep weapons breakable. I would instead like to see more focus on scrambling for materials and weapons mid fight. And bonuses for breaking through a whole weapon, like getting materials to attach to other weapons for boosts or upgrades or crafting to encourage frequent use of weapons in the wild. Maybe if your spiked boko club breaks it drops some animal bone material, and if you approach it on the ground you can immediately attach the bones to your pot lid and get a spiked pot lid. Ideally it should be fast and seamless to upgrade on the fly so you don't have to get too attached to your weapons, so you should be able to approach it and have options to immediately apply it to your weapon/shield/bow without needing to pick it up and go through menus.

I would also like more challenges that take away your weapons and gear, like Eventide Island or the Master trials. I think the game is at its best when you get to use your surroundings to the fullest rather than try to build up a huge arsenal of weapons that are so valuable you don't even want to use them on normal enemies.

I wasn't crazy about the mechanic, but like many others have pointed out, it encourages further exploration and ups the stakes where survival is concerned, so, I see more benefits to it than not, and I think removing the mechanic would take away so much from what ultimately made BotW so engrossing. If anything, perhaps they should make some weapons less prone to degradation (as it seems that it only takes a relatively small number of hits before most weapons break).

But I also have all of the amiibo, so, I'm almost always fully stacked where weapons are concerned.

I'm more bothered by the weapon durability in a game like Fire Emblem as it's all hindrance with none of the fun that comes with exploration/survival.

It certainly wasn't as bad as people claimed it to be, but it would've been nice to be able to fix them.

Honestly at the start it was, not annoying so much but it was a hiderance, but once you’ve expand-a-band-banded your weapon inventory a few times it’s no bother at all. I liked that it pushed me to actually use different weapons over just using the same one all the time, so even when I had the Master Sword I didn’t always use it.

I do thing the durability could be tweaked though, especially for early game. Also having some other weapons that acted more like the Master Sword, like a bow and a shield that recharged for instance.

I personally loved the weapon degradation system, to me it was a fun mechanic that forces you to evolve and try to take on battles in different ways

@greengecko007
It's completely the other way around for me, the potential of finding a great weapon that will help me with more difficult situations was one of the main reasons why I explored so much at all.
On the contrary I utterly hated the game Skyrim because I essentially found good stuff once and after that everything I ever found was pointless. It completely destroyed any reason for exploration because I only got useless junk out of it anyway.
In BotW, even weaker weapons could still be useful and in places where you will only get weak stuff, you usually didn't need to use up any great weapon, so that one is mostly on you.

And no, I am not fooling myself. With so many people saying they either don't mind or even like the system, you can't just handwave it away by assuming they are all just fooling yourself. Especially of the only thing you are basing this on is your opinion.
The BotW system may not be perfect, but it does work for many people.

I see a lot of people liking weapon breaking as a reason for exploring and that's perfectly fine but personally that just feels wrong to me. So I'd like to suggest some ideas what could make exploring fun without needing to search for weapons. Searching for that next weapon makes it more of easter egg hunt and less about the exploring itself. If you're not enjoying the exploring for the exploring then there is something wrong with it.

Exploring should be fun and exciting. Taking in the scenry developers created and seeing new things. Find different treasure in the chest. Search for all Korok Seeds and maybe spend those to get house items to feel rewarding and worth doing. By the time you get all seeds your house would be maxed up. Add a lot of fun side missions that involve travelling around in search for something or beat new bosses. Discover puzzles/answers on walls that lead you to treasure and those chest can give you a better sense of accomplishment for putting in the effort to find it. There needs to be more and different enemies to discover in different parts of the map to make it exciting too. They could add some hidden dungeons, some with easter eggs of past games hidden away inside. Could add unique weapons or colour paints for weapons/armour in chest too and give players the choice to replace their current one, leave it or send it back to the house.

Point is, there is a lot they can add to make exploring fun rather than just running around looking for the next weapon. The open world needs a bit more going on to keep it exciting. Since people are divided between breaking and non-breaking, maybe the best option is to let players toggle it on and off to how we want it.

I understand what the intention was, it was to keep the game balanced and make it so that if you replayed an area, you weren't in God mode, which is a snooze-fest. An appropriate level of tension needs to be maintained in a game in order to keep a players interest, but at the same time players dont like frustrating stupid stuff. It was a good attempt but it either needs to be tweaked or there needs to be another way of maintaining that tension

Do I want more or less game mechanics in my videogame? Hmmm, decision decision...

Maybe all weapons should be like the Master Sword where they break but then regenerate after a certain amount of time?

That way, you still have to take weapon degradation into account while engaging in combat, but you can still have a favorite weapon(s) to always have by your side.

I’d rather have lots of weapons in the game like BotW but that don’t degrade and are upgradable…

Thank you!

i had no desire to play botw because of this but finally ended up playing it 2022 and durability is a complete non-issue.
weapons are not rare, you almost always find a replacement or something better before a weapon breaks.
been playing it a 2nd time on master mode thinking it was going to be terrible because enemies have more health and it's still not really been an issue except in the beginning where to have to use the tedious process of bombing enemies until you build up a stockpile but after you get weapons with 15 or more damage stat it just feels normal mode.

I don't think the system needs to be abandoned, it just needs some tweaking. Like others have said, I really like the idea of repairable weapons that do less damage as they weaken. Or at least make them more durable.

I think it just needs improvement, not taking away. It makes sense to have from a realistic perspective. Just like in real life, the more you use a weapon, the weaker and more vulnerable to damage it becomes. They do need to lengthen the degradation rate though. So instead of it breaking in like 10 hits, should be like 30 instead, maybe more but its something that would need a lot of testing first

I hope to god they never include full on crafting, To many games now today make you do it and it’s horse$&@&.

While I would prefer they get rid of it entirely, if Nintendo insists on keeping it, I wish they would add both the ability to repair weapons, as well as crafting them. Maybe even combine other weapons to create more powerful variants.

But the big thing is item repair. I hate having to grind for Savage Lynel Crushers, which I use against Stone Taluses. Especially since any stat boosts on such weapons are random. Just repair the ones I want, and be done with it.

And for the love of Din, Farore, Nayru, and Hylia, don't make the Master Sword or Hylian Shield degrade. Those should be the two items that shouldn't degrade. Heck, in Skyward Sword, the Hylian Shield is the ONLY shield in the whole game that is indestructible! Why wasn't that the case on BOTW?

@Herna It's the same way for me, too. I want to learn more about the world and it's lore. Plus, if I get too many Iron Daggers, I can just sell them for a few extra Septims.

But with all of my dungeon crawling, making sure to get precious gems and valuable weapons and armor so I can sell them, the money I would make from selling a basic Iron Dagger would be mere pittance.

I usually try to sell items that have a value of 150 Septims or more first. As a result, I'm probably the richest person in all of Skyrim, maybe even richer than all the Jarls combined. Might even throw in Emperor Titus Mede II, too.

I don't know a single time I've been playing a game where I get a neat new weapon and thought to myself "Sh*t, I just wish this thing would break after I hit the next monster." One of the dumbest video game gimmicks I can think of.

Just make it possible to repair certain weapons and we are done.

Not really sure I care to be honest. Just want another great game on my hands. Getting some real dungeons are the only big ask I have for TotK. As for small asks, please let us craft a rod and do some fishing in the vast bodies of water that are scattered through hyrule.

In my opinion, it makes sense for the first breath of the wild game that weapons break often. Often these items have been stirring around for 100 years unused exposed to the environments. With the sequel, I’d like some weapons to be unbreakable. Perhaps they can be a bit more basic or less powerful compared to the weapons you could fine in dungeons, ruins, etc.

I didn't mind it that much, but mostly due to the fact I enjoyed the bow, but oh god, THE ARROWS. Which forced me to deal with the weapon degradation, and that is where my hatred for it settled in. Because when I run out of arrows, I have to use my other weapons, which most of the time is already half gone because of the fact I probably picked it from a body that was just hitting me with it. If anything, I wouldn't mind it if there were a crafting system that let you repair weapons (or craft arrows), while still having some degrade, like a branch. Or even reset weapons you pick up, so they wouldn't break almost immediately. But personally, I would throw the entire system out and give unlimited arrows for the bows.

Rather than them breaking I would rather them become "dull" and need resharpening for their full stats back. Dull weapons would be good enough for the overworld stuff but you want to get them sharpened if you're heading into a dungeon (unless you want a challenge)

I really had to hesitate over increased durability or fix broken weapons, but finally chose the former. The latter would still have me sticking to a limited few types, whereas their breaking means inevitably I'll be forced to try out ALL the types more than just once. It took me several times before I learned to appreciate spears, for instance. If I could've kept fixing up my sword weapons, I'd never have picked up a single spear again. Now I always have at least a couple. Also the weapons actually breaking and just being gone adds almost a borrowed element from survival horror. I loved trying to guage, "Do I have enough combined durability to take out that camp and not be left weaponless? If not, is there any way to even the odds?" The breaking weapons just forces you into a zone that repairing wouldn't, at least for the most part. Now, given how different Tears may well be, my answer may change. Both are good answers and being able to repair may fit better with its experience. Guess only time (but not too much more now!) will tell...

While I would be happy if they got rid of it, I’m not sure they will because of all the various systems built around it. I would like it if they created a healthy mix of breakable/non-breakable items. One of my biggest annoyances was that everything was a “breakable weapon”. Bring back hammers, deku leaves, torches, magic rods, hookshots, etc as an item class of their own with its own inventory slots. Then I wouldn’t mind as much that swords/spears break. Also… bows breaking was the dumbest thing ever; those were already resource constrained with arrows (which were pretty rare for most the game)!!

Its sad to see how people want to take something special like BotW and turn its sequal into your generic boring RPG which we already have tons of.

BotW already has some special repairable weapons, yet it seems like half of the people here do not even know. And it has the permanent Master Sword...

Even while playing with self impossed permadeath rule (cannot get killed, cannot fall into oblivion or mud etc.), Im still swimming in royal and lynel gear in my latest save. Why I would ever wish to have these weapons permanently I do not know.

Luckily Japanese devolopers seems to be the wiser. And they will hopefully not want to degrade their series like western developers past few years seems to love (e.g. BioWare, Ubisoft and more).

Played for about 15 hours and was just afraid of using good weapons because they'd break.

I didn't find the weapons breaking to be even in my top five of issues with the game.

And, I'm not expecting it to return either. They played the idea to its conclusion, so I think they'll do something else. I'm not concerned.

I don’t care…all I want is the hookshot lol

The answer is it depends. It depends on what the game is about. It worked great in BotW, I don't know if it will work for TotK.

@Kirgo In Breath of the WIld, if my entire inventory consists of strong weapons and I consume them in the process of playing the game and my reward is lesser quality drops, I have essentially lost progress.

In Skyrim, the possible drops improve as the player levels up. There's also the fact that looted gear can have special enchantments, and quests often give special weapons and armor.

Both games offer the possibility of finding better gear and growing stronger by playing the game. Only Breath of the Wild also offers the possibility of coming out worse after clearing an area. Everyone that has played Breath of the Wild at length has experienced this, and anyone that doesn't admit it isn't purely a "feels bad" system, is fooling themselves.

Breath of the Wild is a fun game. It would also be even better with weapon durability removed.

@greengecko007
Funny, how I barely ever got anything better in Skyrim after over 50 hours of playtime. 95% of things that I did in this game ended up being entirely pointless making the game a complete waste of time. Why did I keep playing the game for so long? Because I really really wanted to like the game and for a long time I hoped I was just unlucky or I did less rewarding things.
And I don't mean just loot, the game in general didn't feel rewarding at any point whatsoever, aside from the first few hours.
So you don't need to tell me about potential drops in Skyrim. It is literally the worst rpg I have ever played in that aspect, judging from my own playthrough.

BotW, most of the time, makes you come worse out of a situation if you use way too powerful tools for simple situations. In a lot of cases you barely even need to use your weapons if you are clever. And as you said, there is actually a potential of finding something useful here too, just that even a weaker weapon can be very useful, making it way more likely.
What is funny in your description is, that you talk about the case where you already have a bunch of strong weapons. If you have so many great weapons, that would mean that them breaking all the time wasn't much of an issue, otherwise you couldn't have collected all of that. If you are actually in a situation where you lost just a decent weapon to a worse weapon, while having all kinds of better other weapons still in your inventory, then that is hardly much of a loss.

Also again, stop arrogantly assuming that anyone who disagrees with you is fooling himself. This kind of thinking in general is very questionable, regardless of the topic.

I do like this Idea of Repairing the weapons. I got use too it in BOTW

I only picked up the game recently. So far I've freed one divine beast, claimed the master sword and gotten most of Link's memories back and honestly I hope it's completely scrapped. Weapons just don't feel that rewarding to stumble across and they break so easily that you're better off avoiding fights entirely, particularly thanks to the hidden 'exp' system that makes the world get harder the more enemies you kill. You can launch the game through one of the starter guide articles in the breath of the wild channel for a free Gerudo Scimitar every time if you ever get stuck and run out of weapons. A bit tedious but it saves you scavenging.

I think it's okay to have breakable weapons if there are unbreakable ones out there. I can see the value in scooping up some mob's club and flinging it at him to break it but I'd really like to stumble across a new, unbreakable, lore and story sword and not see it as basically a glorified potion. Make them hard to get if you have to just please let the option be there.

I remember getting a bow that belonged to some hero or another and then I lost it in a burst of flames while flying over a volcano for a few seconds. It was an exercise in disappointment.

I've actually been avoiding side quests and exploration because it seems like most of the possible rewards are just consumables I'll never use or that'll have minimal impact, be they weapons, food or potions. I value my bombs, upgrades and armor far more.

I really have no opinion I completely trust the devs on this game I am however skeptical this game can have anywhere near the level of innovation BotW did so I’ll be content with tweaks to a winning formula.

Higher quality weapons should last longer. If I'm fighting with a broomstick and it breaks after 5 hits, that makes sense. A well crafted sword should last much, much longer. Finding great weapons was meaningless and not much fun because it would be gone in minutes if you actually used it.

It was my least favourite aspect as it felt like a time filler. THe idea is fine in theory and agree it makes combat more impactful but at the same time I found that it discouraged me from random combat encounters. I think it needs a bit of balancing and possibly investment in different weapons etc.

I’m fine with weapons breaking. I’d like to opportunity to fix some if I want. Also master sword. When we fully charge it up, no “cool down”.

Not only that, I want it removed from Breath of the Wild, or at the very least sigNIFICANTLY reduced.

Only in certain weapons, like wooden or rusty. If they're going to put durability in everything, at least let us repair the weapons from time to time. The constant inventory management was one of the worst aspects in BotW.

I was reading a BBC article recently and a professor had this to say about medieval weapons: ""The sheer cost meant that you didn't just have a weapon and say, 'Well, I'll just go out there and stick them at the pointy end'," he says. "You didn't want to damage it."" Sounds like this is pretty accurate in BoTW, a game that takes place in a Dark Age where most of the Hylian society's technological advancements were 10,000 years ago and long forgotten. Also, each society does have its own repairable weapon, one for the Zora, one for the Gorons, one for the Gerudo, one for the Rito, and the Master Sword for the Hylians.

People often tell me that they never had trouble running out of items, and that it encouraged exploration, and I'm like, "HOW???" I would pick up as many weapons as I could find and still end up with 0 left when fighting pretty weak enemies. The durability mechanic actually made me avoid exploring anything that didn't look like the critical path, as I was so averse to getting into an unnecessary fight and losing too many weapons in a short time. I know I'm in the minority and most of you weirdos love it, but LET ME TURN DURABILITY OFF!!!

Nah not really no. It wasn't even a Zelda game in anything but it's name. best part dying trying get sword out lul

Because of this, I used weapons I just wouldn't bother with.

I wasn't worried about losing a good weapon throwing it at an enemy, better dynamic combat.

It's crazy how many people defend that system. If you want to encourage people to use different weapons make them fun to use and maybe have bonuses for different types against different monsters. Just having them break feels kind of lazy. As soon as I saw that and the stamina bar I knew I really didn't want to play it despite liking the art style.

Games like monster hunter I like trying different types because they play so different and are very fun to experiment with. Favorite is the insect glaive but sometimes it's nice to just run in with swords as well. I would want to spend more time exploring for weapons with unique bonuses for different combat situations or are just fun to play with.

I think we could have weak (common destructable) wepons and special strong weapons with secondary bonuses (unbreakable).
The special ones should be given to us after fighting a boss or finishing a really challenging dungeon (yes, I want them back).

If enemies had disadvantages to a certain kind of wepon and advantages over another type, we would be encouraged to try all different kinds.

Its fine...I do need a Twilight Princess release on the Nintendo Switch to make full use of my Wolf Link Amiibo

As long as the master sword doesn't have to constantly recharge, I will be fine.

Okay staff writers, there’s no way your feelings match your words. The weapons alone were bad, but the durability attached was unbearable. Loss aversion dictates the human brain perceives loss, or even the risk of it, at three times the magnitude of gain, or the potential for. Try and convince yourselves otherwise all you want, but it’ll never be true. The only thing creative about the system was the lies people use to convince themselves they didn’t feel terrible while playing it.

In BOTW, there simply wasn’t a potential reward system in place to match the risk of weapon loss, which makes people feel empty inside, like a chemical withdrawal, and in the end, players simply avoided combat to forage and hang glide. It’s a terrible system, lazy design, and not even that good of a Zelda game. Hyrule Warriors might have been better…it’s close.

How I see it is simple:
1. If a weapon runs out of durability, give the player a broken version.
2. Add blacksmiths everywhere across hyrule that repair them for different prices, depending on how strong it is (tree branch costs one rupee, Savage Lynel Sword costs 100 rupees, and so on).
3. If master sword breaks, you can either wait, like normal, or repair it, costing 10 rupees for every minute it will take to repair, rounded up (5 minutes= 50 rupees, 7 minutes= 70 rupees, 5 minutes and 25 seconds= 60 rupees, and so on)
4. Possibly, if you add number 3, make it so you can cut a certain amount of time off of the recharge (If you have 5 minutes left but only have 20 rupees, you can shave 2 minutes off of the time).
5. Make certain weapons never break (like maxed master sword if that is still a thing).

@WagnerDDS You mean like ice enemies dying to fire weapons?

@Pod What are your top 5?

@Benjaminhull or bottom 5 I guess

@Benjaminhull

After more than 200 hours with it, these five are all issues I find more annoying than the weapon durability:

• All traders will buy anything and everything. And they all pay you exactly the same amount of rupees for it. Ruins the feel of their individuality, as portrayed by their appearance, voice, location, and what they're selling.
• The world scope means that interactions with individual characters is pretty minimal, and there really are some I wish I could get to know a little better. Super cozy settings end up feeling flatter than they deserve.
• Mapping scope and crouch to the analog stick clicks has got to be the worst idea ever. I frequently clicked these involuntarily when battles got hectic, and got in big trouble for it.
• The blight bosses in the divine beasts just aren't good battle designs. They often hinge on you getting crushed multiple times while figuring out the one correct approach, and when you do, it's mostly back to being a non-issue to win.
• Cooking is a non-mechanic. You can eat forever, and 'hearty' ingredients will max out your health even without being cooked with anything else. Eating one fried radish is vastly superior to gathering the ingredients needed for a cake. Often you'll even want to NOT imbue your cooking with special effects, as a level one swimming buff on a dish you're gobbling down for the healing would void the level three attack buff you're currently relying on in a fight.
• Sense of urgency suffers grotesquely in an open world setting with drop-in drop-out quest structures. No matter how long you take with solving something, or how many other things you do before getting back to them, it doesn't really bother anyone. Nothings' that important. Not even beating Ganon. You got all the time in the world for individually rescuing this guys' three lost friends that are all in mortal danger. That's how the labyrinths and Eventide Island end up feeling so much more special. Suddenly, it's just this one thing in front of you, and you gotta deal with it now!

I think it's a great game, but it does have a few issues, and weapon durability is fairly far down my list of complaints. I quite enjoy how it urges me to explore, to take chances, and to figure out which weapons go well against which objects and enemies.
Your idea of having the weapons be repairable ain't a bad one, I'd just personally rather see them spend that effort on something else.

@Pod
And I now I realize I wrote six things. I hope I will be forgiven. ^^