Borderlands = smaller loot upgrades - each new gun is better but by a very small amount, and there are many upgrades Doom = larger upgrades - each new gun is significantly better, but there are fewer upgrades.
I like this, using a few equipment upgrades and not having a levelling system makes for a better game imo. How Thief handled it was my favourite. You basically had access to the same expendable equipment throughout the game, dependent on the market and how much money you had, you'd never have enough money to buy everything, and what you did decide to buy would strongly affect how you went about playing the game. Lockpicks were attained about half way through, and the only weapon upgrade was a slightly more useful sword.
A good inventory management system mitigates much of this problem. Stuff like assigning items to a junk pile to sell in one click is huge.
I think making items appear on a logarithmic curve is the way to go. a good rate of loot that is appropriate for your level (so you can spec out your party with any sort of gear you want, and to have stuff to sell), and the awesome stuff is one of kind. For example, I might want to have a dual mace wielding fighter, I might have one awesome mace of disruption, and one regular mace or mace +1.I felt like BG 1 did a pretty good job of balancing that, IIRC.
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How Thief handled it was my favourite. You basically had access to the same expendable equipment throughout the game, dependent on the market and how much money you had, you'd never have enough money to buy everything, and what you did decide to buy would strongly affect how you went about playing the game.
Lockpicks were attained about half way through, and the only weapon upgrade was a slightly more useful sword.
I think making items appear on a logarithmic curve is the way to go. a good rate of loot that is appropriate for your level (so you can spec out your party with any sort of gear you want, and to have stuff to sell), and the awesome stuff is one of kind. For example, I might want to have a dual mace wielding fighter, I might have one awesome mace of disruption, and one regular mace or mace +1.I felt like BG 1 did a pretty good job of balancing that, IIRC.