Yes, I said some items would be removed.
I don't consider that to be a problem though myself.
Unbreakable Boots = Strengthening boots with both IAS upgrades.
Boots of Mayhem = Strengthening boots with 1 IAS upgrade, 1 Armor upgrade.

And i couldn't edit my last psot.. i was going to cotninue to reply that I don' t see why more variaty is a problem?  Filling up the shop with tons of items would be a problem.
And Items you can only get from drops for combines?  I didn't know such a thing would exsist.. I dont' think so.
Regardless, if they DO add dropped special items (not saying they should) those could simply be upgradable too.

In DotA all the items are purchased with money, but requires you to waste time and have to ask in chat to find them if you're new to the game is very frustrating.  All the items in DotA cost money to upgrade too.

I say just start out with one item of each kind, i.e. basic boots, basic gloves, basic helms, and upgrade in the forge from there.

So there's one shop at base with the lowest tier of items. Next to that shop, there's the upgrade center.

I don't know about that.  You'd need to many branches then. 

I stick with my original idea.

To me, as proposed, Innociv's system seems to involve more than a little studying itself. While the concept is certainly simple, there really aren't that many different attributes that can be raised. Not in comparison to the number of upgrade paths, anyway. Sooner or later, two different paths (on entirely different categories of items) are going to be similar. Footwear and boots might both have armour upgrade paths, for example.

At this point, you're not only forced to decide which upgrade paths you want, you also have to decide which armour item to get that path with. Should you get your armour+ through boots or breastplate? Energy recharge+ through ring or helmet? Which item gives a bigger boost? Which is more affordable? What about oddball paths that give powerups that aren't readily apparent from the initial stats (i.e the middle path in your picture). That's more than a little studying in itself, I'd say.

I'm all for simplifying the item system, and the idea of upgrading IS more intuitive than going over each items' stats and trying to find the "right" item for your budget at the moment. And the present system is probably only going to get worse when more options are made available. I just think this proposed system has the potential to be just as complex.

Is there any merit to having just a single upgrade path for each item? Where each level simply involves a multiplier being used for the item's base stats? i.e. If the base item gives 100 armour and 10% attack speed, each subsequent level simply doubles the previous level's stats? Another similar item might give 200 base armour, but only 5% attack speed. Since the level increases are always proportionate, the player could quickly prioritize his attributes by the item's base stats, without having to waste time looking at the upgrade paths. And you could still remove a few items, since one item could cover both low and high levels.

Just a few thoughts on the matter.

There's a difference between finicky min/maxing which can be picked up from experience and only gives a small advantage, and needing a recipie which you need to know the ingredients for or you're stuck with an inventory full of bottom level items. One way is significantly more forgiving to new players than the other. I think that this system will be considerably less complex because you can take any item and have a very good idea what the upgrade path will be after about two games. The thing about progressive upgrade paths is that it allows the complexity to be processed gradually.

Mehve, 1 upgrade could give more than 1 attribute.

I just used an example on an item that only has two.
Like say you have the rings.

Ring of Fortune - $2500
Health: +210
Health Regen: +0.42/sec
Attack Speed: +10.5%
Armor: +105
Energy: +300
Energy Regen: +25%

Ring of the Ancients - $5200
Health: +345
Health Regen: +0.69/sec
Attack Speed: +17.25%
Armor: +175
Energy: +575
Energy Regen: +40%

All Father's Ring - $16200
Health: +900
Health Regen: +1.8/sec
Attack Speed: +45%
Armor: +450
Energy: +1500
Energy Regen: +100%

You would start with just the first one.  One path would upgrade, health and health regen and armor maybe, and maybe the other energy, energy regen, and attack speed.
Do first level of both, and middle path at the bottom would be like the all-father ring.  The left and right end path something different.

There does not need to be, and there SHOULD NOT be a bunch of branches, one for each attribute.  You'd choose the group of attribute buffs you want the most.

Also, the possible upgrades could be shown when you hover over the item in the shop.  I've kept it simple with the few paths.
And you could get +armor from BOTH the breast plate and the boots..
And while you could go both the armor path on boots and breast plate, the bonus at the very end would be different.
So whether you choose the boots or breastplate for armor would be based on the other base stat(like maybe the breast plate gives health and health regen, vs the attack speed of boots.) and the last upgrade you get from following a path.

I original thought that just a simple lvl 2, lvl 3 upgrading of items that'd boost all stats kinda like you mentioned in the end of your post(so ring of fortune would become ring of the ancients, would become all father's ring).  But I think this would be much better as 72 items could be made out of 24, instead of 24 better items made out of 24 weaker ones.

When you hover over the shop you could get something simple like.. (photoshopping, brb)

Ok, but for me it doesnt make a big difference to recepies. Just a little bit easier, because there are no need for ingridients. Still, it would be harder for newbies but i would give more depth to the higher level gameplay.

Could be also achieved by a huge load of items in the shops.. but, i like the proposed idea more.

Hm, but if they implement that, there is a big need for a shortcut for the character screen Or even add an inventory-only screen.

\

Simple, yes?

It wouldn't be much harder for newbies than a bloated item store, and compared to recipies it's much easier to deal with because you don't get devastated because you didn't memorize a list of items. I think it's the best idea because it keeps it relatively simple and quite easy to understand for the newbies, but makes it much deeper for veteran players.

Ugh.. wouldn't let me edit.  This is so annoying.

Anyways, after someone uses the blacksmith once on an item it'd become instantly recognizable what the UP arrow is besides the stats(^1 is upgraded by the first upgrade, ^2 is upgraded by the second upgrade at blacksmith thing.)  And the paths it'd become instantly recognizable that getting 2 of up 1 is path1, upgrading lvl 1 of both is path 2, and upgrading both of the 2nd is path 3.

IMO that's more intuitive than having tons of items, and much more than recipes.  

REALLY this is turning 1 item into 8.  so 24 items is 192.  I just said 72 because there is 72 if you count just the end path on 24 items.  But imagine 192 items in the shop.   That wouldn't be good

No. This is the most intuitive way to fit that much depth into the game while still letting the player process it slowly enough that they can make good decisions in game. What about putting in the tooltip what attributes of an item can be increased? So underneath the bonuses it gives you immediately, it has in one color the tier 2 upgrades and in another the tier 3 upgrades. Does this even make sense?

I think its a really great idea. nice one innociv!

I like it, imma go photo shop my skill trees idea now!

So if I interpret your picture correctly, the 'up' arrows indicate what the first two upgrade paths will focus on, and the "Upgrade Path X" statements refer to the special bonuses gained at the end of each of the three upgrade paths? Agreed, simple enough. But...

...I think this is where I tend to disagree the most. In a nutshell, without other changes, I think the "multiple path" idea creates too many final items. Even if the developers end up limiting equipment to only one of each category equipped, 3 choices in each equipment category still gives you 243 possible combinations. 4 choices, 1024 possible combinations. If you had 12 choices in each category (as with your 72 item plan)... excessive, I think.

Explanation: When you consider how many attributes exist in this game, you can only differentiate between different upgrades so much. To start with your example of the rings, create one base item with three upgrade paths focussing on variations/improvements on the base items' stats. Not unreasonable, I think. Now imagine creating three more base ring items, each one unique enough to justify its existence. Now create three upgrade paths for those three items as well. Now repeat this for each of the other four equipment classes. Again, try to make each item unique to be worth existing in the first place. And each base item needs to have enough attributes so that the upgrades mean something. You've got, what, around 20-ish attributes total to work with?

Sooner or later, you're either going to wind up with hardly any difference between similar category items, OR you're going to get overlap across categories. You're going to wind up with rings protecting more than breastplates, and breastplates doing more damage than gloves and boots. Yes, you can juggle the boosts around, but you just don't have very many attributes to work with in the first place. That's pessimistic I realize, but with so many items, the game's mechanics would kind of promote that sort of situation. Yes, you can differentiate by adding special bonuses at the end, but 72 different ones? Sooner or later, some poor "top-tier" item is going to get stuck offering protection from disco music or sweaty palms.

No no no..  I said 24 STARTING items. (3-5 per category, average of 4.)  Consumables wouldn't have this.

It's 72 in the end, at the final path.  (24items*3 final paths=72 fully upgraded items)