Thanks for the Update Froggy, and nice to hear that the mill is rolling in GPA about how the players feel about certain areas of the game. The idea of the rings is interesting, but also questionable at the same time - for as Annatar stated, you offered a very vague example that didn't do much to inform us on what is intended. So, we're left to basically fill in the blanks based on our own experiences with the game.
So far we're seen Demigods purely develop their fighting style through Items, making their stock abilities something of a back seat to the major tweaks of the equips that go onto the character - mainly the Artifacts. These massive tweaks in Dodge, Run Speed, Life Steal, Armor, and Damage makes for radically different and difficult to predict Demigods. Yet, when you face off against a Demigod, you can see that he may be using something your current build may be weak against, and then it is time to 're-build" your build. This element of repreparing is not exactly very well tuned, as the major drive is the Artifacts, there just hasn't been a real cost effective way to sell and repurchase those without taking a HUGE loss.
Let us say that a strong, tough Demigod like the Rook has decided to go for a unstoppable tank-like god. Where his mounds of Armor, Automatic Regens, and Invulnerability make him one real tough cookie to take down without using a good 500% Increase to your overall damage output to even dent him. I would think, a good way to take out this god would be a way to considerably weaken his one our more elements of his character so I could have a shot at him. Naturally, I would choose to hit Armor most of all. But from what I assume your post suggests Froggy, is that you are looking for specific Demi-Hunter Items that only effect one, and only one of the 8 Demigod types.
If I was to buy a ring that would weaken the Armor of a Rook, it should only weaken the armor of a Rook and no other Demigod. We all know, a Torch Bearer or perhaps even a General without the right Armor is just a walking piece of paper ready to be torn apart. But what if the Rook is not going Armor heavy? What if he's going for High Damage and can one hit kill me? Then I'd want to Weaken his damage out put. But how the heck can I adjust this on the fly? Well, perhaps implementing the items can utilize a special building that gives you the ability to physically change the desired effect of your ring, or perhaps even a built in ability or Demi-Hunter Aura, with some slight penalties for the changes you wish to adjust.
Deeper Suggestings (Demi-Hunter Aura & 5 Socket Customizable Ring)
Activating the special building or object will give me a list of Demigods, each with an Icon of their faces as though I were picking them from the character creation menu. Under their portrait is a price tag which varies between Assassins and Generals. Picking one, will instantly purchase me a slight, very miner boost in effectiveness against that one Demigod type - in essence an Aura that surrounds me, perhaps turning a certain color so experienced players can learn to identify it and plan their attacks based on what they see. Since there are 8 Demigods, picking a color from the spectrum to physically represent them shouldn't be all that hard. But being able to tell them apart quickly and at a glance may be where the challenge resides.
But once I purchase this Aura, it will be be costly to remove it. I will have to not only pay a fee to take it off, but I'd also have to pay a fee to purchase a new Aura for a different Demigod, and in the process shut down all the benefits and enhancements to the other Aura I previously had. Now, I mean 'shut down' - not lose - I may want to switch back if I were rich enough. Also I feel a time limit should prevent me from switching my Auras quickly and easily, say 5 minutes?
Each Aura has a different number of Enhancements that I can buy to increase the effect and potency of that Aura against a Demigod. If I find that I am facing a tough, Armor stacked Rook a lot - I could purchase Armor crippling effects. Such as a steady adjustment in hurting armor. There will be a wide selection of areas I can adjust, Armor, Damage, Life Steal, Stun, etc. But, there can be different levels of the effect I can purchase, and perhaps I can only purchase a set number of levels. For this example, say five levels before I max out my Demi-Hunter Aura.
I could invest 2 Levels in reducing the effects, or out-right ignoring the effect of a Rook's Stun. Either Reducing the duration of it in seconds, or increasing a % chance of avoiding it. I would like to lean to the prior! I could stack that with 3 Levels of Armor Reduction, which means each hit has a % change of doing damage that neglects a certain percent of his armor. Allow me to illustrate:
Example:
Rook Hunter Aura
Selections:
Rock Breaker - Chance of ignoring armor completely.
- Level 1 - All abilities have 5% chance of negelecting 50% of armor.
- Level 2 - All abilities have 10% chance of negelecting 60% of armor.
- Level 3 - All abilities have 15% chance of negelecting 70% of armor.
- Level 4 - All abilities have 20% chance of negelecting 80% of armor.
- Level 5 - All abilities have 25% chance of negelecting 90% of armor.
Persistance - Reduces duration of stun from this Demigod type alone.
- Level 1 - Stun duration reduced by 50%.
- Level 2 - Stun duration reduced by 60%.
- Level 3 - Stun duration reduced by 70%.
- Level 4 - Stun duration reduced by 80%.
- Level 5 - Stun duration reduced by 90%.
Unholy Shield - Reduces all damage done by this Demigod type alone.
- Level 1 - All damage taken from this demigod type is reduced by 10%.
- Level 2 - All damage taken from this demigod type is reduced by 15%.
- Level 3 - All damage taken from this demigod type is reduced by 20%.
- Level 4 - All damage taken from this demigod type is reduced by 25%.
- Level 5 - All damage taken from this demigod type is reduced by 30%.
Iron Blood - Life stealing effects from this Demigod are resisted.
- Level 1 - Reduce Life Stealing effect for this Demigod type by 50%
- Level 2 - Reduce Life Stealing effect for this Demigod type by 100%
Third Eye - Reduces Accuracy of the Demigod
Gravity Shift - Each attack reduces Demigod's Runspeed
Prior Experience - Increase your Accurancy against the Demigod type.
Etc, etc, etc...
Each enhancement will cost money to invest, then it becomes permanent and rolls over to effect other Demigods which apply to same conditions (differences between Generals and Assasins not fully know yet). It costs the player money to switch his/her aura to effects different Demigods that give them trouble, and each time they choose a time limit prevents them from picking another Demigod. Since they only have 5 levels to advance in, they can sell off enhancements and purchase new ones.
Were you to still follow the Ring idea, you could say each enhancements is a jewel which fits into the socket of a 5 slot ring. Ta-da! I brought the suggestion full circle back to Rings again!
Thanks for the information, I hope this suggestion comes as to some benefit.