umbral thicket
Just wanted to chime in that getting amazing equipment is a bit weird right now. You feel good that you got it but dread trying to get a similar item again next season.
I'd suggest a way where players can lock a limited amount of equipment (maybe 6 for one full set with runes, 2 sets of 3 or an assortment of random pieces) before season ends.
Then make it so we can spend stamina to get these equipment in a "broken" state next season. As in, they would be reset to level 1 again but the sub-stat upgrades would match the old piece when fully upgraded. I think it might be fine to make the upgrade cost more gold than normal? This would give players a choice between a more expensive but known item vs cheaper unknown items.
Would probably also need to time-gate the items unlocks so it serves more as a nice-to-have that rewards returning players and normalises bad equipment RNG later in a season vs a must have to push ladders early.