In classic RPG's like Baldur's Gate, I like it that weapons last forever (but for the regular metal weapons struck by the Iron Crisis). If you finally get to wield Spider's Bane, it would be a big bummer if the sword broke on you. Finding a weapon is an achievement you don't want to be stolen from you.

However, in Fallout 3 it enhanced the atmosphere of surviving in a post-apocalypse world that your weapons slowly deteriorate and in that setting I liked it. What's especially well done is that Repair is a skill that you can improve on and you can repair weapons only on par with your skill level in Repair.

I find repairing items silly in Two Worlds, where you repair a sword just by stashing two swords together. At least in Fallout it's believable you repair a gun with components salvaged from another gun, but you can't make a sword better by mixing it with another sword.

I like durability systems, unless it's something ridiculous that is a chore to keep up with (like in Dead Island). It may not be as welcome in a game that's already full of needs and crafting requirements, but in an otherwise mostly arcadey game it can be nice to have something that makes you treat your weapons and shots with a bit more respect, maybe even resort to melee sometimes depending on the enemy. The more sparingly you use a cool weapon, the more satisfying it is each time and the more you come to appreciate its capability when you do decide ''yes, this situation is worth it''.

Sure, but in most cases you can keep your cool weapon. What if it breaks and that was the only one you get?
Minecraft does the same mixing as Two Worlds; even allowing you to bind two enchanted swords together to not only repair them into one swords, but also keep or improve both enchantments.

I don't mind when I'm playing a game and a weapon gets damaged, but I don't like it when weapons can actually get broken. I know it's more realistic when weapons can get broken, but It's just not my cup of tea. Ironically, I DO like it when a cup of tea gets broken (i.e., destructible environments with destructible objects). :)

Yeah, I needed a mod for this in SS2. Is this mechanic in the first one as well?

Weapons don't have to break permanently, they can still be repairable even if they get to 0%. In the meantime you switch to a sidearm or loot weapons from enemies until you can repair your primary.

This game doesn't have a repair mechanic nor do you even have an infinite dagger/the ability to just punch.

Short version: I would prefer no durability mechanic at all; it's just another potential distraction and problem.

That said, it really depends on how it is implemented. Far Cry 2, for example, has a weapon durability mechanic that is more of an annoyance than anything. Basically, weapons degrade over time, and as they degrade, they become more prone to jamming. Sounds fine, but the speed at which weapons degrade is a little fast, and the only way to fix them is to go to one of the armories dotted around the map and swap the gun out for a good one. That adds up to a lot of travel time, and thus a lot of checkpoints and the many guards that respawn as soon as you are out of sight of the checkpoint. Plus, such a mechanic just doesn't fit the game.

In other cases, the mechanic is much more fitting and much less annoying. Let's take Dark Souls, for example. Weapons slowly degrade over time, and must be repaired either at the blacksmith or, if you purchase the proper item, at a bonfire. Repairing requires souls (which, for those who don't know, are also used to level up), but the number of souls required depends on how much the weapon needs to be repaired. It was an effective and manageable mechanic, and I don't remember ever being annoyed by it.

Dark Souls II changed things, however, and not for the better, in my opinion. The idea was decent: instead of durability being a persistent mechanic, it was restored every time you rested at a bonfire. In order for this to actually have an impact on gameplay, however, weapon degradation could not happen as slowly as in the first game. Unfortunately, the developers sped it up just a bit too much. There were several occasions in which I had to switch to a different weapon while journeying from one bonfire to another simply because in the course of traveling through that area, my frequent scuffles with enemies had worn my weapon down close to the breaking point. Granted, I wasn't always particularly careful with my swings, and striking walls and other immovable objects does more damage to durability, but it was still annoying. The annoyance was compounded by the fact that if a weapon did break, you had to take it to the blacksmith to repair, but while doing so would allow you to effectively use the weapon again, its maximum durability would drop. When you have to include a ring that slows weapon degradation, its possible your degradation rate is just a little too high. (Though I should note, as the game progressed, I found myself having fewer problems with the mechanic, possibly because I was getting better at avoiding hitting walls. Plus, the consumable item Repair Powder allows you to restore some durability while not at a bonfire.)

And then in Dark Souls III, the mechanic might as well not exist. It retained the second game's system, but instead of trying to find a good degradation rate, they just used the (apparently) the degradation rate from the first game, which means that unless you spend the time required to hit every inch of wall or rock between bonfires, you're not going to end up with a broken weapon before you rest at a bonfire. Heck, I've gone past a couple bonfires without resting and have still never needed to use repair powder. I suppose the mechanic might have more of an effect in PvP (like, for example, if an opposing player is using the Acid spell, or something), but in general, I just can't see why it was even included. I'm not complaining, of course, but I'm sure someone's moaning about it somewhere.

Yeah, that's the game that comes to my mind for weapon durability. It's an action game, not survival or stealth, so the weapons breaking down is just annoying. If the game made you conserve resources, if getting new weapons was expensive, if there were fewer places where you could get them, there'd be more incentive to loot weapons from enemies and save your good one for when you really need it.

The idea is you shouldn't always have access to top-of-the-line stuff, you should be willing to use old jam-prone weapons as a compromise along with the shiny new ones. So there'd be an element of resource management as well as making you appreciate the good stuff more whenever you decide to use it. It's an issue most FPS have nowadays, they just throw weapons and ammo at you. Problem is, when you have permanent unlimited access to a thing, you stop appreciating it.