The defective weapon ROM is an item that exists solely to kill runs in the early game. It's absurdly rare because of this, which means it doesn't really add anything, and it's entirely out of proportion with the other negative ROM.
Changing the ROM to instead ionise the weapon for an extended period would render it an extreme inconvenience (at least on a par with the defective visual enhancement ROM), while not running the risk of making a run impossible. It also means we'd have an item that basically teaches ionisation mechanics very early. Or at least provides an introduction. It would also allow the item to be marginally more common, though still a rare annoyance.
Two related notes:
» The defective weapon ROM should probably be limited to Level 6 and under, like the weapon optimizer ROM.
» Why isn’t there an equivalent ROM for shields (which might simply deplete them as an alternative damaging/ionizing them)?
If weapon damage changes to ionization, and another ROM added for shields, then ionization would be an alternative. Damaged or ionized shields periodically get shield failure, which automatically depletes the shield.
Made a few changes in 1.9 Beta 1:
- Switched defective weapon ROM to ionize.
- Limited effect to level 6 or below
- Added defective shield ROM.