Forums » Crafting and Gathering

Crafting Thoughs & Ideas

    • 84 posts
    November 1, 2015 7:32 PM PST

    Lots of really good ideas in the crafting forum.  This is my first post and I selected the crafting section as it is my favorite part of an MMO. 

    I love playing MMOs.  Everquest, so far, is my very favorite.  I started out on Sullon Zek (Good team), which I must say was a much better gaming environment then the current Zek server.  I would say that The Shadows of Luclin was my very favorite experience.  I also really enjoyed Star Wars Galaxies and Vanguard Saga of Heroes.  The more complex and sophisticated the MMO, the more enjoyable (and addictive) they tend to be.


    First as a general statement, crafting is a very important aspect of any serious MMO. It provides a mechanic that offers a completely different experience from dungeon crawling or camping. It typically provides something to do or work on when groups are not available or perhaps your just looking to take a break from adventuring.  Crafting is also a key pillar to a successful in-game economy. I have played many MMOs and I must say that Star Wars Galaxies had the very best crafting system I have ever experienced.  Anything that Pantheon can do to instill some SWG goodness into their crafting system would be very exciting.


    Here are some of my thoughts for crafting:

    1)  One of the best features of SWG crafting was that each item was unique.  The careful gathering of raw materials that contained the attributes you were looking for, combined with the thoughtful way in which you would combine the materials, allowed crafters to make a name for themselves.  High quality crafters were known on their respective servers, were sought after, and had a competivie advantage over those who just rushed and threw something onto the auction house.  This also provided a strong market for those who were able to obtain the raw materials that crafters were looking for.  Tagging the items with the name of the person who crafted it also helped spread reputations for high quality crafters.

    2)  Consumable crafted items, such as potions, food, or drink, are important, as you always want to ensure that there is a continuous demand for more items.  For items that are not consumed, perhaps breakage or some other mechanic would ideally be put in place so that from time to time, gamers are going to be back in the market either looking for a replacement or an upgrade.

    3)  How you choose to introduce the raw materials into the world is of course an important decision.  I never much cared for nodes as they typically have provided a common, an uncommon, or a rare.  Just not complex enough and eventually the items just pile up on the auction houses and carry almost no value.  SWG method for materials provided lots of rare and in demand resources.  The resoures cycled through the game world and would disappear, sometimes for weeks or months before reappearing.  I thought it worked really well.  Everquest's method of having crafting items drop from mobs is also pretty good.  I think the key here is to have loot tables that are conceptually logical.  Spiders drop silk, wolves drop pelts, ect...  The everquest method also gave reason for higher level players to revisit lower level zones for items such as spider silk, ect...  This way even lower level mobs remained an important part of the game.

    4)  Interdependency is also important.  To create the most robust economy and to enhance the social aspect of the game, I believe you want to have the crafters interdependent.  So, you really do not want to hand players a mechanic whereby they can become a 'jack of all trades'.  Maybe limit the number of professions one can embark on per account or even more ideally, allow players to work on any number of professions, but make the curve so steep and challenging, that there just would not be enough time to become a master of very many of these professions.

    5)  Recipes.  Perhaps crafting the recipes and then selling them to others.  Of course there would have to be some sort of innate knowledge of some sort of recipe to at least get the ball rolling.  Dropping recipes from mobs can be ok, as long as the recipes are rare or very rare drops.  Some sort of discovery system, whereby players discover or create new recipes would also be fun.  Integrating faction into the recipe system would also be a good concept.  I think you want to have barriers to entry, and restricting access to recipes can serve that goal.

    6)  The actual process to make the items is also important.  I think SWG and Vanguard both had interesting combination mechanics that provided for a good variety of possible outcomes.  Also, there is nothing wrong with being able to fail and lose the materials.  You want to keep this process interesting and skill based.

    7)  A few general thoughts.  Maybe include a fishing mechanic for some of the resources.  Could a mechanic be created whereby people could grow crops and such?  Would you be able to implement a weather and climate system into the game that provide for different resources based on these inputs?  Auction houses for the listing of items or perhaps even better, would players have the ability to setup their own shops, similar to SWG?

    So in summary, I beleive the best crafting systems are complex and challenging.  They should be elaborate enough that if someone just wants to focus on the crafting realm, they will be very challenged by it and entertained.  You want to create a world in which scarcity (including currency) exists, a world where skill and effort give the crafter an advantage.

     


    This post was edited by Trustar at November 1, 2015 7:58 PM PST
    • 219 posts
    March 17, 2016 8:15 PM PDT

    I would really like to see crafters dependent upon eachother. Just like when adventuring in a 6 person group. If I was a woodsmith for instance. I should have to rely on a leatherworker to make my leather strips so I could then use them to create the grips for a bow. EQ2 started out this way but because of player complaining they changed it. 

    This dependency creates a community for crafters IMHO.

    Pyde Pyper

    • 144 posts
    March 18, 2016 4:42 AM PDT

    Pyde said:

    I would really like to see crafters dependent upon eachother. Just like when adventuring in a 6 person group. If I was a woodsmith for instance. I should have to rely on a leatherworker to make my leather strips so I could then use them to create the grips for a bow. EQ2 started out this way but because of player complaining they changed it. 

    This dependency creates a community for crafters IMHO.

    Pyde Pyper

     

    Vangaurd was always that way.  The system was at times a pain in the butt however was the single best crafting design ever imo.  Like every MMO at some point crafting takes a back seat to alot of high end gear.

     

    In the early days of PRoTF I created an idea for a superior crafting system some high end items took 2 sometimes 3 different trades to create an item as a team and if all were not of the same skill level it did not always work out the way you had planned.

    I am sure I still have all the notes and everything somewhere.  I will see if I can find them and post them over the weekend. 

     

    ~Chaam

    • 219 posts
    March 18, 2016 6:32 AM PDT

    @ Chaam

    That would be cool. I for one am all for a community based crafting system. To many times like i posted earlier, crafters tend to be treated like hermits where there is no interaction between eachother when producing craftable items. I like the "work together to get the job done mentality".

    Pyde Pyper

    • 116 posts
    March 18, 2016 10:09 AM PDT

    Yeah i always thought their origonal idea of inter-dependancy was a good one.  It creates an automatic market for the 'junk' stuff you have to make to skill up.  I mean what do you do with the 400 leather strips you just made for no other reason than to advance your skill?  Hey... I can sell them to this armor maker because he needs them to make X.

    Certainly though I think you should be able to skill up to a certain point solo, but yeah I think it should become more intricate as you advance.  I think EQ2 made it too dependant too quickly IMHO.  I mean as a brand new trade skiller I shouldn't have to worry about all that just yet.  I should just be learning how to make stuff and the basics of crafting.  They maybe as I get a little better start introducing that stuff.