Forums » Crafting and Gathering

Crafturing

    • 11 posts
    August 26, 2015 11:12 AM PDT

    I just wanted to throw out an idea. Instead of crafting being solo-game play for all intents and purposes, as what it comes down to in the end. Why cant crafting be made into a group activity. A real group activity. Group harvesting has already been done in games.
    Tanks - Metal smith, Tanner, Weaver
    Healers - Apothecary, Cook
    DPS - Jeweler, Enchanter

    whatever the adventure/harvest group size is, the same for crafturing: lets say 5.

    if you want to make a plate armor
    1. you need a tank to direct: metal smith to do heavy work
    2. a healer to effect object properties (harden metal, soften leather...etc): apothecary/cook to make oils, tinctures
    3. dps to finesse the product (jeweler to do fine touches, enchanter to magically enhance).

    if you want to make a legendary plate armor... get a raid together with multiple tanks, healers and dps.

    Imagine a group setting up in town to go on a Crafture, following the same paradigm as everyone else. This game talks to be all about community building and social interactions. But most/ ? all ? crafting seems to be a solo action. And always ended up making one person too important. This way crafting will require team effort like everything else. And also take the grind out of crafting.

    Now what does a Crafture entail... not sure but some sort of mini dungeon, with all the equipment and tools where people start a task and have a limited time to finish it. Like the VG system (the little of it i played) but for a group instead of individual.

    So far in every mmo i can think of, crafting has been the solo-activity side-game to let people have a mini game when the group isnt around. No matter how many people it took to get the item, one guy ran off and clicked "build". I am suggesting making a change to that of a real group activity.

    p.s. edit: formating doesnt work, bullet lists dont work that is.


    This post was edited by Mippy at August 26, 2015 11:32 AM PDT
    • 595 posts
    August 26, 2015 11:32 AM PDT

    Interesting concept for sure.  I think this idea will get resistance if crafting becomes solely group based but I certainly can see how a mixture of both is a great way to involve the community and also create interdependence throughout all spheres of play.

    • 338 posts
    August 26, 2015 1:07 PM PDT

    Crafting actual items that compete with mob drops is a real slippery slope.

     

    I'd rather more adventuring content be created than a whole other sphere that replicates it in some way.

     

    IMO crafting should be for expendables and quality of life items.

     

    Leave the major loots for hard raid encounters and high end group boss.

     

    Coldain Prayer Shawl was a cool example of adventuring and crafting combined... stuff like this is awesome.

     

     

    Just my 2 cents...

    Kiz~

    • 578 posts
    August 26, 2015 1:46 PM PDT

    I've always championed for more in depth crafting and I agree with this idea.

    I like your idea, I'd say though to leave smaller crafting duties to solo play. A suit of armor can easily be created by one person as it has throughout history. BUT, maybe design the game so crafting is more complex. I believe VG did this where say a suit of full plate armor would require a blacksmith for the sheets of metal for the plate, a leather worker for the bindings to hold it together, and say a clothier for the inside lining. Make a full suit of armor require more intricate pieces so that way multiple people can contribute, maybe not at the same exact time like being in a group and crafting, at different stages of the creation.

    Now building off your idea, group crafting (crafture) could be utilized when creating larger more complex crafted items. Vehicles, boats, houses, buildings, etc could be created by people in a group. You could have a foreman with foreman skills that buffs the other crafters in group to help them craft better/quicker/etc, your individual crafters such as blacksmith/woodworker/etc to create the wooden beams and concrete cinder blocks and nails and etc, your laborers who handle fashioning the materials together like the people who lay the cinder blocks for the foundation and who hammer the wooden 2x4s together to create the walls and etc.

    Skill tree/set could look like;
    -Blacksmith -  creates weapons, metal armor, nails, bolts, etc
    -Woodworker - creates staves, shields, wooden beams, furniture
    -Clothier - similar to blacksmith, etc
    -Leatherworker etc
    -Foreman - leveling up foreman allows more people to work in group (first level can lead a 3 man group, last level can lead 4 whole 6 man groups), leveling up opens up buffs to make group work more efficient, more quickly, more productive, etc, can also help with labor
    -Laborer - leveling up allows to fashion items together quicker, can handle more work orders at a time as (s)he levels up, etc

    I also like the idea of a group of "craftures" heading deep into a dungeon where a god dwells and upon reaching the god's inner chamber, defeating him and then a crafter uses his anvil and blacksmithing station to create a magical full plate of armor while the rest of the group defends him from waves of attacking mobs.

    • 595 posts
    August 26, 2015 2:26 PM PDT

    I really like where this discussion is going.  Both of your ideas are great and I think a combination of the two is the beginnings of an extremely in depth and engaging system!

    • 11 posts
    August 26, 2015 3:17 PM PDT

    I agree with everyone's points. Letting players create items needs to be well thought out. Too weak, no one wants to do it. Too powerful, then why Raid? Too important an item, then certain trail blazers become too powerful sucking an inordinate amount of money out of the economy and you get oligarchs that can effect in game economy, happened in eq2 in the beginning.

    And especially agree that their should be solo crafting but i think for common items only, green, and definitely blue, should be group crafting, epic and legendary should be raid crafting.

    Simply put timers on pre-step materials, the smith makes a sword blank, has 30 seconds to pass it to the apothecary to temper it, then passes it to the jeweler to etch it, and repeat a few times. Using the VG method for everyone's steps, but tie them together, and pass buffs debuffs between people. And have things for everyone to do every step of the way. If the tanner doesnt take out enough impurities, make it harder for the apothecary to harden the leather but let them fix it, or pass the debuff again and let the enchanter make up for it by super enchanting (but with debuff) back to normal quality.

    A healthy game should have some outlets for everyone, you can assume everyone is going to play all the time, but crafting always seemed to be something you did instead of group socializing. Sure successful crafters were social, but not like adventuring groups who worked together. Crafters did their thing by themselves. And heaven forbid you wanted to do both, you had to do it "on your own time".

    Crafting groups would go to different towns to make/learn recipes, then to different city/cultures for raids. Or as you put NoobieDoo, but that would force crafters to have to be adventurers as well, i hazardly guess.

    I think crafting had a major role in equipment inflation and semi-started the need to add in BoP and BoE to take equipment out of the economy. So new players would have a reason to adventure for or craft the same items again.

    All in all, crafting is a major game play component if its to be meaningful, so it needs to have checks and balances no matter how its implemented.

    Also, i got this idea by reading Aethor's post. https://www.pantheonrotf.com/forums/topic/2065/crafting-and-adventuring-should

    thumbs up man :)


    This post was edited by Mippy at August 26, 2015 3:24 PM PDT
    • 308 posts
    August 26, 2015 3:44 PM PDT

    I like the basic idea of raid crafting and group crafting, but i am thinking of it more as (Get 5 tailors working together to have a better chance of creating Epic Robe of Nukage)

     

    also i definately do not like the idea of crafting being tied to what class you are.

    • 2138 posts
    August 26, 2015 5:59 PM PDT

    The group I was in actually fell into this when we decided to do Shawls for fun, to see how far we could get. I sewed, the druid baked, the ranger fletched, the Cleric smithed, the Troll SK brewed and , the chanter, lapidaried (ho ho). I remember we all had to learn pottery, but in the down times, I got all the eggs and the biles for everyone, and the others got the other ingredients for different parts so when we met in Thurgadin we would exchange ingredients and hover over the person doing the combine. I remember the Chanter had parts for the next sewing bit a step ahead of us and way above my tailoring skill (I was also working on that in-between times) and I told him I couldn't because my skill was too low and he encouraged me to try- and as the rng would have it it worked!  , we all eventually got the highest shawls, but it was alot of fun and it kept us in that area for a while, meeting new people, seeing new things finding, alternate groups.

    • 46 posts
    August 28, 2015 10:45 AM PDT

    I like the idea for raid quality crafted gear that requires ingredients dropped from raid mobs. Kill Mr. Big Bad Dragon. Dragon drops dragonskin. Leatherworker makes epic dragonskin armor. Results (1) Crafting does not cheapen the value of raiding because raiding is required to get the ingredients; (2) Crafters feel relevant because they make gear that people can actually use. 

    I also think Noobie's idea of some sort of encounter involving a group/raid having to defend crafters as they do something sounding awesome. There was some raid that involved that...I think it was in EQ1 but I forget the expansion where it happened, maybe Luclin? 

    • 157 posts
    February 2, 2016 5:34 PM PST

    Group crafting ... interesting idea.  Maybe a way to pool "crafting points" to create some ultra-challenging, level appropriate doodad.

    • 393 posts
    February 18, 2016 4:37 AM PST

    This is novel. It solicits active group participation and creates activity that is required to advance. All participants should gain something of value per crafture session though. Or perhaps, if you don't gain product (an item) or skill advancement then bring your tip jar because you offered your skill to help others acquire something.