Historically in MMOs i find crafting to be very boring, it is always the last thing i put effort into and sometimes i dont bother at all.
For example ive played wow for 11 years and ive never maxed out a profession that wasnt gathering or secondary.
There was never a need to, the gear was bad mostly and it was boring.
This isnt a post on how i want crafted gear to be good (which i do)
This is a post about Elder Scrolls Online crafting.
I dont like ESO, it was fine for about a year or two, but i hate it now, however the crafting was very fun and felt like a game in itself.
I'd like to see crafting taken further and actually be able to make gear from scratch, based on different designs and templates you unlock that have variaous rarities.
Being able to make and even name this gear, then sell it.
I'd love to be able to make super unique items, it should be like character creation, change the blade length, hilt type, pommel shape etc.
imagine the feeling of walking about and seeing someone in your gear, would be awesome.
This is the future of crafting and you could be the first MMO to do it.
@Grimseethe
A man after my own heart I see. The height of player crafting is customizability both in form and function. A combination of SWG, ESO and DAoC crafting systems would be very cool and appealing. Notice though that all three MMOs had player crafted items as the primary item design and focused on templated items rather than on “Named Items” and 2 out of 3 had item decay. WoW and EQ crafting were all named items and their crafting systems were garbage, only a select few items were valuable otherwise it was just a time and cash sink. Camelot Unchained is looking to have a very unique crafting system where you can design a look and feel as well as a material list that you can save as a template. That template becomes something you designed and belongs to your character and only your character can recreate it without going through the design process.
MMO player crafting where you have only one option on for a set of inputs and one possible output for a specific recipe isn’t crafting, it’s a collection quest where you have a chance to fail on turn-in. If that’s all VR intends to implement then they might as well drop crafting all together and just have craft NPCs that you bring materials to and receive items back for a fee. It would save a ton of development time and be a similar level of engaging.
A while back I made this thread https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/9728/please-reconsider-recognizable-item-identity/view/post_id/186484. Its primary intent was to focus on the fact that a “Named Items” design focus is too limiting both in terms of itemization and its effect on neutering crafting. Additionally is the fact it is often ascetically appalling due to the clown gear effect of mixing BIS items or the uniformity of every one of a certain class and level having the same appearance due to “Unique” item sets.
Not that there is no room for unique and recognizable items but they should be the exception and not the rule. The best comparison would be the legendary items in WoW, before they became drops, or epic weapons in EQ. They were signs of skill, effort and luck. If every two bit named has its own unique item that it will drop 1-100 times a day it very quickly loses all rarity and muddies the water. Everything being a recognizable item is also a huge waste of art resources as 99% of named items will be vendored or scraped in some way or another once there is a high enough server inventory of the BiS items. The primary art that will be used is the BiS art as nothing else will be equipped.
On the other hand if all items were design starting from a template, both crafted and dropped, pulling from a joint library of art then you would get a very wide distribution of utilized art. Additionally it would help keep item power in check as you would not “accidentally” make an item with 600% additional HP regeneration that also worked in combat when it ordinarily would not have. The design would just not allow for unbalanced and game breaking items because they would pull from a core list of ingredients and their corresponding effects.
All items could have a 3D model or composite 3D Model, a color layer (possibly with zones premapped with restricted color choices), a grunge layer, and a reflectivity layer. Which 3D models that are available would be based on the crafters unlocked styles or the style of the culture of the Mob that dropped said item. The available color choices and reflection layer would be based on the materials used and or additives. The grunge layers would be selectable from Rusty to Masterwork with only equal or lower quality appearances selectable for a given item (sometimes a grand master wants the armor to look rusted).
This system would allow for a ton of crafting customization, drive drop based crafting, give a lot of horizontal progression for crafters in attaining new art styles, easy itemization for new content simply by adding a few cultural appearances and materials to the library then using the template, strong parity in strength between crafted and dropped gear without flooding the market with crafted gear (need to salvage dropped gear to make crafted gear), and ultimately it would make the truly Rare items with Exclusive skins very recognizable and a sign of skill, effort and luck.
I almost always max out every craft. But for some odd reason it is harvesting I like most and crafting itself is almost an excuse to harvest. Although I could just harvest and sell the materials, of course.
VR probably focuses on the crafting forums if they look for opinions or ideas relating to crafting so I won't mention things I like or do not like here.
Personally I am a huge fan of the crafting system of ultima online. There is no Iron sword, Broad Sword, Steel sword, etc. There is only Sword, and a drop down option for materials. This makes the recipe window very neat and organized. I only have to look for the base item type, then I can pick the materials. (Mostly the smiths, tailors, etc. Weapons/Armor). The rest was your normal crafting stuff.
I have played enough MMOs to say that I have seen simple and I have seen complex. I have seem games where you are dependant on other crafters for materials/parts to the point that normally I end up having to make alts for other crafts just to make the items I need for my main because 1. I cannot find anyone to make what I need or 2. The other crafters charge a price that tends to lean towards costly. I have also see games where you have to get other crafters to make parts, then you have to find another to take those parts to make new parts, that you then have to take and find another person to craft into the items you need just so you can craft an item that you probably only going to use for a few levels or you find better from a vendor or as a drop. I have also seen games that try to add some sort of mini-game into the mix. These tend to not really make crafting "non-boring" but rather force me into having to pay attention and borderlines annoying.
Personally, I prefer simple. Requiring me to only need to seek out 1 other crafter to make the item I need to do what I need. For example, I want to make a breastplace, but I need leather straps in order to make it. So I have to seek out a leatherworker to make them. I can farm the hides/leather, I just need someone to turn them into the straps.
I prefer there be no mini-game involved, however I would very much like to see transmog and experimenting to be involved in the crafting process... I will explain this, the best i can:
for Smith, Outfitters, etc the ones that make weapon/armor. I personally would like to see, 1. Simple UO style recipe list, with a drop down that lets me pick the material. Then in some form or fashion a new window or additional screen that allows me to pick from different designs/styles. So instead of making that Iron Sword, I can, as a crafter, add a personal touch to it and make it into a elvish design iron sword. Maybe I can pick different parts of the item. Like the hilt, handle, blade. As a armorsmith, I can pick different style, maybe different designs (which would be the coloring layers).
for the other crafters, experimenting. Like alchemy for example, it be nice to see a way to experiment with different ingredients to make some new potions from what you know.
for housing/ships/furiture etc crafters, different designs would be interesting. You pick - bed, then the material, then the design.
I just want to see crafting in a new direction, giving the crafters the ability to add their own personal touch to crafted items. I think that would make crafting more interesting then trying to play some mini-game or having to spend hours trackign down ppl just to craft some item I only going to be using for a few levels, or will be quickly replaced.
Grimseethe said:I'd like to see crafting taken further and actually be able to make gear from scratch, based on different designs and templates you unlock that have variaous rarities.
Being able to make and even name this gear, then sell it.
I'd love to be able to make super unique items, it should be like character creation, change the blade length, hilt type, pommel shape etc.
imagine the feeling of walking about and seeing someone in your gear, would be awesome.
This is the future of crafting and you could be the first MMO to do it.
I would be thrilled to see this in Pantheon and could tell you that if VR plan to put anything like this in their game it would be a success. Im excited just thinking about it.
I like the idea of sitting at home and working on crafting as an entire different aspect of the game, but at the same time keeping within the RPG elements of being a Blacksmith or a Woodworker and then selling such items or providing for your guild, etc.
I like the idea of naming your own items, but at the same time I dont want to see/equip 'Shield of Wet Cardboard' with BiS stats.
