January 15, 2025 3:50 PM PST
In every MMO I play a woodelf ranger as my main. I also take fletching as my first crafting line, or whatever is closest to it. However, if Pantheon is locking crafters to two trades (and one of those has to be consumables) I think serious thought has to be given to whether it's fair to force fletching to occupy a whole slot. It is a niche profession with far fewer regularly-used outputs.
Everyone needs armour of some sort - there is a ready market potentially for plate, mail, leather and cloth, with a large number of slots available. Not everyone needs a bow. Of those that do, only one class uses it as a primary damage output. Unlike EQ, you do not need to craft batches of arrows (unlike most, I actually liked that mechanic, it felt realistic). Yes there are clubs and staves, too. Again though, we are talking about crafting for a small number of slots. If you take fletching, you can't create boxes. That seems unrealistic and a little bit mad. More importantly, it is difficult to see how it stands up in terms of a sustainable economy that attracts fletchers and so it feels - currently - like a mistake to split fletching and carpentry.
I understand the desire to make professions dependent on each other. You can do that without the complexity of the subdivisions. If the game was more visually appealing, I would understand how perhaps there was a significant role for fletchers and crafters in creating lots of different household items. However, it is hard - currently - to see that being a significant aspect of the game, unlike say EQ2 or TESO.
Quite happy to be proved wrong or challenged. And of course I appreciate this is far from the finished system - but the direction of travel seems fairly well set.
Ker
