Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Crafting, should it be improved or stay as simple?
darkedone02
Member UncommonPosts: 581
I am wondering what the community of mmorpg thinks about the crafting system in various of mmo's that we played. I love crafting in certain games where it feels rewarding, where it becomes a boost to my treasury or a boon on my gear (world of warcraft), I also like the semi-realistic system to where I don't stand and click the craft all button, and have to avoid work problems and press the right button to get it removed (Everquest 2), or the right tool to get it out (Vanguard: Saga of Heroes). I love the massive amount of things you be able to make in certain games like furniture, weapons of all kinds, special ammunition, literacy, and many other things you can make (mortal online, ultima online, darkfall online).
Sometimes I wish there was a non-permadeath rpg game to where crafting is similar to the scale of Mortal Online or Ultima Online or something similar to a roguelike game where I can craft a shitload of things from a very wide range, but has a system similar to Everquest 2/Vanguard Saga of Heroes where I have to get the right tools to avoid work problems and make a well-made version of the item with better stats, and possibly something very unique that could aid me in some way or form like WoW when I am skilled at that type of craft.
Comments
In most games crafting is a side game, I think because it detracts from the gear tread mill. I think instead of handing out some weird made up currency the reward should be crafting mats, where if you farm enough dungeons/ raids you can craft the best gear in the game. The whole idea of being a hero as a crafter is lost if you can not craft the best gear. I also believe that a system similar to this would promote community, lets face not everyone enjoys crafting, that would bring the two sides together to tackle common goals.
I think there is no room for advanced crafting in plain mmorpg. More advanced stuff would require the entire game to revolve around crafting. It would need to be the main focus. So a niche game.
I always wanted crafting to be a game in itself, where player skill is required to make something, rather than just numbers. But then again I wouldn't want crafting to be as efficient as dungeon running, since it would render all the action part of the game useless.
I'm not sure you can really even call what most mmos have is "crafting" any more. You gather a bunch of mats along the yellow brick road, and at some point you click a button and "make" something. Then you sell it to an npc vendor for less than the cost of making it.
You do this till you get to skill cap so you can make one or two items that are on par with basic entry lvl raid gear....and that's the last time crafting is ever viable.
I think more important than how things are crafted is the type of economy you are crafting in. If everything from gear to weapons, to fluff is crafted by players, and the materials needed to craft draw from a broad rage of resources, you will have a great crafting system.
Dead are the days of Dev driven economies where you craft only level your crafting.
edit - yeah like the guy above me said.
crafting can be tied to nonraid features - like player housing
EQ2 fan sites
doesn't matter. if there're drops for housing items, or points/badges for dev made items, it will be more or less what is described above. Everything needs to be player crafted. Drop the recipe, not the complete uber item...
Great crafting is not just about what you craft and where the resources come from. The act of crafting has to be interesting. I crafted in Fallen Earth and Darkfall 1.0 and you could make everything in the game. But it was boring as hell. Drag, drop, click create, come back in a day.
People think crafting systems are great simply based on if they can make the best of everything. If the act of crafting is dull, then you really don't have a great crafting system. You have a great economy. Which are two very different things.
I much prefer simplistic crafting, I don't want to play some dumb mini game to craft my items where the game itself might turn me off from something I enjoy.
It is very important that crafting not be as accessible as it is in most games. If every single character has a crafting skill or two maximized it is pretty much impossible for crafting to be valuable. Take a game like GW2 and cut the gathering nodes down by at least a factor of 10 and make rare recipe drops etc. Make leveling up a lot slower so if you want to max crafting you have to go out of your way to max it, not just something you do on the side while adventuring. Make the items you craft really valuable and very diverse and allow you to modify items to make them better.
I would gladly take both, and do not completely disagree with you. I do think how it's crafted plays less of a role. Kinda like the icing on the cake. If a mmo had a beautiful designed detailed crafting system, but it was all vendor trash, it would not be fulfilling. It would probably be very frustrating. I will argue that having value for what you created is the cake.
So i don't really see any bright future for crafting in gear treadmill type of games. Only some side game simple activity, because otherwise it'll be absolutely no point in it for most of players.
I agree. SWG had a somewhat interesting system making the blueprint but it was nothing special once you'd done it a million times. But everything you made was useful to someone even if it was just a crap throw away weapon.
It's still one of the best crafting games ever made.
I would gladly take both, and do not completely disagree with you. I do think how it's crafted plays less of a role. Kinda like the icing on the cake. If a mmo had a beautiful designed detailed crafting system, but it was all vendor trash, it would not be fulfilling. It would probably be very frustrating. I will argue that having value for what you created is the cake.
How its crafted is just as important imho. Look at it this way: Would you say a game has great combat simply because you can kill the hardest mobs in the game? No. A game has great combat because of how well done the process is. Its the same with crafting.
Saying that crafting is great because you can make the best loot is like saying combat is great because you can get the best loot. Thats why its annoying to me when people dismiss a crafting system (like FFXIV) simply because they cant make best in slot. There is so much more to a great crafting system. You can hit them over the head with all the features and they still dont get it. Yet those same people go on diatribes about the subtle nuances of global cooldowns and active dodging.
Whether its crafting or combat, the process must be engaging or its a fail.
Don't think it is true. The act of crafting doesn't have to be interesting, if the process of gathering materials is interesting. If I'll need to put some effort into getting required materials, and it will be entertaining at the same time, crafting can be just one button click, because I already did my share of activities and fun when collecting materials. I would like crafting to be some challenging process, if it would give different outcome depending on players skill (more skilled player, better item). Other than that it is just pointless activity.
I don't understand where you place non-crafting players in it, if you want to force material rewards. So players who prefer action over crafting are now dependant on crafters, since they can't get items by doing activities they like. You are just turning it around for the favor of crafters instead of making a solution that would make both gameplays viable.
FFXIV crafting is pretty awesome, in terms of making the item. Its based off vanguard, but without the tedium of managing all the reagents and tools. FFXIV took what made VG's crafting interesting it, and removed the excess.
FFXIV's gathering isnt great, but its better than most sadly.
A good combo would be resources like SWG or Ryzom (quality matters) with a craft system like FFXIV.
Nice point above. I'd rather they made the gathering harder and more interesting than the actual crafting.
See, this is what dedicated, old school crafters have been dealing with for the past ten years. Thanks to mmos like WoW, people think crafting is supposed to be a one click side activity. Crafting has been made to cater to people who dont like crafting.
Its so ingrained, that its accepted as the norm now. Which is unfortunate.
Agreed sir, simply agreed.
Please read my thread:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/397689/page/1
Agreed sir, simply agreed.
Please read my thread:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/397689/page/1
like the list
"unfortunate" or not is a matter of preference. I don't play games to focus on crafting.
The best (to me) system i have seen is in marvel heroes. Simple and yet useful. Why useful? Because crafting is used to upgrade your gear instead of making it. And it does not require you to make 10000 useless items to level up.
No it is simply others have a different opinion than you do. I've been crafting since back in the MUD days and I've still never seen a crafting system that made the physical act of crafting an item interesting. SWG wasn't interesting, EQ2 wasn't interesting, Vanguard wasn't interesting. UO wasn't interesting. The games that have had good crafting have done it by making the components you craft interesting to mix and obtain, not by having some silly little mini game for the actual crafting process. You can make crafting complicated but don't make me click extra buttons just to click them to keep me 'engaged' because that just gets old. EQ2 probably had the worst crafting system of any game I've played as an example, single click beats the snot out of that even if it isn't perfect.
No it is simply others have a different opinion than you do. I've been crafting since back in the MUD days and I've still never seen a crafting system that made the physical act of crafting an item interesting. SWG wasn't interesting, EQ2 wasn't interesting, Vanguard wasn't interesting. UO wasn't interesting. The games that have had good crafting have done it by making the components you craft interesting to mix and obtain, not by having some silly little mini game for the actual crafting process. You can make crafting complicated but don't make me click extra buttons just to click them to keep me 'engaged' because that just gets old. EQ2 probably had the worst crafting system of any game I've played as an example, single click beats the snot out of that even if it isn't perfect.
So how do you like your combat?