Post by sareth675 on Jul 16, 2015 9:31:13 GMT -5
This is a thread I've made since I've been delving into the crafting system and I hope people will contribute to help make the system more robust and balanced.
Firstly, I've spent many thousands of bucks on making random pieces of gear to level up blacksmithing. Thousands of bucks, not GP, so tens of thousands of GP. To make items that have a higher level but no better stats... and they cost more to make, and give very little exp, and the NPC merchants will buy them for dirt prices, and players won't buy them for the price they cost to make since they're not actually any better than the level 1 gear.
That was a bit of a example rant I suppose to show how the system has been perceived by myself since joining.
A few questions to be followed by a few suggestions.
1) How the hell does crafting xp gain work? If I make more expensive stuff, do I get more xp? Or should I just spam craft clubs and sell them for less of a loss for similar exp rates? I don't really understand as it's not really explained anywhere I've looked. Maybe I'm just being blind and it's all listed somewhere that I can't find.
2) This is kind of a bug, or maybe again I'm just being dumb, but when I add special things to armor (like spikes), I need to have a spot to use both Engineering, and Armoring, but I can't find anywhere like that in the crafting guild. Do I make the armor and then go try add spikes to it, or is that not just implemented yet?
Suggestions
Can crafting actually make us some cash? At the moment it's just a way of burning all the bucks I make looting the cemetery... which seems a little redundant, how do the NPC merchants make cash? (other than overcharging like crazy and not offering enough cash for things you sell them). I said in the bug section about the price of padded armor that you make minimal profit, and probably none now I've noticed as the merchants seem to have changed to offer even less cash to the items that used to make money. The system currently punishes players who don't have much cash, so they have no choice but to loot places to make money, to then level up their skill at a loss, to then grind more, to then get the skill to a point they can make half decent gear for other players, who may or may not pay reasonable prices, to then turn it into more of a career.
If the crafting system was built to increase trade between players, you have to remember, people won't always need to buy new weapons. Once you've forked out for a good one, you're set for another 20 odd proficiency levels. Then the crafter is out of work, until everyone levels up to that point. Thus crafting is a secondary, not a primary skill set. I don't know if there are plans to change this so crafting becomes more viable, but as it stands, it seems very sidelined.
If a randomised crafting guild quest system, or merchants gave crafting orders out to people with the skills to make better weapons, that would then offer decent rewards for the jobs done, that would help crafting become much more useful. If I made a profit of 100 bucks making 50 longswords for a merchant, that's still a lot less than what it would take to just wander into the first area of the cemetery and kill like 5 zombies.
Also, can the levels of items be made a little better? Right now it's hit and miss with gear, though if it was improved so that every 5 levels instead of 10 levels improved the stats of an item, that would make...
A) Crafters at all levels more useful
B) Areas would become more balanced. I've seen fully armored swordsmen get (quite quickly to my suprise) shot to death by 1 skeleton with a pistol cos they rolled shite for 10 rounds, whereas mister skeleton has 9 AB, decent DR and good AC without actually appearing to wear any armor at all. Some monsters appear to be intrinsically better than player characters, other than their HP value.
If staff have something to refute these points, please do, I'd like to know the system is more useful than it first appears! xD
Firstly, I've spent many thousands of bucks on making random pieces of gear to level up blacksmithing. Thousands of bucks, not GP, so tens of thousands of GP. To make items that have a higher level but no better stats... and they cost more to make, and give very little exp, and the NPC merchants will buy them for dirt prices, and players won't buy them for the price they cost to make since they're not actually any better than the level 1 gear.
That was a bit of a example rant I suppose to show how the system has been perceived by myself since joining.
A few questions to be followed by a few suggestions.
1) How the hell does crafting xp gain work? If I make more expensive stuff, do I get more xp? Or should I just spam craft clubs and sell them for less of a loss for similar exp rates? I don't really understand as it's not really explained anywhere I've looked. Maybe I'm just being blind and it's all listed somewhere that I can't find.
2) This is kind of a bug, or maybe again I'm just being dumb, but when I add special things to armor (like spikes), I need to have a spot to use both Engineering, and Armoring, but I can't find anywhere like that in the crafting guild. Do I make the armor and then go try add spikes to it, or is that not just implemented yet?
Suggestions
Can crafting actually make us some cash? At the moment it's just a way of burning all the bucks I make looting the cemetery... which seems a little redundant, how do the NPC merchants make cash? (other than overcharging like crazy and not offering enough cash for things you sell them). I said in the bug section about the price of padded armor that you make minimal profit, and probably none now I've noticed as the merchants seem to have changed to offer even less cash to the items that used to make money. The system currently punishes players who don't have much cash, so they have no choice but to loot places to make money, to then level up their skill at a loss, to then grind more, to then get the skill to a point they can make half decent gear for other players, who may or may not pay reasonable prices, to then turn it into more of a career.
If the crafting system was built to increase trade between players, you have to remember, people won't always need to buy new weapons. Once you've forked out for a good one, you're set for another 20 odd proficiency levels. Then the crafter is out of work, until everyone levels up to that point. Thus crafting is a secondary, not a primary skill set. I don't know if there are plans to change this so crafting becomes more viable, but as it stands, it seems very sidelined.
If a randomised crafting guild quest system, or merchants gave crafting orders out to people with the skills to make better weapons, that would then offer decent rewards for the jobs done, that would help crafting become much more useful. If I made a profit of 100 bucks making 50 longswords for a merchant, that's still a lot less than what it would take to just wander into the first area of the cemetery and kill like 5 zombies.
Also, can the levels of items be made a little better? Right now it's hit and miss with gear, though if it was improved so that every 5 levels instead of 10 levels improved the stats of an item, that would make...
A) Crafters at all levels more useful
B) Areas would become more balanced. I've seen fully armored swordsmen get (quite quickly to my suprise) shot to death by 1 skeleton with a pistol cos they rolled shite for 10 rounds, whereas mister skeleton has 9 AB, decent DR and good AC without actually appearing to wear any armor at all. Some monsters appear to be intrinsically better than player characters, other than their HP value.
If staff have something to refute these points, please do, I'd like to know the system is more useful than it first appears! xD
I'll update this thread with my opinions on the system as I start to hit higher, slightly more advanced crafting levels.