Taking the production out of itemcrafting
by Mike Schramm 
Jun 25th 2007 at 4:47PM
Here's an interesting suggestion from Mystic Worlds: take the production process out of crafting.When I used to play Dark Age of Camelot, the crafting setup was my least favorite part of the game-- it seemed like crafting materials were expensive, the crafting process took way too much time (I having long conversations with others standing around the crafting area), and the stuff you made (at the early levels anyway) just wasn't that great. So WoW's system may not be perfect, but it seemed like a breath of fresh air after that-- materials come from actually playing the game, and putting things together is something you can generally do as an afterthought rather than as, well, a profession. The gathering is the important part.
So Mystic Worlds says, why not make the gathering the whole thing? You still go out and get mats from the world, crafters turn those raw mats into usable mats, and then you'd actually take the bolts and gems and tanned leather that crafters made to NPC crafters, who would turn them into items. That way, if you want a Robe of the Void but you aren't a tailor, you just take the mats to an NPC tailor who can hammer one out for you.
That kind of system would open up crafting to many more options, since the devs wouldn't have to worry about whether tailor sets were overpowered, since everyone who wears cloth could wear them as long as they got the mats from somewhere. No more BOP items, and no more problems with a certain profession having abilities the other players don't.
Would it work? Frankly, I think it's too late at this stage of the game to make a sweeping change like this-- for the most part, the crafting system works for players, and it's the devs who'd have to deal with this kind of change, by reevaluating the costs of all crafting items and recoding the economy accordingly. They'd rather nerf BOP crafting items (or just make them BOE) than rebuild the whole system. But it's an interesting idea-- crafting production has hit a strange minimum in WoW (you can go the whole game without producing anything), and it would be interesting to see a system where production wasn't a factor at all.
Filed under: Tailoring, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Economy, Making money
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
robot rock Jun 25th 2007 5:05PM
Just fix enchants so they can be sold in the AH and all will be fine.
Sirg Jun 25th 2007 5:06PM
I think it's a bad idea, encouraging farmers. Crafting professions are already a money sink and frustrating, but the good part is that sometimes one can make money by selling craft specific mats. Besides, the crafting professions are great because not everyone can do the same things, and only a few can do the rare good stuff. It would be plain to have a NPC do all the armors, kits, potions, whatever .. and the good craftsmen will lose their value.
Some are unique to a guild because they can make a certain item or a set, which is a good thing, not a bad thing.
Thallid Jun 25th 2007 5:15PM
There's also the problem of dealing with Primal Nethers or other BoP materials this way. It would also eat into the crafter's profits of selling the nethers when crafting something for someone else. Perhaps the crafter NPC can sell the nethers for a hefty chunk of change, or offer to make it for you if you happened to have the required nethers. However, the price of nethers in crafting something for someone else would drop or rise accordingly since the NPC's prices for it would be fixed.
Baluki Jun 25th 2007 5:24PM
Nah, if anyone could go to any NPC to get their crafting done, then the whole crafting system would need to be completely removed, and that's boring. We already kinda have a crafting NPC system in place anyway - remember all those quests where you had to go kill X number of things and collect Y number of something else, and the reward was a piece of gear? That's basically the same thing.
BOP items are there SPECIFICALLY to give you something that others with other professions can't have.
When I read the title of this article, I thought it was going to be about the time that it takes to make an item, and I do think that the time needs to be reduced. There's really no reason why anything should take more than 3 seconds to make. Longer times may be more realistic, but they're boring.
Necromancer Jun 25th 2007 5:34PM
I think a better idea would be to make all crafted items BoE! That way crafters get the most out of their profession. Guilds can pool resources to make any items under the many different specs of professions instead of each person needing to be the specific spec to get the BoP item. They can also sell their crafted items to make back some of the costs it's taken to get to 375.
Derelict Jun 25th 2007 5:37PM
I like the way it is.
I enjoy crafting. I enjoy seeing my name on someone else's equipment ... pride in manufacturing. I also enjoy getting some tradeskill specific items that I really have to work hard for.
D
shaun.sparks Jun 25th 2007 6:12PM
What??!!?? The system is fine the way it is. People need to QQ about epic BoP items at the end of a craft. If you spent all the time and money getting to 375, you earned that item imo. Just because you chose engineering instead of tailoring and you arent happy with your tiny mechanical yeti, doesnt call for a complete overhaul of the whole system. Keep up the good work Blizz! Move on ppl nothing to see here.
/next
Pingmeister Jun 25th 2007 5:55PM
I am a recently converted die-hard crafter.
After taking just about every profession to 300 on another server I have migrated to Zangamarsh and given up on crafting.
Now I just "collect" and sell.
That's a real shame because I am a crafter at heart but there are just not enough good recipes to make crafters necessary. It is pretty much NEVER worth the cost of levelling it up.
In other words, the solution proposed in the article sounds good to me, but only because I am disappointed by crafting in WoW.
Michael Jun 25th 2007 6:33PM
I'd love to see crafting take on a bit more not less. Let me make "of the ..." gear by adding an extra component. Let there be a percent chance to make an item with extra durability. Let someone make bows, xbows, arrows, and staves!
Arikul Jun 25th 2007 6:47PM
I like the system as it is, though I think I liked the DAoC version of the crafting system even more. Was it harder? Yes. Was it monotonous? Yes. Could you lose materials or even possibly your life? You betcha, but that just made the items that much more impressive, especially with the chance of making better quality items/overloading enchants. But I'm pretty sure the Wow profession system has been around for way too long for any radical changes one way or the other. If you ask me, they should start by giving the NPC armor/weapon vendors some actual, decent gear. I'm not saying they should sell epics, but something better than the common, over-priced crap they sell now, they should be grey because they are trash. Whenever I hear a newbie in general chat asking where to buy good weapons I always point them to the Auction House.
Another idea would be to have those same vendors sell starter items for crafters, i.e. you could buy the common [Sword of Truths], and then with some hard-to-find mats and a forge turn it into the all-powerful, epic, and mana-draining [Sword of 1000 Truths]. Otherwise, we might has well just call them armor/weapon repairing materialists, what else do you call an NPC that repairs a suit of armor in exchange for 4 gelatinous oozes, 2 wicked claws, 5 shell fragments, and some loose change?
simplehiker Jun 25th 2007 7:02PM
Why is it there is a new WOW Insider article every day to make the game dumber and easier? Seem like they are really supportive of gold sellers and want to keep that Ad money so continue to pitch lame game ideas such as World AH and taking the crafting out of the game.
Merus Jun 25th 2007 7:35PM
I think my favourite crafting system was the one in Puzzle Pirates. Pretty much everything player-equippable was crafted, including clothes and weapons, as well as boats and cannonballs and things. The way they handled it was establishing 'crafting shops' that took orders and was responsible for getting the raw materials (which was handled by a market interface, so upon going to the market, you could see what shops would buy your, say, copper, and for how much). The players would come in, do some work, and get paid for the level of crafting they provided, and could also take a job at the shop, which would pay you for your off-line hours.
Of course, they also made the actual act of crafting somewhat challenging, as opposed to how it works in WoW where, with a couple of exceptions, you wait for the bar to fill up and the difficult bit is getting the materials.
Coherent Jun 25th 2007 9:37PM
...soo, they remove the one fun thing about tradeskills and reduce the whole thing to gathering only? That is the stupidest suggestion I've ever heard.
cynmoon Jun 25th 2007 9:58PM
You want awesome cloth items? Become a tailor.
It's hard, it's a money sink, but at the end you can have your l33t armor.
It's not like certain races don't have the ability to become tailors. If they did, I could understand the QQing. But it's not my fault that you chose mining/skinning to make $$ rather than tailoring/enchanting (you want a free fiery enchant? become and enchanter, do it yourself)
There's SUPPOSED to be diversity and challenge in the game. Otherwise there'd only be one race, there'd be no alliance/horde and all bosses could be soloable if you just tried REALLY hard.
Dan Jun 26th 2007 4:17AM
If anything, BoP crafting should be buffed. I've levelled my BS to 366 at great expense, to find that there are maybe one or two items I can use, and the rest are junk. Dungeon drops are my sole source of new loot. It would be great if my Blacksmith could make much more stuff, even if it is BoP - since level 1, I've never been able to craft anything that's actually better than I could get from AH or drops. There should be continuous incentives to crafting, and they shouldn't cost several thousand gold.
Tigraine Jun 26th 2007 7:17AM
Somehow I like the Crafting System in EVE.
I haven't gotten too mutch into it though, but everything that is there to get be it Gear, Ships, implants etc is player-made. No drops (From what I know), everything just needs a Skill and someone who crafted it.
although .. that's what I also hate about Eve.
Keep WoW the way it is. With 8 million subscribers and me getting only every day for now over 3 Years surely tells me it works the way it is.
Although I don't both with Crafting that much. My Rogue is alchemist and often Creates Pots and Elixiers, while my Warrior main has BS at 280 and I don't see a reason to level it past that.
Having Aquired full T4 before managing to get Crafting high enough for any good armor really leaves the Profession useless.
Quoi Jun 26th 2007 9:33AM
People that QQ about OP tailoring items need to stfu and level tailoring. Simple as that. I don't complain that I can't make potions.
bwest0526 Jun 26th 2007 9:30AM
my honest opinion on this is make everything crafted BoE, that way there is more return on crafted items i.e. the can be sold at the AH or crafters can charge a fee for making the items. That gives a better return on the mats used and puts more money in the economy. I mean does Maytag make dishwashers that only THEY can use? NO, that is just rediculous!
NH2 Jun 26th 2007 10:20AM
I completely forgot about people exploding at the crafting areas in DAOC. Now that's entertainment. Bleh, I got my spellcrafting up in the 800's before I quit. That was very painful. Though not quite as painful as EQ2's crafting system. Truthfully I think WoW's crafting system is very decent and except for a few dull spots (engineering), it's become rewarding in the end game. I loves me some Frozen Shadoweave. :)
Bonejax Jun 27th 2007 7:20PM
Crafting is one of the coolest aspects of WoW, IMHO. Most games make it impossible to craft anything, and if you can it completely sucks. In wow, it's easy, (though time consuming and expensive) to level up your crafting professions and make some really cool stuff. It could be impoved upon. First there should be more high end BoP items, to make leveling to 375 worth it for the crafter; they get something no one else has. Second, by offering more high end BoE items, not as good as the BoP, but stuff the crafter can make money on. It is a profession, right? More BoE, more BoP, no NPC!