Crafting for crafters

[Jonray]

Not directly on topic about GW2, but I just posted a blog entry about my thoughts on crafting in MMORPG's.

Take a look if you'd like: Crafting for Crafters

[Venn]

Good stuff. I can't remember the last MMO I actually enjoyed it therefore actually yknow...doing it. Ultima Online? Only reason I did it in WoW was to make poisons...

[Psyklone]

I liked leveling professions in WoW. But when I think about it, the engineering and inscription stuff from low levels was just as useful as the high level stuff.

My biggest peeve, and this is something that really turns me off wow, is lack of random elements.
I think Diablo 3 got this right. You know itll be a sword, and that it gives + str, but the rest is a mystery.
In theory, someone out there will want the outcome even if you don't. But just in case, a once-off do-over for a fee would probably be a nice touch.
I don't want to HAVE to run instance X for headpiece Y cause its the best. Or collect Z to make leggings Q. I want good leggings. Not the same as everyone else.

[Ruse]

I'd like the ability to name items I craft. Or at the least have my name on it (a la SWG).

[Psyklone]

It has that in WoW too. Just that noone cares cause 1000 other people can all make the exact same thing.
Therefore you don't need an armor hookup, like you have JCs or alchemists, or scribes.

[Kujir]

I'd love for random ability scores on equipment, it would give everyone a little bit of indivuality and hopefully stop everyone from wearing the same gear.

[Ruse]

Hmm, I dunno. As a crafter if I'm aiming for, I dunno, crit chance and I get something else, that would make me cranky, lol.

[Centaur]

Given the history of Guild Wars, I don't think random stats and ability scores is the way ArenaNet has in mind to create individuality. I believe it will be fairly easy to get max stats on all your equipment. The individuality will be done through a lot of variation in looks... there will be a wide range of armor and town clothes (crafted or otherwise), and the dye system will make your version of those look even more unique.

By the way, welcome to these forums Kujir.

[Brytwend]

I'm interested in the incentive behind crafting in GW2. Reason being I haven't played Guild Wars so I don't know what the old system was like, but in all the other MMO's I've played (namely, Ragnarok Online and Final Fantasy XI/XIV Online) there was a deep incentive to crafting items. Not only did you often need potions to heal yourself in combat, there were some skills held by the Alchemist and Assassin that required you to craft an item and have it in your inventory before you could use it. Blacksmiths crafted and upgraded weapons that you could get alternatives to out in the field but if your blacksmith was good he or she could reinforce it to the point where it was much stronger or had an elemental affinity you couldn't get from anywhere else. You could turn a powerful sword into a very very powerful sword and add the power of fire or wind to it, whichever you wanted.

These items would sell for competitive prices and drove the economy of the game.

ArenaNet has stated several times that having the best gear that the game has to offer will not really benefit you because in PvP everyone has the same choices and in PvE crafting an item doesn't make it more interesting or unique than finding an item in the wild. It just applies a different skin or has a different name, but the stats aren't better or worse.

Because of that, I don't see the real incentive to crafting other than allowing people to have cool looking items that are exactly the same as other items and have no extra or special qualities.

I'm willing to accept this because I play FPS games where if one person picks up an SMG and another person has an SMG it's not about which gun is stronger it's about who knows how to use it with more precision and accuracy and planning (a la the Halo series, my favorite). Perhaps if I start looking at this game much like an FPS than like a classic MMO it will make more sense.

[Ruse]

Reason being I haven't played Guild Wars so I don't know what the old system was like

There really wasn't crafting in the original GW.

Because of that, I don't see the real incentive to crafting other than allowing people to have cool looking items that are exactly the same as other items and have no extra or special qualities.

Devs have said they're more about horizontal (becoming more versatile) than vertical (stats go up) progression, so IMO this ties into that. In the original GW people paid very high sums for a weapon that was no better than others (or armor) but had a rare, cool skin. It was a status symbol of sorts. If there are cool skins only available to crafters, there will be a market for that.

The other side of this (and here I'm speculating) is that perhaps a crafted set will offer, say, high crit chance so if that's what you want to focus on, you'll want to buy this crafted set. Or more defense, or higher health, etc. Or maybe rather than do PvP or go dungeon crawling, you'd rather just make money and buy gear. I think they want to offer options for all those playstyles