Crafting = Unbalanced economy (monopoly)?

PrebThor

If the high-end crafted items in LOTRO allegedly are the "best" items in the game, won't certain prospering guilds be able to rule the economy on a server (at least to a certain extent) by simply monopolizing the Auction House (given that these recipes/materials will be RARE)? This has happened before in various forms in several games, and just -might- be a potential threat in this game... Thoughts?

allegria

I don't think the high end crafted items are the best in the game at all. In fact quested / drops are equal if not better in most cases.

I am a jeweler and a Tailor. I can tell you that the rare ( purple ) crafted jewelery is in fact better than anything dropped or quested in only 2 cases ( a specific necklace and a specific ring ). Therefore i only really sell 2 types of items.

Tailoring is worse. There is nothing i can make crafted that is better than drop/quested. The only advantage is that it matches. ( You can get a full set of crafted armor that matches ). This advantage is not complete however as you can dye most drop items.

Metalsmith is the one crafting profession that seems to have better items than drops. ( at least the rare ones )

So the answer to your question is two fold

1. Crafted gear is not necessarily the best, in fact more often than not, quested /drop items are as good or better.

2. Trophys or the rare Ingredients for the "top shelf" crafted items are not hard to obtain in small quantity. So for example if i was an adventurer looking for that 1 very nice crafted item that is better than drop/quested i could easily get the ingredients to have it made.

I hope that helps. Crafting is in no way dominant in LOTRO. It is thought of as a side activity. This is in contrast to other games, Vanguard comes to mind where crafting is more of a dominant feature.

-Allegria

PrebThor

Originally posted by allegria


I don't think the high end crafted items are the best in the game at all. In fact quested / drops are equal if not better in most cases.
I am a jeweler and a Tailor. I can tell you that the rare ( purple ) crafted jewelery is in fact better than anything dropped or quested in only 2 cases ( a specific necklace and a specific ring ). Therefore i only really sell 2 types of items.
Tailoring is worse. There is nothing i can make crafted that is better than drop/quested. The only advantage is that it matches. ( You can get a full set of crafted armor that matches ). This advantage is not complete however as you can dye most drop items.
Metalsmith is the one crafting profession that seems to have better items than drops. ( at least the rare ones )
So the answer to your question is two fold
1. Crafted gear is not necessarily the best, in fact more often than not, quested /drop items are as good or better.
2. Trophys or the rare Ingredients for the "top shelf" crafted items are not hard to obtain in small quantity. So for example if i was an adventurer looking for that 1 very nice crafted item that is better than drop/quested i could easily get the ingredients to have it made.
I hope that helps. Crafting is in no way dominant in LOTRO. It is thought of as a side activity. This is in contrast to other games, Vanguard comes to mind where crafting is more of a dominant feature.
-Allegria

Thanks for the comment. Are you referring to crafting in closed or open beta? It's already official from the developers that the high-end crafted items will, in fact, be the best items in the game. I can't imagine that being exclusively as there would be no point in trying to defeat the high-end bosses (for loot, at least). Purple items in LOTRO are not "rare", but "uncommon". Yellow items being the "common" ones.

airhead

@OP, The whole concept of "one-time recipes" sort of clouds the difference between 'drops' and 'crafted'. The best stuff is from dropped one-time recipes, i.e. you kill some high level boss and he drops a recipe to make the sword of a thousand truths, which can only be made once, and it fades out of your memory. (Reminds me of Bruenor and his one-time crafting of the hammer he gave the barbarian...).



Anyway, from everything the CB people have told me, plus what the devs have said, the one-time dropped recipes will be the best stuff. There is also a critical-chance that occurs in the crafting process, which is increased thru better tools, and using some other rare drop.



Will crafting guilds have some kind of monopoly?  Absolutely not. And the reason is.... drumroll.... because it's COMPLETELY EASY to level crafting. Doesn't take much time at all. Besides the quest kills needed to advance certain levels, (which would be much easier later), all you have to do is click click, raise an ALT's profession, and make the item yourself. (well, except maybe scholar who only advances from a rare drop.... scholar's really do need a guild behind them I think).

PrebThor

Originally posted by airhead

@OP, The whole concept of "one-time recipes" sort of clouds the difference between 'drops' and 'crafted'. The best stuff is from dropped one-time recipes, i.e. you kill some high level boss and he drops a recipe to make the sword of a thousand truths, which can only be made once, and it fades out of your memory. (Reminds me of Bruenor and his one-time crafting of the hammer he gave the barbarian...).



Anyway, from everything the CB people have told me, plus what the devs have said, the one-time dropped recipes will be the best stuff. There is also a critical-chance that occurs in the crafting process, which is increased thru better tools, and using some other rare drop.



Will crafting guilds have some kind of monopoly?  Absolutely not. And the reason is.... drumroll.... because it's COMPLETELY EASY to level crafting. Doesn't take much time at all. Besides the quest kills needed to advance certain levels, (which would be much easier later), all you have to do is click click, raise an ALT's profession, and make the item yourself. (well, except maybe scholar who only advances from a rare drop.... scholar's really do need a guild behind them I think).

All good points. Hopefully these one-time recipes and crafted items will, at least, be EXTREMELY hard to acquire. Reaching the higher levels in crafting should be HARD in my opinion. If anyone can craft these items, then the game offers no challenge whatsoever, not even for a casual player. If this would turn out to be true then there's obviously no danger of a monopoly either. If a guild was to monopolize the server they would not only have to craft, but also be in charge of access/denial of access to end-game bosses by basically camping them (given that the boss is not instanced, and if instanced what would be required to access him?). Conclusion: I am tired. Zzz...