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Beta Opinions on the Artisan Profession
fuzzbrain
Member Posts: 70
in Everquest II
Listed below is a link where "lark" from another popular forum talks about the Artisan profession. Can any other Beta testers attest to what she writes? It's somewhat depressing but I would like to get other opinions as well.
http://www.californiagamer.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=556
Ulfaro
"Mature gamers from the Pacific"
http://www.californiagamer.com
Comments
I have not pursued Artisan myself, however let me point out how a lot of people were complaining about how all the classes were the same etc etc recently, and the announcement that was made last week about EQII's version of talents being added this week.
The game is in Beta right now and changes are being added made every day. If her point is valid right now, will it still be valid when the game goes gold ? If the game was already on the shelves she may have some valid concerns, however until then she is simply ranting for ranting's sake. If she really cares about the issue she should have made her post over on the beta boards where a Dev would see it and possibly post a reply.
Edit if you are really interested in the Artisan aspects of EQII here is a good link
http://www.eq2-artisan.com/
I miss DAoC
If she'd tried to make her point on the EQ2 boards 100s of foaming at the mouth fanboys would have zerged her.
Harvesting IS Adventurer oriented. Would you like if your AC rating as a tank is linked to your Artisan lvl? And before you say, yeah it is because I buy my armor from artisans, consider how would you feel if you have to buy armor EVERY TIME you want to do adventuring.
And crafting mini-game goes like this in ACTool:
Constants
Value=5
End
While $Value = 5
IsBlue 724, 561
MousePos 40, 488
LeftClick
Break
End
End
Well from another post, someone listed the details on how to make a tin sword. Heck I'll just post it:
(PS I'm not going to post a link to this review because where it was posted, everyone would immediately discredit it, but he made good points here).
Tradeskills
The first time I made a potion, and I gathered my junk and bought a candle and some water to make a temper with to refine tin I was like "wow that's pretty cool"
As you make an item, you start out at 'crude' and slowly fight the progress meter to make a 'pristine' version. Pristine subcomponents make for easier combines. Crappy subcomponents will cap how good a final product you can make.
Then when I wanted to make a backpack and realized I needed to craft about 12 subcomponents (2 leather (takes 2 'wash' potions), one leather sheet (takes a potion), one leather cord (potion), one tin buckle (potion and refined tin), refined tin (takes a potion)) I started to realize just how much this system sucked. Complex is one thing, but mindcrushingly tedious is just tedious.
To make a crappy tin sword, I would have had to make about 20 subcomponents (I don't think I'm exaggerating)
tin edge
- tin bar
-- tin ore
-- temper potion
- temper potion
tin pommel
- tin bar
-- tin ore
-- temper potion
- temper potion
tin handguard
- tin bar
-- tin ore
-- temper potion
- temper potion
tin grip
- tin bar
-- tin ore
-- temper potion
- rawhide grip
-- stretched rawhide
--- ruined pelt
--- tanning potion
-- wash potion
-- thread (purchased)
- temper potion
I think that's about right. Each of the potions is a gathered item, plus two storebought items that cost about 12c total. Basically making one of these swords will cost you around a silver, which is about 3 times what it would cost to buy from a vendor that rips you off.
Obviously some of this is a scaling problem, but some of it is linear. The consumables were 6c but higher level consumables might cost more. That's unknown.
I will say I appreciated the complexity at first. I think they might have had the right idea but the implementation is not great. It's due for an overhaul soon, they say - so, I guess we'll see.
Thanks for the rant but it adds no value to the thread.
Ulfaro
"Mature gamers from the Pacific"
http://www.californiagamer.com
He asked for details about the artisan profession from other testers, but you went out and just discounted everything that was in the linked thread and blamed him for it. Plus, you didn't give any personal experience like he asked. You just mixed some facts, some opinions, and a lot of flames towards him.
As to the original poster, ignore him. It seems that if the game wouldn't even run and you asked for help, he would just defend the game and say your wrong, ignoring the real issue.
I always thought that the prime duty of a beta tester was to make the fanbois hate your guts.
edited if to of
I miss DAoC
I agree...
I can see where you can want to start the game right off the bat as an artisan, but I think that going through 7 levels of another archetype will help you in the long run. It kind of gives you the ability to protect yourself in a dangerous environment.
I plan on becoming an artisan wants the game is released, but I would love to go through the fighter's archetype for a couple of levels to get the feel of that system before I make a true fighter. I, personally, am roleplayer through and through and starting as fighter in a dangerous new land and then settling down to practice a trade sounds to me like a great story line.
That's my two cents.
Well, I while I don't necessarily agree with what she says in the fact that she hints that one should be able to "solo" craft themselves to level 50.. I will comment on the validity of her statements...
What she says is true about the quests and such, but, if you look over her article, it's really a long winded speach making 3 primary points:
1. You're not recognized by your Artisan Level & Title in the game. This item addresses her points #10 & #11.
2. Artisan quests are not in the game yet. This item addresses her points #4, #5 and #7.
3. Harvesting is an Adventuring Ability, which is why you need to level that part of your character. This item addresses her points #1, #2, #3, and #6.
(The other thing she mentions in #9 is a valid statement, and I don't understand why it's like this as well).
Anyway, point #1 above is probably an easy fix for the Developers to make a change to the /who command to search on Artisan title as well as placing a toggle in your Persona where you can choose your Prefix and Suffix titles to display on your name.
(For those of you who don't know what this is, if you do a quest like you kill 100 Goblins, you can get a suffix on your name which reads something like "Hunter of Goblins" so people see that floating over you next to your name. It's toggleable to show which prefix/suffix you want, or display none at all. These aren't free-form text boxes, they are selectable phrases added to your character as you complete certain quests.)
Point #3 above basically can go away once the Development team addresses point #2. Once crafting quests are put in game, leveling an artisan without the need to harvest will be alot easier. At least until the artisan is at a higher level when they might need to obtain resources they can't buy from a vendor to craft certain items. I've only done very little crafting and I'm at level 5 now. It costs me about 3 copper to make an item I can sell back to the vendor for 1 copper. I imagine the break even point is probably somewhere around level 12-15 of artisan, but that's just a guess.
So as to the validity of the 3 points above, yes, they are all valid. But in reality, it only comes down to point #1 and point #2, which, I think are both rectifiable. (is that a word?)