Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Details about the Crew Skills (crafting, gathering, and diplomacy!)
harvest151
Member UncommonPosts: 217
Details about the Crew Skills (crafting, gathering, and diplomacy!) Article posted at AskAJedi.com / Courtesy of Chronic Reload
======================
======================
Chronic Reload has posted an audio podcast of their time spent with Daniel Erickson at last week’s EA Winter Showcase.
Similar to the now-removed JeuxVideo.com piece, this interviewer also indicates he got to play the game “all-day,” so it really appears that BioWare is making progress and letting more and more external play and testing take place. He even mentioned a separate session of playing Flashpoints. Could we expect an expanded Game Testing phase soon? All speculation, but that would be a nice surprise.
While there was a lot of general ground covered, some time was spent on the recently revealed crafting system, which is currently abuzz in the community. There is some new information that can be gained here, even if not directly stated.
“There’s gathering, there’s crafting, but you don’t do any of it. Because you’re Darth Vader. And Darth Vader does not make boots. The companion characters do all of that.”
So this is one area of discussion in the community right now. Just how much will your character be involed in the crafting or gathering activities? Here’s further comments that may give us a better idea:
“You can also call the people back on your ship and say “Hey, go find me some of these ingredients because later I’m gonna want somebody to make me some boots. So the big innovation for it is you don’t do it. Your crew does it. You don’t have to be there while they do it. You can just call them back on the ship, and you don’t even have to be online. You can send everybody their marching orders, log off for the night, log on the next day, and find out what everybody brought you.”
Diplomacy missions seem to be in place to contribute to your alignment (Dark Side/Light Side points:)
“The mission system allows you to send companions that are not with you on missions themselves. There is a cost to do it, and there is a time to do it. The missions run from 5 minutes to 24 hours. And then there is a reward from it. The two missions we talked about so far (and there are far more) are Diplomacy and Treasure Hunting.”
Look for further discussion of what Daniel discussed here soon, and if you’re following TOR, the full interview is a must-listen. You can hear the full interview over at Chronic Reload!
==========================
==========================
Not much, but thought some of you might be interested. Cheers.
Comments
The crafting and gathering systems sounds entirely uninteresting for players who actually enjoy gathering and crafting. To be honest, if companions are the ones doing all the gathering and crafting with you just telling them what to do, it's hard to say that the game even really has crafting in a sense.
Only MMO players would want to be the guy working on the assembly line in the factory instead of the manager overseeing him.
If you havent noticed, BioWare focuses on telling everyone how they[object Window]re doing things differently. Theyre focusing so much on what companions can do because if they didnt, wed be asking, So... how is it different from WoW LOLOLOLOL!?
Edit: For some reason, apostrophes and quotation marks dont work with this version of Firefox... weird. Better roll back the Beta version!
Love the sound of the new crafting. Takes the dull grind away from farming. Someone else can do it while I get down to the awesome story is a great idea.
Think of it this way. In SWG which is regarded as having at one time the most top notch crafting system in place, is not that much different than what Bioware is doing now in a sense.
Instead of littering the planets with harvestors that gathered minerals and such you have a companion that will do. Instead of having to sit at a work bench all day, your comapnion becomes the modifiers that will either make a great item or a lesser one.
So in a way, the more you develope a companion, the better at crafting it will become. So certain companions will be used more as a crafting tool.
I agree with Commitus. SWG had its pinnacle niche with crafting I suppose. So this game is not crafting. I agree . I do like the direction it is going because it seems more true to the heroic role. Luke didn't eat a bunch of muffins or had his lightsaber rigged so he could take on the Emperor. I want to manage my minions because I am a taking on a leadership role in this game. I am done with running around in my full plate to look for iron nodes.. with a pick.. Take the grind away from me. yes. I want to spend the few hours a day I have adventuring, not staring at a crafting table. If you want to forge your items and take pride on those things - games like Istaria catered to the crafter.
Finally - Best site for Chuck Norris
http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/
Ah, two threads about the same. I'll also post the information that was on the official forum here (thread on SWTOR foum about this is here)
Gathering and Crafting
Further indications that it's your companions, not you as a player, who are doing all the actual gathering and crafting.
There are Mission Skills that come automatically with Gathering Skills.
When finding resources while out in the field, you can remotely assign companions on your ship to gather them.
Some select quotes on Gathering and Crafting:
Quote:
So, you don't go pick up the thing, you go: "Hey you, go get that". You don't craft the boots, you're in your ship and you've got a whole craft... and you say: "You, go make me some boots".
...there's the gathering, there's the crafting, but you don't do any of it, because you're Darth vader and Darth Vader does not make boots. Your companion characters do all of that.
...there are also mission skills that come automatically with the gathering skills, so while you can be out in the field and say: "Hey oh I spotted that thing, let's gather that up", you could also call the people back on your ship... and say: "Hey, go find me some of these ingredients, because later I'm gonna want somebody to make me some boots".
So the big [thread?] of innovations for it is: You don't do it, your crew does it. You don't have to be there while they do it, you can just call them back on the ship... and you don't even have to be online. You can send everybody their marching orders, log off for the night, log in the next day and find out what everybody brought you.
- Daniel Erickson, BioWare
Missions
There's a cost and a time for sending your companions on missions.
Missions run from being 5 minutes to 24 hours in length.
Diplomacy missions are for getting Dark Side or Light Side points.
All companions have bonuses for different Crew Skills (e.g. Treasure Hunting).
Sending a companion to do Treasure Hunting is a kind of dice roll which depends on how much time is invested.
Treasure Hunting mission "dice rolls" also have crits, bringing you higher quality loot occasionally.
Some select quotes on Missions:
Quote:
Diplomacy is for Light Side and Dark Side points...
I want Dark Side points. Oh, it turns out that there is a system out on the edge of unknown space and their ambassador is refusing to [pitulate?] to the Emperor, I'm going to send one of my companion characters out there to convince him otherwise. We go out there, we wait until the time is up. He comes back, we get a report, we find out if he did good or did bad. If successful we get a nice chunk of Dark Side points. We're spreading the influence out there.
Vette actually has a bonus to Treasure Hunting, all the companions actually have bonuses for different crew skills.
So we say: "Hey [Vette] you go get me some cool gear"... and it really is sort of a dice roll... and depending on how much time you invest in it obviously your chances of getting something good is even better... and there are crits, so you can get something really really good every once in a while.
- Daniel Erickson, BioWare
A
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
You know, that's what I heard all the time from SWG crafters too.
Oh wait....I never did. I apologize for the sarcasm. It's just one of those things that it is too easy to read into one way, or to read into another way. Good stuff, just need more info, but while I have questions about something Erickson said, there is still some possible good.
Replace harvesters and factories, and put companions into their place and from just that aspect, they look an awful lot alike. I know SWG has its fans, its haters, but I do often see it as an example of one of the better crafting systems that has been done.
Now to really make that a fair comparison, we'd need to know more info, like what a players involvement actually is. What made SWG crafting to me, was that it was MY job to find the good materials, and it was my job to experiment to get just the right blueprint to put into my factory. Daniel Erickson, to my dismay, said that "you dont do any of it". That concerns me, if I really have no impact, then yeah, it is uninspired, but if I have an impact, all SWTOR will have done, is model a system that I enjoyed, and removed a LOT of the tedium. Granted, to each his own on what they like/dislike.
That is the thing though....
The dedicated Uncle Owens want their simulation, and they want the game to revolve around them. Cries for crafter economy are constantly heard on the TOR main site.
They feel an adventure based game should introduce loot thru a minority play style. It makes no sense what-so-ever.
To have a crafter economy, you have to have forced dependency. Not only that, but you have to have decay to force repeat sales.
So instead of the "loot grind" we hear cries about, the game instead simply becomes a money grind. It wouldnt matter what content is completed, as the only requirement in those systems is how much farming (or gold buying) one has done.
I hope all crafting is only for personal use.
Asking Devs to make AAA sandbox titles is like trying to get fine dining on a McDonalds dollar menu budget.
MMOs used to be about more than just combat, and being a crafter meant more than just grinding for resources and pumping out items. It used to be a game in itself for some people to run a shop that they sold their crafted items at.
But I get that SWTOR isn't that type of game. It's as you said, just an 'adventure' game where everything revolves around combat. I'm not bothered by it, I'm just pointing out the that crafting mechnics in the game appears to be extremely shallow from what they've shown so far.
I like this system. Its probably the most unique thing about swtor so far.
When I first read this I was shocked. Ya know, how could Bioware do this to a well loved staple of the mmo genre. I love crafting and i know many others do to. BUT the more I thought about it, the more I started to love it. I had to ask myself WHY do I like crafting. The answer is really simple actually, its to produce items that you can sell or wear. The actual process could be interesting, like Vanguard SOH, but if you give me a choice like questing/party/raid play, I'd take it. This system frees us up to pursue other avenues of adventure.
All in all this game is coming together nicely. My main concern is not crafting, but the feel of the world. Hopefully the main cities are open to the world and not zoned off. Either way though cant wait for this game.
what i ask is this:
why include crafting in the first place if the player is not going to be involved in it?
because as it stands it just sounds that the only reason for crafting is to boss around your NPCs...
might as well not have crafting and just sell stuff via NPCs or loot them.
But you are involved. You choose which companion does what. You have to level your companion to harvest better material, be better in missions, be better trassure hunters and make better gear. They did say that the depth will be there for those more interested in developing better crafting skills.
So no, you don't swing the tool to harvest, explore or create gear. But you have to level your companions to do it. And we don't know what limitations, if any, there will be. If you can make and harvest everything, then crafting won't mean a lot. But if you can only develope a limited number of professions for your companions. Then craftng will mean somethng. Still not enough info, but enough to make me think it may end up being a very good system.
The podcast actually had some good info on the questing and 95% open world gaming. Erickson does a great job in explaining how each player will feel unique with quest choices by never seeing anyone else make the same choice. And at the same time, have open and well developed game worlds for persistant game play. Making PUGs or grouping with friends feel natural in the setting. Obviously Erickson states it better than me, but there it is
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?
R.A.Salvatore
I played this game called Face of Mankind once...You basically would set a terminal to harvest and manufacture stuff. Seems sort of similar, but one step further removed.
Biowares spin is that you are actually the hero of your own story or whatnot. So, it seems to me the system they have devised seems logical.
Maybe your companions can advance in skill if you focus them more on that? Dunno.
Not all games cater to all people.
Drop the next-gen marketing and people will argue if the game itself has merit.
I see both sides on this issue: it has potential, but it might be terrible. It really depends on the details that no one will have until open beta at the earliest.
However, I don't agree that an adventure style themepark game should focus on loot and not crafter equipment, as in, I don't think it's necessary or beneficial to have loot be more valuable than craft. I find in those games, crafting loses significance, and a lot of components and items are nearly impossible to buy. I think it's possible that a themepark game could easily have a crafter driven economy with loot being neither better or worse, just different. I'd like to see both options (raid loot and crafted items) be valid for different specs of every class.
I'll play the game anyway, and I'll craft just like I have in most MMOs, but crafting and amassing wealth has always been a major part of my end game. I hope it can be in SWTOR as well, or they won't retain my subscription -- I doubt that it will be a major factor killing retainment for others though.
Playing: Eve, LoL
Played: EQ, SWG, EQII, MxO,DDO CoX, WoW, & LoTRO
Awaiting: GW2, Rift, Earthrise, TOR
Hello thread... did we meet before in another life?
...
I must say it sounded quite goood to me.
I liked that he said, that many things have become pseudo-standards today in MMOs which just where added because they could not do better, because of lacking ressources, like the infamous grind. Grinding was added because companies were not able to make enough content. It's a truth we have to be aware of, because enough people defend these pseudo-standarts, which essentially were just meant to be fillers anyway. I'd extend that to things like harsh death penalities or long & deadly travelling to your quest goal. All these things were just fillers because companies lacked the ressources to make enough REAL content. TRUE, and something essentially to remember.
Cetero Censeo: I STILL want more alien races than face-paint humans! =P
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Perhaps the root of the problem with this recent announcement is call the design system crafting. If they market this as companion mission system or companion adventures it might be better received.
Seems as though people are liking the system though.
I like the idea, i can understand why some don't like it. To me, i've never been interested in gathering the resources. There has always been something else i'd rather do or enjoy doing so to me this makes it a great way to gather resources while still playing the game the way i like. Sort of like SWG but you don't hunt for the resource point yourself.
Creating the items, seems sort of like a glorified tool kit which is fine by me. I've never been a hardcore crafter but i do like crafting sometimes so there is a little bit inside of me that is disappointed but it doesn't affect the way i see the game as a whole in the slightest. End of the day i'm just glad they have crafting.
Looking great still and honestly can't wait to try this game.
If your BOs are doing the crafting then why even mention it? Are they just trying to pointlessly insult people who like crafting?
I like that they are doing this, though I think they should do a thing where certain things are done by the player and certain tasks are done by player owned npcs, that way you can satisfy the people that like doing the crafting themselves, and satisfy people that want something different and/or like bossing people around. It sort of reminds me of rts games, and final fantasy tactics, but obviously with a lot missing. It's nice to see an MMORPG reaching into other genres, but still holding on to the core idea's of a RPG.
-I want a Platformer MMO
to a dangerous place this line of thought will carry us. great care we must take.
next thing you know the only thing you will actually do in an mmo is fight and shoot at things.
oh wait.... hmm....
or....
maybe in the future you won't have to do that at all - just send your companions to fight for you whilst you sit and wait for them to report back.
back to pac-man...oh wait!
to a dangerous place this line of thought will carry us. great care we must take.
next thing you know the only thing you will actually do in an mmo is fight and shoot at things.
oh wait.... hmm....
or....
maybe in the future you won't have to do that at all - just send your companions to fight for you whilst you sit and wait for them to report back.
I still don't see it as a companion doing everything on their own. You as a player can find a node and say "hey JoJo, go bang on that rock for me with that pick you have. I want to have some armor made later". So you actively make your companion harvest. Then you have to command your companion to break down the material and another to use the material to create something. Probably having to make these many times to level. Though we don't know yet, I still think that the companions will just be the tools for us as players. You still decide what to havest and what to make. Your companions can not do anything without a command.
Now missions and treasure hnting are a different story. These are not crafting. These will be ways to change your alignment if you think you want to move in a different direction. Or a chance to get a nice peace of gear with a crit chance for a very nice pease. And again, the more you use these, the better your companion will be at each. So you as a player are actively giving commands.
I like this approach, but it is my opinion. To each his/her own. It is yet to be determined how the masses take to it.
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?
R.A.Salvatore
as i said....
we should probably be thankful Erickson stopped at Darth Vader.
Because if he decided we should all have been Palpatine - who doesn't fight in the front lines - we would be sending our companions into battle too.
"hey JoJo, go attack that encampment for me until you've wiped them out. I want to improve my faction with the other village". So you actively make your companion fight. Then you have to command your companion to place the bombs and another to trigger them. Probably having to explode the bombs many times to level.
....
I'm loving this new system. But I think people are getting crew members and companions mixed up here. Companions are dynamic "pets" that have relationship levels that fluctuate when dealing with your avatar. You can equip them, fight with them, level them up, love'em or leave'em.
Crew members are an extension of you and your ship. They represent you as much as you represent them. If you think of it as a hive mentality, then you are the brains of the operation and they don't/can't make a move without your approval. In a way this is not far from any crafting system where you can either forego building your crafting "skills" (crew members) or choose to level them along with your combat related skills. How the work gets done or by what method is irrevelant, so long as the two "skill trees" are independant of one another just like in traditional mmorpg crafting systems.
So now they don't have to litter the gaming world with ridiculous little nodes all over the damn place and you don't have to actually go out there with your backside exposed to that imperial agent looking for a few easy kills. So what. Spending the day gathering materials for make 100+ nurgle blasters in one place wasn't on my high priority list anyway. And guess what? I still get to gather the material and get the freakin blasters, but while it's being done I'll be hunting down a imperial agent or two instead of waiting on them to get the drop on me.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."