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General: The Daily Quest - What Could Make Crafting Interesting?
BillMurphy
Former Managing EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 4,565
It's an age-old discussion, or at least as old as the MMO itself. Some players love crafting, others tolerate it, while others still ignore the act entirely. But everyone agrees that it's a necessary feature in the MMORPG. So today's quest is a simple one... what could or would make crafting more interesting for you as a player?
For me, it's a tough question. I've grown to like systems like WildStar's, ESO, and GW2's. All three encourage experimentation, and are more than just your average "collect this, press make" systems. But none of them go far enough for me in terms of making crafting an actual engaging form of gameplay.
It's not even that the crafted items aren't good (in all three games they can be some of the best items in the game), it's that the act of actually crafting items can be too passive. I like EQ2's style of active participation in crafting and would love to see it more widely explored.
At the same time, I know that for some the act of crafting being a passive activity is precisely why they like crafting.
So what about you? Are you satisfied with how crafting is represented in most games? If not, what would you like to see added?
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
Comments
1. you have to give crafter relevance. As long as players can loot dragon corpses or use some arbitrary currency to get the best items in the game crafting will always be a sad side-show.
2. You have to design a system so that players who are able and willing to spend time crafting will be better at it than those than don't..... AKA funneling 100000000 gp from your main wont get you to max level in 30 mins.
3. You have to design the game so that crafters don't have to make 5k useless swords, to make make a slightly less useless sword, or you need to have all those swords serve some meaningful game purpose.
It's hard to just stick a crafting system into a game and make it "good". Even if t's really involved and fun.
You have to design a games core systems with crafting in mind, or it's just going to be a waste of money, time, and effort regardless of how awesome the system is.
That type of gathering and crafting mechanics are my favorite because crafting an item actually HAS A SIGNIFIGANT PURPOSE to the world.
Vanguard, EQ2, Final Fantasy 14...
Makes the actual crafting gameplay engaging and fun!!! Mix those up and blammo on crafting!
+1
This article is spot on. Games have got to get away from crafting being "click to combine".
The ACT (or process) of crafting needs to become interactive and challenging. If games can manage to make Dancing (SWG entertainers) and Talking to an NPC (Vanguard diplomats) into challenging, interactive activities, surely something can be done for crafting.
EQ2's experimentation is a start, but it's not nearly enough. All those things that make other gameplay fun - interaction, interdependence, reaction, strategy - all these things can and should be incorporated into the act of crafting something. Then and only then will crafters finally be considered on par with adventurers, and that will be a great thing!
Games have already done some amazing things in terms of making Harvesting intersting - SWG, EVE and Firefall come to mind for this. Games have already done some amazing things in terms of creating economies and libraries of unique things to make - many games are good at this - SWG again, but even newer games like ESO offer some great possibilities.
All that's left is to make the actual act of crafting interesting & challenging. There needs to be something that allows for people to be "good at crafting" and it shouldn't just the number of recipes they scribed or how long the grinded making the same sword.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
if the result of the crafting is highly desirable by other players then that helps a lot in making the crafting interesting. To me this is especially the case in those games where people can't craft everything they need themselves; it increases interdependency which increases immersion.
the neat thing about mmo players is that there are some of us who will always love to craft (builders) and some who always won't; in games where you need the crafters (eve for example) to do the other content, then relationships can be forged, and relationships are something that makes players invested in a game, and that makes the game alive.
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D Eisenhower
My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.
Henry Rollins
+1
+2Good crafting is dependent on other aspects as well. If you have a well designed player run economy it adds value to crafting. Also the means to selling your wares. In a house or through a vendor, globally, locally, etc. And the act of gathering materials is also important.
This. /thread
i like crafting have some kind of mini game like gem crushing , guitar hero or slot machine .
The time limit , the level archive , and number of move you limited need to create .
It perfect for crafting . And it show skill.
I can play it all day long , since after crafting i can show off the whole server my skill by the high level craft gears .
Look at all the mini game around , just add them in crafting ready . Make crafting fun and player skill relate.
Crafting interaction: Smithing moves you into a minigame where you must control the hammer yourself to some degree. Also you must practice and learn how long to quench and how to use salt water, fresh water or oil etc. If you are an apprentice of an npc or pc for that matter, you get in game ques for these things depending on what you're making. In so much as you, the crafter (player) through your own experiences learn how a blade differs from a barrel scrape or the head of a mining pick in as far as creating one is concerned. Other crafts have similar types of things and the more skill you develope, the more ingame ques you get with options to add in magic (from another source most likely another player) at the appropriate time to create magical items. Or perhaps special ingredients into the metal to make it something special.
I realize this sounds heavy handed but for every time I hit a 'make all' button then go get a drink I would MUCH rather see something like this. And then when you make 10 steel hilts you can put them back into the forge to melt them (losing a small amount of usable molten metal in each) and re-forge them again to continue to gain skill. The more complex the items to be made, the more skill required to make them and thus the higher the advancement.
I do not not play games to run through them to get to the end. If dynamics like the one above brings some kind of use and reward for me taking the time to learn and perform it, I would do it even though its just a game ofcourse and not a job. I am not in a hurry if its fun and rewarding to take the time to do.
edit: Not glaringly obvious ques either like pop up icons!
First PC Game: Pool of Radiance July 10th, 1990. First MMO: Everquest April 23, 1999
Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for thou art crunchy, and good with ketchup!
Pretty much this.