Artisan materials and processes.

There was a little piece of lore released today that caused me to sit back and have a good hard think about just how in-depth the artisan system could potentially be within AOC.

That little piece of lore was concerning the titanbark that is used to forge the titanbark mail. Will this be a crafting material that we can obtain from other places within the world of Verra? This simple piece of lore threw up so many questions for me and opened my mind to so many possibilities. While the mail is just a skin so to speak the titanbark is a material that we may find in the world and as such how will one gain the knowledge to craft it? Will, there be an order the "protectors of the grove" that you will have to rise through the ranks to obtain the knowledge to forge the titanbark ingots? Now consider that the only method to obtain the recipe's for the items you can craft with titanbark ingots is through being a ranking member of the protectors of the grove.

Consider all of the above and now consider that the only way you can become a member of the protectors of the grove is by being Empyrean. Sure you might be able to harvest some titanbark from somewhere in the wilds of Verra but you are going to need and Empyrean who is a member of the order of high enough rank and has the recipe to forge the ingots then yet another Empyrean with high enough rank and the item recipe for the item you desire crafted.

Is this too convoluted or could this be a possibility? Could there be similar paths for all of the races with means to obtain racially specific artisan recipe's? I see this as a means to make artisans relevant and those who put in the time to follow the racial paths available to them quite sought after.

But how many other materials/processes will be hidden in the world? Bark from a tree that can be forged into a light metal and then crafted into armor. I would love to see all manner of such rare and unusual materials come from the most unexpected of places and I would also like to see the means to discover them hidden within the lore of Verra. This will provide yet more incentive for artisans to hunt for precious lore that may unlock secrets only a very few have access to and the masses will know their names and come seeking their knowledge with coin and trade.

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Dygz

Yep. This is what I’ve been expecting.
Highly likely that Empyreans would be the ones able to Gather and Process Titanbark to Craft Titanbark Mail.
Might be that non-Empyreans end up Gathering resources that are very low quality when they try to harvest Titanbark.

I hope ends up being similar to the Kithicore Forest scenario described for the EQNext design...
Perhaps the Ren’Kai also highly value Titanbark and are willing to murder the trees because they don’t know how to Gather Titanbark while the trees are alive.
Which places the Ren’Kai and Empyreans in conflict.
Unbeknownst to the Ren’Kai, if too many Titanbark trees are killed, Shadow Demons awaken and move through the region, destroying all life they encounter.
Causing everyone in that region, including the Ren’Kai and Empyreans, to work together to put an end to the Shadow Demons.

That’s the level of meaningful conflict I hope carries over from the EQNext design into the Ashes design.

Varkun

Thinking on this further last night there may well be buildings or upgrades to settlements that if built may unlock access to artisan recipe's or yet other boon's or bonuses that relate to artisan skills. While some of these buildings/upgrades may be generic to any settlement of appropriate level others may be locked behind race. As an example, Empyrean need to have a city or metropolis before they can construct a grove of titanbark as a place of worship, Vek need to construct a grand observatory with the services only being available to citizens of the node.

There would no doubt be similar building/upgrades available for every race yet they would need a large enough settlement with their racial influence to unlock them. This may not be so easily achieved with some of the less popular races.

Dygz

Right. That's part of Node progression.
And, yes, I confirmed with Steven that some racial quests only become available when a Node of a specific racial type reaches a particular stage.
I expect that to be true for Artisans as well as for Adventurers.

StreetCornerPoet

It will be interesting to see what racially locked recipes there might be.

Of course if there is one racial item that the community decides is "required" for high end content vs a racial item that is not on par for level you could see people abandoning certain races just to craft or harvest items for a specific item so balance is going to be a key factor in making sure one race isn't seen as better for crafting.

But I would rather them have racially locked crafting items then shy away from it because something might not be as sought after or something might be valued highly, as long as there is enough neutral gear that it doesn't matter things should be fine.

Dygz

Well, that will be fascinating since there are 9 races and only 5 Metros per server.
I guess we would have to hope that all of the 9 races have at least one Metro across all servers so that we can compare max level racial items.
Also, the devs plan to introduce new content monthly and quarterly, so... seems daunting to max a new character of a different race every month or quarter just to try to take advantage of flavor-of-the month racial items. In addition to changing race, players might have to successfully siege a metro and then ensure that the new Metro is of the appropriate race... another daunting task.

Varkun

dygz wrote: »

Well, that will be fascinating since there are 9 races and only 5 Metros per server.
I guess we would have to hope that all of the 9 races have at least one Metro across all servers so that we can compare max level racial items.

By the same token if you are able to gain such artisan knowledge from a racially specific metro such as Ren'Kai and if the metro is then destroyed it could be months years or you may never see a Ren'Kai metro ever again on that server you could find yourself in possession of some highly sought after artisan skills.

Just a theory but would be a great way to make artisans and their knowledge more unique and sought after by others.

Consider different guilds and orders within the world that may also offer artisan skills/recipe that you will need to gain reputation with to obtain said skills/recipe. Now consider that some of these guilds and orders may very well be opposed to each other in their belief or purpose with in the world of Verra and if you are a member of one you will not be accepted into the other and thus no access to the artisan skills they offer. An alt character might be able to get you around this but it will be a lot of work to do so.

I honestly see so much potential to make artisans differ between each other depending on what choices you make as a player my hope is that at least some of these ideas may make it into AOC. As Steven has said there will be many many things to level in AOC.

Damokles

It would be cool if certain materials could only be harvested, if you have a certain reputation or are a member of a certain race.

Varkun

damokles wrote: »

It would be cool if certain materials could only be harvested, if you have a certain reputation or are a member of a certain race.

Honestly, I could see this happening and personally this to me is a means for players to make choices that will differentiate them from another player who will make different choices that will take them in alternate directions with their artisan professions. This way not everyone will be able to do everything.

Nagash

damokles wrote: »

It would be cool if certain materials could only be harvested, if you have a certain reputation or are a member of a certain race.

That would be a great idea

Child Item