Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Artisan Classes *Suggestions*
Devlina
Member, Alpha Two
Greetings!
I have been perusing the AoC wiki and forums recently, mostly due to my insatiable curiosity and anticipation of the game.
When I did a bit of digging with regards to the Artisan Classes system, I came across the flow chart listing the different types of professions available to the community. This has been expanded upon with information regarding some intended interdependencies between the 3 main classes. (Original can be found on the AoC wiki under Artisan classes).
I wanted to put forward some suggestions with regards to some changes to this flow chart.
I will explain my reasoning for this below.
As can be seen in this amended chart, some professions have been added to the Processing tree and some have been removed/combined in the Crafting tree. I felt that the Gathering tree was perfect and did not need any changes. I have used color-coded lines to relay the dependencies these professions would have, trying to remain true to the original intent that all professions should be dependent on others and not self-sufficient.
Going from left to right, I will explain my ideas with regards to these changes.
First and foremost, I felt there was an imbalance between the amount of professions in each tree when compared to the others - the crafting tree being the most robust with most professions. I also felt that some professions did not seem as dependent or as desirable as others at first glance. I.e. Fishing did not seem to have as much of an implementation, aside from potentially Cooking, while Lumberjacking seemed to be useful for Carpentry, Caravan, Ship and Siege Weapon building. The existence of cases such as these, combined with the limitation of only being able to master 2 (or 3) professions within the same tree poses a question: "Why would I pick Fishing instead of, say, Armor smithing, considering the implications of the impact one would have compared to the other(in terms of late game/character/etc)?".
Thus, here are my proposed changes:
1. Refining in the Processing tree: this profession takes raw gathered materials from the Fishing and Herbalism Gathering professions and processes them to prepare them for use by the Alchemy, Cooking, Jewel crafting and Scribe professions. Example(s): Processing fish through Refining could result in new materials, such as scales, bones, fish oil, etc, which may then be used by Alchemists, Cooks and maybe even Armor smiths(if fish oil was used for purposes such as tanning leather). Maybe processing a squid caught by Fishing produces ink for Scribes to use when making scrolls. Herbs could also be processed in some way to provide a prepared product for Alchemists to use in their potions(i.e. drying/extracting/etc?). Perhaps gems found by Miners could also be Refined to provide ready-cut gemstones for the Jewel Crafters.(There will, of course, still be dependencies between Gathering and Crafting professions where one directly supplies the other in the case of Fishing and Farming supplying gatherables to Cooking.)
2. Woodworking in the Processing tree: this profession takes raw gathered materials from Lumberjacking and produces prepared materials for some Crafting professions. I.e. wooden planks/posts/etc which supply the Carpentry and Caravan & Ship building(placeholder name as I could not think of a name that combines both professions well enough - maybe Vessel building?
). Saw dust, which could be a by-product of producing wooden planks, can be used by Scribes to craft paper for scrolls from.
3. Change to Blacksmithing to combine both Weapon and Armor smithing into one profession. This, once again, stems from the limitation to a maximum of 2 (or 3) mastered professions, all of which have to be in the same Artisan Class tree. Personally, I would not want to have to use up 2 of my (potentially) 3 mastered professions to be able to craft weapons and armor (and nothing else if the limit ends up being a max of 2 mastered). The Smelting and, potentially, Refining Processing professions would then supply Blacksmithing with necessary materials.
4. Removal of Siege Weapon crafting: because most people would likely pick a profession to master which either benefits the progression of their character - i.e. Blacksmithing, provides them with a mount - i.e. Animal Husbandry or is marketable for profits - i.e. any of the professions(aside from Siege Weapon building). I doubt many people would think of the node's safety and needs over their own, meaning it is highly unlikely many, if anyone, would master this profession. Due to this, I thought it might be better if there was a way for Mayors of nodes to craft siege weapons at an NPC forge, which require materials produced by Carpenters and Blacksmiths as it makes sense conceptually.
5. Combining Caravan and Ship building into one profession: because it makes sense conceptually, as a craftsman able to build a ship should be able to build a caravan. Both are transportation/hauling vessels and it would make sense if the same crafter could build them without having to expend 2 of (potentially 3) max mastered professions on it. As mentioned in "2. Woodworking" - this, along with the Smelting Processing professions would supply Caravan & Ship builders with the necessary materials to work their trade.
Now that all changes have been explained, to add some more context for the connections between the remaining professions: Farming and Animal Husbandry are interdependent and each supplies the other with necessary "materials". I.e. Farmers provide Animal Husbandrists with animals to breed. In return, Animal Husbandrists provide Farmers with potentially better farming animals. Tamers' connection to Animal Husbandrists is self-explanatory.
I look forward to hearing everyone's (and if I'm lucky - someone from the development team's) thoughts on this change. Please let me know if anything is unclear needs more elaboration. Apologies for the extremely long post!
~Devlina
I have been perusing the AoC wiki and forums recently, mostly due to my insatiable curiosity and anticipation of the game.
When I did a bit of digging with regards to the Artisan Classes system, I came across the flow chart listing the different types of professions available to the community. This has been expanded upon with information regarding some intended interdependencies between the 3 main classes. (Original can be found on the AoC wiki under Artisan classes).
I wanted to put forward some suggestions with regards to some changes to this flow chart.
I will explain my reasoning for this below.
As can be seen in this amended chart, some professions have been added to the Processing tree and some have been removed/combined in the Crafting tree. I felt that the Gathering tree was perfect and did not need any changes. I have used color-coded lines to relay the dependencies these professions would have, trying to remain true to the original intent that all professions should be dependent on others and not self-sufficient.
Going from left to right, I will explain my ideas with regards to these changes.
First and foremost, I felt there was an imbalance between the amount of professions in each tree when compared to the others - the crafting tree being the most robust with most professions. I also felt that some professions did not seem as dependent or as desirable as others at first glance. I.e. Fishing did not seem to have as much of an implementation, aside from potentially Cooking, while Lumberjacking seemed to be useful for Carpentry, Caravan, Ship and Siege Weapon building. The existence of cases such as these, combined with the limitation of only being able to master 2 (or 3) professions within the same tree poses a question: "Why would I pick Fishing instead of, say, Armor smithing, considering the implications of the impact one would have compared to the other(in terms of late game/character/etc)?".
Thus, here are my proposed changes:
1. Refining in the Processing tree: this profession takes raw gathered materials from the Fishing and Herbalism Gathering professions and processes them to prepare them for use by the Alchemy, Cooking, Jewel crafting and Scribe professions. Example(s): Processing fish through Refining could result in new materials, such as scales, bones, fish oil, etc, which may then be used by Alchemists, Cooks and maybe even Armor smiths(if fish oil was used for purposes such as tanning leather). Maybe processing a squid caught by Fishing produces ink for Scribes to use when making scrolls. Herbs could also be processed in some way to provide a prepared product for Alchemists to use in their potions(i.e. drying/extracting/etc?). Perhaps gems found by Miners could also be Refined to provide ready-cut gemstones for the Jewel Crafters.(There will, of course, still be dependencies between Gathering and Crafting professions where one directly supplies the other in the case of Fishing and Farming supplying gatherables to Cooking.)
2. Woodworking in the Processing tree: this profession takes raw gathered materials from Lumberjacking and produces prepared materials for some Crafting professions. I.e. wooden planks/posts/etc which supply the Carpentry and Caravan & Ship building(placeholder name as I could not think of a name that combines both professions well enough - maybe Vessel building?
). Saw dust, which could be a by-product of producing wooden planks, can be used by Scribes to craft paper for scrolls from.3. Change to Blacksmithing to combine both Weapon and Armor smithing into one profession. This, once again, stems from the limitation to a maximum of 2 (or 3) mastered professions, all of which have to be in the same Artisan Class tree. Personally, I would not want to have to use up 2 of my (potentially) 3 mastered professions to be able to craft weapons and armor (and nothing else if the limit ends up being a max of 2 mastered). The Smelting and, potentially, Refining Processing professions would then supply Blacksmithing with necessary materials.
4. Removal of Siege Weapon crafting: because most people would likely pick a profession to master which either benefits the progression of their character - i.e. Blacksmithing, provides them with a mount - i.e. Animal Husbandry or is marketable for profits - i.e. any of the professions(aside from Siege Weapon building). I doubt many people would think of the node's safety and needs over their own, meaning it is highly unlikely many, if anyone, would master this profession. Due to this, I thought it might be better if there was a way for Mayors of nodes to craft siege weapons at an NPC forge, which require materials produced by Carpenters and Blacksmiths as it makes sense conceptually.
5. Combining Caravan and Ship building into one profession: because it makes sense conceptually, as a craftsman able to build a ship should be able to build a caravan. Both are transportation/hauling vessels and it would make sense if the same crafter could build them without having to expend 2 of (potentially 3) max mastered professions on it. As mentioned in "2. Woodworking" - this, along with the Smelting Processing professions would supply Caravan & Ship builders with the necessary materials to work their trade.
Now that all changes have been explained, to add some more context for the connections between the remaining professions: Farming and Animal Husbandry are interdependent and each supplies the other with necessary "materials". I.e. Farmers provide Animal Husbandrists with animals to breed. In return, Animal Husbandrists provide Farmers with potentially better farming animals. Tamers' connection to Animal Husbandrists is self-explanatory.
I look forward to hearing everyone's (and if I'm lucky - someone from the development team's) thoughts on this change. Please let me know if anything is unclear needs more elaboration. Apologies for the extremely long post!
~Devlina
3
Comments
Its possible that they have already considered this, but went the direction that they did, based on how all the affected aspects of the player experience would be impacted- such as the nodes, economy, progression, resource geography, etc.
Could alchemy be merged with cooking?
@Strevi - I don't think Fishing merging with Animal Husbandry would make sense as the Animal Husbandry profession is about breeding different species of animals and then raising younglings into adult animals, which can then be used as farm animals/pets/mounts/summons. Unless they plan to integrate the underwater mounts into the Animal Husbandry mechanics, in which case I suppose you could catch something large - i.e. dolphin/whale/catfish/etc and then try to breed it, but I don't believe they have the facilities for that on freehold plots. Besides, that would require group fishing of some sort, as it is conceptually impossible for an individual to fish out something large enough to be a mount on their own.
As for Alchemy and Cooking being merged - I don't think that should happen, as, in most games, those are 2 separate professions, even if they sometimes provide similar benefits. Food is usually used for buffs and health/mana restoration, whereas Alchemists can make potions (which can also restore HP/MP or provide buffs/remove debuffs). Normally, the difference between the two stems from one being able to be used in combat (potions) while the other can only be used OOC(food). At least, that is my take on both of your questions.
Farming = Animal husbandry/Refining (For food/potion purposes)
Fishing = Butchering (which is for food/leather refining), Woodworking (fish oil) Could go to animal husbandry for fish farms i guess too and move fish oil to carpenty
lumberjack = Woodworking/Smelting (Fuel for smelting)
Mining = Smelting, Refining (Stone)
Taming = Animal husbandry/Butchering
I do think each gathering profession should feed into atleast 2 crafts either through processing or crafting
But you have a line between farming and animal husbandry. The same kind of connection I meant.
In combat and out of combat consumables make no sense to me. And to create an entire proffesion just because this small difference makes no sense.
we know that flowchart is incomplete.
Id assume that skinning is one of the ones missing, considering, that they have already talked about skinning certain monsters and bosses in the past.