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Master and Grand Master

AbaratAbarat Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
I have seem a lot of "doom and gloom" posts about Master and Grand Master level processing 'gated' behind freeholds.

Does anyone know what that exactly means? I have not been able to find a definitive answer to the levels of the artisan system and what they mean. I see a lot of people assuming they know, but is there any references? I could not find any definitions of Master or Grand Master on the wiki.
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    HumblePuffinHumblePuffin Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    edited July 2023
    Was reading back through on this and this caught my eye:
    Based on testing, it may be decided to limit profession mastery certificates to a capped value.[13][14]
    Becoming a master Crafter or a master Processor or a master Gatherer should be a significant time investment and resource investment; and because of that it should also be something that when you achieve that status it's like people on the server know who you are.[15] – Steven Sharif

    Taking this into consideration that level 30 range of crafting might be far more important to the day to day gearing than I really thought.

    Kinda changes the perspective on the freehold debate from “where am I gonna put all my grandmaster artisan buildings?” to “am I even going to be a grandmaster?”
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    NiKrNiKr Member
    edited July 2023
    https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Artisan_progression

    Definitions seem kinda self-explanatory? It's the ultimate and penultimate lvls of processing that would be required in according lvls of crafting.
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    AbaratAbarat Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    edited July 2023
    NiKr wrote: »

    right. that is the wiki. got it.

    What does tier 3 mean... what are you able to craft?

    master, same question
    grand master, same question

    Am I missing where they are giving specifics to the levels of the gear you will be able to produce or materials you will be able to process?

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    NiKrNiKr Member
    Abarat wrote: »
    Am I missing where they are giving specifics to the levels of the gear you will be able to produce or materials you will be able to process?
    There's no point in currently knowing names of those items or mats. It's just the highest lvls of artisanry. That's all one needs to know to either have an issue with this system or be ok with it.
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    AbaratAbarat Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    i get that... i guess my point is there are posts saying that no one will be able to craft gear past lvl 30 without freehold access.

    Is that right? how do we know?

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    FantmxFantmx Member, Phoenix Initiative, Royalty, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    Where are those posts? As far as I know tier 3 does not equal level 30. At least I have never heard that said.
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    HumblePuffinHumblePuffin Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    edited July 2023
    Abarat wrote: »
    i get that... i guess my point is there are posts saying that no one will be able to craft gear past lvl 30 without freehold access.

    Is that right? how do we know?

    We know that Steven said that processing leaves nodes around level 30. We don’t know if that actually limits crafting though.

    There is potential that crafters can use those near level 30 processed goods to make weapons suitable for higher levels. Of course I’m sure it wouldn’t be as BiS as something from 30+ processing, but crafting is tied to the node not freeholds, and I’m sure IS wouldn’t leave a 20 level gap of gear.

    To elaborate: processors can process steel around level 30. They can’t process mythril. Crafters can make a level 50 steel sword, but can’t make mythril swords until they find a grandmaster processor.
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    NiKrNiKr Member
    Abarat wrote: »
    i get that... i guess my point is there are posts saying that no one will be able to craft gear past lvl 30 without freehold access.

    Is that right? how do we know?
    People just divided levels into tiers and thought that the last 2 tiers would comprise 30-40 and 40-50 ranges. It's a logical assumption, but I don't think Steven has explicitly linked the two before.

    But even if you can craft stuff at adventure lvl 50, that stuff won't be at a high quality. And I'd assume (and others seem to as well) that you'd need high quality stuff if you want to clear high-top lvl content.
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    AbaratAbarat Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    edited July 2023
    its the end of the world.

    - you can still survive

    Yeah, but not at peak efficiency. We are all doomed.


    is that about right?

    If it is REALLY that hard to get, wont it be somewhat rare? and HIGHLY sought after?
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    AzheraeAzherae Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    Abarat wrote: »
    its the end of the world.

    - you can still survive

    Yeah, but not at peak efficiency. We are all doomed.


    is that about right?

    If it is REALLY that hard to get, wont it be somewhat rare? and HIGHLY sought after?

    In a PvE game yes, that would be right.
    Sorry, my native language is Erlang.
    
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    AbaratAbarat Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    i dont even know what that means. lol
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    NiKrNiKr Member
    Abarat wrote: »
    If it is REALLY that hard to get, wont it be somewhat rare? and HIGHLY sought after?
    I expect top tier gear to be reaaaal rare. But I don't think we've gotten any info on that.
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    AbaratAbarat Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    edited July 2023
    your thoughts on the doom and gloom about "gating"?

    That is what i wanted on the Dygz will not play the game podcast

    or the Dygz will 'pretend' to play the game podcast... you choose.
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    NiKrNiKr Member
    Abarat wrote: »
    your thoughts on the doom and gloom about "gating"?
    They had been discussing freeholds for a month, which is why theme changed before I got on.

    My thoughts are "I don't care, cause I thought this will be the case from the very start". I would prefer if top lvl processing was available outside of FHs, but I'd need to see it in action and to know the overall design to understand whether that would even make sense for the game.
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    DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    Taking this into consideration that level 30 range of crafting might be far more important to the day to day gearing than I really thought.

    Kinda changes the perspective on the freehold debate from “where am I gonna put all my grandmaster artisan buildings?” to “am I even going to be a grandmaster?”
    I don’t know when those dev quotes are from.
    (I’m about to leave for dance class and don’t have time to research that.)

    I think the whole point is that the conversation around gating Master and Grandmaster made it clear that Artisans should be thinking, “Am I even going to be a Grandmaster Artisan?”
    And Artisans expect to have max level Artisan to be no more gated than max level Adventurer.
    Needing to be Level 50 Adventurer to place a Freehold doesn’t sweeten the pot.

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    HumblePuffinHumblePuffin Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    Dygz wrote: »
    Taking this into consideration that level 30 range of crafting might be far more important to the day to day gearing than I really thought.

    Kinda changes the perspective on the freehold debate from “where am I gonna put all my grandmaster artisan buildings?” to “am I even going to be a grandmaster?”
    I don’t know when those dev quotes are from.
    (I’m about to leave for dance class and don’t have time to research that.)

    I think the whole point is that the conversation around gating Master and Grandmaster made it clear that Artisans should be thinking, “Am I even going to be a Grandmaster Artisan?”
    And Artisans expect to have max level Artisan to be no more gated than max level Adventurer.
    Needing to be Level 50 Adventurer to place a Freehold doesn’t sweeten the pot.

    There’s a few other discord/forum posts about it, but for whenever you get back; https://youtu.be/B_2SFbN8PP8?t=18m47s
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    DepravedDepraved Member
    edited July 2023
    Fantmx wrote: »
    Where are those posts? As far as I know tier 3 does not equal level 30. At least I have never heard that said.

    that was just noaani typing nonsense again.

    its completely possible that t4 and t5 wont even give you an option to craft mats for higher tier gear and thats just to craft mats that will make the gear more durable, for example, so you sve money on repairs. or maybe things for siege weapons, etc. no one knows what can you make with t3 processing.

    there was a screenshot from the last dev stream and iirc the icon for the last tier was a golem or something
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    NoaaniNoaani Member, Intrepid Pack
    edited July 2023
    So, as far as I am aware, I was the first person to equate the whole level 30 processing thing to basically anything else.

    The place where that came from was the Kaos and Lace livestream that Steven jumped in on (about 12:20 if anyone wants to listen - and yes, I know how rare it is that I cite a source).

    When talking about processing, he said that the mastery process for that leaves the node system at around level 30 in the leveling experience.

    Steven carried on to say that one of the debates they had internally was to lower the threshold for getting a freehold down to level 30, so that there was a seamless leveling progression for processing.

    He is quite literally saying that the leveling process for processors stop at around level 30 in nodes, and then carries on in freeholds.

    That was stated as clear as day. There isn't any interpretation needed.

    How this relates to master and grandmaster is an assumption (since we know you need a freehold to access these tiers). The comment about processing only going up to level 30 in nodes though, that is quite blunt.
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    KaseualKaseual Member
    edited July 2023
    Kaseual wrote: »

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=GwpWmmIq2cg&t=1915s&ab_channel=KaosandLace

    I think he is referring to what Steven says at around 12 minute mark in this video.

    Here is a link for the video that Noaani is talking about if anyone is interested in making their own conclusions on what Steven is talking about.
    Kaseual wrote: »

    It's possible that I'm misunderstanding what Steven means by "Processing mastery process leaves the nodes at around level 30 in the leveling experience for a processing profession." From this it's not completely clear, to me at least, whether he is talking about character or artisan levels.

    But like you said, Steven also mentioned that they've had internal discussions whether they should lower the level requirement for freeholds to level 30, so that processing progression would transfer seamlessly from nodes to freeholds. So it would seem that he is talking about character levels.

    So, what does "Processing mastery process leaves the nodes at around level 30" actually mean? To me it sounds like, that with in node processing stations (tier 3, journeyman) you would be able to make processed goods that are used to craft up to level 30ish gear. If you could use tier 3 processed goods to make entry level gear for max level characters, like I've assumed before, wouldn't that make Steven's statement as untrue? In this case, wouldn't it mean that processing leaves nodes at level 50?

    If you could use in node processing stations to make processed goods to craft max level entry level gear and everything above that would need freeholds, then IMO the processing progression transition from nodes to freeholds would be seamless.

    I've assumed that T3 would be up to entry level gear for max level characters, T4 would be everything from T3 to "requirement level" for top tier content and the drops that you get from that content would be used in T5 processing/crafting. This is based on nothing, but my own ideas.
    Casual solo MMO enjoyer
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    DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    edited July 2023
    Becoming a master Crafter or a master Processor or a master Gatherer should be a significant time investment and resource investment; and because of that it should also be something that when you achieve that status it's like people on the server know who you are. – Steven Sharif Jul 2020
    Taking this into consideration that level 30 range of crafting might be far more important to the day to day gearing than I really thought.

    Kinda changes the perspective on the freehold debate from “where am I gonna put all my grandmaster artisan buildings?” to “am I even going to be a grandmaster?”
    I think everyone always expected significant time investment and significant resource investment.
    And, then, people on the server know who you are based on quality and specializations - not because of Freehold scarcity.

    Based on testing, it may be decided to limit profession mastery certificates to a capped value. – Steven Sharif Aug 2019
    Dygz wrote: »
    Based on what Steven just said, my understanding is that we somehow have to achieve Mastery of the parent path before we can master any of the professions in that path. After we achieve the Master Gatherer title, we will be able to start working through whatever we have to do become a master in each of the professions in the Gatherer path.

    So... now we need a clearer idea of what we have to accomplish to become a Master of an Artisan parent path.
    Dygz wrote: »
    Mastery is a title, so could be that we have to complete Journeyman prerequisites before we unlock the Mastery levels.


    [10:16 AM]Steven 😇: Remember this will also undergo major testing and there is potential for us to limit profession mastery certs to a capped value
    [10:17 AM]Steven 😇: We will see how the testing goes
    Jul 2019
    Seemed like that would be decided during Alpha 2 testing. So did not seem like much point in being concerned about certs being capped somehow before Alpha 2 testing.
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    NoaaniNoaani Member, Intrepid Pack
    Kaseual wrote: »
    I've assumed that T3 would be up to entry level gear for max level characters, T4 would be everything from T3 to "requirement level" for top tier content and the drops that you get from that content would be used in T5 processing/crafting. This is based on nothing, but my own ideas.
    While this is perhaps a valid assumption to make, my assumption is that a level 30 will be harvesting for level 30 gear, a level 30 will be processing for level 30 gear and a level 30 will be crafting level 30 gear. From my perspective, this would be the baseline vertical progression for crafting, with horizontal progression coming from gaining recipies.

    This isn't a given, I'm fully aware, but to me this is the base level expectation - it is what I will assume unless we are told otherwise. The reason I consider this to be the baseline is because anything else gets really messy when new levels are added to a game - something Intrepid have said they want to do.

    If level 30 processors are making processed materials for level 50 gear, and then levels 31 - 50 are for rarer materials, what happens when Intrepid add level 51 - 60? What level of processor processes materials for that level range? There really isn't a tidy way to do it - unless you have the level of harvester, processor and crafter all be the same level as the level of gear they are working on.
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    Anyone else feel like the doom and gloom is overblown? Like yes these things are limited and only those people that really invest time and effort into the game will be able to get these things but has anyone really stopped and asked "If processing these mats are this difficult, maybe the drop rates/spawn rates for these materials is going to be extremely low? So acquiring them will be just as if not more difficult then actually processing them/crafting with them?

    Personally, I agree with HumblePuffin in that crafters will be able to craft there level in gear but with the mats available and some mats will be more rare due to the fact no one can process them. (level 50 steel sword was the example given instead of a 50 mithril sword but that's because the crafter has no mithril to craft with.)
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    acki02acki02 Member
    edited July 2023
    Noaani wrote: »
    Kaseual wrote: »
    I've assumed that T3 would be up to entry level gear for max level characters, T4 would be everything from T3 to "requirement level" for top tier content and the drops that you get from that content would be used in T5 processing/crafting. This is based on nothing, but my own ideas.
    While this is perhaps a valid assumption to make, my assumption is that a level 30 will be harvesting for level 30 gear, a level 30 will be processing for level 30 gear and a level 30 will be crafting level 30 gear. From my perspective, this would be the baseline vertical progression for crafting, with horizontal progression coming from gaining recipies.

    This isn't a given, I'm fully aware, but to me this is the base level expectation - it is what I will assume unless we are told otherwise. The reason I consider this to be the baseline is because anything else gets really messy when new levels are added to a game - something Intrepid have said they want to do.

    If level 30 processors are making processed materials for level 50 gear, and then levels 31 - 50 are for rarer materials, what happens when Intrepid add level 51 - 60? What level of processor processes materials for that level range? There really isn't a tidy way to do it - unless you have the level of harvester, processor and crafter all be the same level as the level of gear they are working on.

    You just gave me a really wild idea - what if crafters could make any level of gear regardless of level but the quality would be capped: T1 crafter can make only common items; T2 common and rare etc.
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    NoaaniNoaani Member, Intrepid Pack
    acki02 wrote: »
    Noaani wrote: »
    Kaseual wrote: »
    I've assumed that T3 would be up to entry level gear for max level characters, T4 would be everything from T3 to "requirement level" for top tier content and the drops that you get from that content would be used in T5 processing/crafting. This is based on nothing, but my own ideas.
    While this is perhaps a valid assumption to make, my assumption is that a level 30 will be harvesting for level 30 gear, a level 30 will be processing for level 30 gear and a level 30 will be crafting level 30 gear. From my perspective, this would be the baseline vertical progression for crafting, with horizontal progression coming from gaining recipies.

    This isn't a given, I'm fully aware, but to me this is the base level expectation - it is what I will assume unless we are told otherwise. The reason I consider this to be the baseline is because anything else gets really messy when new levels are added to a game - something Intrepid have said they want to do.

    If level 30 processors are making processed materials for level 50 gear, and then levels 31 - 50 are for rarer materials, what happens when Intrepid add level 51 - 60? What level of processor processes materials for that level range? There really isn't a tidy way to do it - unless you have the level of harvester, processor and crafter all be the same level as the level of gear they are working on.

    You just gave me a really wild idea - what if crafters could make any level of gear regardless of level but the quality would be capped: T1 crafter can make only common items; T2 common and rare etc.

    The downside to this is that if a player knows they aren't going to get access to materials past rare, there is no real point in them bothering to level up.

    It also means there is no point in leveling up if there is a new level range added to the game.
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    NoaaniNoaani Member, Intrepid Pack
    Anyone else feel like the doom and gloom is overblown? Like yes these things are limited and only those people that really invest time and effort into the game will be able to get these things but has anyone really stopped and asked "If processing these mats are this difficult, maybe the drop rates/spawn rates for these materials is going to be extremely low? So acquiring them will be just as if not more difficult then actually processing them/crafting with them?

    Personally, I agree with HumblePuffin in that crafters will be able to craft there level in gear but with the mats available and some mats will be more rare due to the fact no one can process them. (level 50 steel sword was the example given instead of a 50 mithril sword but that's because the crafter has no mithril to craft with.)

    I don't consider this to be doom and gloom - just a case of bad game design likely due to an oversight on Intrepids part, and that it will be fixed before long.

    I mean, the fixes for all the issues we are looking at are all easy in concept (the fix to the freehold issue has some work in implementing, but the concept is simple). The fix to the issue around processing is actually dead simple - allow players to process a base quality of gear at any level in node, and then require freeholds to produce better quality.

    I mean, perhaps Steven mis-spoke in the livestream we are talking about in this thread, perhaps that is the plan all along.

    It seems to me that the people that didn't catch the level 30 comment in that livestream are probably having a hard time believing that the above fix isn't actually the plan from the beginning though - because it is what the plan should have been all along.
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    acki02acki02 Member
    Noaani wrote: »
    acki02 wrote: »
    Noaani wrote: »
    Kaseual wrote: »
    I've assumed that T3 would be up to entry level gear for max level characters, T4 would be everything from T3 to "requirement level" for top tier content and the drops that you get from that content would be used in T5 processing/crafting. This is based on nothing, but my own ideas.
    While this is perhaps a valid assumption to make, my assumption is that a level 30 will be harvesting for level 30 gear, a level 30 will be processing for level 30 gear and a level 30 will be crafting level 30 gear. From my perspective, this would be the baseline vertical progression for crafting, with horizontal progression coming from gaining recipies.

    This isn't a given, I'm fully aware, but to me this is the base level expectation - it is what I will assume unless we are told otherwise. The reason I consider this to be the baseline is because anything else gets really messy when new levels are added to a game - something Intrepid have said they want to do.

    If level 30 processors are making processed materials for level 50 gear, and then levels 31 - 50 are for rarer materials, what happens when Intrepid add level 51 - 60? What level of processor processes materials for that level range? There really isn't a tidy way to do it - unless you have the level of harvester, processor and crafter all be the same level as the level of gear they are working on.

    You just gave me a really wild idea - what if crafters could make any level of gear regardless of level but the quality would be capped: T1 crafter can make only common items; T2 common and rare etc.

    The downside to this is that if a player knows they aren't going to get access to materials past rare, there is no real point in them bothering to level up.

    It also means there is no point in leveling up if there is a new level range added to the game.

    Maybe in this case item customization (though not just cosmetic one) could play a bigger motivational role?
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    FantmxFantmx Member, Phoenix Initiative, Royalty, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    Steven's quote:
    Let's say in the processing profession you might want to gain Mastery. That Mastery process leaves the nodes at around at around like level 30 in the in the leveling experience for a processing profession. And so um one of the debates on the design team was whether or not we should reduce the level requirement down to level 30 so that there's a seamless transition from node-based processing progression and the Freehold uh capability of progression. The reason why I think that there's never going to be a way to avoid rushing levels is because anytime you have a vertical power progression in a game there is always going to be a reason to rush leveling. And that's just kind of the standard MMO experience that many of us have have had right. Not all of us do it because not all of us really care about the vertical question there or have the time and ability to do it. Right but generally so long as there's a vertical power structure in place you're going to have an incentive to rush that leveling process. And the idea isn't that you will need to rush leveling to 50 in ashes of Creation in order to achieve a freehold because you have to also remember that the world structure is what predicates the availability of freeholds

    What is not clear to me entirely is are we talking about processing level or adventurer level?
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    HumblePuffinHumblePuffin Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    edited July 2023
    Fantmx wrote: »
    Steven's quote:
    Let's say in the processing profession you might want to gain Mastery. That Mastery process leaves the nodes at around at around like level 30 in the in the leveling experience for a processing profession. And so um one of the debates on the design team was whether or not we should reduce the level requirement down to level 30 so that there's a seamless transition from node-based processing progression and the Freehold uh capability of progression. The reason why I think that there's never going to be a way to avoid rushing levels is because anytime you have a vertical power progression in a game there is always going to be a reason to rush leveling. And that's just kind of the standard MMO experience that many of us have have had right. Not all of us do it because not all of us really care about the vertical question there or have the time and ability to do it. Right but generally so long as there's a vertical power structure in place you're going to have an incentive to rush that leveling process. And the idea isn't that you will need to rush leveling to 50 in ashes of Creation in order to achieve a freehold because you have to also remember that the world structure is what predicates the availability of freeholds

    What is not clear to me entirely is are we talking about processing level or adventurer level?

    I think it is safe to assume that he is talking about adventurer level 30 because he is talking in context of the adventurer level requirement to own a freehold.

    He also mentions “freehold capabilities of progression”. This leads me down a couple potential assumptions based off of some other things mentioned that I want to rewatch before commenting on, but I do believe it generally leads down paths where processors not having access to these high tier processing stations on freeholds is not going to destroy the games economy, or limit crafters ability to make gear for the last 20 levels of the game.

    I see the master path flow for the artisan professions like this: gatherers will be unlocking that master path first and finding these rarer mats first. Gathering can probably be a rather linear progression. Some quests and stuff to unlock sure but it will be more smooth and tie into your adventurer level letting you into higher level areas and dungeons.

    Processing bottle necks things a bit here. You may be able to keep processing any materials gatherers get to you, but without freehold buildings you do it inefficiently. Or as I said something like you can process steel but not mythril. You’re gated to an extent by having a freehold to get that extra efficiency, or a freehold building to get enough heat to forge your mythril bars, but even if you don’t have that your processed steel is still useful and can be used by crafters. Rare mats are rare so people mainly use the steel ones, mythril is sought after but not common.

    Then finally the crafters continue to learn their craft. They learn how to craft things from steel that are stronger and can take on those higher level mobs. They make most of their money from supplying steel gear to the players but every so often processed mythril makes it to them and they are able to make this epic gear from it.

    But all of these things require mats to be processed into a state that can be crafted into repair kits or be used to reforge the gear. Once again the steel can win out for day to day activities as it is much easier to repair and find materials for.

    With this crafting is locked behind nodes level, but crafting isn’t pointless if you don’t have access to the highest tier nodes crafting station. Processing is locked behind nodes with highest tier locked behind freeholds but it’s not pointless to be a processor if you’re still able to process needed, useful goods. Finally gathering is locked behind node level unlocking rarer gathering opportunities, and with the highest tiers somewhat around adventurer level so you can safely access those gatherables, but it won’t be pointless to gather if you aren’t at that higher adventurer level yet because you can still gather mats that are needed and useful.
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    t3 processing might stop at level 30, but that doesn't mean you won't be able to craft level 30+ gear with t3.
    it could be like that, don't get me wrong, that is still a possibility, but there are more possibilities as well.
    we just have to wait until we see the differences between t3 and t4-t5

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    HumblePuffinHumblePuffin Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    Just because it keeps be said (I’m guilty of this too) there are only 4 tiers of artisan progression. Novice, Journeyman, Master, and Grandmaster.

    Felt important to mention that because it’s kind of getting tied to the 10s level brackets when it doesn’t neatly fit within those levels.
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