Should / Could Gathering Professions have circular / inter-related relationships?

akabear

Just a few thoughts after re-watching today`s commissions presentation and the YouTube video about Ultima Online`s attempt at an organic eco-system.

What if there were inter-relations between gathering professions such that they had inter-dependencies or possible circular production chains / benefits in addition to the upward chain towards crafting.

Lumberjacking & Forestry & Cooking:

• Lumberjacking provides wood, which is essential for cooking fires.
• Mining produces phosphorous by product necessary for re-seeding forest areas by Foresters.
• Lumberjackng produces kindling used by cooks and blacksmiths for ovens / furnaces.

Mining & Stone Masonry & Alchemy:

• Mining provides ores, and minerals for stone masonry but also ores
• Stone masonry uses ores and minterals to construct structures, equipment and also decorations.
• Perhaps by product ores are used by Foresters for equipment sharpening, Alchemy from oils etc

Mining & Cooking & Tanning:

• Mining yields ores used to improve cooking tools.
• Cooking produces excess food waste.
• Tanning utilizes food waste to create compost, which in turn enriches soil for farming, thus completing the loop.

Tanning & Leatherworking & Forestry:

• Tanning produces leather from animal hides.
• Leatherworking crafts armor and accessories from leather.
• Forestry provides materials like resin and sap, used to treat leather and enhance its durability.

Alchemy & Forestry & Mining:

• Alchemy requires rare herbs for potion brewing.
• Forestry provides a habitat for these herbs to grow.
• Using minerals from mining increases re-forestation rate and/or what re-grows
• Mining supplies minerals needed to extract potent ingredients for alchemical concoctions.

In these circular benefit chains, each profession contributes to the success of others, forming a sustainable ecosystem within the game. Players are incentivized to collaborate, trade resources, and engage with various professions to optimize their gameplay experience.

Especially thinking of the lesser tier by-product gatherables and/or by-products from crafting having purpose and function in a circular economy.

Azherae

Yes.

My experience is that this is how it always works? But I don't play WoW or WoW-clones, so I have a huge sampling bias.

Even BDO manages this much.

EDIT: Additionally, for Intrepid, this precisely is why I, as a player, strongly suggest '2 professions per tier', because it mirrors the experience everyone I know has. You end up with just enough cross-disciplinary interest and skills that it feels a little weird/unrealistic with your current '2 at the top, then 1 additional all the way down'.

See akabear's 'mapping' above for why. It's not about 'wanting to do everything yourself' at that point (nor do I think that 2 per tier would even allow for that across a whole family, but that part is debatable). It's just that it's 'weird' for a Grandmaster Herbalist to 'not have space anywhere in their Profession Chart' for Alchemy, even if they already took Cooking and Farming. This sounds fine, but then you end up Grandmaster in something else, and it just gets weird if the two don't overlap? This is why I 'understood' the original 'must have both your grandmasteries from the same section', i just didn't like your sections.

Well, just an opinion.

akabear

I did a little re-edit as AI did a bit of a wayward change but the intent is more important than any of the solutions.

I do like the idea of non-wasteful items in inventories.. and having some possibility of wider and multiple usages creating demand and fluctuating markets and dynamic environments.