Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Crafting/Crafter's claim to Fame
Asokka
Member, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
How exactly can a crafter making armor, consumables, mounts and/or weapons make a name for themselves?
As large as these maps are going to be with massive numbers of players, every guild/clan will have their own crafting core. I assume there will be lootable schematics. What about secret/hard to find armor/potion/weapon quest chains? Titles that grant access to very limited armor/item/weapon templates? Will the leader/mayor of high/max level player owned cities/territories get special plans? Discovery through trial-and-error crafting? Promotional patterns? Hybrid patterns? (requiring two professions to craft like a leather worker and an armor smith) Will multiple crafters be able to empower gear if like five worked on one piece versus a single crafter?
In an ocean of crafters, how does one build a reputation to the point that players actively seek out a specific person or a specific guild to have something crafted?
As large as these maps are going to be with massive numbers of players, every guild/clan will have their own crafting core. I assume there will be lootable schematics. What about secret/hard to find armor/potion/weapon quest chains? Titles that grant access to very limited armor/item/weapon templates? Will the leader/mayor of high/max level player owned cities/territories get special plans? Discovery through trial-and-error crafting? Promotional patterns? Hybrid patterns? (requiring two professions to craft like a leather worker and an armor smith) Will multiple crafters be able to empower gear if like five worked on one piece versus a single crafter?
In an ocean of crafters, how does one build a reputation to the point that players actively seek out a specific person or a specific guild to have something crafted?
0
Comments
That way when players around the world see or inspect items, other players, etc. they see an interesting piece of gear with the makers mark. That is one way in other games I have been contacted to craft items.
Other ways is you start small. As players in your node begin to learn you are making some crazy sharp vorpal black razor sword. As word of mouth spreads others will learn of this legendary item and who makes it. Maybe you end up getting a guild commission to make 20 of those for their guild. That happens also.
Although something as legendary as the sharp vorpal black razor will probably be limited in how many can exist in this game. I remember reading something about rare items like that that only certain numbers could be crafted, or only could be crafted once, while working under a full moon, next to the mountain, with only a rare diamond that is only found in the bottom of swamp at mid day.
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Crafting
Basically word of mouth and from the quote above you be able to influence what crafted items will look like so maybe a signature on the item to advertise it.
I sincerely hope that Ashes doesn't fall into the same system, because being able to make a name for yourself is a really cool thing. SWG was great at this. I remember a specific shop that had the best weapons around, and I always came back to it. At the very least, with player shops it seems like that's more the direction they're heading.
Unique Crafting Recipes and Schematics: Crafters can acquire rare and unique recipes through various means, such as exploring dungeons, completing quests, or gaining access to special nodes. This exclusivity can set them apart, as players will seek out specific crafters who can make these rare items.
Player-Driven Economy: Since Ashes of Creation emphasizes a player-driven economy, the quality and uniqueness of items crafted by players can significantly impact the market. Crafters who consistently produce high-quality items or have a reputation for fair prices can become well-known in the community.
Titles and Achievements: Gaining specific titles or achievements related to crafting can provide additional recognition. These titles can be earned by mastering certain crafting professions or by completing difficult crafting-related tasks, which can then be displayed to other players.
City/Node Influence: The game’s node system allows for political and economic influence. Crafters who become key figures within a node, such as through trade agreements or political positions, can gain fame and recognition. Being associated with a prominent node or city can boost a crafter's reputation.
Promotional and Hybrid Patterns: The ability to create hybrid items that require multiple crafting professions can be a unique selling point. For example, an armorsmith and a leatherworker collaborating to create a special type of armor can attract attention. Additionally, promotional patterns or items tied to events can offer crafters a chance to showcase their work.
Customization and Personalization: The ability to customize and personalize crafted items can make them more desirable. Players may seek out crafters who can add unique touches or enhancements to their gear, making it stand out.
Word of Mouth and Community Engagement: Building a reputation often involves engaging with the community. Crafters who actively participate in forums, social media, or in-game events can become well-known. Word of mouth from satisfied customers can also be a powerful tool.
In an MMO like Ashes of Creation, where player interactions and community play a significant role, a crafter's reputation can be built through quality work, unique offerings, and active participation in the game's economy and social aspects.
Make the players earn their rewards with very high risk/reward mechanics.
I alpha and beta tested Crowfall as well... until I got banned for calling out the dev one too many times on their bs. Laughed hard when the game was dead on arrival. I do admit the crafting system was interesting. I was also a huge fan of the SWG system until they screwed armor and weapon smiths over night when they removed durability decay. The professions literally died in one day.
But that will require legendary crafting benches and specialisation in one profession.
So people who have ACCESS those crafting benches will be in high demand and word of mouth will be the main way to go.
High tier crafting benches require high tier nodes.
Remember, you can only claim to be the citizen of one node per server and even though Nodes wont have hard caps concerning citizenship, they WILL have monthly taxes that increase with node level.
So a high node is required to craft high gear. But high tier nodes require heavy investments to keep using those nodes.
It will be hard for a single player to reach the top of the crafting game, which is why most players that aim for high recognition and top crafting skills join guilds to get supported by them in exchange for crafting.
And through that you automatically gain recognition for your crafted items.
I'm seeing so much of the cross profession requirements going on and I love that. As much as I would love to do it all on one its really not good for the game and conducive to a good economy when players need each other. I loved how skills could be made for classes, in varying tiers so adventurers needed crafters. That recipes came from dungeons and raids so crafters needed adventurers. I very much liked that crafters had to use skills to make things not just hit craft button. That part I'm not seeing and I am hoping will get implemented at some point. That tension when using a several platinum rare and you have to get it to perfection was wonderful. The market board that allowed people to bypass the market fees if you went to their homes and bought directly was great. Gave people a reason to show of their homes as well. I really have that feeling I had in beta for eq2 again and am loving it. Keep it up and thank you.
only thing you'd have control over anyways is the price you charge? I am not imagining that it's going to be something for MLG pink parsers to sweat over.
Say if you have a Weapon Smithy a node Mayor can choose a specilization for Critical Hit, which gives all weapons crafted theire more of that stat. Alternativly it could be a material specialization, everything made with Copper could get bonus durability and a chance to roll a higher quality.
These effects could come from options that depend on the nodes dominant race, say your Ren-Ki node has an option for 'thousand folded blades' buff. Then their could be event driven craft bonuses, the material ones seem like they would be ideal for that 'copper mother lode bonus' for 2 weeks.
These concepts won't distinquish individual crafters at the same node, but they DO create regional crafting variations which can act as a first step. It will promote long distance trade so that IF you can get to be a top crafter in a location then people potentially on the other side of the world might want what you can make because their crafting nodes don't have that bonus and it's just not possible to make the item with all the perks.
After seeing some gear from A2, it would work really wel.
That's only the case if your output is worthless and that only happens when you need to craft like 100 copper swords to be able to craft Iron Swords etc. If you change that so that you only need to craft 3 or 5 copper swords, if even that, while at the same time requiring a huge amount of resources to do it then you will get less people crafting casually and the people that do it properly will be crafting less items so they can charge a higher markup on what they make (as the market doesn't get flooded). Then a dedicated smith can just go and buy the resources he needs from people that like to gather them or refine them (whom in turn also get a markup as their wares are high in demand by the crafter).
Basically every single game gets this wrong as devs always go "Oh but it's more fun if you craft more stuff to level up", it really isn't as it means that you're just burning money to craft useless junk until you get to the point where you occasionally can help out a guild member or sell something for profit at the very highest endgame tiers.
In addition they almost always make the same mistake with gathering.
"Oh yeah so let's have one dude gather 2000 copper ore to level up to iron, and then have the crafter use 10 copper ore per sword and craft 100 swords to level up to iron", great now every miner outputs 1000 ore more than needed so it's basically impossible to sell and every smith outputs 95 more copper swords than needed so those are basically impossible to sell as well. Now both gathering and smiting are absolutely pointless unrewarding and slightly annoying hobbies that people just do sporadically because maybe they might craft something cool 2 years from now.
While on the other hand, if the economy actually works and you can suppress supply and increase demand in every stage then you get a thriving ecosystem around it filled with social interactions and rewarding gameplay where even solo crafters can participate.
The reason you get cases where you can't go in as a solo crafter is because they only do it half way, you need massive amount of resources but you also get massive outputs, so yes then you need to have a guild to funnel resources to you so that you can craft a ton of junk that no one wants until you get to the point where you're actually useful for your guild.
Another pitfall is making crafted items be on the same quality level as dropped items and then having those items drop way too often. I noticed that item drop rates are fairly low in Ashes right now but even then you grind a truly massive amount of mobs so even if you fix everything on the gathering and crafting side the crafters still risk being outcompeted by grinders. That in turns means that grinding mobs is the only way to play as you cover the economies item demand while getting glint WHILE leveling up. So from what I have seen the past few weekends they should probably just remove item drops all together from mobs with the exception of really rare crafting components and things like named legendary drops from bosses.