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Gearing/issue + gathering feedback

Savic ProsperitySavic Prosperity Member, Alpha Two
edited November 7 in Artisanship
edit: quick edit i have been informed that resna, server im on, specifically has a bug where we only get basalt/granite respawns so im unsure if its still a major issue or off by a bit

For the early gearing it is very bad right now. I dont imagine it will get 'better' as you get to higher levels but the way it currently works seems like it'd be something to do in theory.

If you want to craft your gear (and tools) you need a lot of copper. If you use plate gear you need a big chunk of zinc, otherwise you need a bunch of flax. It still costs quite a bit of in game currency but those are the bottleneck resources.

The extremely small amount of copper, zinc, ruby, and flax spawns doesn't match up with the crafting requirements for an item. 1 weapon costs 20 copper, but that's 20 copper converted into the fragments but that'd be just for one item, that doesn't even factor in if you want to level that profession.

For flax you can circumvent the issue with farming but the idea for lvl 1 gear is 'this is short term' all things considered and the amount of time you have to invest to doing this is super off.

So the other way is to just buy the gear from the npc's laying around, which frankly isnt that much more expensive than crafting it [could be tuned] but then you want to just go farm mobs for dust instead. By the time you'd get enough money to justify buying everything though you'd already be close level 10 gear.

The other way to get gear is to just get a lucky drop while in a group, it be something you'd want to use, and you also winning the drop [assuming non coordinated group] which is just not feasible, but also why bother crafting anything at that point when you can just get the best gear from farming mobs anyway. Mind you i know this is an early iteration but it needs a lot of changes.

This boils down to my frustration with the gathering spawn system for items.
The amount of copper, zinc, ruby, and flax needed to craft is okay but the rate they appear at is way too low. Copper is the worst offender by a significant margin in this case where its spawn rate feels like it should be almost as high as basalt/granite since it is used a significant amount more than them. I have only seen one ruby but it needs to spawn quite a bit more as well since there are some recipes that use it or in the case of scribe its the only way to really level it. Zinc is mostly used for plate armor and jewelry as far as i remember seeing but not being able to find consistent amounts of it bottlenecks those professions. Flax in theory should spawn sometimes with the other flowers but it is set too rare, since cotton doesnt spawn in the wild it shouldnt feel like a fight to find a meaningful amount of flax.

The way you go about looking for stuff to gather feels not too bad, you look for where said stuff is supposed to spawn and harvest it, the threat of getting mauled by mobs helps make gathering feel more exciting despite it being super simple and un-engaging as a base. What currently makes it feel really bad is after searching enough places you still dont find a basic resource you then start to wonder if it only spawns in certain areas or doesnt exist which shouldnt happen with the base stuff. I believe this issue is still there for the lvl 10-20 materials too but i cant meaningfully test that since i cant find enough stuff to level some of the professions

Comments

  • thruddthrudd Member, Warrior of Old, Kickstarter, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Yeah the current balance is really out of whack. I've played dozens of hours, run all over the place looking for ore, got my mining to level 7 and I've found a total of 8 copper and 11 zinc. It's currently far too hard to get the mats needed to craft anything. :D
  • Savic ProsperitySavic Prosperity Member, Alpha Two
    I just want to add, personally i dont like not knowing what recipes exist - would rather have a list of possible recipes to find since long term people will just post it on a wiki or otherwise so having the UI inform you of what to look for can be nice. Not that everyone agrees on this kind of display
  • Darsh13Darsh13 Member, Founder, Kickstarter, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edit: quick edit i have been informed that resna, server im on, specifically has a bug where we only get basalt/granite respawns so im unsure if its still a major issue or off by a bit

    I'm on Resna too.. Is this a confirmed bug by devs?
  • Flashfirez23Flashfirez23 Member, Founder, Kickstarter, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited November 3
    I would like if dedicated mines were added to the game where you could find a lot these resources. It also would end up being a PvP hot spot since I’m sure people will try to steal these resources from others. So, it would serve two purposes and create emergent gameplay. Crafting low level just seems too hard for what you end up getting. Cooper is a rare commodity at this point and that makes absolutely no sense.
  • Savic ProsperitySavic Prosperity Member, Alpha Two
    Darsh13 wrote: »
    edit: quick edit i have been informed that resna, server im on, specifically has a bug where we only get basalt/granite respawns so im unsure if its still a major issue or off by a bit

    I'm on Resna too.. Is this a confirmed bug by devs?

    sorry for late reply forgot to check but basically only like lionhold area was spawning different ores, as soon as the world was changed from winter back to summer things were functioning as normal

    but yea copper is still way too rare for how much is needed to do anything with crafting if you want people to craft gear. (and zinc/ruby as well frankly) At this time farming mobs for gear tends to just be flat out better because you'll get more exp and some gear but generally pretty good gear
  • VeeshanVeeshan Member, Alpha Two
    edited November 4
    Darsh13 wrote: »
    edit: quick edit i have been informed that resna, server im on, specifically has a bug where we only get basalt/granite respawns so im unsure if its still a major issue or off by a bit

    I'm on Resna too.. Is this a confirmed bug by devs?

    it seems like when he made it winter Gems and ore node stopped respawning and t2 nodes went poof all together, design intent? i dunno but when he made it fall for last 10 hours or so copper, zinc, rubies and T2 mats all returned to the world.

    also doesnt help that it seems all the mayors are trying to make a smithy which eats the small amount of metal up aswell, like the 3 nodes i looked at for what the mayor asking for resource wise made the bundle that was used to make the smithy so atleast 3 of the 5 nodes are all trying to make the same building on resna or have no clue what there doing
  • Savic ProsperitySavic Prosperity Member, Alpha Two
    i definitely agree that some of the mayors of resna refuse to communicate but i think its like some people were like 'i have pleanty of copper' when people were commenting on it in game, so for some reason they are gate keeping an early alpha and im like now's the time to full blown every system. I can see where at release you probably would be more tight lipped its just strange to me lol
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