Crafting: Not fun

I hate to say this, but I am not enjoying the crafting thus far. It's more of a guessing game than actually building something. Perhaps I'm missing something here, but I guess I prefer to actually interact with my crafting system rather than guess my way into making something...

Perhaps this system of adding to the table would be more suited to something like the cooking and alchemy crafting (add a bit more of this or that to make it work), but in carpentry and smithing it just doesn't seem right.

Just my 2 cents...

 

recipes.

 

However, the guessing game(Discovery is better term) I think will remain, games like minecraft, don't starve, final fantasy 11 and final fantasy 14 before the remake did it. However, unlike those From what we understand there will be recipes in game you can find and buy, so it isn't all discovery. They are aware of how tedious it is to remake something over an dover and dragging and dropping things so they'll look at streamlining that process somehow. (hoping once you make something and it's in your recipe book just cilck on it and it puts the stuff on the crafting table)

 

Agreed. Obviously it's going to be improved in all sorts of ways (the ability to find recipes by talking to people or reading them, better UI and all that), but I still have a hard time seeing how "place a bunch of items on a table, click a button" would be something I would want to engage in regularly. When I don't have the recipes it's an annoying and somewhat intractable guessing game, when I do have them it will be tedious, and if they add a feature to just click a recipe to put all the ingredients on the table (as some have suggested) it sounds basically just like the simple crafting system of various other games (hit two buttons to select item to craft, item appears). Maybe I'm missing something too!

 

Receipes will make it easy, but then that's all it is. I like to be challenged in the actual crafting...ie conditions, explosions...the ability to come back from low quality to high quality...

I've always loved crafting. Not in some games, especially when it's too easy and or just doesn't make sense.

I was able to guess my way into making a few things, but I don't really consider that skillful or challenging, just annoying. Perhaps I'm being overly judgemental of the system thus far, but just wanted to bring up the points that crafting should be more interactive. A game of guess isn't really very fun to me. I hope there is more to it coming.

I am the last person to stir up criticism of this game, I love this game and defend it tooth and nail. Just hoping that I am missing something, or that something more is coming besides what we are seeing here.

 

Yes, high quality and low quality are also going to be coming into play, and your skill will play a role in that. (later on)

Sounds like you would like the Final Fantasy 14 crafting. You have to choose to do different things to increase quality, durability, and to complete it. If you run out of durability before you complete it you fail. Although I found it a bit boring after the first 10 levels or so. It just got to be repetitive. I knew what to do when so it just seemed to take a lot longer to make things.

 

My favorite crafting was Vanguard and maybe some aspects of EQII. In Vanguard you literally controlled the whole craft all the way thru the process. You could even add dusts to add features. It was complex and hard to learn yes, but it was rewarding and fun (to me)...

Wow crafting was boring. I hate crafting where you have no control over success and failure.

FFXIV crafting was okay...in ways was quite deep with all of the adjustments you could make to improve your craft. I wouldn't be against some of those features in game as well.

EQII crafting was great too because you could go back and experiment on things you had made turning into a more epic item. Granted I had to spend hours making a full set of armor and weapons for myself and all my guildmates, but that was the funnest part of the game for me

 

There will be an enhancement process too.. no details yet on that, but it is listed in each of the skill trees. From what I gather you'll want to make full plate, then enhance it to it's maximum and then hand it over to an alchemist to enchant, then the player gets it and uses it to gain affinity with it.. so it'll be quite a process before people have a "best in slot" item.

 

The crafting system atm just feels like a mess, too many components to dig through your bag to find.
I guess the biggest problem is not all recipes can be found right now, so it's quite difficult to 'accidentally' stumble upon one that is in place.

What would work is hints from your character whilst crafting.
Perhaps someting like "hmm, that doesn't seem to work, maybe I should try a different tool"

or

"perhaps I should add a little more iron"

or perhaps

"I'm not going to make anything with these components" if they don't work together like iron ore and spices lol

 

Good suggestion. I think adding comments from your character could add some immersion to crafting, along with something more interesting.

 

Hi there,

I also hope that the fun factor will be improved. I don't have a problem with guessing (cf. Minecraft) but it should make sense. Two boards and a hammer make a stool...hmm, well no matter how hard I spin the boards in my head and smack them with the hammer... they don't make stool. The grid in Minecraft helps a lot.

I would expect skill influence and advanced tinkering (e.g. quality) so I am not going into that. However, even if I add that there is something missing, kind of hard to describe... A fun, challenge or long term catching aspect something really new. Currently it appears to be mixture of old and kind of boring stuff. Put indigences together and click (that doesn't get better with more clicking (EQ) or additional material or skill influence).

If I now add MMO aspects it appears to be a system where everyone can do everything. I don't want to be the only one who can make the crown jewels but I'd like to be one in a few, gladly at the cost that I can't make battle axes.

Hope I made sense.

 

Yes, if it's going to be based on this 'guess' system, at least make guessing based on what makes sense possible. Also, some tools appear to be useful for multiple tables. I had no luck making any thread or leather so I was trying to add in the cubic stick to measure the material (?) ... but is it only for carpentry or milling? Too many tools, too much guesswork on everything...

 

Yeah, in it's present form, it's simply not interesting to me at all. But I assume they realize this isn't even close to where it needs to be. I want it to hold my hand and walk me through everything until I prove otherwise.

"Oh I see you don't know anything about sewing, would you like to know more...
"Well to get started, you're going to need some thread and...which you can get by....
"There's sheep all over the place...
...

The current system is super advanced grandmaster mode for someone who is trying to discover something never attempted before...and that's fine...I'll probably never be that guy anyway.

 

I don't want to see actual "Recipies" (Meaning items of some sort that you double click to "learn" and then know forever) as they are in other MMOGs.

However I think it would be helpful to newer players to begin their Recipe books if they had certain NPCs in each town that through the conversation system mentioned certain basic/beginner recipes. The player would then take a physical note of the recipe mentioned (either on their pen and paper notepad or in Notepad the program, or however they see fit) to use later at the crafting table.

Also, books around town (such as in the appropriate shops) and in the world (such as an old Wizard's tower for Alchemical recipes, or the forge area of an abandoned mine, and so forth) could provide further recipes.

Finally, back to NPCs, Mastery level recipes could be learned in conversation with NPCs that find you worthy of their tutoring. Again it would be up to the player to take physical note of the recipe until they make the item.

The "guess" system would still be in place, but there would be ways to gain access to the recipes in the game itself without having to resort to a Wiki if they do not want to.

Further options would be for players to be able to "trade" their recipe books with each other so that gaps are filled in via cooperation through some form of combining mechanism.

 

I kind of liked the early EQ2 crafting system but you did get to the point where people would only buy the highest quality of any type of item. Fledgling crafters at that point were making lots of throw away stuff until they were of a sufficient skill to create things that there was a demand for.
I hope that interdepence is well thought out. It does look like smelting could become a showstopper for those making durable goods.

 

Once they have it more streamlined it should be better as @Mishri stated

A suggestion I have is when trying to find a match by randomly throwing stuff on the table, sudden'y the 'Craft" button lights up. Would be nice to have a line from recipe book pop-up if you know that recipe since you know what that combination makes, so you know not to try it if you're looking for something new

 

I generally have the Recipe book up (Press R) to the page of the craft I am working while trying to build the recipe list.

 

Instead of just "Craft" what about right under have it say(if you have the recipe) what you're about to craft so....

CRAFT
Epic Sunglasses


rather than have to have the book open

 

The point of having a recipe book you get in game is to remember what you have made. for later use. Yes i do want to find some recipes from appropriate Mobs NPCs Books .If i had to guess what it took , i sure would hope it would be close to items in RL i can build a house from the ground up, i can't build a stool with a just a hammer , and few boards, and polls.
I also know this was just a first look but dangggg.Talk about something i sure wouldn't want spend hours doing.I would rather spend my hours bunny bashing.
I also spent a few hrs. trying to talk to NPCs , i sure hope the AI gets to a point where it's dummied down for dummies like me, that's not a typist or know the key words they are wanting for.
On a good note, the tables were easy to use, i loved the movement speed now, jumping was fun, more i used it, better it seemed to work.
Owls head was a nice small town.In 4 hrs, play the only bug i able to find, was getting stuck setting down, and chat with a few guards.

 

That's already done to some extent, such that the CRAFT button is not highlighted. But what I think you're also referring to is that there is no reason to put spices on a smelting table. In that case, the game could simply do a check if that ingredient or tool is ever even used on that table and simply not allow you to place it on the table with the icon/cursor turning into a big X if you tried. Similar mechanic used by old school adventure games