[Feedback] Crafting

Deconstruction:

*As a crafter, I should be able to put a finished product onto its respective table and use a tool to deconstruct the item, to see what materials were used,
and acquire a recipe for that item through deconstruction.
Then I should have some usable materials left over, not enough to remake the item, but pieces of it that can be reused.*

This is how many crafters throughout history learned recipes.. isn't it? It would also make the crafting discovery process feel a bit less 'random'.

 

I like the crafting system as it is and hope it's not watered down too much.

I, like most everyone, had slow going at first, many times because I had a stack on the table instead of a single item. Once I learned to double check my amounts, I made some progress. Then it required A. thinking about what among the tools/mats/tables I had that logically could be combined in various ways, and B. trial and error with 1, then 2, then 3, then 4 AH HA!

Now that I know that stacks of correct amounts can be placed on a table and work (I'd already stumbled on the shift-click to slider separate a stack) it will be even easier.

Yes, a better introduction is needed and I don't mind if after a recipe is learned or perhaps a certain proficiency with a particular recipe is achieved that the process can be simplified, but I rather like the not easy discovery process - it was kind of the point behind being able to 'learn' and 'teach' and 'discover' new or rare or exceptional item creation.

 

This is a very good point and something my wife immediately tried to do on the tables, but I would say that it shouldn't be too easy to tear things down, or perhaps it depends on your skill in the specific crafting discipline, or people will use tearing down as an easy way to narrow down how to create something instead of the having to 'experiment'.

 

I agree it makes it easier, but when it makes sense I find it difficult to argue.
I agree that 'higher level' items should require a higher skill to deconstruct successfully.

Maybe even have various degrees of success in the deconstruction process,
where only a success gives you the proper recipe,
while failures only give you one or two of the materials with no recipe.

 

My feedback on crafting?

Wow .. was that tedious. Gaming technology has advanced since the days of the old Ultimas. I understand realism and immersion, but are they really expecting people to drag and drop each item on the table .. ONE at a time and have the EXACT amount on the table? If it wasn't for the included recipe .. how would I have know to put several pieces of ore on the table to make one bar?

I like the concept of experimenting to find recipes .. but honestly .. the drag/drop concept of crafting makes that WAY too tedious. Especially when you have to split stacks. I was confused at first because I didn't realize my Iron Ore was a stack. Fix that by making it easy to know you have a stack. (indicate it with a visible number on how big the stack is?)

Just let me put ALL my iron ore on the table .. and all my charcoal .. and just let me craft multiple items at once.

Crafting at this level could be interesting, but there is a balance between gameplay and realism that needs to happen.
I know some people may like it .. but I am here for the world explorating and roleplaying game .. not for a medieval crafting simulator.
This isn't a subscription-based game .. you don't need to keep us "busy" doing things like this to stretch out our play time so we subscribe longer.

The crafting system in WoW was fun .. yet simple .. and nowhere near this tedious.

 

This is the fix I envisioned.
Stays truest to the current system.

 

I am not sure if I would be in the minority in saying this, but I feel the crafting system is a bit too "complex" right now. I mean, if you have the proper ingredients on the table, I think you should be able to craft the item without having to nitpick numbers. Lets say I have smelting tongs, a bar mold, 20 chunks of coal and 10 iron ores on the table. I should be able to craft an iron bar, not have to remove the coal and iron ore until its the perfect amount. I really don't think its necessary to have the exact number on the table, as long as all of the ingredients are there. I hope they simplify this system a bit for the actual release, because as it stands, I don't see myself crafting too much! It would also be nice to be able to purchase recipe books, but I have a feeling that will probably happen.

I very much agree. Too tedious and time consuming right now. I just don't see myself spending this much time at various tables to make one item in game lol. I'll just buy the damn thing.

 

I finally made ingots and bars! Now I'm gonna try to make more stuff, it's very complicated to put stuff together. I do like how the recipe book writes it down for you once you figure them out, the sorting may be kind of annoying and not doing bulk but I would rather take the extra time for that than to try to remember all of the recipes.

 

My recommendation for the crafting mechanism would be to make it easier to put one item on the crafting table from a stack using the mouse buttons. Perhaps a double click of the left mouse button on a stack from your bag can immediately place 1 of those items on the table. I think this would greatly speed up the crafting process. Holding the Ctrl button and dragging at same time gets tedious I find. Even if you didn't have to hit the Ctrl button it would be great to have this feature so you wouldn't have to drag so much. I did try the shift method also btw.
My other suggestion is the sound placement. In another post I agree with making the items appear at least midway the sound instead of immediately.

Thanks for letting us test.

 

You made me think about something.

In this system as it stands.. it just doesn't make sense that the 'default operation' when clicking and dragging is to move the whole pile.

How often do we need the whole pile of something on a crafting table?

With this system the way it stands, the answer to that question is NEVER! So why is that the default operation??

The default operation of click and drag should be to move 1 item from the stack. Then hold down [CTRL] to move the whole stack..

 

Yes I agree, I think perhaps a more efficient and logical way of selecting one item would be advantageous.

 

Thanks for sharing! I did not know this. Now i understand the cubit measure

 

You're welcome. It was totally new to me too, which is why I decided to share

 

This might be the most important piece of information regarding crafting. I think I spent an hour trying to cut a simple piece of wood. Got lucky the first time but was not able to reproduce my success because I was placing too many logs down at a time in subsequent attempts.

Thanks @KrunoBrauer

 

Man I feel stupid. I have been sitting at the smelting table for an hour now with not one result to report.

I served 4 years in the US Army; I have a masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois and I find that both of those were easier and less frustrating that figuring this out.

I'm all about immersion however, can there be some sort of hint or tutorial or something to get you started besides here is some stuff in a chest, figure it out?

 

I agree, I just didn't find the crafting experience to be fun. I found it far more tedious and unrewarding. I really hope they streamline that process, otherwise I definitely will not be crafting much!

 

As it stands, crafting is like sitting at a combination lock, turning the knob back and forth over and over saying, "this is so fun trying to open! --not"

 

truest post i have read. i agree that crafting should be challenging and rewarding however, what it should not be is a trial and error mystery novel.

 

I completely agree. My wife and I spent some time, her more then I, trying to figure this out to have absolutly no results what so ever. As it stands its kinda just bullocks. UO actually had it way better that as long as you had the materials and tools in the inventory and had the skill to at least even attempt then you could try the recipe. That was still discovering and different then what 90% of all games do this day. Instead it currently stands as my wife put it "You don't take 2 eggs and a teaspoon of flour and say 'dur dur dur its not a cake lets try it again' that just doesn't make any sense". Gotta say I'm with her fully on that. I'm just ready to toss crafting out the window as an option on this system and trade my prosperity crafting stuff in for higher status or... anything...

 

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.