Gear Rebuild: Allow crafters to make the same item twice.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Aetrion, Aug 19, 2019.

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  1. Aetrion

    Aetrion Avatar

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    Replacing gear is a constant factor in this game, but there is one thing about it that really drives me up the wall: It's practically impossible to replace a gear you like 1 to 1, because it's extremely difficult for crafters to make the same thing twice with all the randomness of masterworking and so forth.

    I would really like it if there was a way to rebuild gear, or create a template from which multiple copies of a nice piece of gear can be created. For example, if a piece of gear was crafted by you you can use that piece of gear as a template to create an exact copy of it, provided you have all the same resources the original used handy. The original is lost in the process. That way when a piece of gear reaches the end of its durability you can replace it 1 to 1 if you can track down the original creator. You might also be able to reverse engineer an item by a different creator if you can match their skill for a rebuild, perhaps with a bit of added cost.

    Crafters might also be allowed to designate a few of their creations to be "signature items" that essentially become a regular schematic for them. You might be able to have a signature weapon or armor set that let you store the properties of one of your creations and then make more of them with the same resources. This would allow crafters to endeavor to create the ultimate item of a certain type and then mass produce it, becoming known in the world for their particular product. It would also allow people who invest the time to learn to craft for themselves to be able to make their favorite items signature items and readily replace them.

    Obviously crafting is a big deal in this game, but I think it would benefit from a better balance between enabling crafters to create unique products and being able to reliably replicate great items. Being able to rebuild items or mass produce only a small number of your masterworks would keep the process of masterworking to get that perfect item intact, but allow crafters to build a brand based on particularly good items, and allow adventurers to more reliably source items when their gear starts to wear out.
     
    Vladamir Begemot likes this.
  2. Violet Ronso

    Violet Ronso Avatar

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    Have you seen top tier crafters vendors lately? With the new masteries for crafting, crafters can make very good items way more often than before now, and top tier items are happening a bit more. If something like this happens, newer crafters will never have a chance to make it because Wlrond and the others will have that perfect "Template" in a few days, and since their stats are higher than anyone else's, why bother with other ones?

    If you want to get a second copy of your current gear to keep on using it, you can give it a second life, called "Major Repair" which will reset your item to freshly crafted status, with no loss in MW or enchants.

    What our crafting system needs right now IMO is a way to make it more entertaining than watching a bar cross your screen thousands and thousands of times, and an EXPENSIVE way to actually be able to do custom orders, aka get the enchant/masterwork you want but for a high price. That's what our crafting system needs...

    I feel like I'm against most of the crafting suggestions popping up today, but I feel like they are either forgetting existing systems, or simply forgetting the casual/newer players, so sorry for not liking this one ;)!
     
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  3. Aetrion

    Aetrion Avatar

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    The whole point of only allowing a very small number of signature items would be so that high end crafters can't simply mass produce everything, leaving room for other people to create something that sells. So, I don't really see the issue. In Starwars Galaxies you could do production runs of hundreds, if not thousands of top quality items and it didn't make a single crafter take over the whole game, because there were hundreds of other items to try and perfect.

    I think the itemization in this game is obnoxious to deal with as is. It's too random to track down items you really like, and when you do they eventually break down. Repair kits and major repairs also don't really help drive business to crafters. Only needing a new item ultimately does.
     
  4. Xee

    Xee Bug Hunter

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    I think the system as it is does need more expanding further and eventually beyond mastery in to specs for each type of weapon or armor which would help push people into a more specialized roll. I don't think I would have been a crafter today if it was not for that randomness and luck. I could not compete with some of the top guys for market share. As to making the same item 1 for 1, that is not so much an issue anymore with the mastery. I have replicated many of the same gear using the new re-roll. this has helped be get alot more sales. As to durability I like that things eventually break and that they seem to do so more often these days. I have had some items for a very , very long time with out need to replace which slows down markets. Because there is no auction system where we can see all the prices it makes the market work as is. If we had a system where all could see what all had for sale it would turn into a more competitive market for prices but drive out all the little guys as prices would go low enough that starting crafters would not make much of anything. Almost all my money I make in game as a crafter gets forwarded onto those that sell what I need to build and craft. it helps keeps things healthy and keeps all moving forward.

    With the new artifact ranks it has also helped non crafters get more for the time they spend adventuring should they be rewarded with such items. I would love too see more in the future with both artifacts and player made where perhaps the stats them selves will all vary a lot more on drops and items so we can see some amazing items making them more sought after or rare. Player legendary items anyone? I think that would be cool. with Ep2. they will have items take on new stats based on use. kill a dragon with a sword xxx times and it gains +10% dmg to dragons. then you have a system where adventure can level up items and resell them for profits making even more options. have it so that these weapons can keep gaining stats and eventually hit a legend. Or have it so that there is a 1% chance to gain something cool with an item, even if its just a shader to make it glow and you have a whole other level of things that people would want.

    I think we just need to wait and see. sure its hard to craft but once you get up to the level some of us up top are you see its not as hard as it was back when we were lower level. Time spent does eventually pay off in the end. I can vouch for that :)
     
  5. Jason_M

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    Insofar as my brain can process it, remanufacturing an item might require:
    1 the original item be consumed by the original maker with the consumption of the same materials (sans failures) that comprised the original. There might then be an additional very small penalty to ensure an incremental decomposition in quality as the original is reforged into copy into copy, etc. Perhaps the penalty could be to durability or similar to a major repair.

    This would provide the option to reproduce items in such a way that the original craftsmanship is maintained (the original maker must reforge), the materials market is less affected (same material cost as original), and future craftspeople are not disenfranchised of veteran customers (degradation of copy-to-copy quality).

    This is all of course not at all what you were asking for in terms of mass production, but it would address the original complaint of the challenge of replacing equipment with similar/same.
     
  6. Aetrion

    Aetrion Avatar

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    I don't think the system needs any degredation to keep crafting viable, it's perfectly reasonable for crafters to earn their money with maintenance tasks rather than having this absurd ultra-consumerism system where every item comes with planned obsolescence on steroids just to make sure people always need more items.

    Also let's be real here, the vast majority of items created in this game are trash because the crafting system is such an insufferable RNG lottery. I know some crafters that destroy all botched masterworks because they feel bad about vendoring them and making them show up in people's loot.
     
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