Resource Collection

If we only can have one character:

I've been pressing for us to be able to explore and craft- perhaps by having only one main skill for exploring and crafting each, but I left out resource collection. Why not make resource collection something everyone can do?

Take UO for instance- everyone could run around picking up regs for magic, but we mostly did not. We would buy the store vendors up until they had a bulk of regs to sell, or we'd buy them from player vendors. Those of us who preferred exploration would use the funds obtained from dungeon crawling to get this resource as opposed to taking the time to collect it ourselves.

Happens this way in real life, too. Certainly, I can plant a garden and grow my own vegetables, its not too hard. But since I do not have the inclination, I buy them at the store instead. I could go gem hunting down at that place in Arkansas, pan for gold in California to craft my own jewelry. But alas, I rely on others to do that work for me.

I think in game it would fall out much the same way. Even if everyone can mine or lumberjack, not everyone will want to do it just as in real life. It takes time to collect a good amount of resources and those without a lot of time sometimes prefer to go exploring or use the time actually working a craft. Then the resource collectors can sell their resources on vendors or use them for crafting, explorers can buy the resources from the vendors to work on the crafting. And no extra precious skill spots will need to be dedicated to this pretty basic ability.

Later, I'll write some ideas on the crafting system and making it more unique.

 

If it's something you can just pick up off the ground like reagents in UO, sure. If it is something that requires skill, it requires skill, such as collecting lumber fit for woodworking, and not just kindling, and usable ore, and not just a collection of useless rocks.

 

Smelting should be a part of mining & plank from logs from lumberjacking. A blacksmith uses ingots, not rocks. A carpenter never uses logs but rough planks. Definitely a skill

 

mining and lumberjacking plus the ability to turn those rough materials into more useable materials does not take a lot of real life training or education. Why waste a skill on this basic ability?

Its also macro economics, the higher education you have (call it skill expertise if you will) the less likely you will spend time doing mundane, hard labor (unless you really want to). Instead you will earn money in less physical ways and use that money to buy your basic needs and materials to do the things you enjoy the most. I personally am not likely to go mining or lumberjacking for the materials I need to raise my skill level in my craft. Instead, I'm hoping to buy it off those of you who enjoy that sort of thing with the funds I earn from either exploring or crafting unique items.

 

WoW is a fairly text book example of what not to do. Crafting was a money sink with no value. Then they gave out bonus for maxing your crafting skills. Then any serious raider had to have two useless crafting skills but no gathering skills simply for the perk of getting them maxed out. Buying the raw mats off the AH just feeds the farmers.

I like the idea of being able to gather anything but I certainly appreciate having some lore around why gathering is difficult. It was either IV or V where I'd kill some mob over the mandrake node and leave the chest so I could harvest it without getting poisoned.

I like the idea of having some high risk gathering zones. It's a natural place for PvP and both parties sign up for it by going to this zone.

 

'A blacksmith uses ingots, not rocks.'

Yes, but a miner with low skill discovers little ore, but many rocks. As skill increases, the ore/rock ratio increases.

 

This would also enhance the single player game.

 

The single player offline gamer would have to rely on NPC vendors for goods. The SPO gamer would be able to use vendors from FPO/OPO, although since is it offline.

On second thought, the game might permit offline players to have multiple characters so they can be self sufficient unto themselves. None of them can go to any of the online modes, so why not?

It's not like an offline player can get any LESS social, is it?