Crafting

FreddyHouse Q&A  April 16, 2013
Raven said: 

Edit timer!, I just think you need to give a bit more information regarding how the economy would work, it's all good and well to say everything will be crafted by a crafter class but take it from a guy who had every crafter LGM before they made it easy, sitting there doing it for free generally won't happen. Without a pve source of gold or some such it would be very difficult for some people to earn enough to buy the gear. You would soon end up with quite a divide between those that have the gold and those that don't not to mention that it would become prohibitive to new starters.

With the announcement of the dungeon I came very near to chucking $50 at it, Darkness Falls was the best dungeon and PvP experience of any MMO.

And nice to see you post! We are used to having grumpy Frenchman deliver our Camelot news.

MJ Response:

'''As to more information on the economy, I totally agree with you. It's going to be more challenging for us because pure crafters can't really fight in RvR very well. They can die very well but not fight very well. Thus we will have to ensure that they can make money on their own, with or without crafting, to be viable. What I'll say for now (other than don't pledge until you hear more of course) is that:'''

1) Crafters will have access to certain money-generating resources that non-crafters won't. They will also be able to exploit these and other resources better than non-crafters.

2) Crafters will be able to make items for their realm. Not a grindfest of making 100,000s of arrows but a modest 10,000! JK. It will be much more reasonable and less boring.

3) Crafters will be able to provide services for their realm that can earn them money.

4) Crafters/Non-crafters will have other sources of income that I'll talk about in a future update. 

'''In terms of DF, that was a great innovation of course and I want to do even better this time. I think we have a great concept for it but as usual, the devil is in the details.'''

Kickstarter Comments
I think that we will have more true crafters in this game than people might expect, a lot more.

Source: KS Comments - April 13, 2013

Please keep in mind that I consider crafters an integral part of the game and since they will be plabyable only as alts (for artisan), that will really limit the number of people who want to play crafters. The other thing to factor in is that unlike all MMOs I've played because there are no PvE equipment drops, the crafters will always have something to do. Additionally, because making item won't be a instant process, I think that the fears of new crafters coming in with nothing to do is quite unnecessary (unless new RvR players stop coming in as well). However, that all being said, we have to have crafters in this game, unlike almost all other MMOs, so I'll do whatever is necessary to make sure that they are viable as a full-time class.

Source: KS Comments - April 07, 2013

Materials for crafting will be found all over the world and NPCs like animals. Got to get leather, scale. etc. from somewhere. :)

Source: KS Comments - April 07, 2013

As to crafters being a bit brittle, yep. They won't be there to fight; that's what those big, brave, muscular looking folks are there to do,protect them.

Source: KS Comments - April 03, 2013

The crafters best defense if they are about to be overwhelmed will be prayer and foot speed. Maybe in that order, maybe not.

Source: KS Comments - April 03, 2013

The way I see crafting is quite similar to RvR so I think it is very safe to say that crafters will not be mirrors of each other.

Source: KS Comments - April 02, 2013

MMORPG Interview February 14h 2013
There will be resources in "safer" areas and "safe" areas. The areas will have different resources. More valuable resources will be in more dangerous areas. 8:00

Crafters will have to build structures and defenses in the wild. 10:15

Foundation Principles
I want my crafters to know that there is no chance that the stuff they are making can be eclipsed by anything dropped or buyable through the non-player shops with but one exception. That exception is if there are not enough crafters, we reserve the right to make sure that things like population imbalance do not end up in a cascading and insurmountable disaster for a realm.

Source: Foundation Principal 4

When you level up your crafting skills you will not have to create large amounts of any good, as each item takes time and effort to create. We also do not envision creating a system where the crafters will need the support of many other crafters to make most items. While we want our crafters to work with their fellow crafters at times (more on this later), crafters must be able to do their job without having to rely on a large number of other people to create an item as requiring too much cooperation would greatly reduce the flow of new items into the system.

Source: Foundation Principal 7

The crafting system is broken down into three specific tracks, journeyman, master, and artisan (placeholder name). Non-crafter classes are limited to the journeyman track while players who choose to play crafters can pursue the master track and then, if they so choose, the artisan track. Each track has its own set of skills and abilities along with leveling curves appropriate to characters that are not full-time crafters or those who choose to play a full-time crafter.

Source: Foundation Principal 7

I would love to see a system where our crafters could also have a greater control on the weapon’s appearance (whether in a mix and match manner or in other ways) but I am not going to promise. We are looking at some interesting possibilities and while the great and powerful Andrew has some ideas as to how we can implement it, again, no promises. BTW, did I mention dyes?

Source: Foundation Principal 7

In terms of the crafting system, we want to build this interdependency not through creating a chain of required players (gatherers -> refiners -> builders) because that could lead to its own problems if one link in the chain is damaged/broken but rather to set up crafting goals and tasks that both encourage and reward group cooperation.

Source: Foundation Principal 9