The there was a lot of good feedback and a fresh ideas coming from the previous thread on this topic, but it was getting a little big and cumbersome, so we've started up a new thread to keep the discussion going.
To start this thread off, I am going to take some of the ideas that were mentioned in the previous one, and hypothetically hypothesize a hypothetical crafting system. Let's talk about the pros and cons of a crafting system that might work this way. Keep in mind that this is just a big list of "what ifs". Absolutely nothing has been set in stone. It hasn't even been set in wet dirt.
Reverse Engineering and Attachments
* Traders could reverse engineer dropped or quested items to retrieve one or more skill, stat, or attribute modifier "attachments". These attachments might have one or more of the modifiers that were on the original item. Certain rare attachments might also be dropped as loot or quested. * Traders would craft basic objects that, when complete, would have a certain number of "sockets". The number of sockets on an item might depend on the quality of resources or skill of the crafter. * Traders could then apply the attachments to the sockets to create an item that is at least as desireable (power-wise; if not more so) than dropped or quested items, with the added bonus of being more or less customizable by the attachments. * Crafted items could also be reverse engineered to retrieve one or more of the attachments that were applied to them.
Decay
* All worn or equipped items would decay, either through normal use, on death, or both. (I personally like decay on death, as it gives an incentive to not die.) If an item decays to 0% condition, it can no longer be used until it is repaired. * Items that are received from quests or dropped from rare/boss mobs could be fully repaired by traders with no loss of maximum condition. * Crafted items could be fully repaired by traders with a minor loss of maximum condition. If the maximum condition of an item reaches 0%, it can no longer be used, but it could still be reversed engineered to retrieve one or more of the attachements. * Traders could craft repair kits for adventurers to use in the field, or if no traders are available, but they would only repair an item to, say, 40% with a slightly higher loss of maximum condition on crafted items.
Mass Harvesting
* Imagine if traders could acquire a harvesting "burrower" droid. A trader could go find a nice big pocket of resources, put down the droid which would burrow underground (disappear) and collect the resources which the trader would come back to retrieve at a later date. * This would work very similar to the way harvesters work now, except there would be no fields of decrepit harvesters scattered across the landscape, only diligent droids working beneath the surface.
Factories
* Factories with this system would probably work very similar to the way they do now, but they can only be used to create the basic items. * Attachments would have to be applied by hand.
As you give your thoughts on this, remember that this is just a hypothetical system. Everything that we've discussed already is still in play. Nothing has been completely cut out, and nothing has been absolutely accepted. We still want to hear any and all of your ideas any anything trader, crafter, harvester, and/or merchant related. Don't be afraid to think outside of the box!
Also, I like confectionaries...
Jeff "Chrysalide" Carpenter SWG Lead Systems Designer
well then you would have 1 person with his 1000 harvestsers mining the good spots so everyone could mine there and also there would be less lag from generating harvesters on screen :D
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Beer is not the answer, Beer is the question, "Yes" is the answer.
and harvestor droids ????? who go underground mmm yes sure but whats wrong with harvies its the same thing
Wont DE make harvester droids?
Its not the harvies per se, but the fields of dead harvies from peopel who dont play anymore.. also placing harvies was used by some people to 'grief' other players by stopping thier city development.
have to agree with u audie that problem would be solved but then again if i have a field of harvies on a good spot i was just there sooner then u :P so i get to best spot much like in RL :D
as for the harvies being a torn in the eye as the players don't play no more, harvies don't work like housing they don't drain form bank account if u don't pay maintaince they go poof, so i doubt there are whole fields not being used.
and if u read the summit discussion bits it says: Currently it is not planned to add new Droids to the game
And even if we were to make harvestor droids 1 new droid don't make a revamp :P i don't see how u can make the RE stuff work for droids and on the other hand if the RE is anything like SW its not a solution to trader its not like it requires skill or is even remotely exiting.
I understand the frustration. I won't pretent to have all of the answers about the past. The truth is this game is developed by a large group of people (as are most games). I'm in interested in the future of this game as is the rest of the crew here. We don't have any detailed plans to present because the crafting release date is still a couple of months away. We wanted to come here first, during the early stages of the idea formulation part of the process. I can tell you what I was thinking, but ultimately I don't make every decision about what goes into (or comes out of) Galaxies. This is a team effort. I wanted to avoid posting my thoughts too early, because my current title and position tends to imply that when I'm talking about game design, my words are the proverbial law. That's not the case by any stretch of the imagination. We don't run a dictatorship around here. SOE is a creative environment and there is input from many sources. Designers disagree all the time. It would be creepy if we all agreed on everything all the time. That being said, here is what I was thinking
- No decay. Decay is one sided in my opinion. I have a crafter in every MMO I play (if crafting is offered as an activity) and personally I'd rather provide my customers with something useful instead of making them feel like I get to take their money because I have a certain skillbox checked off. Something else needs to be here in place of decay. Even if it's something like selling "recharge packs" that I made or even "ammo" for lack of a better term. At least then I made something for my customer.
- Harvesters and Factories go away. I've been suggesting this for a while now, so my position on the subject is no secret. My reasons are twofold: First, without decay, item turn over isn't high enough to call for warehouse stocks of items. Second, harvesters and factories pose a significant technical hurdle if any meaningful or significant change is to be made to the crafting system. The fun you get out of hunting down good resources can be achieved without plopping down machines at the end of it. How big is a "unit" of resource anyway? Does it really need that big machine? What if I told you that harvesting technoogy gained some huge advances and we can now fit your X number of resources into a small extraction device that works 300 times faster than a harvester? It's just a thought for one possibility. crafting droids ?>
- The basic crafting process would probably have an interface similar to the current one. You craft, loot or buy a basic base item. Based on the quality of the base item it has some number of "slots" for add-ons. Add-ons could be crafted, looted or bought. Add-ons are combined with base items to build custom items. Existing combined items can be broken down through some process to extract add-ons. The reverse engineering process and inteface would probably be similar to the crafting interface and process. There would be some rules and chances associated with breaking down items into base components. Items could be modified up or down at any time, given proper tools and resources - even after the initial crafting process. Maybe some parts wear out or have to be recharged, but definitely not the whole thing.
Unfortunately the biggest drawback of a system like this is that it's entirely opposite of the mass production system that has harvesters and factories at its root. The two couldnt exist at the same time.
That's as far as I got, because I wanted to come here and poke around before we spent too much time designing something that wouldn't be pallatable.
-The Dread Lord Helios -Lead Designer, SWG "There is no reality in the absence of observation."
I think its hard to get a system that will keep everyone happy. Every other game system that has crafting does not have it as a stand alone 'class', as far as I am aware. The littel experience I have of crafting in the old system means that I have no real right to an opinion. Just as long as its not just a point and click system they introduce.
Mmm i think ur right jibb most other game's crafters can fight as well as craft i think swg's is the only stand alone one tho it didnt used to be that way did it
it does spark the idea that if they do remove harvestors what useless item will they turn the " self power deed " into my gues is a color kit for your harvestor droid .
I do find it quite amusing that decay may come back, now that ADK's dont exist. Maybe self powered harvie kits will become ADK's? Or maybe they will become infinite life droid batteries.
