Crafting in MMORPGs has always seemed lackluster to me. Even though it varies in exact nature from game to game, it can almost always be summed up as the following:
- Look up recipe.
- Get ingredients for said recipe.
- Press button.
- Receive finished product.
While this process has its benefits (it’s straightforward, for starters), it doesn’t really seem all that interesting. In fact, the only excitement to be had (aside from any endeavors to gather the ingredients) tends to stem from elements of randomness – apprehension of random failures, or excitement about the possibility of random bonuses. This seems hollow at best, since there’s no real player involvement – the “excitement” is a completely passive reaction to events beyond the player’s control.
Mass production at its finest: crafting in World of Warcraft (with addon help).
What happened to the idea of master artisans, the idea of spending real time, real effort in creating masterpieces? Masterpieces that would be valued not simply because they only had a 0.0001% drop rate off the mob that spawns once a year, instead because it took the dedication and vision of a skilled crafter to produce it? Right now, the closest one could get to being a “master crafter” in MMOs would be mastering the art of mass production, because there’s no real artistic depth to crafting. It’s one of the relatively untouched frontiers of MMORPG design, a pristine wilderness that’s waiting to be explored – and the potential results could open up a whole new sense of depth in a genre that many consider struggling for new ideas.
I agree with you on this. This is a topic that often comes up in my guild vent. Developers really struggle with this and it is understandable (hard to balance loot rewards with crafting rewards). At the moment WARs crafting is a bit of a joke and really lacks in depth.
I have to say one of the coolest crafting concepts I’ve seen is the Horadriccube in Diablo II. However that eventually just became a big oven with an even bigger recipe book. I’m looking forward to see what Diablo III does with crafting. They have said they are not going to have a Hordaric cube but they have some nifty things in store.
Regards,
Erik von Darkmoor
I really liked EverQuest 2′s original crafting process. It wasn’t overly easy.
You use to have to gather the raw materials, refine said materials, then use the refined stuff to actually make the parts for what you wanted, then finally you would combine the parts. At least that’s what I think it use to be….it’s been a while. It sounds really teadiuos, and frankly it is, but that’s what real crafting it.
I hear a lot of praise for VanGuard’s crafting system as well, although it’s been even longer and I don’t really remember (not that I did much of it when I did play).
SWG had the only system where I enjoyed crafting for the sake of crafting.
The best crafting system to date in any MMO was Star Wars Galaxies. The complexity of it and the player driven economy because it was amazing. I have yet to see a game do crafting so well.
You should check out Pirates of the Burning Sea, then. I found their crafting system even better that SWG’s. Personal opinion, though.