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The Secret World: The Shape of Crafting
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
For many players, having a robust crafting system is essential in their MMO. So what about The Secret World? What, if anything, do we know about crafting? Will it be "level-less" in a way similar to character progression? In today's TSW column, we speculate about some of those things and more. Check it out!
It may seem that with all the faction talk lately, that we’ve actually learned a lot about The Secret World in recent months. Which we have, truth told. But one area of the game that still remains a complete mystery in terms of its functionality is crafting. There hasn’t been but a hint of talk surrounding any sort of trade-skills and what, if any, form they’ll take in TSW. With that in mind, let’s briefly ponder the subject and see what kind of system might make sense in Funcom’s upcoming MMO.
Read more of Bill Murphy's The Secret World: The Shape of Crafting.
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Comments
I would like to see more innovative crafting systems. I love crafting meself, and would like to see more effort put into this. or simply, a different style from the norm.
The most important part to crafting for me is not really the process but if there is a market for what I can make, especially between newer and older players (new players should also be able to provide things older players are interested in buying). Further, there must continuously be a demand so items need to deteriorate and break.
The idea having crafting that needs to be discovered looks cool.
Im open to new things if they work well
This looks promising.
My only question, are those pics in hi rez?
sorry, it's funcom and they deserve some EA cross over poking.
I had a talk with one of the TSW developers regarding the crafting system and while he seemed happy with the game in general, he got sooo enthusiastic about the crafting system. He wasn't allowed to talk more about it at the time because it was considered inside information.
What he did say was that it was something they had thought through and that it was an integrated part of the game. He did mention a small game called "Minecraft", might they have gotten some inspiration from there?
I played AoC and dested the crafting there and it looks like the guy I talked to wanted something much better for TSW.
In general, I think AoC can be looked upon as the tech-demo for TSW, I think the difference in quality and design choices is going to be that big.
Isn't it a bit presumptuousto make an article on crafting for a game when you literally know nothing about the form it will take?
Sounds interesting but those are just promises right now and we know how that goes.
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
they are not promises from Funcom its somthing MMORPG just made up.. but some a good ideas thats for sure..
Cant wait to get my hands on this game.
I'd like crafting to involve blogs that aren't just speculative and actually are objective and show facts about a game instead of just trying to get hits.
Loved the article, and I definitely agree. Although I hardly delve into most modern MMO's crafting nowadays, if the system is interesting, I like to work with it a bit. A player-driven economy is one of the most interesting concepts to be part of MMOs. Crafting systems like the ones in Ryzom, or Vanguard, were quite awesome.
Reading about the recipes, though, immediately made me thing of Anarchy Online
I loved how the recipes weren't given to you, but you had to ask around, try and/or look it up in the internet. Even more so if they periodically add new gear with new recipes, to give players something to look for everytime.
No use in pondering about it, TSW mechanics all are set in stone and the general crafting discussions bin done a billion times.
Rather i will do a small prediction, crafting will be compleetly useless in TSW, its a subcription+Cash shop game were "looks" are defined by the amound of cash you put into it.
No mather how good this game and its mechanics will be, the double money grind will always overshadow the entire game.
"if I can do it in Skyrim, let me do it in an MMO."
You mean grinding iron daggers to raise blacksmithing to 100?
We've got that in MMO's already! 
Or you mean the idiotic alchemy random ingredient grind? Heh.
Problem with the idea of "discovering" a recipe is that once it is discovered, it's posted on the internet on how to discover it, hence, killing the idea in its tracks. And anyone who doesn't look it up on the internet is in a huge hole compared to those who do, wasting all the time/money/ingredients trying to get something someone else got in 1 try after reading the spoiler.
"Aha! There's a way to defeat that!" you say? Make the recipes "random" aka, person X trying a mix of an iron bar, a butterfly wing, and a seed might learn how to make "Iron Butterfly Seeds" but person Y just gets "You've wasted a bunch of stuff and learned nothing!" message? Then you've just gone back to "random ingredient grinding".
And having no "levels" in crafting means Andy Newbie can craft just as well as Crafter Pro Joe? Not too keen on that if you want crafting to mean something.
the illuminati isn't going to let this game be released until after 2012.
That would be something because i am vaguely familiar with minecraft's crafting. however, guides abound on the interwebs explaining all the puzzles behind learning to craft in minecraft. err too for i can't imagine people would not want desperately to ruin it for others the solutions to the crafting enigma's should they exist. Perhaps TSW will put forward a crafting system that brings the coveted SWG to shame! j/k. but i would certainly love something less boring that WoW's system of "make 50 till the skill finally randomly gets to the next arbitrary distance marker, rinse, repeat". EQ2's at least had a minigame that quickly got dull once you figured it out but you couldn't ignore so you were engaged (albeit grudgingly). so i want something in that vein but less of a chore, more of a pleasure!
+1. By advancing game mechanics like this, games will give themselves not only the opportunity to stand apart and possibly revolutionize the industry (read: other companies finding it a necessity to take from due to their own lack of devices), but to also appeal less to those who want everything done the easy way.
Szasz I am hoping they make it relatively easy to do the crafting, a bit like Diablo 2 with the Horadric Cube, the hard part there was getting the necessary stuff. This would let everybody do crafting and make trade more interesting. Better than an "elite" system where only a few people actually does the crafting because only they have the recipies.
I do agree that a system with "secret" recipies is kinda useless in an MMO.
I both hope and have a feeling crafting ties in with the secret war and controlling certain zones that gives your society resources needed for crafting. Since there are 3 factions there wont be 1 faction getting a big advantage in crafting. I can see this being a big part of the meta-game as the game gets bigger and more zones are introduced. Different zones giving different bonuses, sort of like Risk. Also gives you a good reason to be fighting other societies in the first place.
Spot on.
I'm starting to have this fear also.
EA have control of both SW and TSW. If SW is going great guns then the EA suits will decide to delay TSW release to maximise returns from both. I'm expecting a delay due to "technical" issues soon.
Do I ask for too much to hope for different crafting for all three factions so the race will be on to collect all the secret crafting knowledge per faction?
Playing: Darkfall New Dawn (and planning to play Fallout 76)
Favourite games have included: UO, Lineage2, Darkfall, Lotro, Baldur's Gate, SSX, FF7 and yes the original Wizardry on an Apple IIe
+1
A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true...
EA doesnt control TSW. They are distributing the game in North America, thats it.
First let me say, I have no problem with speculative, sugestive or guiding blogs about crafting. By discussing ideas and minds are expanded.
Diablo 2 and SWG both had a discovery based "Magic Box" carfting system. Eventuially a list of discovered recipes was posting on the web. This is to prevent people from trying to sell the information for real world money as is the way. My point is that eventually All or most recipes of discovery will be up on a wiki for every one to see.
I haven't played Skyrim, so I can't just say incorporate Skyrim crafting into all future MMO's. Here are the issues of a R&D style crafting system as I see it.
Do you learn the recipie on first experiment try?
When you experiment can you focus on a slot or item type or do you learn random items?
Does learning a large item "cost" the same as a small item in terms of resources?
How many tiers (gray, white, blue, purple) can you learan and how do you diferentiate to learn them?
Does an experiment only require one class of profession's harvested resources or does it require cross profession and crafted items?
Any system that anwers Yes to question 1 is just the same onld thing with a fresh coat of paint. BTW I am not speculating or recomending a style of crafting for TSW. I am only speaking on R&D crafting in general.
Boy: Why can't I talk to Him?
Mom: We don't talk to Priests.
As if it could exist, without being payed for.
F2P means you get what you paid for. Pay nothing, get nothing.
Even telemarketers wouldn't think that.
It costs money to play. Therefore P2W.
Dead on Bill.
Gaming since Avalon Hill was making board games.
Played SWG, EVE, Fallen Earth, LOTRO, Rift, Vanguard, WoW, SWTOR, TSW, Tera
Tried Aoc, Aion, EQII, RoM, Vindictus, Darkfail, DDO, GW, PotBS