Are there MMORPG's that force you to choose between crafting or fighting?

Fyendiar

I used to be a very active mmo player, but got burned out because it got lazy. I  wonder, is there an mmo that makes you choose between fighting or crafting? Usually mmo's end up with all endgame players doing both at the same time. What I am seeking is that if you choose to fight, you can't craft great. If you choose to craft, you can't fight great.

Does such an mmo exist?

Wargfoot

Ultima Online

You get a set amount of skill points that you share between crafting or fighting or maybe a hybrid.  Most of the fun of that game, for me, was making the hard choices.

Current recommendations seem to be to play on a private server.

cameltosis

SWG, but obviously only emulated servers.

The main SWGEmu server just increased character slots from 2 to 3, so im currently grinding a new character that'll be a pure crafter (armorsmith / artisan / merchant).

Admittedly, server numbers aren't great so the economy isn't healthy, but there are other SWG servers with better numbers if its something ur interested in.

Theocritus

I dont remember many MMOs where crafting was really even necessary...maybe the old school games but most now you can get better stuff other ways.

KnightFalz

You can level through crafting in ESO, but gathering materials would be part of that which at times would lead to combat.

Still, if you don't mind some combat as part of your play it is possible to level with the lion's share of your experience coming from crafting.

There are many guilds dedicated to crafting in the game so you can so focus on it with some camaraderie with those of like mind if that is something that appeals to you.

A single character can lean all types of crafting so there is no need to have several alts if you want to be able to make a wide variety of things.

There is even a build called SpeedyG by Alcast that focuses on rapid movement in stealth that facilitates the quick collection of materials and combat evasion. This would be an excellent build for someone devoted to crafting who also wants to downplay combat.

However, to craft well in ESO requires a subscription to the game as one of the benefits of that is unlimited crafting material storage that frees up your inventory for other uses. It also doubles your bank storage, easing the storing of completed items until you wish to sell them.

Brainy

KnightFalz said:

You can level through crafting in ESO, but gathering materials would be part of that which at times would lead to combat.

ESO is not a good example IMO.  OP wanted a choice of one or the other, where doing both would handicap you in some way from the other.  In ESO you can easily do an all of the above strategy, and many people do.

Old school UO required a choice being limited to skill points, if you did an all of the above strategy your character would be gimped.  However even now with private servers for UO, the popular ones I seen changed the game to allow characters to get all the skills.  (never played SWG but assume that is going to be like UO)

Wurm online is the only other one I know of where you cannot do all of the above.  Mainly its because of time.  If you try to focus on everything you wont get anywhere very fast.  Some skills take many years to max out, so to be near the top in a skill you have to focus.  Being at the top of a few skills usually is way more beneficial than putting that same time into a bunch of different skills.

Quizzical

Uncharted Waters Online only allows you to have a limited number of skills, so you can't just take everything.  You might be able to take all of the crafting skills and also all of the combat skills, but you'd then miss out on much of the rest of the game.

Ralphie2449

New world is great about this, you can just craft max power set by just farming and gathering mats.

You still need to do some casual open world quests for some currency for a chromatic seal which is required for those crafts, but other than those rly simple go kill 10 bears quests, you dont have to do anything else for that gear

Other than spend a ton of time camping and farming nodes while watching tv series, its great

That's what i do, i havent touched a single raid or mutation in NW and instead just farm materials and make 700 gearsets for builds I want to play and enjoy.

Nanfoodle

As mentioned above ESO is a good choice. You can do both but are rewarded more for focusing what you want to do. You can 100% be a crafter and never really get into the PvE or PvE end game. You can 100% be a full time crafter. That does not mean you won't have to do combat. Just means you won't need to do high end combat to progress.

If you want to focus on combat. You need never craft. Again, focusing on combat means you will have more skill points to use to have more options in combat. Bartering crafting supplies for combat gear is actually a great way to make gold. Mostly because ESO is a crafting game. Some of the best in game items come from crafting. 

Quizzical

The original poster isn't asking for games where you can do both.  It's quite the opposite.  He's asking for games where you cannot do both, or at least, get punished for it if you try to do both.

KnightFalz

Brainy said:

KnightFalz said:

You can level through crafting in ESO, but gathering materials would be part of that which at times would lead to combat.

ESO is not a good example IMO.  OP wanted a choice of one or the other, where doing both would handicap you in some way from the other.  In ESO you can easily do an all of the above strategy, and many people do.

Old school UO required a choice being limited to skill points, if you did an all of the above strategy your character would be gimped.  However even now with private servers for UO, the popular ones I seen changed the game to allow characters to get all the skills.  (never played SWG but assume that is going to be like UO)

Wurm online is the only other one I know of where you cannot do all of the above.  Mainly its because of time.  If you try to focus on everything you wont get anywhere very fast.  Some skills take many years to max out, so to be near the top in a skill you have to focus.  Being at the top of a few skills usually is way more beneficial than putting that same time into a bunch of different skills.

It's not something ESO will force on you but once you're set up so that you can easily gather materials it's something you can force upon yourself. That you can do both in the game doesn't require that you do. However, if the system forcing that division is mandatory ESO wouldn't be suited.

There are several UO private servers, so perhaps one could be found with skill point limitations. SWG varies depending on server but allows the making of non-combat characters so that is a viable option.

I'm not familiar with Wurm Online but by your description it sounds as though it would be suited.

KnightFalz

Nanfoodle said:

As mentioned above ESO is a good choice. You can do both but are rewarded more for focusing what you want to do. You can 100% be a crafter and never really get into the PvE or PvE end game. You can 100% be a full time crafter. That does not mean you won't have to do combat. Just means you won't need to do high end combat to progress.

If you want to focus on combat. You need never craft. Again, focusing on combat means you will have more skill points to use to have more options in combat. Bartering crafting supplies for combat gear is actually a great way to make gold. Mostly because ESO is a crafting game. Some of the best in game items come from crafting. 

It would be a good choice, but does require self-constraint to play it in a manner precisely in accordance with what the OP wants as the game itself does not compel it.

Kyleran

If there are any classic Lineage 2 free shards they probably would fit the bill.

I recall back at the original US launch the game had a specific crafting class which had limited combat utility, through at upper levels it could craft and control some sort of siege robots or something.

How could I forget EVE?  Players often run multiple accounts, with some set up for industry due to the large number of skills necessary to train and the length of time to train them all up.

It isn't practical to train industry and combat skills on the same character though there are ways to pay extra to train two or more characters at the same time on a single account so some folks train a combat pilot and one for industry.