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I hate crafting

2

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  • IncomparableIncomparable Member UncommonPosts: 1,138
    Originally posted by Razeekster
    I've never understood the appeal of crafting. To me it's just another grind, and unlike questing, which at least has the appeal of finding out about the lore of the game, and some of the quests are actually interesting. Crafting though...there is nothing fun or interesting about it, accept maybe the concept. You grind for 100s of mats and then go back to a crafting station and stand there waiting for the crafting bar to finish filling up and create whatever it is you're crafting. I don't get how that's fun at all... Can someone who actually enjoys crafting explain to me how or why it's fun to them? I don't get it...

    It depends on the game... since crafting is a genrealization.

    Crafting is basically a mini game that allows to do something else after or even during combat. That alone adds value to the time you play the game by multi tasking.

    Crafting is not simply about collecting materials and making money.

    Depending on the game, cradfting includes collecting resources which could lead to open world pvp, or maybe it is the only real reason to pvp.

    Making money allows for more gameplay options as well. So cfting adds value by making you more effecient by allowing you to multi task and thus be richer and more powerful in the game. Again, depending on how the game allows you spend money other than money sinks.

    Crafting it self can help others. Depending on the game crafting can be essential in a sand box mmo with full loot from corpses in pvp, or just adds to cusomization.

    “Write bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on a piece of marble”

  • RhinotonesRhinotones Member UncommonPosts: 250

    For me, the idea behind having a crafting system within a game is to add further depth to your character. If the detail and design of a crafting system is done reasonably well there is personal satisfaction to be gained from it. From creating a powerful weapon or piece of armour, a trinket or a house, an achievement or a bragging rights. The key with crafting in any game is to ensure that it offers reasonable benefits and rewards.

     

    If done very well, a great crafting system will add a wonderful commerce and another layer to the game again. Supply and demand becomes important to people who like to craft, gather or grow items. An auction house/trade area adds a hub/meeting place to buy and sell wares which in turn can give a town or city that vibrant and busy feel about it.

     

    I usually associate someone who enjoys crafting as a person who's relaxed and prepared to spend hours on their craft. Many crafters are also driven by a desire to build wealth. For me, having alot of in game gold through my crafting exploits allowed me to purchase rare mounts and other items that are generally unaccessable to most people.

     

    I was also in a position to help out guild mates on crafting high end items and even low items for people levelling, providing materials or just giving them gold to get them something they needed. When levelling an alt, if I met someone and we ended up levelling/questing together, I'd go out of my way to get to know them. If they were fairly new to the game or had no gold I'd usually mail them some bags and gold before I logged off. I received alot of personal satisfaction from this.

     

    Crafting's definitely not for everyone, nor is pvp, rp, raiding etc but they are all intergral aspects of a well balanced game that provides gamers options and opportunities to fill their time with things they enjoy doing.

    image
  • RazeeksterRazeekster Member UncommonPosts: 2,591
    Originally posted by JAFA

    To the OP & others who dislike crafting, may I point out that without you, we who prefer crafting wouldn't have any real place in MMOs?

    So, seriously, thank you, for existing, & for playing ('cos lets face it, crafting for sale to NPC vendors is just grinding).

    I may dislike crafting but that doesn't mean I don't  force myself to do it, for money, or gear. So sorry, I am not providing you with any money :(

    Smile

  • Kevyne-ShandrisKevyne-Shandris Member UncommonPosts: 2,077
    Originally posted by Razeekster
    Can someone who actually enjoys crafting explain to me how or why it's fun to them? I don't get it...

    For those who use games to unwind instead of winding up, it's the best time sink in gaming.

     

    It's even better if there's mats to farm and the farming isn't in a middle of a mob, deal. Turn on the music and/or Vent and have some relaxing hours unwinding. My sis would fish for hours, and instead of having to wake up at 3am and lug the tackle and all the bait to the local fishing hole (and keeping up with the fishing license and laws), online fishing is 10x easier.

     

    Crafting side, if a game offers the best items to be made, with a long mastery track, it's appreciated more because less people would bother to be masters (it's a bar to bots). Games with like 2 year mastery tracks, are really good as they also tend to offer custom naming of rare gear (sweet perk for the long journey to be a master crafter).

     

    Most games tack on crafting as an after thought and that's how/why many games crafting is so stale. If it competes with raiding, for example, devs look at it as taking the grand prize away, instead of making the drops delicious (not much difference in a rare mat from a rare piece of gear, since it's still rare and something really wanted by trade skillers. And devs can ensure the raiders can afford it by having the cache full of currency, too).

     

    So a MMO without a good crafting path I won't even bother keeping up with, and will cross it out on day one. I don't care what combat methods it has; what shiny new graphic, or tech. A game that is all about winding up, "challenge" and kill kill kill is boring and senseless to me (a game designed for burning out). But a game with the above features something I'll look into to play, or have already played, as it's a nice time sink I can schedule at anytime and without having to wait 3hrs for some group to form to be labeled an "MMO". -_-

  • nariusseldonnariusseldon Member EpicPosts: 27,775
    Originally posted by Kevyne-Shandris
    Originally posted by Razeekster
    Can someone who actually enjoys crafting explain to me how or why it's fun to them? I don't get it...

    For those who use games to unwind instead of winding up, it's the best time sink in gaming.

     

    Wait .. you cannot unwind with kill kill kill games, don't mean that others cannot.

     

  • ArakaziArakazi Member UncommonPosts: 911
    I agree with the OP. Crafting and gathering have rarely been done well in any MMO. Both boring as hell. Press this button, then this and this... great, I have created steel bastard sword no. 24668. I have been granted the privilege of making a mithril knife..yipee. Screw that, I'd club some orcs over the head and take their epic weapons out their cold - dead - hands!
  • SovrathSovrath Member LegendaryPosts: 32,780
    Originally posted by Razeekster
    I've never understood the appeal of crafting. To me it's just another grind, and unlike questing, which at least has the appeal of finding out about the lore of the game, and some of the quests are actually interesting. Crafting though...there is nothing fun or interesting about it, accept maybe the concept. You grind for 100s of mats and then go back to a crafting station and stand there waiting for the crafting bar to finish filling up and create whatever it is you're crafting. I don't get how that's fun at all... Can someone who actually enjoys crafting explain to me how or why it's fun to them? I don't get it...

    You know, I used to think like you. And to some extant I still do.

    I ALWAYS hated crafting. I've despised it ever since I found out that I could make my own gear only to find out that I had to gather a lot of bits that then made more bits and then once you had hundreds and hundreds of bits (lineage 2 crafting) you pushed a button and the same item like all the rest of the people doing the same thing came into being.

    Then one day, during my earlier gaming years when I was playing neverwinter nights, I found a mod that allowed you to make your own character and outfit him/her any way you wanted.

    I discovered that all those armor bits and weapons actually had alternate parts.

    You want one type of weapon but different pauldrons? sure! It was all in the game already. You want different pauldrons on each shoulder? You could do that too.

    You could have swords with different blades or different grips and color, color, color!

    I would spend hours fiddling with this mod.

    That's when I realized that I didn't hate crafting, I hated mmo crafting.

    You see, in my "real life" I am a composer and spend time twiddling and fiddling with sound. And I love it. With the neverwinter nights mod I found that I could spend a lot of time doing the same with game assets.

    but in many mmo's, crafting isn't about DESIGN it is about collecting the requisite amount of bits. It has  nothing to do with creativity and everything to do with being a hoarder of virtual bric-a-brac.

    I'm told there have been games that allowed a more creative role in crafting, at least as far as stats go, but these days it's mostly about using the exact same in game mesh and collecting the bits to recreate it. It's not about "crafting" so much as "photo copying".

     

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  • Raxxo82Raxxo82 Member UncommonPosts: 150
    I like crafting, I just never craft anything myself. Played eq2 on and off for many year, and theres alot of crafting to be done in that game. Though Ive managed to lvl cap most classes my highest lvl crafter is a lvl 25 fletcher or something. The thing is that everytime I think Im gonna get some crafting done, I find someone running something so.. I can just do that real quick cause its not like the crafting tables are.goin anywhere. Then I just buy stuff from other crafters and give the mats to friends and guildies.

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  • ArakaziArakazi Member UncommonPosts: 911
    Originally posted by Sovrath
    Originally posted by Razeekster
    I've never understood the appeal of crafting. To me it's just another grind, and unlike questing, which at least has the appeal of finding out about the lore of the game, and some of the quests are actually interesting. Crafting though...there is nothing fun or interesting about it, accept maybe the concept. You grind for 100s of mats and then go back to a crafting station and stand there waiting for the crafting bar to finish filling up and create whatever it is you're crafting. I don't get how that's fun at all... Can someone who actually enjoys crafting explain to me how or why it's fun to them? I don't get it...

    You know, I used to think like you. And to some extant I still do.

    I ALWAYS hated crafting. I've despised it ever since I found out that I could make my own gear only to find out that I had to gather a lot of bits that then made more bits and then once you had hundreds and hundreds of bits (lineage 2 crafting) you pushed a button and the same item like all the rest of the people doing the same thing came into being.

    Then one day, during my earlier gaming years when I was playing neverwinter nights, I found a mod that allowed you to make your own character and outfit him/her any way you wanted.

    I discovered that all those armor bits and weapons actually had alternate parts.

    You want one type of weapon but different pauldrons? sure! It was all in the game already. You want different pauldrons on each shoulder? You could do that too.

    You could have swords with different blades or different grips and color, color, color!

    I would spend hours fiddling with this mod.

    That's when I realized that I didn't hate crafting, I hated mmo crafting.

    You see, in my "real life" I am a composer and spend time twiddling and fiddling with sound. And I love it. With the neverwinter nights mod I found that I could spend a lot of time doing the same with game assets.

    but in many mmo's, crafting isn't about DESIGN it is about collecting the requisite amount of bits. It has  nothing to do with creativity and everything to do with being a hoarder of virtual bric-a-brac.

    I'm told there have been games that allowed a more creative role in crafting, at least as far as stats go, but these days it's mostly about using the exact same in game mesh and collecting the bits to recreate it. It's not about "crafting" so much as "photo copying".

     

    I agree with that. In minecraft or starbound and many other games, even the sims I spent hours upon hours getting my house, gear or city just right. There is a lot of scope for self expression in these games and the feeling you can create and share something unique that other people can enjoy is a great feeling and that is what crafting should be. But crafting in MMO's is the exact opposite of that. The stuff you create is never rarely unique and people are in general indifferent to who created it, I mean who is going to care about who crafted the cheapest set of level 60 crafted armor in the AH when there are dozens of the same type?

  • KaosProphetKaosProphet Member Posts: 379
    Originally posted by Arakazi
    I agree with the OP. Crafting and gathering have rarely been done well in any MMO. Both boring as hell. Press this button, then this and this... great, I have created steel bastard sword no. 24668. I have been granted the privilege of making a mithril knife..yipee. Screw that, I'd club some orcs over the head and take their epic weapons out their cold - dead - hands!

    Ultimately, that's all anything in game is.  Click here, click there, hit these buttons.  Something happens, do it again. 

    Everything else is visual cues to tell us where to click at what time, and to reward us for doing it right or penalize us for doing it wrong.

  • ArakaziArakazi Member UncommonPosts: 911
    Originally posted by KaosProphet
    Originally posted by Arakazi
    I agree with the OP. Crafting and gathering have rarely been done well in any MMO. Both boring as hell. Press this button, then this and this... great, I have created steel bastard sword no. 24668. I have been granted the privilege of making a mithril knife..yipee. Screw that, I'd club some orcs over the head and take their epic weapons out their cold - dead - hands!

    Ultimately, that's all anything in game is.  Click here, click there, hit these buttons.  Something happens, do it again. 

    Everything else is visual cues to tell us where to click at what time, and to reward us for doing it right or penalize us for doing it wrong.

    I half agree with that, but with mobs there are sometimes usually other things to consider. Eg, if I use a lightning spell will it do more dmg because its a machine etc. But you touched something which I consider the biggest problem with MMO's which is too much repetition. Whether its dailies, quest, crafting, raids or dungeons there is a lot of repetition involved.

    A certain amount of repetition is ok, but there comes a point when it becomes tedium. Questing, crafting, gathering and mob grinding are by far the worse offenders. Games like Star Wars or the Secret world try to break the tedium by hiding it behind clever dialogues and cut scenes. But the tedium is still there. The basic problem is when you beat one type of mob easily and asked to do it again 30 times its ok. But when you have dozens upon dozens of quest like that as well of the other quest staples its not fun. It doesn't make me a better player, it doesn't excite me or make the world a richer, more immersive experience. It's just plain boring.

    To be frank I would prefer fewer but more challenging quests and fewer but more challenging battles. In addition, I would love to have options in which way to complete quests or dungeons. I mean do we have to kill everything? Why not use diplomacy or assassination? If I am a bard, make it so I can do a quest or dungeon the way a bard would do it. If I am a rogue let me do the quest the way a rogue does it. If I am in a dungeon and a enchanter comes along, make it a different experience.

  • iixviiiixiixviiiix Member RarePosts: 2,256
    Originally posted by Darknessguy64

    Actually, crafting NEEDS players to not like crafting. Those that don't like crafting are the CUSTOMERS of crafters.

    So thank you OP. Your business is much appreciated.

    Yes ,

    without people who don't like spend time to crafts , craftsman can't sell they product .

    It natural for some don't like crafts work , but it don't mean game shouldn't have craft system because there are people who like crafting.

     

    And why it fun ?

    You created a item that no one can created and everyone want it ...  that's fun

    You item that you created carry your name ... and people who use it know your name ... i think it fun

    Remember

    In lore , without legendary craftsman who crafted legendary items , there are no item for you to loot.

    Some want to role as legend warriors , some want to role as legend craftsman.

     

    Though in most game , craft system are simple , boring and annoying. Why you need to level up crafting skill in those game ?

    That just another kind of grind

     

    For that kind of system , just bring material to blacksmith NPC and ask them to created item , i think it work better than random item drop in instance . Kind of tired when i run a dungeon and get gears of other class that i can't use.

  • free2playfree2play Member UncommonPosts: 2,043
    Crafting systems that require long term strategy and inventory management get my attention. It's a protracted battle plan not much different in aspect than running a dungeon. It just extends over a longer period of time and has multiple, potential outcomes.
  • PhoenixC13PhoenixC13 Member UncommonPosts: 119
    I love detailed crafting and hate simple crafting.

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  • gopegope Member Posts: 40
    Originally posted by Razeekster
    I've never understood the appeal of crafting. To me it's just another grind, and unlike questing, which at least has the appeal of finding out about the lore of the game, and some of the quests are actually interesting. Crafting though...there is nothing fun or interesting about it, accept maybe the concept. You grind for 100s of mats and then go back to a crafting station and stand there waiting for the crafting bar to finish filling up and create whatever it is you're crafting. I don't get how that's fun at all... Can someone who actually enjoys crafting explain to me how or why it's fun to them? I don't get it...

    Your right it isn't fun.But the point of crafting is the excitement  of the new or bigger item,not for the fun of crafting.And crafting got predictable and simplistic,but some people still like it.But the people that are attacking are kids,so don't push them. 

  • GuyClinchGuyClinch Member CommonPosts: 485
    My g/f really likes crafting in GW2 - so I won't complain about it. I never really like crafting that much in general - but as long as its not necessary for everyone to craft its fine. I didn't like EQ2 crafting because it was way to integral to the game. Its like crafters had won - if you wanted the best loot - stay home and craft.
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  • RobsolfRobsolf Member RarePosts: 4,607
    Originally posted by Razeekster
    Originally posted by StonesDK

    It's being part of a thriving online economy. You produce something and somebody else buys it. You are a a psudo-entrepreneur.

    For a lot of people, that's a pretty fun meta game often times more fun than the game itself

     

    the fact that has to be explained is mind boggling.

     

    You didn't explain what was fun about crafting at all. You described a feeling around crafting about being part of the economy, but that still doesn't make crafting any less of a boring soulless grind.

    But it IS the feeling that matters.  In all aspects of a game.

    No matter what you do in a game.  PVE, PVP, crafting, gathering, whatever, all you're doing is tapping keys and clicking a mouse to make something happen on the screen.

    Far as I know, I think somewhere around 0 million people play a game just so they can tap buttons.  They use the interface to make things happen on screen that presumably they like to do.  Some people like killing monsters.  Some people like getting loot.  Some people like goofing off with people in their guild.  And some people like crafting and being on the supply side of an economy.  if that's not your thing, that's cool, but some people like that sort of thing, and have legit reasons to.  At least as legit as anything else you can do in a game.

  • MardukkMardukk Member RarePosts: 2,222
    I don't like questing or being told what to do.  I need to make a thread about linear questing.  Crafting varies wildly depending on the game.  In general, crafting is a bit more fun when it means something, typically sandbox games.
  • mohit9206mohit9206 Member UncommonPosts: 56
    Is grinding really necessary for crafting ?Because in the game i play you get the crafting items through story quests and you have a hired crafter who crafts stuff from the items you obtained on your quests.Yes sometimes more items are needed to craft so you need to kill more mobs and find more treasure chests so i guess its a bit boring.
  • monochrome19monochrome19 Member UncommonPosts: 723

    Its relaxing...

    I wasnt into crafting for a long time but when I finally did start to do it I discovered it was an amazingly relaxing experience. And on top of that theres money to be had. Who doesnt like munnies? Besides that theres a nice feeling of accomplishment when you spend a day or two gathering materials and make a super nice piece of gear and sell it for a nice profit.

     

    Other than that I suppose its a nice thing to besides the repetitive PvE grind.

  • plat0nicplat0nic Member Posts: 301
    MMORPG crafting is the evolution of knitting. 

    image
    Main Game: Eldevin (Plat0nic)
    2nd Game: Path of Exile (Platonic Hate)

  • Vermillion_RaventhalVermillion_Raventhal Member EpicPosts: 4,198

    I think meaningful crafting is good for a game even if I don't do it directly.

  • aspekxaspekx Member UncommonPosts: 2,167
    Originally posted by MikeB
    It's really weird.

    if by weird you mean AWESOME.

     

    j/k.

     

    i love crafting because of the opportunity to create something useful for myself, but mostly for others. it's a real kick to see someone go from 20 inventory slots to 120 in one fell swoop.

    "There are at least two kinds of games.
    One could be called finite, the other infinite.
    A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
    an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
    Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse

  • ArbroathArbroath Member UncommonPosts: 176

    I've always looked for a good crafting system in any MMO I play. I love being able to supply my guild with the best gear they can get. I also love being known for the things I can craft. When people on a server look for me because someone else told them I could make that rare item, it's gratifying.  The lore for most of these games has someone that could craft the best armor, or forge that weapon that everyone knows about. It's putting that type of lore into player hands. I do like questing and dungeons, but I always have a maxed crafter as well. 

    For this reason I'm very much looking forward to Camelot Unchained. In that MMO, there is a class committed solely to crafting. I can't wait to see how that plays out. 

    It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself. ~Declaration of Arbroath

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